Warning! Spoilers ahead for Batman #96

It's truly unbelievable to see the new levels and depths of torment Joker has been putting Batman through during his Joker War, and the stage is set for his next phase, promising to be perhaps the darkest and most upsetting thing he's ever done. Joker's using his knowledge of Bruce Wayne's entire life at his disposal, along with all of the money and resources he's stolen from him to great effect.  In Batman #96, Joker does the unthinkable, giving the Dark Knight a front-row seat to the chaos he's about to inflict on Gotham, using Bruce Wayne and Batman's collective trauma and failures as the fuel for his next wave of the war. Read on to learn more.

In Batman #95, Joker began his hostile takeover of Wayne Enterprises, having just stolen all of Bruce Wayne's resources and assets. With billions to use at a whim, Joker buys every theater and movie house in the city, with the crown jewel being the Monarch Theater, the very theater where Bruce Wayne went with his parents as a child, right before they were shot and killed in the alleyway outside. In Batman #96, it's been revealed that Joker has completely renovated it. In Batman's mind, it looks exactly the same (though it could be due to the new, more potent, Joker toxin in his system that Punchline injected him with in the last issue)

Related: Will The Batman Family Reunite Following Joker War?

When he enters the main screening room, the smell of rot and death is overwhelming to the Dark Knight. Every seat has been filled with a dead body, with some looking to have been dead and decomposing for years. The Joker appears on the big screen himself, dropping the super twisted and dark bomb on Batman: the bodies in the seats are every person Joker has ever killed. In other words, every person Batman ever failed to save from the Joker's evil. He says that they're his and Batman's family, and his men have been digging them all up out from their graves for weeks. He also adds that he's injected them all with tech he took from the Designer, right as all the bodies stand up and surround Batman, who no doubt are under Joker's control as his personal zombie army.

What Joker's done in this issue is incredibly dark and horrific, especially considering that the Monarch Theater isn't the only theater where he's done this. Every other theater and movie house has been bought and presumedly filled with dead Joker victims in the same fashion. Not only does that put Joker's career into a terribly large scope and perspective, but it has to shake Batman to his very core and being. Every person he's failed to save from Joker, now a ghost he'll have to fight against, in the very place where his major childhood trauma occurred.

It all seems like it would be too much to bear. However, Batman is still Batman, and he's been able to endure before. Hopefully, he'll be able to do so again as Joker War continues.

More: Interview: BATMAN Writer Prepares Fans For Joker War (and Beyond)