You’ve probably heard of Bruce Wayne, the youngster who grew up seeing his parents die in Crime Alley and went on to become the badass Caped Crusader. You know, Bruce Wayne, the guy who has a mind so well-organized that even Sherlock Holmes would be envious.
The World’s Greatest Detective, Black Cat’s 10th Life, Joker’s Soulmate, and the Prince of Gotham City are all the same individual. It’s his last moniker that gets overlooked all too often. While Batman is many things — a symbol of fear, a beacon of hope, and everything in between — he wouldn’t be any of them if it weren’t for his outrageous wealth, which he inherited from his ancestors.
Wayne is Gotham Royalty, and the tabloids are well aware of his playboy lifestyle and the fact that it is funded by Wayne Industries’ profits. In most of his stories, Bruce uses that money to become the most lethal crime-fighter the earth has ever seen; at least, that’s how it goes in most of them.
On one Earth, Bruce Wayne never gained his fabled throne; instead, his epic ascension was halted before it could begin, and he was handed over to a person from his past. This is the narrative of Thomas Elliot, the Dark Prince of Gotham City, not Bruce Wayne. That’s right, this is Batman – Hush – Explored from Tales from the Dark Multiverse.
Greed Turns Men Into Monsters: The Original Story of “Hush”
Okay, so, quick recap; almost everyone knows who the bloody Batman is in today’s landscape of DC, but back in 2003, there was still some mileage left in his secret identity. And Jeph Loeb decided to have a little (read: a LOT) of fun with that. We know most everything about Bruce Wayne’s childhood and his journey to becoming Batman; what happened to his parents, how it made him turn into a costumed vigilante, how he travelled the world to become a living weapon, and how he returned to Gotham City to begin his one-man war on crime.
And over the years, we came to know Bruce as a person too; from his first mentor Harvey Harris, to his first protégé Dick Grayson, and the many loves and tragedies of his life, we discovered the man underneath the cowl. Jeph Loeb saw that and said, “alright, time to mess with everyone’s goddamned minds”.
Before Bruce Wayne became known as the Prince of Gotham City, there was another strapping young lad who could’ve had that title. Meet Thomas Elliot- genius-level intellect, exceptional strategist, a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne; and also the human embodiment of greed. Seriously, it’s a wonder that he didn’t get an Orange Lantern Ring during the Blackest Night event.
Thomas Elliot came from arguably the second-most influential family in Gotham City. The Elliot Family were fast friends with the Waynes, and young Bruce & Tommy spent many an evening playing chess matches with each other. In fact, Thomas was the first person to teach Bruce anything related to strategy; he’d often beat him, and it was from Tommy that Bruce learnt the first rule of a fight is to think like your enemy. So in a way, Thomas Elliot was Bruce Wayne’s actual first teacher.
Except this teacher was also hell-bent on getting his parents’ money, and engineered their deaths to obtain it. Thomas Elliot grew up to become a successful surgeon & prolific playboy in his own right, but he always resented one person from the past he had worked so hard to shed; you guessed it, good old Bruce himself. You see, Thomas believed that the title of “Prince of Gotham City” was his birthright; and that he’d have claimed it a lot sooner had Thomas Wayne not saved his father’s life from his first attempt at killing them.
So, he hatched a plan; teaming up with The Riddler & Scarecrow, he set Gotham City’s worst supervillains (and best Superheroes) to face off against each other in an attempt to weaken Batman so they could destroy him. And that’s when Tommy Elliot became the bandaged menace known as Hush; a cold, calculating, merciless avenger, out to protect his proverbial name. In the world above, Hush succeeds in breaking Bruce Wayne, puts Catwoman on life support, and even adopts Bruce’s identity for a while; but in the end, he ends up like all his adversaries do. But not on this Earth that exists in the Dark Multiverse. On this Earth, Tommy Elliot does something far, far worse; and it gives him what he has always wanted.
A Bat Broken in Body & Mind: That Night in Crime Alley
In most worlds, the story of Batman begins & ends the same way; Bruce Wayne witnesses his parents’ murder, and that leads him to become the Dark Knight of Gotham City. There may be twists & turns along the way, but that’s how they all begin & that’s how they all end; except, it seems, in this world. Because in this world, there are 2 key differences that will change Bruce’s life forever; 1) his deep relationship with Tommy Elliot, and 2) the fact that the Waynes were not alone that night in Crime Alley.
