Batman (Arkham Origins) #2 — Batman Mini 35mm
By: Knight Models
Type: Minis Loose
Product Line: Batman Miniatures Game — Loose Miniatures (35mm)
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Every item in our inventory has been inspected, very strictly graded, and bagged for its protection.
SW
Shrink Wrapped. Still in the original factory shrink wrap, with condition visible through shrink noted. For example, «SW (NM)» means shrink wrapped in near-mint condition.
Mint
Perfect. Brand new.
NM
Near Mint. Like new with only the slightest wear, many times indistinguishable from a Mint item. Close to perfect, very collectible.
Board & war games in this condition will show very little to no wear and are considered to be punched unless the condition note says unpunched.
EX
Excellent. Lightly used, but almost like new. May show very small spine creases or slight corner wear. Absolutely no tears and no marks, a collectible condition.
VG
Very Good. Used. May have medium-sized creases, corner dings, minor tears or scuff marks, small stains, etc.
Complete and very useable.
Fair
Very well used, but complete and useable. May have flaws such as tears, pen marks or highlighting, large creases, stains, marks, etc.
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Arkham Origins [2] – Anarky Review
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The FIFA World Cup is over, the previous month there was no issue due to some major changes in StripTease the mag.
So, to kick off things after this downtime, we continue to review figures from DC Collectibles Batman: Arkham Origins Series 2. Today we take a look at a very intriguing DC Universe character whose name and imagery seems to reference a legendary creation of the great Alan Moore, namely Anarky.
Anarky is one of the lesser known DCU characters with his largest presence being in Bat-family publications. A creation of Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle, Anarky was designed as an anti-hero who would clash with Batman for his ‘extremist’ philosophy of combating what he deemed corruption and social injustice. In the game Anarky’s look is modified from his original comic appearance which – in my opinion – was an improvement when considering his age and philosophy. Despite the obvious comparisons his actual imagery has with V, Anarky’s in-game design not only helps push him farther from that look, but also be in tune with the rest of the character designs and settings.
Packaging – 9/10
This is the same clamshell packaging that I discussed extensively when I covered the figure from the previous waves .
Sculpt – 9/10
This will again echo the what I have mentioned in previous reviews of figures of the Origins franchise, which is that it’s Gentle Giant Studio Sculpt hence seems to have a digital model base – accurate and detailed – well done.
One thing unique here is unlike the other figures with sculpted clothing, the hoodie jacket sculpt is actually a separate piece on the figure, a soft rubber piece of clothing! The body/arms underneath this rubber jacket is just a clear plastic armature containing the articulation. Also the head sculpt is based of two separate sculpts of a blank head and a mask instead of being a single piece masked sculpt. It helps portray the gap and depth of an actual man with a mask on.
Paint – 8/10
The paint in the second series is actually better than the first. Consistent and well composed to flesh out details specially on Anarky’s very grungy look.
Special mention for the way his decals are painted on and backpack is weathered. All the tiny things like the badges on his jacket, emblems are done very cleanly and stand out.
Articulation – 8/10
Series 2 figures not only improved on the paint from Series 1, but also on articulation. Anarky has ball jointed head, ball jointed arms, bicep swivels, single elbows, swivel wrists, swivel waist, ball jointed hips, double jointed knees, swivel boots.
Accessories – ?/10
Not sure if I should really give points, as he comes with one Molotov Cocktail as his accessory. The thing looks great with the clear plastic bottle and a rush of flames on top, however the flame sculpt is heavier than the bottle and sometimes pushes the bottle out of the hand grip due to the weight pulling it down. This is a fitting accessory, though small.
Overall – 8/10
A very well made figure and the touch of realism with the rubber jacket and two piece masked sculpt make it one of my favourites from the franchise!
– Ankit Mitra.
A toy enthusiast with a penchant for the unique. Let’s just say, his Batcave has a thing or two every comic book-lover would love to encounter!
The history of Batman in comics — remember the path of the Dark Knight in honor of his anniversary
September 21 will be Batman Day. It’s time to plunge into the history of the Dark Knight. On March 30, 1939, Detective Comics #27, the comic book in which Batman first appeared, went on sale. The history of the Dark Knight is very, very long — for almost eight decades he has been living in the minds and hearts of people, regularly acquiring new details. But how did it all start and how has Batman changed over the years?
Batman Begins
We will leave out of this text the twists and turns between its creators, Bill Finger and Bob Kane, on issues of authorship and who contributed what to it — we will focus on the character himself. He was seriously influenced by several characters that were very popular among children and teenagers in those early years — Shadow, Zorro, Phantom and others.
It turned out to be an explosive mixture of mystery, mystery, acrobatics, hand-to-hand combat and the first gadgets — in general, at the dawn of his formation, Batman was a classic masked avenger, which was then in bulk.
