WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Next Batman: Second Son #5, by John Ridley, Travel Foreman, Deron Bennett and Rex Lokus, on sale now.
In The Next Batman: Second Son, we’re gleaning insight into Tim/Jace Fox that we couldn’t when we saw him as the new Dark Knight in Future State. Here, we’re learning more of the man before he took up the vigilante mantle, understanding how much he hates bullies. In fact, despite a shady past that saw him flee Gotham, Jace stood by his principles, which led to him running missions in Vietnam to take down terrorists.
Now that he’s back home, though, Jace has to wrestle with his family’s problems, especially as his sister, Tam, has fallen ill again. However, while Jace is juggling all this and figuring out where to fit in, Issue #5 has him on a new mission — to take down Gotham’s most toxic online troll.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
Jace is stunned when his little sister, Tiffany, shows him online posts about Tam in hospital. He has no clue how someone could get pics showing her in her horrible state after being poisoned, but he wants revenge. Granted, he can’t show it in front of Tiff as he wants to be an exemplary role model. When he gets a chance, though, he has his handler, Vol, take time off from hunting the villain, Arkadine, and get him intel on the troll: Ubetz.
Jace is pretty pissed because with over a million followers, it seems this person’s been seeding out crap about the Fox family since they inherited the Wayne fortune. It’s led to racist harassment on the internet, which has pushed Lucius over the edge recently, fracturing Luke mentally too, as they didn’t ask for this.
Vol warns Jace, though, to control his temper because murdering a troll isn’t worth it. Ironically, Jace, who told Tiff the universe will handle it and that karma will play its role, finds Ubetz getting tossed out a club for sneaking around to snap pics of women.
But Jace wants a piece of him before the bouncers beat him up, which sadly leads to him taking them out. Thinking Jace is a friend, Ubetz tries to form a bond, only to get his wrist broken. As he writhes in pain, Jace warns him to stay offline or else he’ll be cancelled in a different way.
It’s pretty impressive he tempered himself and kept his emotions in check, especially knowing how much the internet hates his family and is actually rooting for Tam to die. It shows the insecurity, pettiness and envy of people, but like Jace told Vol and Tiff, there are better ways to solve problems than by killing. And it looks like he trusted and backed himself to do the right thing, all while having some fun with an insensitive and invasive douche.
About The Author
