Batman (2024) # 148

 By Mark Rodriguez

The robot Failsafe, with the memories of Batman's split personality Zur-En-Arrh , has convinced the city that he is the 'true' Batman. He has locked away Bruce Wayne into Blackgate prison alongside other Gotham criminals. Bruce managed to escape and hide in a former Justice League hideout, where he eventually runs into Tim Drake. After time to heal and plan, Bruce suits up in a new Batman costume as he prepares to settle things. Meanwhile, Failsafe is assembling an army of Amazo robots.

'The Storm' flashbacks to when a younger Bruce was still training under Daniel. Bruce doesn't agree with the method of creating back up personalities, and says his plan won't work if he doesn't have full control of himself. Daniel says he's giving him ultimate control, he's giving him the tools to stop a storm by becoming a storm. Back to modern say, Bruce tells Tim to call the family and tell them that 'it's time'. 

Damian is tied to the wall, while the new Robin that Failsafe created watches over him. Damian says he will kill him but he'll at least make it quick. New Robin knows that Damian is a murderer and says that Batman and Robin don't kill. He says the city is out of control but they'll make things right. Damian says they were doomed the moment they set foot in Gotham. New Robin notices that Damian is clicking his fingers. 

Just then Damian gets electrocuted by Failsafe, who recognized he was using Morse Code. Failsafe reminds New Robin that Batman's soldiers are more than just their utility belts. He says the shock should have fried any hidden electronic devices Damian might have in his costume. Daniel arrives and tells Failsafe that the machine is ready. Failsafe says that it's time to cure Gotham.

Mayor Nakano is on the phone with Vandal Savage, telling him that Batman has blocked all the entrances and exits to the city. Vandal says he found out it a forcefield created by the same robots that patrol Blackgate Prison. The Bat-Family is currently fighting against the robots. The Mayor wants them arrested but realizes that he need thems. Vandal says he's fine 'letting the children play in the streets' but they have to cut off the head of the snake. Vandal tells Nakano to relax while he heads off towards Blackgate Prison.

The Riddler it tied to some sort of device with a helmet strapped around his forehead. He asks Daniel if this is a lobotomy. Daniel says he should think of it more as a personality upgrade. He's unlocking the Batman lurking in his brain that tells him to stop his constant desire to prove himself through malice. Daniel says he should be proud since he wanted to test this on someone with a strong mind. Riddler screams as the device is activated. 

Damian tells New Robin their plan to 'cure' the villains won't work. New Robin says they're at least trying something, unlike how the Bat-Family constantly throw them into prisons and asylums. He says once they perfect the process, they will use it on them.

Elsewhere, Dick and Babs arrive at a forest with a hole big enough to climb down. They're not sure if they can trust Bruce. Jason arrives and says if he can trust the call, then they can too. They climb down the hole where they see Tim. Jason asks if this is for real. Tim says Damian has been kidnapped and the situation in Blackgate is about to explode. He tells them that Bruce isn't behind this. 

Bruce appears before them, in his new costume. He tells them even though this was hubris when he was younger, the situation is still his fault. His mentor, Daniel Captio, taught him how to partition his mind, and while he initially refused, he changed his mind after his first year as Batman. Daniel brought the Joker into his game and he pushed Bruce into drawing out Zur. Now Zur is inside Failsafe. Bruce admits that a part of him caused this, the part that is untethered by his humanity. Zur has always been there, pushing Bruce into the darkness. Now Bruce admits he needs the team, not just for his mission, but because they are his family which give him hope when the darkness creeps in. He apologizes to Jason for everything he did to him.

Jason says he's done things he wish he could erase too, but they can atone and move forward together. Babs mentions that right a now several of the Bat-Family is out there fighting against the Failsafe robots. Dick asks Bruce if he has a plan. Bruce smirks and says 'I'm Batman, aren't I?'

Over at Gotham, Stephanie-Batgirl, Cassandra-Batgirl and The Signal are taking out the robots using Bruce's advice on their weak points. Vandal tells Amanda Waller to bring in the US military. 

Elsewhere Babs has hacked into the surveillance systems while Tim, Dick and Jason move into position. They will hit their targets but they hope their distraction knows what it's doing. 

Batman arrives at Blackgate Prison while the police watch. Batman monologues that the world is watching and they'll either him enter the prison, and they'll see only one Batman walk back out, whether it's him or Failsafe. 

Batman finds Failsafe, who has several inmates tied down to similar devices that the Riddler was earlier. The robot says it's only fitting that Batman arrives in time to bear witness as he fixes all of his mistakes in a single moment. Batman ponders that Failsafe knows all his moves and can throw them back with powerful force and metal, but he has the best fighters in the world on his side. Red Hood leaps in and slices through Failsafe with his knife.

Oracle helps Nightwing hack into Zur's security system, hoping to shut the operation down. She advises him to hurry and help out Bruce since he'll need all the help he can get.

Tim finds Damian and says he's probably dying to thank him. Once Tim remove the tape from Damian's mouth, he calls him an idiot and tries to warn him. Tim gets socked in the face by the Failsafe Robin. Robin tells Tim to get up so he can see what he's made of. Tim realizes that this is a younger cloned Bruce taking the mantle of Robin. The fake Robin says they all betrayed him, so the only one he could trust is himself. 

