In Absolute Batman #3 (written by Scott Snyder with art by Nick Dragotta, colors by Frank Martin, and letters by Clayton Cowles), Bruce Wayne is outnumbered and outmatched. Unlike the classic billionaire version of Batman, this Bruce is a working-class guy facing a well-funded conspiracy. And it looks like he might finally be breaking.
Lessons of the Past
Years ago, a young Bruce is chasing his friend Selina Kyle, racing across the city rooftops. Coming off the heels of losing his father, Selina pushed him to be braver. During one run, she dared him to cross a gap between two buildings using a thin cable. Bruce froze halfway across, terrified of falling. Selina pulled him to safety and taught him to look straight ahead, “cat-style.” Because cats only focus on what is right in front of them, they don’t look down and panic at the drop.
Back then, Selina’s home life was rough. She was bouncing through her fourth foster home in a year, admitting to Bruce that some adults like the idea of taking in a foster kid much more than the reality. Whenever things went bad, she found comfort hanging out with stray cats on the roofs. When Bruce offered to let her stay with him and his mom, she turned him down, preferring to talk about happier things instead.
One of those happier things was Selina dragging a grieving Bruce to a local movie theater to watch an old black-and-white Zorro film. When Bruce tried to bolt out of the theater, Selina reminded him of something his late father had told him. Being safe and cozy doesn’t actually mean anything. She told him he had talents other kids didn’t, and he needed to block out his fear and face life head-on. With the rest of their friends tossing popcorn at him and telling him to sit down, Bruce stayed to watch the movie.
Chaos in Present-Day Gotham
Fast forward to the present, and Gotham is tearing itself apart. A violent, skull-masked gang called the Party Animals is terrorizing the streets in broad daylight, leaving Mayor Jim Gordon hospitalized.
On top of that, Batman is being hunted by both the criminals and the cops. During a wild high-speed chase down Broadway, Batman is driving a giant, modified dump truck while Alfred Pennyworth rides on the hood. As the Party Animals fire rockets and bullets at them, Batman triggers the truck’s hydraulics. It transforms it into a jet-powered war machine with electric turrets and a wrecking ball.
While they dodge bullets, Alfred tries to talk some sense into Bruce. He explains the Party Animals are led by Roman Sionis, a global terrorist known as the Black Mask. Sionis has endless resources and he has already offered Batman a massive bribe to just step down for a week.
The spy argues that Batman can’t win this fight with his fists alone. If Bruce takes the deal, he gets millions of dollars to fund his mission while Alfred’s agency MI6 can track the money to arrest Sionis later.
But Batman refuses to quit, even when Commissioner Harvey Bullock and the police corner them at the docks. Batman hits an eject button to launch Alfred safely into the water before submerging his truck underwater and driving away.
The Conspiracy Tightens
Despite escaping the cops, Bruce soon realizes that Alfred was right. The Party Animals are too big for him to take on all by himself. Bruce asks about the group with each of his friends who only gives him worse news.
Eddie uses his skeletal supercomputer to analyze one of the Party Animals’ ape-skull masks. The computer reveals the masks run on a satellite-based cryptocurrency network called Black Coin. It automatically pays criminals tens of thousands of dollars for committing arson, robbery, and murder. Because the network is global and there are thousands of members, it’s impossible to shut down. Eddie begs Bruce, as a friend, to destroy the mask and walk away.
Harvey Dent calls Bruce to tell him he traced the money behind a mysterious project called the “Ark M Fund.” It’s backed by biotech, pharma, and private prison companies that build secret, unregulated “black sites.”
Around the world, shadowy forces have built massive, secret prisons called Arks in places like Santa Prisca, Russia, and China. Now, they are building the biggest one yet right in Gotham.
Meanwhile, Roman Sionis invites Commissioner Bullock onto his yacht. While beating the crap out of a former boxer named Bibbo in the yacht’s gym, Sionis pretends to be a “professional pacifist.” He offers Bullock a fleet of armored vehicles and helicopters to crush both the Party Animals and Batman.
A Trap Close to Home
When Bruce stops by his mother’s kitchen at 8:00 in the morning, he begs her to lie low until the violence stops. Instead, she reveals she is stepping up as Jim Gordon’s deputy mayor. Bruce panics because the Party Animals are assassinating city officials. He tells her she is painting a target on her back. They argue until she kisses him on the forehead, joking she’s doing it so she doesn’t slap him and walks out the door.
At the same time, Alfred sits in a parked car watching a schoolyard where his daughter and teacher Julia is playing kickball with young kids. Watching how vulnerable everyone is, Alfred thinks to himself that bravery and skill aren’t enough to protect innocent people. There is only one way to keep them safe: accept the reality of the situation.
Everything comes to a head on the eve of the Gotham Zoo shooting anniversary. Mayoral candidate Hill holds a campaign rally bragging that he now has Bullock and the police department’s endorsement to replace the hospitalized Mayor Gordon. He also announces that the city won’t turn on the memorial lights this year because it would be a mockery while blood is running in the streets.
Sitting alone in the shadows of the abandoned Gotham Zoo, next to a giant broken stone skull, Bruce looks at his phone. On the screen is a video call from Roman Sionis.
Sionis repeats his offer of two hundred million dollars if Batman just stands down for one single week. Bruce thinks about all the good Batman could do with that money: the cars, the weapons, the tech he could build to actually stand a chance against the Arks. He cuts Sionis off mid-sentence and says, “Enough. I’ll take the deal.”
