Joker Just Joined A Powerful Villain Team, And DC's Heroes Should Be Worried

Published Sep 13, 2026, 11:30 PM EDT An experienced Editor representing Canada via ScreenRant's Team Anime, J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa since 2022, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com. His favorite moments in media coverage include reviewing the series premieres of Zom 100 and Bleach: TYBW Part 2 back-to-back and briefly meeting Junji Ito at a VIZ gallery event in 2023. The Clown Prince of Crime has been a man of many hats in the collective continuities of DC Comics both in and out of Batman and Detective Comics. Known by all as the Joker yet donning various origin stories over the decades, Batman's archnemesis was always known for his chaotic tendencies and deeds of wanton violence. So, in consideration of his previous stories and changed identities, DC's Absolute Universe had a massive task ahead of itself to create a newly terrifying Joker, and it absolutely delivers with Jack Grimm. Now, as its worlds expand with more classic characters introduced, the past of Jack Grimm's Joker grows alongside it. While it's been a known fact that the Joker trained with the League of Assassins since Absolute Batman #1, the scope of his actions and just how he managed to tear apart their forces from within were never properly explored. But as seen in Absolute Cassandra Cain: The Shadow's Hand #1 written by Che Grayson and illustrated by Matías Bergara with colors by Mike Spider, this component to his origin story gets laid out in a dense, brutal preview laying out the group's grim prospects. It seems the team that would normally be the world's greatest killers and complicated hunters, has become the prey in the Absolute Universe. DC's New Preview Lays Out Absolute Joker's Massacre Flashback With Ra's al Ghul instead heading his Lazarus company and featuring heavily in Absolute Superman, the League of Assassins looks fundamentally the same, but with a key leadership change in Absolute Cassandra Cain's preview. Their mission has stayed ostensibly the same all the while, though: train elite fighters to kill without hesitation, and accept those who endure the harsh journey to find their headquarters. But it turns out that the shadowy overarching antagonist of Absolute Batman tends to value control abroad just as much as on home turf, as upon the League's leader Shiva saying "no" to their new greatest recruit, Jack Grimm aka Absolute Joker, he killed all but seven of their members. Five years I tracked him. While he studied with Henri Ducard in France, then killed the poor @#$%. While he trained with the League of Assassins, then killed them. Now...in the wind. -Alfred Pennyworth, Absolute Batman #1 With David Cain raising his and Shiva's daughter, Cassandra, this flashback sets the stage for the story originally springing from Absolute Catwoman to truly take form. It puts Cassandra Cain directly on the path to becoming what DC proclaims to be the Absolute Universe's greatest assassin per issue #1's preview, while also on a potential collision course with an utterly demonic Joker who's been the grand architect of virtually all major events in Absolute Batman. But it also paints the League of Assassins as a far more endangered one than previous DC iterations, with its fate being a compelling story on its own as well. More importantly, Joker's ability to viciously dispatch hardened killers may seem par for the course in this continuity, but it doesn't bode well as Batman gets ready to face him soon. DC's Absolute League Of Assassins Are The Hunted & Not The Hunters Another component to Absolute Cassandra Cain: The Shadow's Hand #1 is where the League of Assassins has to go following the massacre. Rather than their prominent role in most other continuities, their members are now scattered around the globe and forced into hiding, while Shiva takes it upon herself to rebuild the league. Just how that winds up manifesting in the future of the Absolute Universe remains to be seen, but Cassandra seems at least a viable candidate to keep that flame alive as well. While David's role in raising Cassandra remains ostensibly the same, Shiva's position as leader of the League's remaining members presents an interesting opportunity for the two to reunite. But with Henri Ducard killed alongside countless others by the Joker, and even legacy members in any other universe like Ra's al Ghul slaughtered by an enraged Teth-Adam, the League is on the run. David confirms that their hiding is absolutely necessary for survival, especially noting the importance that Cassandra not speak up to "the powers that be" like a billionaire Joker like her mother did. Thus, Absolute Batman's greatest threats continue to confirm their globe-spanning thread radius with their thumbs overwhelmingly pressed on the scales of power.