Batman: Last Knight on Earth # 2 2019 NM

Batman: Last Knight on Earth #2 (Book Two) (released July 31, 2019) is the oversized second chapter of the dark, post-apocalyptic 3-issue DC Black Label miniseries. Created by the legendary New 52 team of writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo, this issue expands a desolate, ruined Earth where a young clone of Batman treks across a wasteland alongside the talking, severed head of the Joker.

The story unfolds across three distinct, nightmarish locations as Batman seeks out the mysterious dictator ruling over the remnants of humanity:

Act I: The Plains of Solitude

The issue opens with Batman and Joker navigating the mutated North American desert.

• The Speed Force Storm: They are caught in a localized cosmic storm created by the remnants of the Flash, where speed force lightning constructs display a tragic loop of the day the world collapsed.
• The Fortress of Solitude: Striking out into the sand, they discover the ruins of the Fortress of Solitude. It is guarded by an aged, hardened Wonder Woman, who has built a hidden subterranean sanctuary beneath the ice to protect the last remaining human refugees and a group of Amazons.

Act II: Lex Luthor's Final Stand

Wonder Woman agrees to transport Batman toward Gotham City via a specialized stealth airship, flying over what used to be the American Midwest.

• The Underworld: Along the path, they are shot down and ambushed by a terrifying mutant underworld. The surface is policed by an enormous, monstrous fusion of Bane and Scarecrow (Bane carrying Scarecrow on his back, using fear gas to paralyze victims).
• The Truth of the Apocalypse: Batman encounters an incredibly old, dying Lex Luthor. Luthor reveals a dark philosophical truth: he didn't destroy the world. Decades ago, Luthor successfully convinced the global populace to reject justice and choose doom, and mankind willingly tore its own civilization apart in a chaotic free-for-all.

Act III: The Siege of Gotham & Omega's Identity

Batman finally makes it to the gated perimeter of Gotham City, which has been transformed into a dystopian, tech-heavy kingdom ruled by a brutal warlord known as Omega.

• The Rebellion: Batman connects with the remaining underground human resistance, led by an older Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon.
• The Cliffhanger: The resistance reveals a horrifying detail about the main antagonist: Omega is not a rogue supervillain. Omega is actually the original, older Bruce Wayne, who survived the apocalypse, became deeply cynical, and conquered Gotham using Darkseid's anti-life equation. The issue ends with the cloned Batman realizing he must kill his original self to save what is left of Earth.