Season One

**Season One**is the first season of *Batman: Shadow War.*It is shown that Batman is in his second year as Gotham City's vigilante and a younger Batman confronts familiar villains for the first time with the aid of Alfred Pennyworth. It features iconic villains including Black Mask, Joker, Penguin, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Anarky, Man-Bat, Poison Ivy, and the Ventriloquist and Scarface. The police is also against Batman, especially James Gordon, initially but Batman's heroism will eventually earn their respect and trust.

## E1: A Bat Awakens

During the night, there is a drug shipment led by the False Facers, which Batman disrupts by sneaking up on the goons and knocking them unconscious. The last henchman attempts to escape but Batman catches him and grabs him, lifting him up which ultimately terrifies the goon, asking what he is. As the GCPD arrive with Captain James Gordon, Detective Harvey Bullock and Sergeant Renee Montoya in the front, they find the criminal tied to a searchlight, forming a makeshift Bat-Signal, much to Gordon's shock.

Batman then returns to the Batcave where he is greeted by Alfred Pennyworth, taking off his mask, revealing himself to be Bruce Wayne and they watch the news of Batman did, with Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb being interviewed and he states that he will bring Batman to justice, claiming that vigilantes are the worst kind of criminals due to believing in their justified actions and being above the law. In his office, Roman Sionis AKA Black Mask simultaneously watches the news and expresses his anger on the situation. Black Mask's personal assistant, Mrs. Lou, informs him that there was no trace of the attacker however also explains to him about the recent mysterious attacks on criminals from last year and this year. Due to this, Black Mask vows to kill Batman for messing with him and asks Lou to call his "friend" for him.

Meanwhile, Bruce speaks to Alfred at Wayne Manor about being Batman and leading a double life. The Batcomputer then informs them of a sudden riot at Blackgate Penitentiary, so Bruce becomes Batman and uses the Batwing to travel there.  At the GCPD, Gordon arms and armors himself up to contain the riot at Blackgate but before leaving, Loeb informs Gordon that Batman will probably arrive there and if he does, he wants Gordon to make him his top priority.

During the riot at Blackgate, Batman fights the escaped convicts and even stops one from killing a prison guard. After taking down the inmates, Batman asks the guard where Warden Martin Joseph is, to which the guard becomes scared of the vigilante and hesitantly tells him that he is in his office being held hostage. Batman goes there, but on the way, Gordon catches him and holds him at gunpoint to arrest. Batman tries to explain that Joseph is in his office as a hostage however Gordon demands for him to surrender and tells him that he'll have the SWAT unit take care of the situation.

Batman apologizes before dropping some smoke pellets, which causes Gordon to be unable to see Batman and shouts at him, however Batman escapes from the good cop and arrives at the office, where the SWAT team is guarding it much to Batman's confusion. It is then revealed that Black Mask is holding Joseph hostage and had tortured him into helping him create the riot, and that the SWAT leader, Lieutenant Howard Branden, is corrupt and on Black Mask's payroll along with Loeb, who also helped set up the riot. Black Mask holds a lit cigarette to Joseph's left eye, much to his horror, and sadistically burns his eye out as Batman takes out the corrupt SWAT officers. Branden and his remaining subordinates then fight Batman, leading Batman to aggressively knock out the officers before Branden shoots at Batman with his assault rifle, causing the Caped Crusader to throw a Batarang at his hand and disarm him, then delivers the finishing uppercut to knock him out.

Black Mask, angered and disappointed in the corrupt cops, takes his knife out and holds it to the bloodied and tortured Joseph to stop Batman from getting to him. Batman tells Black Mask to let him go, only for Black Mask to refuse and reveals that he started the riot just to get to Batman and kill him, before asking the vigilante if he is doing good if this is what he is causing. Batman then answers that Black Mask he will when he brings him to justice, along with the corrupt cops on his payroll and threatens the more he has to wait to take down Black Mask, the more bones he will break. Gordon then arrives on the scene, shocked by the unconscious SWAT team and to see Black Mask holding Joseph captive. Gordon ignores Batman and Loeb's orders to focus on Black Mask, shouting at him to surrender and let Joseph go.

Black Mask tells Gordon to kill Batman in order to have Joseph safely released, to which Gordon holds his pistol to Batman's chest but doesn't fire the bullet, instead Gordon shot out the room's lights to scare and blind Black Mask. With his Detective Mode to locate Black Mask, Batman grabs him and takes him down with several punches. Black Mask attempts to grab a nearby gun to shoot Batman when the lights go out so Batman throws a Batarang at his hand to stop him, with the Batarang piercing his hand and causing him to scream in pain before the Dark Knight cuffs Black Mask. With Black Mask down, Gordon tends to Joseph's injuries and asks Batman who he is, to which he responds "I'm Batman". Gordon apologizes and attempts to arrest Batman yet again after looking away to look at Branden's unconscious body, but Batman disappears and Gordon is left in shock and confusion. With the news outlets reporting on the Blackgate riot and Batman's involvement, Bruce and Alfred talk and are happy on their victory. However, Loeb manages to get Black Mask out of custody and prevents him from going to prison, and the two discuss their Batman situation. Black Mask tells Loeb that he wants Batman dead and Loeb complies before leaving along with Branden, who gained some scratches and bruises, a bloody nose and a black eye due to his injuries from Batman.

## E2: Birds of Prey

The Penguin's henchmen are led by the Penguin's gunrunner Loose Lips in an arms deal with other criminals, gaining a large amount of money for the offer. Batman watches the trade from a rooftop and when Loose Lips encourages the buyers to try out the guns, Batman lands on two thugs and knocks them out before fighting the rest and defeating them. Loose Lips desperately takes one of the guns and loads it up to shoot at the Dark Knight, however Batman disarms and aggressively kicks him into his chair, before choking Loose Lips into trying to give up who he is working for but passes out. Loose Lips then wakes up being dangled over a rooftop by Batman, causing the small-time criminal to panic and reveals that he works for the Penguin, a crime lord whose real name is Oswald Cobblepot. When Loose Lips demands for Batman to let him go, Batman complies and lets go of Loose Lips, causing him to fall but is stopped by the rope tied around his leg, then watches as Batman glides down into Gotham.

