What Happened To Everyone Who Used A Lazarus Pit?
Because sometimes being dead is better.
The concept of the Lazarus Pit has been in existence in DC Comics for nearly 50 years now.
First referenced and seen in Ra's al Ghul's debut appearance back in the 1971 Batman #232 tale Daughter of the Demon, the Lazarus Pit helped to reinvent what readers thought they knew about comic book stories. No longer was death as clinical as was once thought, for now DC had another tool at its disposal for any fallen heroes or villains that they wanted to resurrect.
As we'd come to learn, Ra's discovered his first regenerative chemical pit centuries ago, way before he became the all-powerful, genius-level villain we all know and love. Initially used to save a dying prince, a cruel twist of fate saw al Ghul blamed for the death of his wife and left for dead. Of course, a quick dip in his newly-dubbed Lazarus Pit saw the Head of the Demon back amongst the living and now with a more sinister skew on life.
In the decades since the Lazarus Pits - of which there have been several - came to be, so many DC characters have had to bathe in these mystical waters, with heroes and villains alike having done so over the years.
10. The Joker
Having been shot several times by Talia al Ghul, it looked like it was finally curtains for The Joker in 2001's Legends of The Dark Knight #145… until a certain Caped Crusader turned up to save his life.
While Batman likely wouldn’t have let his greatest rival die regardless, the main reason for the Dark Knight saving the Clown Prince of Crime was that he had vital information that Bats needed in order to track down Talia and her nefarious father Ra’s.
Deciding that he has no choice, Batman prepares a Lazarus Pit and brings The Joker back to life. As the World’s Greatest Detective and Alfred await an even crazier Joker emerging from the Pit, the twist to this tale was that the Lazarus Pit gave the Jester of Genocide his sanity back.
In one of the most poignant moments in the history of The Joker, we saw this most evil of villains have to deal with the realisation of the horrible acts he’d done throughout his life.
Of course, comics being comics, Mr. J was soon back to his murderous ways once his Lazarus Pit dip began to wear off.