WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Legends of the Dark Knight #12 by Matthew Rosenberg, Cian Tormey, Matt Hollingsworth and Aditya Bidikar, on sale now.
Gotham has proven to maintain an unusually large population of reformed villains. While some of Batman’s former foes have returned to a life of normalcy, there are others who have tried their hand at the hero game like Harley Quinn and Red Hood. They’ve proved essential to some of the Dark Knights’ missions even if their methods do not align with Batman’s. Killer Croc is one who has been proving that he is not necessarily evil by helping Batman out of a dire situation.
After a hurricane, the flood walls of Gotham had been destroyed. As Batman rescued endangered citizens throughout the flooded city, he noticed Killer Croc watching him from afar. Batman assumed that Croc was responsible for the flood and engaged the villain in combat. Croc claimed that the flood caused tremendous damage in his sewers and that he found the culprits responsible, but they shot him with a harpoon on sight. This led Croc to search for the man who claims to help all citizens of Gotham – Batman.
The pair then teamed up and found the group responsible for the flood in the middle of a heist at the Gotham Stock Exchange. Batman laid out a plan that would save the servers and stop the criminals, but Croc was ready to enact his revenge. He came through an airlock, flooding the entirety of the Stock Exchange’s servers, and immediately began attacking the armed thugs. Croc was extremely vicious in his attacks, biting through the thugs’ arms and breaking bones as he fought. After they had defeated the criminals, Batman began chastising Croc for his reckless actions that caused the servers to be destroyed. Croc rebuked Batman’s accusation, stating that he ended the real crisis and did his part in the plan. He further explained that if Batman does not like how Croc conducts himself, he should prevent any emergencies before they affect him and his sewers.
Killer Croc used to be one of Batman’s most vicious villains but has developed more of a sense of humanity over the years. While Killer Croc’s relationship with the sewers has been rocky, he’s grown more accustomed to it and treats it as his home. He feels that the sewers are actually less chaotic than the surface world and seems to keep to himself. Croc even tried to mutate Gotham citizens in an effort to free them from the chaos of the surface in Detective Comics #1026 by Peter J. Tomasi, Kenneth Rocafort and Daniel Brown. It shows that even though Croc’s methods may be extreme, he is still making an effort to do good.
Killer Croc has shown that he is willing to go the extra mile to keep his sewers safe. He joins the likes of Azrael and Red Hood in his approach to dealing with crime. All three of these characters have found that brutal force, sometimes to a lethal extent, can be used for good. Azrael took over for Batman after the events of Knightfall and used extreme violence to strike fear in the villains of Gotham. Batman: Shadow of the Bat #19 depicted just one of these violent measures. This issue saw Azrael attack a biker gang, leaving them bloodied and beaten beyond repair. After this brutal attack, Azrael questioned how Bruce held the mantle of Batman without losing control. On the other hand, Jason Todd is arguably the most brutal member of the Bat-Family and had proven it on more than one occasion. Jason has often used violence to stop potential threats. This violence would often turn lethal and Jason never shied away from killing Gotham’s criminals.
Like Red Hood and Azrael, Killer Croc has proven that he can use his violence and aggression to thwart would-be threats. Batman might not agree with Croc’s methods, but Croc surely does not need the Bat’s approval. Though Bruce may find that murder crosses the line, he still frequently works with those who kill. While Batman won’t go out of his way to recruit the help of Croc, he still has to be thankful that Croc is not actively opposing him anymore.
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