Batman 100: The aftermath and what’s next for the Dark Knight

Batman No. 100 concludes The Joker War, but it also begins new chapter for the Dark Knight.

The Joker War started before the eponymous comic series even began. Back in January 2020, in Batman issue No. 86, The Dark Knight was chasing down some of the deadliest mercenaries in the world. Among them was Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke. In the end of the arc we found out that they were working for The Joker. It was all a distraction for Joker – who took all of Bruce Wayne’s money, immobilized Catwoman and Harley Quinn, and essentially made Bruce a criminal.

The Joker War officially began in Batman No. 95 and recently ended in issue  No.100. The battle is over and Batman was victorious. No one was shocked by this. We all expected The Dark Knight to come out of this fight as the winner. However, it wasn’t something to brag about: Joker whooped him physically and emotionally.

In the end, it was Harley who helped Batman get the win by giving him two options. After shooting Joker in the eye, she tied a bomb to herself and to Joker. Then, she gave Bats an ultimatum: Save her or him. She said that she couldn’t kill him. Batman had to make the decision.

We’ve seen this story before. This time, the ending was different. Batman looked at Joker and left him handcuffed with the bomb strapped to his chest. Joker screamed to not leave him, but Bats just walked away. Joker blew up in Ace Chemicals with a demented and resurrected Alfred Pennyworth.

Thoughts on the final battle

While we knew that Batman was going to win, we didn’t know how. Harley intervening took the option out of Batman’s hands. If this was some random villain, Batman may have let Joker live. Since Harley is important to DC Comics, we knew there was no way he’d let her die. Plus, Harley has become part of the Bat-Family. All of this equals Joker dying. Is Joker alive? Of course he is. The difference now is he’ll realize that Batman is willing to let him die.

Overall, this was a pretty underwhelming 100th issue. What’s funnier is that everything surrounding Batman was better than the man himself. Nightwing coming back, Batgirl returning as Oracle, and both Spoiler and Orphan (sporting a new costume) having Bat-symbols on their costumes were all major moments. However, there wasn’t much special about Batman himself. Sure, he left Joker to die. Nevertheless, we know this isn’t the last we’ll see of him. A great issue, but not a great 100th issue – especially after The Joker War was so good. Thankfully, the epilogues left the future looking bright.

What’s next for Batman?

There were a few epilogues after the bomb blew up. The first had a guy in a uniform with two swords calling himself The Ghost-Maker. Not much to go on other than him saying that Bruce’s teachers would be ashamed of him. He used his real name. Whoever this is has trained with him. In the end, this will be another notch on Batman’s belt. Hopefully, it will be an entertaining one. One thing this writer is excited for is the new antagonist holding two swords. We need more Batman sword-fighting.

Next up we have Clownhunter. He’s the kid who killed a bunch of Joker’s henchmen in the Narrows. A while after Joker War, Batman came to his apartment to have a talk. He told Bao Pham (Clownhunter) that he knows that Joker killed his parents and that he understands why he took on the persona. Batman offers him help and says that he doesn’t want to have to come after him later. Bam says that help sounds nice when he’s finished.

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Again, this is something we all saw coming. Of course Batman knows who Clownhunter is and that he wants him to get the help he needs. The surprising part is that Batman didn’t offer to bring him into the family – train him like he’s done so many kids in the past. Instead, Batman will have a new villain. This will likely be someone that Tim, Damian, or Cassandra Cain will fight. It’d risk coming off as weird if Batman  were to get aggressive with a kid.

Lastly, we have a scene in a diner. There’s a guy having a conversation with someone with a hooded shirt, white hands, and red nail polish. He’s showing the hooded man a video of Punchline admitting all of her crimes and saying that she’s prepared to do her penance. The hooded man says that Punchline is good and that the trial is going to be a circus. Then, the guy talking to the hooded figure realizes that it isn’t the Joker!

If we’re looking at what happened in this issue, Bruce’s father figure Alfred is probably the new Joker. There’s a reason we didn’t see his face, but we did see the skin. There was also the way he spoke. He didn’t talk like the Joker. Something as simple as saying, “That’s very, very good” is something that Alfred would say. There’s also the hooded figure reading a stack of newspapers. This seems like Alfred catching up on what he missed.

Lastly, The idea of Batman having to fight the man who raised him will have people rushing to buy the issues. The emotional toll this will take on the entire Bat-Family will be immeasurable. None of them will be emotionally ready for fighting Alfred. There may be one silver lining with the fight. After the series, Bruce will get his father back.

What did you think of Batman No. 100? Were you a fan of The Joker War? Let us know in the comments below.