Batman getting shot at, pulverized, incinerated, rolled over, drowned, stabbed and mauled is not a new thing for the readers to see. The Comic Books always show him taking the brunt of the punches. But the thing about the Bat is that he always comes back. Staying down was never his forte. DC Comics made it sure that Batman won’t ever back down from a fight. His skills are so incredible that he has a way out of almost everything.
He is the human who acts as the Deus Ex Machina for DC writer. The man from Gotham who dresses up as a Bat and spends his nights beating up people to pull with his bare hands is a plot point and a writing device for this at DC.
If there is a problem that is even too big for the Justice League or even John Constantine then it is the only Batman that they turn to. Batman convenes with the Justice league because he has attained a higher pedestal than any other normal human. He is a God of Knowledge, of battle strategy and of resilience. And it is the resilience of Batman that has protected the earth various times in the past
Not this time Fellas!! DC Comics recently showed us a glimpse of the far but bleak future. In this bloody future timeline, Batman is killed by one of his closest friends and confidantes.
Can you guess who could it be??
Spoiler Alert: The following paragraphs may contain major spoilers for Detective Comics #977. If you still haven’t read it yet, we recommend you do not scroll down…..
The Bat Family houses a number of highly skilled vigilantes that fight the criminal scum of Gotham City and the entire world at large. The Red Hood, Damian Wayne, Red Robin, Batwing, Nightwing, Oracle, Batwoman – the list goes on and on for the members of the Bat Family. And one of them just shot Batman in the back and killed him in cold blood in James Tynion IV’s run on the Detective Comics. Batman dying in a world of pain is a possibility becoming more and more probable by the day.
The comic introduces us to a bleak future where Tim Drake and Batwoman are sworn enemies. But what has transpired between the two that has led to them clawing at each other’s neck? Turns out, Batwoman isn’t as innocent as she looks. In this future timeline, Batwoman has killed the legendary Batman. And Tim Drake is after her to exact revenge on her now.
The narrative is presented to us not in a direct on the face way. No, that’d be too easy and DC doesn’t do easy. In fact, as the comic starts, we are just dropped into the midst of things with Tim Drake attending college and the Batwoman (Kate) working for the government.
We see that Tim Drake is using his exceptional intelligence to achieve wonders at his University and the incredible intellect of the young Robin has him destined for a great future. But things become bleak soon enough when it is broadcasted on the news that the military is heading towards Batman after Gotham is declared no man’s land.
The US government orders Kate (Batwoman) to take down the Batman and being the woman who has operated with Bruce for years and who knows every weakness of the Bat cave, killing Batman is like lulling a fly into a trap and then smashing it with overwhelming force. We see Bruce battle armies in this issue, but no matter how much he struggles he is only one man and he loses to the might of the system.
The death of Batman is witnesses by Tim Drake but the Red Robin is a little too late to stop it. He only has one job after the incident, to end batwoman for her grievous and heinous crime of betrayal. Betrayal of Bruce’s trust, something that never comes easy in the DC comics.
Tynion has spun a fascinating web of events into a gripping storyline for the readers. In his run, Batman has gathered up a team of old and new allies for a common cause. Tim Drake was seemingly absent from the entire rebirth saga, hinted at being killed off before the start of this newer timeline, he has since mysteriously returned from the future.
A twisted version of Tim Drake is now the Batman of his timeline and he is out for blood for none other than Batwoman, the woman who killed Batman in the future. He believes Batwoman is a threat to his very existence and the world itself. Maybe, just maybe, Tim’s right about this one.
Batman manages to stop Future Tim and even get back their own Tim Drake. Yet the future that Tim warned the others of is taking shape. Batwoman, in the future timeline, will kill the Batman and leave the Bat Family to form her own army of hunters whose sole purpose is taking down every member of the Bat Family Vigilantes.
The betrayal of the Batwoman is of unprecedented proportions, but there might be more here than meets the eye. The story starts and ends with this character of Ulysses, the man who shows the present Time Drake a vision constructed from the future Tim Drake’s clothes and their quantum displacement state.
Thanks, entire premise of the Detective Comics #977 might be to mislead us into believing that Kate has transformed into something that she is not, when in fact it is a legitimate possibility that Batwoman is being controlled by someone else. Someone with exceptional technological prowess is using his knowledge to mislead Batwoman and subtle suggestions are forcing her into these actions. But this is just speculation. Here is the important part.
How is Batman killed??
In Detective Comics #977, Tim Drake has a glance at the future timeline thanks to some form of advanced technology. In the future, Tim has left Gotham to attend Ivy University. The President then declares Gotham as No Man’s Land and assembles a Task Force led by Batwoman to apprehend Batman. Wayne Manor is overrun by government soldiers. Bruce Wayne manages to defeat them all with ease. But he is later trapped into submission by Batwoman who, under orders from the President, shoots him in point blank range just moments before Tim Drake arrives.
It is a surprising turn of events for the Bat Family. Why has the President suddenly deemed the Dark Knight a grave threat to National Security? Weren’t Batwoman and Batman supposed to be the staunchest of allies? Why is Batwoman following the President’s orders instead of Bruce’s? The future timeline Tim saw is a great mystery.
It seems that there is a certain device that Bruce activates again, for a particular reason. There is some conversation near the end of the comic too where both Tim Drake and Batman argue over the construction of a device. Maybe this is the mysterious plot point that we are missing from this story. DC sure like to Lester its fans with cliffhangers and they just dropped the biggest on us in the form of Batman’s death.
If the hype is anything to go by then it seems that this idea of killing off Batman must be of permanent consequence, perhaps because the writers wish for the Batman mantle to finally pass on to a Robin. Perhaps now is the time when Nightwing will take over the persona of Batman and be the ringleader to the bat family. We do not know we can only speculate.
The future is already taking shape. Batwoman, in the present, is already transforming into a villainess. Tim Drake was right after all. The Future Tim Drake is a murderous vigilante who is violent enough to put Deathstroke to shame. Is Tim going to embrace his future and become the thing he never wanted to be, a Murderer, to stop the thing he never wanted to happen? Will Tim find a loophole and save his mentor and friend from becoming pawns to the wheels of fate? Find out in the next issue of Detective Comics!!!
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