Batman And The Flash Face A Tragic Hero In DC Crossover Event

Part two of The Price—a four-part crossover weaving between Batman and The Flash comics throughout February—has just arrived, and with it comes the unexpected return of Gotham Girl, Claire Clover. Her reappearance isn’t exactly triumphant. Instead, it’s messy, tragic, and bound to create even more chaos for both Barry Allen and Bruce Wayne.

For many readers, the name Gotham Girl may not ring a bell. Introduced just three years ago in the Batman: Rebirthstoryline I Am Gotham, Claire was cast in a familiar mold: murdered parents, an admired brother, a desire to do good. But her origin took a darker turn. Claire and her brother subjected themselves to experiments that granted them metahuman powers—abilities that eat away at their bodies the more they’re used. Unsurprisingly, this ended in disaster. Claire was the sole survivor after a tragic encounter with Batman, and manipulation by villains pushed her further into psychological ruin. For years, she disappeared. Until now.

So why does her return matter? According to writer Joshua Williamson, Gotham Girl’s arc is central to The Price’s deeper themes.

“With Claire, it’s a chance to talk about what it means to experience tragedy secondhand,” Williamson explained to GameSpot. “Her brother lived it. She inherited it. He wanted to be a hero, she just followed along. Since then, she’s been used and corrupted by everyone around her. The question is: has she ever truly chosen to be a hero—or has that decision always been made for her?”

This raises one of the crossover’s core dilemmas: the tension between free will and responsibility in the superhero world. Both Batman and The Flash see something of themselves in Claire, and both want to “save” her—but for their own reasons. Barry sees her grief as a mirror of his own losses and is determined not to let history repeat itself. Bruce, meanwhile, sees yet another protégé endangered by his example. Their instinct is to intervene, but in doing so, they risk stripping Claire of the agency she’s fought to reclaim.

And that’s where The Price hits hardest. It doesn’t settle for easy answers to questions like: Do superheroes cause the very tragedies they try to fix? Are they inspiring hope—or recklessly endangering others? Instead, it forces Batman and The Flash, two heroes with fundamentally different worldviews, to wrestle with those questions together.

“Part two, for me, is about two people trying to work together, even though they’re not sure if they can,” Williamson said. Claire may be the flashpoint, but the real conflict is between Bruce and Barry, each struggling with the scaffolding of their own heroic identities. “Barry Allen is always on a pedestal—the ultimate self-sacrificing hero. Batman? He’s endlessly debated, sometimes even vilified. What I wanted was to test those ideas—show Barry stumble, show Batman in a different light, and see what happens.”

It’s uncomfortable, it’s messy, and it’s exactly why this story works. Claire’s tragedy is not just hers; it’s a mirror forcing Batman and The Flash to confront whether their very existence helps—or harms—the world around them.

The Price continues next week in Batman #65. Parts 1 and 2 are available now in Batman #64 and The Flash #64.

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Opinion: Gotham Girl and DC’s Larger Problem

Gotham Girl’s return is a reminder of how DC often introduces compelling new characters only to abandon or mishandle them. Claire Clover had all the ingredients for a breakout star: a tragic origin with a sci-fi twist, a unique power set with real narrative stakes, and a personal connection to Batman. Yet after her debut, she was left in narrative limbo, popping up sporadically without meaningful resolution.

This isn’t just a Gotham Girl problem—it’s symptomatic of DC’s approach to new heroes. Characters like Duke Thomas, Harper Row, or even Signal have been introduced with fanfare, then quietly sidelined in favor of safer, more established icons. Williamson is at least using Claire to interrogate themes of agency, trauma, and the cost of heroism. But the danger is that once The Price ends, Gotham Girl may vanish again into editorial neglect.

If DC truly wants its universe to evolve, it needs to commit to these newer creations instead of letting them wither. Otherwise, they risk repeating the same cycle: building up tragic, promising characters only to reduce them to plot devices in stories about Batman and The Flash. Gotham Girl deserves more than to be the pawn in yet another crossover—she deserves a chance at her own story.

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