"Batman: Death of the Family" is a 23-issue comic book story arc first published by the comic book publishing company DC Comics in 2012 featuring the fictional superhero Batman and his family of supporting characters. The eponymous, central story arc within the Batman title, was written by Scott Snyder with art by Greg Capullo. The arc also spans several tie-in issues within titles featuring characters of the Batman family including: Batman, Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Catwoman, Detective Comics, Nightwing, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Suicide Squad, and Teen Titans. The story involves the return of Batman's archenemy, the Joker, and his plan to destroy all of the people Batman has come to rely on over the years: the multiple Robins, Batgirl, Catwoman, Alfred Pennyworth, and Commissioner James Gordon. The title is a reference to the classic Batman story arc "A Death in the Family" (1988), in which the Joker murders Jason Todd.
Synopsis Lead-up Following DC Comics' 2011 relaunch of several of its comic series for The New 52, Detective Comics #1 (November 2011) sees the Joker captured by Batman and sent to Arkham Asylum; unbeknownst to Batman, this is part of the Joker's plan to meet with the villain Dollmaker, who surgically removes Joker's face at his request and then pins it to Joker's cell wall as a sign of his rebirth. Joker then escapes and remains unseen in DC Comics for approximately one year, making a shrouded appearance in Detective Comics #12 (October 2012), overlooking the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) building. The story also references events depicted in several Joker-related stories including Batman: The Killing Joke, Batman: The Man Who Laughs and Batman: A Death in the Family.
Main plot Batman Joker marks his return to Gotham City by attacking the GCPD and recovering his preserved face, killing 19 police officers in the process. He later televises a warning, via the son of his first recorded victim, that Mayor Hady will die that night, referencing another of his earliest crimes. However, the police assigned to protect Hady are killed by a combination of chemicals while Hady survives. Batman analyzes the chemical compound and finds three inert ingredients whose initials spell A.C.E., leading him to the ACE Chemical plant where Joker was originally disfigured. He encounters a person dressed as the Red Hood, one of Joker's aliases, and is struck by an oversized mallet that pushes him into an empty chemical vat; the Hood, revealed to be Harley Quinn, warns Batman that Joker is not the same. Batman manages to escape the vat before it can fill with chemicals. Elsewhere, the Joker attacks Alfred Pennyworth. Each issue of Batman also contained a short backup story; in Batman #13, this story sees Joker preparing Harley to meet Batman in the chemical plant.
After Batman returns home and learns of Alfred's kidnapping, a clue leads him to believe Commissioner James Gordon is Joker's next target. Batman saves Gordon after Joker poisons him with a powerful blood thinner. He then goes to the Gotham Reservoir, the first place he faced off against the Joker. The villain reveals that he has already reenacted his earlier crime, killing several people and blowing up the reservoir, injuring Nightwing. Joker immobilizes Batman, and states his plan to kill each of Batman's allies, believing they have made Batman weak; Joker claims to know their true identities. In the backup story, Joker invites Penguin to an event he has orchestrated at Arkham Asylum.
Batman frees himself and attacks Joker, but is paralyzed by Joker venom, allowing Joker to escape. Batman is recovered by the Bat-Family and taken to the Batcave, where he confesses that after an early battle with Joker, he discovered a joker playing card in the Batcave; he dismisses the idea that Joker has found the cave, but the family fears that Joker knows their identities and blame Batman for concealing such a possibility. Later, Batman interrogates an Arkham guard, who admits that Joker is waiting for him at the asylum. As he ventures into the asylum, his internal dialogue reveals that the movements he had previously seen in Joker's eyes when they met indicated love. In the backup story, Joker is shown to have taken over the asylum and meeting with the institutionalized Riddler.
In Batman #16, Batman encounters Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow and Clayface. Batman finds Joker with Two-Face, Riddler and Penguin, but before he can stop them, Joker shows him video of Nightwing, Robin, Red Hood, Batgirl, and Red Robin. Joker orders Batman to take his place on his "throne" – an electric chair – to spare their lives. Batman does so, receiving an electric shock. In the backup story, Two-Face demands to be included in Batman's death, but Joker traps him behind bars alongside Penguin and Riddler.
In Batman #17, Joker hosts a mock dinner in the caves leading to the Batcave. Batman and his allies have been bound and doused in gasoline, with Joker warning against escaping at the risk of agitating the flint in the cave; everyone in the Bat-Family save for Batman have also been bandaged. A brainwashed Alfred serves them with a cloche seemingly containing their own severed faces. When Joker threatens to ignite the gasoline, Batman escapes and triggers a blaze, but uses an explosive and his knowledge of the cave system to blow its roof open, allowing water to rush in from above and douse the flames. When he frees the others and they take their bandages off, it is revealed that they still have their faces.
Batman pursues Joker to the edge of a large drop. Batman claims that he knows Joker's true identity. As Batman threatens to whisper it in his ear, Joker jumps over the edge and falls out of sight, his face separated from him. Batman finds a notebook which Joker claimed held the secret identities of the Bat-Family, but discovers it is blank. Meanwhile, the Bat-Family are gassed into attacking each other, but manage to fight off the gas' influence. Later, in Wayne Manor, Batman tells a recovering Alfred that after finding the joker playing card in the cave, he confronted Joker about it in Arkham Asylum as Bruce Wayne. Joker failed to acknowledge him and Batman realized that he did not care who Batman was under his mask. The members of the Bat-Family decline to meet with Batman. Later, Batman studies the chemical makeup of the gas Joker used on the Bat-Family, and finds an inert isotope; the chemical compound "Ha".
