Warning! Contains Spoilers For Batman #148!
Summary
Batmanhas the reputation of being a dark loner — while also having one of the largest families in the DC Universe. DC has tried to balance this contradiction with Batman pushing his family away and then learning that he truly needs them. While this kind of story was great the first time, Batman keeps learning and re-learning the same lesson, irritating some fans with the story’s repetitiveness — but DC has finally explained why.
The surprisingly good reason why Batman continually pushes his family away is revealed inBatman#148 by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez. Bruce admits that the reason he pushes his family away isbecause of the Zur-En-Arrh personalitythat was inside his head. Zur is Batman without any of the empathy or desire for family, focused solely on the mission.
Because of this, Zur only saw Batman’s family as soldiers, and if Batman wasn’t going to use them as soldiers, then they were useless and needed to be removed. Because of this, Zur had been subtly influencing Batman through his subconscious for years, pushing him to keep his distance from the Bat-Family. Now,Batman is finally free of Zur’s anti-family influence.
Batman Finally Gives a Definitive Reason Why the Bat-Family Keeps Growing
Batman has a reputation as a dark loner, but that’s far from the case as Batman finally explains why his Bat-Family will only keep getting bigger.
Batman Has Been Pushing the Bat-Family Away Due to Zur-En-Arrh’s Influence
The Bat-Family’s Presence Has Only Grown in the 21st Century
It’s understandable why DC keeps repeating the story of “Batman learns to trust in his found family and admits he needs them.” Batman went through major trauma when he lost his original family. It’s expected for him to not really know how to open himself up to another family. That’s whystories such asBruce Wayne: Fugitiveby Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and more are so essential to the character.Fugitivein particular is one of the first times those ideas were really explored in depth. Bruce learns by the end of the story thatBruce Wayne is just as important as Batmanand that the Bat-Family is his true family now.
While the Joker failed to destroy the Bat-Family, Bruce’s own refusal to let people in is what ultimately pushed them away.
While the story was refreshing and interesting to see play out in 2002’sBruce Wayne: Fugitive, DC’s comics continually repeat this story over and over:Batman closes himself off for one reason or another, pushing everyone away, and tries to solve whatever threat he is up against alone. This was the entire plot ofBatman: Death of the Familyby Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. While theJoker failed to destroy the Bat-Family, Bruce’s own refusal to let people in is what ultimately pushed them away. But it never made any sense that he’d do that again afterBruce Wayne: Fugitive.
The Bat-Family Has a Major Influence on How Batman Operates in Gotham
When the Bat-Family Is Disrupted, So Is Batman
Batman: Death of the Familywas a major moment for the Bat-Family. While every member of the Bat-Family knew that Batman had bad habits when it came to keeping secrets,the true destructive extent of Batman’s habits came to light here.When the Joker accesses the Batcave, it’s possible that he figured out the Bat-Family’s identities. Batman discovered this and yet didn’t tell the rest of the family.Batman kept this a secret, as he felt that he could handle the Joker on his own.
Readers' understanding of the Joker’s plans inDeath of the Familywas recently completely upended; check outBatman#146 from the Zdarsky and Jiménez run for more details.
While it was ultimately revealed that the Joker didn’t know the identities of the Bat-Family, the fact remains thatBatman knew the Jokerwas in the Batcave and could have discovered their identities, and he still didn’t tell them. Batman strongly felt that he could handle the Joker on his own and that his family didn’t need to be involved. Even if Batman was correct, which he wasn’t, that he refused to share possibly life-threatening information with his family is justanother example of him pushing his family awayso that he can handle everything himself.
DC’s Batman Stories AreAlways Challenging the Idea of Family
Batman Has a Long History of Pushing His Loved Ones Away
InBruce Wayne: Fugitive, Bruce is framed for the murder of Vesper Fairchild. He’s eventually sent to prison, and after he escapes, he decides to retire from the “role” of Bruce Wayne. Bruce then dedicates himself to being Batman 24/7. This obviously doesn’t go over well with some members of his family, and once again, he ends up pushing them away, even going as far asclaiming that he has always been Batman and that Bruce Wayne was just a mask. WhenNightwing angrily demands to knowwho his adopted father is in that case, the two even nearly end up fighting.
It’s only towards the end of the story that Bruce realizes that he can’t be Batman all the time.Bruce Wayne is just as important as Batman, not just for the city of Gotham, but also for the people who love him. It was one of the first stories that really went in depth into what Bruce meant to his family and how he needed the people around him to be stronger — which is why it’s always been so weird that DC keeps revisiting this plot point again and again. But withBatman#148, the repetitiveness has been explained away: Zur-En-Arrh has been manipulating Batman from deep within his mind.
Batman Redefines His Crime-Fighting Philosophy, Introducing 1 Priority ABOVE Gotham
Batman has officially changed his crime-fighting philosophy and is putting the well-being of the Bat-Family over Gotham (or at least he says he is).
Batman Can Finally Move Past This Tired Plot and Theme
With Zur-En-Arrh Gone, Batman Can Accept His Family
Batman has been around for over eight decades. He has some of the deepest and most interesting lore of any character in comics. There’s really no need to repeat the same story several times, almost verbatim. If Batman is meant to grow as a character, then he should have learned that he needed his family a long time ago. Now that Zur-En-Arrh has been removed from his brain, fans can only hope thatBatmanwill finally be able to move past this plot point and simply accept that he has a family who loves and supports him, unconditionally.
BATMAN #148 (2024)
Batman
One of DC’s most iconic heroes, Batman is the vigilante superhero persona of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Forged by tragedy with the death of his parents, Bruce dedicated his life to becoming the world’s leading martial artist, detective, and tactician. Recruiting an entire family of allies and sidekicks, Bruce wages war on evil as the dark knight of his hometown, Gotham City.
