The Batman Who Laughs Is Back!

I was The Batman Who Laughs.

When you thought The Batman Who Laughs was about to leave the stage, he hadn't. That, too, had been part of the plan.

Yes. Everything I did was because I had planned it that way, not because failure had forced me into it.

Those apparent failures, the seeming suppression, the apparent total defeat—all of it had been within my plans. They were merely parts of my ultimate scheme.

Now.

At this moment.

When he sensed the energy of Barbatos and Batman Dragon completely vanish from the World Forge, The Batman Who Laughs straightened up inside his cage and rose to his feet with leisurely grace.

He extended a hand and lightly tapped the cage. Immediately, the prison formed from Barbatos's Dark Matter Universe Energy began to dissolve under the corrosion of some opposing force, like plastic dropped into sulfuric acid.

That made no sense. Barbatos had stripped The Batman Who Laughs of all control over Dark Matter Universe Energy, to the point that The Batman Who Laughs had needed to control Dawnbreaker to escape his cage.

But he had hidden something, hadn't he? He had concealed a power he possessed and never told Barbatos about. He had saved it for this moment, for now—a power from the positive-matter universe, wielded by only one person whose true body had vanished long ago into the river of history:

The Sixth Dimension God, the Monitor.

"Remember our agreement, The Batman Who Laughs."

The Batman Who Laughs heard the voice beside his ear.

"I know, I know... Great sir, generally speaking, you never associate with villains like me."

"If you don't play any tricks." The Batman Who Laughs heard the Monitor say, "Listen. I don't care in the slightest about what happens between you, Barbatos, and Supreme Batman."