Tie-in plots Batgirl
In Batgirl #13, Barbara Gordon's mother is attacked in her home by three men in clown masks and Hawaiian shirts, referencing the Joker paralyzing Barbara in Batman: The Killing Joke. In Batgirl #14, Barbara receives a call from someone she believes to be Joker, warning her that men are also coming for her; three men wearing clown masks break in, but Barbara defeats them. The caller reveals that they know Barbara is Batgirl. As Batgirl, she finds the Joker holding her mother in a skating rink where he has killed all the patrons. After confronting the Joker, she learns that the caller is her psychopathic brother James and he led her to Joker to save their mother. Joker then presents Batgirl with her mother's severed finger bearing her wedding ring, and asks Batgirl to marry him. In Batgirl #15, Batgirl determines that she is going to break Batman's rule and finally kill Joker. Batgirl meets Joker at a church, accompanied by his goons and a priest. James calls and tells Joker to leave Batgirl and their mother alone, but Joker refuses, prompting James to travel to the church. After the wedding, Joker attempts to cut off Batgirl's limbs, intending to store her in his basement to keep her from cheating on him. James arrives and claims he has freed his mother, allowing Batgirl to fight Joker's henchmen. James betrays Batgirl, rendering her unconscious and trading her to Joker in exchange for his mother's life. When Batgirl awakens, the Joker prepares to show her an unseen item on a cloche; the story is concluded in Batman #17.
Batman and Robin In Batman and Robin #15, Batman's son Damian defies his father's orders to remain in the Batcave and investigates Alfred's kidnapping. The investigation leads to Gotham Zoo where Damian is captured by Joker. Joker accuses Damian and the other members of Batman's family of being a burden that prevents Batman from being the best foe for Joker. Joker tells Damian that his and Batman's greatest fear is being responsible for the other's death. Joker then presents Damian with Batman in Joker makeup, and states that Damian must kill Batman before Batman kills him. Unwilling to kill his father, Damian chooses death, but the Joker kills Batman before he can deal a fatal blow. Damian passes out from Joker venom and Batman is revealed to be a fake; as Damian recovers from the toxin, the Joker presents him with a cloche (concluded in Batman #17).
Catwoman Catwoman is hired to steal a large chess piece from a citywide game of chess. After stealing the piece it is revealed to contain a living person, before it explodes. Catwoman saves a young orphan trapped in a pawn chess piece, and is then confronted by Joker, who is revealed as the person who hired her. Joker convinces her to allow herself to be captured to spare the orphan's life. Joker repeatedly attacks Catwoman, accusing her of needing Batman to save her and trying to convince her to break Batman's heart and turn him into a more focused hero. Catwoman denies loving Batman and accuses Joker of in fact being in love with him. Joker admits that he is, before they part ways.
Detective Comics In Detective Comics #15, while distracted by his search for the Joker, Batman is forced to confront Clayface, who has been chemically possessed by Poison Ivy into believing they are married, turning him into a fierce bodyguard. Batman uses a modified herbicide to kill Ivy's plants embedded in Clayface, freeing his mind before he then escapes into the sewers. Meanwhile, the Joker forcibly recruits the Penguin to aid in his plan. Penguin leaves his henchman Ignatius Ogilvy in charge, who usurps Penguin's criminal empire, allies himself with Ivy, and dubs himself Emperor Penguin. Ivy later finds Clayface, unaware he is no longer under her control, and Clayface attacks her. In Detective Comics #16, multiple gangs rise up in Gotham, emboldened by the Joker's return; one gang, the "League of Smiles", takes hostages in a youth center until one of their own decides to let the hostages go. Batman arrives later and finds the defector has cut the flesh from his mouth so that he cannot be like Joker. The remaining members of the League return to their leader, the Merrymaker, who states that their mission is just starting. Meanwhile, Emperor Penguin seizes control of Gotham's underworld, killing his opponents and framing the Joker for their deaths.
Nightwing In Nightwing #15, the Joker kills Jimmy, the star clown of Haly's Circus. He also breaks Dick Grayson's former lover Raya out of Blackgate Prison. After testing the Joker venom used on Jimmy, Dick discovers an intentional anomaly that leads him to an abandoned aerospace facility. There, Dick is confronted by Raya, her face resembling the Joker's, and dressed in a makeshift Nightwing uniform. She attacks Dick while Joker flees, until her body rejects the Joker's toxin and she dies. Dick finds a message carved into her body, announcing the Joker's party at Haly's Circus. In the circus, Nightwing is confronted by the exhumed corpses of the circus members who have died. Nightwing tackles Joker, but is then shown the living members of the circus, all transformed like Raya, who attack Nightwing and knock him unconscious. When he awakens, Joker prepares to show him an unseen item on a cloche (concluded in Batman #17).
Red Hood and the Outlaws