Thoughts on the long-term, generational change for Batman?

[lilyrose]

Tom King got permission to do something really big to change the character in the last 15 issues of his run (which I guess would start next January and go through summer). Supposedly it's long-term and permanent, but if he's doing this before he ends his run, what could be so big to force new writers to go along with it? At least for quite a while.

Any theories?

Most popular guesses seem to be 1) Publicly unmasking him, 2) marriage for real this time, 3) Killing someone, 4) Retiring/quitting

I think retiring has been done several times in the last decade, so that's unlikely. I think him and Selina will get married, but I honestly don't know if that qualifies as that big of a change (it is a big change, but you'd think the next writer could certainly get rid of that quickly if they wanted).

The public unmasking is a big deal. That would definitely have long-term repercussions. I think that's possible.

I really don't think he'll kill anyone, but I guess that would definitely be changing the character. I just feel like that's doubtful for some reason.

Another possibility I've only seen a couple of people bring up is a baby being born. He's had tons of kids obviously, but a baby would be an addition that's hard for new people to get rid of, as we've seen with Damian. So that could happen too, imo.

[DevilBat66]

I think it's one of two things.

#1- Bats gets married for reals.

or

#2- Batman starts killing.


Since Didio runs DC, my money's on #2, sadly.

[Jackalope89]

A long-term/permanent thing would mean future authors wouldn't be allowed to change it. So, Bat/Cat wedding isn't out of the question there.

Killing? Don't see it. That's been one of his defining characteristics that even the most casual of fans somehow know and cherish.

Retiring? Slightly more possible, but I don't see anyone going forward agreeing to it.

Having say, Helena Wayne? I'd put it right under the marriage, maybe even part of the marriage going forward.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Being unmasked has zero chance of lasting, just like how it didn’t last particularly long when it happened to Dick and Clark. I am thinking the baby thing sounds the most likely to stick. It’s a big change but it’s also a pretty small change. Don’t even need to tie Bruce to Selena just as Damian hardly tied Bruce down to Talia. Him killing Bane though. I’m on the same boat as the op on that one. I don’t know how likely that one is. I’ll say this much it wouldn’t be without buildup given what he’s pulled on Riddler and KGBeast.

[kingaliencracker]

They won't kill him off or retire him. I just can't see that happening.

An unmasking seems too easy to reverse.

So with that, I'll go with the actual marriage and possible kid.

[Inversed]

Dead/retired/replaced seems less likely to me, just because we literally already had that with Morrison and Snyder so not only would it feel too soon, its less believable of actually sticking. Same with the unmasking. The marriage happening is the most likely, and while having a kid does make sense, I don't know how exactly they would handle it, since I highly doubt they would keep them as a baby, and I wonder what excuse they would do to make them kid or teen aged.