Is there any hero who’s had more twists and turns in their life thanBatman? The Dark Knight has been around for nearly a century, and in that time, he’s had more than a handful of moments that have radically changed the course of his life.
Some moments hit Batman immediately, while others take years to ever truly change his life. But whether they were instant or took time to emerge, there are some moments that have changed everything for Bruce Wayne. Read on to discover 10twists to Batman lorethat have even hit the World’s Greatest Detective by surprise.
10Batman Discovers His Father Saved Joe Chill
Detective Comics #1090
Fans don’t need to be reminded that Joe Chill, a small-time crook, was the first person to completely upend everything Bruce Wayne knew. Chill was obviously responsible for taking Martha and Thomas Wayne’s life, putting Bruce on the path to becoming the hero he is today. But inDetective Comics #1090, a flashback showsThomas Wayne actually saved Chill’s life after he was seriously injured in a car crash.
This storyline is technically still playing out in the current Detective Comics run. But this discovery has left a sizable imprint on Bruce, who has started to believe that the mugging that took his parents’ life was no accident, but payback due toThomas and Martha getting involved in Chill’s life by protecting a young woman that Chill was abusing at the time.
9Batman’s ‘Death’ Sending Him Through Time
Final Crisis
It was a moment that shocked fans everywhere whenBatman came face-to-face with Darkseidduring his conquest of Earth inFinal Crisis. Bruce, knowing the fate of the universe was at stake, broke his most solemn vow and used a gun to shoot a specialized bullet at Darkseid. But just as Batman got a shot off,Darkseid hit Batman with the Omega Sanction, leaving just a skeleton in his place.
But as the end ofFinal Crisisshowed, Batman’s death was greatly exaggerated. He was actually thrown backwards in time all the way back to Anthro’s era. Bruce was able to jump through time and work his way home. But this was part of Darkseid’s plan who’d hoped that the energy Batman accumulated viahis travels would turn the Dark Knight into a bomb when he ultimately returned home.
8Batman Discovering There Are Three Jokers
Justice League #50
Batman has been vexed by the Joker for years and during the “Darkseid War” storyline, Bruce sat upon the Mobius Chair and became the God of Knowledge. After testing out the chair’s abilities, Batman asked Metron’s power source what the Joker’s true name was. Though Batman was shocked by the answer it told him, it wasn’t revealed until issues later that the chair toldBruce that there were actually three Jokers instead of one.
This curious development was elaborated on inBatman: Three Jokers, which revealed the original Clown Prince of Crime has been turning people into duplicates to become the ultimate challenge for Batman. However, that story was supplanted in canon by the “Joker: Year One” storyline,which clarified that the three Jokers were actually different personalities that live in the Joker’s mind.
7Batman’s Teacher Helps Him Create Zur-En-Arrh
Batman #143
Batman: The Knightshed light on the teachers that helped Bruce become the man he is today, including master psychologist Daniel Captio. Captio taught Bruce how to unlock the secrets of his mind and how he could fragment it to create backup personas. Captio’s methods were a bit too extreme for Bruce, and he left before Captio could fully teach him his methods. However, at some point,Batman was inspired by Captio’s example and decided to create his backup persona, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.
While Zur-En-Arrh was meant to help Bruce cope with intense trauma and pain, the personality caused more harm than good.Zur-En-Arrh took on a life of its own and even attempted to bodyjack Bruce before eventually leaving his body, settling in a nearly indestructible automaton that Zur-En-Arrh used to try and conquer Gotham with.
6Batman Being Left at the Altar
Batman #50
‘Best’ might be a little relative here, but it’s hard to deny that this moment didn’t have a serious effect on Bruce’s life. During the Rebirth era of DC Comics, Batman began thinking about the bigger things in life and eventually decided it was time to make a huge change in his life, namely by proposing to his long-time love interest, Catwoman. The wedding was hyped up for months,but when the time for ‘I dos’ came, Catwoman left Batman at the altar.
