UNMASKED: Who is The Next Batman in Future State?

[lemonpeace]

Ok y'all, we a month out from Future State so I wanted to have a thread dedicated to just speculating on the Identity of who Future State's The Next Batman could be. The only thing we know about him is that his story will focus heavily on the Fox family and that this Batman will be black. There have been three big contenders floating around the internet.

The Fox Brothers

first and foremost we have the Fox brothers, the two most likely candidates. Ridley early on has said that his Batman will focus on the relationship between Lucius Fox and his sons which all but confirms that one of these two will be the Batman.

Luke Fox - given Luke has more appearances he has the experience and relationship with both Lucius and Bruce to rationalize him taking up the mantle of Batman should Bruce fall. Luke also was the one rumored to be taking over for Bruce since before Future State and even before the news of 5G broke, which makes for a solid (and admittedly obvious) case for him taking over.

Tim Fox - Timothy Fox's sudden reemergence has many fans speculating that DC wants to use him as a blank slate to take over for Bruce and allow for more wiggle room with the portrayal of the traditional Batman characterization; which makes sense. Given we know the story will involve both sons, and Luke has been the only one mentioned by name in Future State, it's possible that they are avoiding mentioning him because he will take over the cowl as a twist.

The Dark Horse

Duke Thomas - this third choice is a weird one I keep seeing pop up but let's examine it a bit. Duke is my favorite comic book character and while i would love for him to be Ridley's Batman i find it unlikely. However, going into Future State, Duke has the most page prominence of any other black Bat-members currently; coming off a stint in Outsiders, a back-up in Robin King, a cameo in Death Metal, and his own starring role in Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Metal at the end of this month. We also know, Duke will be featured in Future State and playing some kind of role in the Outsiders back-up in Next Batman. Given we know Ridley's Batman story will focus on the Foxs I find it unlikely Duke will be the Batman there given Duke's only connection to the Fox family is his admiration of Luke Fox and his base being under the community center named for Lucius; people are likely throwing his name in because he's black and the Batman will be black. on the other hand, it is possible that Duke could be the Batman in the Future State: Justice League book given that both Luke and Timothy will be far older than most of the other Leaguers on that team by that time and the Aquaman/Aquawoman switch-off sets a precedent for a changing of the guard being possible between books. while I'm 65% sure the Batman will be one dude, i would like this option to be true as a Signal fan.

who do you think will be under the cowl?