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The milestone 900th issue of Batman is out this week, and with it is one of the comic’s craziest reveals. The final pages of the issue leave readers on a massive cliffhanger with a familiar face(s) revealed as a threat to the DC Multiverse. Batman’s craziest persona, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, is back and ready to “fight some crime,” whatever that means.
The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh
For those unfamiliar or just can’t keep up with the many different faces of Batman, this particular character began as an alien. Specifically, an alien from the planet Zur-En-Arrh. However, per comicbook.com, Grant Morrison gave the character a complete overhaul in the 2000s. Instead of being a separate alien entity, the Batman from Zur-En-Arrh became a backup persona for Bruce Wayne. This persona was planted into his mind as a countermeasure to brainwashing. Although, the persona was a bit unstable without an alter ego of Bruce Wayne to balance it out.
Recently, Chip Zdarsky put the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh in the spotlight with the “Failsafe” storyline. This event revealed that the Batman persona secretly built an android to neutralize Wayne. This is a failsafe in case Wayne ever loses control or becomes a villain. However, as with most failsafes meant to stop the danger, the android glitched and caused a bunch of chaos.
The 900th Issue
Now, in the milestone 900th issue of Batman, Zdarsky pins the Dark Knight against Darwin Halliday. Halliday is a version of The Joker that never went insane and took on the identity of the Red Mask. Their fight sends them flying through the multiverse, interacting with Batmen and Jokers from across the DC Universe. Thankfully, The Dark Knight can stop Halliday and get back to his reality.
However, the final pages of the issue show that nothing is without consequence. Because of Halliday and Wayne’s trek through the multiverse, a new threat has formed. The final page shows off a group of different Batmen of Zur-En-Arrh from across the multiverse. These personas have banded together and promised to fight some crime, which will surely lead to some trouble for Batman.