WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the story “Red Hood and Batman: Cheer Part 1″ from Batman: Urban Legends #1 by Chip Zdarsky, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreora, Marcos To, Adriano Lucas & Becca Carey, on sale now.
The Batcave is home to plenty of dangerous artifacts and deadly weapons, cataloged and contained by the Dark Knight in the name of protecting people from the arsenal that he’s collected. This extends to perhaps Batman’s most surprising — and somber collection.
Batman: Urban Legends reveals that among Batman’s various collections of weapons is a fully stocked armory — with Batman admitting that while he hates having such a large collection of the thing he despises most in the world, it also helps him in his war against crime.
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During a flashback in Batman: Urban Legends #1, Jason Todd reflects on one of his earlier memories as Robin. Shortly after taking Dick Grayson’s place as Batman’s sidekick, the young man found himself exploring the Batcave and the armory within. While looking around, Jason found a locker he’d never seen open before. Looking inside, Jason is shocked to find an entire arsenal of firearms, including pistols, shotguns, and rifles.
Batman arrives (and scares a distracted Jason), before speaking with the young man with Jason about his discovery. Batman explains that while he despises guns and always will — likely due to what guns represent to him and the nature of the loss a gun inflicted upon him — but that for his detective work, it makes sense for him to have working knowledge on almost every kind of firearm. This can help him solve crimes, identify irregularities, highlight weaknesses, and all-around improve upon his work as Batman. Even though he hates guns with a passion, Batman still recognizes that like all weapons that criminals turn to, it’s important for him to know enough to counter them with ease.
It makes sense that Batman would keep such an armory within the Batcave, especially in terms of analysis, which could help him figure out plenty of crimes. It’s technically no different from keeping the specialized gear of his more eccentric enemies for further study and analysis, just another cog in the machine Batman has built in an attempt to fix the world after the loss of his parents. However, it’s also somewhat somber that Batman needs to be so knowledgeable about something he despises, and that he has to keep so many of them within his most secret sanctum. Even in the place he’s carved out to wage his ultimate war against crime, he’s forced to keep not just one gun but scores of them — all in pursuit of a world where no one would ever raise a firearm at another.
The look of disgust Batman has on his face as he inspects a pistol in this sequence speaks volumes — and provides an additional reason why Batman might be so hurt and disappointed by how Jason went on to become the gun-toting vigilante, Red Hood. Now that Jason has taken another life on the streets of Gotham — with a pistol no less — this disgust might just resurface in the worst way.