In a World Gonne Madd, with 1000 elephants!!!!

... permanently.

Granted, a few members of superhero groups have died permanently (or, rather, they haven't been resurrected yet), but superheroes with long-running solo-titles and high name recognition are never gone for very long.

It has happened, though, that the person behind the mask has changed. Even Batman was for a while someone other than Bruce Wayne. So a possibility is that they will (more or less permanently) kill Bruce Wayne and have someone else take up the uniform and name after a suitable time, with DC announcing The All New Batman, Like You Have Never Seen Him Before.

Additionally, both Marvel and DC are known for occasionally making "resets", where they write off all that has happened before, starting all their titles over from scratch. So after killing a suitable number of heroes, they may announce The All New DC Universe, Like You Have Never Seen It Before.

In other words: Yawn, what else is new?

Of course, if he pops his clogs in the April edition, it's all just a big joke.

They can't kill off the Dark Knight... when the graphic novels have him fighting crime in Gotham as an OAP.

Mine's the cape and the cowl....

isnt this just a copy of marvel killing off Captain America last year ?

I can see Bruce Wayne being killed off, there's a bunch of folks more then willing to don the cape and cowl.

John Constantine could even come along and fill the role for a while, would beat Marvel's The Punisher pretending to be Captain America for sure

I'm not sure Batman needs to die, although, admittedly the return of Superman was actually quite good - as far as Superman stories go (The return of Green Arrow was a fun story, but completely ridiculous, and Green Lantern's return stretched credibility almost as much).

Can't some people just stay alive?

At some point, Batman probably does need to retire or die, and be replaced (probably by Dick Grayson) by someone who isn't emotionally crippled and can actually form long term relationships... whilst strapping on rubber/neoprene at night and beating up other men. Never mind..

To try and not get too fan nerdy though - please no more commissioner's wife or female Batman sidekick deaths - it's lazy plotting and somewhat misogynist.

Well it's time for batman of the future. Qualifications are rich, smart, gadgets everywhere, big mansion.

Come on guys, you know who it's going to be (hint see picture). Yes it's MS Batman!, and hopefully he will lock up i-pod users by the dozen for crimes commited again'st humanity (string 'em up by with their pathetic "please don't mug me" white wires.....

So he gets a back broken... and returns.

He retires... and returns.

At what point in his already stretched career is he going to die? (And then return.)

DC has done something like this before, with a super villan called Bane. Who "Broke the Bat"

Leading to someone called Jean Paul Valley taking over the cape.

see Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bane_(comics)

Interested to see how they actually kill the Bat. As to do that would mean killing Dick Grason and anyone else who could take over the mantle of the Batman.

/annorak

To rise from the grave as vampire Batman ?

Isn't that in return a copy of DC killing Superman years ago? Which in return was a copy of Marvel killing Captain Marvel before that? Which in return was.....

You get the idea.

did you ever see the cartoon "Batman Beyond"? In that universe, Bruce Wayne is a retiree who, after a strange set of circumstances, takes on a teenage martial artist as his "replacement." The kid has the "new" Bat suit complete with rocket boosters, loads of hyper-groovy sensors, and even a "stealth" mode where he becomes more or less invisible a la Predator.

Perhaps DC who, IIRC, "sanctioned" that cartoon is taking it to comic form. There has also been talk of a Batman Beyond movie. Perhaps this is the first step in that direction. In the pilot episode of Batman Beyond, an aging Bruce Wayne (in the aforementioned "new" Bat suit) is forced to defend himself with a gun because his age had finally caught up with him. Having previously stated that he would never use a gun, he decides it's time to hang up the cape. Fast forward several years and along comes the kid. yada yada yada good story.

I could be all wet, but the dominos seems to align rather well.

Why not Captain Jack Harkness?

...in the comics, except Gwen Stacy, Uncle Ben and Jason Todd, it has been famously noted by smarter readers than I.

But at least they are killing a male character for a change: http://www.unheardtaunts.com/wir/

Instead of killing and reviving superheros, just let them retire.

Invent a new superhero. With new powers. And new villains.

