One of the biggest pieces of news coming out of DC’s recent deluge of Rebirth announcements is that the finale to Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok’s ‘Darkseid War’ will include the revelation of the Joker’s true identity. Seconds after this fact was announced on the live stream, Twitter was flooded with hot takes and bad jokes. Now, don’t get me wrong, I definitely prefer a Joker whose past is multiple choice, and I get why everyone is groaning about the idea. However, I think that, to a certain degree, people are missing the forest for the trees. Who the Joker “really” is will be important, sure — but not as important as what his identity will mean for the New 52, Rebirth, and the DC Universe as a whole.
Let’s focus on what we know. First of all, the reveal is happening in “Justice League.” Not “Batman,” not “Detective Comics” — “Justice League.” Second, this plot thread first showed up at the beginning of ‘Darkseid War,’ in “Justice League” #42. If you missed the issue (and, I’ll admit, I did until this I heard this announcement), Batman asked the Mobius Chair for the Joker’s identity, and all that readers were left with was Batman uttering an ominous “No. That’s not possible.” Third, Johns has said that this reveal ties into Rebirth. Finally, the Rebirth one-shot will begin with Batman considering a “problem” with the Joker.
So what does this all mean? I think that our understanding of this information hinges heavily on how we interpret Batman’s statement of disbelief in “Justice League” #42. The obvious way to read this outburst is that at the end of the arc we will get some sort of “All this time it was Thomas Wayne/Joe Chill/me, Dio!” twist — and that is still, unfortunately, both possible and likely. However, we shouldn’t read Bruce’s exclamation as a mere statement of disbelief — it’s a factual declaration that, as far as Bruce knows, what the Mobius Chair says is actually impossible.
Who the Joker is won’t be the true thrust of the ‘Darkseid War.’ finale. Instead, we will find out that his identity is going to conflict, somehow, with the history of the New 52 as we and its inhabitants currently understand it. This just won’t be a retcon, it will be a full-blown continuity error… and the world’s greatest detective will realize that. This is why Joker’s name is a plot point in “Justice League,” instead of a Bat-family comic. This is why it’s relevant to Rebirth. The Rebirth special will begin with Batman solving the mystery of how Joker’s new identity conflicts with everything he knows, and I’m expecting that will lead into a mystery far grander in scope: what happened to the pre-“Flashpoint” DCU? This investigation will be at least part of what triggers the reboot, as certain aspects of the New 52 and of the Pre-Flashpoint universe collide and replace each other as the lines dividing them begin to dissolve.
Of course, you should take everything I’ve said here with a massive helping of salt grains. I’m way behind on pretty much all of my DC reading — thanks, law school — and haven’t read a few key stories that could support or disprove this theory (“Convergence” and “Endgame” being notable omissions). I also spend way too much time on A Song of Ice and Fire message boards, so I’m used to torturing something completely implausible out of a handful of sentences. But this is Geoff Johns we are talking about — the villain of one of his big event comics was a fanboy who was upset that the comic book heroes he grew up loving had changed. Batman solving a mystery of continuity fits Johns’ style to a T and allows him to tell the kind of story with Batman that he has told with the likes of Hal, Barry, Clark, and many others. Not only that, but this is one of the few times when it makes a sort of sense for Batman to be at the center of some multiverse-affecting event; after all, Batman’s pre-“Flashpoint” continuity still exists to a certain extent, unlike the rest of the cast of the DCU who aren’t directly affiliated with him (except for the Green Lanterns, but hey, Johns said Rebirth starts with Batman, so I’m sticking with that).
So bring it on — hit me with a Joker who is secretly Thomas Wayne or @dril. It will all be worth it if it turns out to be the impetus for one of the craziest in-story reasons for a reboot of all time. What say you?
