Random Happenstance

It's a locked room mystery, and if it were a TV show it would almost be a bottle episode, albeit a rather expensive one. And everyone learns a lesson at the end...except for bloody Batman, because he's ever so perfect, okay? From 2020, Justice League Annual #2, "Death Trap" Written by Robert Venditti, pencils by Aaron Lopresti, inks by Matt Ryan. 

Batman calls the big guns to the Hall of Justice, not for battle, but for their investigative skills, since there's a naked dead guy in the Hall. The security footage is gone, they don't recognize the guy (who was a very Lopresti-style guy!) and there's no immediately visible cause of death. As they cross off a few more suspects like a speedster or magic-user, the Hall goes into lockdown unheeded, then activates "Zod protocol" and blasts red-sun radiation throughout the building, sapping Superman's strength. Reverse-Flash and Sinestro defenses are also up, and Batman firmly suggests Wonder Woman not punch a wall and set off "the microscopic wards etched into the walls." Wow, that sounds time-consuming...

Working together, Flash and Green Lantern (John) are able to get through a sealed door; and they notice their "corpse" has dissolved: an artificial construct set to lure them in. Next, the usual sentry-type robots have now gone lethal-force, and have to be smashed up. Then, while Batman and Wonder Woman get attacked by microbots in the armory; Flash, Green Lantern, and Superman try to get through the garage; with the triumphant return of the Super-Mobile! Aw, that'll buff out.

Batman realizes who the villain is here...not necessarily out of any clues, I don't think; although the baddie could've appeared recently. I haven't read a proper single issue of a new Justice League book in what feels like a hundred years: I feel like there may be a little good stuff I've missed, but not a ton? After the baddie is defeated, the heroes consider how their own walls and shields were turned against them, but the Justice League's real strength was their trust in each other. Right, Batman? ...Batman? Yeah, Batman's putting the bad guy into storage; he hasn't learned squat. 

The other day when I mentioned Damian being a little control-freak dick, I was thinking Batman didn't do that as much anymore, but I feel like if you asked Bats what the Justice League's real strength was, he'd say "doing what I tell them." Crap, in my head I could hear Kevin Conroy saying that, and it was kinda cool...