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The lion’s share of the main elements of Batman appeared then, in the early years of his existence — a suit, transport, basic gadgets, the first enemies and allies, and the like. The Dark Knight very quickly gained recognition and love from readers — after a short time he got his own Batman series and was a frequent guest at Worldʼs Finest.
If we talk about his character and general approach to the character, then, of course, everything is ambiguous. Of course, from a modern point of view, Bruce’s early adventures seem at least naive and silly, at most idiotic.
The plots were simple, the enemies were absurd, the situations and problems were laughable. The hero was simple, like all comics of that era.
It is difficult to single out any defining stories or issues that would later find their way into the future or lay the foundation for the Batman that we all know today.
By and large, it all comes down to a dry enumeration of dates and numbers — the betarangs appeared then, Gordon — then and so on.
It’s better to just briefly describe half a dozen random comics of the forties so that they eloquently describe what Batman was then:
1. A TV program began to expose popular superstitions. The Joker decides to tarnish their reputation and commits several crimes with supernatural overtones.
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2. A popular author wrote a book about the most dangerous and treacherous women in history, based on which they want to make a film in Hollywood. Catwoman learns that she is not in the book and decides to disrupt the production of the picture.
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3.Vicki Vale goes on patrol with Batman and Robin to take some photos of them working — of course, things go wrong.
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4. The Joker creates his own school, where he trains criminals, after which he commits crimes all over the country.
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5.
Batman and Robin investigate mysterious incidents in the Hall of Ages, a building built by Bruce Wayne, each floor of which represents a specific period of history.
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6. The Joker decides to make money by making video tutorials on how he commits crimes.
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Some of Batman’s most important antagonists appeared in the 1940s: Catwoman in Batman #1, Clayface in Detective Comics #40, Criminal Doctor in Detective Comics #77, Doctor Death in Detective Comics #29(he would later appear with Snyder in Year Zero), Hugo Strange in Detective Comics #36, the Mad Hatter in Batman #49 and, of course, the Joker in Batman #1.
Time passed, comics changed. By the end of the 40s, the popularity of superheroes was steadily declining, and by the end of the decade, only Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman remained afloat at DC. In the 50s, Bruce entered, practically unchanged — only the number of new enemies and potential opportunities for future authors to make a reference to some event of the past grew.
Modern Batman villains:
- What interesting Batman villains were invented in the 21st century
Batman’s first changes
The first change for Bruce happened in the mid-50s — with the advent of Barry Allen in the DC comics, the concept of the multiverse began to be laid, and a rather non-trivial situation formed. Batman was effectively the only costumed vigilante from the 40s, and comic books about him have been out for fifteen years. Many of those who read it then have already grown up, graduated from school, college or even university, someone served in the army and perhaps even went to war; people were already married and probably had kids — and Batman hadn’t aged a year, and neither had Dick Grayson, who was still a teenager and a Wonder Boy.
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The appearance of Earth-One solved this problem — the readers were introduced to the new Batman, who is, as it were, new, but old.
You all know him well, but he appeared relatively recently, by the standards of the universe. Well, you understand.
In the 50s, Batman finally met Superman and joined the Justice League of America, which brought together the greatest heroes of those years in its ranks. And then Batman was also different from who we know — if today he is more of a source of endless problems or a paranoid schemer, then he was just a member of the League — albeit respected, but not as prominent, since Superman dominated those years.
Detective in the city!
The fifties are gone, and so are the sixties. Again, it is difficult to single out some plots that have become cult of those years; of course, the general degree of infantilism and stupidity decreased, but no more. In my opinion, the really serious growth of the character (serious growth, not serious growth) began in the late 60s and early 70s, and many people contributed to this: Steve Inglehart, Frank Robbins, Danny O’Neal, Neil Adams, Dick Giordano , Jim Aparo and many others.
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How can you characterize that period? First of all, already repeatedly mentioned by me, Batman’s Holmes passion for solving mysteries — some plots begin with the fact that Batman independently goes to abandoned houses, which are supposedly haunted, or solves unsolved crimes, that is, he tries to be proactive.
Secondly, the tone of the story has changed. For example, O’Neill, as an author, adhered to left-wing views and paid great attention to social and public issues in his comics. His Batman often fights not with supervillains that threaten to destroy the city, but with corrupt politicians, smugglers, catches murderers and maniacs — that Batman is the most street hero that operates at the local level.
And that suits him perfectly — he doesn’t feel like a fifth wheel here, like, for example, in some large-scale events in the future, where he participates because he is Batman and he always has a plan … but more on that later.
Here his best qualities are manifested — a detective who unravels riddles, a fighter who easily goes one on one with dangerous thugs and gains the upper hand, the horror of the night, from which criminals shy away, a defender of the weak and disadvantaged, who is not alien to compassion and mercy even to criminals.
Offhand I will recommend several comics in which the last character trait is clearly traced: Batman # 217, Batman # 230, Batman # 239, Detective Comics #410.
More about Batman:
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And here he is throwing cool phrases. Don’t believe?
