SPOILER WARNING for Batman/Superman #13

Batman’s archenemy, the Joker, is easily one of comics’ most twisted and insane villains, but, he is also can never fully be understood. While there is no shortage of crazy evildoers in Gotham City, the Clown Prince of Crime’s track record sets him on an entirely different level than the rest. Despite his efforts, the Joker is regularly defeated by the Caped Crusader. Batman uses a variety of tactics to defeat him and is sometimes able to think like the madman in order to predict his next moves. Unfortunately, Batman/Superman #13 proves that the Joker’s mind will always remain a mystery to Bruce Wayne, no matter how much he studies his foe.

First appearing in Batman #1 by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, the Joker has been a consistent thorn in Batman’s side for the past 80 years. Throughout his lengthy history, the criminal’s antics have varied from playful and silly, to gruesome and violent. One day he might turn a river into jelly and then the next day he might brutally beat a hero to death. Nobody can really be sure what he’s planning, including Batman. While the Dark Knight may be skilled at getting inside the minds of DC’s greatest villains, the Joker’s sporadic behavior makes him an exception, a fact which Batman knows to be true.

Related: The Joker Finally Gets The Insult He Always Deserved

In Batman/Superman #13 by Joshua Williamson and Max Raynor, the titular heroes are being held captive on the moon by a rogue Brainiac program that has merged with the villain profiles on the Batcomputer. The program tests Batman and Superman repeatedly by creating robotic versions of their worst villains and forcing them to fight these foes. Eventually, the program hopes to prepare them for an infinite number of scenarios. Looking for a way out, Batman realizes that there is only one person who can get them out of this mess: the Joker.

Batman asks the computer to create a Joker robot, knowing that the computer will have trouble with this task. Sure enough, as soon as the Joker bot appears, it begins to run amok, leaving a path of destruction. In fact, the Joker bot even rescues Superman from a robotic Lex Luthor. As Superman watches, dumbfounded, Batman appears and explains that “The Joker is a chaos engine that even the smartest computer will never understand.” Essentially, this means that the Joker is so unpredictable that there is no way to calculate what kinds of actions he will take. This uncertainty introduces a virus into the computer and saves Batman and Superman for the time being, even though they are not out of the woods yet.

Batman’s actions present some interesting information regarding his relationship with the Joker. Even though the Dark Knight tries to understand his enemies, he will never truly know what goes on in the mind of the Joker. There are some mysteries that even the World’s Greatest Detective can’t solve. Despite the clown’s unfathomable motivations, however, Batman is certainly the closest that anyone will ever get to understanding the JokerBatman/Superman #13 by Joshua Williamson and Max Raynor is available now from DC Comics.

Next: Batman Just Fought A Corrupted Batcomputer