Diana, the Black Mercy and the new Bruce Wayne.
In DC Comics Justice League (2018) Issue 51 and 52
(Cover of DC Comics Justice League(2018) Issue 51 and 52)
penciled by Robson Rocha, Jeff Loveness writes us a story about a creature (the Black Mercy) most of us discovered in the episode of the Justice League Unlimited animated series : “For the Man who has Everything”… but the story he is actually referring to an older source “Superman (1939) Annual #11″ and published in 1985.
(Cover of DC Comics Superman(1939) Annual Issue 11 published in 1985)
This new JL story is strongly centered around Bruce “Batman” Wayne and explores again the evolution already addressed by Diana and Bruce in “Superman: Heroes #1″.
I liked the way Diana gets more and more an action leader function in the League, something that reflects her warrior training, then we’ll discover Bruce’s nightmare and how that will change him.
The JL team flies supposedly back to earth and the current leader of the JL is Green Lantern John Stewart … Diana first not leading anything is sitting behind Bruce in their Javelin after the return from their last mission …
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(2018) #51)
…a mission in which I have to add Diana proved to be highly concerned by Bruce’s well being (JL 2018 #50)… ;)
(Edit from Harley Quinn animated 2x12 and Justice League 2018 #50)
Yeah, OK, Since Harley Quinn’s animated series we know Diana likes to check out Bruce's pecs otherwise she may not have notice the ripped Bat-suit…but mind out of the gutter everyone ! thanks. XD
’’They all wonder why they are lured onto a dangerous Planet … and as soon as the team touches the ground (the Battlefield) Diana switches instantly to Team leader mode and orders around Flash, Green Lantern (the “official” leader), Superman and … yeah, even Batman.
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(2018) #51)
Diana leads the team to go and save some trapped creatures while she sends Bruce to find the source of the problem and a solution … and to make sure Bruce stays safe she sends the team’s most powerful hitter with him : Clark. She knows the two bros work perfectly together and if the World needs saving, these two can do the job.
Independently from the actual Justice League Leader, Diana grows more and more into a major function of the JL Team… Bruce maybe be the Brain, the main strategist, but Diana now takes over the “Battlefield Strategy” acting as a complement to Bruce’s more general Strategy. This evolution is interesting because this makes them actually share the global lead of the JL while in heat of the action. Bruce covers the global strategy while Diana rules the tactical field. They become slowly a very efficient complementary duo of leaders. The first time I really felt that nearly symbiotic behavior was with “DarkNights: Metal #1″ (writer: Scott Snyder) against Toyman’s Super-Robots.
(An older Edit from DC Comics “Dark Nights: Metal #1)
Diana and Bruce trust each other and support each other’s authority and Leadership. Both knowing perfectly when they need to switch to the other one’s lead. I read somewhere someone calling WonderBat : “Team Competent”. That fits.
But lets get back to the story …this time the “Black Mercy” is absolutely colossal and traps the whole JL team in their own personal dream worlds.
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(2018) #51 - #52)
The main power of the Black Mercy is supposedly to make you dream about your “heart’s desire” and keeps you trapped this way while feeding on your body.
What we get is a story mostly from Bruce’s POV where the Black Mercy takes the form of a zombie-like Martha Wayne. But the Genius level brain doesn’t get confused … from the beginning to the end Bruce knows exactly this isn’t his mother but the Black Mercy… this forces the Black Mercy to drop the usual “dream world” attack and try another angle.
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(2018) #52)
The whole story, once again, underlines the same evolution Bruce Wayne will undergo in the coming years I guess, as already described in “Superman : Heroes #1″ : For the last 80 years his only goal was to fight crime even at the expense his own personal life and happiness… part of it meaning “no lasting relationship with a Woman” and leading him often to choose criminals as romantic partners (Selina, Talia, Jezebel, Andrea, Nocturna,…)
Even if Bruce knows this is all an Illusion, it still makes him face some consequences of his currently chosen life… ending up with only rather dark, lonely and sad futures…
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(201WBY-Justice League #12″and from “Trinity(2016) #3″ )WBY-Justice League #12″and from “Trinity(2016) #3″ )8) #52)
“Batman Beyond” or “Kingdom Come” seem to be used as references for the kind of “Lonely Endings” that will have to be avoided at any cost from now on… suggesting that those will definitively not be part of Batman’s new continuity.
“Turning against … anyone who could have healed you…”
Sorry, people, but when I read THAT !! … I just couldn’t help remember that this argument was always one of the arguments to explain why Diana and Bruce couldn’t possibly get together … Diana would “heal” Bruce and her light would “destroy” the darkness Batman needed… an argument Diana doesn’t consider valid if she is his is loved one (see JLA (1997) #90) … Diana always considered she would heal his soul AND help him fulfill his wow.
