Big things are brewing in DC's Absolute Universe. Fresh off the first meeting between the Absolute heroes and their regular DCU counterparts, Absolute Batman is finding new ways to twist and subvert Bruce Wayne's life. In the process, the series has dropped some of its biggest plot twists yet.
Read on to find out how the newest issue changes the game, but beware of spoilers for Absolute Batman #18 ahead!
Batman Sacrifices His Humanity
The series' current story arc, "The Seventh Kingdom," revolves around the first clash between Batman and Poison Ivy, one of several ARK-M prisoners freed by Joker as a way of tormenting and testing the Dark Knight. In the process, Batman has his first team-up with Barbara Gordon, who in this universe is a GCPD officer and the only survivor of a mission to take down Poison Ivy with an experimental super-weapon. Batman takes a different approach. He turns himself into Absolute Chainsaw Man.
Over the course of this two-issue arc, we learn that Ivy was once Dr. Pamela Isley, a brilliant scientist who developed a way to transform human cells into human/plant hybrids capable of full self-regeneration. Isley hoped to use her discovery to cure her mother's cancer, but her financial backers only cared about how her tech could benefit them. Isley was seemingly killed in a terrible chemical fire in her lab. However, her heart survived, and now bonded to the elemental life force known as The Green, she slowly regenerated into something more than human.
The reborn Poison Ivy seeks to bathe Gotham City in her transformative spores in revenge for her failure to save her mother. She also hopes to destroy Joker/Jack Grimm, a man who resists change every bit as much as she embodies change. Batman responds by delivering an ultimatum – destroy the spores, or he'll destroy her heart and the last remaining link to her old life and her mother. Reluctantly, Ivy agrees, but Batman reacts by destroying her heart anyway.
It's a bleak development for a character who has been teetering on the edge of late. Most of his friends were savagely broken by Bane during the recent "Abomination" story arc, and now those friendships have been shattered. Bruce also struggles with the realization that Batman has become a symbol of hope to Gotham. He sees Batman as a means to an end, not an end in itself. And so his attack on Ivy's heart is symbolic of him turning away from his own humanity and becoming something more savage and cruel. We've already questioned whether this Batman cares if he kills his enemies. It's really starting to seem as though the answer is no.
Jim Gordon Discovers Batman's Secret Identity
As if losing his friend circle weren't bad enough, Bruce has also lately been dealing with the discovery that his mother Martha is in a romantic relationship with disgraced former mayor Jim Gordon. Gordon attempts to pach up their relationship in issue #18 by delivering another huge bombshell – he knows Bruce is Batman.
That's a pretty big change from most versions of the Batman mythos. At best, the comics are usually vague as to whether Gordon has been able to deduce the truth, and movies like Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy make it plain that he doesn't until Batman himself chooses to reveal the truth.
Issue #18 has a bit of fun with this reveal, openly acknowledging the fact that Absolute Bruce – who measures 6'9" and weighs in at 400 pounds – kind of sticks out like a sore, extremely brawny thumb in his civilian identity. It didn't take much for Gordon to put 2 and 2 together there.
Gordon makes it clear he has no intention of turning Bruce in. Instead, he offers a piece of advice his own daughter gave to him when the pressures of being mayor were beginning to weigh on him. He urges Bruce to remain true to his roots. Sadly, as we see from how Bruce handles the Poison Ivy conflict and turns away from his friends and family, he's not following Gordon's advice by any means.
Martha Wayne and the Court of Owls
Easily the single biggest change this series has introduced to the Batman mythos involves the revelation that Martha Wayne is alive. Bruce still has a mother, which we like to think makes up for the lack of a billion dollar fortune and a lavish mansion.
Unfortunately, though she's very much the doting, concerned mother to her hulking lumberjack of a son, Martha has a deep, dark secret she's keeping from everyone. Issue #17 revealed that the Absolute Universe has its own version of the shadowy organization known as the Court of Owls, and Martha used to be one of the Court's Talons. Clearly, vigilantism runs in the Wayne family blood.
Much like Batman himself, the Court of Owls has been reimagined for this new universe. Rather than being a cabal of Gotham City's wealthy elite, the Court is a paramilitary group aimed at opposing the 1%. As Martha describes them, "We were warriors, fighting for a better world. Proud, wise, vicious. Owls." But it appears the Court has been defeated by the Joker and driven from Gotham into hiding.
Martha meets with the Court's Talons in the deserts of New Mexico, leaving Bruce one last message to let him know she'll be out of town for a while. Martha is reminded that she left the Court and was instructed not to contact them again except in an emergency. Martha feels that the increasingly dire threat posed by the Joker qualifies as said emergency. She urges her former comrades to fight, telling them they might as well shoot her if they're no longer willing to be true to their nature. Unfortunately, it looks as though one of the Talons takes her up on that offer:
Is Martha Wayne actually dead? Has Absolute Bruce Wayne become a true orphan? It remains to be seen if this scene is meant to be misleading, but it's certainly ominous to see Bruce deleting what may well be his mother's final phone message without listening to it. He's surely going to regret turning away from his friends and family before long.
Absolute Batman Vol. 2: Abomination
What do you think about these latest big developments in Absolute Batman? Let us know in the comments below. And for more on the future of the DC line, see how DC K.O. sets up DC's next big crossover event.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
