It's pretty safe to say that Batman Who Laughs might be making a shocking return.

One of the most exciting DC crossovers is, without a doubt, the "We Are Yesterday" storyline, which will be bringing the Batman and Superman from Mark Waid and Dan Mora's Batman / Superman: World's Finest run into the present day. Mora's cover for Batman / Superman: World's Finest #39, arriving May 2025, teases some villainous cameos.

Using a classic time travel trope, this story will show the younger versions of these heroes the horrific tragedies that they're going to have to face down the line. But it'll also showcase the terrifying villains they will be up against. With time travel, anyone can come back, and it looks like the Batman Who Laughs is poised to make his long-awaited return.

Even Batman Thought the Batman Who Laughs Was Gone for Good

The Villain Was Defeated by Wonder Woman

The DC multiverse is a big place, and it includes just about every possibility that someone could imagine - including the worst possibilities, as seen in the Dark Multiverse. Bruce Wayne of Earth-22 was exactly the same as Bruce of Prime Earth. He was a hero who fought crime in Gotham for a better future. His path was completely derailed when the Joker went on a brutal rampage across Gotham City, massacring dozens of families and murdering James Gordon. In the end, Batman was forced to kill the Joker, but the terror didn't end there.

The Batman Who Laughs has all of Batman's brilliance and cunning.

When the Joker died, Batman was infected by a toxin that transformed him into the Batman Who Laughs, someone with all the skills and tactical brilliance of Batman and all the amorality and sadism of the Joker. The Batman Who Laughs became a multiverse-level threat when he transformed into the Darkest Knight, and it took everyone in the multiverse to defeat him. It seemed like the Darkest Knight's reign of terror finally ended when a giant golden Wonder Woman tossed him into the sun, but it's possible that he's finally coming back for "We Are Yesterday."

Even the Creator of the Batman Who Laughs Doesn't Think He's Done

Was Scott Snyder Teasing This Potential Return?

In a recent Q&A on the Batman Who Laughs appeared on a comic cover for this crossover just a few weeks later. The Batman Who Laughs has all of Batman's brilliance and cunning. In a plot that revolves around time travel, it's hard not to think that the Batman Who Laughs might find a way to avert his own fate and escape into the main timeline if given the chance.

The Batman Who Laughs was a very popular villain - an unsurprising status considering he's the fusion of DC's most popular hero and villain. The Batman Who Laughs has been dead for several years now, and 2025 might be the time for him to make his grand return. Plenty of characters have returned from the dead in more convoluted plots than a time travel story. Fans will just need to tune in to this major crossover to see if the Batman and Superman of days past meeting with Justice League Unlimited will result in Batman's most terrifying villain, the Batman Who Laughs, making his long-awaited return.

Batman / Superman: World's Finest #39 is available May 21st, 2025 from DC Comics!

Source: Scott Snyder