At Wayne Manor, Bruce and Alfred talk in the Batcave, and Alfred then mentions the upcoming charity fundraiser to which Bruce gets ready for and heads up to the manor to greet the people. Bruce puts on his playboy billionaire persona and converses with reporter Vicki Vale. Eventually, Alfred notifies that Cobblepot has arrived. Greeting Cobblepot, the two and a number of underlings go into the parlor to discuss "business".
Cobblepot expressed his anger towards Bruce for "destroying" his family and also expressed his desire to take him back to his place to teach him some manners for what he did. Bruce though told Oswald that his family's downfall was not the Waynes' doing but Cobblepot remained vengeful and angry. Cobblepot warned Bruce that he will destroy him before Bruce ordered Cobblepot to leave Wayne Manor, causing Cobblepot to look at a painting of Thomas Wayne and mocked it. This caused Bruce to become angry and threw Cobblepot against the wall, telling him to leave immediately. When the thugs approached Bruce aggressively, Cobblepot ordered them to stop and they left. Bruce tells Alfred about what happened and that Batman may need to take down the Penguin at a quicker pace.

The next day, Bruce arrives at a conference with Loeb announcing that he is still in the pursuit of Batman and Black Mask is also secretly among the crowd. Gordon is with Loeb and when Bruce gets up to give a speech about the situation, smoke grenades are thrown into the crowd and this causes both the citizens to panic and the police to act. Black Mask is then seen leaving in his car and it is revealed that the Penguin's men have arrived and they have come to abduct Bruce. When they corner Bruce, Gordon orders the underlings to stand down but the thugs instead refuse an go to shoot Gordon, forcing Gordon and the cops to shoot back. One thug is shot in the shoulder, causing another to shoot a cop in the head much to Gordon's dismay. Three of the henchmen then beat up Bruce into unconsciousness and drag him to their car, while Gordon orders the cops to pursue them and save Bruce, as he himself tends to the dead cop and tries to control the panicing civilians.
It is revealed that the thugs used two cars to distract the police, causing them to chase after the wrong car while the one holding Bruce arrived at the Final Offer.
Bruce then wakes up strapped to a chair and is greeted by the Penguin an his two personal assistants, Candy and Tracey Buxton, who taunt him and Penguin explains that he wants to make Bruce feel the pain he felt during his family's downfall. During their conversation, Bruce uses a hidden custom knife from his sleeve to cut his straps and when Penguin puts on a knuckle duster with the intent to beat Bruce nearly to death. However, Bruce cuts off his strap and punches Penguin in the face, knocking him on the ground, before cutting off the other strap and releasing himself. Penguin retreats with his broken nose with Tracey and Candy before ordering some thugs to deal with Bruce. Bruce manages to take down the henchmen and contacts Alfred to drop the Batsuit via the Batwing. Bruce collects the suit and returns to the Final Offer with the intent to capture the Penguin.
In the ship, the Penguin is hosting the Boiler Deck Fights, which he planned to bring Bruce into, and Batman joins in the fight unwillingly. Batman fights the Penguin's men in the pit fight and Penguin uses one of his trick umbrellas to shoot at Batman before escaping into another room, with Batman following him and the Penguin combats Batman with his trick umbrella collection in the room. At the end of the fight, Batman throws a Batarang at a chandelier to crash onto the Penguin, knocking him out. Gordon then bursts into the room with a group of armed cops only to find Batman not there and finds the unconscious Penguin, ordering Montoya to arrest the Penguin. On the news, it's believed that Batman rescued Bruce and stopped the Penguin, who is sentenced to life in Blackgate Penitentiary.

## E3: Crocodile Bite

Three thugs are in an alleyway taking drugs and graffiti, even encountering a man and beating him unconscious as well as robbing him. When laughing about the incident, a giant figure from the shadows is seen watching them and eventually appears out of the darkness, revealing himself to be a scaly and crocodillian-like being named Killer Croc. The thugs mock Croc and call him a "freak", as one grabs a baseball bat and tries to hit Croc only for him to gruesomely kill the thug and then reminds them of the circus they burned down before killing the other two thugs. After this, the GCPD investigated the area and Captain Gordon recognized the thugs for burning the freak circus, which killed almost all of the performers there except for Waylon Jones AKA Killer Croc. Batman also secretly investigated and come up with the same conclusion before returning to the Batcave. While speaking with Alfred, Bruce gained information on Croc, discovering his bizarre skin condition and his criminal record consisting of 7 counts of assault, 8 counts of aggravated assault, 4 counts of murder of the first degree, 16 counts of murder of the second degree, 12 counts of manslaughter, 4 counts of drug dealing and 5 counts of racketeering. Batman concluded that Croc is the killer.

Eventually, more murders on the streets began showing up and both Batman and the GCPD investigated them, taking note that the victims were gruesomely mutilated, with the victims appeared to be attacked by an animal. The Dark Knight also looked into the victims he managed to identify and that they are individuals who burned down the circus, as well as concluding that Croc's skin condition has worsened due to these animalistic attacks. Using both information from his own results and the police's, the Dark Knight contacted Alfred to anonymously warn Gordon about Croc being extremely animalistic and dangerous. Batman also decided to go to Croc's possible hideouts, with the first idea being the burned down circus and used the Batwing to head there.
At the burned down circus's remains, a hideout was formed and Batman searched it, finding several corpses lined up with missing body parts and even discovers several photos of the performers. This made Batman feel some sympathy for Croc but is suddenly attacked from behind by the cannibalistic reptile. Batman tries to get to Croc, but the killer only voices his hatred for humanity and that he claims he will kill Batman. The two fight, with Killer Croc demonstrating his superhuman abilities which he used to easily throw Batman around. With Croc seemingly emerging victorious and Batman very injured, the Dark Knight uses his Explosive Gel to spray on his fist, punching Croc and detonated it, blowing it up in his face and knocking him out. With Croc unconscious, Batman has his legs bound and left him hanging for Alfred to anonmyously contact Gordon to capture him. The GCPD storm into the hideout and Gordon, Bullock and Montoya are shocked to find Croc, but nevertheless Gordon gets over it and orders his officers to arrest him. Croc is later revealed to be sentenced to Arkham Asylum.

