Warning! Preview pages for Flashpoint Beyond #0 ahead!
There's been some pretty intense investigations that have tested the skills of Batman, but his next case may lead him all across the DC Universe in order to close it. A new preview for Flashpoint Beyond #0 gives readers a glimpse at the Dark Knight checking out the scene of a crime. Subtle hints show that a terrible crime may have occurred and the answer of what happened may lie across the DCU.
Things have been heating up in the DC Universe as of late, particularly for Batman. The hero has just been roped into an altercation featuring Talia Al Ghul and Deathstroke, with a mysterious murder at the center of it. The DC Universe is about to undergo its next Crisis-level event with Dark Crisis, with the death of the Dark Knight grimly leading into it. With war and extinction on the horizon, Batman is finding himself being pushed to his limits.
But that doesn't mean where there's a case to solve, he isn't there. As seen in a preview for Flashpoint Beyond #0 by Geoff Johns and Eduardo Risso, Batman is looking at a lab that is quite wrecked, probing into what my have transpired. His only clues are ticking clocks, blood spatters, a collection of historical artifacts, a Time-Sphere riddled with bullet holes, and a chalkboard with cryptic clues written on it. As Batman continues with his investigation, he discovers a notepad with a rough outline of the entire DC continuum written on it.
There's no doubt about it: Batman is looking into a possible murder. It doesn't take the World's Greatest Detective to figure out a violent altercation has occurred. But what is curious is who the potential victim may be. The chalkboard with prophetic snippets and a Time-Sphere are the trademark possessions of Rip Hunter, Time Master. It appears Batman is at the Vanishing Point, Hunter's base of operations that exists at the end of time. Of course, a murder can't exactly be proven without a body, but the evidence left at the crime scene does indicate something awful has happened, and it's happened at one of the worst possible times.
After all, as a Time Master, Rip Hunter possess knowledge for nearly everything that has occurred in history, including alternate timelines and universal catastrophes. He'd also know things about DC's expansive omniverse and would certainly be a target for anyone wanting to utilize that information. If Batman wants to solve the case of what's happened to Rip Hunter, he may want to prepare himself to scour every multiversal corner for clues.
Knowledge of the future would certainly come in handy with such awful things around the corner, but that may be why Rip has suddenly gone missing. If one thing is for certain, Batman will search high and low in the DC Universe in order to crack the case.