DC's Future Batman is Making Good on The New 52's Best Idea
Warning: spoilers for Future State: Dark Detective #3 are ahead.
DC Comics' current Future State storyline has been anything but easy for Batman. While the next Batman, Tim Fox, has stepped into the shoes of Gotham's Caped Crusader, Bruce Wayne has led a clandestine operation all on his own. Thought to be dead by the Magistrate that rules over Gotham with a tyrannical hand, Bruce Wayne recently had the uncanny experience of running into Fox's Batman on the streets in Future State: Dark Detective #3 ((written by Mariko Tamaki, art by Dan Mora, colors by Jordie Bellaire, and letters by Aditya Bidikar). The experience he had of seeing this new Batman recalled one of the most enduring moments of The New 52, involving local Gotham hero, Bluebird (Harper Row).
The New 52 was a relaunch of the DC Comics Universe in 2011, resetting the timelines for characters as well as providing the opportunity to breathe new life into some of superhero comics' oldest characters. In Batman #18, Bluebird saved Batman from a group of attackers, only to be chastised by him for getting involved in a dangerous scenario (written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV, pencils by Andy Kubert, inks by Sandra Hope, colors by Brad Anderson and Nathan Fairbairn, and art by Alex Maleev). Enraged, Harper told Batman that he was "not supposed to be a person," but "an idea." He must be protected from death in order for the idea of justice to continue in Gotham.
This legacy of The New 52 lives on with Bruce's Wayne's recognition of the symbolic power that Batman has in Future State Gotham. Approaching Batman as a symbol and idea rather than a single individual endows his character with an extra layer of mythos that is fitting, considering that he is one of superhero comics' oldest characters. But more than that, it sets Bruce Wayne up to reflect on the nature of being a hero in Future State, forcing him to come to grips with the reality that he cannot live forever.
The existential crisis that Bruce Wayne experiences from seeing Tim Fox in his Batman suit completes the theme from The New 52 of Batman being an idea whose personhood largely does not matter to the average Gotham citizen. Many Bruce Wayne Batman stories are centered around the difficulties he experiences from balancing his life as both Bruce Wayne and Batman, but The New 52 offered a crucial outside perspective of Batman's work that is represented in Harper's feelings about him as a hero. Future State thus puts Bruce Wayne in the same shoes as Bluebird in The New 52, regarding Batman as an idea first, then a person second. From this dynamic, Future State builds on the core themes of The New 52 in order to demonstrate how Batman is beyond human mortality.
The source of Harper's anxiety towards Batman's safety in The New 52 was centered around the fact that he is an idea housed in a fallible human body. Because he has a secret identity and a masked appearance, it is easy to forget that he is just as susceptible to dying on the job as anyone else. And it is this very aspect about his persona that motivates her to protect him, because there is a lot at stake in his safety.
Future State picks up on this idea through the fact that Bruce Wayne is presumed dead by everyone in Gotham. With the original Batman dead, someone else had to take up the mantle in order for the idea of Batman to live on. Bruce's narration upon seeing Tim as the next Batman reveals this exact dynamic: "Batman. You're in my suit. Always a new hero to replace the old one. Because it's about a symbol, not a person. Batman is dead. Long live Batman." On the next page, he thinks, "Still, not my favorite feeling, eyeballing the guy who now has all my gear. Like looking in a mirror. Except you can only hope your reflection knows what it's doing."
In this issue, Bruce Wayne grapples with the realization that the Batman persona does not inherently belong to him, because at the end of the day, Batman belongs to no one. Batman is more than the mortality of a single person, hence the "Batman is dead. Long live Batman" sentiment. His thinking, "Batman. You're in my suit," is especially revealing of this dynamic. By referring to the Batsuit as his despite the fact that it is now worn by a new Batman, Bruce Wayne shows that he has yet to fully detach himself from his former identity.
The dual nature of Bruce's thoughts in this scene illustrate The New 52's approach of Batman as a character that is beyond the scope of a single person. By expressing ownership over the suit even as he addresses the new Batman as "Batman," shortly before thinking, "Batman is dead. Long live Batman," Bruce brings up the contradictions inherent to a character that is embodied by more than one person. Though his original version of the character is dead, a new one stands before him as if he never died. This is because at the end of the day, Batman is beyond death. Ideas are far more immortal than the people who embody them.
Though Batman significantly shaped his individual experience of life, Bruce Wayne in Future State has now realized that Batman was never his to begin with. Batman's identity as an idea, rather than a person in a suit, allows for the Caped Crusader's brand of justice to continue on in defiance of life's natural course. Though Bluebird rightly feared for his safety in The New 52, she might find comfort in Future State's new image of him. As long as Gotham needs a defender of justice, Batman can never truly die.