Top 100 Batman VILLAINS

92 - Reaper

#92 - Reaper
First Appearance: Detective Comics #575 (Jun 1987)

"Tell the world that the Reaper has returned... and will save this city-- with its consent or without. " ~Reaper

The Reaper is probably the single-greatest villain created to be intentionally killed at the end of a story. Oh, um, spoilers. Actually, when the Batman: Year Two story was initially unveiled on the heels of Batman: Year One's success, writer Mike Barr said that this was a story about a "forgotten villain and his unusual death." Readers were partially drawn into this story to find out how this mysterious villain met his tragic end somewhere in Batman's past, and that was part of the magic that was Batman: Year Two.

Year Two was a very interesting story that revolved around the similarities between Batman and his ultra-violent counterpart, the Reaper. So driven to kill was the Reaper that it brought the mob into a temporary alliance with Batman. In fact, Batman was forced to work with Joe Chill, the man who killed his parents, in an effort to bring the Reaper down. The climax of the story, where Chill, Batman and the Reaper confront each other, is one of the better high points in Batman's history, and I really recommend this story to Batman fans, as the Reaper was a villain created specifically to dissect Batman's vigilante actions, and also to make the reader question where to draw the line between hero and villain.

And in the end, the Reaper may have kept Batman from walking down the same, ultra-violent path.

Greatest Reaper Story Ever Told: I already told you about the greatest story, but I'm going to mention Batman: Full Circle, in which Joe Chill's son takes up the mantle of the Reaper in order to avenge his father's death. An interesting story that ultimately helps Batman come to peace with his parents' deaths.