Batman: Dark Allegiances is a 1996 DC Comics series published under the Elseworlds imprint written and illustrated by Howard Chaykin.
The story consists of a version of Batman active during the late 1930s who combats against the White Legion, a stand-in for the Ku Klux Klan.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Name Change:
- This continuity's versions of The Penguin and Two-Face are respectively named Milton Biggsley and Caldecott Pewtie rather than Oswald Cobblepot and Harvey Dent, while the Joker is instead named Reverend Jones.
- Downplayed with Catwoman, whose real name is given as Kitty Grimalkin, but is mentioned to have used Selina Kyle as a stage name during her days as a pornographic actress.
- Adaptational Seriousness: Biggsley, Pewtie, and Reverend Jones all lack the flair and dramatic elements of Penguin, Two-Face and the Joker.
- Biggsley runs a cartoon studio whose flagship character is a monocle wearing, umbrella sporting penguin. Though Biggsley also wears a monocle and sports a cigarette holder, he lacks the avian characteristic Oswald Cobblepot was notorious for.
- Pewtie simply has a disfigured face, implied to be a physical ailment and most definitely not because he got scarred with acid, but lacks Two-Face's split personality. This is downplayed in that originally Two-Face didn't have a split personality either. He also lacks his canon counterpart's duality obsession beyond a mention of Pewtie's "2-For-1" deal.
- Jones has the Joker's skin, hair and lip color and is prone to making jokes, but he's also a Sinister Minister who runs a knockoff version of the Ku Klux Klan.
- Adaptational Skimpiness: Catwoman's costume here shows more skin than it normally does.
- Adaptational Villainy: The stand-ins for Batman's usual rogues gallery have all been made into white supremacists planning to kill both Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler for the sake of "bringing fascism home to America, where it belongs." In standard settings, Penguin, Two-Face, and the Joker have all made their dislike of Nazis known on various occasions. Pewtie also lacks any of the Tragic Villain aspects of Two-Face, being a bad guy from the start.
- Albinos Are Freaks: Reverend Jones is implied to have some sort of skin condition, explaining his paleness and odd discoloration.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: It is alleged that Kitty Grimalkin shot a lewd film involving a Rottweiler, specifically while she was blackout drunk and unable to properly consent.
- Composite Character: The story ends with Alfred Pennyworth joining Batman and Catwoman on their adventures by becoming this continuity's Robin.
- Historical In-Joke: The White Legion's name is inspired by Klan splinter group the Black Legion.
- The Klan: The White Legion are a flagrant representation of the KKK with the addition of having swastikas on the foreheads of their hoods.
- Mr. Alt Disney: In addition to being this continuity's Penguin, Milton Biggsley is also a decidedly unflattering stand-in for Walt Disney. He runs a famous cartoon studio and associated theme park, plus his inviting Adolf Hitler to Hollywood is likely an allusion to when Walt Disney infamously provided a tour of Fantasia's production for Nazi actress Leni Riefenstahl.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: The story's equivalents of the Joker, Two-Face and Penguin are white supremacists.
- Shout-Out: The Klan stand-in the White Legion, besides being a reference to Klan splinter group the Black Legion, takes its name from the titular group of a 1938 episode of Batman inspiration The Shadow, with that group itself having been a loose-adaptation of the Black Legion. At one point, Bruce is even shown reading a Shadow book.
- Sinister Minister: Reverend Jones is the leader of the White Legion, a knockoff of the KKK complete with swastikas on their hoods, and is complicit in a scheme to assassinate the president and Adolf Hitler in the name of American Fascism. Subverted in a sense, as we have no idea what sort of religious beliefs Jones might partake in, though taking into account the KKK themselves are or were at the time of the story Protestant, Jones is most likely Protestant himself.
