Oberon Sexton: An Unusual Suspect

I have, admittedly, tossed out a few ideas about who Sexton is and haven't locked in on any that convince me. I've been pressing harder to try to work out the Sexton / Domino Killer situation, and am not quite ready to write it all up yet, but I wanted to post another idea for people to run with. Like "Mangrove Pierce", the new suspect I have in mind is an extremely minor character. One who, if revealed, would not be a big "WOW" moment, but an "ah". And I think that's possible -- not all reveals are "WOW". Lately, I have been coming at this "bottom up", and asked: What has Oberon Sexton actually done? And what, therefore, is his motive? And the main thing he has done is come to Gotham and told Batman that there is someone killing the Black Glove members. We don't know if he's good or bad, honest or dishonest, but we do know that he's not 100% honest, because he didn't tell Batman about the phone call from El Penitente. So, if he's not all good, all honest, and he's telling Batman that someone is killing the Black Glove members, what is his motive? Possibly that he's one of them, and he wants Batman to save his (Sexton's) own skin. One of the newspapers in Batman and Robin #10 said, "Sir Anthony: The Mystery Deepens". An English (like Sexton) member of the Black Glove, possibly the one who identified himself in Batman #681 as having made his fortune in electronics. (He uses the phrases "nonsense" and "dear lord" in RIP; those may or may not be more likely from the mouth of an Englishman than an American.) In Batman and Robin #10, Sir Anthony is referred to as a "media guy". In the next panel, Sexton uses the word "media".

There is no compelling evidence that this man is Sexton. But the motive actually works. Suppose a rich, powerful man running a media empire notices that after Jezebel Jet's disappearance, at least two other Black Glove members are killed. That would make three dead out of the five who were still alive at the end of RIP. He'd obviously have a reason to fear that he might be killed soon himself. So he goes underground under another man's identity (perhaps killing the real Sexton and his wife). Now, he thinks he's temporarily safe, but still has an unknown force out to get him. So immediately after the public reappearance of Batman in Gotham City, he goes to Gotham and tells the world, and then Batman personally, that someone is out to get the Black Glove members. To further make sure that Batman is motivated to get the killer, he adds that Bruce Wayne is the next target. He possibly knows that the old Batman was Bruce Wayne and that the new one would be extra-motivated to save him. Of course, being English, covering the real Sexton's voice would be easier. If he's a famous media magnate, that could explain why Dick finds something familiar about him.

Note that this theory is agnostic as to whether or not the "domino" motif has actually been used to decorate the bodies of the victims. Maybe it's true. Maybe Sexton is lying to make it more compelling that there is one killer out there that Batman has to stop. But if he's lying, then there needs to be an explanation for how the lie is linked to the dominoes appearing in Gotham, which are - perhaps - another issue.

This evidence is not proof that Sexton is the incredibly low-profile character who was only named in the last issue. But this is the only theory I've seen that actually explains Sexton's actions without any additional tricky explanations. (I.e.: If he's Bruce, why is he withholding information from Dick? If he's the Joker, why is he investigating one murder, Malenkov's, that he himself commited?)

But I'll add: Sexton has arrived at the Wayne Cemetery with a shovel nearby, and this is utterly inexplicable. We don't know what he's going to do with it, but dig up a grave seems like a good bet. And then we don't know what or why. This could immediately disqualify Sir Anthony if Sexton's got some sort of exceptional (or cosmic) knowledge about the former dead Waynes. If that's true, then perhaps he is the black-tophat wearing Baron Samedi, a loa of the dead in voodoo, something that freedumbdclxvi suggested on the DC Message Boards.

But until we see him step outside the natural (or the Fourth Wall, in the case of another conjecture: that he is Grant Morrison), Sir Anthony remains a top possibility for Sexton.

Mangrove Pierce is a similar suspect, but less obviously has something to gain from telling Batman about someone killing the Black Glove members: He's not one of them, and an actor likely never was because he just wouldn't be rich enough. So for the moment, I think Sir Anthony is a slightly stronger suspect.

This was just a short post on the thinking I've been doing about Oberon Sexton and the Domino Killer. More to come!

Update: Two additional observations that add some support to Oberon Sexton being Sir Anthony.

