Ever since the trailer for Titans‘ season finale hit the web late last week, it’s deservedly been the talk of the town. After all, who wouldn’t go bananas after seeing Batman finally losing it and kicking the crap out of anything in his path? No matter if you reacted positively or negatively, it got your attention.
So, if you placed your bet on Scarecrow’s fear toxin or Poison Ivy’s pheromones influencing the Dark Knight’s behavior, now is the time to say you were dead wrong. As it turned out, the synopsis for “Dick Grayson” pretty much gave away what was going on, but let’s start from the beginning and recap what was a tremendous episode, shall we?
Funny enough, we begin with Dick living the sweet life in California. He’s now married to Dawn (or Dove, if you prefer), with one child running around the house and a baby on the way. They keep in touch with Rachel and Gar via video chat, and everything seems just peachy. Basically, it’s the perfect way for Dick to put Robin behind him.
Well, that all begins to come crashing down when a wheelchair-bound Jason Todd shows up to let his predecessor know that Bruce is starting to lose his marbles. Commissioner Gordon and Alfred are dead, Barbara Gordon is missing, and the Caped Crusader is estranged from Superman. In other words, those are the required dominoes to fall if Batman is to succumb to his dark side.
Thinking he can pull his mentor back from the abyss, Dick returns to Gotham, which has gone to hell in a hand basket. To me, it looks like how the worst parts of New York City were depicted in Death Wish 3 – and we’re just talking about the Uptown area.
It’s not long after the homecoming when Batman chucks the Joker from a rooftop. Amazingly, the Clown Prince of Crime (barely) survives the fall, but Dick knows something is up with his surrogate father. He tries to talk some sense into him, but nothing seems to sink in.
Soon after, the Masked Manhunter kills the Joker in his hospital bed, then lays waste to a ton of patients at Arkham Asylum. Among the dead are heavy hitters such as Riddler, Two-Face and the Ventriloquist, but be sure to keep your eyes peeled for any other possible Easter eggs.
After taking in the carnage, Dick’s understandably had it, and tells the police that Batman is Bruce Wayne. On this condition, he leads the operation to Wayne Manor with the goal of capturing the deranged vigilante alive.
It’s at this point when things kick into high gear and Batman takes down an entire SWAT team by himself – along with murdering Starfire with Mr. Freeze’s gun. Upon seeing this, Dick blows up the mansion now that every other option is exhausted.
Believe it or not, old Batsy actually survives the explosion, but is trapped under slabs of concrete. Instead of showing mercy, Dick places his foot on his mentor’s neck and kills him – much to the delight of Trigon.
You see, this whole deal was a fantasy scenario concocted by the big bad in order to corrupt Dick Grayson. Suffice it to say, giving him an ideal life and then ripping it away by making him realize his worst fear – a Batman gone berserk – was enough to do the job. And now that the former Boy Wonder is sporting black eyes as if he were a demon on Supernatural, it’s Raven’s duty to set things straight.
Before I go, let me just say that it’s also important for you to stay after Titans‘ credits this time around. Trust me.
