Forget Clayface, Batman’s Biggest Villain Redemption Of 2026 Is The Last One Fans Expected
Jared is a writer, editor, and Communications Studies graduate who loves popular nerd culture (almost anything to do with Marvel, DC, Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings) and the interactive storytelling medium. Jared's first console was the PS1, wherein he fell for Spider-Man, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot.
Villain redemptions in either DC or Marvel are frequently depicted yet rarely earned. It may be easy for a movie like Joker to have audiences sympathize with the character when he belongs to a wholly original continuity and is portrayed as having a detailed and tragic backstory, but few characters who’ve been around as long as Joker has in the main DC Comics lore have been given this opportunity themselves, at least not without the alarming contributions of a new run’s unsavory retcons.
The DCU’s Clayface movie was commendable for starting out with a protagonist who was wholly sympathetic and gradually degrading him until he became an antagonist that was fairly far from retribution, even if it’s implied that the serum he took was responsible for his tailspin. In DC Comics, there’s one character who hasn’t technically been a full-blown villain for a while, but he may have just redeemed himself as a legitimate hero following the events of DC Comics’ Batman: Bad Seeds.
DC’s Most Unlikely Hero Was Batman: Bad Seeds’ MVP
Victor and Nora Fries’ Mr. and Mrs. Freeze may have thwarted the ancient, hostile flora that nearly terraformed Gotham City, but Waylon Jones’ Killer Croc was the indisputable MVP of Batman: Bad Seeds, no Engine of Eternal Winter required. Indeed, it’s no hyperbole to say that Batman would’ve literally been consumed and slain by plants in the first installment of this crossover event if it wasn’t for Croc, who rescued the blue-clad Caped Crusader from Poison Ivy’s prehistoric superbloom in Batman: Bad Seeds - Sunset #1.
12 issues prior, Croc made his most endearing and adorable appearance yet in Batman (2025) #1, appearing more like an empathetic puppy than a scaly brute. He had fled Arkham Towers and returned there willingly as a patient of Dr. Annika Zeller, who’s been treating Croc with Batman’s Crown of Storms, after having a touching conversation with an unmasked Bruce Wayne at the Gotham Natural History Museum.
But Batman isn’t the only person he saved in Batman: Bad Seeds. Croc also rescued Ivy from the clutches of the Parliament of Trees’ Lady Jane in Poison Ivy #49, though not before Ivy was successfully stripped of her powers. Then, in Batman: Bad Seeds - Sunrise #1, Croc saved the day once more when he decapitated Gotham City Police Commissioner Vandal Savage and fled into the sewers with his head—“For Ivy--for Gotham--for everything.”
Batman Villains May All Be Their Most Interesting Selves Now
Killer Croc may be more popularly portrayed as a hideous villain, but this event has demonstrated how profoundly his latest status quo is as a genuine hero and how unexpectedly significant his character has been since the beginning of Matt Fraction’s Batman run. It’s incredible to see Croc wielding his animalistic nature and monstrous violence as a do-gooder, and, especially in the Batman: Bad Seeds finale, Croc’s gnarly methodology has finally curtailed Savage’s paramilitaristic reign in Gotham.
Batman and every other DC Comics series that was tied into Batman: Bad Seeds are happily moving on with their books’ respective runs and storylines, such as the perceived assassination of Bruce Wayne (in reality, it was “Eel” O’Brian’s Plastic Man whom the Ōjō had presumably shot). As for Croc, it’s anyone’s guess as to where he may appear next, but he and his whereabouts may be important as long as he’s in possession of Savage’s head.
Croc’s heroism doesn’t necessarily stem entirely from the Crown of Storms, but it’s certainly interesting to acknowledge how big a role this treatment might play in turning many classic Batman villains into tried-and-true heroes, even if the ways in which they’re capable of dishing out said heroism wouldn’t always be condoned. For example, Joker will be enjoying a fascinating reincarnation if the Crown of Storms treatment truly has regulated his emotions and made him sane. And, with Ivy now in Dr. Zeller’s care at Arkham Towers, it’ll be neat to see how Dr. Pamela Isley’s character evolution (or devolution, ironically) pans out.
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