Batman (2025) # 156

 By Mark Rodriguez

The Riddler is working with the Court of Owls as Bruce's mysterious long-lost brother is trying to gain access of most of Wayne's shares. Elsewhere, despite Gordon thinking he shot and killed Mayor Nakano in self defense, it turns out he is being framed by the Riddler. What will happen next as Batman now turns his attention towards Nygma?

 

"The Dying Wish" Part 4 opens with Gotham police trying to keep things under control as protesters are now causing fires and explosions in the city. The officers things have gotten so out of hand they can't tell the protesters apart from the counter-protesters. They seem intent on blowing up a 'symbol of capitalism' while the new hero, Commander Star is just standing around and letting it happen. The officer tells his sergeant that they need back up, but the sarge says they're currently running low on manpower at the precinct.

At the station, Batman and Jim Gordon are fighting off the cops as they continue to try to arrest them. Batman tells Jim that he discovered that Riddler framed him. Batman activates something in his glove that tases all the cops in the room. Gordon tells Batman to go get Riddler. Harvey Bullock shows up and tells Batman not to move. Batman hands Bullock the glasses and explains that Riddler framed Gordon using the Mad Hatter's mind control technology. 

 

At Nygmatech Tower, Nygma tells Leonid that Batman is coming, finally having figured out the glasses. Leonid asks why Nygma is so excited. Nygma puts on his domino mask and says he loved the thrill, laying out the hints and seeing Batman figure them out. Riddler says he's not going to jail. He's on the verge of taking over Wayne Industries as his part of the bargain. Likewise, the Court of Owls have given him a new mayor he can walk over as well as Owl goons to help in the upcoming fight. 

Riddler calls Leonid 'comrade', and Leonid asks how he knew. Riddler said he always knew. He doesn't know Leonid's motives or who he works for. He only cares about the game. He tells Leonid that he should leave since his guest has arrived.

As Batman arrives, he figures he can just go to the roof but then he wouldn't be playing Riddler's game and people might die. Batman enters the building and sees a woman strapped to a device with a giant drill aimed at her head. Nygma's riddle is 'I'm a helpful pouch of fluid, what am I?'. Batman recognizes the woman as Sandra Tilford, Nakano's assistant. The answer to the riddle was 'a cyst' as in 'assist'.

 

The machine lets Sandra go. Riddler says he has another life on the line, which is the Mad Hatter. Riddler tells Batman that he has outfitted all of his security with those mind control glasses. He says he has five minutes to determine what floor Mad Hatter is on, and he asks if he would rather stop the terrorists from blowing up buildings. He asks what is Victor's (Mr. Freeze) favorite number. Batman tells Sandra to run and get the police to evacuate Wayne Enterprises. Batman will stay behind and win Riddler's game.

Jim Gordon runs into Koyuki as she was asked to return to the station for more questioning. Jim says that Bullock let him go before Savage (the current police commissioner) could stop him. He tells her that they have proof that he is innocent and didn't kill Chris. Koyuki is upset that her husband and the father of her child is dead. She is angry that Jim still went to confront him and fight with him about him no longer being the commissioner. She said they both made this about themselves, and treated her like someone needed saving. She has her son how has no father and yet Gordon is smiling about his innocence. She tells him that this isn't about him.

Batman makes it to the 32nd floor where several security guards and members of the Court of Owls await him. Riddler says that naturally Mr. Freeze's favorite number would be 32 degrees (the freezing point of water) and says he might have lost his touch. He says he will stop challenges Batman's mind for now and will give him a physical challenge. He states that mind controlled security guards might not be the best fighters, so he borrowed several Court of Owls members from a friend. He says the Court of Owls are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. As Batman fights his way past the armed guards, he hopes the Riddler keeps talking and gives things away.

