Hunt for the Joker

Hunt for the Joker is the fourth episode of the sixth season of NBC's The Batman. It first aired on December 2, 2013. It is the sixty-ninth episode overall.

Synopsis
Ryder, Gordon, and Allen go on a manhunt for the Joker. Bruce, Diana, Clark, and Tim are surprised when Stephanie returns to Gotham after almost a year of being gone. Waller introduces the villains to General Rick Flag, as she and Steve begin to work on their plans to get the villains on their first mission.

Plot
Allen sits in his office while Ryder is on the phone at his desk. He tells the person on the other side he loves her and then hangs up. He tells Allen that Maggie is visiting her family for Thanksgiving so he is just on the phone with her constantly. Gordon enters and tells them that they have a lead on a possible location for the Joker. Allen and Ryder grab their guns and join Gordon on the hunt. They arrive at the apartment that Joker has been staying at and bust in. They find several pieces of furniture ripped up and destroyed. They finds all of the stuff belonging to the Joker gone. Allen is annoyed but tells them to go back to the GCPD. Gordon refuses and tells them that the villains always get away because they never keep looking after a lead is wrong. Ryder and Allen realize this is true and decide to continue their search.

Bruce, Diana, Clark, Tim, Alfred, and James Jr. sit around the table. They start to dig into the food on the table. James thanks them for babysitting him while his father is at work, though he says he is 16 and a sophomore so he can handle himself. They laugh as Bruce is disappointed that Damien is being watched by his grandfather that day. They hear a knock at the door and Bruce goes to answer. He opens the door and Stephanie is there. She asks if she can come in.

Waller and Steve watch the villains. Agent Ryans is revealed to be allowing prisoners a choice meal in exchange for making out with them. Waller fires him and Ryans is forced to leave. Lynns tells him he will miss him and Steve punches him. Another agent tells Waller General Flag is there and Waller tells him to let him enter. Flag enters and sees the six villains in their cell. He asks Waller what she plans to do. Waller reveals to him she plans to have them perform as a group that can help people in places other than Gotham and Metropolis, where Earth's heroes are usually based. Flag laughs at her but she reveals that she has implanted a micro-bomb in their necks and if they ever act up she will detonate it. Lawton jokingly refers to them as the Suicide Squad.

Allen, Ryder, and Gordon see a person with white face paint and green hair escaping into an alley. The three walk into an alley and see a door just closing. The three enter the building and find a cult of people with white face paint and green hair worshiping a statue of Joker. Allen sees they have kidnapped someone and the leader of the cult prepares to kill him as a sacrifice to Joker. The three stop them at the last second and order back-up to arrest the cult for attempted murder.

Bruce, Tim, Alfred, Diana, and Clark ask Stephanie why she has returned. She tells them that she missed the vigilante lifestyle and was getting bored with living with her mother and sister. They are excited she is back and she joins them at the dinner table. Tamara arrives at the mansion and asks Tim if she can join their dinner. Stephanie asks Tim who the woman is and Tim tells her it is his girlfriend. Tamara asks Tim who the blonde is and Tim reveals to her it is his ex. Tamara seems to dislike Stephanie and sits closely next to Tim.

Waller, Steve, and Flag begin to design how the team will work. Flag will be the leader of the team and to stop any of the villains from killing him, Waller will fly in a an A.R.G.U.S. agent from China who has a supposedly magical sword.

At the GCPD, Allen, Ryder, and Gordon return with nothing. However, Allen remembers he saw a man who looked almost identical to the Joker among the cult. The three visit the cells of the cult and Allen sees "Joker". The man claims he had plastic surgery on his face to look like him. Allen doesn't believe him and has Barry do a DNA sample. It comes back negative and Allen is angered.

Ra's spars with an assassin before Bruce calls him. Bruce asks if he has celebrated Thanksgiving with Damien. Ra's begins to get out of his armor and lies and says Damien very much enjoyed it. Ra's whispers to the man to get a turkey. The man obeys and runs off. Ra's hangs up and yells Damien's name.

Stephanie and Tim talk together. Stephanie asks if Tim and Tamara ever had sex. Tim tells her once a week. Stephanie seems jealous and Tim tells her that she wanted him to move on. Stephanie reveals she still loves him and Tim reveals the same. He kisses her and the two fall back onto his bed. The two undress each other and begin to have sex. Tamara sees this through the open window outside and walks off.

Clark walks into the Daily Planet and sees Cat. She apologizes for seeing him naked the other day. He shrugs it off and tells her it has happened before. She laughs and tells him she hasn't dated anyone since Nathan's death almost two years ago. Clark tells her that Lois actually broke up with him the day before. Cat apologizes but Clark tells her it wasn't her fault. She laughs again and Clark tells her he loves her laugh. She tells him she loves his everything. The two make out and head into a closet where she unbuttons his shirt and he does the same with her as the two fall back onto a pile of boxes.

Bane sits drinking a glass of wine on his couch. He hears a knock on the door and opens it to Joker and Riddler. The two ask to stay at his house for now.

Starring

 * Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman
 * Tom Austen as Tim Drake/Robin
 * Zen Gesner as James Gordon
 * Nathan Gamble as James Gordon Jr.
 * Jared Leto as the Joker
 * Keri Lynn Pratt as Cat Grant
 * Tom Hardy as Victor Payne/Bane
 * Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent/Superman
 * Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma/Riddler
 * Floriana Lima as Maggie Sawyer
 * Nolan North as Thomas Elliot/Hush
 * Emma Stone as Stephanie Brown/Spoiler
 * Andrew Stewart-Jones as Chris Allen
 * Jonathan Keltz as Andrew Ryder
 * Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc
 * Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/the Flash
 * Jake T. Austin as Damien Wayne
 * Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul
 * Nicholas D'Agosto as Harvey Dent/Two-Face
 * Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn
 * Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman

Guest Starring

 * Viola Davis as Amanda Waller
 * Tristin Mays as Tamara Fox
 * Will Smith as Floyd Lawton
 * Andrew Dunbar as Garfield Lynns
 * Chris Pine as Steve Trevor
 * Joel Kinnaman as General Rick Flag
 * Chris Wood as Agent Ryans
 * Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth

Trivia

 * This episode achieved 15.45 million U.S. live viewers.
 * Floriana Lima and Jake T. Austin do not appear in this episode as Maggie Sawyer and Damien Wayne.
 * This episode received generally favorable reviews. It scored 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 73 out of 100 on Metacritic, and 6.9/10 on IGN.
 * Guest stars in this episode include Viola Davis, Tristin Mays, Will Smith, Andrew Dunbar, Chris Pine, Joel Kinnaman, Chris Wood, and Jeremy Irons as Amanda Waller, Tamara Fox, Floyd Lawton, Garfield Lynns, Steve Trevor, Rick Flag, Agent Ryans, and Alfred Pennyworth.
 * This episode is rated TV-14 for D-S-V.