The Joker - Earth-22 - Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs (2017)

Known as one of Batman's most dangerous adversaries, the Joker both loved and hated his nemesis, always wanting to push Wayne to his limits and make him a better hero. They had been enemies for years, often being committed to the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

At some point during their fight against each other, Joker learned the identity of his nemesis as Bruce Wayne. He has had numerous encounters with both Batman and the Bat Family, causing them much pain

Discovering that the chemicals in his system - responsible for transforming him into the villain - were quickly killing him, the Joker set about devising a plan to preserve his memory and pass on the mantle to a new successor - believing that no host would be more perfect that Batman himself, since he had the potential to force the hero to abandon his rule about not killing in the process. The cells in his body underwent a process of autophagy.

Before his confrontation with Batman in his final endgame, the Clown Prince of Crime spied on Commissioner James Gordon, enjoying his demand for him to be arrested "by the book." He slaughtered his way through the G.C.P.D, leaving Gordon to last. Using a highly corrosive acid, the Joker hurled the substance in his face, enjoying the sight of his enemy dissolving in front of him as he begged for his daughter Barbara. He decided to take Gordon's pipe, glasses, coat, bullet riddled badge and trench coat as a means to goad Batman.

He went on to murder Batman's allies and enemies alike, going so far as to butcher Penguin, Killer Croc, the Ventriloquist, Scarface and Catwoman. He deemed this as "Burning the Book" and preparing for the "joke too far."


"The Batman Who Laughs"

Detonating multiple bombs to destroy buildings around Gotham, Joker mockingly asked the bound and drugged Batman which hospital he had destroyed - "Mercy Hospital or Gotham General?". He demanded that Batman fight back and stop him, noting that the stimulant he had been doused with only paralysed his body, keeping his brain functioning. He boasted that he had been planning his operations for months, musing over the ease of "systematically killing a whole city."

Joker gleefully recounted how he murdered Gordon, slipping the Commissioner's coat over his own, noting that they did not have left. He went on to add that their battle would not last forever, so that they would need to adapt to survive, or die in the conflict.

In a sick and twisted ploy to push Batman over the edge, he proceeded to force families with young children to walk towards the pair, shooting the parents though the head in a style similar to of the Waynes. Going to the girl's side, he told her not to be afraid, welcoming her to his new city as he infected her Joker Venom. He repeated the process, shooting over a dozen sets of parents before Batman could finally overcome paralysis and fight back. As the vigilante beat him to a bloody pulp, he kept bragging that Batman would not stop him, pushing him so far over the edge that the Dark Knight broke his neck.

In his final gasp of breath Joker gained his final victory over his nemesis, infecting him with a concentrated version of a Joker Nanotoxin that would alter Batman's brain and personality to create a new and far more dangerous version of himself. The virulent strain laid dormant in his body, only becoming harmful if the carrier suffered from "necrosis."

His final plan ended with victory, resulting in the creation of a new and far more violent version of Batman.


Appearances:

1. "The Batman Who Laughs" - First and Only Appearance 

Thomas Wayne - Reanimated Corpse - Earth-32 - Batman: The Dawnbreaker (2017)

Having been gunned down in a dark alley during a mugging, Thomas Wayne's death had a terrible impact on his son Bruce, filling him with a void of darkness, despair and loneliness.

Bruce tried in vain to bring his father back, only for the process to reveal that it was impossible by Oan technology to revive his parents, forcing him to look for extreme measures and make a deal with the "Man Who Laughs". 

"Fear of the Dark" 

Believing that his Green Power Ring was capable of being the most powerful weapon in the Universe, Bruce demanded that the device brought his parents back to life so that he could continue living with them. He mused that he would even give up the ring if he could successfully carry out the resurrection. 

However, despite the Power Ring being corrupted by its new owner to operate far beyond the capabilities of previous Lanterns, the symbol of will was unable to completely bring back Thomas Wayne. Instead, what was produced was a reanimated corpse barely capable of performing human speech, quickly severing the ties to the ring and collapsing back into a heap on the floor. 

Appearances:

1. "Fear of the Dark" - First and Only Appearance

Martha Wayne - Reanimated Corpse - Earth-32 - Batman: The Dawnbreaker (2017)

Murdered in front of her own son by Joseph Chilton, Bruce Wayne was left feeling hopeless and depressed by the death of Martha. However his lack of fear earned him a Green Power Ring and the beacon of willpower for the entire space sector 2814.

His desire to bring his mother back properly compelled the newly christened Dawnbreaker to join the Dark Knights as a warrior and emissary of Barbatos.