As Riddler watches the Dark Knight fight through his security cameras, he says he missed this and he missed Batman. He said he's being doing it wrong all these years and everything is better with money. Batman finds a room called A.I. ICE and kicks it open, freeing the Mad Hatter. Riddler says he supposes that 'A.I ICE' could be read as 'Alice', the story the Mad Hatter is obsessed with. Batman tells Jervis to get away and get himself checked out. Jervis is upset that the Riddler perverted his hat designs. He runs off saying that the Riddler can't have them.

Riddler delivers another riddle 'Not in pounds, but I measure weight. I won beauty's love which I started to hate'. Batman stops him and knows this is from 'Crime and Punishment'. When he went to the restaurant earlier it was 'The Darker the Light, the Brighter the Stars'. Batman says this came from Mykov, a Rusian poet. He also says Churchill used the phrase 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery, wrapped inside an enigma', which was referring to Russia. Batman points out that Leonid is a Russian name and the Court of Owls have fallen under Russian control.

Riddler says it's appears he's right but it's no concern for him. Batman says that Nygma is a fool. His company created software that can encrypt and decrypt the world's most secure servers. If Leonid works for the Russian government, that software could give them access to everything, which includes nuclear weapons. Batman says the Riddler just gave them access to all of it, which makes Nygma pause.

Batman asks Riddler where the primary server room is. Riddler says it's on the 21st floor. Nygma is trying to shut it down but something is blocking him. Riddler tells Batman the main code is on row 4, section 8. He says everything else it just for computer power but the Nygma Drive runs everything. More members of the Owls start attacking Batman, and one of them manages to stab him in the shoulder.

 

Batman continues to fight off the Owls as Riddler says he can't see or hear anything in that room. One of the Owls pins Batman down is about to stab him. Just then Gordon knocks him out by hitting him on the back of the head with a fire extinguisher. Gordon says the security desk was lit up and he just followed the red lights. Batman says the Riddler is on the top floor but that isn't their priority. Batman notices that Leonid, the leader of the Court of Owls, has taken the cryptography code. Batman needs to get to him before he flees the country with it. He hopes he didn't find the tracker he placed on him.

Batman gives Jim a spare utility belt to face the Riddler, since he showed up unarmed. He apologizes for not believing him. Jim says he did the job, which is all any of them can do.

The Mad Hatter is happy to find his hat again, but then notices a bomb set near it, set to explode in a little over nine minutes. At this time Batman had already left the building.

As Batman heads for the Batmobile, he calls Rowan (speaking as Bruce) to see if everything is OK. Rowan apologizes as she feels this is her fault. He thinks the protests are Nygma's fault in an attempt to lower share prices. She says she was working with him and helped him locate his long lost brother. She said she wanted to merge the company to make it stronger but instead made things worse. Bruce says it's OK and asks if the police mentioned that any other buildings were also being targeted.

Nygma grabs his paperwork and is ready to run. Jim arrives to stop him. Nygma says Gordon can't arrest him since he is no longer the commissioner. Jim says he's there to beat him within an inch of his life. As he punches him, Jim says he made him kill a man. Riddler says he didn't make him sleep with the mayor's wife.

 

Just then Nygma's bodyguard Rhonda shows up and she chucks Jim over her head and across the room. Rhonda picks up the entire office desk and tosses it at Jim, which he barely avoids. Gordon tosses several smoke bombs at Rhonda. He then tosses Batarangs, which stab into both her arms. Riddler makes a run for it and says that Leonid told him to target him. Gordon tosses a Batarang that cuts alongside Riddler's ankle. Gordon says Leonid is next. Gordon pins Riddler down and then something catches his attention. He notices the bomb with nine seconds left to go. Gordon helps Nygma get out of the room. The top floor of NygmanTech explodes.

Batman follows the tracker on Leonid as he is now in the Gotham airfield. Batman figures if he really is a Russian agent, he could trigger World War III. The one part Batman can't figure out is how Commander Star fits into the plan, as well as tearing down Bruce Wayne's efforts to clean up Gotham. He wonders if this was all a distraction.

