Batman's Deadliest Weapon Is A Gruesome Betrayal Of His Moral Code
WARNING: Contains Spoilers for Batman vs. Bigby! Issue #6
The long-awaited crossover between Batman and Fables' Bigby Wolf has come to an end, and Batman just unleashed the deadliest weapon in his utility belt in the midst of the final fight. Batman's utility belt has become an important icon—and sometimes even a joke—for his character. Containing pretty much anything needed to get out of a sticky situation from Batarangs to Shark Repellent, the utility belt is just as important to Batman as the Bat symbol on his chest. Now, he's used it again in his final confrontation with Bookworm, the villain of the Batman vs. Bigby! arc, but what he uses to solve the problem is the scariest weapon he's released to date.
The final entry in Bill Willingham and Brian Level's Batman vs. Bigby! A Wolf in Gotham picks up with the titular heroes arriving at Bookworm's lair to take him down once and for all. When they attack, they're greeted with an undeniable force from the ancient heroic epic, Beowulf: Grendel's mother. While Bigby handles her in an epic fight, Batman goes after Bookworm only to find himself being beaten savagely. He even manages to have blood drawn while being attacked and things begin to look bleak. That is until Bookworm notices something and Batman's biggest secret is finally unleashed.
With a quick reaction, a toxic green gas emits from his utility belt that manages to melt Bookworm's skin to help him get away. This toxin is unlike anything Batman has released before and it's scary to see something so powerful within arm's reach, especially coming from someone who bases his morals on not killing. Sure, the poison doesn't kill Bookworm, but the fact Batman needs to take an antidote to survive it indicates that this is more powerful than his smoke bombs or knockout gas. Seeing Bookworm's skin melt into something out of Return of the Living Dead shows just how deadly it is, and it opens up a whole can of worms of just when Batman could unleash this toxic substance again.
On top of that, the chemical released from the utility belt is so powerful that it manages to knock out Bigby in his wolf form and seemingly defeat Grendel's mother at the end of their fight. These two characters are hinted to be gods in the DC Universe, as indicated by Grendel's mother's strength and her calling herself someone that's "fully able to kill a mere God of Wolves." Since this gas managed to take them both out, it puts questions in the reader's mind of just how powerful it can be against other DC villains. Could it defeat Solomon Grundy? Clayface? Darkseid? The possibilities are endless, and if this gas makes its way into major DC stories, it'll be interesting to see just how powerful it really can be.
Of course, it's safe to say that this may be one of the few times, if not the last time, readers will see this method used by Batman. Knowing his moral code and tactics to subdue criminals and not kill them, he may only have this option as an absolute last resort. Still, the fact that it's even an option should be enough to make some of Batman's biggest rivals shudder. This toxin is by far the deadliest weapon from Batman's utility belt to date, and it'll be interesting to see if Bigby Wolf ever comes back from the Fables universe to team up with him again after experiencing it.