There’s no more traditional ending to a Batman story than a fight with The Joker. Perhaps that is why, contrarily, Hush 2 opens with such a fight? However, this is only the beginning of the shattered expectations. This opening scene replicates the first battle between the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime. Yet it also delivers a surprise to long-time comic readers.
Reuniting writer Jeph Loeb and artist Jim Lee, Hush 2 opens in media res. Batman is rushing to the Gotham City reservoir, to stop Joker from poisoning it. Fairly standard stuff, yet the Dark Knight wonders why Joker is repeating himself. The Clown Prince of Crime prides himself on being unpredictable. So why recreate the first crime that pitted them against one another?
The main cover and first five pages of Hush 2: Part 1 may be viewed below.
How Hush 2 retcons the classic “Joker Fish” story
Joker’s use of fish infected with his famous Joker Toxin may ring a bell with casual comic fans. The Joker Fish caper was most famously reenacted in the Batman: The Animated Series episode ‘The Laughing Fish.’ However, the cartoon was originally inspired by a story with the same title, published in 1978’s Detective Comics #475.
In both cases, The Joker was not trying to poison the people of Gotham City. Rather, he infected the fish as part of a convoluted plan to make money off the rights to his likeness, claiming a percentage of every fish product for sale. However, in neither case was the caper part of The Joker’s first battle with Batman, as Hush 2 suggests.
This represents a major retcon to the history of Batman and The Joker. More worrying, however, are The Joker’s reasons for repeating himself in Hush 2. Doubtlessly they are mad, and more than likely, a little fishy.
Batman #158 arrives in comic shops everywhere on March 26, 2025.
