The new Batman creative team of Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez have hinted at their debut storyline for Batman known as Failsafe. Aside from the allusion to Batman’s many contingency plans, the new team also dropped the tantalizing spoiler that Batman will be getting his own Doomsday.
While this is simultaneously an amazing and terrifying thought, it’s already been done before. Batman got his own Doomsday in the form of Bane a long time ago and it’s going to be tough to top the Man Who Broke the Bat in just six issues.
Bane was conceived as a different kind of enemy for the Dark Knight. Prior to Bane’s debut in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan, Eduardo Barreto, Adrienne Roy, and Bill Oakley) Batman had to contend with the likes of the Joker or Riddler. These were criminals who challenged Batman in some regards to his identity, be it his rigid order or intellect. These were crazed criminals though, operating on their own fickle whims with no real goal beyond sowing chaos. Bane was envisioned as something different. He was a physical and mental equal to Batman, and one that had his mental faculties in order.
He wouldn’t let his own flaws take control over the plans he had laid out or make a mistake due to any personal grudge against Batman. Instead, Bane was a tactical genius, weakening the Dark Knight before swooping in and breaking his back. Bane’s actions nearly killed Batman and left him decommissioned as Gotham City’s protector until he could fully recover. This left Azrael to take over as Batman, a mistake that everyone involved would come to regret.
So right off the bat, the comparisons to Superman and Doomsday are obvious. Doomsday was a physical equal to Superman and one without reason or logic to guide him. He was a true monster that Superman battled until they both died. While Superman would inevitably return, his time in recovery left others to pick up where he left off, very similar to what happened to Batman after Bane broke him.
As such, Bane has achieved a presence within the Batman mythos, being his most physically dangerous foe. Granted, while Bane has never outright been called “Batman’s Doomsday” he is the closest thing that Batman has to one. Throw in some powers and a more colorful costume and there is little to separate the two villains. So, it is strange to hear that Batman is getting a new villain that will function as his Doomsday.
There are some things to consider though. Doomsday was created as a force of nature, an unstoppable tide that took everything Superman had to defeat. There was no way to reason with it or get it to stand down. Violence was the only option. Bane, for all his brutality, is a calculating person. He can be reasoned with and even talked down if the right pressure is applied. Perhaps this new threat for Batman is not some equal, but an overwhelming enemy that will force Batman into a level of desperation he’s never faced before, one that can’t be reasoned with or defeated without the use of incredible violence.
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