20 of the weirdest Batman stories ever

5. Batman crosses paths with Watchmen

Alan Moore would probably be the first person to admit that he has a complicated relationship with superheroes and the world of comics. He’s right to interrogate some of the tropes of that world, to be fair. And when he does go for the jugular, Moore at the very least does so with good stories and complicated characters.

Just look at Watchmen, Moore’s magnum opus. It’s based in large part on the concept of looking a “real-life” superheroes and their effect on the world around them. Moore’s superpowered beings, like the hyper-smart Ozymandias or the otherworldly Doctor Manhattan, are all deeply flawed and worrisomely human.

While there’s nothing to say that Batman and other DC heroes can’t also be handled as skillfully, it’s still weird to see the comics establishment cross paths with one of the biggest anti-superhero comics of all time.

Flashpoint

It actually all starts with Barry Allen as a depowered Flash (you know, the superhero whose power is, uh, running really, really fast). In the Flashpoint miniseries, he teams up with Thomas Wayne, who became Batman after the tragic deaths of his wife, Martha, and son, Bruce. It soon becomes clear that Allen and Wayne are in an alternate reality. Eventually, Allen restores reality, more or less, leading to DC’s New 52 reboot.

Allen brings back a letter from Thomas Wayne to our Bruce Wayne. The Flash and Batman develop a friendship and soon become crime-solving buds. Once the DC Rebirth series starts up, the pair realizes that they have one heck of a mystery on their hands. Something — or someone — has altered the makeup of their universe.

That force turns out to be none other than Doctor Manhattan, who is apparently just mucking around with the fabric of existence for funsies. Really, he’s testing the relationships amongst our central DC characters. Plus, the appearance of a certain smiley face button in the Batcave speaks of even deeper ties between the two universes. This ongoing series could either be a good chance for DC to reaffirm all that is good and loving about Batman and company, or everything awful. Rest assured, though: it’s plenty weird.