#batman dead

In a Rage and a fury, the Red Hood went invisible and went in for the kill! And so, Batman was sliced in half as Red Hood dashed away leaving sneakily. And so, Batman was killed by his own son. A death in the family.

BATTLE OF THE COWL part 1

Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead?

A city looking to kill itself. A population without its dark avenger, without answers, without hope. A cop looking to save Gotham from its own madness. A reporter looking to reclaim her career by revealing that it's no coincidence the city's top billionaire and its urban legend are missing at the same time.

Battle for the Cowl #1

"Batman: R.I.P." and FINAL CRISIS saw the end of Batman. Now, months following the disappearance of her protector, Gotham City sits at a precipice and it may be too far gone for Nightwing, Robin, Commissioner Gordon and the rest of the city's heroes to save the day.

Azrael: Death’s Dark Knight #1

He was a husband and a father. A brother and a friend. A cop and a dark knight. But he had all that taken away. And in return, he was given a suit of sorrows, a quest for redemption and a new name. He is Azrael, avenging angel for the Order of Purity and a new protector for Gotham City's troubled times.

Oracle: The Cure #1

Barbara Gordon, after disbanding the Birds of Prey, returns to Gotham City as a recluse only to lose herself to her Oracle identity entirely.

Battle for the Cowl: Man-Bat

Gotham City is in chaos and the villains of Arkham Asylum are running amok. 

Published: Marth - April 2009

Writer: Tony S. Daniel, Fabian Nicieza, Kevin Van Hook, Jose Ladronn

SNYDER On BATMAN: ENDGAME SHOCKING FINALE

Batman #40 courtesy DC Comics

Batman #40 is here.

The final chapter of Endgame may go down as one of the most bloody battles between the Dark Knight and the Joker and one of the most controversial twists in the Batman mythos.

DC already revealed an all-new Batman becomes Gotham’s new champion in the next issue in June. The identity of the vigilante in the mech suit will be revealed this Saturday…

7 years ago my mum suggested watching a DVD, and suggested the new Batman film, which to be honest I hadn’t really heard of. I’ve always been a fan of Batman, ever since I was a little kid and me and brother would dress up in our Batman and Robin costumes, myself as Batman and my brother as my wise cracking sidekick, and we would protect our street from the villages evil villains..... we kept the street clean! Anyway I agreed, and myself, my mum and brothers all sat down to watch it. Little did I know the impact this film would have on me, and how much I would regress back to my childhood and rediscover my love for Batman.

Fast forward 7 years and two films later and I'm sat in the Odeon Leicester Square, watching the final instalment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman saga. I’m on the edge of my seat, gripped and mesmerized, when I feel a sinking feeling beginning develop in my stomach. A heart-warming, but at the same time heart wrenching thought dawns on me. I am watching the last few minutes of a film trilogy that has kept me entertained, capsulated and excited for 7 years. It was the realisation that this was the end of an era, the closing of a chapter in my life, like the end of school or uni, or the feeling during the last few days before an old friend leaves you or a loved one moves on. Christopher Nolan rescued and saved a superhero that was drowning, on its last breath and need of the kiss of life to save it. The way in which he has rebooted this franchise is incredible. Nolan swapped the heavy use of CGI for traditional stunts, scale models and the use of thousands of extras to create ‘real’, believable and jaw dropping action scenes. (See link at bottom). He has single handily reinvented the superhero genre, with a darker and more intelligent, in depth telling of one of the best, if not the greatest, superhero stories.

If we look at the wider superhero world, before Batman, filmmakers had always played it safe, creating easy to watch, one dimensional stories which focus more on the action, superhero powers and the superhero themselves, and their triumph in saving the day, rather than the emotional and psychological story of what the heroes have to go through. With all three Nolan films Batman’s victories are always short lived, he’s always the fall guy, a vigilante, and Nolan focuses the story on the human side to our hero and the personal torment and loneliness Batman has to suffer in order to do what he believes is right for the city he loves.

Unlike more recent reboots like the very poor The Amazing Spiderman, which tells the same boring and predictable story, with one of the most appalling villains I’ve ever seen, (and was simply made so Sony could hold on to Spiderman for 2 more years and keep it out of Disney’s grasp), Nolan gave the story a complete makeover moving away from the cheesy, predictable and un-emotional story and instead, presents new portrayal of how Bruce Wayne became Batman in Batman Begins. Showing a darker side to Batman, telling the story of how Bruce Wayne, driven by the grief of his parents channelled his anger and need for vengeance into becoming a symbol of hope for those who couldn’t help themselves.