To be fair, Catwoman was manipulated by a cabal led by Bane, who was trying to break the Batman worse than ever before. It was a real gut-punch to see Bruce on the precipice of achieving happiness, only for it to be snatched away,and it’s a moment that left a sizable impression on Batman and Catwoman’s relationship.
5Alfred Pennyworth’s Death
Batman #77
The hits just kept coming for Batman during the Rebirth era as the “City of Bane” arc saw the end of a character many viewed as the patriarch of the Bat-Family. Bane was able to successfully manipulate events and take control of Gotham and to verify he kept control, he had Alfred Pennyworth taken hostage, vowing to kill him if anyone interfered. Bruce’s son,Damian, on the other hand, refused and mounted a one-man rescue attempt.
Unfortunately, Bane kept his word and snapped Alfred’s neck in front of Robin. This would have huge ramifications for the Bat-Family. It even drove a wedge between Bruce and Damian, the latter of whom blamed himself for getting Alfred killed for years. Whilethe Bat-Family eventually recovered, there’s still a noticeable hole in the team left by the faithful butler.
4Batman Being Mind-Wiped by the Justice League
Identity Crisis #6
Identity Crisiswas a story that revealed a lot of awful things about the DC Universe that fans never wanted to know. A flashback showed how Doctor Light managed to break onto the Watchtower and sexually assault Sue Dibny. Though he was apprehended, the Justice League voted to mind-wipe him to protect Sue and anyone else Light intended to harm. However, during the process,Batman arrived and tried to stop his team.
Instead of debating with their friend,the League also agreed to mind-wipe Batman, something that Bruce was eventually able to piece togetherin the wake of Sue’s death. Bruce was justifiably angry and paranoid at his allies. So much so that he even created a satellite to keep tabs on the superhero community (though this was eventually seized by Maxwell Lord just prior toInfinite Crisis).
3The Death of Jason Todd
Batman #428
Bruce is the first to admit when he’s failed at something and nothing haunts him more than how things ended with Jason Todd’s time as Robin. Bruce took Jason in, hoping that he could be a positive influence on the boy. Unfortunately, Jason was a much different Boy Wonder than Dick Grayson and his impulsivity and recklessness led him on some dangerous paths. And in “Death in the Family”,Jason ran headfirst into a trap masterminded by the Joker.
Joker beat the Robin mercilessly and left him to die in an explosion. By the time Batman arrived, he was too late and Jason was dead. Bruce was shaken by Jason’s murder, and he swore off having a Robin ever again.It took Batman a long time to come to terms with what happened, and he still sees what happened to Jason as his greatest failure.
2The Rise of the Red Hood
Batman, “Under the Hood”
Losing Jason was one thing, but seeing him return and become a highly-skilled and lethal vigilante was another. During the “Under the Hood” arc, Jason officially came back to life and came back to Gotham and took the Joker’s old identity to start taking down criminals permanently.Batman and his former protégée eventually meet up, and it became clear that Jason is long past the point of listening to Bruce.
It took Batman, and the greater Bat-Family, a long time to bring Jason back into the fold. He was too damaged and hurt by the past. But eventually, he did soften up and he and Bruce did make up for what happened during the “Death in the Family” storyline.That’s not to say that there’s no drama between Batman and Red Hood, but things are certainly betterthan they were.
1Batman Discovers He Has a Son
Batman #656
What’s more unexpected or life-changing that discovering one has a child they never knew? That’s exactly what happened with Bruce at the beginning of Grant Morrison’s incredible Bat-Epic. Years after Batman and Talia got together, she came back into Bruce’s life and introduced him to his ten-year-old son. It would be a while before Bruce became a full-time parent,but things really shifted for Batman once he became responsible for his son.
Damian challenged Bruce a lot (largely thanks to Damian’s upbringing in the League of Assassins). But it became clear that Damian respected his father and the two got along swell, at least after all the time-travel drama and Damian’s death and resurrection. They’ve had bumps along the way, sure,but Batman has thrived as a parent and having Damian has made Bruce’s life better.
