WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Other History of the DC Universe #3 by John Ridley, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Adrea Cucchi, Jose Villarrubia, and Steve Wands, on sale now.
There are plenty of heroes in the DC Universe with a close working relationship to the Dark Knight, and they all have their own opinions about the often questionable actions he takes in the pursuit of justice. To some, Bruce Wayne is less forward thinking than he would have them believe, and it is this nature that gets him into trouble. Others would say that he is far less calculating than what his track record might suggest, calling into question just how efficient his tactics really are. For Tatsu Yamashiro, aka Katana, both of these hold true in the worst way possible, and she’s just called into question Batman’s “one rule” that has defined him for almost as long as he has existed.
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The third entry into The Other History of the DC Universe details the many births of Tatsu Yamashiro. Early on in her life she was content to care for her children and dote on her husband until her jealous brother-in-law took it all from her in a bloody rampage. After killing him, she embarked on the life of a mercenary and assassin. During this time Tatsu came to be known as well for her trademark weapon as she was her lethal prowess, earning her the name Katana. During a mission to the small European nation of Markovia, Katana’s own interests came to align with those of Batman and the Outsiders. Though they all worked together to save the day so to speak, Katana found Batman’s own methods to be the direct antithesis to the greatest myth that had been born around him.
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Katana describes the almost inhuman reputation that Batman had built up around himself almost as if he were something from a nightmare, even though she personally regarded him as little more than “a man in a costume with severe anger issues.” No matter what amount of fear the Dark Knight instilled in others, it all came with one caveat – Batman doesn’t kill people. In what might be the greatest lie that his mythos was built on, that Batman didn’t kill people was something Katana found particularly insulting.
Between indiscriminate use of brutal force through blades, beatings, and “enhanced interrogation” techniques, there were certainly more than a few bodies left in Bruce’s wake. Worst of all, everyone that supported him believed the lie, or at least they pretended that they did.
This idea that Batman’s actions often had lethal consequences is not a new one, though it is refreshing to see it acknowledged by another hero on the comic book page. While the myth of a Batman who somehow always avoided dispensing death went a long way towards making the people of Gotham City feel safe under his protection, that its status as fiction may have been known to so many others from the outset reframes the hero entirely.
If Katana is right, then that would mean dozens if not hundreds of politicians and city officials looking the other way for decades while Batman unleashed his own brand of justice on those he deemed worthy. This also calls into question the tolerance that other similarly “noble” heroes have for that level of unintended violence. It’s hard to imagine a world where Superman pretends he didn’t notice when someone’s heart stops beating, but after this revelation on the part of Katana, it is just as hard to imagine that isn’t already the world these heroes have been living in for years.
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