2004 (Timeline)

*Events occurring in 2004***2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006**Everything that happened in the year **2004 AD**.

## January

### 28

* Superman creates the Signal Watch and gives it to Jimmy Olsen for if he gets in more trouble than he can get himself out of, which happens often. Giving him the watch is also an excuse Superman came up with to get Jimmy more journalistic experience. His thought is that since Jimmy can contact him, Lois Lane will bring him along when investigating a story she might need to call Superman in, which is a lot of them.

## February

### 5

* **(Event / Batman Meets The Man Who Laughs / Start)**
* Joker uses nine employees at an Ace Chemical Processing Plant to help make his Joker Toxin. To test if it works, he unleashes it on them. They all die laughing. He mangles their corpses around the plant.

### 6

* Early in the morning, Captain Jim Gordon arrives at the scene of the crime. There's a dead man outside a factory with a smile vaster than what seems possible. He goes inside and sees eight mangled corpses all across the room with the same grin. Batman arrives for Gordon to present him the room. Later that night, Bruce Wayne is drinking in a club with fellow billionaire Henry Claridge. The news report in the background begins to get louder as they hear the woman reporting cackle, with that same grin all of the victims at the factory had. She dies, behind her emerges a man in a purple tuxedo with chalk-white skin, emerald green hair, and a sinister scarlet smile. He introduces himself as The Joker and threatens everyone in Gotham by saying they're all going to die. Bruce sneaks out of the club unnoticed. The Joker says that Henry Claridge will be the first to go at the stroke of midnight. Batman arrives at the scene where the Joker was broadcasting and sees a poem stained on a wall with the woman's blood, which says, "One by one they'll hear my call, then this wicked town will follow my fall." Gordon arrives for Batman to shows him the poem. He says he'll get police on Claridge as soon as possible. An hour before midnight, Batman arrives at where the police are keeping Claridge and waits. Midnight comes, and nothing seems to happen.

### 7

* Batman notices Henry's wide grin and leaps down through the skylight to see if he can help, but he's already dead. Gordon gets a call and hears that the Joker released a handful of Arkham Asylum's inmates and gave them weaponry. Batman runs to the Asylum and knocks out all of the escaped inmates before they hurt anyone. Bruce then goes to the Batcave and studies a sample of the toxin Joker used on Claridge to see if he can find an antidote. While Bruce does this, Joker broadcasts himself again. He says James Gordon failed to protect his city and Jay W. Wilde is next. The feed cuts. Bruce begins searching for a connection between Henry Claridge and Jay W. Wilde. Soon after that, the police go to Wilde's place to keep him safe. Batman informs Gordon that Henry got exposed to a poison released at midnight that caused his death.

### 8

* When midnight comes, a police helicopter crashes in the yard of Wilde's home as smoke bombs come down the chimney. Batman puts on his gas mask and sees Joker walk-in shooting at the room. Batman throws a flash bomb at him to then tackle the clown. Joker and Batman fight hand-to-hand for a while before the police fire at both of them. Batman catches Joker in a grappling line, only to have the Joker headbutt him in the nose, slightly fracturing it. Joker then jumps out the window and grabs the latter of a new helicopter. As he escapes, he shoots Wilde in the face, killing him. Bruce discovers the connection between the two victims. They were both founders of Ace Chemicals. Bruce decides to go undercover as a reporter named Wayne Bristow and investigate Ace Chemicals. He speaks to a worker with white spots on his face, similar to the Joker's skin. The worker explains that he got exposed to chemicals that made his skin white and his hair green. Bruce returns to the Batcave to see if he can synthesis an antidote for the toxin. He remembers that the leader of the Red Hood Gang fell into an Ace Chemicals vat and was never seen again. Bruce is very sure that this unknown man is the Joker. Bruce speaks to Alfred about how he expected to deal with criminals but, in all his years investigating the criminal psyche, he has never seen a mind like the Joker's. To cut Bruce off mid-thought, Joker broadcasts himself once more. This time he plans to kill two people, judge Thomas Lake and socialite Bruce Wayne. The police arrive at Wayne Manor shortly after while Bruce acts as if he just now woke up and heard the news. The police stay close by all day while Bruce pretends he doesn't think the threat is that big. To himself, he knows that he needs to be looking for the Joker and can't just sit around and wait all day, but he has no choice. Midnight comes.