1) It has been observed that El Penitente says "Your sins have found you out" to Sexton over the phone, and this is a line that Doctor Hurt used previously. Assuming that Sir Anthony was the "electronics" member of the Black Glove, then he was actually one of the ones to whom the line was originally addressed.

2) Sexton says that the members of the Black Glove have either been murdered or have vanished without a trace. This indicates that there are cases in each of those two categories. We know that three of the five (Malenkov, al-Khidr, and Maggi) have been murdered and did not vanish without a trace. It is possible that Jezebel was never found, so she may be one who vanished without a trace. We can't pick apart Sexton's syntax with a fine-toothed comb and get any further than a guess, but it seems possible that he would not list the two outcomes (murdered, vanished) and link them unless more than one person were in each category. In other words, it is at least plausible and perhaps likely that Sir Anthony is one who vanished (perhaps in addition to Jezebel, or perhaps the only one). And the headline "The Mystery Deepens" is compatible with a disappearance. Though, admittedly, such spare information is all compatible, also, with Sir Anthony being actually dead with a body left behind. My point here is that it's quite plausible that Sir Anthony is missing, with no body, which supports the idea that his body is somewhere else -- namely, in "Oberon Sexton"'s clothing.

The Acrobat Batman

In his Batman run, Grant Morrison three times had other people quote Bruce Wayne saying "The victory lies in the preparation." (Wingman quoted that once, Damian -- not verbatim -- twice.) Then, as RIP drew to a finish, when we saw Bruce in two losing situations at once, it turned out that he'd already gotten out of them with a plan that was in action. (He'd switched cups with the monk; he'd taken a number of countermeasures against the Black Glove.)

Given this way Morrison handled the last Batman, with what similarities and contrasts is he handling the current one?

At the end of RIP, Nightwing's entrance into the final fight is greeted by Bruce with "Nightwing. Nicely timed. You never let me down, did you?" That was right after he had been one moment away from a lobotomy when he snapped the straps holding him down and blocked Le Bossu's pick which was en route to his forehead.

Dick's stint as Batman starts with shortcomings, the encounter in the police station going somewhat poorly in #2. Alfred's pep talk to Dick concludes with "Everyone's waiting for the hero to take the stage." And when he's next in action in #3, Dick arrives to save Damian at the moment that Pyg has a club hoisted in the air, ready to bring it down. This saves Damian's life.

Later, Dick and Damian get dressed in thirty seconds before the webcam in the Red Hood's headquarters activates. They storm Flamingo a moment before he would have shot Jason Todd.

As the Evil Clone Batman has flung Damian from the top of their penthouse, Dick arrives from a transatlantic crossing to catch him mid-air, announcing "With me, it's all in the timing." Explaining the rampage of the clone, he says "I don't like to plan. I work without a net. I'm not Bruce."

And now, in #10, he happens to fall through the rose trapdoor just as Damian's sword is about to lop off his head. (It may be that the taking of the sword is exactly what opened the trapdoor; Dick had told Damian to look for a mechanism.)

Timing isn't Dick's only distinctive trait. His gymnastic ability has been credited since his origin in Detective #38. He's also funnier (saying "Wupps!" when he's trying to convince Toad that he might be dropped) and wears his heart on his sleeve, asking Damian "Aren't you just a little bit excited?" This is a Dick Grayson who's hard not to love -- a ten-year-old who had fun being Robin, and is still having fun as Batman.

In a Newsarama interview coming at the beginning of Morrison's run, he bemoaned the "grimness" that Batman had gotten into and said that the need to get him out of it was "urgent". Anyone reading that in 2006 must have expected that somehow Bruce would end up less grim -- and maybe that's what's coming after The Return of Bruce Wayne -- but in the short run, he's accomplished it quite easily by making Dick Grayson the man behind the bat-mask.

But where are things going?

As noted in another post, Batman #666 shows a future without Dick Grayson, one in which Barbara Gordon blames Damian for the death of "a good friend". Grant Morrison has stated that #666 will "form the basis for the final three-issue arc of year one of Batman and Robin". The length of the first "year" has been padded out to sixteen issues, so we don't know which issues that corresponds to now, but definitely to some part of the next five issues. Morrison further said that #666 fits in with Batman and Robin "considerably". #666 moreover refers to Batman dying. Right now, Dick is Batman.

