10 Incredibly Dark Batman Moments To Haunt Your Dreams

10. Return Of The Joker

From: "Death Of The Family" by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo While DC's New 52 initiative found footing in the first few runs, the smiling hellion was conspicuously absent. All we knew was that his face had been surgically removed (you know, just a typical day in Gotham) and he had been missing for a year, presumably not sport-fishing off Boca Raton with some friends. I'll be a bit more careful regarding spoilers in this entry as compared to the rest of the list, as this is a very recent storyline - but suffice it to say that the Joker is back. Writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo deserve all of the attention they're getting, in my opinion, and they really drive the return of the Joker home in this arc. There is an incredibly tantalizing scene in a dark police station, and while there's no shortage of such scenes that tease the full reveal, these pieces all drive a little more toward the moment where Batman and his archenemy come face to face (to face). Not convinced? Scroll back up a little bit and gaze into those round steel eyes as they pierce your soul through a mask of flesh. That's what I thought.