BATMAN
DEATH IN THE FAMILY
DC COMICS
EXT. DOWNTOWN GOTHAM CITY - NIGHT
We open with an establishing shot of a diner. A woman reads a newspaper with the headline,
“BATMAN EXPOSES
TRAFFICKING RING”
We see Jason Todd walking towards the diner. He walks inside, with a scar across his left cheek. Two police officers sit in a booth. A man, wearing a brown coat and hat, sits at the counter. The news plays on the T.V.
NEWSCASTER: GCPD’s Commissioner, Jim Gordon, credits the Batman with exposing a metahuman trafficking network...
Jason sits down at the counter next to the man.
NEWSCASTER (CONT’D): ...allegedly tied to Stagg industries. Tune in tonight at 11 for more updates on Gotham’s “Caped Crusadеr”.
The T.V. goes black.
MAN: If you’d fought alongside him, you’d know - That’s not Batman. It’s probably Nightwing filling in for Bats.
JASON: And you, uh... just happеn to know Batman, huh?
MAN: Mmm, new him.
He gestures to the waitress for more coffee. She fills his cup as he continues talking.
MAN (CONT’D): He’s gone now. The old “Boy Wonder” knows to keep the Bat legend flying or else Gotham will explode with crime.
JASON: Interesting theory. You said you fought alongside him?
MAN: Oh, I’m a new man now. Gotta new life. Starting over fresh... At least that’s what I wright in my journal. My therapist says that’ll help... eventually.
JASON: Talking things out helps too, friend. As it turns out, I happen to be a good listener.
MAN: Yeah, sure thing. You know, this reminds me of a joke I told Bats once.
Jason raises an eyebrow and smiles.
MAN (CONT’D): You wanna hear it. See there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum and one night, they decide they don’t like living in an asylum anymore. They decide they’re going to escape.
Jason starts to grow suspicious.
MAN (CONT’D): So, like, they get up onto the roof and there...
Cut to flashbacks of Robin reading a computer screen in the Batcave. The man’s exact words read over the screen.
MAN (CONT’D): ...just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town...
Jason’s eyes start to widen. Cut back to the computer screen, where we can see pictures of Barbra Gordon, bleeding from the stomach, crying. In one picture Joker stands over her, smiling, with a gun in his hand, and another is Joker’s mugshot. Robin grimaces.
MAN (CONT’D): ...stretching away in the moonlight, stretching away to freedom. Now the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But, his friend didn’t dare make the leap. You see, you see, he’s afraid of falling...
Cut to shots of Joker smiling and laughing as he beats Robin with a crowbar in a warehouse. Then a shot of the warehouse exploding, and Robin over Batman’s dead body, crying.
MAN (CONT’D): ...So then, the first guy has an idea. He says, “Hey, I have my flashlight with me. I’ll shine it across the gap between the buildings...
Cut back to the diner. Jason and the waitress listen to the man and we see him grow more excited as he talks.
MAN (CONT’D): ...You can walk along the beam and join me. But the second guy just shakes his head. He says, (slamming his fists on the table) “What do you think I am, crazy?! You’d turn it off when I was halfway across.”
He excitedly waits for their reaction.
WAITRESS: Eh.
She walks away.
MAN: (exhales) Crickets. It’s just not the same joke without Batman here.
JASON: Well, next time I see him, I’ll tell the big man you said, “Hello.”
The man stops and his eyes go wide. Cut to the man’s flashbacks of Joker beating Robin. Cut back to the diner. A massive grin crawls over his face as he turns to Jason.
MAN: “Boy Wonder”.
After a beat, Jason grabs a butter knife off the table and stabs it into the man’s eye. He cries out in pain as he falls onto the floor. But then the screaming slowly turns into hysterical laughter. Jason stands over him. The man's fingers drag down his face and we see skin-colored paint wipe off to reveal his natural green hair and white skin. He is now fully Joker and continues to laugh as blood drips from his eye. Jason watches as he slowly dies and his body goes limp. After a beat, we hear a pistol being cocked.
FEMALE POLICE OFFICER: Get on the ground, face-down!
POLICE OFFICER: Hands behind your head!
FEMALE POLICE OFFICER: Do it now! Don’t do anything stupid, man.
POLICE OFFICER: You’re under arrest!
FEMALE POLICE OFFICER: No sudden moves, man.
Suddenly, Jason spins around and grabs her gun. She fires. He dodges the fire and punches her. She flies back into the other police officer, who falls to the ground. The officer points his gun at him. He kicks it away. The officer gets up and tries to punch him. Jason puts the other officer’s gun to his head and he stops. Jason thinks for a moment. He looks down at the gun, and then punches the officer, knocking him out.
JASON (V.O.): I know I failed Batman. I’m sure he’s spinning in his grave.
The sound of police sirens fills the scene and Jason takes one last look at Joker’s dead body, still smiling.
IRIS OUT.