"Fear of the Dark" 

Having avenged Martha and Thomas by killing Joe Chill in cold blood, Bruce tried to use the damaged Power Ring to reanimate the corpse of his mother, hoping that they could all continue to function as a family. He went on to conclude that he would not need the ring, only desiring to have his parents love and support.

Although the ring was able to partially restore her corpse, Martha was not whole, trying desperately to express her love for her son. But she could only hold consciousness for a few minutes, collapsing at her sons feet and leaving him to start his crusade against crime and injustice in Gotham City.


Appearances:

1. "Fear of the Dark" - First and Only Appearance

Thomas Wayne - Earth-32 - Batman: The Dawnbreaker (2017)

A famous surgeon in Gotham City, Thomas and his wife Martha were famous throughout numerous social circles for their philanthropy. He was the father of Bruce.

Cutting down an alleyway one night on their way back home, Thomas and his family were cornered by a street mugger and held up at gunpoint. The assailant - Joseph Chilton (Joe Chill) - proceeded to kill both him and his wife right in front of their son, running off with his wallet and leaving him to bleed out onto the pavement.


"Fear of the Dark" 

In response to his father's death, Bruce enacted vengeance on Chilton, using the Green Power Ring he had obtained to murder the thug in cold blood. He went one step further when he tried to use willpower to resurrect both Thomas and Martha from the grave, bringing forth malformed copies of the two that were quick to die.

Green Lantern devised a code to use lethal force in retaliation against crimes in Gotham, believing that criminals should die, so that the innocent can live without fear or pain.

Due to the darkness that had corrupted both his ring and his heart since the loneliness and guilt of being powerless to save both his parents, Bruce decided he would commit suicide by walking into his own central power battery, musing that soon they would be reunited. However this was in fact the birth of a new persona in the form of the Dawnbreaker.

Seeing how much Thomas and Martha meant to Bruce, Barbatos sent his spokesperson the "Man who Laughs" to Earth -32 with the condition that he would use his powers to properly restore them back to their original forms, only if Dawnbreaker joined his Dark Knights.


Appearances:

1. "Fear of the Dark" - First and Only Appearance

Martha Wayne - Earth-32 - Batman: The Dawnbreaker (2017)

The wife of Thomas Wayne and mother of Bruce, Martha Wayne was a prominent member of the Gotham City community.

One evening while walking home down an alleyway, the whole Wayne family are held up at gunpoint by a mugger. She was shot at medium range and killed instantly, falling down to join her husband, to the horror of her son. 

"Fear of the Dark" 

The murder of Martha Wayne caused a deep psychological trauma within the young Bruce Wayne, causing him to feel an empty void of helplessness and loneliness within him. 

After a failed attempt to resurrect her from the dead, Bruce became the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 and began killing criminals, wanting them to pay for their sins and ensure that nobody else would feel the loss that he did. 

Bruce tried to commit suicide after he killed Jim Gordan, multiple members of the Guardians of the Universe and Green Lantern Corps, stating he could not live without his parents, however this only transformed him into the being known as Dawnbreaker. 

On the condition that Martha would be properly restored to life, Dawnbreaker joined the "Man who Laughs" and the Dark Knights as a servant of Barbatos, wanting to make the people of Prime Earth's Coast City feel the pain he had felt. 

Appearances:

1. "Fear of the Dark" - First and Only Appearance

Green Lantern - Earth-32 - Batman: The Dawnbreaker (2017)

Sensing the potential to overcome great fear, a Green Power Ring was sent to the planet Earth in sector 2814, where it bonded with a young Bruce Wayne. Overpowering the device with his will for revenge and escaping the loneliness he was feeling, having just witnessed his parents being murdered right in front of him in a mugging, Wayne used the ring to kill Joseph Chilton and get revenge for their deaths. Trying and failing to bring them back, Bruce kept the ring for himself, setting out to honour his parents and fight to ensure that people would not feel the same loss and pain that he did.

Over the next three years, he would go on to become the hero known as Green Lantern, working with the police in order to rid Gotham City of crime. However, his methods were violent, believing that all criminals needed to die so that innocence could live.


"Fear of the Dark" 

Green Lantern was summoned to the rooftop of the G.C.P.D by Commissioner Gordon, who lit the Green Power Battery. The hero told Gordon to watch his tone as the latter remarked that he wasn't expecting to see him, musing that the last police officer who showed him disrespect ended up paying for it. He listened as the Commissioner mentioned a few reports for missing people and a manhunt for the criminal known as the Scarecrow.

Before the villain could strike the city with a missile, Green Lantern used a construct to catch the weapon and send it hurtling to space, taking Scarecrow out of Earth's atmosphere and allowing the pressure to make him explode.

