Okay okay, I know this ain’t Twitter and nobody cares or even asked for these two cents 🤣
As an Arkham franchise enthusiast, and considering how it influences so much of my design and what I want to achieve with my story.
So obviously, seeing the way Bats dies in SSKTJL….kind of broke my heart. I hear that given the later seasons we may have hope that it isn’t definitive, multiverse and all…but still you know?
That got me to thinking, how do I see my own self-indulgent cannon and storyline end? Does Bats have to die?
Well…let’s just say I always had a clear end storyline in mind. That story involves Bats and Joker’s final showdown. I am a sucker for tragedies and that finale is definitely one. But not in the way people expect ? And most certainly, not ending on a negative note. This is a hero story, we have enough bad endings in reality 🤣🤷♂️
So most of you would be like, is there a point ?
So here is a second SPOILER of a story that may never be completely told!
Joker dies. He has to die because he wanted his death to break Bats, that it would kill what he stood for. At the end, he knows Bruce is Bats and uses that knowledge but in truth says he doesn’t care. As he lays dying though, he has a heart to heart with Bruce which also is bleeding out. He tells Bruce that the world will be less funny with both of them dead.
Bruce survives, but hangs up the cowl. He genuinely grieves Joker and says Batman is dead. We learn later that Joker said one final thing to Bruce. Something that haunted him and that in a PTSD way, refused to accept for a long time. Joker tells him that « But I guess, that you’ll manage long after I’m gone. I needed you more than you ever did. Just make sure you don’t forget me just yet, old friend. »
Bats looses his will to put the cowl back on. But he isn’t alone. He has Alfred, he has Dick, he has Barbara, he has Tim and he has Jason. He learns that he can take the time to grieve and find himself again, go find a new purpose (yes I am thinking with the LEAGUE like in SSKTJL) and take a more distant position in Gotham.
Now sure, Batman always will operate in Gotham, that’s a no-brainer. I want to say that a story arc of Batman grieving an ideal that he has latched (wrongly) too in order to emerge into something even grander is some good character development….
Sorry for the rant and for anyone who braved through that 🙄🤣🤣
Hope I made sense, let me know in all honesty !