Writers Scott Synder and James Tynion started by discussing Dark Knights Metal and the long road that lead them to this point.

Panel with Scott Snyder and James Tynion

According to Tynion the end of Joker War will mark a big change in the life of Batman. How Bruce takes on criminals will be turned on its head. According to Tynion after Joker War Batman will need to change his approach to crime-fighting. He will need to change his base of operations, and how he interacts with criminals in the city. According to Tynion Batman will need to rebuild how he does things.

Cover for end of Joker War

Tynion and Snyder say the books will be entering a new era of crime in Gotham City. One where we start to see the next generation of heroes, but of villains. Batman will have to deal with the fact that the criminals he has fought with now have their own legacy. That he has inspired Joker to go out and find a new sidekick like Punchline to keep his legacy going.

Joker’s new partner Punchline

Snyder then talked about how the new storylines of Batman will be wildly different due to how much change has already happened. Talking about how now, Batman stories could not have Batman conversing with Alfred due to character character being dead, or Batman’s relationship now being forever altered due to their falling out.

Snyder Discusses What Readers Want

Tynion and Snyder then went on to talk about how what readers want is the big character altering stories. Stories like Knightfall, and Death in the Family. The stories that chance who and what the character is forever. According to Snyder, “You want something that’s going to upset you by changing it.” He expressed that many writers come in wanting to do classic stories. But that the best creators were ones that created a new generation of a character.