The Batman Who Laughs, written by James Tynion IV and illustrated by Riley Rossmo, may be the darkest of those knights. A caped crusader who was born from an age-old question: Why doesn’t Batman just kill the Joker?

Batman’s fight against crime has often been called a personal war. A conflict that stems from loss and tragedy. The tragedy of war however, is that it often exacts a personal cost for any side involved in it. How long can one man fight a battle that seems to have no chance of ever resolving itself? Is the price even worth it in the end, as the soldiers on the frontline risk losing their humanity? That’s a few of the questions that readers are left asking at the end of Batman: The Merciless

In recent years, there’s also been an attempt to heal Batman mentally. To reforge the character into in an individual who is well aware of just how damaged he is, and how he can channel that trauma towards a less destructive path. Batman as he is now, is an icon. A symbol of overcoming fear and other limitations to be a better person. Unfortunately, that’s a lesson that the Batman of the dark multiverse didn’t learn.

Something is coming to the DC Multiverse. A threat of titanic proportions, a danger which even the Justice League is unprepared for: Batman. Not their Batman mind you, but rather the Batmen of a dark multiverse that is hellbent on extinguishing the light of our universe.