At the beginning of DC Comic's New 52, two comic book franchises got the spotlight above others: Batman and Green Lantern. It stands to reason why that was the case, Batman being Batman and Green Lantern receiving an increase in quality thanks to writer Geoff Johns. Team-ups between these two have happened before, but today I propose a different kind of crossover. Today I'll be giving my Pitch-It for "Batman/Green Lantern: The Crowd Pleaser".
Let me begin by giving some preference to the idea of The Joker becoming an Orange Lantern. From his debut in 1940 to now, The Joker has killed around 531 people. You're probably asking, "with such a large body count, why not make him a Red Lantern or a Black Lantern". See, anyone killed by an Orange Power Ring loses their identity to their killer and can be recreated as a light construct to act as their killer's slave. With 531 people at Joker's beckoning call, The Joker could take over the Earth. Maybe, even the universe.
The premise, rookie Green Lantern Simon Baz returns to planet Earth in search of Larfleeze, the sole member of the Orange Lantern Corps. When the search is brought to Gotham City, Batman involves himself. Larfleeze had apparently kidnapped an alien princess in hopes of making her his new bride/servant. Larfleeze and The Joker's first meeting is met with equal amounts of insanity, but The Joker's cleverness fools Larfleeze into taking off his Orange Power Ring. The Joker gets his bleached hands on the ring and becomes the new Orange Lantern, preceding to murder the kidnapped alien, his own henchmen and Larfleeze himself. He then takes Larfleeze's Orange Power Battery and flies away just as Batman and Green Lantern arrive. The Joker discovers he now has the power to revive all of his victims and turn them into his own army. He then uses this Orange Army to take siege on Gotham. This leaves Batman and Green Lantern to stop The Joker before Earth is nothing but corpses and light constructs.
A story like this could even rope in other DC characters. For example, Green Lantern Hal Jordan could join in to help seeing as how he was the first Lantern to directly deal with Larfleeze. Also, Jason Todd/The Red Hood could get an interesting arc. The Joker did technically kill Jason Todd, but the magic of the Lazarus Pits brought him back to life. So, Jason would have to fight a light constructed copy of his former self, an Orange Robin. The story doesn't have to stop there, if the battle is big enough The Justice League could get involved and other super villains could fall victim to The Joker and join his army. The ending would have Larfleeze-who's soul would exist inside the Orange Power Battery-coming back to life and taking his ring back. The Joker appears dead after all his constructs turn against him, but his spirit would secretly live on inside Larfleeze. Sequel bait!
Combining two popular heroes is one thing, but when you take two of their most malicious foes and blend them into one universal threat, it catches attention. A story like this doesn't have to be placed in DC's current universe, it could be an else-world's tale spread across eight issues or within a graphic novel. Using this idea could not only push both heroes further, but give readers the next crazy Joker story we've all been craving. Thanks for reading!
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