And this sets the tone for the franchise and when the Dark Knight returned in 2008, the films reached a whole new level. Heath Ledger’s Oscar winning performance as the Joker, pushed Batman to the limits of his strict moral code and caused him to question what he may need to become to defeat a man who had no agenda, and nothing to lose, and simply got his kick out of being an agent of chaos and watching the city turn on itself and burn itself to the ground. And you could see a slight shift in focus here from Nolan, as Batman took a bit of a back seat and the Joker took a more leading role in the film.

The Dark Knight Rises has more rounded focus with several characters sharing the focus and it picks up the story 8 years on after Batman took the blame for Harvey Dent’s death. The task of protecting Gotham has been left in the hands of Commissioner Gordon, who has brought peace to Gotham, with the passing of the Harvey Dent act, leaving no need for Batman. Old and haggard, requiring the use of a walking stick Batman is all but retired.

But as Selina Kyle whispers to Bruce, there is indeed a storm coming in the shape of Bane, a savage (and enourmous) terrorist who’s determined to fulfil the League of Shadows work to destroy Gotham in order to ‘save’ it from itself, which forces Bruce to don his cape once again. But Bane provides a new challenge. Unlike the Joker’s who looked to kill the Batman psychologically by destroying everything around him, forcing him to question whether he was doing the right thing, Bane simply see’s Batman as a small hindrance, an annoying fly who just needs to be swatted out the way. Bane proves to be Batman’s most physical test. After being lured down to the sewers by Selina Kyle (Catwomen, although not referred to by this name in the whole film) Batman gets a brutal and savage beating, breaking his mask and his back in the process. A clear demonstration of his physical dominance and for the first time you see a vulnerable, weak and broken Batman.

While Batman is exiled to the prison in which Bane grew up in to watch, helpless while Gotham falls. After isolating the city by blowing the bridges and trapping the police in the sewers. Bane keeps the city hostage with the threat of a nuclear bomb, and he and his army proclaim to take back the city, built on a lie, and give it back to the people. While at the same time not telling them that in 90 days the bomb will explode anyway, destroying the city and killing everyone.

This all leads to the dramatic climax, where after numerous failed efforts, with the fear of death hanging back over him, Bruce escapes and Batman rises to save Gotham from the brink of nuclear destruction, and for one last showdown with Bane on the steps of Gotham.

The brilliant thing about the Dark Knight Rises is the ending. It’s perfect! It has a very Inception feeling about it, answering enough questions to keep you satisfied but leaving enough open, to keep you wanting more.

SPOILER ALERT.

The twist with Miranda, really brings the whole, Bane, Ra’s Al Ghul story together, and was completely unexpected. The return of Selina Kyle to save Batman from Bane’s execution left you wandering if she really had turned a corner and was hoping for a fresh start? And the emergence of John Blake’s first name after he picks up a bag left by Bruce, as Robin was genius and left me excited as to where the studio will take the story next.

But the real ‘Inception’ moment (is he dreaming or is it reality?), is just before the end and is the big question to come out of the film. Is Batman dead? After scarifying himself by flying the nuclear bomb out into the harbour for it to detonate, you assume the worst, especially after an emotional Alfred buries Bruce next to his parents. Mourning and alone, we see Alfred in a Paris cafe, where an earlier memory is alluded to in which Alfred tells Bruce about his hopes for his happiness. Alfred looks up and across his table and see’s Bruce, and a woman who appears to be Selina Kyle. They acknowledge each other, saying nothing, and Alfred leaves. Was this actually Bruce and Selina? Had Bruce faked his death? Or as someone at work interestingly pointed out, is it simply a metaphor for Bruce having found peace, and happiness in death? A typical Nolan ending. Open to interpretation which will fuel discussions for some time to come.

Nolan’s Batman trilogy has not only given superhero story telling a new, darker genre, but it reengaged not only it’s loyal ‘fan boys’ but also the wider general audience that had become slightly tired of the traditional superhero film. Batman gave them something new and fresh, and re-energised the superhero genre. It will be interesting to see the influence he has on the Superman reboot (Man of Steel) which he is involved in. But for now as I look back over the trilogy, I’m stuck between a sense of happiness and sadness that it’s over. Batman will be back, but I doubt whoever takes the reins will ever reach the heights of the Batman we’ve just let go.

HE’S THE HERO WE DESERVE,

BUT NOT THE ONE WE NEED RIGHT NOW,

HE’S A SILENT GUARDIAN,

A WATCHFUL PROTECTOR

A DARK KNIGHT.....

  Dark Knight Rises Featurette - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdGQm4MV_LI