WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Man-Bat #4 by Dave Wielgosz, Sumit Kumar, Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Tom Napolitano, on sale now.
Kirk Langstrom has an incredibly complicated relationship with Batman. While Man-Bat can be extremely destructive in his methods, he is usually well-intentioned. This allows Bruce Wayne to further trust Man-Bat’s human side. Now, Man-Bat has gone too far and even Batman has given up on helping Kirk.
And after Man-Bat gets a dose of Bane’s Venom in Man-Bat #4, their next fight might be their most dangerous yet.
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Man-Bat #4 depicts Kirk and his wife Francine after they have been kidnapped and brainwashed by Scarecrow to fix a dangerous weapon. Even though Kirk is being brainwashed by Scarecrow’s subliminal blasts, it appeared that Man-Bat still held his consciousness. Eventually, Man-Bat destroyed the device and broke free. However, their escape was short-lived as the Scarecrow was waiting for them outside their prison. Luckily, Batman was tracking the missing couple and arrived with perfect timing.
Batman and Man-Bat then team up to fight Scarecrow and his gang, but their fight went south quickly. Scarecrow shot a gun at Batman that uses subliminal messages to bring out the worst in someone. The resulting blast from Scarecrow’s gun renders him unconscious, but the shot still hits Batman. The subliminal messages have brought out the worst of Batman’s violence as he turned his attention towards Man-Bat. Batman threatens Man-Bat before kicking him to the ground. In fear of his life, Man-Bat turned to a dangerous chemical to save him from Batman’s rage.
After years of abusing the Man-Bat serum, Kirk’s body is finally starting to shut down. Kirk Langstrom still feels he can do good in the world as Man-Bat and has been working ever diligently to create a cure and stabilize himself. Kirk had a theory that he could use Bane’s venom to stabilize himself. If the venom did not cure Kirk, it would most likely accelerate his death. Standing before Batman, with bloodlust in his eyes, Man-Bat saw no choice but to inject himself with the venom.
Instead of killing Man-Bat, the formula pushes him to reach his maximum power as King Man-Bat.
Man-Bat was already one of the strongest enemies that Batman had faced, causing collateral damage every time he appeared in the night sky, but now he’s even more powerful. He now has the combined power of Man-Bat and Bane, and it holds possible that King Man-Bat will possess some of Kirk Langstrom’s intelligence. If so, King Man-Bat would become an extremely dangerous adversary for the Dark Knight.
Other members of the DC universe had also taken note of Man-Bat’s nonhuman strength. Talia Al-Ghul famously attempted to create an army of Man-Bats in Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert’s Batman #655. Though they were not nearly as strong as Kirk Langstrom’s Man-Bat, they still put up a hefty fight. This army would eventually be handed over for Swamp Thing to command in “First Flight” within Batman: Black and White#1 by Paul Dini, Andy Kubert & Rob Leigh. Even Scarecrow partnered up with Man-Bat when the pair were a part of the Crime Syndicate of America.
While Man-Bat may be the most misunderstood of Batman’s villains, his venom transformation now puts him in the running for the strongest. While Ra’s Al Ghul and Bane were extremely demanding for the Dark Knight to defeat physically, he’s facing an entirely new beast in King Man-Bat. With Batman powered by Scarecrow’s subliminal messages and Man-Bat boosted by venom, these two are about to throwdown like they never have before.
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