In 2039, who wears the cowl?

[dietrich]

Bruce Wayne.

[byrd156]

Some hip new character will find the bunny robot suit and bring a new golden age to Batman for decades to come.

[rev516]

Please no.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Terry Mcginnis

[Güicho]

Please no.

Stop hating! Embrace the new 2039 Batperson.

[Arctic Cyclist]

Mantle should have fallen to Pre Red Robin Tim by then.

How could it be Tim? He'll be 16. Damian will have already retired after being widowed to raise his children. Terry, who has been established as the future in the Gotham Academy Second Semester Annual, will also be settling down with Dana to start a family. Bruce will have transferred his consciousness to a clone. Dick's Talon immortality will have kicked in keeping him forever 26. Jason will be the hot uncle in his thirties (never mind that Damian is now in his forties, but looks the same age as college age Terry), who sometimes helps and sometimes antagonizes the family.

And Tim will still be sixteen. Living out the same story over and over again with various super villains telling him he's special and amazing before completely forgetting about him. Luckily, he'll still be able to hang out with Beast Boy and Raven, who will also still be 16 and repeating the same stories like a particularly hellish version of groundhogs' day where everyone else grows up and moves on to have happy, fulfilling lives and they're stuck forever as teenagers.

He'll remain unaware of his inability to move beyond being 16 as he has been since Identity Crisis despite the multiple Christmases he celebrates. Just like he's unaware of the facts that Zero Year introduced him at 11, meaning that he was 16 when Damian was 10, 16 two years in universe during Batman & Robin Eternal, 16 a year and some later when he "died" and Damian turned 13, was 16 after a year long captivity, and will be 16 for Heroes in Crisis.

He might have made it to 17 by then, but given trends since the mid oughts, that's unlikely. Tim Drake, like Bruce Wayne will become, is actually a clone of the original who keeps transferring his essence to another body on his birthday. That's why Bruce and Tim are the best: Batman and Robin FOREVER!

[CPSparkles]

How could it be Tim? He'll be 16. Damian will have already retired after being widowed to raise his children. Terry, who has been established as the future in the Gotham Academy Second Semester Annual, will also be settling down with Dana to start a family. Bruce will have transferred his consciousness to a clone. Dick's Talon immortality will have kicked in keeping him forever 26. Jason will be the hot uncle in his thirties (never mind that Damian is now in his forties, but looks the same age as college age Terry), who sometimes helps and sometimes antagonizes the family.

And Tim will still be sixteen. Living out the same story over and over again with various super villains telling him he's special and amazing before completely forgetting about him. Luckily, he'll still be able to hang out with Beast Boy and Raven, who will also still be 16 and repeating the same stories like a particularly hellish version of groundhogs' day where everyone else grows up and moves on to have happy, fulfilling lives and they're stuck forever as teenagers.

He'll remain unaware of his inability to move beyond being 16 as he has been since Identity Crisis despite the multiple Christmases he celebrates. Just like he's unaware of the facts that Zero Year introduced him at 11, meaning that he was 16 when Damian was 10, 16 two years in universe during Batman & Robin Eternal, 16 a year and some later when he "died" and Damian turned 13, was 16 after a year long captivity, and will be 16 for Heroes in Crisis.

He might have made it to 17 by then, but given trends since the mid oughts, that's unlikely. Tim Drake, like Bruce Wayne will become, is actually a clone of the original who keeps transferring his essence to another body on his birthday. That's why Bruce and Tim are the best: Batman and Robin FOREVER!

This makes me sad.

[Flash Gordon]

Bruce Wayne

[MajorHoy]

Mia "Maps" Mizoguchi!

[Restingvoice]

Whoever manage to wrestle that cowl off him because he won't stop even with spinal injury

[Jackalope89]

Helena Wayne, duh.

[Ascended]

Batman's 100th anniversary is less than 21 years away.

Picture this:

It is the year 2039. Incredibly, DC has NOT further hard-rebooted its continuity the years between now and then.

Who should be wearing the cowl by then, and why?

Poll forthcoming.

Well, DC is always going to be in the omnipresent "now" so even if DC didn't reboot between now and then, Bruce isn't going to age out of the cowl, and DC will never replace him for more than a short term gimmick. So it'll still be Bruce.

Now, if you're asking who should be wearing the mantle in twenty years in-universe? I still say it's Tim. I think thematically, Damian has to fail as Batman; he'll wear the cowl for a time but won't be able to keep it and will have to accept that his destiny is not to follow his father's footsteps. He's the only Robin who believes the cowl is his birthright and his by inheritance, which is a big part of why he doesn't deserve it. Jason is too raw, too....gratuitous....to survive the more subtle currents Batman has to navigate. And Dick could do the job as he has before, but he'd hate it, his wanderlust would eventually get the best of him, and he'd eventually turn and go his own way just like he always does. Duke.....he's too new to really say. As of yet he hasn't earned the right to wear the cowl and I have no idea if it would fit him. Time will tell, but I suspect Duke will go his own way just like Dick and Jason have. But Tim has the mind to fit the cowl, always has.

[lemonpeace]

Ideally? No one. Bruce Wayne retired, so has the cowl, and someone else has taken up his duty protecting Gotham in their own way.

Most likely? Bruce is somehow still Batman or Dick is Batman.

[Flash Gordon]

Bruce Wayne

[BruceWayneJr.]

Who should? Tim Drake
Who will? Bruce Wayne