Green Lantern returned to Gordon a few days later, ignoring the latter's attempt to question the whereabouts of the Scarecrow, before getting a tip off that the Penguin and a few of his henchmen where operating illegally within Gotham.

Smashing through the roof of the Penguin's establishment, he used his power ring to cause a massive black out, using shadow constructs to slaughter Penguin's henchmen and disarm their boss. Green Lantern flew out of Earth's atmosphere, telling Penguin that he had had enough of his criminal operation and wasn't going to stand for it anymore, calling him "stupid" and "disgusting." He left Penguin to die, before seeking out Commissioner Gordon.

The Commissioner demanded to know what he had done to Penguin, defiantly declaring that the G.C.P.D would no longer work with Lantern because of his methods - repulsed by Bruce's actions against Detective Harvey Bullock, as well as the most recent murder of Penguin, which the hero treated as a joke. Angered by Gordon's endeavour to appeal to his former life and the realisation that he knew who he was, Lantern used his ring to obliterate Jim, noting that it was "sad" that he had been pushed to that and adding that now his daughter would have to grow up without her "father".

Before he can fly away, he is confronted by a handful of Green Lanterns and the Guardians of the Universe, who tell the renegade Lantern that he had to be stopped for his repeated abuse of his power ring and the violation of the first law of the Corps - No killing. They also expressed their concern that he could infect the whole Green Lantern Corps with his darkness, achieving something that no other Lantern could ever do. He excitedly tells them that he is not alone and had friends he could call upon to help him fight them, activating a blackout and using his shadow constructs to tear through the Corps and their founders. After decapitating the only surviving member of the onslaught, Green Lantern expressed how he could no longer cope with the loss of his parents, willing to kill himself in order to join them.

But as he walks into the lantern,  he is surrounded by a colony of bats, inspiring himself to become something new. Altering the words of his former Green Lantern Oath, he took on the identity of the Dawnbreaker.


Appearances:

1. "Fear of the Dark" - First and Only Appearance (As Green Lantern/Origin)

Bruce Wayne - Earth-32 - Batman: The Dawnbreaker (2017)

The son of a prominent family within Gotham City, Bruce Wayne watched as his parents were gunned down right in front of him by a mugger. He was unmoved by their deaths, feeling as though he had been swallowed up by a "dark void" and making him incapable of feeling fear as he chased after Joseph Chilton (Joe Chill) - the man responsible for killing Thomas and Martha Wayne. A Green Power Ring appeared before him and welcomed him into the Green Lantern Corps as it flew onto his finger.


"Fear of the Dark" 

Mastering the ability to fly, Bruce pursued Chill, coming across the mugger as he was flicking through Thomas' stolen wallet. He yelled that he was no longer a helpless kid, promising the older man that he was going to kill him.  However, Bruce's ring tells him that due to the First Law of the Green Lantern Corps, a Green Power Ring is unable to be used as a hostile weapon.

Due to Bruce's inner darkness, the young boy is able to corrupt his ring, creating a skeletal alien construct to hunt down and kill Chill as he attempted to flee. He justified the action saying that Joe needed to die for what he had done to his parents.

Returning to the alleyway where the two were gunned down, Bruce attempted to resurrect his dead parents. He mused that he would give up his power ring, describing it as the "most powerful weapon in the Universe" for his parents to be alive. However, he could only bring their corpses back to life for mere minutes, allowing him to see that what he had brought back were only the shells of Thomas and Martha. His hope began to waver and he felt alone. He allowed the press to believe that he was dead, turning his back on his birth name and old life and setting out to bring his own brand of Justice to his home town.

Bruce took on the mantle of the Green Lantern, becoming known as a hero throughout Gotham. However he believed that criminals should die, particularly since innocent people like his parents were dying all the time by their hands. He had been operating for three years since his parents had been gunned down.

Having eventually murdered a small portion of the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians of the Universe, Bruce tried to commit suicide by walking into Green Power Battery he set up on the roof of the G.C.P.D Building - believing that his life was full of darkness and that he was still the scared little boy that had fallen into a cave full of Bats beneath Wayne Manor.

However when he emerged from the Lantern he shed both his identity as Bruce Wayne and Green Lantern, taking on the mantle Dawnbreaker, joining the "Man who Laughs" as a servant of Barbatos on the condition that he would have the power to bring his parents back. The void in his heart was so intense that he began hating the rest of the world, wanting to make the Multiverse feel as lonely and helpless as he had been.


Appearances:

1. "Fear of the Dark" - First and Only Appearance (As Bruce Wayne/Origin)