Major DC Characters Return in 'The Button'

Everybody wants to get their hands on the button.

By Jesse Schedeen

DC's Batman/Flash crossover is underway, and already the twists are flying.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Batman #21!

"The Button" picks up where DC Universe Rebirth #1 left off last year, as Batman and Flash are still trying to deduce the secrets of the mysterious smiley face button left in the Batcave. Progress was finally made in this issue when Batman accidentally placed the button too close to Psycho Pirate's mask, creating a spark and opening a breach between worlds. For a fleeting moment, Batman came face to face with his own father, the Batman of the Flashpoint universe.

Art by Jason Fabok. (DC Comics)

Thomas Wayne quickly faded, but that spark also opened the door for another character to return. Batman soon found himself face to face with the original Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne. Thawne has been dead since the climax of 2011's Flashpoint (killed by Thomas Wayne, no less), but he claims to have been resurrected by a mysterious power and drawn to find the button. And he wasted no time in getting a little revenge on the Wayne family by tearing up the letter Flashpoint's Thomas Wayne wrote for his alternate universe son.

Art by Jason Fabok. (DC Comics)

Batman did his best to hold Reverse-Flash at bay long enough for Flash to intervene, but he learned the hard way that it never pays to assume Barry Allen will arrive on time. Reverse-Flash took the button and vanished, only to return several seconds later, horribly burned and raving about meeting God. From the look of it, Reverse-Flash's resurrection will be very temporary indeed.

Art by Jason Fabok. (DC Comics)

Presumably, Thawne actually met Doctor Manhattan, the apparent culprit behind the New 52 and the darkness currently engulfing the DC Universe. For more on Manhattan's current role in DC Rebirth, take a look at our guide to everything we know about Batman and Flash's Watchmen investigation.

And if you haven't already, be sure to check out our review for Batman #21.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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