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Last week's Batman #156 marked the penultimate chapter of writer Chip Zdarsky's ongoing run penning the Caped Crusader. 'The Dying City' arc has piled on the mysteries and shock reveals, introducing a supposedly long-lost brother for Bruce Wayne, revisiting the resurgent Court of Owls, and placing a mysterious new masked hero on the streets of Gotham in the form of Commander Star. It also flirted with the idea of making Jim Gordon a murderer – something that was thankfully revealed last issue to be part of a sinister plot by the Riddler who, to the surprise of absolutely no one, is still a bad guy after all.
Batman #156 builds on this reveal by largely focusing on the Riddler's plot (and Mad Hatter's involvement in it). In its final pages, however, it returns to the issue of Commander Star – a b-plot that has felt a little irrelevant up to this point. Well, after this issue it's clear that both Star and the Court of Owls have bigger and more deadly plans than even Edward Nygma realised.
Spoilers for Batman #156
The chapter opens with riots engulfing the streets of Gotham, while Star stands by and does nothing. Batman manages to quickly clear Jim's name with the police, then sets out to find Nygma, who is taunting Batman with his usual riddles, one of which Bruce eventually deciphers as being a hint that the Court of Owls is now under Russian control – who now have access to the US's nuclear arsenal.
While Jim gives Nygma a well-deserved beating, Batman tracks the Owls representative Leonid Kull as he heads to a private jet. One thing is bothering him still, though. Just who is Commander Star and how does he fit into all of this?
As he thinks it over, he remembers Nygma's final riddle to him: "Not in pounds, but I measure weight. I won Beauty's love, which started as hate." Deciphering that gives him two answers: The Beast and KG... Yep, the man inciting chaos on the streets of Gotham is Batman's old enemy Anatoli Knyazev, the assassin more commonly known as the KGBeast.
Who is the KGBeast?
Knyazev is a cybernetically-enhanced assassin created by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo for March 1988's Batman #417. In the original continuity he was trained by the KGB and despatched to kill various U.S. officials (including then president Ronald Reagan!). During a fight with Batman, however, he chopped his own hand off, replacing it with a cybernetic gun arm.
The Beast would continue to cross paths with Batman over the years, gaining various additional enhancements along the way. He was eventually killed by Tally Man in 2007's One Year Later crossover, then later resurrected as a Black Lantern in the Blackest Night saga.
In the post-Rebirth DC universe, KGBeast was hired by Bane to take out Nightwing – an assignment that he very nearly carried off. Nightwing temporarily lost his memory and began going by the name Ric Grayson for a time. While he eventually recovered, an enraged Batman took the fight back to Anatoli, snapping his neck and leaving him to die in 2018's Batman #55. Now, it seems, the KGBeast is back – and looking for a rematch.
Batman #156, by writer Chip Zdarsky, artist Tony S. Daniel, colorist Tomeu Morey, and letterer Clayton Cowles, is out now from DC.
Here's everything you need to know about Batman's mysterious Court of Owls.
