Warning! Contains spoilers for Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War – Scorched Earth #1!

Summary

• Duke Thomas, also known as the Signal, doesn’t need gadgets like the rest of the Bat-Family due to his metahuman powers of light and dark manipulation.
• Duke’s abilities, including invisibility and “Ghost Vision,” make him the stealthiest and most powerful member of the Bat-Family.
• Batman has welcomed Duke into the Bat-Family and relies on his powers as a metahuman, making him the most capable sidekick in the fight against Gotham’s villains.

From Nightwing’s multipurpose escrima sticks to Batman’s iconic Batarangs, the Bat-Family is known for having a huge assortment of gadgets to help deal with dangerous situations. But Duke Thomas, also known as the Signal, doesn’t need any gadgets to fight villains. As Duke is the only metahuman member of the Bat-Family, he’s able to get the job done entirely on his own.

Things have been pretty dire in Gotham City due to the ongoing war between Batman and Catwoman, which wraps up in Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War – Scorched Earth #1 by Tini Howard, Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne, Nikola Cizmesija, Mark Morales, Wade Von Grawbadger, Arif Prianto, and Clayton Cowles. This war culminated with Vandal Savage equipping Batman’s villains with his weapons and armor, which they use to wreak havoc on Gotham. As Tim Drake responds to the call, he is easily and quickly defeated by a venom-enhanced Professor Pyg and taken hostage by the villains.

As the Bat-Family struggles to battle the enhanced villains down on the street, Tim is held hostage above. While it looks hopeless at first, Duke Thomas is able to easily sneak in and free Tim, all without the use of any gadgets — thanks to his powers of light and dark manipulation.

Related: Not Even Batman’s Sidekicks Can Escape His Greatest Weakness

The Signal Uses His Invisibility To Avoid Enemies

Duke Thomas is typically the only metahuman typically on the Bat-Family roster, and he’s also the most recent addition. Duke started out as a regular member of the Bat-Family and went through the same training as all of them — until he discovered he was a metahuman with light-based powers. This propelled Duke to being Batman’s most powerful sidekick, and it’s not hard to see why, considering how absurd Duke’s powers are. Duke has photokinesis, giving him full control over both light and shadow, as demonstrated in Batman Secret Files: The Signal #1 by Tony Patrick, Christian Duce, Luis Guerrero, and AndWorld Design. This allows him to accomplish powerful feats that completely invalidate the need for any of Batman’s tech.

One of the core things Batman’s family has been trained to do is survey the crime scene and figure out what happened. This often involves them actually physically setting up a crime scene and maybe even taking things back to the Batcave if necessary. Duke is able to completely bypass all of this with another one of his abilities, “Ghost Vision,” which allows him to see the “ghosts” of where the light had been in a room. This allows him to essentially recreate a crime scene simply by looking at where objects used to be placed. In addition to this, and as seen during the Gotham War, he’s also capable of turning invisible, which technically makes him the stealthiest member of the Bat-Family.

The Signal’s Powers Make Him a Bat-Family Powerhouse

Batman doesn’t often operate with metahumans due to his inherent distrust of one person having so much power. Duke Thomas is one of the rare exceptions, and Batman has welcomed him into the Bat-Family with open arms — and Bruce has only benefited from Duke’s presence. Duke is an extremely powerful meta and his powers allow him to operate without the need for any of Batman’s tools, ensuring his effectiveness even if the tools stop working. It’s this reason that makes the Signal Batman’s most capable sidekick out of the entire Bat-Family.

Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War – Scorched Earth #1 is on sale now from DC Comics!