Warning: spoilers ahead for Tales From The Dark Multiverse: Batman: Hush!
DC Comics' Dark Multiverse is a scary realm, featuring worlds where some of the greatest DC stories have been flipped upside down and twisted into dark reflections of what they were originally. The latest tale from the Dark Multiverse features a sinister retelling of Batman: Hush, showing readers what happens when the roles of Bruce Wayne and his childhood friend Tommy Elliott are reversed. Surprisingly, a Batman is still created on this Earth, even if it is one that is insanely darker and born from the mad halls of Arkham Asylum.
On this dark Earth, the Elliotts took Bruce in after the death of his parents, instead of Alfred taking care of the young orphan. Unfortunately, the Elliots were unable to help Bruce like Alfred could have, and Bruce descended slowly into madness, with Tommy having him itted to Arkham Asylum for "treatment" shortly after the deaths of his own parents on the road. In the present day, Bruce Wayne has supposedly died in his sleep in Arkham, and Tommy is about to get everything that should have been Bruce's: Wayne Industries, the Wayne Fortune, Talia al Ghul's love, and the respect and iration of the people of Gotham. However, all of this unravels in one night thanks to efforts of a more vengeful Batman than fans have ever seen before.
In Tales From The Dark Multiverse: Batman: Hush from writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art Dexter Soy, Gotham has become insanely corrupt on all levels. While Senator Tommy Elliot originally had the respect and favor of both the Court of Owls and the League of Assassins who have been running Gotham, the efforts of a mysterious, seemingly demonic presence swiftly ends those relationships. The "Devil of Arkham" leaves a breadcrumb trail of ticket stubs and playbills from the Monarch Theater, as well as newspaper clippings of the Wayne murders for Tommy to find, leading him to the abandoned Wayne Manor. Once there, Tommy learns that Bruce Wayne is very much alive, seeking his dark vengeance in his new role as Batman the Silenced.
He tells Tommy that he learned the truth about his parents' deaths; that it was Tommy who was responsible, as the driver he paid to kill his own parents made a mistake and killed the Waynes instead (on this Earth, the Waynes and Elliots went to the Monarch Theater together). Bruce also reveals that he received training from the inmates of Arkham, learning to become what was needed to exact his revenge as this dark Batman. Remarkably, everything he needed to learn (and which required world travel in the mainstream DC Universe), Arkham provided for him on this dark Earth.
The creation of Batman the Silenced is just as intriguing as it is dark. Despite being locked away in one of the worst places in the DC Universe, the creation of a Batman remained a constant, albeit one that is much darker and more terrifying than the original. It seems as though nothing can stop Batman from coming into existence on any Earth, even if this Dark Knight has been forged by the sheer madness and insanity that is Arkham Asylum.