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There’s something else here that’s pretty hard to put into words — ’70s Batman oozes confidence. He gives the impression of a mature, experienced hero, who knows his strength very well, for whom it is not an obligation to protect the city, but a privilege and duty, who knows his own worth and can interrupt an unnecessary dialogue with a couple of sharp phrases or put someone in power in his place, that hinder him. At the same time, he strictly observes the boundaries and does not pretend to be an uber-tough fighter who wanted to spit on everyone and everything — this is maintained very clearly.
And it’s very cool, believe me. Reading those comics is a pleasure. And yes, it was then that two very important characters appeared that would later play a very, very prominent role in his story — Ra’s al Ghul and Match Malone.
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The first one is a large-scale and extremely ambiguous figure. His appearance in the comics is rather non-trivial and inventive, as is his subsequent relationship with Batman. It ends with a legendary fight in the desert, which Bruce has never had before. Subsequently, he will repeatedly get in the way of Batman, representing, in my opinion, one of Batman’s most dangerous enemies.
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The second is a petty criminal, whose identity Batman began to use to collect information and go to haunts. Here, by the way, one more of his talents is manifested — a master of disguise and a gifted actor. Alfred unequivocally approves.
Because O’Neil was O’Neil, his Batman moved from a country mansion to a penthouse in the city center to be closer to the city and crime.
In addition, Bruce opens the agency V.I.P. — Victims, Inc. Program, which just dealt with the investigation of hopeless cases and direct assistance to people.
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What was Batman like then? Confident, calm, merciful, purposeful, giving all his strength to help ordinary people in their small (against the background of the whole world) dramas and troubles. This, in my opinion, made him more human than ever, and painted the image of a real hero.
Crisis
The seventies ended, the eighties began. The DC Universe was not in the best condition — the abundance of lands and conflicting events acted on readers repulsively. Sales were creeping down, and a direct competitor in the face of Marvel was gaining strength. A radical solution was needed — it was Crisis on Infinite Earths. At the beginning of the decade, Batman, in principle, was doing the same thing as always — the most important difference was that Dick Grayson nevertheless left him, becoming Nightwing.
Batman needed a new Robin — he became Jason Todd, who, like Dick, was a circus acrobat and performed with his family under the name «Flying Todds» …
And then the Crisis happened.
Acrobat Jason Todd became a street urchin who tried to spin the wheels of the Batmobile. The rewritten universe lost a lot of events and situations that happened before, many characters were rethought and changed. In the late 80s, several comics came out that became genuine milestones in the history of the character and had the most serious impact on his modern image.
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A new beginning
After «Crisis», Batman, by and large, got off with little blood when compared to Superman or Wonder Woman — but he, like them, received his own history of becoming . She became Batman. Year One.
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In general, there were stories about the early years of Batman before — the origin of the Batarang, the first Batmobile, and so on; but there were no straight full-fledged stories of the formation of the hero, so that the reader could compare his “then” and “now”.
This task was undertaken by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. First suit. First outing. First major encounter. First contact with the Gotham police and with Jim Gordon, who is also given a huge amount of time here. For the next 25-30 years, this story became the character’s canonical origin.
And then Miller, who turned to the character’s past, decided to look into his future. Remember I said that earlier some readers might have a question — why does Batman not age and what will happen to him if he gets old? The answer to this question was The Dark Knight Returns.
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Here, readers saw a completely different Batman — aged, depressed by the burden of losses and defeats, hanging his cloak on the wall and trying to fill the void in his life that formed after his resignation. And around — chaos, lawlessness, darkness and hopelessness. At some point, the ghosts of the past overtake him, and Bruce decides to return.
This comic has another meaning that you might not notice at first glance — before that, the dualism of Bruce’s personality was not so clearly seen in the comics.
Batman was his alter ego, the suit he wore. Here there is a very clear division between Bruce Wayne and Batman — the latter is also a person, albeit not so distinct and perceptible, but existing in Bruce’s head, which has become an integral part of him. Without Batman, Bruce is just a burned-out shell that lives day after day.
Perhaps it was then that the question was first asked: “Who is the mask really — Batman or Bruce Wayne? Who is primary and who is secondary?
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Arkham Asylum. A mournful house in a mournful land» by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean. Here a new trait of his character appeared — Bruce is overcome by internal demons (the comic, by and large, represents his nightmare), and he has never before appeared to readers so vulnerable and even helpless. The gloomy tones, the grotesque figures, and the feeling of all-consuming despair were very unusual, and the comic instantly became a hit.
This theme has since expanded and deepened, adding fuel to the fire of Batman’s partial instability.
But those were stories from the past, the possible future, and Bruce’s mind — what about the present? In the main universe in 1988, another important event in Batman’s life took place, namely A Death in the Family.
Death in the family, psychological trauma and defeat
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Jason Todd was the exact opposite of Dick Grayson — impudent, arrogant, headstrong and extravagant, which was not to the liking of all readers. Today we already know that something famous telephone voting was slightly rigged and in fact the voices of the callers outweighed in favor of keeping Jason alive — but Danny O’Neill decided that Todd should be sacrificed.
