Summary

• Bruce Wayne's old teacher, Dr. Daniel Captio, has had a hidden command implanted in Batman's subconscious.
• Captio's long-term plan involved manipulating Joker into bringing out the Zur-En-Arrh personality to take over Batman's body.
• Captio's incredible manipulation skills and foresight pose a dangerous threat to Batman, as he now aligns himself with Zur-En-Arrh's mission.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Batman #146!A secret way of bringing Batman down reveals a much more sinister antagonist in the Dark Knight's life than the Joker. Bruce Wayne has been losing control of his life for months and it all comes back to one blast from the past.

Batman has been chased to the ends of the Earth, transported to alternate worlds, and is currently fighting the most twisted version of himself. While the Joker plays a large part in the Caped Crusader's current troubles, everything can be traced back to a threat that holds a terrifying power over Batman.

Batman's Old Teacher Has Manipulated the Dark Knight This Whole Time

In Batman #146 by Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jiménez, Michele Bandini, Tomeu Morey, Alex Sinclair, and Clayton Cowles, Bruce is forced to listen to his old teacher Dr. Daniel Captio. Captio continues teaching Bruce about how Daniel helped mold the Joker into the force of nature he is today. Batman discovers Captio guided Joker to commit his most heinous atrocities like killing Jason Todd or shooting Barbara Gordon in order to stress Batman enough so that his personality would be supplanted by the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.

However, Captio also reveals that when Bruce originally trained with Captio, he implanted a word in Bruce’s subconscious.

Eventually, Joker’s crimes grew brutal enough to attack the Bat-Family directly during “Death of the Family”, which is when Joker discovered the role Alfred played in Batman’s Failsafe contingency. Joker would later discover the Failsafe robot during “Endgame” and relayed the information back to Captio. Batman and Joker’s old teacher posited that Failsafe falsely activating would trigger Zur-En-Arrh and cause him to take over Batman's body. Joker eventually convinced Penguin to fake his death and frame Batman, kicking off the chain of events Bruce is going through.

However, Captio also reveals that when Bruce originally trained with Captio, he implanted a word in Bruce’s subconscious. During Batman’s last fight with the Joker, the clown uttered the words “Arkho Tenenbrous”, which activated a hidden command for Zur to find Daniel Captio. Upon officially meeting one another, Zur-En-Arrh and Captio began to work together. While Zur-En-Arrh began his crusade to eliminate crime from the world, Captio assisted him and became the newest warden for Zur-En-Arrh’s private prison at the reformed Blackgate Penitentiary.

Dr. Daniel Captio Plans Long-Term Just Like Batman

Bruce Wayne traveled the globe to gain the skills he’d need to be the world’s greatest crusader against crime. During his travels, Bruce sought out Daniel Captio, the foremost expert on the human mind. Under Captio’s tutelage, Bruce gained complete mastery of his mind and even found ways to conquer pain. He also learned how to compartmentalize his mind and create alternate personas (though Bruce never finished that lesson under Captio). Bruce left Captio, but it wasn’t too long before Captio discovered another promising student.

Bruce's training under Dr. Daniel Captio can be seen in Batman: The Knight (2022)!

Around the time the Joker emerged from his chemical bath, he was found by Captio, who was interested in training the up-and-coming criminal. Captio put Joker through the same lessons Bruce went through, helping transform the Joker from a meek coward who ran at the sight of Batman to a confident and daring clown. Captio gave Joker the same lesson about constructing alternate personalities, resulting in the Joker creating three split personalities. To repay Captio, Joker kidnapped him and kept his teacher locked up in a cell for years.

Captio served as Joker’s private confidante throughout his criminal career. But the Joker never paid his mentor any mind until the clown discovered that, like Joker, Batman had a hidden personality in Zur-En-Arrh. Joker became obsessed with Zur-En-Arrh after his first meeting with him and Joker consulted Captio to find a way to make Zur-En-Arrh the dominant Batman personality. Sensing an opportunity to manipulate Joker, Captio told Joker that Zur-En-Arrh responds to emergencies and that creating more could be Joker’s way of getting to see his preferred Batman.

Captio Thinks Ahead So Much Better Than Batman or Joker

Captio is a man who knows what the human mind is capable of, especially unique minds like Batman’s and Joker’s. As someone who intimately worked with the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime, he knows exactly how they operate and that allows him to manipulate them in ways they don’t even see coming. It’s not clear how long Captio was held captive by the Joker, but Captio knew he could manipulate him once he found out the Joker wanted to fight Zur-En-Arrh more than anything.

...while Zur-En-Arrh is an army unto himself, Captio’s incredible mind will no doubt aid Zur-En-Arrh.

While it appeared that Joker was secretly the architect behind getting Zur-En-Arrh to slowly emerge, this plan all comes back to Captio. He was the one who played on Joker’s desire to see Zur-En-Arrh again, but it was all so Captio could have Joker deliver the post-hypnotic command that would get Zur-En-Arrh to save Captio. Captio probably had no idea if the 'Arkho Tenenbrous' command would ever be used, but that foresight, combined with his masterful manipulation of the Joker shows just how dangerous Captio really is.

Daniel Captio was able to manipulate Batman and Joker so that he could get out of Joker’s cell and work alongside Zur-En-Arrh during his ambitious crusade. Now that Captio is free, who knows what he’ll do next? Captio seems to genuinely believe in Zur-En-Arrh’s mission to rid the world of crime and while Zur-En-Arrh is an army unto himself, Captio’s incredible mind will no doubt aid Zur-En-Arrh. It’s also going to be dangerous for Batman, because if Captio could disable Bruce with a word, Batman may have other hidden weaknesses he isn’t aware of.

Does Batman's Old Teacher Have Another Way of Beating Him?

Batman is a long-term thinker, but so is Captio. If he had the foresight to implant a trigger word in Bruce, did Captio implant anything else? Or is ‘Arkho Tenenbrous’ effective at disabling Batman whenever he hears it? Captio is like Bruce. Dangerously intelligent and someone who molded his mind to be a weapon. Zur-En-Arrh might be the bigger threat at the moment, but Bruce should be careful. If Captio is anywhere near Bruce’s level, Batman’s former teacher could have another surprise waiting for him around the corner.

Batman #146 is available now from DC Comics.