The Super Powered Fancast

The first part of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s latest epic Batman story has been released and the post-apocalyptic adventure has already set up some interesting and engaging mysteries for readers.

In the first issue it is established that after a tragedy, Bruce Wayne has emerged in a future where anarchy reigns and the Justice League is gone. It’s a world devastated by speed force storms, a decimated Green Lantern corps and a war of destruction not launched by a villain, but by the people he swore to protect. Being dropped into the tail end of this story leaves mysteries to be revealed as the story progresses. Here are the top five mysteries that I want to learn more about in the course of the story.

(SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST ISSUE!!!)

5. What happened to the Green Lantern Corps?

After leaving the simulation Alfred created for him when he re-emerged, Batman makes the trek to Coast City. When he arrives, the Lantern’s Power Battery lies destroyed and Mogo hangs lifeless in space. The narration indicates that an epic battle took place which wiped out the city and caused the deaths of the corps itself leaving their rings to fall the Earth. What happened to the Lanterns themselves and how are their rings being used by the dead to create the killer constructs that go after Batman?

4. Where is Superman?

When Bruce is rescued by Vixen and the new Amazons, he is taken to the last refuge of humanity where Diana has found a way to keep the people safe. After learning how the war started that both killed him and destroyed the League, Bruce wants to know what happened to Superman. Diana says that she saw him fall, but the persistent rumor that he is alive means there might be hope for the future. Will Bruce search the Plains of Solitude for the Man of Steel? What might he find when and if he does?

3. Who is Omega?

In the midst of the war between the heroes and the people, a new evil emerges in Gotham according to Diana. Calling himself Omega, this powerful new threat has complete control of the Anti-Life Equation and has used it to take complete control of the East Coast. His growing power has forced the remaining heroes underground and his spies operate throughout the world. Omega has to be connected to Darkseid, but in what capacity? How did he take control of the Anti-Life Equation and is he someone we already know?

2. The Crime Alley connection.

The first issue begins with Batman investigating a series of chalk drawings all over the city. For almost a year, someone has been drawing an outline that only Bruce’s satellites could interpret as a chalk outline of Batman dead with the heart of the drawings located in Crime Alley. Bruce enters the scene only to find the badly decomposed body of a ten or eleven year old boy and a shot that ends in darkness for the Dark Knight. Is the mystery person behind the chalk outline connected to the events of the story? Could this be Omega himself?

1.  How did Joker end up as a head in a jar?

Batman’s greatest foe becomes not only his only companion, but also the narrator of this story when the newly returned Batman emerges and finds Joker’s head preserved in a jar. What makes things even stranger is that the head is alive and has been waiting for Bruce to discover it for years. What happened to the Clown Prince of Crime that left him as a disembodied head in a jar? Who left him for Bruce to find and for what ultimate purpose?

Scott Snyder has crafted a unique and deeply engaging first issue of Last Knight On Earth and every page is filled with both amazing plot details and beautiful art by Greg Capullo. While I love speculating about this new and dangerous world they’ve created, I look forward to how this team allows those mysteries to unfold.

What do you think of the first issue of Batman: Last Knight On Earth? What questions do you have about the story? What are your theories? Let me know in the comments below.