The negative realms, often known as the Dark Multiverse, are worlds or universes in the DC universe where evil reigns supreme. These planets will suffer no matter how hard anyone tries, and darkness and evil will destroy everything. Now, each of these realms has its own group of super-heroes, but nothing in these worlds goes as planned.
Each of these world’s Batmans has a story that is essentially identical to that of the primary Earths, but the events are different, and they all finish up as wicked monsters capable of destroying planets. Different incarnations of Batman from these realities include the Batman Who Laughs, Red Death, Dawnbreaker, Murder Machine, Devastator, and the Drowned.
In today’s video, we will discuss “The Drowned,” a female version of Batman from Earth -11 who has the genders reversed. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo created the character, and she made her first appearance in Dark Days: The Casting vol 1 issue 1 in September 2017. She is courageous, but she struggles with trust. Her inability to trust anyone deepens with the death of her love interest, leading to her transformation from a crime-fighting vigilante to a violent monster. So, without further ado, let us have a look at this female Batman gone rogue.
WHO IS THE DROWNED?
Bryce Wayne from Earth-11’s is also known as “The Drowned”, one of Barbatos’ Dark Knights. Bruce Wayne was born on Earth -11 to Martin Wayne, who, like the fathers of prior Batmans, was assassinated in an alley. She subsequently became a crime fighter and had a relationship with Sylvester Kyle before renegade metahumans assassinated him. Sylvester Kyle can be taken as Earth-11’s version of Selena Kyle. In retribution for her lover’s death, Bryce ruthlessly killed every metahuman to avenge him.
Eighteen months after Bryce murdered the last superpowered creature on land and felt she’d finally made her planet safe, Aquawoman returned from years of self-imposed exile with the Atlanteans, having spent that time concealed in the deepest regions of the ocean and claiming to come in peace. Bryce perceived the phony pact provided by Aquawoman of Atlantis as a ruse to further their own objective, and she couldn’t trust anybody except herself and her intuition.
She also saw Aquawoman and her company as more renegade metal and a threat to everything they valued, and she had no trust in the Atlanteans’ efforts to sue for peace. After proving correct when peace discussions between the surface and Atlantis ended in bloodshed, negotiations switched to open war with Bryce, who saw the Atlanteans as ruthless and untrustworthy invaders.
Bryce allied with the surface dwellers, battling and defeating an army of Atlanteans headed by the invading queen, and then took Aquawoman’s own trident before slaying the Queen with it, apparently hoping that the surviving would get her message that the surface people should not be underestimated. This win, however, came at a high price. In vengeance for the loss of their Queen, the Atlanteans submerged Gotham City and very likely a vast portion of the Earth beneath the seas.
Bryce saw this as a minor setback and began making plans to adjust to the circumstance. Bryce performed surgical and genetic procedures on herself in order to win her desperate war, imbuing her human form with vast biochemical augmentations such as the ability to control water, breathe underwater, heal faster, and boost muscular, skeletal, and bodily tissue density, as well as the ability to perform a type of dark hydrokinesis that could corrupt and convert those fighting against her into ravenous sea beasts under her command. She also created her own army of hybridized marine monsters known as “Dead Water.”
Her opponent’s Trident boosted her talents, and she used it to conquer Atlantis and drown the rest of the planet. Bryce went to investigate when she witnessed the Bat-signal she had lighted to indicate hope and triumph suddenly go black, not long before her world was about to end. When she arrived, she was met by The Batman Who Laughs, who gave her the narrative of how and why her city and world were so damaged and misaligned.
He recounted stories of a Multiverse that sat above the dark one that was snuggled under it. Bryce joined the Dark Knights of Barbatos, choosing the title The Drowned, after learning that it was the perfected incarnation of her ideal world and that both she and it were formed from its nightmares.
WHAT MAKES BRYCE WAYNE SO DANGEROUS?
Bryce performed various procedures on herself to help her battle against the Atlanteans. She gave herself faux water breathing qualities comparable to Atlanteans by using the flawed DNA of deformed sea species. Because of her eugenic enhancements, the Drowned can live and move underwater as easily as she can walk on land. She can be submerged in the water forever with no negative effects and without the necessity for oceanic traversal gear or breathing apparatus. She has the ability to manage massive, if not infinite, amounts of water and has drowned her whole world.
