Bruce Wayne to hand the cowl to a black man?

[Hypestyle]

however long this lasts-- and it's safe to speculate that it won't be forever: I hope that it is not written in a way as to end badly- for "Black Batman" to be overwhelmed by the crisis in some major crossover, virtually defeated, massive casualties, etc., and then he admits "he wasn't cut out for this..." and hands the reins/cowl back over to Bruce. That, to me, would be highly offensive, given the premise.

[Celgress]

however long this lasts-- and it's safe to speculate that it won't be forever: I hope that it is not written in a way as to end badly- for "Black Batman" to be overwhelmed by the crisis in some major crossover, virtually defeated, massive casualties, etc., and then he admits "he wasn't cut out for this..." and hands the reins/cowl back over to Bruce. That, to me, would be highly offensive, given the premise.

Amen, this could be a major disaster.

My favorite superhero growing up was Static Shock. My favorite other Superman is Val Zod (his hero's journey is the best in modern comics, IMO, and his romance with Kara Zor-El is my favorite non-canon pairing). Then there is Miles Morales my second favorite Spider person by far. So, I'm all for African American superheroes. But I feel making say Duke a hand-me-down Batman will not work and is wrongheaded.

[SiegePerilous02]

They have beaten this premise to death. They already hit critical mass with Gordon as Mecha Bat Bunny, why the hell do they keep going back to this well?

Dick Grayson is the only acceptable stand in for most of the fandom, and even he has no shot of permanently replacing Bruce, so what chance does Luke Fox have? Who entered the Bat-Family when it was already bloated beyond belief and doesn't really do much to stand out from the pack. If not Dick, the likes of Tim or Cass should be considered way before Luke.

Yeah, it's a gimmick destined to fail. Sure, it'll get some media buzz. You're going to get some people who will swear they think it's a great idea even though a good number of them probably don't even know who Luke Fox is. Then you're going to get some people who will outright reject the idea before it even sees the light of day. Basically it's going to cultivate to another SJW vs Comicsgate fight.

There can be no winners in this fight. it's like Aliens vs. Predator, we lose no matter who "wins"

[Tzigone]

Then you're going to get some people who will outright reject the idea before it even sees the light of day.

I'm one of them. Not because he's black. But because (if it is even going to happen), it stands no chance of lasting (as it didn't the multiple other times it happened). Of course, neither did Dick's tenure or Jean Paul's. Neither of which I've actually read, to be fair, even if old-school Dick is my favorite Bat. I mean, I've read a few specific issues for info, but not all or even most of either's time in the cowl. I don't think I accidentally read any of Gordon's time in ...that costume. Unfair of me not to give it a chance - sure. But not more unfair that not giving a chance to all the other stories that don't sound interesting to me. Being temporary doesn't make something a bad story, but it does dampen my interest. And I've never read anything with Luke or read anything about him that makes me interested in doing so. And yeah, I'm a little resentful of how Tam got treated, even if I wasn't a particular fan, and would have preferred seeing Tiffany get a story or even revisiting Tim Fox (not as a member of the Bat family for any of them, but as their own thing).

[Celgress]

I'm one of them. Not because he's black. But because (if it is even going to happen), it stands no chance of lasting (as it didn't the multiple other times it happened)....

My feelings exactly.

[Frontier]

The most idiotic part of this is the apparent idea that because of Miles only Bendis can tell this story, who honestly I think is the most bland and predictable choice to handle something many people will take issue with for various legitimate reasons but will no doubt be drowned out from cries of various Isms... until Bruce comes back. Again.

I think they're going for more of a Riri dynamic with the mentorship angle.

Even though Batman Beyond already did that.

They have beaten this premise to death. They already hit critical mass with Gordon as Mecha Bat Bunny, why the hell do they keep going back to this well?

The thing with Gordon as Mecha Bat Bunny is Snyder was so tongue-in-cheek about it and didn't even pretend Bruce wasn't coming back eventually or soon, so it wasn't treated as that big a deal or something worth getting worked up over beyond not liking the premise/execution.

I don't foresee that being the case here.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

For some reason, I thought it would be Bronze Tiger so he's my pick.

[regg215]

So Does nobody at DC have a creative cell in their body? I mean for the 3rd time in a little over a decade we will have another new "batman", I mean c'mon do we really need to revisit this story again? Do they not get at this point that the selling point of Batman is Bruce Wayne and not the cape and cowl and identity of Batman? It's so repetitive at this point it's hard to believe they are going to this again. Gotta love that they brought over bendis and let's face it this is all bendis, and within a year or so he kinda nukes the Superman franchise by ruining what they had going so well there and the goes to his bag of tricks with Batman by pulling a miles morales/riri williams with Batman, guess the only surprising thing is that he didn't do this to Superman first.