What followed was like a bombshell — the media and readers lashed out at the publisher for killing Robin, the character that millions of children had grown up with. Frank Miller called the decision «the most cynical thing DC has ever done».
For Batman himself, this event meant a lot — for the first time since the death of his parents, someone so close to him died. Among other things, there was another circumstance — since then, Batman began to become more and more withdrawn (which is logical) and to shoulder more and more responsibility. The next Robin, Tim Drake, he accepted very reluctantly, primarily because of what happened to Jason.
This was exacerbated by the «Killing Joke» by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, which finally fixed the antagonism of Batman and the Joker in the mass consciousness, making the latter his main opponent, also adding a pinch of instability and even madness to the image of the Dark Knight.
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What do we see? If the seventies were the era of a confident hero who pours out biting phrases and tries to overcome petty evil, then the eighties naturally let him through the meat grinder, bringing supervillains and large-scale threats to the fore. The decade broke the hero, making his image more painful, withdrawn, unsociable and even manic.
The nineties were the peak of the insane popularity of comics — crazy events, millions of sales, breaking ten-year-old foundations, and the notorious «darkness and realism» overwhelmed comics. And if you think that Batman was able to get out of the hell that he experienced recently and rehabilitate himself, then you are deeply mistaken — the Knight was destined to fall.
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93rd year was marked by the coming of Bane, who, perhaps, became the «youngest» Batman antagonist who received such recognition and popularity. In some ways, they are similar to Bruce, in some ways they are different (this topic was subsequently developed by Tom King). Bane is a cunning, cruel, unprincipled and completely unscrupulous man whose goal is simple: to prove that he is the best. He chose Gotham as his new kingdom, and decided to defeat his most powerful warrior — Batman.
Over the course of twelve issues, Batman goes through a series of incredibly severe tests — Bane unleashes all the supervillains of the city, and Bruce is on the verge of his physical and psychological abilities. It all ends with a fight in the mansion, in which Bane literally and metaphorically breaks the Dark Knight, leaving him broken and defenseless.
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But Batman wouldn’t be Batman — and another important feature of his character grows from this plot. I’m talking about the incredible, fanatical stubbornness of Batman, who will never accept defeat and will always find the strength to come back. Here, his key qualities as a fighter against crime were revealed — a steel will and an inexorable desire to protect his city. He literally picks himself up, both mentally and physically, and challenges Bane, defeating him for the second time.
And then we go back in time and live with Batman for a whole year filled with very unpleasant events. Indeed, Halloween was very long that year.
True Detective
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Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, before creating one of the most important books about Batman, marked themselves on the basis of short, complete stories — from 1991 to 1993, the author duo published three Halloween specials, each of which has been a resounding success.
Archie Goodwin, then DC editor, later said that Loeb and Sale drew attention to a very interesting part of the image of Batman, which for some reason had not been covered before — that he was a creature of the night, a nightmarish monster for all those who breaks the law. And what is the main holiday for all monsters? That is Halloween.
Also, due to the «Crisis» mentioned above and the general reset of the universe, it was decidedly unclear what happened «before» the events that were described in the current comics. Between Year One and modern stories lay a whole layer of plots and untold stories. Combining the first and second, the authors got the third — a story about the early adventures of Batman, which started exactly on Halloween.
And unexpectedly, the fourth thing happened — we were finally shown a shift in emphasis from ordinary criminals and mafia groups towards supervillains, which, thanks to Sale, looked deliberately frightening and caricatured.
The Long Halloween finally established that from now on Batman’s main enemies are not corrupt officials or petty criminals — supervillains and archenemies now rule the ball.
Whether this is good or bad is a separate question.
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Thus, the 1990s brought supervillains to the fore once and for all, making plots and stories more ambitious, confrontations more uncompromising, and threats more global and lethal. With such baggage, Bruce entered the zero years. But the comics around him were also changing, and this could not but affect Batman himself.
The eighties marked the start of the crossover era. DC’s mega-successful «Crisis» and Marvel’s «Secret Wars» showed that these stories sold well — and they rained down like a cornucopia. Since the two events mentioned were global and monumental, the subsequent ones also had to hold their own — the villains were as villainous and powerful as possible, huge, incredibly strong and tough. But Batman is just a man, literally. How to be? The answer was found in the Tower of Babel.
A hero with a plan for every occasion
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The Tower of Babel plot of 2000 gave Batman a new trait, which, based on my personal observations, unfortunately today dominates all the rest in the mass consciousness — in Batman always has a plan.
The plot focused on how Ra’s al Ghul stole from Batman his plans to neutralize the members of the Justice League, which he prepared in case one of them went crazy or was under someone’s influence.
