The Origin of Red Death
Batman The Red Death has been released this week and it looks like a good time to tell the story of the Batman – Flash Hybrid known as The Red Death.
They have two covers for this one-shot, with the other cover interconnecting with other variants.
So, a bit of context, Batman melted in a cloud of dimensional smoke at the end of Dark Nights: Metal # 2 by Scott Snyder. In his place are several Batman hybrids brought in by the dark creature Barbatos.
It seemed like after Barbatos made quick work of Superman and Wonder Woman, they proceed to go and turn the DCU into their own little private hells. In Red Death # 1, we get to see the Origin of Red Death which was written by Joshua Williamson.
It looked like Flash aka Barry Allen is running away after being hunted by Batman who makes his appearance in this issue equipped with all of the Rogue’s weapons and technology. The dude’s even wearing Captain Cold’s glasses just for good measure.
Barry’s too fast for Batman so he calls in a very familiar looking tank (In case you miss it this was the tank he used in his fight with Superman in The Dark Knight Returns).
Flash easily dispatches Batman; but the latter manages to disable Flash and leave him unconscious.
When Barry wakes up, BATMAN FREAKING STRAPS HIM TO THE BATMOBILE SO HE CAN ACCESS THE SPEEDFORCE!
Flash Fact: When you force-access the speed force using a speedster, the results are cataclysmic for b
oth the speedster and the “intruder”. Case in point, Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen. Take note that this is also the really core origin of Red Death i.e. how he became the Speedster Batman.
When we next see Red Death, he’s a full-fledged badass and a total supervillain as well.
And what does he do to celebrate his newfound powers? He cuts Scarecrow in half and then proceeds to kill all of the other surviving Batman rogues gallery including Penguin, Riddler and even Man-Bat.
When he’s done with the villains, he gets recruited by the Batman-Joker hybrid known as the Batman Who Laughs to join Barbatos in bringing the fight to the DC Universe, which they claim as an unfair in treating other universes.
