Judas Contract

Heretic, Talia al Ghul, Ra's al Ghul, Deathstroke, David Cain, El Flamingo, Bane, Jane Doe, Man-Bat

Bat Family:
Batman, Robin, Agent 37, Black Bat, Leslie Thompkins, Misfit, Alfred Pennyworth, Selina Wayne, Helena Wayne

Birds of Prey:
Oracle, Black Canary, Huntress

Outsiders:
Red Hood, Arsenal, Darkstar, Starfire, Bluebird, Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy, Terra, Fox, Katana, Batwoman

Justice League:
Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Skeets

Dark Justice:
Deadman, Jason Blood, Etrigan, Madame Xanadu, John Constantine

Sons of Batman:
Wingman, The Scourge

### Appearances by

Arkham X, Sam Kane, Colin Wilkes, Lock-Up, Joker

### Location

Gotham City: Blackgate Island, Arkham Asylum

## History

What came to be known as the Judas Contract was an elaborate plan orchestrated by Talia al Ghul, to free her father, Ra's al Ghul, and the rest of the members of the League of Assassins imprisoned in Arkham Asylum.

### Background

In 2013, Tim Drake infiltrated the League of Assassins. While he gained the trust of Ra's al Ghul, Tim collected intel on the location and movements of all the members of the League's Inner Circle. Damian Wayne, who was jealous of Tim's position spied on him and discovered he was a mole for Batman; but by the time he was able to out Tim, he had already coordinated the capture of all his targets, including Ra's al Ghul, himself.

Fearing that a League of Assassins without leadership could be more dangerous, Batman and ARGUS offered Talia a chance to walk free, in exchange of keeping the League from imploding. Talia, in return, gave Bruce his son Damian.

For a while, Talia and the League laid low. Talia took on the identity of Miranda Tate and became CEO of LuthorCorp; while some of the League's operatives, like Deathstroke and David Cain, managed to escape Arkham.

After the Hush took over the identity of Bruce Wayne, and left him for dead, it was Talia who managed to secure Bruce's body (with some help from Catwoman and Huntress) and keep him alive but hidden from the rest of the Bat Family and the Justice League, who feared Bruce might have died.

When the Bat Family were interrogating Hush on the whereabouts of Bruce, Talia showed up with an offer for Dick: She would return Bruce (after he was fully healed) in exchange for Dick to allow Hush to keep pretending to be Bruce for a couple more months, give Talia the Ace of Winchesters, and arrange the release of Kirk Langstrom, the Man-Bat, from Arkham. Dick agreed to her terms but also asked Talia for an obfuscation charm to help in his undercover mission inside ARGUS. In this negotiation, Talia probably acquired the Suit of Sorrows too.

### A New Challenger

In September of 2016, Talia begun the next phase of her plan: A series of coordinated attacks on Gotham and Blüdhaven's defenders, starting with Deathstroke kidnapping his son, Ronin, who had just found out who his father was.

A month later, the Outsiders Bunker was attacked by a new villain wearing the Suit of Sorrows and the Sword of Salvation. He managed to defeat Arsenal and Darkstar, taking Roy's prosthetic arm, a utility belt, and Donna's Lasso of Persuasion. He used the lasso to get information out of Roy, and then made him forget. Afterwards the only thing Roy could recall about the attack was that their assailant's name was religious. Thus he was known as Heretic.

In the following months, Heretic single handedly managed to cripple the Outsiders, infiltrate Oracle's Clocktower, almost drown Bluebird, defeat Dark Justice, blow Luke Fox's cover within the Sons of Batman, stab Robin, beat Booster Gold and Blue Beetle (and Skeets), and poison Batman with a variation of Joker's Venom, before going underground.

### The Task At Hand

 File:Heretic.jpg
In January of 2017, a bug planted on Heretic by Bluebird finally activated, giving the Bat Family a clue of where to find the missing Ronin. However, while Black Bat was sent to rescue him, the next phase in Talia's plan was taking place in Arkham.

While undercover in Arkham, Dick Grayson witnessed Deathstroke, Man-Bat and an army of the League of Assassins, storm Arkham Asylum and break out all of their associates. Not knowing Dick's true identity, Deathstroke was fooled by the obfuscation charm Dick was wearing and thinking he was William Cobb, Deathstroke invited Dick to join their break out. Dick played along until he was confronted by Heretic, who outed him in front of Ra's al Ghul, and revealed himself to be Joseph Kane, the missing Ronin, now calling himself "Judas".