But, I guess I can see the problem. What new powers does one bestow on these characters that hasn't already been done before?

where it was all a dream!

the purple jacket with the acid spraying flower please

there are a number of batman timelines that are considered canon, such as the dark night returns etc.

Stopping Brucey from being Batman now would need some serious justification for the more geekier fans.

At the end of the day, there are loads of different permuatations to cater for all future Batman films/series/comics/graphic novels/lunchboxes/commerative dog blankets/hand crafted gifts and cross stich designs.

tried and tested method innit. comic geeks love it, the media love it for some reason, i guess because it's an easy story and everyone's heard of batman, and bizarrely people who never buy comics buy the comics.

We already know Bruce Wayne (or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof) lives well into the 21st century, as he is the doddering old mentor to a new Batman, Terry McGinnis.

"Green Lantern's return stretched credibility almost as much"

funny to read that in a thread that is discussing fictional characters with

(usually) non-terrestrial powers.

>> The Green Lantern is credible enough, but for him to return?... nah..

bit too far fetched for me<<

:-p

anyway, everyone knows I am the true Batman

anyone remember the line in South Park, return of Chef

"And he lived for eternity .... until he was hit by a train in 1892"

or something like that...

ZOMBIE BATMAN.

How cool is that?

OK, that was six words. Thirteen now.

Is it not bad timing to kill off Batman when the guy playing the Joker in the imminent Batman movie has just died himself?

Batman R.I.P. is the title... and they say people are going to be shocked? Unless the title is a lie! They would NEVER do that (lie), of course...

"...in the comics, except Gwen Stacy, Uncle Ben and Jason Todd, it has been famously noted by smarter readers than I."

...and Jason is back...

(sad, really...)

Lawnmowers For Heroes, Comics For Zeros, as the poet sang.

wouldn't he crash a lot

(AKA sir Crashalot?)

"But, I guess I can see the problem. What new powers does one bestow on these characters that hasn't already been done before?"

I submit the characters Wonderboy and Young Nasty Man to the house!

As for powers? Well, how about the power of flight? That do anything for you? Thats levitation, homes! Or how about the power to kill a Yak? From two hundred yards away? With MIND BULLETTS?!?

Or, you know, whatever floats your boat.

Batman was killed off in one storyline in the late 1960's and replaced by his doppelganger from a parallel universive

...but Adam West's is still alive which renders all of this unimportant

Lobo.

"Fight crime? No. I'm going to kick the shit out of puppies and drop a deuce on your nan's car. Then punt Santa into the sun."

I don't know if he'd do that, but he's just about awesome enough to get away with it.

"...in the comics, except Gwen Stacy, Uncle Ben and Jason Todd, it has been famously noted by smarter readers than I."

Jason Todd has been revived. Indeed, many have suggested that he might take over as Batman if DC did kill him off. Gwen Stacy nearly got brought back this year and a last minute editorial swerve reversed directions. Uncle Ben has been brought back and killed off loads of times.

Only Bucky stays dead. Except he got revived too and is Captain America now.

Anyway, hasn't this whole Batman being killed off story been debunked already? There's some suggestion it was the original plan (though "killing him" was going to mean ascending him to being a New God, meaning he'd still be around and could fight Darkseid in the upcoming Final Crisis, which isn't really "killing" a character off), but Warner have pointed out they have a new Batman film coming out this year, so this isn't happening.

This is just more soap.

In (whatever time duration the accountants dictate) the poor old guy will wake up in the shower and find it was all a dream, but such a good dream he could actually be the Bat Man! OooEeerr, da da da da - da da da da

Bat Copter Icon, cuz its the right color

Look up Batman & Dracula: Red Rain.

If memory serves, at the end, despite beating "Dracula", Batman himself has become a vampire - so he's already dead. Vampire Batman gets my vote - just like Batman but just every so slightly more evil, stronger and harder to kill... Wayne Industries would have to invest in some serious sun block research however.

"just like Batman but just every so slightly more evil, stronger and harder to kill"

Ah! Emo Bat Man then. Here we go again

...welcome our new Bat-Lobo overlod.

That would get me into collecting comics again.