Failsafe tries Batman up in wires which heat up. Bruce's new armor does the same, causing the wires to overheat. Failsafe says it's shame that Batman doesn't holding back so they can work together and make the world safe. Red Hood says that Failsafe's world would be safe is everyone was a robot. 

Bruce tells Jason to stop Daniel. Jason says Bruce can't fight Failsafe alone. Bruce says to stick to the plan, as he tosses a smoke bomb towards the robot. 

Tim fights the fake Robin who tells him that this will end if they just join him. Fake Robin says they're designed to fight crime, whish is the same goal Tim has. Tim says the police and military is coming for them. Fake Robin says they can try to stop them. Tim says if they defeat the police and military they'll become dictators, and there has to be a part of Bruce Wayne that tells him this is wrong. The Fake Robin says he's the best parts of Bruce Wayne, his training, his skills, and his relentless pursuit of justice. Damian unties him and helps out in the fight. 

Tim and Damian knock the Fake Robin out. Tim says he never stood a chance against two Robins. Damian said he never needed help and was working on three plans. Tim says he sure he was, and remarks 'like father, like son'.

Still confused why Tim and Damian are Robin at the same time. Also not a fan of Tim's version of the outfit. Weird color scheme, weird Green Lantern-ish mask.

Daniel fights against Jason, showing that he also has some fighting skill. Jason says he's there to take him down, or buy time until someone else does the same. Daniel notices that Barbara has hacked into his systems. He asks if they are really are so strongly against them curing their enemies and says they should focus more on saving Bruce from getting murdered. 

Failsafe starts to beat Bruce down, saying that he never saved anyone and let monsters run rampant. Jason jumps into the fight. Failsafe says they once sent the Justice League at this robot, so he doesn't stand a chance. He punches Jason hard enough to send him flying across the area. Batman runs to check on Jason and laments his death. 

Failsafe says Bruce's weakness is him surrounding himself with soldiers in a war that they don't understand and now one of them is dead. Failsafe starts to short out and Daniel asks what's happening. Batman says that Batman doesn't kill, and he does he has to face the consequences, as he kicks the robot to the ground. 

Bruce says the Failsafe Program was designed to never be erase, all Zur could do was layer his consciousness on top of the original programming. Since Zur left his mind, he had mined his memories on when he created Failsafe and how to stop him. 

Daniel congratulates Bruce on surprising him. He never expected Bruce would sacrifice one of his own for his mission. Daniel throws out the phrase 'vespertilio expergiscimini', which causes Batman to fall to his knees. Daniel says he implanted that phrase years ago when he was under his spell. He had given the Joker a phrase to stop him, but he also had his own phrase. 

Daniel kicks Batman and punches him in the face. He says he knew Bruce was great so he couldn't let him go. He notices that Bruce is smiling and wonders why. 

Earlier, Bruce and Jason are walking down one of the caves he found. Bruce explains this cave has remaining meteor residue that the police didn't find, which is a type of Lazarus Fluid that can bring people back to life. Bruce designed a bodysuit that will inject him with the fluid the moment he dies. He plans to let Zur kill him and then he will revive himself. Jason says he can't do that and offers to take his place. Bruce says he can't allow him to do so after everything he's done to him. Jason says they're a family now and he has to let them control his family's own decisions.

Jason gets back in front of Daniel and tells him he shouldn't be so surprised since he had some practice in dying. Nightwing, Tim and Damian also show up and take Daniel down. Damian sees his father and hugs him. Nightwing asks Oracle if taking down Zur also shut down the robots. Oracle says she shut them down but the military is on its way and has breached the front gate. 

Batman tells the others how to escape the prison. Daniel says this is nothing and that a storm is coming like Bruce never experienced. Batman tells him that the storm isn't coming, and that they are the storm. As the Bat-Family escapes Blackgate, Batman says their storm will never die out.

My Thoughts-

Sometimes the bad part about leaving the finale up to a single chapter is how rushed everything feels at the end. Sure Batman had a plan on how to fight Failsafe, but getting into Blackgate should have posed as more of a challenge for the team. Also there was the fact that Bruce didn't alert the other earlier for fear of Failsafe retaliating against them. On top of that, we never got to see exactly how Daniel's device affected the Riddler, and it seems Batman and the rest never even go to see the Amazo robot army.

The fact that the fake Robin was a younger Bruce clone is a cool one, and I wonder if we'll see him again. It's funny to think that thanks to this, Bruce was now technically a Robin himself, at least a version of him.

One thing that does get me is blaming all of Bruce's trust issues and how he always keeps things from his family on the Zur personality. It's just something that Bruce always seems to do and it creates a constant wedge within the Bat-Family. So now that Bruce acknowledged this and Zur has also been purged from his mind, are we supposed to expect that he'll never do this again? I wonder how long this will last before the next story about 'secrets that Batman kept from the family' comes up again.

One thing that makes me think Bruce is still sticking to his manipulative ways if how he seemed to have only told Jason about his plan to sacrifice himself during his plan to stop Failsafe. Almost as if Bruce was hoping that Jason would jump in to take his place.

I also wonder what will happen to Daniel since he not not only knows that Bruce is Batman, but most likely the identities of everyone in the Bat-Family. I know Batman and his crew don't kill (at least most of them) but something needs to be done about him. 

We'll see what happens next. There's also a DC event taking place called Absolute Power, which involves Amanda Waller, the Braniac Queen and Failsafe trying to control the world against super powered individuals, and Batman just took down the Failsafe part of the equation.