TBU Collected Review: Flashpoint Beyond

Overview: In Flashpoint Beyond, father and son attempt to save each other. The father again fights for the life of his son, who he believes will be a better Batman. In the process, Thomas Wayne may have found redemption.

Editor’s Note: This collected edition includes all seven issues of the miniseries Flashpoint Beyond, which had its first issue released in April 2022 and the final issue released in October 2022. This review focuses on the story as a whole rather than the individual issues that made up the limited series. 

Synopsis (spoilers ahead): Bruce Wayne, Batman, with the help of Marionette and Mime from the Watchmen universe, finds the base of the Time Masters. Bruce is after a specific item, the wristwatch of Janey Slater, that is attached to a snow globe. Batman takes both items back to the Batcave with no further explanation.

Thomas Wayne is awoken by Oswald Cobblepot. Harvey Dent wants Thomas Wayne. Gilda, his wife, became obsessed with Martha, The Joker.  Dent’s daughter, Debbie, killed herself, and Gilda was committed to Arkham Asylum. Dent wants Wayne to go to Arkham to talk to Gilda. This all confuses Thomas, as none of this should have happened, and he should not even exist.  He, with Barry Allen, ended the Flashpoint. Wayne, in his confusion, leaves Dent.

At the cemetery, Thomas finds the graves of Bruce and Martha. Haunted, he sees a vision of the Joker taunting him for his dream of saving their son. Now in the cave, Thomas as Batman pours over his notes while a new report reveals information on the Amazonian-Atlantean war along with the discovery of the Super-Man and his possible link to a possible invasion by Krypton. None of this matters to Thomas, who finds a message on a blackboard “everything matters.”. This is in violation of Thomas’s mantra that “nothing matters.” He smashes the board and grabs his gun; he will change this and kill whoever changed it back.

Thomas first finds Barry. He kidnaps him and takes him to the roof of the Wayne Casino. He will recreate the Flash whether Barry wants him to or not. A harpoon interrupts the experiment, and Barry is killed instantly.  Harvey Dent, on his way to arrest Thomas for the murder of Joe Chill, is also killed by a harpoon, leaving his son Dexter alive.  Batman attacks the Scavenger who fired the harpoons, killing him.

Commissioner Gigante tells Gilda about Harvey’s death and that Thomas is watching Dexter in the meantime. Gilda wants to talk to Thomas.

Thomas leaves Dexter with Oswald while he goes to investigate why Aquaman wanted Barry dead. Dexter asks Oswald to teach him to shoot a gun, which Oswald gleefully does.

We get a recap. The war did not go in favor of the Amazons. Wonder Woman and her sisters were defeated, and Aquaman is planning on moving against the rest of the surface world. Batman cares for none of this. He wants answers, and the best way he knows to do that is to find Wonder Woman and her lasso.

Her execution is a slow drowning. She is tied by her lasso to a post in a cell that is filling with water. Two guards are there, and one wants to taunt the Amazon queen. This doesn’t go well, and it gets worse when Batman emerges from the water, killing both guards. He frees Diana but only to get her lasso. He next attacks Aquaman with the lasso and learns that Aquaman had nothing to do with Barry’s death. In the midst of the fight with Aquaman, Oswald tells him that the casino was leveled by a bomb. Wonder Woman kills Arthur with his own trident. Batman leaves Wonder Woman to do what she will; nothing matters.

In the main universe, the Flash arrives in the Batcave searching for Thawne. Something is wrong with time.

In the Flashpoint, Oswald tries to get Thomas to meet with Gigante about the casino.  In addition, he tells Thomas that Dexter wants to learn about explosives now. Thomas tells Oswald to teach him. At the casino, Gigante tells Thomas about Roger Hayden, Psycho-Pirate. He told Gigante that Bruce Wayne is supposed to be Batman. This brings Batman to Arkham. He finds Hayden hanging dead. Now Gilda has her chance to talk to Thomas Wayne. He gives her a casino chip. At the conclusion of the conversation, she goads Batman to break the small window in her cell door, and she uses the broken glass to cut up half of her face. Batman leaves. Thomas stumbles across a mugging and, as a distraction, jumps in to stop the thugs.  He draws his gun to kill the man, and the Super-Man stops him; everything matters.

Super-Man wants Batman’s help. After an altercation, he takes Batman to a sanctuary where Poison Ivy patches him up. Super-Man wants to fight the impending Kryptonian invasion, and he wants Batman’s help. Batman refuses; his mission is to end the Flashpoint and save his son. Back in Gotham, the police find the dead body of the Reverse-Flash.

In the cave, Batman conducts an autopsy of Eobard Thawne.  His body, like the other victims of the Clockwork Killer, is full of clock pieces. Elsewhere in the cave, Dexter gathers equipment. He is going to Arkham and his mother. Oswald finds the boy missing and tries to tell Thomas. Thomas discovers something in his investigation. He knows who the killer is, and it is impossible. The killer is Martha Wayne, the Joker.

Thomas Wayne, Batman, is on his way to Arkham not to save Dexter but to confront his wife. Oswald discovers that Gilda has a split personality, and the second personality killed Dent’s daughter. Dexter is in danger. Batman, again, does not care. Oswald says that the boy is no different from Bruce. Joker confronts Gilda and Dexter, and Batman arrives and attacks Joker. In the fight, Batman and Joker crash into the Joker’s lair. She has a Time Bubble, and she wants to go back in time with Thomas to save Bruce.

In the main universe, Rip Hunter arrives in the Batcave.  He is there for the snow globe, which contains the Flashpoint Universe. Bruce will not let Hunter interfere.

Bruce dons his mask and confronts Hunter, grabbing the snow globe.  Inside the Flashpoint, Joker continues to try to convince Thomas to go back with her to the past. They are interrupted by Gilda Dent holding a gun to Dexter’s head.  The Kryptonians start their approach. Outside of the Flashpoint, the Time Masters and Bruce fight. Martha tries to get Thomas into the Time Bubble, but Thomas makes another choice for another boy. He jumps Gilda. Gilda activates a bomb that destroys the Time Bubble. Joker gets out. She makes a choice and confronts Gilda wrestling the gun from her. Gilda dies in the process.

Outside the Flashpoint in the Batcave, Bruce tells Rip that Thomas Wayne proved him wrong. The globe has stabilized.  Inside the Flashpoint, Thomas Wayne, along with his new partner Robin, Dexter Dent, move to fight the invasion.

Analysis: This is an interesting story. It is a sequel to Flashpoint, but more specifically, the Batman arc in that event.  This arc actually gives a redemption arc to Thomas Wayne. He is the main hero of this story, and he is the main character to make the most changes. That change affects others, most notably Martha Wayne. Thomas begins the story with “nothing matters” after his investigation and fights to end the Flashpoint. Eventually, he decides that it does matter and works not to change the past but instead change the future. Thomas remains an antihero, but his perspective changes; he becomes a husband and father again, this time to the orphan Dexter Dent, who becomes his Robin.

The art in Flashpoint Beyond is brutal, but it is fitting for this story. The world of the Flashpoint is a brutal and war-torn place. The art has to be dark and brutal. The Flashpoint Batman is the anti-Batman. He has no hope, and he chooses lethal means in his fight, while Bruce does have hope. Throughout the story, Thomas reflects that he must save Bruce because he would and does make a better Batman than he does. There definitely is an argument for this analysis, but this brutal world calls for a more brutal Batman.

Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with copies of the original issues of this series as they were released, but not of this new edition. You can find this collected edition and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this edition digitally either for Comixology through Amazon or as a physical copy in a paperback form at Amazon or from Things from Another World.