Warning: SPOILERS for DCeased: Unkillables #1
There are few characters who have undergone such a tragic life-changing event as Jason Todd. The former Robin was brutally murdered by the Joker before coming back as the Red Hood. But in DCeased Unkillables, it’s Jason’s turn to get some sweet revenge.
Jason Todd is still best known for being killed by the Joker in the Death in the Family storyline, and stayed dead for more than 15 years before returning as the Red Hood in the Under the Red Hood storyline. After being brought back to life by the Lazarus Pit, Todd’s outlook on life changed as he became a gun-wielding antihero. In the debut issue of DCeased Unkillables #1 by Tom Taylor and Karl Mostert, Todd finds both closure and justice when it comes to the Joker and his former mentor, Batman.
DCeased Unkillables follows the events of the original DCeased arc, with a specific focus on the villains as they navigate an infected world following the Anti-Life Virus’s deadly spread. Returning to the Batcave on the second day of the infection, Jason finds Batman, Robin and Nightwing’s lifeless bodies. Like Batman once buried him, Jason digs graves and buries his former family. It’s a great twist on their history, with Jason marking Batman’s grave “Bruce Wayne, father, mentor, bastard, Batman.” The two had a…, complicated relationship.
Jason hops in the Batmobile and tries to locate the two living Bat-Family members: Cassandra Cain and Jim Gordon, who wishes to see the body of his daughter, Barbara. Jason takes him to her, where her corpse lays bound in plants after she (along with the Birds of Prey) were killed by Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Jason ends up running across the Joker, who was shot in the chest and killed by Harley in DCeased, and is frustrated it wasn’t him who ended his life. Thankfully, he’s struck by an incredible idea for Joker’s body – tying him to the front of the Batmobile and making him his personal hood ornament. Gordon notes, along with the reader, that “this is pretty @#$%ed up,” to which Jason appropriately responds, “it’s an apocalypse, don’t judge me.”
Jason had to find some closure in burying the man that buried him, even if his relationship with Batman has long been fractured. It’s a somewhat poetic moment, as the former Robin buries his former ally. As for the Joker? While Jason didn’t get to be the one who put a bullet in his chest, strapping him to the front of the Batmobile has to feel amazing. It’s the second-best option for revenge now that the Joker is dead. Even if it is seriously messed up.
DCeased: Unkillables #1 is available from your local comic book shop.
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