## E4: Fear is Power

Bruce Wayne visits Arkham Asylum and meets Dr. Jonathan Crane, who requests donations for his "experiments" in an attempt to "help" the patients. Bruce requests to see his experiments and Crane agrees, taking him to a room where Bruce sees the "therapy" behind a window while Crane talks to an inmate. Crane at first gives regular therapy to the inmate but then wears a horrifying burlap mask as well as spraying his gas on him, causing the inmate to see Crane as a demonic clown and this terrifies the inmate, causing him to hide under the table in fear. Bruce seems shocked and security guard Aaron Cash runs into the room to help the patient up and has him escorted back to his cell. Bruce confronts Crane and tells him to stop his experiments and that he will not be donating him, describing his experiments as inhumane but Crane tries to defend himself by saying he can help them through their greatest fears and potentially cure their mental illness. Despite this, Bruce stands by his words, leaving the asylum and Crane is in disappointment. Wanting the funds, Crane decides to get it himself by any means necessary and wears his burlap mask and arms himself with his Fear Toxin.

The next night, Scarecrow and a gang of masked criminals arrive at the Gotham National Bank and announce for everyone there to surrender and hand over the money. A guard attempts to stop Scarecrow only to be gassed with Fear Toxin and he screams in terror as he sees spiders covering Scarecrow's face, then jumping onto the guard. The criminals are confused and Scarecrow explains that they don't want to get affected by the fear-inducing chemicals. Batman arrives to help while Scarecrow and his heist crew round up the citizens and employees, Scarecrow confronts the bank manager and Batman orders him to back off. However, Scarecrow uses his Fear Toxin on the manager, causing her to see her abusive father and to get away from her hallucinations, she takes a guard's gun and shoots at it to no avail before shooting herself and committing suicide. Batman is saddened and shocked by this, showing his anger when fighting the crew. Scarecrow and two more criminals then go into the vault, loading the money into their bags and Batman rescues the hostages, telling them to leave, before confronting Scarecrow and his henchmen in the vault.

Batman fights off the criminals and incapacitates them before attacking and pinning Scarecrow against a wall, claiming this is over however Scarecrow taunts the Dark Knight and injects him with his Fear Toxin. Batman hallucinates his parents being disappointed in him and Scarecrow sets the vault on fire before he and his crew escape as a SWAT team arrive led by Branden. Branden goes into the vault but it is engulfed in flames and Batman barely escapes while Branden is forced to order his men to retreat and has the firefighters called. While returning to the Batcave, due to the toxin's effects, reliving his parents' death and what happened afterwards with Gordon comforting him at the GCPD station and Alfred becoming his legal guardian. The sweaty and terrified Batman shocks Alfred, who comforts him and helps him through his pain. Batman, feeling better, hears on the Batcomputer of Scarecrow's broadcast to flood Gotham City with his Fear Toxin. This motivates the Caped Crusader enough to go an stop Scarecrow.

On a rooftop, Scarecrow has his hired help prepare the machine used to spread the Fear Toxin and one goon questions Scarecrow, expressing his desire to back out of the plan with his cut so he can leave Gotham while he still has the chance, promising Scarecrow he won't tell anyone about him. Scarecrow seemingly lets the man go and reaches in his jacket to grab his cut of the money, but instead takes out a gun and points it at him. Scarecrow taunted him and fired off a gas pellet with Fear Gas, affecting the goon and causing him to see Scarecrow as a fiery demon, so he panics and falls off the roof in terror to Scarecrow's delight and the other criminals' shock.
While the goon is falling, Batman catches him and saves his life, then leaves him on another rooftop where he is handcuffed and passes out. Batman confronts Scarecrow and his gang, fighting them and Scarecrow admires his resistant to his toxins but says he will face his fears before injecting him with another dose of Fear Toxin. Batman hallucinates his parents again but fights through it and relentlessly knocks the criminals out. Scarecrow, in shock, goes to turn on the device to make Gotham a city of fear only for Batman to use an explosive Batarang to destroy it, some of the machine's produced Fear Gas also flies out and affects Scarecrow much to his horror. Scarecrow sees Batman as a demonic being with bats flying around him and the Caped Crusader grabs him, asking him if he's scared, so Scarecrow becomes extremely frightened and is dropped off the rooftop, hanging by a rope. The police then arrest Scarecrow and his gang, exposing him to be Crane and sentencing him to Arkham Asylum, where he is confronted and tormented by the inmates he psychologically tortured.

## E5: Cold Heart

At a ceremony hosted by Bruce at Wayne Manor, GothCorp industrialist Ferris Boyle wins the Wayne Foundation Humanitarian of the Year Award. Just as the guests are about to celebrate and Bruce congratulates Boyle, an explosion knocks people off their feet, also creating a large iceburg along with several people being frozen. The Penguin's men enter just as a tall, heavily armed man in a mechanized suit with a freeze ray demands to see Boyle. Bruce searches for Alfred, but is captured by the thugs and Alfred is knocked unconscious when attempting to fight back, causing Bruce to snap and retaliate by subduing them all. Alfred watches over the frightened guests, while Bruce enters the Batcave via the White Cellar. He learns that the man's name is Mr. Freeze and Alfred suggests donning the experimental XE Suit, but Bruce says it hasn't been tested and he dons the Batsuit as the power starts to go off in the manor and the thugs begin to torch the mansion. Batman rescues the captured Alfred and guests from the goons who were defeated.

Batman then attempts to rescue Boyle but is stopped by Freeze, who freezes his arm and he tells Batman to not follow him before kidnapping Boyle and escaping, forcing Batman to interrogate Penguin's henchman, who explains that Loose Lips may know the location. Batman finds many people in the city frozen and scans one to track down Loose Lips via the leaking cryogenic gun he was armed with him. Batman interrogates Loose Lips, who reveals that Freeze made a deal with the Penguin to steal cryogenic guns from GothCorp, in exchange for Penguin's help in kidnapping Boyle. Batman is confused, since GothCorp doesn't produce weapons and uses Loose Lip's entry codes to enter the building, where he learns Boyle is being taken to the Propellant Research Wing. Getting the security codes from the main man in charge, Batman pursues them and it is revealed that Penguin has taken Boyle hostage and has betrayed Freeze, wanting the weapons he was promised. Batman intervenes, giving Freeze the chance to recapture Boyle and freeze everyone, including Penguin, although not before telling that his threats mean nothing to him due to losing everything. Batman learns from Penguin that Freeze wants Boyle so he can access some kind of super weapon. Also, that the only way to break through the ice blocking the way through and containing Penguin is a Cryo Drill that has his men safe guard at My Alibi Nightclub. Travelling to My Alibi, Batman has Alfred drop the XE Suit onto the rooftop via the Batwing. Using the suit, Batman breaks into the nightclub and fights off Penguin's men. Interrogating Loose Lips again, he learns that the Cryo Drill was broken into two pieces. After gathering the pieces, he discovers that the device requires a supercooled fluid, which is only found in Victor Fries' laboratory at GothCorp.