That night, they were joined by the Elliots, who had become like kin to the Waynes, with the children of both royal families sharing a brotherly bond. After exiting that fated screening of the Mark of Zorro, the Waynes did die in Crime Alley, but Bruce Wayne was given no time to steel his resolve or find resolutions to his deepest emotional conflicts. Instead, he was immediately taken in by the Elliots, who treated him like their own son. Mrs. Elliot went so far as to say that “the boys will finally get to be real brothers.”
But that was all a pipe dream. The truth is, without the drive to resolve crime all alone, aided only by his family butler in his crime-fighting pursuits, the grief that came with the loss of his parents completely consumed Bruce Wayne. He started becoming unhinged, acting out, descending deeper into madness with every passing day. Then one day it happened; the man who was pegged to be the next Prince of Gotham City gave in to his lunacy and had to be institutionalized before he even became a man grown.
And in his absence, Gotham would never remain the same. The Elliots effectively took control of Wayne Industries, making them the most powerful family in the world’s greatest city. And from their lineage came the next Prince of Gotham; though his reign would be decidedly…darker.
From the ashes, rises the Hand of Avarice: The Dark Prince of Gotham City
In the absence of Bruce Wayne, Gotham City and most of the colorful personalities that populate took drastically different paths. For starters, Gotham was no longer a city; that’s right, the World’s Greatest City had become the World’s Greatest City-State, with Gotham achieving its independence from the United States of America. The many controlling entities that had been kept at bay thanks to Batman’s influence had now sunk their teeth deep within Gotham’s corrupt carcass; The Court of Owls was in charge of the government systems, with Lincoln March serving as President. Joining his elite force of Gray Sons is the man after whom the strike team is named: Richard “Dick” Grayson.
The Penguin is a member of Gotham’s Founding Families, Harvey Dent is Attorney General, Flass is the captain of the GSF & Jason Todd is Gotham’s top weapon contractor. And rising through the ranks of all of these nefarious individuals was the Dark Prince of Gotham City himself. Even in a different world, Thomas Elliot’s mentality remained the same. He had his parents killed by a regular cab driver and then killed the driver himself to cover his tracks and gain irrevocable control of the combined Wayne & Elliot estates.
He used that money to buy political influence and came into contact with the League of Assassins. With their help, he became the most-prominent Senator in Gotham City; as well as the latest “plaything” of Talia al Ghul, who now leads the League, having killed her father Ra. Using his influence, Tommy is able to get Bruce shifted from his regular mental institution to Arkham Asylum; and in the ultimate act of pettiness and spine-chilling immorality, commissions Asylum head, Dr. Jonathon Crane, to carry out live experiments on his childhood friend in lieu of developing his “fear toxin”.
For decades, he has Bruce kept in a vegetative state, while he himself consolidated power and influence for the League. Even though there was a revolution burning in the streets, everything was fine as long as the Gotham Glitterati kept their viewers apprised of their King & Queen’s latest fashion choices. But this is Gotham City, and nothing remains the same here; not for too long, anyway.
A Ghost From The Past, And A New Conspiracy
In the middle of a press conference, Thomas Elliot gets a message that informs him Bruce Wayne is dead. He visits Arkham to “pay his respects” in the most twisted way possible, but on his way in, one of the inmates- Jervis Tetch, aka The Mad Hatter- starts singing a lullaby that sounds a lot like “Hush, Little Baby”; only it’s about the Bloody Bat of Arkham. Tommy asks Crane about this, but the doctor waves off his suspicions.
Taking him at his word, Tommy leaves the scene, and after escorting him, Crane bumps up against Arkham’s janitor- Jack Napier. As he’s berating Napier for doing his job, the lights go out, and Crane is attacked by a demon-like figure covered in bandages. This same figure is later seen by Tommy when he is leaving Arkham in his private helicopter, perched upon a gargoyle, just as his vessel is attacked by an RPG. The Outsiders, a rebel force led by Barbara Gordon, the blind daughter of James Gordon, have arrived to deliver “justice” in Jim’s name.
Elliot is saved by Dick Gray Son and taken to a secure location, where they interrogate the fabled “Oracle”, whom they have managed to detain. Their conversation leads them to Jason Todd, who reveals he’s thrown in with the League and tries to kill Elliot. In the middle of all this commotion, all 3 are attacked by the same, demonic bat-like figure, and Tommy escapes to his estate with a lot of questions for his public girlfriend.
