Warning: Spoilers for Absolute Power #4The conclusion of Absolute Power by Mark Waid and Dan Mora has revealed a new number-one schemer among the Justice League, turning Batman’s biggest flaw against him. Green Arrow is revealed to have been a mole inside of Waller’s forces, aided by Martian Manhunter using a timed telepathic implant to trick both Oliver into believing in Amanda Waller’s plan in order to bypass her team’s psychics. While this scheme did ultimately help save the day, it also earned Green Arrow the ire of Superman, Wonder Woman, and most prominently of all, Batman.
When Green Arrow explains the plan to Batman in Absolute Power #4 by Waid, Mora, Alejandro Sánchez, and Ariana Maher, Bruce tells Martian Manhunter that it would have been prudent to share that information with the heroes. J’onn responds by saying that he hadn’t planned on being captured initially, as well as pointing out the irony in Batman of all people chastising someone for enacting a secret plan.
Martian Manhunter is right to call Batman a hypocrite in that regard, as his many secret plans have placed the Justice League and his own family in jeopardy on more than one occasion, with one such secret being a major aid to Amanda Waller.
Green Arrow Beats Out Batman for the Justice League’s Most Notorious Schemer
Batman Has Kept Secrets from the Justice League Before
The single most famous instance of Batman’s secret plans backfiring on the Justice League occurs in the Tower of Babel story by Waid and Howard Porter in 2000’s JLA #43-46. In this storyline, it’s revealed that Batman has developed contingency plans against the Justice League in the event they ever go rogue. These plans are then stolen by Ra’s al Ghul to be used against the League. The storyline concludes with Batman leaving the Justice League, and the secret nature of these plans damages his friendships within the League for a long time.
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Additionally, Batman was also responsible for the creation of the Brother Eye AI, as seen in the Infinite Crisis crossover event. Created in secret by Batman as a response to his growing mistrust of the larger superhero community, Brother Eye was supposed to monitor the metahumans of the DC Universe – before Alexander Luthor gave Brother Eye sentience, and Maxwell Lord used the program to create the OMACs with the purpose of killing all metahumans. Batman and a small group of superheroes are able to bring Brother Eye offline, but this devastating event still shook practically everyone’s trust in Batman.
Batman Even Keeps Secrets from His Own Family
The Bat-Family Has Been Torn Apart by Bruce’s Plans
Batman’s secret-keeping habit is so notorious that not even his own family is immune to it. In the 2004-2005 War Games crossover event, Spoiler accidentally starts a massive gang war in Gotham, but the gang war only begins because of Stephanie Brown attempting to enact one of Bruce’s plans without Bruce fully explaining the plan to her, resulting in deadly consequences. The fallout of War Games saw most of the Bat-Family outright leave Gotham on extremely poor terms with Bruce, with many of Gotham’s vigilantes at the time relocating to Blüdhaven before reconciling with Bruce after Infinite Crisis.
Green Arrow’s plan to act as a mole effectively takes Batman’s legacy of secret keeping to the next level.
Batman’s secrets also proved to be everyone’s undoing in the current Batman run by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez. In this run, Batman’s secrets cause multiple problems for the Bat-Family, including Zur-En-Arrh – a rogue backup personality Batman had created for himself which began to subtly influence him – and Failsafe: an android secretly created as a contingency for Batman by Zur. These two forces blindsided the Bat-Family, resulting in Zur taking control of the Failsafe android and becoming a more brutal Batman, as well as Failsafe ending up in the hands of Amanda Waller, who uses Failsafe during Absolute Power.
Green Arrow’s plan to act as a mole effectively takes Batman’s legacy of secret-keeping to the next level, making Oliver the new top schemer of the DC Universe. However, Batman’s previous instances of secret-keeping prove that this line of action will inevitably damage Green Arrow’s friendships among the Justice League, as well as his relationships with his own family. Absolute Power has proven that poor communication can be deadly, and Green Arrow’s secrecy only made things harder for the Justice League. With Amanda Waller defeated, hopefully this is a lesson Oliver – and Batman – won’t need to learn again.
Absolute Power #4 is available now from DC Comics.
Batman
One of DC’s most iconic heroes, Batman is the vigilante superhero persona of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Forged by tragedy with the death of his parents, Bruce dedicated his life to becoming the world’s leading martial artist, detective, and tactician. Recruiting an entire family of allies and sidekicks, Bruce wages war on evil as the dark knight of his hometown, Gotham City.
- Created By
- Bob Kane , Bill Finger
- Alias
- Bruce Wayne
- Alliance
- Justice League, Outsiders, Batman Family
- Race
- Human
- FIRST APP
- Detective Comics #27 (1939)