{"id":393221,"date":"2026-01-07T14:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/393221\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T14:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:18:10","slug":"absolute-batman-ark-m-special-1-introduces-a-new-take-on-one-of-the-dark-knights-deadliest-foes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/393221\/","title":{"rendered":"ABSOLUTE BATMAN: ARK M SPECIAL #1 Introduces A New Take On One Of The Dark Knight’s Deadliest Foes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Absolute Batman: Ark M Special went on sale in comic stores today, revealing more about the Absolute Joker’s twisted past. The issue opens with Dr. Amadeus Arkham recounting his life, revealing that a young boy, covered in blood, showed up on his door in 1885.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He took him in and raised the child as his son, all while watching over Arkham Asylum’s twisted inmates. Among them was John\u00a0Doe, a disturbed\u00a0killer who\u00a0Amadeus believes to be Jack the Ripper (and may well be the Absolute Universe’s immortal Joker, a.k.a. Joseph “Jack” Grimm).\u00a0<\/p>\n

John eventually managed to break out, seemingly killing the doctor’s adopted son and leaving\u00a0Amadeus to mourn his failings. Decades later,\u00a0Grimm visits the Asylum and the shocking truth is revealed: he wasn’t John Doe, he was the boy that\u00a0Amadeus took in.<\/p>\n

He killed John and returned to the Asylum in the 1940s to mock the man who took him in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Learning the truth,\u00a0Amadeus burned down the Asylum, allowing The Joker to take it over and transform it into Ark M in the present. Grimm’s goal from the start was to mock and destroy\u00a0Amadeus, and he decides to release two of the institution’s prisoners to deal with his new foe, Batman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among those listed as being in Grimm’s\u00a0biomes\u00a0are Kirk Langstrom\/Man-Bat, Pamela Isley\/Poison Ivy, Hugo Strange, Jonathan Crane\/Scarecrow,\u00a0Basil Karlo\/Clayface, and Jarvis Tetch\/Mad Hatter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, there’s someone else who wants to take their shot at the Caped Crusader: Deathstroke.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He’s seemingly wearing an eyepatch and appears to have metal legs, perhaps making this version of Slade Wilson a literal Terminator. The villain is currently expected to clash with Bruce Wayne in Absolute Batman #19, but there may ultimately be a bigger target on Alfred Pennyworth’s back.<\/p>\n

“He has a long old relationship with Alfred,” writer Scott Snyder previously said of the Absolute Deathstroke. “They trained together, they were old allies, they were friends, right? And now he\u2019s his worst enemy and he sort of teamed up with Joker and that whole group.”<\/p>\n

“So for Alfred, that character is the pinnacle, like it\u2019s the person he\u2019s afraid of facing, it\u2019s his Darth Vader, you know?” he added. “It\u2019s the person he feels he let down, it\u2019s the person he feels guilty about, it\u2019s the person he failed, if he\u2019s Obi-Wan in that way.”<\/p>\n

Check out a first look at\u00a0Absolute Batman: Ark M Special’s take on Deathstroke below.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
\n
\n <\/p>\n

INTO ARK-M! The origins of the enigmatic Ark M are explored! What terrible secrets lie within its walls, and just who is assigned to protect it from discovery?!<\/p>\n


\n
\n <\/p>\n

ABSOLUTE BATMAN: ARK M SPECIAL #1

\nWritten by SCOTT SNYDER, FRANK TIERI

\nArtwork by JOSHUA HIXON<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0Absolute Batman: Ark M Special went on sale in comic stores today, revealing more about the Absolute Joker’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[190550,9417,88,206],"class_list":{"0":"post-393221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-absolute-batman-ark-m-special","9":"tag-dc-comics","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}