- "My father was willing to die for this secret, and we're willing to do the same."
- —Luke Fox on the journal's importance[src]
A journal written by the late Lucius Fox is an encoded book containing the secrets of all the weapons developed by Wayne Tech; such as a way to activate a fail-safe in the Batsuit that would kill the wearer.
History[]
While working at Wayne Enterprises and on Batman's tech, Lucius Fox kept a detailed journal on all of his research. In 2015, Tommy Elliot found out about this and hired Miguel Robles to acquire one of those journals. However, Lucius refused to give it up and was accidentally killed because of it.[1]
The journal was then kept for three years by Tommy, though he wasn't able to decode it. In late 2018, after Tommy was arrested, he entrusted the journal to his money launder, Johnny Sabatino, who stored in the Lookout.
Over a year later, Batwoman tried to retrieve it from the Lookout after Johnny realized the journal's true value and betrayed Tommy, planning to sell it. Meanwhile, seeking to retrieve it as well, Alice sent Magpie to take the journal, but Batwoman who eventually managed to it. The thief was then forced to ask her sister, Reagan, to seduce Kate and steal back the journal, eventually allowing Magpie to give it to Alice and Mouse. They were shocked to discover the journal was entirely written in code.[2]
Mouse and Tommy decided that a linguist could translate the book and Alice believed Luke Fox could do it. Tommy kidnapped numerical analyst Professor John Carr and NSA analyst Tony Kim to decode the journal, but both died from electroshock torture before they could figure out the key due to Alice's time limit. Tommy then kidnapped Parker Torres to do so under Alice's recommendation, but Batwoman intervened. Following Alice's plan, Luke was abducted, with Julia Pennyworth also taken for collateral, since his social security number was the basis of the translation. Batwoman acquired a set of eyeglasses that made the journal readable and traded them Luke and Julia's freedom. The journal contained the history of the Batsuit and how to kill Batman, including a passage on Kryptonite.[3]
Alice continually read the journal, seeking a location for Kryptonite, but nothing was written.[4]
List of objects and characters mentioned in the journal[]
ObjectsIndividualsOrganizations |
Appearances[]
Batwoman[]
Season 1[]
- "A Narrow Escape" (mentioned)
- "If You Believe In Me, I'll Believe In You"
- "A Secret Kept From All the Rest"
- "O, Mouse!"
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Alice found a page in the journal about the Batsuit's vulnerability to Green Kryptonite,[3] implying Lucius Fox had knowledge about it and possibly also encountered Superman at some point.
- The excerpt seen in "A Secret Kept From All the Rest" is information copied from the Batsuit page on Wikipedia, with slight grammatical changes.[5][6]
- The excerpt reads: "During the resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, Batman... suit of armor from Talia al Ghul, The Suit of Sorrows. According... its legends, it can impart strength and speed of its wearer but also would completely corrupt anyone whose heart and soul is not pure. At first, the Dark Knight was dubious of the legend, but eventually experienced an aggressive behavior while wearing the armor during patrols. Batman later learns from a member of The Order of The Pure, a splinter faction of The Order of St. Dumas, that the armor once belonged to a knight named Sir Geoffrey de Cantonna, who massacred hundreds of people in an alpine valley in 1190. The Suit of Sorrows becomes one of the trophy displays within the Batcave, to remind the Dark Knight that he must be ever vigilant not only in his crusade against crime, but also himself. The new Azrael takes up wearing the suit eventually."
- There are at least two copies or editions of the journal; one kept in the Batcave, the other purloined by Tommy Elliot.