WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Infinite Frontier #1 by Joshua Williamson, Xermanico & Romulo Fajardo Jr, on sale now.
The DC Universe has been expanding since the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal shook the foundations of the entire multiverse. However, that means some loose ends and important figures are returning in unlikely ways as DC’s denizens come to grips with their multiversal history. And in the opening pages of Infinite Frontier #1, Thomas Wayne, the Batman of Flashpoint, makes a shocking return from parts unknown.
Infinite Frontier #1 opens with a mysterious rocket escaping an explosion and crash-landing on Earth-23 — home to Calvin Ellis, President Superman. Found by Calvin’s adopted parents, they open up the rocket and discover the Flashpoint Batman.
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Debuting in Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert’s Flashpoint #1, this Thomas Wayne watched his son die at the hands of Joe Chill. While his wife Martha gave into her grief and became the Joker of this timeline, Thomas instead dedicated himself to a ruthless war on crime. He was crucial to the restoration of the core DC timeline by helping Barry Allen fix reality and defeat Reverse-Flash.
However, a furious Eobard Thawne rescued Thomas and dragged him back to the restored DC Universe — hoping to break his spirit with the revelation that his son had also dedicated his life to the crusade of Batman. Deciding to help break Bruce of his commitment, Thomas became a part of Bane’s conspiracy against the Dark Knight and ultimately even became the final foe of writer Tom King’s run on Batman, where they engaged in one last brutal duel that ended with Bruce triumphant. As revenge for his betrayal, Bane eventually confronted Thomas in prison and seemingly broke his back, which doesn’t explain Thomas’s current condition where his back seems to be perfectly fine.
After being found on Earth-23, Thomas is brought to Justice Incarnate, the multiversal team of heroes that includes President Superman. Effectively the Justice League of the multiverse, Justice Incarnate is caught by surprise, especially when they learn the ship he arrived in is composed of metal that doesn’t seem to exist anywhere else in the known multiverse. Described as a “Cosmic Anomaly,” Machinehead — the team’s resident tech genius and Iron Man stand-in — even reveals he tested to determine if Thomas was from the Dark Multiverse, but that wasn’t the case either. It appears that someone had previously contracted him for a time, and Thomas quickly tries to escape the group, only to be shocked by the sheer scope of the Bleed and the House of Heroes.
Notably, though, it appears this is indeed the Thomas from Flashpoint instead of another universe’s version of him, as he cites his experience with Barry Allen — who is, unfortunately, moving through the multiverse at the time of his arrival and ends up in the grasp of Psycho-Pirate and Darkseid — suggesting this is indeed the Batman who survived Flashpoint. It’ll be interesting to see how Thomas develops from here. This incarnation of Batman has only existed since 2011’s Flashpoint, but he has had a major impact on Batman and the entire DC Universe as a whole. His apparent importance as an anomaly suggests the reality-altering nature of Flashpoint might have had a greater effect on the DC Multiverse than anyone fully realized, elevating the one apparent survivor into a possibly major multiversal figure.
But if the House of Heroes becomes a place where Thomas can find possible redemption, then it may cause strife with the Bat-Family of Earth-0, who have little love for the alternate universe Thomas. This Batman’s return could be the portent for any number of major changes going forward, and there’s no telling how the heroes of the greater DC Multiverse will respond to this dangerous Dark Knight.
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