WARNING: Spoilers for Robins #3 ahead!
In many ways, DC Comics’ Batman is his own worst enemy. And the Dark Knight Detective’s latest mistake has the potential to cost him the one thing he wants more than anything else: justice for his arch foe, Joker. While he’s undoubtedly a true hero, Batman's single-minded nature and intellect can often get the better of him, endangering himself and alienating him from the allies he seeks to protect.
After all, Batman will do anything he can to keep Gotham safe, but more than a few of his ingenious information systems are incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands. Robins #3 by Tim Seeley and Baldemar Rivas features yet another example of Batman’s data being used against his allies. And while he may not be present in this issue, it also presents Gotham’s greatest villain with an airtight alibi.
With Batman’s former partners teaming up to take down the Junior Supercriminals, they find themselves squaring off with what appears to be a who’s who of Gotham’s most notorious criminals thanks to a holographic construction material called Triplux. With this tech, and hacked access to Batman’s intelligence files, the young villains are able to perfectly replicate the identities of their supervillain idols right down to their most iconic lines. And while the Robins do manage to come out on top in this particular instance, this terrifying tech presents plenty of problematic possibilities for Gotham City’s legal system.
This isn’t the first time that Batman’s technology and contingencies have been misappropriated. In the fan-favorite Tower of Babel storyline by Mark Waid and Howard Porter, Ra’s al Ghul uses the Dark Knight's emergency plans to cripple the Justice League and nearly take over the world. And even more recently, it is the Clown Prince of Crime himself who uses the Batman’s technology and resources to take over Gotham City. With everything he has access to even before he steals Bruce Wayne’s wealth, it’s not inconceivable that this tech has managed to find its way into the hands of the Joker.
Even if he’s never come across this technology directly, it still gives him the perfect alibi to any of his heinous crimes. After all, while the notion of shapeshifters could be tricky even in a comic book court of law, this technology is clearly out in the hands of noted criminals who are using it to look, sound, and even move like villainous idols. All the Joker would need to do would be to claim he was being framed using this technology – and with the inability of Gotham’s vigilantes to testify in a court of law, there’s a strong chance that it would work.
Batman’s tech has done a lot of good for Gotham City, but this time, it could be its undoing. While it’s unlikely that the Joker would ever let anyone else take credit for his schemes, it still presents a dangerous opportunity for the Clown Prince to wriggle his way out of the law’s hands. And if DC Comics’ Joker is allowed to go free because of a mistake he makes, Batman will never forgive himself.