Created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo in 2017, Batman Who Laughs was the breakout star of Dark Nights: Metal. This evil version of Bruce Wayne comes from Earth-22 of the Dark Multiverse.
Presented as Batman’s worst nightmare, he is a sort of hybrid of Batman and Joker. He is stripped of all sense of ethics, with Bruce Wayne’s intelligence and physical strength and the Joker’s psychopathy and warped, sadistic sense of humor. Without surprise, he has no problem killing people.
When Batman Who Laughs is introduced, he is a member of The Dark Knights, a team he assembled for Barbatos who wants to destroy the regular Multiverse.
This reading order gives you a listing to discover his story.
The Batman Who Laughs Comics Reading Order
Reading about The Batman Who Laughs means reading the event Dark Nights: Metal. Batman can’t pass on a good and dangerous mystery involving in this case divine metals that Bruce has encountered over the years. It leads him to discover the existence of a dark multiverse connected to the DC multiverse, but also to release seven evil versions of himself from the dark multiverse, one of them being The Batman Who Laughs.
- Dark Nights Metal Omnibus
Collects Dark Nights: Metal #1-6, tie-in stories from Dark Days: The Forge #1, Dark Days: The Casting #1, Batman: The Red Death #1, Batman: The Devastator #1, Batman: The Merciless #1, Batman: The Murder Machine #1, Batman: The Drowned #1, Batman: The Dawnbreaker #1, Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs #1, Batman: Lost #1, Hawkman: Found #1, Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt #1, Nightwing #29, The Flash #33, Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #32, Green Arrow #32, Suicide Squad #26, Teen Titans #12, and Justice League #32-33.
The issues with the Batman Who Laughs are also collected in:
- Dark Days: The Road to Metal
Collects Dark Days: The Forge #1 and Dark Days: The Casting #1, as well as classic DC stories that built the foundations of Metal, including Final Crisis #6-7, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1, Batman #38-39, Nightwing #17 and more. The Batman Who Laughs made his first appearance, a cameo in Dark Days: The Casting #1. Still, reading the whole trade will help you understand the Dark Nights: Metal story. - Dark Nights: Metal (also in Deluxe Edition or in Absolute Edition)
Collects Dark Nights: Metal #1-6, and Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt #1 and Batman Lost #1. - Dark Nights: Metal: The Resistance
Collects “Gotham Resistance” (Teen Titans #12, Nightwing #29, Suicide Squad #26, Green Arrow #32) and “Bats Out Of Hell” (The Flash #33, Justice League #32-33, Hal Jordan and The Green Lantern Corps #32), plus Batman Lost #1 and Hawkman Found #1. - Dark Nights: Metal: Dark Knights Rising
Collects the seven Dark Nights: Batman tie-in one-shots and Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt #1, including The Batman Who Laughs #1, an issue that details the origin of the Batman Who Laughs
For an issue-by-issue detail of the whole event, check out our Dark Nights: Metal reading order!
Following the events of Dark Nights: Metal, you can discover what happens to The Batman Who Laughs in Justice League, and then follow him in his own series, dealing with his attempt to kill Batman.
- The Immortal Men: The End of Forever (optional)
Collects issues The Immortal Men #1-6. The Batman Who Laughs appears in a few panels in issues #1 & #3. - Justice League #8
Collected in Justice League Vol. 2: Graveyard of Gods. - The Batman Who Laughs (also in Deluxe Edition)
Collects The Batman Who Laughs #1-7 and The Batman Who Laughs: The Grim Knight. #1.
The Infected! Part of The Year of The Villain, The Infected (don’t forget to check out the reading order!) follows Batman and Superman investigating the nefarious activities of The Batman Who Laughs, who has infected six heroes to be part of his own Secret Six!
- Batman/Superman Vol. 1: Who are the Secret Six?
Collects Batman/Superman #1-6- After Batman/Superman #5, Batman Who Laughs makes an appearance in Supergirl Annual #2, collected in Supergirl Vol. 3: Infectious
- The Batman Who Laughs does not appear in Batman/Superman Vol. 2. Batman Who Laughs’ story continue with short appearances in the tie-ins The Infected: Scarab #1 and The Infected: Deathbringer #1 collected in Year of the Villain: The Infected.
- Hawkman #20 also contains a brief appearance from the Batman Who Laughs, collected in Hawkman Vol. 4: Hawks Eternal
- The Batman Who Laughs has been nominated as Villain of the Year in Harley Quinn’s Villain of the Year, collected in Harley Quinn Vol. 4: The Final Trial.
Hell Arisen is the conclusion of the Year of The Villain, in which The Batman Who Laughs and Lex Luthor are fighting against each other.
- Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen
Collects Year of the Villain Special #1 and Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #1-4.
All that has been happening is culminating towards an ending, with the sequel to Dark Nights: Metal where the Justice League finds themselves at the mercy of the Batman Who Laughs. For the whole event, consult our Dark Nights: Death Metal reading order.
- Dark Nights: Death Metal Omnibus
Collects Dark Nights: Death Metal #1-7. Plus All The Tie-In Stories From Dark Nights: Death Metal Legends Of The Dark Knights #1; Dark Nights: Death Metal The Last 52: War Of The Multiverses #1; Dark Nights: Death Metal Speed Metal #1; Dark Nights: Death Metal Infinite Hour Exxxtreme! #1; Dark Nights: Death Metal Trinity Crisis #1; Dark Nights: Death Metal Robin King #1; Dark Nights: Death Metal Multiverse’s End #1; Dark Nights: Death Metal Rise Of The New God #1; Dark Nights: Death Metal The Multiverse Who Laughs #1; Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook #1; Dark Nights: Death Metal The Secret Origin #1; Dark Nights: Death Metal The Last Stories Of The Dc Universe #1; And Justice League (2018) #53-57.
The issues with the Batman Who Laughs are also collected in:
- Dark Nights: Death Metal (also in Deluxe Edition)
Collects Dark Nights: Death Metal #1-7. - Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Darkest Knight
Collects Dark Nights: Death Metal: Legends of the Dark Knights #1, Dark Nights: Death Metal: Guidebook #1, Dark Nights: Death Metal: Trinity Crisis #1, Dark Nights: Death Metal: Speed Metal #1, and Dark Nights: Death Metal: Multiverse’s End #1. - Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Multiverse Who Laughs
Collects Dark Nights: Death Metal Infinite Hour Exxxtreme! #1, Dark Nights: Death Metal Robin King #1, Dark Nights: Death Metal Rise of the New God #1, Dark Nights: Death Metal The Multiverse Who Laughs #1, and Dark Nights: Death Metal The Secret Origin #1. - Dark Nights: Death Metal: War of the Multiverses
Collects Dark Nights: Death Metal The Last 52: War of the Multiverse #1, Dark Nights: Death Metal The Last Stories of the DCU #1.
Since the end of the Metal Saga, Batman Who Laughs has made two appearances in Batman/Fortnite, a comic book crossover event from DC and Epic Games set in the universe of the video game
- Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #6, collected in Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point.
- Batman/Fortnite: Foundation #1, uncollected.