When Dick confronted "Judas" on the betrayal of his friends, Judas tried to kill Dick to prove he was no longer Joseph Kane, but was stopped by Ra's al Ghul, who refused to have the blood of another of Bruce's sons on his hands. Ra's ordered Deathstroke to discipline his son, and Deathstroke in return shot Judas in an attempt to stop him from attacking Dick, but upon seeing this, Dick jumped in front of Judas, trying to save his former friend's life. Defeated and injured, Judas fled, not feeling he had a purpose anymore.

After listening to that conversation, Oracle tried to warn Black Bat that she was rescuing a decoy, but it was too late and Jane Doe, managed to eject Black Bat from her plane in mid flight. With most of the Outsiders out of combat, the Birds of Prey dispatched to save Black Bat, Batwing hiding in Blüdhaven, and Damian injured, the Bat Family was unable to stop the League from breaking out of Arkham and taking Dick with them as a prisoner.

### Aftermath

Unaware that Talia was behind the attacks on the Outsiders, Red Hood and Arsenal started suspecting that someone was after their team. When Dick and Helena disappeared too (Dick was undercover and Huntress was working in secret with Andrea Beaumont), Jason decided to look for answers in the secret Server 7 in the Batcave. When Jason, Roy and Starfire, discovered what Brother Eye was, they went rogue (later joined by Huntress and Darkstar) unable to trust Bruce and Oracle anymore, and formed the Outlaws.

Despite Talia's plan being a success, Judas/Joseph no longer had a place in the League of Assassins or the Bat Family. Even worse, he was addicted to the Suit of Sorrows and was suffering the side effects of wearing it for such a long period. While on the run, looking for a cure, Judas came across a doctor who informed him that his suit was made from Nth Metal. Judas was later confronted by his long time friend Jack Dahl, who tried to bring in his friend by force, only to be stopped by Belladonna, who was sent by the Monitor to collect them both for a mission. They are now part of the Challengers of the Unknown.

Now at the head of the League once more, Ra's seems convinced that Batman should be allowed to save Gotham City. Ra's refused to let Dick go from his captivity until he had properly healed from the injures Judas (and Deathstroke) gave him. After agreeing to some conditions and a lot of long dinners with Ra's, Dick was released. But he is convinced he needs to fix three things in his life: He wants to be Nightwing again (causing Stephanie Brown to change her identity a fourth time), he wants to stop being a cop and do something with his law degree (which he does and eventually becomes District Attorney in Earth-2027), and he wants to marry Barbara (which he does too).

## Chronology

* VOX Box: Ronin's Secret Origins
* VOX Box: Bad Chemistry
* VOX Box: A New Challenger
* VOX Box: Birds of a Feather
* VOX Box: A Crippling Blow
* Oracle Files: Heretic
* Oracle Files: Boston Brand
* Oracle Files: Madame Xanadu
* VOX Box: Meeting of the Masks
* VOX Box: The Family Strikes Back
* VOX Box: A Tale of Two Robins
* VOX Box: Parental Concerns
* Oracle Files: Michael Jon Carter 3
* Oracle Files: Ted Kord 3
* VOX Box: The Last Laugh
* VOX Box: Bwah-ha-ha v. Ha-ha-ha
* VOX Box: Old School Beatdown
* VOX Box: Cain Family Values
* VOX Box: The Task At Hand 2
* VOX Box: The Task At Hand 3
* VOX Box: Facing the Truth
* Oracle Files: Violeta Campos 1

## Trivia and Notes

### Notes

* The Judas Contract is a famous storyline from the comics. While it has been told in different ways, it usually involves Terra infiltrating the Titans and betraying them for Deathstroke. Roy's original idea for the Storyline was to not have Terra as a traitor, but instead plant suspicion on readers through Terra saying weird things in VOX Boxes; So when the showdown between the Outsiders, Terra included, and Heretic took place, readers would fear she would betray the heroes. Ultimately, Roy only managed to plant weird Terra's lines in two VOX Boxes: VOX Box: Superheroes and Their Kids and Oracle Files: Tyra Markov 1.

## Links and References

* Appearances of Judas Contract
* Event Gallery: Judas Contract

1. ↑ Oracle Files: Talia al Ghul 1
2. ↑ Oracle Files: Steve Trevor
3. ↑ VOX Box: Reports of My Death...
4. ↑ VOX Box: False Faces
5. ↑ VOX Box: Bad Chemistry
6. ↑ VOX Box: A New Challenger
7. ↑ VOX Box: A Crippling Blow
8. ↑ VOX Box: The Huntress Becomes The Prey
9. ↑ Oracle Files: Rina Nishida 1
10. ↑ VOX Box: The Task At Hand 4