Batman Probably Dying This Summer

But not, erm, not the way the Joker died this winter. Industry rumor says that DC Comics will kill off Batman this summer, and not even in his own comic book but in the series Robin. According to the rumor (possibly confirmed by this cover of an upcoming Robin), the sidekick will become the new Batman, which isn't even how that works. Since the new Batman movie The Dark Knight comes out in July, Batman's death in another medium would make front-page news, especially since Captain America's death made the New York Times front page last spring.

Incidentally, this sort of stunt may feel like a cheap grab for readership in a dying industry, and it is, but it's also part of a long tradition in superhero comics of violating all traditional rules of literature. Superheroes have always died, resurrected, and revealed their identities without consequence. Why doesn't this ruin the brand? Well, when's the last time you bought a comic book? Modern film audiences don't need to actually read the comic to get the Batman brand, so DC can do what they like with comic-book Batman while film Batman keeps raking in money.

But still, they're killing Batman, dude, the real honest-to-god comic-book Batman, and the Times will write about the character's importance to America, making a sort of cultural obituary, and either Chuck Klosterman or the Freakonomics guys will explain how this is a zeitgeist, and DC might sell a few extra copies before its comics again fade into obscurity.

12:00 AM on Wed Mar 26 2008
By Nick Douglas
1,870 views
33 comments

Comments

belltolls at 12:16 AM on 03/26/08
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This is similar to the characters created on Gawker. Thok.
sarrible at 12:19 AM on 03/26/08
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I swear I saw that art on an episode of Queer as Folk.
Dickdogfood at 12:19 AM on 03/26/08
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Have they thought about killing each and every single last one of them off? Forever?
famousauthor at 12:20 AM on 03/26/08
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And Superman will soon die, following in the footsteps of George Reeves and Christopher Reeve.
moff at 12:22 AM on 03/26/08
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They're not going to actually kill Bruce Wayne. Not forever, anyway.

And Steve Rogers will return. I wouldn't be surprised if he found his way back to Earth-616 sometime around January 20, 2009.
drugman at 12:25 AM on 03/26/08
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14 year olds touch paper with their hands when they read? Huh.
dandles at 12:33 AM on 03/26/08
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I want to see Nightwing take over the role of Batman for a while. Robin is a little young right now, it doesn't make sense. Or what would be even more interesting, someone altogether new taking over the cowl.

What would be neat is if he actually stayed dead. If ANYONE actually stayed dead in a comic book. All of the X-men have died, practically, and they all came back. Now there is a comic book that needs to change, desperately. They need to kill off all of them and change the status quo, desperately.
moff at 12:40 AM on 03/26/08
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@dandles: That sort of runs contrary to how the comic book medium works.
SW-2 at 12:45 AM on 03/26/08
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I'm not well versed in comix semiotix, but is that an intentional Pieta pose?
shitty pitty at 12:55 AM on 03/26/08
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C'mon another superhero gets killed??? Is this only way to get buzz anymore? How bout having "The Boy Wonder" give Batman a handjob. Now that'll get people talking.
raincoaster at 01:09 AM on 03/26/08
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I'm so behind. I thought they'd kilt Robin and replaced him with Nightwing. In related news, what am I bid for a New Teen Titans #1? For Realz.
ge90036 at 01:31 AM on 03/26/08
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There's nothing funny about this. DC Comics... you guys just SUCK!!! Like George Michael in a London park at midnight. SUCK! SUCK! SUCK!
BullfightsOnAcid at 01:55 AM on 03/26/08
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A comic book character dying on the front cover is an old trick to drive sales but is almost always misleading. Nowadays when a character dies in a comic book it's never revealed in the cover so that when it does happen it is a "surprise". Any true comic-book afficianado will recognize that that cover is an homage to the cover of the Death in the Family Graphic Novel in which Jason Todd, the 2nd Robin, died. I mean, I guess, it's not like I'm a comic-book geek or anything.
Seeräuber Jenny at 02:05 AM on 03/26/08
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'A reporter's lot is not easy, making exciting stories out of plain, average, ordinary people like Robin and me.'
kingsquiddish at 06:29 AM on 03/26/08
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and Robin will finally have his way with Batman, he's tired of being a power bottom after all these years!
Hez at 08:05 AM on 03/26/08
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@BullfightsOnAcid: And you'll look like even more of an aficionado next time if you spell aficionado correctly. (Although I once heard someone pronounce it "AFFI-CONDO"... so you'll probably still sound smarter than them.)
veraikon at 09:18 AM on 03/26/08
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@dandles: But hasn't Nightwing declared on numerous occasions that he doesn't want the Mantle of the Bat? That's why Bruce chose J.P. to take over temporarily when got his back broken by Bane and oh God I'm a humongous nerd.
riskybusiness at 09:18 AM on 03/26/08
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I'd be really surprised if they actually killed Bruce Wayne off. Though I wouldn't be surprised if they pass the cowl along to somebody else. I mean, it's happened before.
dandles at 09:18 AM on 03/26/08
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@moff: I know I'm deluding myself, sadly. But one can hope.
dandles at 09:20 AM on 03/26/08
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@kingsquiddish: Robin's not tired of being the power bottom. Why do you think he's so upset?
kromelizard at 09:45 AM on 03/26/08
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Remember when they killed Superman? Good times.
riskybusiness at 10:11 AM on 03/26/08
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@veraikon: Plus, Nightwing killed that drug dealer over in Bludhaven (across the river from Gotham, folks), and Bats is all about not killing. Maiming? Sure. But killing is teh big no-no.
LauraElizabeth at 10:32 AM on 03/26/08
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According to my comic-knowledgeable boyfriend, this whole deal about killing "THE" Batman is decidedly not true: there are a number of different Batmen in different universes running around right now, for example from Dark Knight Returns and the Golden Age.

