Batman’s Darkest Side Actually Comes From His Mother, Martha Wayne

Warning: major spoilers ahead for Batman/Superman #18!

Batman’s darkest side actually comes from his mother, Martha Wayne. Batman/Superman #18 forces the Dark Knight to go up against his mother in a world where there is no Batman – only Superman. Martha survived in this reality and her future there is rather grim.

The World of Tomorrow is an alternate reality where Martha Wayne survived to raise her son. Batman is from the World of the Knight – a reality where Superman didn’t survive his journey from Krypton. The two worlds have been crossing into one another, while the standard Batman and Superman fans know fight a much bigger threat – Autuer.io, the director of the Archive of Worlds. In the World of the Knight, Batman lost his mother like in his typical origin story, but this issue reveals that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Created by Gene Luen Yang and Ivan Reis, Batman/Superman #18 uncovers the dark secrets that Martha Wayne has been keeping. As it turns out, she has her own human smuggling ring that she runs with Dr. Atom. The two kidnap villains and ship them off to the World of the Knight through an opening in reality. Once there, they are experimented on. Martha also steals ideas – including from Lex Luthor himself – that have allowed her to stay ahead financially. She has made a name for herself in this reality, though she has kept strange company – borderline criminal – all because she wants to protect her son.

In this regard, Martha Wayne and Batman aren’t very different, though the caped crusader’s cleaner about his business. He operates outside of the law, but he doesn’t outright break it. He tries to protect the people – and the city – he loves, honoring his parent’s memory, but he isn’t innocent. Batman has a dark side he keeps in check, but it may not be a side limited to him. This issue suggests that given the proper circumstances, anyone can fall to a darker method of operation if they have enough reason to think they are doing the right thing. By eliminating the criminal element, Martha’s cleaning up her reality’s Gotham. However, the ends do not always justify the means. She has taken up her own invisible version of a cape and cowl using her resources and determination. Initially, she could have been an alternate version of Batman in her own right, had she not gone completely evil, turning her son into a monster.

Both Batman and his mother want to clean up their Gotham and they want the city to have a brighter future. However, only Martha is truly hurting people – even if it only seems like villains initially. The World of the Knight’s where these villains are shipped off to, which means Martha Wayne’s actively contributing to the ruin of Metropolis in that reality. Even though she’s saving her reality’s Gotham, she’s ruining another city which means she’s harming thousands of citizens in a roundabout way.

The Lex Luthor of Batman’s reality has taken the villains he’s supplied with and created horrific cloned versions. The alternate Metropolis is a crime-ridden city that is even worse than Gotham. Batman may have a dark side, but he does his best to stay on the side of the law while hurting as few people as he needs to. Martha Wayne has broken the law and her dark side’s consuming her – blinding her to what she has become. However, Batman could easily have the same type of fall as his mother if he gave in to his dark side – which he may have gotten from her.

About The Author

Samantha King
(827 Articles Published)

Samantha King is a Comic News Writer for Screen Rant. She has a B.A. in English & American Literature with a concentration in Shakespeare and a minor in Creative Writing from UTEP. She also has a M.S. in Library Science from the University of North Texas.

Samantha used to get in trouble for reading comics in class back in high school, but she gets the last laugh. She took a graphic novel course in college and now gets paid to write about comics. She runs her own blog at: www.therealworldaccordingtosam.blogspot.com

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