Returning to GothCorp, Batman finds Fries' lab a frozen mess and a dead guard who apparently died of a heatstroke. Setting up a crime scene, he determines that Fries was trying to help his wife Nora, who was put into cryostasis as she contracted Huntington's Chorea. Fries agreed to secretly develop weapons for GothCorp, in exchange for Boyle devoting the company's resources to finding a cure. But when Fries learned that Boyle never intended to uphold his end of the deal, Fries attempted to find the cure himself. Furious, Boyle had Nora removed from the lab to another section of the facility and then assaulted Fries but an accident caused a discharge in Freeze's weapon, causing an explosion of supercooled fluids, which affected Fries and a remaining guard, altering their metabolism. When the guard attempted to escape the lab and died, Fries realize that he can only survive in a sub-zero temperature environment and thus cobble together a suit so that he could step outside the lab. Realizing that Freeze was only intending to save his wife, Batman instructs Alfred to tip off the GCPD about Boyle's crimes.

Returning to the ice wall, Batman defeats the Penguin's men trying to free him before breaching the ice, leaving the crime lord where he is. He then makes his way to the lab, where Freeze is attempting to force Boyle into releasing Nora, to which the man stubbornly refuses. Batman breaks in and attempts to reason with Freeze, informing him that the GCPD now know of Boyle's crimes, but the latter refuses to care, as he shoves Boyle into a cryo tube, claiming that it won't matter what Nora feels about his crimes, as the accident had destroyed any chance of his feeling any emotions. As he summons Penguin's men to attack, Batman battles them and Freeze however their destructive fight causes Nora's container to fail. But just as he downs Freeze, Boyle unleashes cryo gases, freezing Batman in ice. Believing the Dark Knight to be dead, Boyle believes he can make up any story he wants to the police and begins to assault a helpless Freeze while he watches his wife die. However, Batman manages to break free of the ice and manages to subdue Boyle before saving both Freeze's and Nora's lives. After the battle, Vicki Vale reports on the night's recent events, surrounding Boyle's arrest and Batman. Freeze was sentenced to Arkham Asylum, where Bruce funds Wayne Enterprises into helping Freeze as he is provided with equipment and research to continue his work on Nora's cure while locked in a sub-zero temperature cell.

## E6: The Man Who Would Be the Bat

At the GCPD Building, Loeb calls Captain Gordon and Detective Bullock into his office, ordering them to conduct an investigation on Batman's secret identity so they can arrest the vigilante. The two agree to Loeb's orders, but Gordon begins thinking about the good Batman has been doing, and the two leave the station in a squad car. Meanwhile, Bruce is at Wayne Tower with his manager, Lucius Fox, demonstrating a new device to a group of businesspeople much to their amazement. When they leave, they enter Bruce's office and go down to the secret lab where Lucius works at for Batman, developing his gadgets and informs him that the Batmobile is nearly complete much to Bruce's amazement and thanks him, claiming he is glad that he decided to let Lucius join his mission against crime. Lucius then informs Bruce on the reports regarding Dr. Robert Kirkland Langstrom and has been conducting his own suspicius experiments, to which Bruce says he will talk to him. Leaving the lab, they hear knocks on the door and both Gordon and Bullock greet them. Gordon tells Bruce that he has to investigate the building for classified reasons, due to Loeb ordering them to investigate there first, and they find nothing before leaving.

Bruce then leaves Lucius to his work and goes up to speak with Langstrom however upon entering his lab, Langstrom is not there so he looks around. He finds Langstrom's research and discovers that he was going deaf, and decided to try to heal all deafness from the world by combining human DNA to that of a vampire bat. Bruce then finds  a computer which reveals Langstrom used too much and ended up transforming into a bloodthirsty monster known as Man-Bat. Still investigating the laboratory, Bruce discovers one of his employees and Langstrom's wife, Francine, dead with her neck ripped apart. Bruce then decides to go review the security footage but is suddenly attacked by Man-Bat, who was hidden in the lab, shocking Bruce with his mutation. After a struggle, Bruce managed to escape and Man-Bat flew out of Wayne Tower.

Bruce calls Lucius to evacuate the building while he leaves the building himself, having a container dropped via the Batwing with his Batsuit and becomes Batman. Batman manuevers around Gotham City in search for Man-Bat, but encounters him on a rooftop and uses his Grapnel Gun to tie around Man-Bat's and they fly throughout the city, scaring the population of two bats in the night and Gordon and Bullock are alerted. Batman then contacts Alfred to use Langstrom's research to produce a clean DNA sample in order to cure Man-Bat. While fighting Batman throughout the night, Branden and his SWAT unit is also called, with Branden attempting to force Gordon and Bullock to leave while he orders his men to eliminate both Batman and Man-Bat.

When Branden and his men try to kill him and Man-Bat, Batman is also forced to fight them and stop Man-Bat from killing them. After hearing that Alfred completed the cure, he sends the Batwing to deliver it and Batman collects the cure before landing on Man-Bat and knocking him unconscious, carrying his body away while he returns to Langstrom's laboratory with Branden in pursuit. Batman cures Man-Bat in the lab and is slowly morphed back into a human. Langstrom woke up and found his dead wife, devastating him and reducing him to tears while feeling heavily guilty for her death, but Batman attempts to help him and says it wasn't his fault. Batman tells Langstrom he's going to Arkham Asylum while he works on a permanent cure for him, to which Langstrom sadly agrees to, not wanting to kill anyone else. While locked in his cell, Bruce visits Langstrom and shows his consolations for Francine and informs him that Wayne Enterprises is working on to cure Langstrom before asking him if he could do anything to him, to which Langstrom thanks him but wants to be left alone. Shadows of the cell then show Langstrom becoming Man-Bat again.

