Warning! Spoilers ahead for Batman #135!The ending of the 1989 Batman movie has been completely undone thanks to the resurrection of the Joker. A new Dark Knight villain has given the world of Batman '89 one of its most fearsome foes back thanks to their experiments with the multiverse.

In Batman #135 by Chip Zdarsky, Mikel Janín, Mike Hawthorne, and Jorge Jiménez, Darwin Halliday, aka the Red Mask and a Joker variant, is going forward with a plan to break his mind and become his world's Joker. But Halliday breaks a different way when he realizes his destiny isn't to become the Joker but to create them.

Red Mask True Purpose Revealed DC Comics

Red Mask evades Batman by throwing himself into a portal that takes Halliday across the multiverse. Bruce is kicked into the portal by a variant of Catwoman, and while Batman doesn't have the material that can take him to his own universe, he can still follow Red Mask. Bruce's pursuit leads him to Earth-789, a world modeled, in part, after the Batman '89 film continuity. As Bruce gets his bearings, he sees a news report that this world's Joker is back and that the body of Jack Napier is missing.

DC Brings Jack Nicholson's Joker Back from the Dead

Joker 89 is Back DC Comics

Tim Burton's Batman was one of the Dark Knight's first cinematic outgoings and a movie that created a wave of 'Batmania'. The movie starred Michael Keaton as the titular hero and also starred Jack Nicholson as the Clown Prince of Crime. Deviating from the comics, this movie gave a definitive origin to the Joker, turning him into a criminal named Jack Napier and also made him responsible for the death of Batman's parents. The Joker's reign of terror came to an end after the duo's final confrontation, an event that ended with villain falling to his death.

But now, after three decades, the villain that tormented the Burtonverse's Batman is back. DC Comics has recently expanded upon the film's canon with the limited series Batman '89. While the comic brought in characters that never got a chance to appear in the Burton-directed Batman movies, such as Robin and Two-Face, Jack Napier remained dead. But thanks to Red Mask, Earth-789's Joker is back, and according to Batman, Halliday's new batch of Jokers are worse than any that have come before. This could be an interesting plot point for future stories set in the Batman '89 continuity to explore.

Batman '89's Joker is Back, and DC Needs to Tell His Story

Red Mask Joker Creation DC Comics

The 1989 Batman film is one of the most beloved movies in the character's canon and DC opened up a world of possibilities by creating a series set in the Burtonverse. Now that the Joker is back and more violent than ever, DC should capitalize on that and follow this plot up in a new book. How will Michael Keaton's Batman react once his parents' killer is alive again? And will Red Mask's alterations to Jack Napier make him more intimidating than he was before? Resurrecting Jack Napier presents a real opportunity for an interesting story that hopefully will be told one day. Fans can see Batman '89's Joker return in Batman #135, on sale now.