Batman: Leviathan

{{DC Database:Storyline Template
 * Title                  = Leviathan
 * Image                  = Batman Streets of Gotham Leviathan.jpg
 * OfficialName           = Leviathan
 * Aliases                =


 * Universe               = New Earth
 * Locations              = Gotham City


 * Heroes                 = Batman, Huntress, Oracle, Robin
 * Villains               = Black Mask, Man-Bat, Zsasz
 * Others                 = Abuse, Carpenter, Jim Gordon, Humpty Dumpty


 * Titles                 = Batman: Streets of Gotham
 * Collected              = Batman: Streets of Gotham: Leviathan
 * Creators               = Paul Dini; Christopher Yost; Mike Benson; Dustin Nguyen; Derek Fridolfs
 * First                  = Batman: Streets of Gotham #5
 * Last                   = Batman: Streets of Gotham #13


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 * HistoryText            = Leviathan is a Batman storyline written by Paul Dini, Christopher Yost and Mike Benson, and illustrated by Dustin Nguyen. It's the second arc on Dini's Batman: Streets of Gotham series, following his previous arc Hush Money and leading into the House of Hush storyline. It is not a single continuous storyline but an anthology of loosely serialized smaller stories.

Leviathan
Huntress chases a deranged Man-Bat through the streets and struggles against putting him down permanently for the greater good. Elsewhere a priest in one of Gotham's worst areas struggles with losing his faith, and asks God for a sign. When Huntress and Man-Bat crash through the roof of the priest's church and lie unconscious, he finally hears the voice of God telling him to kill them both. Huntress and Man-Bat awaken several hours later and the priest has tied them up with plans to murder them both using a shotgun. They manage to get free and Huntress begins to suspect there is an invisible man in the church pretending to be God's voice based on Man-Bat's reactions. Batman bursts in through the window and sedates Man-Bat, not realizing he is the only one who can see the invisible gunman. However, the priest spins around and knocks out the invisible man, revealing that he knew all along and was simply playing along until he could locate him. They commend him on his bravery and the priest explains that it's not enough to have faith, in Gotham you have to fight to keep it.

In the Bleak Midwinter
On Christmas Eve, Humpty Dumpty dresses as Santa Claus and steals toys from a shelter. Abuse fights him when he suspects Dumpty in a series of child murders, but Dumpty flees the scene. Batman and Robin hunt him down to an abandoned children's shelter where he's fixing toys to give to runaways he's taken in. It's revealed that these children are corpses and Robin goes ballistic, but Dumpty insists he found them dead in the river and was just trying to fix them by giving them a happy Christmas. Abuse returns home and it's revealed that he's actually a young orphan child. Elsewhere it's seen that Zsasz is responsible for the murders, as he's forcing children to compete as gladiators in a modified slaughterhouse.

Hardcore Nights
Batman begins tracking down a serial killer who is murdering Gotham's top criminals. He traces their connection to a kinky prostitute with a jealous boyfriend, and makes a date with her in his civilian identity to get closer. The girl is revealed to be working with a mugger to rob her clients, but he is not the murderer. Gordon is forced to infiltrate the brothel as a client, and gets attacked by the prostitute's doorman when he leaves her home. This man reveals himself as the serial killer, and Batman takes him down then gives the prostitute a bus ticket to leave Gotham.

The Heroes
Abuse remembers his origins in flashback, as an orphan boy exposed to Venom by Scarecrow during Heart of Hush. Having idolized heroes his entire life, he used these powers to appear as an adult and become a vigilante protecting children. Abuse and Robin both independently investigate the Zsasz slaughterhouse, and unknowingly team up in their civilian identities. They infiltrate the facility and Damian knocks Colin out, then is shocked to find that Zsasz is a more than equal opponent in the ring.

Final Cut
Zsasz nearly executes Robin, but Abuse breaks into the ring and stops him using super-strength. They take the entire stadium down together, and Batman arrives to stop the men who are trying to escape. Zsasz surprises Abuse and nearly stabs him to death, leaving Robin alone with the killer. Robin realizes he has to fight like an animal, and nearly kills Zsasz slicing through his torso before he falls into the sewers. Batman arrives and Damian confirms that he stopped just short of a kill-wound, but Zsasz will be out of commission for a long time.

The Carpenter's Tale
The Carpenter is offered a job by the Broker, who sets her up with a new villain calling himself the Director. The Director is a wealthy eccentric who plans to film the death of Batman as an art piece, and hires her to fix up the Monarch Theater with death-traps. Shortly before completion, Carpenter realizes that the Director is planning to kill her when she finishes her job. They begin to suspect that she knows, and she's forced to set up counter-traps under the nose of her employers. Carpenter ruins the Director's plans by alerting Batman and helping him take down the criminals. The Director falls through his own trap-door and is knocked out by electric eels, Batman tells Carpenter to leave Gotham but she decides to stay when the Broker offers her another job.


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 * Notes                  =
 * This storyline is reprinted in the Batman: Streets of Gotham: Leviathan collected edition. That collection only includes issues #5-11 and does not include The Carpenter's Tale, which is instead reprinted in the House of Hush collected edition. These stories are also originally published alongside the Manhunter back-up feature Face Off, which does not appear in the collected editions.
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