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A Guide to Batman Incorporated - IGN

  • ️Jesse Schedeen
  • ️Wed May 23 2012
DC launched most of their “Second Wave” books earlier this month, but they saved one of the biggest new series for last. Batman Incorporated Vol. 2 (read our review of issue #1 here) is the continuation of Grant Morrison's six-year Batman run, chronicling the war between Batman's worldwide team of heroes and the shadowy organization known as Leviathan.The problem is that, being the continuation of such a long saga, Batman Inc Vol. 2 isn't necessarily as welcoming to new readers as books like Scott Snyder's Batman or Pete Tomasi's Batman and Robin. But as much as we'd advocate reading through Morrison's full run before jumping into this series, we understand not everyone has the time, money, or desire to read those 60-odd issues.

Luckily, we're here to help. Whether you're new to the world of Batman Inc. or just forgot key plot points in the months since Morrison's story went on hiatus, we have a guide to the essential plot points and characters of the new series.

And for those curious about the specifics of what happened prior to Batman Inc. Vol. 1, check out our Modern Batman Guide.

What

Towards the tail end of his chaotic journey through time in Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, Bruce glimpsed a vision of a dark future. At the same time, he realized the defining truth of his entire career – Batman has never been alone in his war on crime. Propelled by a desire to prevent this possible future and by his new revelation, Bruce decided to take the concept of Batman to the next level. If crime is an idea, then Batman is the idea to counter it.

Bruce's first step was to go public, announcing that he had been secretly funding Batman's operations for years. His new goal was to provide funding and resources for heroes around the globe, with the ultimate goal of building a worldwide network of heroes all dedicated to the eradication of crime. In addition to his usual allies – the Robins, Barbara Gordon, the Outsiders, etc. - Bruce recruited Japan's Mr. Unknown, Argentina's El Gaucho, England's The Hood, Africa's Batwing, and scores of other international vigilantes.

Batman was now a symbol that extended far beyond the borders of Gotham City. It had become a commodity, hence the name “Batman Inc.”

What

Unfortunately, just as every hero has at least one villain to oppose them, no global organization of heroes can exist for long without being challenged by a similar conglomerate of villains. Leviathan is a terrorist organization that had its origins in the small African nation of Mtamba (home of Bruce's one-time lover and Black Glove member Jezebel Jet).

Leviathan's goal is to create a “ring of terror” that circles the globe, with Mtamba as its starting point. Leviathan has ensnared hundreds of innocent children using mind-controlling drugs, turning them into bloodthirsty, easily manipulated killers. As Batman Inc. has grown, so too has Leviathan. They seek to kill Batman's many operatives and tear down the symbol of the bat wherever it arises.

In addition to the numerous pawns under their control, Leviathan has several lieutenants. One is a mysterious, muscle-bound figure dressed in robes and a Batman-like armored suit. Known only as The Heretic, this person vaguely resembles the Three Ghosts of Batman seen earlier in Morrison's Batman run.

Another high-ranking figure in Leviathan is Doctor Dedalus. Dedalus was once Otto Netz, a Nazi scientist who specialized in meta-human genetics and designing outlandish death traps. Dedalus also formed the spy agency Spyral, which secretly employed heroes like the original Batwoman (also Netz's daughter) and El Gaucho. Though imprisoned for years in the Falkland Islands, Leviathan freed Dedalus so he could complete his greatest death trap before he succumbed to Alzheimer's.

Also in Leviathan's employ are Son of Pyg, the successor to the transformation-obsessed villain Professor Pyg, and Lord Death Man, an eccentric and seemingly unkillable Japanese crime lord.

Who

Despite early clues that Jezebel Jet was the leader of Leviathan, the final pages of Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes! revealed that the group was actually formed by Talia al Ghul. Talia is the daughter of Ra's al Ghul and has taken control of his criminal empire. Talia is deeply in love with Batman, as she and her father both agreed he was the only man worthy to marry her and inherit the League of Assassins. But as Batman has frequently refused the offer, he has often found himself at odds with his beloved.

Relations between the al Ghul and Wayne families have soured ever since Bruce and Talia's son, Damian, abandoned his place in the League of Assassins and instead elected to become the newest Robin. To Talia, Damian is now as much an enemy as the rest of Batman's empire. As proof, she put a half billion dollar bounty on her son's head as her first act of war against Batman Inc.

As if this weren't trouble enough for Bruce and Damian, their relationship has grown troubled since Damian killed Doctor Dedalus in battle. Can Batman trust a partner who doesn't obey orders? For that matter, is the ever-crafty Dedalus even dead in the first place?

What

The Ouroboros is an image that has popped up repeatedly during the first volume of Batman Inc. The Ouroboros depicts a serpent devouring its own tail, thereby forming a ring. It has plenty of symbolic meaning. It represents the cyclical nature of life. It depicts something that is constantly recreating and rebuilding itself.

This symbolism applies to Leviathan in several ways. The Ouroboros serpent is eternal and incapable of being destroyed, much as Talia sees Leviathan. The shape is replicated in Leviathan's ring of terror circling the world.

The Ouroboros shape also mimics the molecular structure of a new “meta-molecule” Batman discovered during his travels. Dedalus has called this meta-molecule the fifth element and has used it to create new weapons of mass destruction. Batman, however, sees other uses, and he's dispatched Lucius Fox to develop new crime-fighting technologies around it.

How

Morrison's ongoing Batman storyline hit a bit of a snag with the New 52. DC postponed the first volume of Batman Inc. after the eighth issue so as not to confuse new readers with multiple Batman continuities. The remainder of Morrison's first year of Batman Inc. stories was depicted in the aforementioned one-shot issue Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes!. That issue offered a disclaimer that the story was taking place before Flashpoint and the New 52 shake-up.

However, with Batman Inc. Vol. 2, Morrison's saga will begin to reflect the changes brought about by the New 52. This is cause for confusion, as some characters and entire storylines from earlier in Morrison's run now no longer exist. For example, Final Crisis never happened in this new universe, meaning Batman couldn't have been blasted by Darkseid's Omega Sanction and sent hurtling through time. This in turn wipes out the existence of Doctor Hurt and much of the material in the first two years of Morrison's run. Meanwhile Stephanie Brown apparently never took over the mantle of Batgirl, while Batwing is significantly different from how he was portrayed before the New 52.

It remains to be seen how much Morrison will acknowledge these changes. Most likely, the writer will sidestep any potentially thorny issues, as Geoff Johns has done with the current volume of Green Lantern. It has been acknowledged in other books that Bruce Wayne was missing for a year. There are probably ways of reconciling many of the discrepancies created by the continuity shift, but we're hoping Batman, Inc. Vol. 2 will simply push forward and avoid dwelling on the past.

Jesse has been a writer for IGN Comics since the days when House of M was the big craze in the comics community. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.