At least we can look forward to tons of people crawling out of the woodwork claiming that a character like Luke who was selling 8k copies of his own book "deserves" the role and that anyone who is upset that Bruce is being replaced is some sort of ist or ism. Since it's probably (absolutely) Bendis we will probably have Bruce show up every once in a while just to tell the new "batman" how great they are and how they are handling the role better than he ever did.

Additionally I will say we are all assuming it will be someone we know already, given that it's probably Bendis running the show, he could pull a riri williams and have it be a brand new character who appears in all of 10 pages before being the heir apparent. Some typical Bendis character who happens to be smarter than everyone and more loved by everyone than Bruce. I mean from a story standpoint how do 4 robins and Gordon all get skipped for this?

In the end looks like it will be the third time in a little over a decade where I stop buying batman. Didn't buy the book when it was dick grayson, didn't buy when it was gordon and won't buy it with whoever this is going to be. Really hope the small fandom of people who are actually going to be excited about this enjoy the 8-18 issues they get out of this.

[Nite-Wing]

It would make the most sense imo
He's someone that King has actually written and Bruce would actually trust that he can handle it over anyone else since he regards Ben as his equal and not a subordinate
Jeff pierce is a cool replacement as well but they can't call him Batman. He has to go by his own name Black Lightning

There are a lot of good black heroes that could take over for Batman unfortunately Bruce took in 3 Robins and they somehow own the legacy when it comes to the fandom
Even though its been revealed Bruce actually plans to clone himself forever and ever and program each clone with his experiences up until that point and never give up being Batman
Yeah if DC ever did decide to make Bruce take a break for a bit you can't have one of his Robins replace him. That's been done to death

[SiegePerilous02]

There are a lot of good black heroes that could take over for Batman unfortunately Bruce took in 3 Robins and they somehow own the legacy when it comes to the fandom
Even though its been revealed Bruce actually plans to clone himself forever and ever and program each clone with his experiences up until that point and never give up being Batman
Yeah if DC ever did decide to make Bruce take a break for a bit you can't have one of his Robins replace him. That's been done to death

Why wouldn't they? They've been around the longest, especially Dick who is arguably DC's fourth pillar.

Anyone else would be even more transparently temporary.

[Arnoldoaad]

2 things to touch upon is that no one is saying that this is Bendis behind all
and also this could be a completely diferent character

if the rumors are true and following as I think they follow, the conclusion of Kings run will have Bruce "retiring" so that he can be happy since now there is no alfred, dick is ric and who cares about damian"I guess"
which will lead to a new batman with no connection to the previous one
makes more sense than Bruce sticking around to train him or back up or something

This in way shape or form would be permanent because a movie will come out at somepoint on 2021 so why not make him someone new
the counterargument is that there is already alot of other characters going around

[Tzigone]

if the rumors are true and following as I think they follow, the conclusion of Kings run will have Bruce "retiring" so that he can be happy since now there is no alfred, dick is ric and who cares about damian"I guess"

Oh, great, and so once again we will end up with the message that, no, Bruce can never ever be happy again (because we all know he won't stay retired). You know, he used to be happy and Batman. Those were fairly good days.

[Arnoldoaad]

Oh, great, and so once again we will end up with the message that, no, Bruce can never ever be happy again (because we all know he won't stay retired). You know, he used to be happy and Batman. Those were fairly good days.

not saying this is good nor that i like it just that this is the direction where it feels the wind is blowing to

[regg215]

2 things to touch upon is that no one is saying that this is Bendis behind all
and also this could be a completely diferent character

I mean sure nothing is official right now and hopefully this is just BC running their typical BS, but if this story does come to pass it kinda has to be bendis or bendis suggested. I mean this is kinda his go to move at this point to ensure that he is "giving the fans the story they need right now". He already got Ultimate Peter Parker and Tony Stark, he is probably just going for the hat trick with Bruce if this actually happens. Given the suggested story saying that it's probably Bendis is like finding a crime scene with a green question mark and saying it's probably the riddler.

[KangMiRae]

2 things to touch upon is that no one is saying that this is Bendis behind all
and also this could be a completely diferent character

if the rumors are true and following as I think they follow, the conclusion of Kings run will have Bruce "retiring" so that he can be happy since now there is no alfred, dick is ric and who cares about damian"I guess"
which will lead to a new batman with no connection to the previous one
makes more sense than Bruce sticking around to train him or back up or something

This in way shape or form would be permanent because a movie will come out at somepoint on 2021 so why not make him someone new
the counterargument is that there is already alot of other characters going around

I'm sorry, are you suggesting that this is going to be permanent and that they'll make a movie with a Batman that isn't Bruce Wayne...?