### 9

* The Joker's goons attack Judge Lake in his home and kill him. Bruce begins to laugh maniacally as he fights with the police officers at his home. They hold him down and inject him with a sedative which causes Bruce to pass out. Alfred says he'll take his master to the hospital, but in reality, he goes out back and injects him with the newly made cure. Bruce awakens minutes later to the sound of gunfire. Outside of Wayne Manor is Joker's men are firing at the police. Bruce suits up as Batman and knocks out all of the clowns. He takes the Batcycle out to Gotham and calls Gordon as he just now figured out what the Joker's plan is. He is angry at Gotham for allowing the chemicals that disfigured him to still be out there. Joker had maps of a reservoir bypass system yesterday. He tells Gordon to shut off the city's water reservoir because the Joker is going to put his toxin in the water supply and infect everyone in Gotham, killing the entire city. Gordon calls the Water Reservoir, but no one answers as Joker killed everyone that works there. Batman arrives and knocks out all of Joker's goons. He makes himself known to Joker. Joker says he's been a joy killer and doesn't understand why Batman cares so much about stopping his fun. Batman says he'll always be there to stop madmen like him. Joker says he's too late and is about to release the chemicals. Batman pulls out a detonator and presses it This blows up the dam, which means the chemicals have no way of getting to the water supply. Joker attacks him with a wrench as a fight ensues. After a while of the two fighting, the SWAT arrives with helicopters and opens fire on the two. One of the SWAT officers fires a rocket launcher near the Joker, which blows him off the rooftop. Batman jumps after the cackling Joker and catches him. He uses his grapple gun to stop their fall in time before the line disconnects but drops them at a survivable height. They landed near two of Joker's men, who have guns pointed at Batman. Joker is confused why he would save him. He reminds Batman that he's trying to kill him and then murders the two men with a gun. Joker says that they were bad men and deserve death just like him. Joker points a gun at his own head before Batman knocks him on the ground. Just then, the police arrive at their location. Batman pushes a button on his gauntlet, which calls the Batplane to pick him up. He grapples onto the plane and leaves the Joker in the custody of the GCPD. Joker thinks about why Batman would fall for him, why does this dark knight care so much about life. Joker no longer wishes to kill Batman. He finds him much too interesting now. **(Event / Batman Meets The Man Who Laughs / End)**

## March

### 6

* Alice Johnson begins interning at the Daily Planet.

## April

### 1

* Wylxa, Green Lantern of Sector 6, dies.

## August

### 8

* Joker impregnates a woman named Greta Machin unbeknownst to him.

### 12

* Superman and Batman meet for the first time and team up to stop Lex Luthor and the Joker.

## October

### 1

* Oliver Queen and his dad, Robert Queen, go out for a two-week cruise on their yacht, the Queen's Gambit. Oliver takes his girlfriend at the time, Sara Lance, whose father did not want her hanging out with Oliver since he saw him as a bad influence, but they didn't care.

### 2

* Before Oliver and Sara were to have sex, the ship capsized, seemingly drowning Sara in front of Oliver's eyes. He survived the capsizing along with his father and another crew member on a small life raft with little supplies.

### 3

* Once his father realized that not all of them were going to survive, he gave Oliver a small book and said that he's not the man he thinks he is. Robert wasn't a man who helped save the city, he failed it. He then kills the other man on the raft and then himself before telling his son to "survive".

### 7

* Oliver washes up on the shore of Lian Yu.

## November

### 2

* Jonathan Crane is put in Arkham Asylum.

### 11

* Gregory Charles Gragor is born to Pamela and Harvey Gragor in Smallville.

### 27

* **(Event / The Bat, The Cat, and The Gunman / Start)** Batman and Catwoman prevent Deadshot from assassinating Batman for Penguin. During the battle, Catwoman is shot by one of Deadshot's poison bullets. Batman rushes her to the Batcave for Alfred and him to save her life before the poison kills her.

### 28

* After a few stressful hours, Catwoman wakes up. Alfred puts the bullet on display in the Batcave. **(Event / The Bat, The Cat, and The Gunman / End)**

## December

### 18

* **(Event / Bat & Cat at the Christmas Masquerade Ball / Start)** Batman and Catwoman talk on a rooftop after stopping a mugging. She says she wants to know more about him, like who he is under the cowl. Batman says the less she knows about him the better. They both look up to see mistletoe above them. Catwoman asks, "A kiss under the mistletoe?" Batman says to her, "You know, mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it." She grabs him by the shoulders, leans up to his mouth, and says, "But, a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it." She kisses him and he doesn't pull away.

### 20

* Bruce Wayne attends a Christmas masquerade ball. He does not wear a mask there. The only other person without a mask on is a woman that catches his eye. She walks over to him and they begin to chat. He asks her why she isn't wearing a mask and she responds, "I'm so tired of masks." Bruce smiles and says, "I know the feeling." He introduces himself as Bruce Wayne. She knows, of course she knows, she walked over here to rob him because of who he is. She introduces herself as Selina Kyle. After a while of small talk, she begins to warm up to him and asks to dance. While slow dancing, Bruce looks up and tells her they're under the mistletoe. Selina tells him, "Did you know mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it?" Bruce replies, "But, a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it." The two lock eyes for a full minute without breaking their stare. Selina then puts her head on Bruce's shoulder and they continue to dance. **(Event / Bat & Cat at the Christmas Masquerade Ball / End)**