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R.I.P. Batman: Comic Declares 'Death' of Bruce Wayne

by Jarrett Martineau | November 26, 2008 at 08:27 am

2557 views | 7 Recommendations | 7 comments

This could be the end of Bruce Wayne as Batman.

Writer Grant Morrison has stated that he has concocted a "fate worse than death" for Bruce Wayne in the latest issue of the Batman comic.

But with Bruce Wayne gone — who will take over as Batman?

Holy RIP Batman! The caped crusader's alter ego Bruce Wayne has reached the end of the line, according to writer Grant Morrison.

In the controversial latest issue of the Batman story, written by Morrison and out today in the US and tomorrow in the UK, Wayne is rumoured to either die, or give up being Batman because he is so shaken up by a secret from his past, necessitating a hunt for a replacement.

"This is the end of Bruce Wayne as Batman," Morrison told Comic Book Resources (CBR). "But like I say, it's so much better than death. People have killed characters in the past but to me, that kind of ends the story. I like to keep the story twisting and turning. So what I am doing is a fate worse than death. Things that no one would expect to happen to these guys at all."

Key contenders to take up the cape include Dick Grayson, the original Robin who now protects Gotham City as Nightwing, Batman's son Damian and the current Boy Wonder, Tim Drake.

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Javier Márquez

at 09:36 on November 26th, 2008

This is one of the hundred of pictures we took during the filming of a Batman shortfilm called "Genesis"

Javier Márquez has contributed a photo to this story.

Jon Azpiri

at 16:02 on November 26th, 2008

Man, it's not a good time to be a super hero. Last year, they killed Captain America and Martian Manhunter, now they're going after the Caped Crusader.

mchawk

at 04:32 on November 27th, 2008

Is this going to be like when they 'killed off' Superman and them brought him back after a couple of months? Sounds like a slightly desperate bid to increase sales.

harringtola

at 08:06 on November 28th, 2008

The "fate worse than death" comment creates anticipation but could also end up being a corny attempt to increase interest that backfires.

Disco Munky (not verified)

at 05:04 on December 9th, 2008

There is NO WAY on earth (or any of the 52 for that matter) that Bruce Wayne will die or stop being Batman permanently. They're spent so much time developing this character that the only reasonable way to remove him would be to kill him. But they won't. So they might make him Quit. But he isn't ( a quitter). So where are they going, and can I be bothered to find out? We'll see.

The moral of the story is The Dark Knight made too much money in the cinema for DC to just end that character.

Even when they crippled him and he had to pass the title of Batman to Azriel or whoever that was, but lo and behold, Bruce Wayne got his walk back on, and now he's Batman (the world greatest detective). Are the writers smart enough to come up with a plan that would kill or incapacitate him? I'm going to say HELL NO! I don't care if they kill him and make someone else Batman, but just don't do it for 6months so that you can launch 5 new books and they bring him back from the dead. That would suck the ass of a large fatty fat fat.

Eliezer Maldonado (not verified)

at 11:59 on January 3rd, 2009

I Have a good Idea, Dick Grayson Becomes the new Batman, and Bruce Wayne becomes the New Spectre, Just Imagine We need a New Spectre just like Jim Corrigan killing the sinners once for all...

and Jason Todd.. uuh... still Red hood

Ken from FlickPodcast (not verified)

at 17:40 on January 3rd, 2009

Not to mention that Frank Miller had established a pretty solid canon for the future of Batman with Dark Knight Returns. So I don't anticipate that Grant would fly in the face of the finest Batman story ever told.

This will be interesting, to say the least.