Spoilers for Legends of the Dark Knight 12 ahead!
Killer Croc is one of Batman’s toughest foes, but in the DC Digital First Legends of the Dark Knight, the two forge an unlikely - and highly tense - alliance. The issue is on sale now through digital comics outlets.
When compared to the likes of the Joker or the Riddler, Killer Croc is a relatively new addition to the Batman canon, first appearing in 1983’s Detective Comics #524. Created by Gerry Conway, Don Newton, and Gene Colan, Killer Croc is actually Waylon Jones, a man born with reptilian features, including claws and scales in the place of skin. He also has super strength and stamina as well as a healing factor. He has become one of Batman’s more well-known foes, having made the transition to other media, including memorable appearances in Batman: The Animated Series and Suicide Squad. When not terrorizing Gotham City, Killer Croc sticks close to the sewers, and when massive floods sweep through Gotham, Batman takes to the underground looking for answers - and for Croc.
As the floods rampage and torrential rain pours down, Batman concludes the city’s floodwalls have collapsed, and Killer Croc is to blame. He soon finds Croc, with a harpoon lodged in his side - someone else got to him first. Croc denies the flooding was his doing, and that he actually saw who broke the walls; when Croc went to confront them, they harpooned him. With his beloved sewers now completely submerged, Croc needs Batman’s help in catching those who destroyed the walls. The two learn it was nothing more than a distraction created by the perpetrators of a massive heist at the Gotham Stock Exchange. The robbers were going to take advantage of the chaos generated by the flood to steal them. Croc and Batman forge an uneasy alliance and take out the thieves.
Over the years, Batman has been forced on occasion to work alongside a member of his rogues gallery. These alliances are tense and uneasy at best, and his recent alliance with Killer Croc is no different. Batman knows that, in most circumstances, Croc is a cold-blooded murderer, and the thought of working with such a person goes against every fiber of his being. Interestingly enough, it is Croc who proposes that he and Batman work together. Croc recognized that both the sewers and the streets of Gotham were under attack, and sought out Batman’s help, leaving readers to ponder Croc’s morality.
Killer Croc is a unique foe in Batman’s rogues gallery and a dangerous one, too, and they must put aside their differences and work together to save Gotham. Appearing in Legends of the Dark Knight 12, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” is written by Matthew Rosenberg, with art by Cian Tormey, colors by Matt Hollingsworth, and letters by Aditya Bidikar.