Batman Who Laughs #7 (2019)

Batman is on the verge of turning permanently into a dark doppelgänger of himself. He confronts The Batman Who Laughs beneath Gotham in the Wayne family crypt. The Batman Who Laughs' plan is at its absolute finish line: he wants to infect Gotham’s water supply with a serum that will transform the entire city into a nightmarish landscape of psychopaths. To break Bruce completely, The Batman Who Laughs taunts him, explaining that Bruce’s ultimate flaw is his restraint. Embracing the darkness, Bruce unleashes a terrifying level of brutality. Abandoning standard hand-to-hand combat, Bruce utilizes lethal, visceral traps and even weaponizes his own mother’s tombstone to physically batter his dark reflection. Simultaneously, Commissioner Gordon and his rehabilitated psychopathic son, James Gordon Jr., are fighting for their lives against the Grim Knight. The Grim Knight corners them at the reservoir, trying to force them to activate the toxin. The Grim Knight, arrogant and convinced that James Jr. is inherently evil, underestimates him. James Jr. proves his loyalty to his father by blindsiding and stabbing the Grim Knight, allowing Gordon to finally gun down the Multiversal threat. However, the emotional toll is severe, as the infection takes root in Gordon, leaving his fate hanging in the balance. Back in the crypt, Bruce defeats The Batman Who Laughs and is poised to deliver a killing blow, which would permanently trigger his own final transformation into the next Batman Who Laughs. Just before Bruce can cross that line, however, the Joker abruptly breaks into the fray and shoots Bruce, incapacitating him. The Joker keeps the promise that he made at the beginning of the miniseries: he would not let Bruce transform, and he would not let The Batman Who Laughs win. The Joker helps restrain The Batman Who Laughs, allowing Alfred to swoop in and rescue Bruce. Alfred manages to save Bruce by administering a blood transfusion using the blood of the young, uncorrupted Bruce Wayne pulled from the Dark Multiverse earlier in the miniseries. This resets Bruce’s body and pulls him back from the edge of total insanity. Batman successfully seals off the portals to the Dark Multiverse. Both The Batman Who Laughs and the heavily injured Grim Knight are captured and imprisoned in the deepest sub-basements of the Hall of Justice. In a quiet, reflective final monologue to Alfred, Bruce contemplates the nature of Batman. He realizes that being Batman is not about being perfect or knowing exactly who you are; it is about pushing past your designed limits to be who you want to be. While Gotham is saved, the threat is far from over. Commissioner Gordon was secretly infected during the struggle at the reservoir.