After 38 Years, DC Has Delivered A Batman Death Sadder Than Jason Todd
Warning! This article contains major SPOILERS for Dark Knights of Steel II #1.Dark Knights of Steel II #1 beautifully reconvenes after the epic conclusion to Dark Knights of Steel #12, and it’s doubly gratifying to read Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter and its crucial backup story, “Heir to the Sea,” beforehand. As in any fantastical medieval tale worth its salt, a ton of rich worldbuilding and lore is woven between different houses/families and kingdoms in Dark Knights of Steel.
Dark Knights of Steel II’s story is wasting no time adding even more texture by exploring more of the world and introducing new characters. In doing so, Dark Knights of Steel II has unveiled that another murder in the Wayne family had struck Bruce as a child besides his parents, and it may well result in a long-awaited confrontation between Bruce and a brand-new foe by the end of this 12-issue sequel series.
DC Reveals A New Murder In Batman’s Family
The tone of the sequel series is succinctly established by regaling readers with a prologue taking place 10 years before the events of Dark Knights of Steel II. In traditional DC lore, the Falcones are a crime family in Gotham City and a natural enemy of Batman. In Dark Knights of Steel’s DC Elseworlds canon, the Falcones rule the Blüdhaven Isles.
Ironically, Carmine is a decent king and an admirable father in this universe who had “enormous respect for the Waynes” despite their respective kingdoms’ “trade tussles,” while the young Prince Victor (who is seemingly a novel iteration of the Batman villain Victor Zsasz) is a sociopathic child.
When the Falcones visited the kingdom of Metropolis to meet with the Els, King Carmine gifted Prince Kal-El, Princess Zala-El, and Bruce Wayne with the “finest hounds” the Blüdhaven Isles had bred—Krypto the Superdog and Ace the Bat-Hound. Tragically, not three pages later, Victor sequesters Ace in a hedge and kills it with a knife.
Dark Knights Of Steel II Teases A War Between Blüdhaven & The Els
Bruce slashes Victor’s wrist while disarming the dagger from him, and this is likely to be the first of many cuts engraved on Victor’s body whenever we see him next in this sequel series. The issue leaps ahead to the present day thereafter, though we’re sure to see Ace’s murder play a role in how the Els and Bruce perceive the Falcones, much less the Blüdhaven Isles.
Moreover, it would not be out of the realm of possibility for Victor to be a main antagonist alongside General Amanda Waller, and potentially have something to do with Zala’s affliction. Zala falls unconscious, coughs blood, and collapses again following her marriage to Queen Diana of Amazonia and the arrival of King Arthur of Atlantis, and Barbara Gordon’s Oracle deems the cause to be a “betrayal.”
Either way, the murder of Ace is likely to be an inciting incident for Victor’s villainous rise. Assuming that Bruce still harbors resentment toward Victor for that act, Bruce might at least lead a Dark Knights of Steel II subplot that ends in a battle against Victor, while the main story indulges Arthur and the sea-faring war that’s made its way to land. The solicitation for Dark Knights of Steel II #2 reads as follows:
THE HOUSE OF EL IN DANGER! A sickness has befallen the Els, sending the Kingdom of Metropolis into disarray. But what — or who — could bring true harm to such a powerful royal family? Queen Diana and her Amazonians are intent on finding answers, but what will it cost them? Amidst the chaos, Amanda Waller takes surefooted steps into the vacuum of leadership... but she harbors an agenda far darker and more twisted than anyone yet realizes.
Dark Knights of Steel II #1 is out now.