Absolute Batman Just Dropped A Bombshell That Will Destroy Gotham's Hero

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Published Jul 8, 2026, 1:01 PM EDT

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The following article contains spoilers for Absolute Batman #22.

Among the many amendments to Gotham City lore introduced in Absolute Batman, the survival of Martha Wayne is certainly among the most bewildering. It was the murder of only his father, Thomas, that inspired Bruce Wayne's crusade against crime instead.

However, what if that was not the only curveball Scott Snyder had planned when reimagining Batman's origin story in the Absolute Universe? The latest issue of the smash-hit DC series drops a nuclear blast of a reveal that is sure to leave Absolute Batman fans, and Bruce himself, irrevocably shaken.

Absolute Batman #22 Reveals The Truth About Bruce Wayne's Father

The bulk of Absolute Batman #22, featuring guest artist Werther Dell'Edera of Something is Killing the Children fame, takes place in the middle of a cat-and-mouse game between the Dark Knight, accompanied by Absolute Harley Quinn, and the Absolute Robins. However, the real action occurs in the concluding panels when Bruce Wayne visits his father's grave.

Having heard the Red Hood Gang leader hint at potential blind spots in Bruce's past that could be the work of Absolute Scarecrow's master manipulation, he compulsively begins to dig up his father's coffin, expecting (or, more accurately, hoping) to find his remains inside. Instead, he discovers that the casket is empty. Just then, he receives a video call from Scarecrow, who then points the camera at none other than Thomas Wayne, alive but far from well.

Scarecrow tells Thomas — naked, emaciated, and chained to a wall — that Bruce is on the other end of the line, to which he immediately begs him to hang up, pleading to let his son continue to believe that he is dead. After the call is terminated, Bruce then channels Luke Skywalker at the climax of The Empire Strikes Back and calls out, "It's not true. It's not true!" refusing to believe what he has seen.

Having already experienced a lifetime of pain from witnessing his father's apparent murder as a child, how Bruce must feel after learning he has been alive, but imprisoned, all these years is unimaginable. He was already disillusioned enough by the reveal in Absolute Batman #20 that the incident and his eventual vigilante evolution were orchestrated by Jack Grimm V, otherwise known as Absolute Joker. Speaking of...

Absolute Batman #22 Also Reveals The Truth About Harley Quinn's Father

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The ending of Absolute Batman #22 drops not one, but two huge reveals, and within the same handful of pages, too. Both also involve a horrifying discovery regarding the paternal ancestry of the issue's two main protagonists.

The comic also delves into the origins of Absolute Harley Quinn, as she explains to her unreceptive ally that she was raised by a single mother, a neurologist who turned out to be on Jack Grimm's payroll as a researcher at a facility that might be Ark M, which was hidden underneath her own home. As it turns out, she and the wealthy literal monster were even closer than that.

The detail that Harley leaves out when recounting her story to Batman is the moment she learned that her true father is Grimm, a discovery she refuses to fully believe to this day, repeatedly reminding herself that, "even if it's true, it's not true." Still, the revelation, coupled with Absolute Joker's corruption of her mother, serves as her primary motivation to take down the corrupt, demonic aristocrat.

However, it looks like her mission will no longer involve Batman. She announces to Alfred Pennyworth and her fellow Red Hood Gang members that she refuses to work with Bruce Wayne any longer, leaving out how she poured her heart out to him, and he still refused to take her advice about dealing with Scarecrow and Grimm.

Could this truly be the end of Batman's unlikely alliance with Harley Quinn? Was the man on Scarecrow's video call truly Thomas Wayne, or is it all another cruel trick? Only time will tell.

Absolute Batman #22 is now available where comic books are sold.