The pattern established by Morrison with Bruce ("preparation") is nothing short of a declaration that Dick's primary attribute ("timing") is going to carry the day in the climactic battle. Dick's other distinguishing attributes will probably shine through, too -- while Bruce was resolute, Dick's light-heartedness has to be part of the finale.

We also know that Hurt is back to try what he tried before. And so, given that Hurt's many attacks on Bruce tried to pry apart his psyche, it's worth looking at Batman and Robin in the same light: a sinister circus (Dick's boyhood gone wrong), Jason Todd (the boy Bruce chose to replace him), and a sinister version of Bruce himself -- in three story arcs, three nightmare versions of his life so far. And yet, Dick seems not even a sliver damaged by the experiences. Hurt tried to break Bruce and failed because Bruce is so strong. But if he's trying to break Dick Grayson, he'll fail even more surely because Dick's so loose. He's not only unbroken -- he's still cracking jokes. I hope we get to see Hurt try to break Dick -- it's only going to end up funny.

But timing is suddenly what's called for. While Dick's trying to decode the mysteries of Wayne Manor, a task that you would think might sit back and allow a superhero to be patient, all hell is breaking loose. Damian is no longer trustworthy. In the final pages of #10, the communication link with Alfred has failed. Talia is sending her "executioner" after Dick, and "starts calling in favors" with other villains to get him. El Penitente's attack squad has followed Oberon Sexton to the Wayne cemetery, which is suddenly, based on things Alfred is trying to tell Dick, full of added significance. The acrobat is going to have to start to perform now.

Bat Spirits

A lot has happened in the Morrison-Batman universe since Batman #680. But right before the ending of RIP, I posted to the DCMB on the possibility of a bat-spirit being the villain. I couldn't come down in favor of that, but I found some things to say in its defense, and some of those look more interesting now after Batman and Robin #10. While, needless to say, some suppositions are way past outdated. Here is that post, from November 10, 2008, in its entirety:


Throughout Morrison's run, there have been hints that the Black Glove is like Batman, or even is Batman:


1) In #656, the poster of a black fist is shown before and after panels that show Batman's own black-gloved fist in the same orientation.
2) In DC #0, in the very panel where Batman asks the Joker, "What are you trying to tell me?" there is a close-up of Batman's fist which is, of course, in a black glove. This begs the reader to at least consider the possibility that Batman is the Black Glove.
3) Also in DC #0, there is a panel where we see half of Batman's cape, curling up from the floor, and it looks a lot like the five grasping fingers of a black hand. A similar panel occurs in #657.
4) In #677, Jezebel outright suggests that the villain here is Bruce.
Note carefully: She suggests that the villain is Bruce, out to get Batman. (Which is the dynamic in "Untold Legend of the Batman".) Not the other way around.
5) In #680, when Batman says that he's after the Black Glove, and asks Bat-Mite "Who is the Black Glove?", the whole situation has the feel of an ironic reveal waiting. That could be any of a number of answers (eg, Jezebel), but one ironic answer would be that Batman is the Black Glove.


The discussion of the two identities of a superhero as different entities is sometimes hard to take seriously. When it's been suggested that the hero of the Batman book may be his own villain, we often say "Bruce/Batman" or something like that. But I think we can make a categorical distinction here. I think if there is a distinction (and the story seems to be yelling that at times), there's absolutely no way that Bruce is the villain. "Batman", however, just might possibly be.


I've had a feeling that there's a subplot that's been hinted at, that "Batman" could be something that wasn't in Bruce when he was born, but is something really distinct. Not just like, say, Michael Phelps' swimming ability (which came through some combination of natural talent plus practice), but that a major reveal of RIP might be that some identifiable spirit jumped into his body. Either in Crime Alley, or when he made the vow to avenge his parents (a few days later?), or on the night the bat crashed into the study. All of which have been shown in flashback panels.


Someone else suggested that Bruce, like Damian, may have made a deal with the Devil. I'll add some obvious extensions to that idea: Maybe Bruce has some bat-spirit in him that explains his incredible success. (The "miracle in Crime Alley.") Maybe the demon-cutting ritual in "52" rid him of it, and maybe that somehow unleashed RIP. Maybe the demon was angry the whole time it wanted to use Bruce to do evil, but he had corralled it to do good. Maybe when it left him, it went into Hurt and began the final steps of this plan against him. All of these ideas are circumstantially supported by the story.