As a result, this greatly undermined the confidence of the rest of the heroes in Batman, and he was asked to leave. So the Dark Knight began to gradually turn into a paranoid, always ready for anything, and the DC Universe became more and more Batman-centric, so to speak — he began to occupy an increasingly important place in the eyes of readers and play an increasingly important role in global events, which subsequently were a lot.
And then Batman was waiting for a new family drama, new problems, death, time travel and return. Grant Morrison, who came to the main series of Batman comics in 2006, approached the matter on a grand scale, significantly transforming and expanding the image of the Dark Knight.
Fathers, children, corporations, evil Batmans and other interesting events
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Bruce has a son.
Not adopted, but biological — albeit artificially grown. Damien Wayne, the son of Bruce and Talia al Ghul, has been training in the League of Assassins since childhood and was preparing to become a replacement for his own father. Thanks to his appearance, Batman turned from just a mentor into a father — and you yourself can imagine how caring a person like Bruce can be, and even with such, ahem, son.
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Just above I wrote about how Bruce created the organization V.I.P. and began to engage in hopeless cases. With Morrison, he went even further — the organization Batman, Inc. appeared, which brought Batman’s activities to the international level, which, in turn, further tore Bruce from his «street roots», being at the same time an absolutely logical continuation of his story.
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Finally, Bruce died — more precisely, he fell through time and space into the Stone Age. He was gone for a little over a year, and without him life was in full swing — the scumbags of Gotham fell off the chain, and the allies fought for the right to wear his cape.
Only his return put an end to the troubles, and we were able to see what the world would be like without Bruce.
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And then Flash decided to save his mother and Flashpoint came. The universe has changed again, as have the characters that inhabit it. What can be said?
In general, all the elements that appeared before that began to be elevated to the absolute — and some are brought to the point of absurdity. Bruce became more and more reclusive, more and more on his own mind, more and more «ready for anything» — with a bunch of exoskeletons, unrealistic gadgets, kryptonite chewing gum (!) And so on and so on.
There was no trace left of the image of a fighter for a just cause and ordinary people — supervillains did their supervillains, and Batman hit them in the face in response. The DC Universe began to revolve around Batman more and more — either in the Justice League they will put him on the Mobius chair and make him the God of Knowledge, then he will have armor that will allow him to knock out Darkseid alone (!).
The apotheosis of all this disgrace was the Dark Nights: Metal event, which was 100% tied to Batman and 100% provoked by him.
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Except that Batman is the most profitable asset of the publishing house, and any such frills come down to him through the sleeves. Now Tom King continues to write his long storyline, which focuses on the emotional and psychological component of Batman and his relationship with Catwoman. At the current stage, Batman is in despair, confusion and a natural nervous breakdown — you can already judge how justified and plausible this is described.
I just want to believe that someday another author will decide to revisit that Batman straight from the 70s, because, in my opinion, this is the most correct Dark Knight of all possible.
The history of Batman is vast and eventful. I tried only to trace the general vector of its development and see when certain elements familiar to us appeared. His journey is not yet over — it is likely that we will celebrate his centenary in comics.
And what it will be then, only time will tell.
when and how did Batman die in comics — Read on DTF
A few stories when the superhero was very unlucky.
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Two new games were presented at DC FanDome in August: Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Their action takes place in different universes, which have a common feature — in them Batman is considered dead. For the gaming industry, this is a new technique, but for comics, not at all.
During his 80-year career, the Dark Knight had to die more than once: once he faked his own death, and sometimes he was killed by villains.
In anticipation of the games and the upcoming Batman Day, we recall the most notable cases when different versions of the superhero had to say goodbye to life, at least for a short while.
Poison
For the first time, Batman faced death to solve a case. In the story The Death-Cheaters of Gotham City published in 1952 in Batman Vol. 1 #72, it was revealed that there is a closed club in Gotham where only those who come back to life after death are accepted.
For example, one of the participants was bitten by a poisonous snake, and the doctors managed to save him eleven minutes after death. Another «lucky» was struck by lightning to death, but with the help of a ventilator, the victim was returned from the next world 23 minutes after his death.
Batman #72
Once a similar incident happened to one of Gotham’s petty criminals, but he was not accepted into the club due to his criminal past. Soon, the murders of the active members of the organization began, and they died for the same reasons as the first time, only they did not have time to save them.
Batman immediately realized that one of the club’s longtime members was most likely behind the crimes. The detective began investigating the case with full dedication: he decided to die for the sake of an invitation to the organization — evidence will not collect itself. Wayne planned to commit suicide with the help of poison, and Robin and Alfred had to witness his death and declare that the billionaire swallowed the poison «accidentally».
The idea was successful: Bruce Wayne died, and the doctor recorded the death. True, only for a few minutes: either physical training or artificial respiration from Robin helped the hero return to life — this is not very clear from the comic. Of course, after the miraculous resurrection, Wayne was immediately invited to the club.
Batman #72
There, he quickly collected evidence and determined that the killer was a longtime club accountant who robbed his clients and decided to kill when he suspected that he might be exposed.
