The year 1945 saw only a few new things added to the mythos including the first alternate version of Batman and Robin where Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are not the crime fighters in disguise we all know. The story came out in Batman #26 in the story titled, “The Year 3000” by Joseph Greene.
It begins on April 19, of the year 3000, in a future where scientists and teachers wage a war on disease and ignorance. There has been peace on Earth for over a century until that morning in April when the warlord of the planet Saturn, Fura, attacked the Earth and took over the planet.
Brane and a young man named Ricky are walking around the war-torn planet and discover a long tube at the bottom of an atomic bomb crater. Upon further investigation, they discover that it is from New York’s World Fair from 1939, over a century in the past. With a saw they are able to open the tube and find microfilm and directions on how to build an old-fashioned motion picture projection machine.
After failing to convince his fellow people that they need to fight back against Fura, Brane discovers an old newsreel on the microfilm showing old pictures of Batman and Robin who fought against injustice and crime in their own time. Brane comes to the conclusion that what his people need, is their own Batman and Robin.
When a woman is out with her young son past the newly imposed curfew, she is stopped and threatened to be disintegrated by the Saturnians. That is when Brane and Ricky come to her rescue dressed as Batman and Robin of the year 3000.
Brane, dressed as Batman, convinces the people of Earth to fight back against Fura. He develops a class teaching them how to fight but this leads to problems in his personal life. Brane’s fiance Loral breaks off her engagement to him for not taking any of Batman’s classes.
After the training, Batman leads the people of Earth into battle against the Saturnians using the Sky-Sled. They win back the planet and Batman tells them to prevent a future attack they must travel to Saturn and defeat Fura on his home planet. The people don’t think that they are ready for an attack because they are just average humans not trained soldiers. Batman reveals himself to be Brane, just an ordinary guy which leads Loral to come back to him and his army agrees to fight with him on Saturn.
The army travels through space and fights off the Saturnians by blasting a tower blowing it up which causes the enemy to drop. Upon further investigation, Batman discovers that the Saturnians were just robots. The true Saturnians were in hiding underground away from Fura. Batman goes after Fura next, battling him in space. Fura shoots his disintegrating gun but ends up hitting his own suit which rips a hole in it causing him to freeze to death in the stratosphere. The dead Fura drifts away further out into space allowing the now liberated Saturnians to live peacefully once again.
Back on Earth Brane reveals to Loral that he is the twentieth direct descendant of Bruce Wayne, the true Batman.
In addition to seeing Batman in space and the future, 1945 also introduces readers to Punch and Judy in Batman #31, who are later connected to the Joker in various appearances. The “Rackety-Rax Racket” story in Batman #32 reveals the giant Joker playing card that would become a staple in the Batcave later on. Alfred’s last name would be revealed in Detective Comics #96 as Beagle which would be the last name for the next twenty years before changing to Pennyworth.
