Warning! Spoilers ahead for Joker #12

DC Comics has just revealed a major clone conspiracy involving one of Batman’s classic villains, though it’s likely no one noticed until Jim Gordon uncovered the truth about Bane in the latest issue of Joker. While it’s been known for a few issues that the new daughter of Bane known as Vengeance is actually a female clone of Bane created by a shadowy organization, it seems Vengeance was just a smokescreen for a bigger cloning that occurred in secret. After all, how can Bane be pulling the strings in Joker while also being a zombie in Gotham City?

DC’s current Joker series began with the aftermath of A-Day, an attack on Arkham Asylum following the Joker War. Seeing as how the attack began with a silent version of Joker’s classic toxin, many believed that the Clown Prince of Crime was responsible (being some sort of dark encore). This prompted Jim Gordon to be contacted by a mysterious woman named Cressida who would later be revealed to be a member of the Court of Owls. Hiring him to kill the Joker, Gordon has been on a mission trekking the globe to track down the villain who’s been just as much his nemesis as Batman’s, despite not being sure if he could actually go through with murdering him. However, other groups have been seeking Joker as well such as the powerful Network, the Sampson Family, and Vengeance herself.

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That being said, the new Joker #12 from writer James Tynion IV and artist Giuseppe Camuncoli sees Gordon closing in on Joker who’s been taken captive by the cannibalistic Sampsons. However, he also learns that the entire series of events involving the manhunt for Joker has been the work of Bane, a shocking revelation seeing as how Bane died inside Arkham during A-Day. However, what makes it even more surprising was that Bane’s corpse was recovered and was reanimated into a zombie, joining Red Hood’s team in Task Force Z. Not only does this other series heavily feature Zombie Bane, but Jason Todd recently confirmed that the undead Batman villain has Bane’s memories, remembering his murder of Alfred Pennyworth. However, here Bane is in Joker standing before Gordon alive and well, the only logical explanation being that Vengeance is not the only clone of Bane operating in the DC Universe.

Bane must have had the Network (responsible for creating Vengeance) create a perfect clone of himself with his memories, “faking his death” by having this cloned Bane die during A-Day, an attack he fabricated to frame Joker. As far as the motivations as to why Bane has done all this are concerned, it’s likely due to the threats Joker made during the Joker War when the true Bane was still incarcerated in Arkham. It seems likely that Bane was encouraged to make the first move, orchestrating this entire manhunt to end Joker once and for all.

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Clearly, the stakes have been majorly raised now that Gordon is not only dealing with Joker but now Bane as well. While he does have some backup from his daughter Barbara and Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl, there’s no telling what else Bane has in store or what Joker’s final fate will be as the series continues. Regardless, two Banes running around in the DC Universe seems to be the only logical explanation for why there’s a living Bane in DC’ Joker and an undead Bane in Task Force Z at the same time.

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Kevin Erdmann
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Kevin Erdmann is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers. With a major in Cinema Studies and a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin is pretty sure he’s writing for the right site. While Kevin is a huge Marvel fan, he also loves Batman because he’s Batman and is a firm believer that Han shot first. Disney also shares a big part of his fan patronage. Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise.

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