Thus, the authors in a non-trivial way once again showed that Batman is ready for anything for the sake of justice.
Electricity
Once in Gotham, an old acquaintance of Batman was kidnapped — a diligent student who was also engaged in social activities. The girl was unlucky to witness the murder committed by one of the city bandits. The superhero was greatly hurt by this incident, and he vowed to save her.
Batman quickly approached the kidnappers, but as he was about to enter the building through the window, he was electrocuted. The bandits picked up the body of the hero and threw it out in the city, after which the doctors found the Dark Knight. They were surprised: Batman was breathing, and he had a pulse, but there was no brain activity. They said that clinical death had come, and the heart would stop in a few hours.
The Brave And The Bold №115
In the same hospital, Ray Palmer, known as the Atom, gave a talk.
He examined Batman, agreed with the conclusions of the doctors, but decided to try to revive the hero so that he would try to save the girl again. Palmer installed a camera on the Batman emblem, and he himself decreased in size and climbed into Bruce Wayne’s ear, from where he got into the brain part.
The Brave And The Bold №115
Upon reaching the target, the Atom began jumping through the nerves of Batman’s entire skull to stimulate the brain. He succeeded, the hero woke up, but more like a zombie walking blindly towards his goal: in this case, to the place where the kidnapped girl was kept. Atom controlled his colleague all the way, and along the way he even neutralized a couple of bandits with Wayne’s hands.
The Brave And The Bold #115
However, Atom dealt with the leader of the bandits on his own. Batman himself was again brought to the hospital, and this time the doctors made a more comforting diagnosis: the hero will live.
It turned out that the actions of the Atom in Wayne’s skull neutralized the damage caused by electricity. Batman left the hospital as if nothing had happened and received a kiss of thanks from the rescued girl: no one, of course, knew about the feat of Ray Palmer.
The next time Batman was severely electrocuted was in Detective Comics Vol. 1 #644 — then he met with the villain Electrocutioner. He hit the hero with a charge of electricity, and Wayne’s heart instantly stopped. It’s good that Robin was with him, who made the Taser «start» the superhero’s heart in the same way.
Detective Comics #645
Supervillain with mystical powers
In Adventure Comics #462, Batman from an alternate universe died for the first time — out of luck for the hero from Earth-2. The publishing house introduced this universe into comics back in the 60s in The Flash #123. The main feature of this world is a different flow of time: it corresponds to real life, and the heroes here, unlike the main universe, grow old.
The action of the release takes place at 1979 — that’s when the comic was published. The Batman in this story is approximately 64 years old, and this version of the hero is a character from the Golden Age of Comic Books.
Adventure Comics #462
One day, the Justice Society of America encountered a criminal named William Jensen, who has destructive mystical powers. He demanded that Bruce Wayne himself come to him. According to the villain, he sent Jensen to prison on a false charge in order to become a police commissioner. The criminal dealt with the heroes from the Society without any problems, and was waiting for Wayne.
The aged Bruce had already finished his superhero career by that time: the reason was the recent murder of his wife and partner, Catwoman. Now he decided to put the suit back on for the last time. Batman met in a battle with the villain, during which the latter, having learned who was hiding behind the bat mask, grabbed the enemy and in a rage incinerated them both.
Adventure Comics #462
The Dark Knight’s funeral was attended by many heroes, as well as his daughter Helena Wayne. The Batman from that Earth-2 did not come back to life, appearing in the comics after that only in Secret Origins Vol. 2 No. 6, which tells the story of its formation.
Emperor Joker
Once upon a time, the Joker took control of all the abilities of Mister Mixispitlik, a trickster capable of changing reality. Of course, the clown immediately turned the world into something that looked like hell. He especially liked to mock enemies: in particular, over Batman.
The Joker repeatedly killed his main opponent and resurrected him the next day. In Superman Action Comics #770, the villain chained the hero to a stone, deprived him of the ability to speak, and summoned a flock of vultures to literally tear the hero apart.
Superman managed to avoid a similar fate. He fought the Joker and didn’t let him erase all reality.
True, the method turned out to be quite unusual. Superman put pressure on the weak spot of the villain — Batman. The Joker could not destroy everything, because then he would have lost his special «friendship» with his main opponent.
When the clown realized this, he became nervous and rapidly lost all the abilities that Mr. Mixispitlik regained. Tom managed to restore reality, and everything seemed to return to normal. However, it was hard for Batman to come to terms with the deaths and torture he endured. The hero suffered a nervous breakdown, and the only thing that helped him return to normal was the removal of memories of recent events.
Superman Action Comics #770
Explosives
«Superman: Red Son» is the famous comic book by Mark Millar, in which the superhero as a child landed not in America, but in the USSR, where he was raised as a diligent communist. After Stalin’s death, it was he who led the country and tried to build socialism around the world.:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/21475917/batman_arkham_origins.0.png)
It seemed to Superman that he was leading humanity to a brighter future, but many people did not think so and believed that he was just an alien tyrant who wants to take over the whole world.
