R.I.P Bruce Wayne?

[Doc Faustus]

After reading last month's issue of Batman and looking at the DC comics website, I can't help but think that it's possible that they might finally be killing him off. I know, they killed off Superman and he was back a year later, but DC might be taking a bold new direction with this. Tim Drake or illegitimate son Damien could end up wearing the suit from now on. Marketing ploy? Boredom? Legitimate move forward? What do comic fans here think? Will this be another Knightfall/Death of Superman level hoax or will it be a cool change for the DCU, the way Marvel killing off Captain America seems to have been?

[clawfoot]

I generally don't go near batman titles apart from glancing at LOTDK but it would definitely be interesting if they killed him off

gut reaction is that it's a marketing ploy, they'll never get rid of him. otherwise how would they explain him popping up in the animated batman of the future.

it's been a few months since your post so please tell me he's dead and zombie bruce is walking gotham at night dishing out justice by eating brains

[Doc Faustus]

A few months? No, it's been only days. March 2nd, not February 3rd.

[Phalanx]

otherwise how would they explain him popping up in the animated batman of the future.
That show is essentially non-canon, like the marvel 2099 series it's set in the future, but not neccessarily the future of the current DC universe.
Aside from the show, the batman "of the future/beyond" only appeared in a comic book of it's own, and appearances in the other ongoing dc cartoons (brief appearances in jla) which aren't strictly canon either.

I generally don't go near batman titles apart from glancing at LOTDK
Must have been a while then...that finished some time ago...

or will it be a cool change for the DCU, the way Marvel killing off Captain America seems to have been?
Jury is still out on that one...although the books been better'n it has in a long time since the "death".

Personally...I'd like to see the Jason Todd guy at least temporarily take the mantle, just to see how the headcase would handle it...

[Doc Faustus]

Damien would cover the headcase thing pretty well, too.

[massacre man]

No! I won't believe it! No!

[Doc Faustus]

I'm just as incredulous, but feast your eyes:
http://www.dccomics.com/comics/?cm=9129

[Phalanx]

Damien would cover the headcase thing pretty well, too.
Yeah, but he's just allover the place, Todd's more just hateful badass...Damien, he'd be more like the bad guy obsessed with becoming batman and/or trying to kill anyone he perceived as a "rival" that the other guys had to step on....not saying THAT couldn't become an interesting storyline in itself though...

[massacre man]

I'm just as incredulous, but feast your eyes:
http://www.dccomics.com/comics/?cm=9129

I feel like somebody just hogtied and gutted my childhood.

[Doc Faustus]

I felt the same when I saw it on the newsstands.

[massacre man]

I'm gonna bump this since a few issues are out and I want to know people's thoughts...

[The Mothman]

comic heros die and come back all the time, plus how many different offshoots of batman comics are there anyway?
batman already killed superman quite some time ago, which was pretty badass i might add.
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/8391/tdkr227902b8cj2.jpg

[Doc Faustus]

Things are currently looking pretty bad for Bruce and DC seems to indicate that the character doesn't have long to live. He might come back or survive, but I think we are looking at a Tim Drake Batman, particularly because of something I read in one of the Teen Titans TPBs from a little while back. October's going to be crazy: http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/comics/?cm=10341
And come on, it's Grant Morrison. I trust him too much for him to pull a Death of Superman type cop-out.

[massacre man]

I'm getting the bad feeling this is going to be the end of The Joker. Though Kevin Smith is picking up writing duties for 3 issues after this arc and he said Joker would be included.

I don't think Bruce will die. Maybe just quit. No, they can't kill Bruce, they can't. I'm more scared that things might end for Dick or Joker.

[Doc Faustus]

There's no reason to kill Dick, really, although Nightwing is kind of dull, and, as for the Joker, I think they'll keep him around.

[massacre man]

There's no reason to kill Dick, really, although Nightwing is kind of dull, and, as for the Joker, I think they'll keep him around.

But just with what's going on. He's locked up in Arkham with another patient's name. Just doesn't seem to promising for him.

[massacre man]

SPOILERS! Click if you dare! (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v414/SimpsonMmyers/batmanisreallydead.jpg)

[Phalanx]

Yeah, I just read that one (final crisis #6of7)
**Spoiler below**

So first they tried like a "trial" death to see how people would react...in which he was thought to be dead in a helicopter explosion, but really taken and held prisoner by some folks that wanted to make an army with reflective brainwaves...then they come up with this one, in which of course he looks truly dead.
However, this is my personal theory, still spoiler-ish:
The final crisis title has been so damn confusing that I've nearly ditched it alltogeter, they've bought (as always) different realities together and there's a bunch of characters I didn't even recognise. Thing is, in the scene where batman dies, and featured in the final crisis so far, the character he was taking on "at the end", Darkseid...looks completely different to anything he's ever looked before.
I know he supposedly sustained some kind of injury in the fight with the "God" type character he killed at the beginning, but to look just kind of similar but not alltogether exactly like the Darkseid I know, does seem a little weird.
I'm thinking that (they may not MAKE this the case) they could bring Batman back by either
a: Making him an alternative reality counterpart, eg - the real Batman has just got done escaping...nothing got explained as to how/why he was really involved in the FC storyline up until that point where he conveniently appeared)
b: As I said before...he's only just escaped and thought to be dead by the DC universe at large. Could be someone has decided to take up the mantle already, and that was them? Of course this would more than likely mean the death of another well established dc character.

[Doc Faustus]

I'm eager to see what Gaiman does with Whatever Happened to the Dark Knight? in February.

[creepycrawler23]

even if they are gonna kill him off, they will eventually bring him back somehow/someway. they can't let a legend stay dead.