WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Future State: Gotham #5, on sale now from DC Comics.
As it turns out, the greatest threat to the future of Gotham City isn't the Magistrate, but the powered-up villain Warmonger. And unfortunately, the Arkham Knight is responsible for setting him loose on the city. Although it wasn't her intention to do this, Future State: Gotham #5 (by Joshua Williamson, Dennis Culver, Giannis Milonogiannis, ALW's Troy Peteri), reveals that she inadvertently presented him with the perfect opportunity to escape and formulate his own plan. The villain then detonated a bomb that left a bat-shaped crater in the ground, effectively distracting the Magistrate by pinning everything on Batman.
However, this was merely the opening act in his plan to use the tech of the Mad Hatter against the city of Gotham, a tactic that the Scarecrow is currently using in "Fear State." It all started to fall apart for Astrid Arkham and her knights when they infiltrated a long-forgotten Magistrate facility. While they were looking for proof of the Magistrate's wrongdoing, they instead found a man held sleeping in a cryo-prison. The Arkham Knight took pity and freed the man, not realizing that the man would become Warmonger, and would go on to become one of the biggest threats of Gotham City.
Upon reviewing files stolen from the Magistrate facility, the Arkham Knight discovered that Warmonger was one of the first test subjects in the Magistrate's Peacekeeper program. At the time, the project was more focused on biological enhancements instead of biomechanical ones. Warmonger was a success physically but failed psychologically.
Warmonger was not concerned with peace or protecting the innocent but had the mindset of a serial killer, only focused on casualties in war and committing mass murder on an unprecedented scale. The Magistrate decided to put him in the cryo-prison in case he was needed at a later time. This led to the Arkham Knight finding and releasing him, and the villain now plans to turn the citizens of Gotham into his own personal army. Warmonger set his plans in motion by detonating a bomb that spread the Mad Hatter's nano-drones across the city, making the residents susceptible to the villain's control. And now, he's trying to find a stronger, more persistent signal to maintain his control over the city.
Warmonger is emulating the current plan of the Scarecrow in "Fear State," but on a much grander scale and for entirely different reasons. In the present day, Scarecrow has gained access to the Hatter's tech as well, using it in conjunction with his fear-inducing technology in an effort to ultimately control Gotham through fear.
Warmonger intends to use the tech not to terrify and warp minds but to assert control over them. After that, he in all probability intends to lead Gotham's citizens as his own army and carve a bloody trail through the rest of the world.
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