## E7: Bounty

A drug operation is set up at Gotham Docks between the False Facers and Rupert Thorne's gang, however the deal is interrupted by Batman in his newly-built Batmobile, taking down both gangs and disrupts the operation ultimately, leaving the GCPD to arrest the criminals as he drives away. That night, Black Mask becomes increasingly frustrated with the Dark Knight interrupting his operations and his assistant, Mrs. Lou, informs him that a new bounty hunter is up for hire called Killer Moth. Moth is called in to his office, with Black Mask ordering him to assassinate Batman and Moth tells him he has been studying Batman, understanding he only comes out at night and that he doesn't kill his enemies and criminals, and Black Mask offers $10 million if he kills Batman. However, Moth increases the bounty to $25 million, to which Black Mask reluctantly agrees to.
Later in the morning, Bruce and Alfred are in the Batcave cleaning and repairing the Batmobile as well as other gadgets, with the two discussing the villains and crimes of Gotham as well as if Batman is doing any good.
That night, Moth had shot down a GCPD helicopter and killed two SWAT officers to lure in Batman and the Dark Knight investigated the crash site, discovering a chip on the site which he placed into his Cryptographic Sequencer. It contains a recording of Moth, who explains that he is waiting for him at the Gotham Merchant's Bank, had taken a hostage and that he threatened to execute her if he does not come in time.
Batman then went to the destination, where he found Moth and several of his men along with the hostage. Batman manages to take out the goons and Moth then uses his Caccoon Gun to incapacitate him, claiming he's impressed but says he has a bounty to collect before aiming his gun to shoot Batman. This causes the Dark Knight to break free in anger after seeing Moth as his parents' killer, aggressively disarming Moth and punching him in the face several times before pinning him down.
Moth then activates a button on his belt unknownbest to Batman, who interrogates him on who hired him, but the interrogation is interrupted when gunfire hits through the windows. Batman quickly tells the hostage to run through the back and Moth uses a knife to stab Batman in the shoulder, before throwing several gas grenades around Batman and runs out of the bank.
Moth instructs his men to aim at the gas-covered door, however the Batmobile arrives and uses the 60mm Cannon and Vulcan Gun to destroy several of their vehicles and trucks. Batman then comes outside and knocks two goons unconscious instantly, before fighting Moth and his gang with the Batmobile also helping incapacitating the criminals. After laying waste to Moth's gang, Batman brutally attacks Moth, smashing his mask and pinning him to the Batmobile. Batman interrogates Moth and while the hired gun refuses to speak, Batman controls the Batmobile into aiming it's Vulcan Gun to Moth and this causes Moth to talk after Batman gives a warning shot. Moth reveals it is Black Mask who hired him, so Batman sarcastically thanks him and activates the Batmobile's electroshock defenses, incapacitating Moth.
At Black Mask's place, Batman throws an unconscious and tied up Moth on Black Mask's desk. Black Mask feigns surrender as he presses a button which alerts security and Batman begins questioning Black Mask, wanting a confession and enough evidence to convict him. However, a group of mobsters hold Batman at gunpoint, so Batman grabs Black Mask and uses him as a human shield against the gunmen. One mobster fires his gun which barely misses Black Mask, so Black Mask orders his men out reluctantly and Batman says he's going to end Black Mask one day, before grabbing the unconscious Moth and grappling out of the building. Black Mask then makes a call to Loeb once again.

## E8: War Ablaze

While on patrol at night, Batman receives reports from Alfred that the Station 17 crew had gone missing. While both Batman and the GCPD simultaneously investigate, the Dark Knight also discovers a Chinatown fire station had been set on fire and the fire sprinklers were disabled. Batman investigated the area while speaking to Alfred, however Gordon and the police arrived on the scene to also investigate, forcing Batman to hide. The Dark Knight contacted Alfred on the case and Alfred informs him that several buildings in Gotham City had been set on fire by an unknown arsonist.

Upon further investigating into the case, Batman hears from Lucius Fox that there is an intruder in Wayne Tower before cutting off. Batman quickly heads there, finding the battlesuit-clad intruder use a flamethrower to burn a security guard alive, shocking Batman and he attacked the intruder. The intruder then reveals himself to be the arsonist behind the fires, calling himself Firefly, and reveals that he had kidnapped the Station 17 crew to stop them from putting out his fires. Batman interrogated Firefly on his hostages' location but the crazed pyromaniac refused and the two fought. Before escaping, Firefly threw an explosive at Lucius, forcing Batman to let the culprit go and save Lucius from the explosion.

Batman, however, revealed to Lucius that he put on a tracker on Firefly and proceed to follow him back to his hideout. Batman infiltrated the hideout and saw Firefly with his rounded up firefighters, with Chief Raymond Underhill arguing with him to let his men go, but Firefly refused and threatened to burn his mouth off if he continues to talk. Batman then sneaks up on Firefly, fighting him once again. After an extensive fight, it ended with Batman using an Ice Pellet to stop Firefly's flamethrower and then tore apart his armor with his bare hands before punching him in the face twice to knock him unconscious. Batman was also shocked by Firefly's severe burns and then rescued the firefighters, with Underhill thanking him. As the firefights left, Underhill stayed while Batman restrained Firefly, admitting to him that he made a deal with Firefly to burn down abandoned buildings for his men to put out due to Station 17 being threatened to shut down. This causes Batman to angrily tell Underhill that he put his men in danger and told him to stay with Firefly as the police are coming, to which Underhill reluctantly agrees to admit what he did, being guilt-ridden and Batman then leaves the scene.

## E9: Who's the Puppet?

A meeting is assembled consisting of Gotham City's top-earning thugs and dealers, arguing with each other to try and find out who set up the meeting. It is revealed a scrawny man with glasses called Arnold Wesker AKA Ventriloquist with his puppet, Scarface, formed the meeting and he announces his takeover of the drug trade and tells them to give him 40% of their earnings in return for protection against Black Mask. However, the thugs Rhino and Mugsy argued with the Ventriloquist and found him "wierd" due to Scarface, with the puppet acting as the dominant crime lord-like side of the Ventriloquist. When they continue to argue, Scarface gets angered and the Ventriloquist uses a tommy gun to shoot at the criminals, causing them in cower and frightening them into loyalty, with Rhino calling him crazy. The Ventriloquist leaves, but not before telling them to check the bag in the room, which is revealed to have the decapitated heads of their lieutenants.

