What's up with the bad guys in RHATO?

Recently we met a strange character who claims to be involved with the team. Lex Luthor is still interested in what the Outlaws are doing. Do we know the team stalker ? And what's with all the stuff that has to do with the mind? Is Bizarro more devious than we thought?


Let's start with Lex Luthor. He saved Bizarro when he was at death's door after fighting Grundy. Lex did have an emotional moment remembering the previous Bizarro clone but he made it clear that he does nothing out of the goodness of his heart. He expects the Outlaws to pay him back. Instead of waiting for that moment to arrive Lex has been keep tabs on the team. This is what we see him viewing scenes from:

• Artemis and Jason arriving to stop Pyg/take Penguins' money.
• Bizarro promising to talk to the judge at the bribed guard's hearing.
• (Somehow) The Outlaws with the SS.
• The floating base.
• Random unknown shots of Jason and Artemis.
• Bizarro taking out the H.I.V.E. Queen.
• And most disturbing of all at the Belfry when they fought the DET. team.

Is it all connected to Bizarro's plan even defeating Pyg/stealing Penguins' money and the bribed guard? That's originally how I interpreted the scene. I gave it some thought and I can only assume one way those two scenes work together. When fighting against Pyg it's brought up by Jason how the dollotrons are basically brainless minions. Jason talks about how he shot them with the cure Bizarro made and is cut off when he says how incredible it is that it worked that fast.

The bribed guard they catch is featured in the same issue. Lobdell made a point of mentioning the scene in an interview. Jason later uses it as an example that Bizarro is still the same at heart. The moment stuck out for me too because something felt off. Bizarro promising to speak to the judge on his behalf is odd given Bizarro's status as an Outlaw. The last panel is silent with Bizarro hugging the man with his teammates and us only seeing his back.

What if Bizarro was blocking their view to use the mind control used on the dollotrons to control the guard? Depending on how he played it Bizarro could turn the guard in to have him available in a different prison or pretend he did then use him at Arkham. For what purpose I don't know at this point but there seems to be more going on than we're led to believe. I do think there's a lot of mind control/powers being mentioned in Bizarro's story. I will get back this.

Anyway, I'd say Lex pieced together what Bizarro was doing based on watching everything. Or at least seeing the deceptions and figuring out part of it. I don't think he'd know what information Bizarro was protecting when he knocked out H.I.V.E. Queen he'd just notice that he did it. The fact Lex could get footage with the SS, in the Belfry and of the location of the invisible headquarters is truly scary in its self. He'd catch the cause and effect of the DET. fight and the SS mission. Lex probably had a time table and deduced Bizarro's intellect shouldn't be so high at this point. Not without Bizarro ensuring it didn't decline.

Just before Clayface attacks Bizarro is studying a brain hologram (that looks like something is in it?) reflecting on how it's so fragile, etc. This was another thing that seemed off to me although I couldn't put into words why. It felt like a red herring to Bizarro's slipping intelligence. Bizarro isn't talking about himself, not if we take his words into account.

Bizarro: So fragile, the human mind.

Bizarro isn't human he's a clone of an alien. (*1) So if he's not talking about himself then who is he speaking about? I think I mentioned it before but he seems to view what he's trying to achieve as more important than his smarts. His intellect is seen as important mainly as a means to carry out his plans.

The H.I.V.E. Queen is tied to the Pyg/Penguin plot as the money that was stolen was supposed to pay for services she already did for Penguin. Did Bizarro decide to target Penguin to get to her for further mental studies? Strangely Bizarro didn't go to confront her nor did Artemis. Maybe because he didn't want her to know what he was doing and Artemis openingly distrusted him. This is the same issue "Pup Pup" starts appearing to tell Bizarro to just inform his friends what's wrong (threatening to do it himself) and to stop bathing in kryptonite.

Bizarro later gets mad when Pup Pup mentions how paranoid Bizarro is getting which makes the kryptonite bath spill as a result of his anger. A panicked Bizarro laps it up off the floor. A little later he notices a beacon and follows it to a bar. Solitary is waiting and somehow knows Bizarro just licked his "drink" off the floor. It looks like there's three faces in constant motion which confuses Bizarro although the new guy says he's only one person. At first I wondered if this was a speedster thing like Flash but he seems to have some mental powers. His word balloons appear like the projected ones Jason had when the H.I.V.E. Queen read his mind and he knows about something he wasn't physically present for. Was he "Pup Pup" the whole time or did he read his mind? 

Solitary claims he put the second incarnation of the Outlaws together. We don't know for what purpose, in fact we have limited information in general about him. What he does make clear is that Bizarro, or rather his smarts and plotting, are screwing up his plan. He can take out Bizarro by himself and never doubts he couldn't. I'm wondering if he has three powers which the three heads could possibly be a hint at. When Bizarro asks who he is Solitary says Bizarro will figure it out if he hasn't already.

Could Solitary actually have put the team together like he says?

Since his abilities aren't known it's impossible to say for sure at this point. He likely could make sure certain things happened like Black Mask getting Bizarro or leading Artemis to Gotham with the Bow of Ra. I don't know if he could be on Lex Luthor's level in terms of masterminding. Probably not since he had to reveal himself to warn Bizarro to stop it instead of manipulating in the shadows.

Who's the stalker guy?

I've seen some suggest Lex but I can't see him wearing a bullet riddled suit and personally meeting Grundy in it. That serves no purpose to the narrative with Lex pretending to be someone else who the leads don't even know about.

Is it Solitary? They don't wear the same clothes and the word bubbles are different. He says there's a reason he got the three of them together and views intelligent Bizarro as a problem. So neither sending Grundy off to kill him or hoping Lex would step in makes sense. If he needs the three Outlaws together killing one or more defeats the purpose. Lex Luthor isn't someone that can be factored into a scheme since his actions aren't always predictable. A smart Bizarro isn't what he wanted and he couldn't stop it from happening.

At the moment I think there are three fractions that are interested in the group. Lex Luthor who's mostly interested in Bizarro and the favor they owe him. Solitary who claims to have put the Outlaws together for an undisclosed reason. And the bullet holed suit man that put clippings together and hired Grundy. Whatever the outcome I can't wait until the full story is known.



*1 I'm not sure if it's related or simply a joke (probably the latter as I tend to over analysis) but Jason made notes when taking inventory of what they took from the Colony. He mentions a "Neuro-splatter" as part of the loot they took.