Meanwhile Commander Star is giving out guns to everyone as he tells the people they have to stop Gotham from falling under communism. He says if they have to tear the city down to rebuild it, so be it.

Batman figures that Commander Star works for Leonid. He recites the last riddle again 'not in pounds, but I measure weight, I won the beauty's love which I started to hate'. Batman figures the beast has won beauty's love and the first part of the riddle is referring to kilograms. As Batman remembers that kilogram is abbreviated to KG, he figured it out. He has a rematch with one of the best fighters in the world. It turns out that Commander Star is actually KG Beast.

 

Aquaman # 1 Preview- 

Aquaman is back in action as a hero and member of the Justice League. He has new powers, as he has taken on his wife's Mera's hydrokinesis powers. A plane is about to crash land, and Aquaman focuses his powers on creating a huge wave to catch the plane. Mera says he has done well, but now he has to let the plane down gently. The story continues in Aquaman # 1.

 

My Thoughts-

Wow, this story should take a drastic turn. So pretty much Leonid somehow gained control of the Court of Owls and got Nygma into a legit business, while at the same time trying to control Mayor Nakano. Leonid was counting on gaining access to Nygma's tech but Nakano was preventing that from happening. When Nakano refused to cooperate, he had to go. 

The one part that doesn't make sense is the chance encounter between Jim and Koyuki and their affair. Based on how she acted in this issue, she is clearly not in on this plan and is just an innocent caught in the crossfire. We saw in the last issue that Leonid somehow discovered the affair and told Nakano about it. I can only assume that Leonid could have sent a Talon after Nakano, but having this play out this way would be a way to get rid of both Nakano and Gordon. Like Riddler said, they didn't make Jim sleep with the mayor's wife... but it was sure was awfully convenient for the bad guys that he did.

I'm glad we're getting back to Commander Star, since he seems to be more of a footnote after his introductory scene. The reveal that he is KG Beast will lead to a big rematch for sure. I'm guessing  he's meant to cause chaos to distract Batman form whatever Leonid is doing, because even though one works for the other, they both have very different plans. The only puzzle piece that hasn't been explained yet is Bruce's mystery brother. Seeing as Leonid was intent on keeping Bruce from even seeing the guy.... there's a chance thus mystery guy is just paperwork and there really isn't a Mr. Pureford.

The story concludes next issue. I'm assuming top priority is to stop Leonid at the airport, and then fight KG Beast. I would have liked that sort of thing to be take place over more than a single issue. Maybe they'll even cram in the mystery brother and solve that in 2 pages. It just seems like a lot to solve in a single issue. 

There are three things that stand out in this story. Like I mentioned several times before, where the hell is the Bat-Family during all this, especially Catwoman. Aside from the newer things like Vandal Savage being commissioner and Chris Nakano as former mayor, this story almost feels like it could take place in the 90's run when Batman was mostly a solo act in the issues between Jason's death and Tim's introduction. Like there is not even a shoutout to any of them. I'm not asking for them to sidetrack the story, but even a mention of Nightwing and Batgirl keeping the protestors under control while Batman was dealing with the Riddler would be better than pretending they don't even exist.

Despite being lobotomized by  Failsafe and Captio, Nygma still can't shake being the Riddler and playing the mind games with Batman. Maybe his riddles were so easy since he's rusty, but it was clearly something Captio's machine wasn't able to completely get rid of. Even trying to go legit and earn money by running an actual business, that urge to match wits with Batman is just too strong.

The last thing is that maybe the bomb needed to be set for longer than nine seconds in that final page. I mean, Riddler was on the top floor. How will Gordon help Riddler limp his way out of a skyrise in nine seconds before the building or at the very least, the floor blows up. And did they just leave that bodyguard Rhonda to die?

 

Also there's quite a lot of Batarang stabbing going around for innocents. Rhonda is just doing her job. Worse off, the security guards are being mind controlled. Imagine being snapped back to reality and see that you have a friggin' Batarang impaled through your hand???