At the docks, Batman chases some thugs in a moving truck and crashes it into a wall. He interrogates them, revealing their boss to be the Ventriloquist and they are carrying his "materials", which consist of drugs. Upon hearing his underlings talked, the Ventriloquist activated a trigger, causing an explosion to erupt at the docks which Batman was knocked out by. With Batman unconscious, the Ventriloquist thanked the thugs for helping him in his plan before using a tommy gun to shoot them to death due to revealing information. In the Batcave, Alfred tries to contact Batman but is cut off and becomes worried.

Batman then wakes up tied up in a meat processing factory, with the Ventriloquist and Scarface along with Rhino and Mugsy greeting him, revealing they took his utility belt. Scarface then records this, claiming he'll send to the rest of his underlings to show that he is a capable leader by killing Batman, the one who's been interfering with their operations. The Ventriloquist/Scarface reveals his plan to take over the criminal underworld and become Gotham's king, before leaving to attend to something "more important" before ordering Rhino to kill Batman and Mugsy to record it. Alfred, becoming worried, tracks Batman's utility belt to the factory and hesitantly calls the GCPD anonymously to go there to save Batman and stop the criminals. Rhino then gets the utility belt, mockingly playing with it, but the belt shocks the henchman and incapacitates him. Mugsy himself then activates the machine before tending to Rhino, calling him an idiot. Batman struggles to get out of his binds and the GCPD suddenly arrives led by Gordon, who, seeing Batman is near to death, shoots out the chains quickly to save him and allows Batman to escape. After Rhino and Mugsy fire at the cops, Batman takes down Mugsy while Gordon hits Rhino in the face with his handgun, knocking him out. Batman thanks Gordon for the help, however Gordon points his gun at Batman and said he's bringing him in, but not before asking him what's happening. Batman answers by explaining the Ventriloquist and his multiple personality disorder of Scarface and what he's doing to dominate Gotham's underworld. Gordon admits to Batman that he's been doing good in Gotham, however still retains his attitude to arresting the vigilante, causing Batman to use smoke grenades and escape.

Batman then contacts Alfred, who is glad that Batman is okay, with the Caped Crusader explaining what happened and who the Ventriloquist is, as well as thanking him for sending the police. After Rhino and Mugsy were taken into custody and imprisoned in the GCPD Station, Batman sneaked into the station and while Mugsy was getting interrogated by a corrupt cop called Arnold Flass, Batman ambushed and knocked Flass unconscious. Mugsy, shocked by this yet annoyed, tells Batman to back off but the Dark Knight interrogates Mugsy himself on the Ventriloquist's location. After Mugsy received a few punches and was left on the ground with Batman's foot on his face, Batman discovered the Ventriloquist is using an abandoned toy factory as his hideout and Batman then knocks Mugsy out by stomping on his face.

Batman reaches the Ventriloquist's hideout, where he sees Scarface all alone and Batman approaches the puppet, but the Ventriloquist talks through a comms system, as if Scarface was speaking to Batman. Batman called the Ventriloquist a sick man who needed help and told him if he surrenders now, he won't have to get hurt but "Scarface" simply threatens and mocks Batman before revealing that he had set up several of his henchmen to take vantage points on the catwalks above to aim down at Batman and prepare to fire on his orders. After stating he will become Gotham's top crime boss and not even Batman can stand up to him, he commands the goons to shoot Batman dead and they begin firing, however the Dark Knight uses his smoke pellets to hide himself and escape. After the smoke clears, the goons are confused to see Batman not there but Batman reveals to have planted explosives on the catwalks during the confusion, detonating them and subduing the armed goons. The Ventriloquist himself then shows up with more henchmen and a battle ensues with the Ventriloquist and Scarface being armed with a tommy gun. Batman defeats the goons and manages to take down the Ventriloquist swiftly after knocking the tommy gun out of his hand with a Batarang. With the Ventriloquist down and restrained, Batman takes a strange look at Scarface and then has the GCPD called to arrest the Ventriloquist, who is then sentenced to Arkham Asylum.

## E10: A New Anarchist

When Bruce was watching the television with Alfred, they talk and Bruce eventually looks at his father's and mother's photo with him as a young boy, but the television suddenly switches to an interrupting broadcast all over Gotham, where a new terrorist named Anarky claims he will destroy all corrupt and crime in the city. Anarky has managed to set off one bomb in the city's streets with numerous citizens being killed and many has been injured, the police arrived to investigate the scene along with firefighters and ambulances. Anarky explains he targeted a corrupt bank which was responsible for money laundering for the numerous criminals before claiming he shall continue until his demands of destroying all evil in Gotham are met. Captain Gordon, in his mind, despite his mission to actually capture Batman, hopes the vigilante will save the city and stop Anarky. Meanwhile, Mayor Hamilton Hill discusses the matter and says he will not give in to terrorists.

Gordon sees a shadow of Batman through the night but he doesn't tell anyone, the Dark Knight conducts a secret investigation on the scene discovering what type of bomb Anarky is using and found it they came from GothCorp until Anarky interrupted his invesigation with another broadcast. Batman then encounters one of Anarky's followers, who was sent by Anarky as a messenger, so Batman finds out that another bomb is planted on the Gotham Casino. Batman discovered the bomb and disarmed it before Anarky clapped his hands and the two exchanged words before leaving and then Batman contacted Alfred on the incident, conversing with Batman claiming that Anarky's methods are wrong despite his seemingly good intentions and that he will stop him.

On the news, it is claimed that some equipment and are chemicals have been stolen from GothCorp as well as a murder occuring there. Batman goes to investigate the murder and investigates the stolen items, analyzing the murder to recreate Anarky showing up and stabbing the GothCorp scientist to death before stealing the chemicals, but it is revealed that some chemicals were spilling. Batman uses his Detective Mode to follow the spillages back to Anarky however during pursuing the trail, Anarky announces across Gotham that he built a chemical bomb powerful enough to heavily damage Gotham, demanding for the corrupt and guilty to be publicly executed and for Hill to coorperate with Anarky. Batman eventually locates his hideout and breaks in, defeating Anarky's followers before Anarky confronts Batman. Anarky proposes an offer for Batman to join him in his mission to destroy injustice and the corrupt, but Batman calls out Anarky for killing innocent people and that he will stop him as his methods are wrong, to which Anarky argues that he will sacrifice some people for the greater good. Batman then throws a Batarang to disarm Anarky of the trigger and a fight ensues with Anarky battling Batman with his stun baton, fighting for the detonator and when Anarky is down, a follower ambushes Batman and Anarky goes for the trigger while the Dark Knight takes down the follower.

