Batman finds himself alone in a dark alley. There are no people around. An overturned car is on fire in front of him. He can't find a way out. So he slowly moves forward and looks around for a way out.
After going a little way, he saw many doors. He tried to open each door one by one, but all of them were locked from the inside. Just then, suddenly looking back, he saw a horrible sight. The bodies of two people were lying on the ground, a man and a woman.
Batman approaches and is shocked. These are none other than his parents. Their bodies lie exactly as they were when his parents were killed when he was a child. Those old memories instantly come back to his mind. Batman becomes deeply emotional and cannot cope with his pain.
Just then, the Joker suddenly appears from nowhere. He starts teasing Batman and mocking his weaknesses. Batman gets very angry and attacks the Joker. After a while, the Joker breaks into pieces.
But that's when the trouble started. Numerous Jokers came from all sides and surrounded Batman. They all started jumping on him at once. Batman also started fighting with them. He started punching, kicking and hitting them one after another. This fight continued for a long time, but the number of Jokers instead of decreasing, kept increasing. At one point, Batman gets so angry that he grabs a Joker and wrings his neck. And at that very moment, everything around him goes dark.
When he regains consciousness after a while, he realizes that none of this was real. He wasn't lost anywhere, not even in an alley. He's still inside the truck and the truck is moving towards its destination. Then Batman realizes that everything he's seen so far was an illusion created by the effects of Scarecrow's toxin.
The truck leaves the city and eventually arrives at Arkham Asylum. This is the place where the Joker was once imprisoned.
Upon entering, Scarecrow is seen waiting for Batman. He ties Batman tightly to an iron chair. He is then taken to a room where Commissioner Gordon and Robin are also being held captive.
Not only that, there are numerous television cameras and news channels around. Scarecrow was actually broadcasting the entire incident live. His goal was to reveal Batman's true identity to everyone.
First, he asks Commissioner Gordon to remove Batman's mask. Gordon refuses. Then Scarecrow shoots Robin and threatens that the next shot will be more dangerous if he doesn't remove the mask.
To save his friend, Gordon is forced to remove Batman's mask. The mask is removed, and everyone is surprised. The TV audience, the news crew, Robin, and Gordon, everyone sees that Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, the prince of Gotham.
Scarecrow doesn't stop there. He injects Batman with more fear toxin. Now the question is, what effect will this toxin have on Batman? Will the Joker within him take full control?
That answer will be revealed in the next episode.
- Thank you for reading. See you all on my next blog.
So, Batman survived an entire nightmare alley just to wake up and realize he was still on a forced road trip. Facing the illusion of Thomas and Martha Wayne brought back the ultimate trauma.
Joker saw Batman having a deeply emotional breakdown and decided it was the perfect time to start trolling. Just the Joker being Joker.
This part has shown us Batman's deepest fear and trauma. Seeing his parent bodies again makes the hallucination feel personal. The endless Jokers attack the pain that continues to haunt him.