History
Zur-En-Arrh is both a location and a concept, seen and used primarily for Batman.
Planet
Zur-En-Arrh was the name of a distant planet. Here, a scientist called Tlano became the Batman from Zur-En-Arrh inspired by the Batman of Earth. When Zur-En-Arrh is attacked by robot invaders, Tlano teleports Batman to his planet to help him battle robots. While on the planet, Earth's Batman found he had "Superman-like" powers and helped Tlano defeat the invaders.[1]
Concept
The phrase Zur-En-Arrh started appearing in Gotham City on the streets and dark alleys where Batman would capture some criminals like the Joker.[2] The phrase continued to appear, usually as a background element graffiti, until Batman was attacked by the Black Glove and his mind was broken as a result of a past psychological trauma triggered by the Black Glove's leader, Simon Hurt. As Bruce's mind was wiped away, it was later revealed that he had created a back-up personality which had been stored on Bruce's subconscious for years and was triggered by the phrase, "Zur-En-Arrh". With this personality, Bruce became the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, who was a psychotic version of himself, with visions of the imp from the fifth dimension, Bat-Mite, which was the representation of Bruce's last bit of sanity in his mind.[3]
As the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, Bruce was able to confront the Black Glove at Arkham Asylum, where they tried to keep a gambling game over his life.[4] He also confronted the Joker, but was ultimately defeated and buried alive on the Asylum's graveyard. After this experience, Bruce's mind recovered naturally and the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh was eliminated from his subconscious as he confronted Hurt and the Black Glove until his apparent demise.[5]
The phrase "Zur-En-Arrh" comes from Bruce Wayne's mishearing of his father's last words, "the sad thing is they'd probably throw someone like Zorro in Arkham."
Notes
- The planet Zur-En-Arrh truly exists in the reality of Earth-One, but appears to be only a figment of Bruce Wayne's imagination in the reality of New Earth.