Anarky stops Batman by threatening to activate the bomb, but Batman tries to talk Anarky out of it, preparing a taser while approaching Anarky calmly and explaining they could stop crime together. Anarky and Batman look at each other until Batman uses the taser to shock and incapacitate Anarky, causing him to drop the trigger for Batman to catch and he later disarms the bomb. Batman then takes Anarky's mask, revealing him to be a teenager called Lonnie Machin, causing the shocked Batman to cuff him and Branden and his SWAT unit arrive. Branden searches around the area for Batman before arresting Anarky and he is eventually sent to Blackgate Penitentiary.

## E11: She's Dangerous

On a strip of bare land, Mayor Hill announces the beginning of construction for a new, modern asylum instead of Arkham Asylum and commends District Attorney Harvey Dent as the driving force behind it's construction, with Wayne Foundation and Bruce funding the project. Together, Harvey and Bruce dig the first shoveful of dirt during the groundbreaking ceremony. Before the first bulldozer starts excavating the land, a pair of hands belonging to an unseen person who carefully uproots a tall growing in the ground, and pots it.

Afterwards, Harvey is seated in a restaurant with his very beautiful girlfriend, Pamela Isley, waiting for the arrival for Bruce. Batman is seen recapturing some Arkham escapees and contacts Alfred to tell Harvey that he'll be running late for dinner, with Alfred calmly reported that he's already warned Harvey and Isley. Batman rushes home, hurridely changes and drives to meet his friend. Later, all three of them share a laugh over after-dinner coffee, Isley notices the time and says she has to run. Before leaving, she gives a deep kiss to Harvey and then announces to Bruce that he's proposed to her. The two converse until Harvey passes out much to Bruce's worries, who has him rushed to the hospital and it is revealed he's in a coma. Gordon is notified and he rushes down there too, with doctors reporting that he's been poisoned and they cannot stop the process without the antidote. Gordon orders a cop to guard the room and has Bullock investigate who is responsible after Bruce tells him about the restaurant. Bullock grills the staff at the restaurant, but is unable to find out who poisoned Harvey.

Bruce speaks with the doctor, who doubts Harvey was food poisoned and informs him that he would die soon without an antidote. Bruce discreetly lifts a sample of Harvey's blood from the hospital and returns to the Batcave, where an analysis reveals that the poison was extracted from a rare plant, the Wild Thorny Rose. Batman says they can use the same to extract the antidote, but Alfred reports that the rose is extinct.

As Bruce watches over Harvey at the hospital, Isley comes running to him and gives him some comforting words, but she breaks down. Bruce walks to her car and she leans in to kiss him, which Bruce turns into a hug. Suddenly, he suspiciously remembers the kiss Isley gave before Harvey collapsed and asks Alfred to check Isley's background. Alfred informs Bruce on Isley's background of being a botanist who worked under Dr. Jason Woodrue, however an accident occured in the lab when Woodrue tried to kill her, transforming her into Poison Ivy, and then she murdered Woodrue. Alfred reveals that someone tried to hide the data, replacing it with Ivy working at Chez Gerard, a cosmetics firm, as an expert in botany and research chemist. The two then came to the conclusion that Ivy poisoned Harvey.

Bruce then becomes Batman and goes to confront Ivy at a greenhouse where she has a laboratory. When he enters, he is seized and held prisoner by a gigantic Venus Fly Trap, large enough to engulf him. Ivy then confronts Batman herself and admits that she poisoned Harvey, in retaliation for plowing up the wild plants to build the new asylum, which would have left the Thony Rose extinct had she not saved it. She then gives a struggling Batman a kiss and he seemingly gets weakened much to Ivy's amusement.

However, Batman suddenly uses a Batarang to cut himself from the plant and it is revealed that he was wearing rubber lips much to her anger, who ensues in a fight between the two. During the conflict, Ivy accidentally kills her own monstrous plant, causing her to scream in anger and guilt, and the fight also causes the greenhouse to set on fire and begin to collapse with rubble falling on Batman, so Ivy attempts to kill him. Batman then stops her with a Batarang and then gets out of the rubble, saving Ivy and escaping before the greenhouse is completely destroyed. Batman then obtains the antidote needed to save Harvey from the rose and he uses it to save Harvey's life. Harvey then awakens in the hospital to see Gordon, Bullock and Bruce standing over him. While assuring that he wil recover soon, Bruce confides to Ivy that he thinks Isley is not the one for him. Ivy is then seen locked in her own special cell in Arkham Asylum, huddling the rose protectively while surrounded by many locked up lunatics, vowing revenge against Batman.

## E12: Choke's on You

One night at Gotham Casino, Loeb, Branden and Roman Sionis AKA Black Mask are playing poker at their own private table and discussing the events that have occured about their operations and Batman. Suddenly in the middle of their game, a mysterious figure in a purple suit arrives and he calls himself "just a nameless clown", and forced himself into the poker game despite Sionis' suspicions towards him. After conversing with the man, he begins telling sick jokes and begins to anger Branden, who threatens to rip his head off, causing the purple suited figure to walk away, telling them to have a good day and leaves behind a Joker playing card. Sionis picked it up and was confused, and then Branden looked at all of his cards, which were revealed to be all Jokers which confused and shocked him. Angrily, he slammed his fist down on the table, saying he'll hunt down that "freak" for ruining his chance to get a lot of money. However, the slam caused the cards to go up in the air, revealing to have razor sharp edges when one goes into his neck, slitting it and fatally wounding Branden. Loeb quickly had ambulances and police called to help Howard however he died and Sionis looked at the Joker playing card again, this time on the back, which reads "Don't worry, you're next!".