Talia tells him that while Jason was indeed a part of the League, he was going into business for himself by trying to kill Tommy. It’s then that he notices a copy of the Mark of Zorro on his desk that makes him realize just what is happening; Bruce’s dead body held a ticket stub for the movie, and clues related to the Wayne family murders were found at every kidnapping scene. Someone had figured out his secret, and he knew where he could find answers; but he would surely wish he hadn’t asked those questions in the first place, for the rest of his short life.
From The Shadows He Arrives: Arise, Batman the Silenced!
Thomas Elliot is confronted by a severely wounded Dick Gray Son at the old Wayne manor. Gray Son informs him that Jason Todd has been taken, and that he had figured out Tommy’s little secret. The Court of Owls had sentenced Thomas Elliot to death, but before he could carry it out, the floor gave out beneath them; and for a horrifying moment, Tommy thought he was back in Arkham, because someone was singing that same damned song about the Bloody Bat of the Asylum. The truth would be far worse.
Thomas Elliot came to his senses in a room filled with hanging cages; and in those cages were all of the corrupt elites of Gotham City: Penguin, Jason Todd, Harvey Dent, Dick Gray Son, you get the idea. And in the middle of the cavernous prison was a deranged Alfred Pennyworth, driven insane by the loss of the Waynes. Alfred tells Tommy he shouldn’t have come here, and that he’s a “servant” of House Wayne still.
Tommy tries to reason with the clearly unstable man in front of him that the Waynes were dead, but that’s when he’s proven wrong. From the shadows, that same figure attacks Thomas Elliot, and we see him for the first time; draped in bandages from head to toe and clad in a clawed armor that was emblazoned with a blood-red Bat sigil. As he holds his childhood friend by the scruff of his neck, Batman the Silenced confronts Thomas Elliot for his sins; for arranging the death of his parents, and also Bruce’s; for plotting to take over Gotham City with his little assassin friends, and turn her rotten from the core.
He reveals that he had been kept alive, all these years, by his closest friend in the world. That’s right; Alfred was Bruce’s constant companion in Arkham, helping him keep himself together while also giving his life “purpose”. He suggested to Bruce that he should train himself for the fight to come, and so he did; he learnt from the best Mob Killer about how to kill to send a message, or without leaving a trace.
He learned the art of detection and investigation from a homicidal former Scotland Yard detective. He perfected the art of unarmed combat, lock-picking, spying, burglary, and everything else he needed to become a true beacon of justice. And his final piece of education came from renowned criminal psychologist Amadeus Arkham; in whose madhouse he learnt all the ways he could fake his insanity. Bruce & Alfred planted Jack Napier at the Asylum, and waited for the opportune moment to fake the former’s death.
Now, with nothing left to lose, and everything to gain, Bruce advances on a pleading Thomas Elliot. The latter’s motives are pathetic; he pulls out every “incentive” in the book to try to dissuade his childhood friend from killing him. But the man who had been subjected to crazy experiments since he became an adult had lost all semblance of humanity, going so far as to tell Tommy he didn’t even know what days were.
After Elliot’s disappearance, the Wayne estate passed on to Alfred, and thus the revenge was finally complete; nearly 2 decades after he was first institutionalized, Bruce Wayne emerged from the loud echoes of insanity to claim his rightful place in the world as Batman the Silenced; a grotesque, utterly insane version of the Caped Crusader whose justice was as benign as it was bloody.
Marvelous Verdict
DC’s Tales from the Dark Multiverse series is known for re-imagining some of their most-iconic storylines in a more nightmarish light; but even by those standards, Batman the Silenced is plain disturbing. From the very moment you hear Mad Hatter say, “Hush Little Babe, Lest you call down, the Bloody Bat of Gotham Town”, you know what to expect; and it is still downright inhumane when you see it with your own eyes. Batman the Silenced is not Bruce Wayne; at least, not anymore.
Yes, he’s had similar training to Bruce and shares the same love that his Prime Earth counterpart has for their family butler, but everything about him is…tainted. His sanity has been questionable since childhood, and a litany of Scarecrow experiments could not have been great for his brain. He’s so far gone, he can’t tell days of the week apart from each other; and all he wants to do is protect Gotham City-State, no matter how much blood he has to spill. An insane Bruce Wayne locked up in Arkham Asylum is scary.
An insane Bruce Wayne who escaped from Arkham, regained control of his fortune, and THEN became a twisted sort of vigilante/serial killer; now THAT is the stuff of nightmares. In that regard, Batman the Silenced is the purest reflection of the Dark Multiverse; and we DO NOT want to see him anytime soon.