Batman is a prominent but minor character in this story. In this universe, his parents were shot dead by a KGB agent and Stalin’s illegitimate son, Peter, for making anti-Superman leaflets. The child, of course, swore revenge and began the work of overthrowing the regime when he grew up. And now, many years later, he received an offer from Peter, collaborating with the CIA, to kill Superman: no one wanted the alien to rule forever. The hero decided to take the risk.
Superman: Red Son #2
With the help of Wonder Woman, he lured Superman into a trap in one of the former prison camps, which was littered with lamps that mimic the rays of the red sun — this was the tyrant’s only vulnerability. Batman beat the enemy from the heart and almost won. However, Wonder Woman came to the aid of Superman.
Superman was ready to «pardon» the enemy and asked for the names of the traitors — after that, Batman would have been brainwashed, and he would have spent the rest of his days working in some bank. However, the superhero chose to die on the battlefield: he activated explosives, which he swallowed before the fight began.
Superman: Red Son #2
As for Superman, he never managed to build communism on the entire planet. In a head-to-head confrontation with Lex Luthor, the latter eventually won. At the conclusion of the comic, Superman realized who he had become, and during the battle with Brainiac faked his death, living the remaining years among people.
Wonder Woman and Parental Rescue
In Superman/Batman #14, the «Absolute Power» arc began, telling how three villains from the 31st century — the Lightning King, the Space King and the Saturn Queen — decided to change the course of history in their favor by adopting two superheroes.
They prevented the Kents from taking the young Superman and found Batman immediately after the Waynes were killed. Raising heroes, they killed many members of the Justice League along the way so that they would not spoil the plan.
Superman/Batman #14
This is how an alternative timeline appeared, in which Batman and Superman are the main superheroes and the most powerful people on the planet. Of course, they grew up quite nasty people: partners did not disdain killing those who tried to resist them. Interestingly, the heroes knew about the existence of the original world and all the tricks over time of their new parents. But they did not have a desire to return everything to its place: on the contrary, they helped the villains maintain order, eliminating pockets of resistance.
Superman/Batman #14
But it couldn’t last forever. One day, Wonder Woman managed to assemble a squad of superheroes to try to win back the time machine from the villains and fix everything: Diana also remembered that there was a true timeline.
During the battle, the Amazon managed to finish off Batman with her sword. An enraged Superman killed Diana and all her assistants, ending the revolution that had barely begun.
Superman/Batman #15
But, as is often the case, Batman did not stay dead for long. During the battle, the time machine was destroyed, and time literally went crazy. The heroes began to move around different universes, where they died a couple more times. It turned out that the death of one of them triggers a time jump. In the end, the heroes ended up on the lost Earth, where they had to team up with Darkseid to once again move in time and prevent the Lightning Lord, the King of Space and the Queen of Saturn from changing the timeline.
Gradually, the heroes began to remember the real events. An interesting moment happened when Batman decided to save his parents from death by killing the criminal: he disappeared from reality, and Superman had to be persuaded to put on a bat costume by another Bruce Wayne, who grew up a millionaire sissy in the new world.
Superman/Batman #16
Many more unusual events happened next: a trip to the world captured by Ra’s al Ghul, the resurrection of the entire Justice League and the final battle with villains from the future. Of course, the heroes managed to return everything to normal: they even retained memories of the events they experienced. Batman, for example, now clearly remembered how he grew up with his parents.
Superman/Batman #17
Copycat
In Batman #672, part of Grant Morrison’s run, a Batman impersonator shows up in Gotham. He took over the police station and took Commissioner Gordon hostage. The hero entered into a fight with the villain, and in the battle he managed to shoot the Dark Knight. The charge hit the emblem, but caused Bruce to have a heart attack.
Batman #672
While Batman was between life and death, his whole life literally flashed before his eyes: the first meeting with a bat, the death of his parents and training while traveling around the world.
He even managed to feel another remorse about the death of Robin and «meet» with the criminal Joe Chill, who killed the Wayne couple.
In reality, only four minutes have passed. A mysterious Batman impersonator brought the hero back to life with electric shocks and began torturing him. From the stories of the villain, it turned out that a few years ago, a military program began in the basement of the Gotham Police Department to prepare a replacement for Batman in the event of the latter’s death. The experiment was led by the insane Dr. Simon Hurt. He experimented on volunteers, hypnotized them and drove them crazy so that they would understand what it was like to be the Dark Knight.
Batman #674
During the torture, the hero also remembered that many years ago (Batman #156) he participated in Hurt’s experiment, spending several days in complete isolation. He thought that he was participating in the astronaut training program, but in fact, Hurt was able to learn the techniques and motivation of Batman.
Wayne also fought the doctor’s test subjects and easily won — after that the program was closed. Since then, the Dark Knight all this seemed like a hallucination, because Hurt made him forget about what happened.