Her mastery is so strong that she can neutralize the control of other hydrokinetics. Her aquakinetic talents take on a dark color with more corrupting effects due to her nature as a citizen of the Dark Multiverse. Bryce may summon her Dead Water army to herself at any time by using her water as a conduit. The Dead Water is hungry minions who swarm over and overrun her foes at her command. Bryce is able to infect water around her with the Dead Water, rendering others unable to manage it and making the water “hers.”
She may also persuade people to do her bidding by changing them into nasty Dead Water marine animals. The Drowned has the ability to control and change the physical shapes of the Dead Water sea creatures in her thrall into any shape she wishes, yet they maintain their distinct personal skills to help her in battle. Bryce can even bestow whole new abilities on those she modifies in order to boost their utility and fatal potency.
One of the numerous powers she bestowed upon herself through auto-surgery. The Drowned is stronger and more durable than the average human, able to withstand the crushing depths of deep-sea passage as well as trade blows with super Atlanteans with little to no physical harm. She is a swift runner, both in and out of the ocean, and she can easily outrun Aquaman in mortal battle.
She has enhanced stamina, able to swim for kilometers at a time, reaching the far reaches of her buried metropolis, having swum from its outskirts all the way to where the Bat-signal was positioned. The Drowned is extraordinarily strong, capable of overpowering Aquaman with pure force and battering Cyborg’s promethium-clad cybernetic exo-mantel with nothing but her fists. While immersed, she can see, hear, and communicate flawlessly. She had no trouble visualizing the illuminated Bat-signal on her planet from underwater.
APPEARANCE IN COMIC BOOKS
Bryce Wayne, aka The Drowned, appeared in several comic book series, but her significant exploration with a backstory is well crafted in “Batman: The Drowned”. The story begins at Earth-0 near Amnesty Bay. The Drowned rises up from the water, narrating how her obsession with protecting her world, referring to Earth-11, has been futile and its best to drown it. Saying that she drowns Amnesty Bay with water coming out of her mouth.
Aquaman soon arrives with Mera to save his city but Drowned overpowers them. Mera soon realizes that the water does not obey her, and it’s in command of the Drowned. The plot shifts to a flashback from Earth-11, where we see a female version of Batman and Aquawoman.
Aquawoman seeks peace with the surface dwellers, to which Batwoman scoffs and shows her trust issues for every metahuman. Things do not go as planned, and there a war takes place between the Atlanteans and the surface dwellers. Batwoman fights along with the surface dwellers and kills Aquawoman. She thought that the death of their queen would make the Atlanteans quiet, but instead, they retaliated and drowned Gotham. Batwoman then begins preparing to counter them by modifying her body parts to be somewhat similar to Atlanteans, and finally, we get to see her transform herself as “The Drowned”.
With the help of her modifications, she had an army of dark creatures whom she called the Dead Water. She had set alight with a Bat-signal to symbolize hope and victory till one night when the signal went dark. She goes up to see what had happened and finds “The Batman Who Laughs” waiting for her. He tells her that her lack of faith in anyone is why her world’s demise. He explains to her that it’s not her fault as this was destined despite her actions. He showed her a glimpse of the worlds in the minus realms.
These worlds are destined to suffer so that the worlds above them can flourish. Drowned sees several different versions of her, that is Batmans from all negative universes. The Batman Who Laughs tells her that the worlds above mock them, and it’s time to drown them.
He asks drowned not to sink with the rest and be the perfect nightmare of the worlds above. The scene goes back to the fight between Drowned and the Atlantean duo. She traps Mera with her dead water and goes for Aquaman. Aquaman resists while watching his love Mera transform into one of Drowned’s minions. He screams in pain as Drowned tells him she knows how it feels to lose a loved one. However, before Aquaman gets possessed the symbol of Dr. Fate appears and Aquaman gets transported away from the scene. Bryce then sets up her Bat-signal and says that she will drown this entire world.