In DC’s Dark Multiverse, Batman’s fears compelled him to steal the Speed Force from Barry Allen’s Flash, creating a dark speedster in the process.
Throughout the DC Multiverse, there are plenty of worlds where the heroes don’t always win, and that includes every world in the Dark Multiverse. Since they were introduced in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Dark Nights: Metal, these fallen worlds have been so thoroughly broken that by the time they do end it almost seems to be a mercy. On one of these worlds, following a terrible loss, Batman stole the Flash’s powers, becoming a speedster who runs along a dark path.
As detailed by Joshua Williamson and Carmine di Giandomenico in 2017’s Batman: The Red Death #1, Bruce Wayne had just lost all of his sons on Earth -52. Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian were gone, Band that collective loss broke something in Batman that years of fighting Gotham City’s corruption could not. Batman felt he had failed his children because he couldn’t be everywhere at once. And since he couldn’t be there when they needed him most, they paid the price for his lack of reach. Accordingly, batman took drastic steps to ensure that that never happen again.
Arming himself with the weapons from the rogues of Central City, Batman began hunting the Flash, intending to steal the Speed Force from him. He had previously asked Barry to help him become a speedster, but when Barry refused, seeing ahead to the dark path that Batman would take if given these powers, Batman took matters into his own hands, running Barry down while the rest of the world ended all around them.
Batman tried to justify it as he hunted his friend like an animal. Barry warned Bruce that even speedsters couldn’t be everywhere at once and that he was fighting a losing battle that would only place more guilt on Bruce once he had the powers. However, Bruce countered that he had actually tried to be everywhere at once, whereas Barry had not truly tried to do the same, even with his power. In Bruce’s eyes, he came as close to being everywhere as a normal person could. So when that failed he figured he’d steal the key to actually doing so from someone who wasn’t using it properly.
Batman took advantage of the Flash’s compassion, using it to knock him out before strapping him onto the Batmobile to tear open the Speed Force. The resulting drive through it merged Barry and Bruce, transforming them into the Red Death. But Bruce’s greater will made him the dominant mind, taking full control over their shared body while Barry could only slowly beg Bruce not to go through with his plans.
Unfortunately, Bruce had long since passed the point of no return. He began murdering all of Gotham’s villains, “saving” the city, but still losing it as their world’s expiration date drew closer. He would get a second chance to save Gotham and the world through the Batman Who Laughs, but that meant conquering another world that wasn’t his own. It was a choice he gladly accepted.
In many ways, this battle plays on Batman’s fears of inadequacy in his war on crime. As skilled and competent as he is, Batman is still just a human. He can’t run faster than light, and he’s not bulletproof. He’s fallible, and that frailty was a liability that cost him his allies, in his mind.
Ironically, practically every incarnation of the Flash grapples with similar issues. They have the incredible power to be there when no one else can, so the guilt they feel for the people they weren’t fast enough to save, even if they were simply beyond their reach. It’s a folly Barry tried to warn Bruce about. If he felt guilty because everything he could do as a normal human wasn’t enough, then the guilt he’d feel when he inevitably failed as a speedster would be enough to shatter the soul of this once-great hero.
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