While the kidnapper was talking openly, Batman was able to free himself and neutralize the villain. Thus ended a small adventure in which a four-minute death was mixed with unexpected revelations from the past. The continuation of this storyline is described in the Batman R.I.P.
Batman #674
Darkseid
Batman had to go through a lot while Grant Morrison was writing comics about him. It is not surprising that in the end it was this author who brought Bruce Wayne to another death: this time in the epic storyline «The Final Crisis».
In the sixth issue, the Dark Knight met with Darkseid face to face: there were no other superheroes nearby. To stop the villain, Batman decided to break his long-standing oath not to use firearms.
The bullet in the weapon contained radion, a material to which the New Gods are vulnerable. Batman managed to injure the villain, but he managed to «shoot» with his Omega-rays, which killed the hero. The disfigured body of the Dark Knight was retrieved from the rubble by Superman.
Final Crisis #6
It soon became clear that the hero survived again. Omega radiation did not kill him, but transferred him to another time — to the era of the first people. It was actually a cunning plan by Darkseid to destroy the universe with the help of the Omega energy that accumulated in Batman’s body when he returned to the 21st century.
To get rid of the danger, the Justice League had to stop the hero’s heart for several minutes and wait for the energy to dissipate. You can follow the return of Batman to modern times in the mini-series Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne.
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1
Interverse Batman Incidents
In Frank Miller’s famous The Dark Knight Returns, an elderly Bruce Wayne challenges Superman, and in the comic’s climax, the two come to blows.
Batman manages to defeat the opponent, but during the victory monologue, the hero’s heart stops. However, he was dead for only a couple of pages: it quickly became clear that this was a staging so that Wayne could go underground and educate a new generation to fight crime.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #4
Issue 13 of the «Report to Final Crisis» story takes place on Earth-51. Here the heroes fight the villainous Monarch and his minions. During the battle, Batman loses his discretion, after which he is killed with a crushing blow to the head by Ultraman — an evil copy of Superman.
Countdown to Final Crisis #13
Batman appears for the first time in Flashpoint, disguised as Thomas Wayne. He helps Flash restore the universe when he accidentally changes the timeline while trying to save his mom. In the mini-series finale, Batman is mortally wounded and Barry Allen has to leave him for dead. Before that, Thomas wrote a note for his son from the main universe: Bruce shed a tear when he received it.
Flashpoint №5
After the reboot of the DC Universe under the name New 52, the publisher launched a separate series about Earth-2. There were two Batmans in it at different times. The first — Bruce Wayne — died already in the first issue of the series in an attempt to stop the parademons. After that, the mantle of the hero was tried on by Thomas Wayne — in this universe, he survived after the attack on the Waynes. But he didn’t live long either: in the third installment of the Convergence story, he was surrounded by villains and blew himself up.
Convergence №3
Cases where Batman «died» briefly
There have also been several instances in the comics where Batman didn’t die, but rather was presumed dead.
In Legends of the Dark Knight #65, the Going Sane story begins, in which the Joker decides to try to become normal. The reason is the long-awaited victory over Batman thanks to a well-placed explosive in a small house in the middle of the forest.
The superhero gets seriously injured, and it seems to the clown that the enemy has died.
Legends of the Dark Knight #65
He throws the body into the river and decides to… go on vacation and start looking for a job the next day. Without Batman, crime seems useless to him: the main viewer will still not see the future insanity. Soon, the Joker stops wearing makeup, his skin returns to normal, and he even finds a girlfriend. But nature still takes its toll, and soon the villain returns. By that time, a live and healthy Batman had already appeared in Gotham, and he once again sends the clown to the Arkham Asylum.
Legends of the Dark Knight #66
In issue 40 of Scott Snyder’s wound (Batman Vol.2), Batman once again got together in a deadly fight with the Joker. The Dark Knight received several stab wounds, burns, cuts and a bunch of broken bones. Eventually, the cave in which they fought began to crumble, leaving their sworn enemies buried under the rubble.
Everyone thought the superhero was dead. While Bruce Wayne was away, Batman was Jim Gordon in a special suit.
Batman #40
Don’t miss Neil Gaiman’s iconic «Whatever Happened to the Masked Crusader?» (Batman #686 and Detective Comics #853), which was intended to be the last Batman story after his «death» in Final Crisis. But in the end, a small arch can hardly be considered canonical. The comic shows how his friends and enemies come to the memorial service in honor of the Dark Knight: each of them tells his story about the death of Batman — often the next speaker swears that he himself has finished with the hero.
Batman #686
So, Catwoman confesses that she let Batman die when he came to her beat up. Butler Alfred, in turn, reveals that he hired actors who played the roles of Batman’s main enemies, and he himself portrayed the Joker for many years. All this to keep Bruce from going crazy. According to his story, Batman was accidentally killed by Alfred’s friend pretending to be the Riddler.
