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The NEW Batman Will Be DC's Biggest Change in Years
The world of Batman has changed more in the past three years than in arguably the decade, or decades before it. But if fans thought this turmoil would be replaced by peace, or a return to 'normal'... the biggest changes to Bruce Wayne's character will be coming to DC Comics in 2020.
That's when Tom King hands the flagship book to new Batman writer James Tynion IV, having ushered in all of the above changes. While DC's Rebirth led other books and creators to 'return to their roots,' King followed the example of his predecessor Scott Snyder, taking the opportunity to challenge Bruce Wayne along with his readers by asking a question few before dared to: could Batman ever be happy? King's final issues and his Batman/Catwoman series will give the answer, but as further evidence his early Batman exit was merely a matter of timing, Tynion now confirms his Bruce will be massively re-defined by King's run. And based on his description, it's not an understatement to say the Bruce Wayne and Batman fans have known is gone starring in 2020. In some of the best ways possible.
When the series continues in the new year, the landscape of Batman will be unrecognizable to those who haven't kept up: Alfred Pennyworth is dead, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are finally together for the long haul, and the city of Gotham, like its caped crusader, has been broken (but not beaten) by Bane. And the Batman that emerges from this crucible is changed because of it.
Speaking via his new personal newsletter, Tynion offered fans a mission statement for his coming run, outlining the changes big and small that readers can expect. Teasing three major storylines that will have "extreme ramifications... for all the Gotham books," Tynion reiterates his earlier praise for Batman's rogues gallery. Penguin, Riddler, and Joker will all have roles to play in the coming year, but there is no mistaking the star of Tynion's core storyline, and the most dramatic shift longtime readers can expect. Tynion gives readers an inside look at what's on the way, publishing an excerpt from his own "mission statement for how I want to approach the character in 2020," which can be read below.
Batman is an action horror superhero comic book.
Heading into 2020, THAT is our absolute True North. Every page of every issue should feel like an action horror superhero comic. The monsters should be deadly and frightening, and Batman should feel frightening in and of himself. The villains of Gotham fear him, and he is going to take that fear and wield it like a weapon to get his city back under control. Batman doesn’t just show up in broad daylight to scare his villains, he uses tricks and shadows, and voice modulation to make it seem like he can be anywhere and everywhere at once.
The scary thing with Batman, even to villains who have fought him over and over again across decades is that they KNOW that under his suit he is just a man. But still he seems to be impossible. You fire a dozen armor piercing rounds into his torso, and you still know by the time you race down the stairs to your getaway car, he’s going to be there, ahead of you. And he is going to HURT you. They fear him because they can’t, for the life of them, understand how he does it, which gives him this supernatural air. To the bad guys, Batman is like Michael Myers. He keeps getting up when it shouldn’t be possible to get up anymore. How can you win against him? You’d have to be crazy to try.
Even Bruce Wayne is a figure of the shadows. He is a billionaire industrialist, but he is strange and a little reclusive. The last vestiges of his more conservative style would have gone out the window with the death of Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred laid out clothes for Bruce. With him, he would have dressed a bit more like his father. More sweater vests like the old money he is. Without Alfred, Bruce is pure practicality. He wears BLACK. So does Selina… They go to a different type of Gotham City gala. The Old Money Gotham is corrupt and broken. Instead, Bruce goes to the young money of the city to help finance its reconstruction.
With Selina on his arm, the “Playboy” Bruce is dead. Every waking minute is dedicated to the rebuild of Gotham City, both as Bruce Wayne and as Batman. He is in control of every room he enters, and people are a little frightened of him. He is one of the richest people in the world, and he has experienced so much loss. But it’s clear he’s trying to make the city better. People admire him, because most people in his shoes would have LEFT Gotham a long time ago.
He has just faced tremendous failure in the last year of story. He lost his City, and lost his way… But now that he’s back, he has an almost manic intensity. He is going to FIX things. He’s going to make it so nobody like Bane can ever do this to the city again.
There are too many changes alluded to or confirmed in this breakdown of Tynion's run to dissect here, or even before readers have gotten to watch them play out on the page. But for those who enjoyed seeing real, actual, measurable growth on Bruce Wayne's part since Batman: Rebirth, there is no question Tynion is taking the ball and running with it. Rather than clearing the table of the past years' trauma, it will all be used to show fans a Batman they've never met before. Well, aside from the horror... which anyone who's read Tynion's other writing knows will live up to the description here. It's a brave new world facing Bruce in his quest to fix Gotham, and January can't get here soon enough.
Batman #86 arrives to begin this new era of Bruce Wayne's mission on January 8th, 2020.