( Edit from DC Comics JLA(1997) #90)
Somehow,I doubt DC should use Selina for that job… the healing job I mean … even if TK used that explanation to blow the BatCat wedding… Selina is even more broken than him and continually flirting with darkness way more than him … But according to Martha Wayne (black mercy), Bruce is supposed to help turn his enemies into “friends” and to give those “friends” the help they need … and Selina already said that she needed him to heal herself … plus she really is very far from the historical nasty Catwoman… so in the future, BatCat ?.. or maybe the return of WonderBat ? BatCat doesn’t need to be a thing for Batman to help Selina…
In the last Batman (2016) #100 the young Bao aka “Clownhunter” is suggesting a similar healing wish but check out the poster.on the wall :)
[Edit from DC Comics Batman(2016) #100)
The kid tells Bruce that he dreams of hugging Diana to make it better … to heal !… then he asks Batman (who just told him he knew WW) if he hugs her as well … Bruce and the comic book readers, know of course that Bruce lost his parents just like the “Clownhunter” and needs to heal just like the Kid and as such needs … Diana of course !,… Selina isn’t the kid’s choice for hugging/healing either… it is actually interesting to get a mention of Wonder Woman suggesting her as a “healing power” for Bruce in the Batman series itself…
Back to the Black Mercy… and a Bruce having to decide if he keeps his old habit to avoid any really serious relationship with a Woman … or start a new life … and not ending up “old and alone”.
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(2018) #52)
It seems Martha Wayne gets her oath … he’ll try everything to not end up “old and alone” … Damned ! that is really new territory if DC goes that way !! … and I hope they will !
Meanwhile Selina returned to her old habits : Flirting around, Protecting Gotham’s East-End and Stealing Diamonds and other stuff..
(Edit of DC Comics Catwoman(2018) #25)
Selina has been teased with several potential new romantic interests (male or female) since the Joker War… the Diamond thief nonetheless is now a real strong anti-Hero, … and with her own CatFam kids to raise … XD
It is better… but still not in sync with a “Crusade for Justice”…
It is said that the events described in the Tom King’s “Batman/Catwoman” series are already considered happening in an alternate universe… Why would DC do that if this “new Bruce Wayne” is supposed to build a real life, with maybe a woman, kids, … why make “Batman/Catwoman” happen in an alternate universe ? … they could have erased it with any reboot… I can think of one reason : send an early message … kind of “Selina won’t be Bruce’s endgame in the main Continuity/Universe” … or maybe it is just because TK is really crushing BatCat hard in it..
So … Trevor left Diana … and Selina and Bruce are on a break up… Diana and Bruce should now be “free” again and more or less heartbroken … ;) … please, let them return to Gehenna for some decades and replay that moment with a more appropriate outcome …XD
(Edit from DC Comics Batman(2016) #39)
During the story the only one who got out of the “Black Mercy’s” dream on her own was Diana with the help of the lasso of Truth. Then cutting thru the Black Mercy, she frees GL, and Flash next to her … until she sees Bruce and suddenly freaks out.. Of course she gets thru his dream to him … But coming out of the Black Mercy’s dream, all the Violence Bruce witnesses seems to rattle him in a way you would never have thought before …
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(2018) #52)
My comment to the above pics : Dear Diana, this “We need you” sounded a lot more like “I need you” ;)
I couldn’t help to notice the same panic Diana shows while reaching for Bruce on the cover of the JL Issue 52 :
(Edit from Justice League(2018) Issue 52)
Superman and GL seem in bad shape but a totally panicked Wonder Woman reaches out to Batman… I guess there’s an underlying idea behind the way Cully Hamner (Cover Art) and Robson Rocha (Pencils) have both pictured Diana and Bruce. … ;)
The Black Mercy showed Bruce this isn’t what he wanted for the rest of his life … Even if he still has to honor, as Batman, the oath he made to his “father”, Bruce now wants a “happy ending” and this means some things will have to change …
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(2018) #52)
The talk Bruce has with Clark in the last pictures of this story is meant to push again the birth of this new “Bruce Wayne” that Diana already discovered in “Superman: Heroes #1″…
See my post for “Superman: Heroes #1″ : https://toughguywithbossygirlfriend.tumblr.com/post/624721561996427264/superman-heroes-1-diana-and-bruce
For now “Dark Nights : Death Metal” resulted in “Infinite Frontier” and we seem already peaking at the next reboot “Time Masters” mentioned in “Doomsday Clock” and supposedly restoring the timeline altered thru the “Flashpoint”… back to pre-Flashpoint ?… so the game between the Bruce and Diana seems not over.
After all … Saving Bruce from his worst nightmares ? … Hera, that’s a job for Wonder Woman ! …XD
(Edit from DC’s animated series “JLU” episode “For the man who has everything”, from “Justice League(2018) #52″, from “RWBY-Justice League #12″and from “Trinity(2016) #3″ )
There is really a pattern here … XD
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