Red Death also known as Batman the Red Death is a villainous alternate-universe Batman from Earth -52 who stole the Flash's speed-force powers. Assuming the Edgar Allan Poe inspired moniker of, "Red Death", he is a murderous vigilante who joined the inter dimensional villain team, "The Dark Knights" and an enemy of the Flash.
History[]
Origins[]
This universe's Bruce Wayne had a backstory, seemingly in line with his traditional origins albeit on Earth -52 in the Dark Multiverse. He took in multiple, "Robin" sidekicks however they all died in his service, causing him to become more and more of an extremist. Due to this, he became fixated on stealing the Speed-Force powers of fellow vigilante, "The Flash".
Batman murdered the Flash's enemies, "The Rogues" to steal their equipment which was specialized against the superhero. After this, he chained Flash to the hood of the Batmobile which he had modified with Flash's Cosmic Treadmill. The result of this ripped Batman and the Flash apart as Batman apologized to Flash while they merged into the Red Death.
Red Death[]
Reborn, Batman became known as, "The Red Death", taking his name from the titular antagonist from Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death (1842), a plague which causes bloody death and takes human form to torment its enemies until, "Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all". Bruce took up a new, red costume and changed the batsignal to be red with a lightning-bold through it. Throughout this all, Flash's voice remained in Bruce's head, pleading for mercy with no power over the new body he was trapped in.
The creation of Red Death caused red skies throughout Gotham, inspiring mass riots and looting from super-villains and the Mutant Gang. During this incident, Red Death began to massacre his enemies at high speeds. He ripped the Scarecrow apart, left Riddler hanging on a giant question-mark with his hands and feet impaled by batarangs, left Penguin dead in a frozen pool surrounded by his pet penguins, and disembowelled Man-Bat. While high on his newfound power, he observed his reality beginning to crumble due to the fragile nature of the Dark Multiverse. To survive and continue his quest for, "Justice", Red Death was recruited by his inter-dimensional counterpart, "The Batman Who Laughs".
Dark Knights[]
Red Death became one of the original seven members of, "The Dark Knights", a group of Bruce Wayne/Batman counterparts from across the Dark Multiverse who served the cosmic deity Barbatos. The Dark Knights were arranged to parallel the Justice League of Prime Earth, with Red Death serving as his team's Flash.
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Powers and abilities[]
- Intelligence: Red Death has the genius intellect of Batman but accelerated by the speed force, allowing him to think at superhuman speeds.
- Super-speed:
In other media[]
- The Flash: In this CW show, Red Death is referenced as an enemy of the Flash by future timelines where he has a prolifically high kill-count.
Notes and trivia[]
- The literary character of Red Death is also referenced in Batman Returns (1992) where a partygoer of Max Schreck's masquerade stands on a staircase in a Red Death costume, paralleling the figure's role in the book before being passed by Selina Kyle.
- Red Death's Edgar Allan Poe themed moniker is fitting for the character of Bruce Wayne, who is often identified as having a personal connection to Poe's detective story, The Purloined Letter (1844).