Warning, this article contains spoilers for Dark Nights: Death Metal #2.
Dark Nights: Death Metal will be introducing a horrifying new character straight out of Bruce Wayne's nightmares: Robin King. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Dark Nights: Metal series introduced terrifying versions of Bruce Wayne known as The Dark Knights in the wildly successful story line. Some of these characters included The Red Death (an evil Bruce version of The Flash), The Dawnbreaker (an evil Bruce version of Green Lantern), and the break-out character - The Batman Who Laughs. The Batman Who Laughs has been the most chilling of all the Dark Knights, a perfect mix of Batman and his demented nemesis The Joker. Scott Snyder has now revealed that an even more atrocious creation is set to torment the DC universe.
The Batman Who Laughs terrorized the DCU in Metal. A force to be reckoned with, he possessed the genius and physical abilities of the world's greatest detective melded with the complete insanity that is The Joker. He was the embodiment of Batman's worst fears on a mission to make his nightmares a reality with the help of his Dark Knights. As the arc progressed, The Batman Who Laughs only seemed to get more dastardly and powerful. But Scott Snyder says there may be an even more dreadful character in Robin King.
Robin King is a mutant minion of The Batman Who Laughs, a child tainted by Joker serum. After completely slaughtering all but one of his fellow underlings following his transformation, The Batman Who Laughs, now known as The Darkest Knight, considers one remaining minion as his sidekick. He learns the subordinate's backstory, which has been kept from readers, and dubs him worthy of becoming Robin King, a sidekick fit to serve the most powerful version of Batman yet. In an exclusive interview with CBR Snyder stated " I took the Batman Who Laughs and made him just...he's almost the maximum amount of horror I can stuff into a character and get away with at DC. But the Robin King is the real maximum" This new information sets the stage for a powerful new player in the Death Metal story line.
Snyder paints the picture of a child who has only known darkness his entire life, opposed to The Batman Who Laughs who was once the heroic Bruce Wayne, champion of justice. He also reveals that the Robin King will be well-equipped to battle the heroes of the DCU and has prepared to destroy heroes for most of his existence.
The writer disclosed that the following issues will exhibit the rise of Robin King. Synder even teased a battle with The Flash after Robin King dons his new costume. Even though Death Metal has just begun, readers have already witnessed the apparent death of The Batman Who Laughs and his devastating transformation into The Darkest Knight. With the introduction of Robin King, Synder and Capullo's next issues guarantee that things are just heating up.
Source: CBR