A Bat-Bulletin about
The Return of Bruce Wayne
It’s interesting isn’t it?
A iconic hero who has been a mainstay of the company since FDR was in the White House dies in midst of a major crossover event. But he really didn’t die but was trapped in some time and space void where he was seen reliving past events. However, while still mourning the “passing” of a legend, the mantle of the name, as well as the costume and everything, fell to the first sidekick the hero ever had. This included a full blown “return” mini-series for the returning hero, coming back to a universe that sorely missed him and one in a state of “interesting times.”
Oh, you thought I was talking about Bruce Wayne?
Nope, just ruminating on the striking similarities over the 4 year arc over at Marvel concerning the “death” and return of Steve Rogers, Captain America, and DC’s death and eventual return of Bruce Wayne, Batman.
Like Bruce, Steve was seemingly taken out in midst of a very polarizing crossover event, more so due to the politically, and socially, charged nature of the series known as Civil War. After his death it came time to give the mantle of the character to someone else. That someone else was Bucky Barnes. Retconned back but as Soviet agent called Winter Solider. Basically taking an idea of what would happen if Cap was found by the enemy instead of the Avengers and running with it.
In any event, the sad duty of carrying on the legacy of the presumed dead hero fell to Barnes. Much like Dick Grayson accepting that he must continue on what Bruce had started with Batman. It is interesting when one considers Robin’s and Bucky’s beginnings. Nearly 70 years after their respective debuts as youthful sidekicks (Robin in Detective# 38 in 1940, Bucky in Captain America Comics # 1 a year later) they’d become the heroes that they were sidekicks to.
Well, it didn’t take much thinking at the time to realize Batman did not die during his tussle with Darkseid at the end of Final Crisis # 6, but that he was hit with the Omega Sanction, which apparently is where one lives a life over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over…you get the point. This will play out in this summer’s Return Of Bruce Wayne mini-series, however Steve Rogers’ fate was not as clearly foretold when the events were unfolded. But indeed, as last years’ Captain America: Reborn series showed, Cap was instead “stuck” in time and relived through past events before being brought back into current continuity.
Now, things will get interesting from here, as currently while Steve Rogers is very much back among the living, certain events in the Marvel Universe dictated that Bucky continue as being “Captain America” but Steve Rogers was recently put in control of US security after the fall of Norman Osborn. While I highly doubt Bruce Wayne will be heading in that direction, things should be interesting to see what DC comes up with;
How exactly will he be brought out of the Omega Sanction?
How will his fellow heroes react to the original Batman being back?
Will DC actually HAVE him back in the cowl right away?
Well, these questions and more should be answered in the coming year. No doubt the higher ups in Time Warner are probably pushing DC to get the guy back where he should be by the time the next movie came out, but then again The Dark Knight came out as R.I.P and Final Crisis were putting Bruce in position to be gone for a while. But at the same time somehow the entire Knightfall-Prodigal-Troika saga got neatly wrapped up in the time frame in between Batman Returns and Batman Forever, so these things do have a tendency to work out!
Posted by SteveJRogers
