The rivalry between the two great publication houses of the comic book world gets worse day by day. Batman who Laughs – one of the latest and most popular additions to the Super Villain galleries of DC Comics, is also one of their most valuable creations. They finally had something for the younger audience, something even the youngest of readers could find interesting. But DC Comics has done something really despicable. They just took the Batman who Laughs and gave him such a plot twist that has already been seen in another comic book series of Marvel Comics – Infinity War!! That’s right. DC is using its evil Batman to now copy storylines from Marvel. Presenting – Marvel’s Infinity War being ripped off by DC’s Batman who Laughs!!
When Jim Starlin created the Infinity gauntlet arc, the story revolved around a cosmic hero called Adam Warlock. With the 6 Infinity Stones in his possession, Warlock used the Infinity Gauntlet to rid himself of all evil. This psychic separation of all evil from his body led to the creation of two different entities besides the now all-good Warlock – the Goddess and Magus. The goddess would play a crucial role in the ensuing Infinity Crusade arc. Magus, on the other hand, wasted no time. As the epitome of all evil within Adam Warlock, he decided to fight the entire universe using his god-like powers. Magus’ power allowed him to use the tentacles coming out of his body to create zombie-like versions of superheroes.
The Batman who Laughs belongs to a parallel universe that resides within the Dark Multi-Verse. In that universe, the Joker dies but he is able to infect the Dark Knight with a modified version of the Joker Venom. The Venom slowly and steadily makes the Batman go insane. When the Bat-Family try to help him, the Joker kills them all! He is also able to kill the entirety of the Justice League. After the Bat God Barbatos makes him his prime pawn, the evil Batman then starts his recruitment drive to gather up similar evil Bat-Men from the rest of the universes within the Dark Multi-Verse and this leads to the events of Dark Knights: Metal.
He was defeated but it is later revealed that the Batman who Laughs was able to infect the other heroes with the same Joker Venom that he was once infected with. As a result, in the events of the upcoming Hell Arisen, the Batman who Laughs will be joined by several such evil superheroes who, thanks to the Joker Venom in the veins, will become their most evil selves, acting on their most wicked impulses.
Why they sound so similar?!?!
Because of one simple fact – extreme plot convergence! Magus could use the shape shifting tentacles to impersonate the heroes. These new zombie heroes share almost the same powers as the other heroes and have sometimes even infiltrated the ranks of the good guys to try and create a sense of mistrust through acts of betrayal. Magus relied on producing corrupted versions of the superheroes and using them to win the battle.
In the Batman Who Laughs’ case, the plot is pretty similar with one minor twist – the Batman Who Laughs does not use corruption but he infects the heroes instead. Using a secretive Joker Venom formula, he makes the best of humanity act on their worst of impulses and unleashing their negativity in full scale and so become evil in the process. Two of the heroes – Blue Beetle and Shazam, have already shown their true colours, betraying the team and creating an air of extreme despair and mistrust within the heroes, who do not know who else has been infected and whom to trust. The cover posters of Hell Arisen show that more heroes are soon to follow into the ranks of the Batman Who Laughs. He is just getting started.
The only thing that remains to be asked now is – will the effects of Hell Arisen be as ever-lasting and permanent to DC Universe was Infinity War’s was to the Marvel Comic Book Universe? Only time will tell us that answer.
