For the First Time, Absolute Batman Will Fight Absolute Joker, DC Reveals

During the panel focused on DC Comics’ Absolute universe at San Diego Comic-Con, new details about Absolute Batman were revealed, especially regarding what we can expect from the upcoming issues of the comic and the hero’s first fight with the Joker.

Jack Grimm, the Clown Prince of Crime in this universe, will face Batman for the first time in Absolute Batman #25, which is set to arrive in the U.S. later this year. 

It’s worth remembering that in this universe, the Joker is a billionaire with powers and an apparently immortal being who manipulates the world from the shadows. He is responsible for creating the Ark M., research facilities that produced some of Batman’s villains in this universe, as well as turning Bruce’s friends, such as Oswald Cobblepot, Harvey Dent, and Waylon Jones, into the Penguin, Two-Face, and Killer Croc. 

Along with that, the new comic Absolute Batman: Beyond Ark M, a spinoff that will explore the other "Arks" with a focus on Professor Pyg, was also announced. The Absolute version of the character was described as the Joker’s right-hand man.

In the Absolute universe, Batman is not a billionaire with a family fortune, but rather a working-class young man from Gotham who decides to fight crime after his father, Thomas Wayne — in this reality, a teacher — is killed during a school trip to the zoo while trying to save the children.