On the one hand, this sounds radical, and I think a lot of readers would dislike it. I think the more conservative viewpoint is that Bruce was always a remarkable individual, with exceptional talents in every way, and that the murder focused that potential. And that ultimately, the story of Batman is less about the image and crimefighting and more about the almost perfect actualization of a human being. But that it is natural. Like many real-world cases of a person determined to achieve something, but with greater talent and greater determination.


However, I re-read Shaman today, and was struck first by the realization that every bit of the "radical" interpretation that I presented here is included in that story (LOTDK #1-5, Denny O'Neil). I also realized that Shaman and Gothic have a lot of structural similarity, even though Gothic must have been scripted before Shaman was (fully) published. The "spooky" points in Shaman are kept just barely ambiguous, however, whereas in Gothic they are in your face and undeniable.  (Incidentally, an evil Native American "bat god" is the subject of World's Finest #255, and it turns out that a "Batman" who serves the role of keeping the bat god contained has been wearing a costume like Bruce's for many years.)


"52" #30 ends with Bruce telling Tim "Batman is gone". I think the only ways to read that are:


a) Bruce is delusional, and nothing has happened except in his mind.
b) Somehow, this swordplay was a kind of very rapid psychotherapy.
c) The swords were metaphysical and some sort of actual demon was cut out.


We have been told that Batman in Final Crisis is Bruce Wayne but "not necessarily how you know him", for reasons depending upon the end of RIP. Maybe this means that we'll get a very definite reveal about Batman having always had a spirit component that will be removed at the end of RIP.  A less "spooky" result that would be more psychologically grounded but functionally equivalent would be if the personality change already seen in RIP is never reversed (although maybe he'll go on to be something other than the Batman of Zur En Arrh).


Oh, by the way, in Shaman, when Bruce has his final showdown with the bad guy, the last thing he says to him is "Rest in peace."


However, I have a harder time seeing this bat-spirit, if we do get such a reveal, being the villain of RIP. For one, it seems like Hurt has been operating during the same timeframe that Batman should have had any such evil spirit in him. At least, Hurt started preparing this plan long before the demon-cutting ritual.


I think it's quite likely that Hurt is revealed as some sort of body-inhabiting spirit (see Twin Peaks). So perhaps Bruce has been a host for another such spirit. Maybe the spirit in Hurt is allied with the one in Bruce. Or is out to get him, and has been since they knew each other in some past life. Maybe the spirit was once in Thomas Wayne, and because Thomas Wayne was a good man, it couldn't do the evil it wanted, until Joe Chill shot Thomas and liberated the spirit, which freed it up to jump into Hurt's body.


When it comes right down to it, there are myriad possible "spirit" plots, and I don't see how to guess the full details if that's the reveal we're going to get. As far as the final identity of the villain goes, if we are told that the spirit currently inhabiting Hurt is to be called "Batman", that seems like a pasted-on ending to me. Hurt with the batsuit has been called, on the last page of #677, "The first Batman". Now if it does turn out that a spirit was once in (or trying to get into) Thomas Wayne and has since taken hold in Simon Hurt, I don't see anything essential about it "being" the same "Batman" that has been in Bruce all these years. We could be told that, but it would really be an ending of its own purpose. And then we could be pointed back to those clues that I listed earlier as the "evidence" for that result.


To me, this would seem like a weak result, so while I think that we'll find out that Hurt is some sort of spirit (or demon, or Desaad, who is sort of like a demon) and that "Batman" is another sort, I don't think we'll find out that they are the same spirit. But I can't prove it either way. So I do not think it's likely that "Batman" is the Black Glove.


According to the story (a Bob Haney special), there were some descendents of an Indian tribe living in a small mid-west town called Dalton Corners.  Some of the descendents were worshippers of a Bat-God called Gitchka.


There was also a family (the Wainwrights) living in Dalton Corners who were descendents of a medicine man who had kept the evil bat-god in check.  Each generation of Wainrights would take up the ceremonial bat-costume and make sure Gitchka was never brought to life.


I was curious if this Wainwright-Batman ever appeared again in the DCU but I can't find any mention of him anywhere.