In the Batcave, Bruce and Alfred discussed the situation, with the news revealing that the cards were replaced with razor-sharp edged ones that Branden accidentally died from and Sionis was interviewed by Vicki Vale, claiming that he believes that the killer is a nameless man who unexpectedly joined their poker game. The casino manager was confronted and he defended his company, not knowing why there were razor sharp cards placed there. Bruce was confused at the murder and began to look further into it. Sionis and Loeb then had a private meeting together at a bar in a private area, trying to discuss how to protect themselves from the new killer which Sionis suspects is coming after them due to the message he left behind. After drinking his beer, Loeb began to chuckle, which angered Sionis. Loeb then started to laugh uncontrollably with his eyes starting to water and bulge, he then collapsed on the ground dead. Paramedics and police officers arrived and turned Loeb's corpse over, revealing a large, grotesque horrifying grin; scaring everyone. Batman eventually confronted Sionis and interrogated him on the murders, but after Sionis told him he has nothing to do with it and that he wouldn't kill his own allies, Batman believed him before leaving and told Alfred he'll watch him and catch the murderer if he tries anything. Captain Gordon, now acting as the GCPD's leader in Loeb's death, decides to give Sionis police protection at a safehouse despite Sionis's protests in order to catch the killer as they believe he'll be the next target.

With the police in the same room with Black Mask, Bullock claimed nothing will get past them. However one started to doubt that and the two argued, until the other officer started laughing hysterically, eventually ripping off his own face, revealing him to be the killer. The cops along with Black Mask were in shock, so it cut off-screen to the door with the cops starting to scream and guns firing but then the screams turned into laughter. Bullock managed to call for backup, which alerted Gordon and Batman. Batman drove to the safehouse in the Batmobile and entered with all the officers dead with the same horrifying grins as Loeb's corpse, but one cop survived: Bullock, as he was only knocked unconscious by a laughing officer before he died and the killer didn't subject him to the other officers' grim fate. Black Mask was also gone, causing Batman to deduce that he had been kidnapped and that Bullock was left behind as a messanger, with the killer seemingly wanting the police and Batman to be on his trail. Bullock attempted to arrest the Dark Knight and threatened to shoot him if he attempted to escape again, resulting in Batman throwing smoke grenades and escaping.

Throughout the night, Batman searched around Gotham but discovered a large Jack N' the Box which jumped up with a large sign reading "Boo!". However later that night, Black Mask seemingly returned to his girlfriend Tiffany Ambrose in a safehouse, saying he taught the killer a lesson and hugged her, claiming nobody is coming after him anymore. Black Mask then started to cough, which became a little chuckle.

## E13: Punchline

A gang war is started between Black Mask and the Penguin's criminal empires, shooting at and killing each other in Gotham City's streets. Captain Gordon leads the GCPD to try to end it and Batman also joins in the gang war, it then shows Black Mask with an assault rifle killing several of Penguin's men and laughing hysterically afterwards, which one of his mobsters notice. His orders and personality is evidently different from before, with Mrs. Lou and his henchmen noticing. During this, while Gordon was ordering a SWAT unit to go shut down Black Mask first, Batman suddenly appeared and asked Gordon to work together to stop this. Gordon initially doesn't listen and tries to capture Batman yet again, but Batman nevertheless informs him of his plan: he'll go after Penguin while the police should go after Black Mask, before escaping. Gordon then hesitantly orders his men to continue pushing to Black Mask.

Batman confronted the Penguin after taking out his men, who was currently angered and scolding a thug, however the Caped Crusader landed on the henchman and knocked him out before demanding for Penguin to surrender. Penguin then brought out one of his trick umbrellas and after a small fight with Batman, Batman eventually took him down and cuffed him for the cops. Batman then went to assist Gordon against Black Mask after the police took down the armed guards, Black Mask sat quietly and told a joke until he threw a grenade at Gordon but Batman managed to rescue him which led to Black Mask escaping, despite Bullock and some cops shooting at him.

Batman placed a tracking device on Black Mask during his escape and he himself escaped from the cops. Batman then went onto the Batcomputer with Alfred and discovered the location was at Sionis Industries steel mill where Batman infiltrated and took out any gangsters there in his way. However after entering a room the mobsters were guarding, he found Sionis unmasked and bound and gagged by a sticky substance and suspended, Batman was shocked by this but then the fake Black Mask arrived to tell the truth and took his mask off, revealing himself to be a clown-like man with bleach pale skin, green hair and red lips, calling himself the Joker. Batman questioned Joker and approached him, but Joker told him that he was just a distraction to his grand plans and that he no longer needs Black Mask alive, pressing a button to activate a death trap on Black Mask. After some time, Batman managed to dismantle the trap and rescued Sionis, who Batman interrogated and Black Mask threatened that he'll kill Joker for what he did. Batman then left the bound crime lord from a building hanging and placed evidence of his crimes in his pocket for the GCPD to arrest while Batman pursued Joker.

While Batman tried to locate him on the Batcomputer and get a background check, he heard a news report on an unfinished construction site with SWAT teams waiting to move in with Gordon in charge and Joker reveals his plans to try and make two ferries kill each other by rigging them with explosives and threatening to destroy them both if one isn't blown up and says they have until midnight. He also claims that if the police interferes, he will kill everyone and has gangsters who left Black Mask's gang to assist him in guarding the site. Batman arrives at the scene and tells Gordon to disarm the bombs when he deals with the Joker, Gordon hesitates but eventually agrees.

While he and a bomb squad disarm the explosives, Batman fights his way through the henchmen and then confronts the Joker, with Batman asking him who he is. Batman engages in combat with Joker and Batman manages to pin him down at 12:00, where Joker reveals it's time but nothing happens and then Batman punches the Joker in the face, with the clown claiming that it's not funny. Joker then stabs Batman, injuring him, and then reveals a backup detonator which is used to blow up the construction site, but Batman stops him by throwing him off, laughing hysterically as he falls down. The Dark Knight then uses his Grapnel Gun to resuce him which causes the Joker to stop laughing and becomes disappointed. Joker predicts their war is going to continue forever with Batman leaving the Joker tied up for the police.

At the end, Batman meets Gordon and the honest cop admits they did some good work and that one of his men would have probably killed the Joker, even telling him that his daughter believes in him. Batman tells Gordon that they could work together against crime, which Gordon ultimately agrees to, wanting to give Gotham a symbol of hope in the form of Batman. At the GCPD HQ, Gordon has been promoted to the police commissioner and the cops clap and congratulate him. The Joker is later seen locked in a lone cell in Arkham Asylum, laughing to himself while thinking of Batman.