So one of those arcs is killing off their Batman, but apparently, not the good one.
ambitious heckler at 10:53 AM on 03/26/08
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How awesome if they had cast Adam West as the Dark Night in the final Batman movie.
BullfightsOnAcid at 11:12 AM on 03/26/08
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@Hez: Damn that Gawker Spellcheck! They're just like my mom. You think they have your best interest at heart but they really just want you to fall on your face and embarrass yourself so you'll go running back to them and end up sobbing in the fetal position on their lap. ...Oh wait a second, there's a red line under afficianado.
veraikon at 11:22 AM on 03/26/08
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@riskybusiness: Yup, can't forget Batman's no-kill policy. Which, as I recall, was the final straw with Azrael (JP).

Also, did anyone else think Azrael was like the "ugly-pretty girl" in teen movies? As soon as he took of his glasses, he looked like a completely different person.
dandles at 12:01 PM on 03/26/08
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Maybe they want a new "kill friendly" Batman, to up the edginess factor for a while. If anyone could get away with it, it would be Nightwing. Besides, we all know it's just going to be temporary.

Plus, with Bats dead, he's not going to pick his successor.
dandles at 12:01 PM on 03/26/08
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And what the hell happened to lesbian Batwoman? I liked her.
Diglett at 12:30 PM on 03/26/08
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@dandles: She was supposed to turn up in Crime Bible but didn't--it's been confirmed that she'll be part of the post-Final Crisis "Justice League" series.

I don't know if you really wanted an answer to that, but I figured enough people here have already exposed themselves as comic dorks that I would feel ok giving you one.
kingsquiddish at 01:47 PM on 03/26/08
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@dandles: Come on... there's got to be a Chelsea for super heroes. There are plenty of super dicks looking for a Robin mangina.
Hez at 02:22 PM on 03/26/08
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@BullfightsOnAcid: Just blame the acid. Or the bullfighting. Both good excuses for not being able to focus on the keyboard.
dandles at 03:22 PM on 03/26/08
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@Diglett:

Hell yeah I wanted an answer. I am totally a comic book geek.
Josh from Marietta, GA at 11:46 AM on 03/27/08
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You know what this means, right?

Grayson

Awesome.

As for the comic, I'll wait for the novelization. That's how I tend to read the big comic arcs -- Death of Superman, No Man's Land, et al. I guess I'm not much on the visual part of comics. They're great, don't get me wrong, but as a literary person, I like to read the text and let my brain fill in the images.