An ex-cop dressed like the Batman shoots the Joker in the face, but not before he poisons Commissioner Gordon. When the real Batman shows up and throws Joker's bleeding body into a dumpster, it causes the rumors that it was Batman who shot Joker, to spread on the street. In the Batcave, Alfred suggests that Batman needs to get back in touch with his Bruce Wayne self. He decides that a lull in "super-crime" may allow for just that, and while Robin leaves for a month in the mountains, Bruce and Alfred fly to London to attend a charity fundraising event.