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 : āFor the Man who has Everythingāā¦ but the story he is actually referring to an older source āSuperman (1939) Annual #11ā³ 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 āBatmanā Wayne and explores again the evolution already addressed by Diana and Bruce in āSuperman: Heroes #1ā³.
I liked the way Diana gets more and more an action leader function in the League, something that reflects her warrior training, then weāll discover Bruceās 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 ā¦ Diana first not leading anything is sitting behind Bruce in their Javelin after the return from their last mission ā¦
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(2018) #51)
ā¦a mission in which I have to add Diana proved to be highly concerned by Bruceās well being (JL 2018 #50)ā¦ ;)
(Edit from Harley Quinn animated 2x12 and Justice League 2018 #50)
Yeah, OK, Since Harley Quinnās animated series we know Diana likes to check out Bruce'sĀ pecs otherwise she may not have notice the ripped Bat-suitā¦but mind out of the gutter everyone ! thanks. XD
āāThey all wonder why they are lured onto a dangerous Planet ā¦ 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 āofficialā leader), Superman and ā¦ 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 ā¦ and to make sure Bruce stays safe she sends the teamās 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 Teamā¦ Bruce maybe be the Brain, the main strategist, but Diana now takes over the āBattlefield Strategyā acting as a complement to Bruceās 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 āDarkNights: Metal #1ā³ (writer: Scott Snyder) against Toymanās Super-Robots.
(An older Edit from DC Comics āDark Nights: Metal #1)
Diana and Bruce trust each other and support each otherās authority and Leadership. Both knowing perfectly when they need to switch to the other oneās lead. I read somewhere someone calling WonderBat :Ā āTeam Competentā. That fits.Ā
But lets get back to the story ā¦this time the āBlack Mercyā 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 āheartās desireā and keeps you trapped this way while feeding on your body.
What we get is a story mostly from Bruceās POV where the Black Mercy takes the form of a zombie-like Martha Wayne. But the Genius level brain doesnāt get confused ā¦ from the beginning to the end Bruce knows exactly this isnāt his mother but the Black Mercyā¦ this forces the Black Mercy to drop the usual ādream worldā 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 āSuperman : Heroes #1ā³ : For the last 80 years his only goal was to fight crime even at the expense his own personal life and happinessā¦ part of it meaning āno lasting relationship with a Womanā and leading him often to choose criminals as romantic partners (Selina, Talia, Jezebel, Andrea, Nocturna,ā¦)
Even if Bruce knows this is all an Illusion, it still makes him face some consequences of his currently chosen lifeā¦ ending up with only rather dark, lonely and sad futuresā¦
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(201WBY-Justice League #12ā³and from āTrinity(2016) #3ā³ )WBY-Justice League #12ā³and from āTrinity(2016) #3ā³ )8) #52)
āBatman Beyondā or āKingdom Comeā seem to be used as references for the kind of āLonely Endingsā that will have to be avoided at any cost from now onā¦ suggesting that those will definitively not be part of Batmanās new continuity.
āTurning against ā¦ anyone who could have healed youā¦āĀ Ā
Sorry, people, but when I read THAT !! ā¦ I just couldnāt help remember that this argument was always one of the arguments to explain why Diana and Bruce couldnāt possibly get together ā¦ Diana would āhealā Bruce and her light would ādestroyā the darkness Batman neededā¦ an argument Diana doesnāt consider valid if she is his is loved one (see JLA (1997) #90) ā¦ 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 jobā¦ the healing job I mean ā¦ even if TK used that explanation to blow the BatCat weddingā¦ Selina is even more broken than him and continuallyĀ flirting with darkness way more than him ā¦ But according to Martha Wayne (black mercy), Bruce is supposed to help turn his enemies into āfriendsā and to give thoseĀ āfriendsā the help they need ā¦ and Selina already said that she needed him to heal herself ā¦ plus she really is very far from the historical nasty Catwomanā¦ so in the future, BatCat ?.. or maybe the return of WonderBat ? BatCat doesnāt need to be a thing for Batman to help Selinaā¦
In the last Batman (2016) #100 the young Bao aka āClownhunterā 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 ā¦ to heal !ā¦ then he asks Batman (who just told him he knew WW) if he hugs her as well ā¦ Bruce and the comic book readers, know of course that Bruce lost his parents just like the āClownhunterā and needs to heal just like the Kid and as such needs ā¦ Diana of course !,ā¦ Selina isnāt the kidās choice for hugging/healing eitherā¦ it is actually interesting to get a mention of Wonder Woman suggesting her as a āhealing powerā for Bruce in the Batman series itselfā¦
Back to the Black Mercyā¦ and a Bruce having to decide if he keeps his old habit to avoid any really serious relationship with a Woman ā¦ or start a new life ā¦ and not ending up āold and aloneā.
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(2018) #52)
It seems Martha Wayne gets her oath ā¦ heāll try everything to not end up āold and aloneā ā¦ Damned ! that is really new territory if DC goes that way !! ā¦ and I hope they will !
Meanwhile Selina returned to her old habits : Flirting around, Protecting Gothamās 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 Warā¦ the Diamond thief nonetheless is now a real strong anti-Hero, ā¦Ā and with her own CatFam kids to raise ā¦ XD
It is betterā¦ but still not in sync with a āCrusade for Justiceāā¦
It is said that the events described in the Tom Kingās āBatman/Catwomanā series are already considered happening in an alternate universeā¦ Why would DC do that if this ānew Bruce Wayneā is supposed to build a real life, with maybe a woman, kids, ā¦ why make āBatman/Catwomanā happen in an alternate universe ? ā¦ they could have erased it with any rebootā¦ I can think of one reason : send an early message ā¦ kind of āSelina wonāt be Bruceās endgame in the main Continuity/Universeā ā¦ or maybe it is just because TK is really crushing BatCat hard in it..
So ā¦ Trevor left Diana ā¦ and Selina and Bruce are on a break upā¦ Diana and Bruce should now be āfreeā again and more or less heartbroken ā¦ ;) ā¦ please, let them return to Gehenna for some decades and replay that moment with a more appropriate outcome ā¦XD
(Edit from DC Comics Batman(2016) #39)
During the story the only one who got out of the āBlack Mercyāsā 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 ā¦ until she sees Bruce and suddenly freaks out.. Of course she gets thru his dream to him ā¦ But coming out of the Black Mercyās dream, all the Violence Bruce witnesses seems to rattle him in a way you would never have thought before ā¦
( Edit from DC Comics Justice League(2018) #52)
My comment to the above pics : Dear Diana, this āWe need youā sounded a lot more like āI need youāĀ ;)
I couldnāt 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 Batmanā¦ I guess thereās an underlying idea behind the way Cully Hamner (Cover Art) and Robson Rocha (Pencils) have both pictured Diana and Bruce. ā¦ ;)
The Black Mercy showed Bruce this isnāt what he wanted for the rest of his life ā¦ Even if he still has to honor, as Batman, the oath he made to hisĀ āfatherā, Bruce now wants a āhappy endingā and this means some things will have to change ā¦
( 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 āBruce Wayneā that Diana already discovered inĀ āSuperman: Heroes #1ā³ā¦
See my post forĀ āSuperman: Heroes #1ā³ : https://toughguywithbossygirlfriend.tumblr.com/post/624721561996427264/superman-heroes-1-diana-and-bruce
For now āDark Nights : Death Metalā resulted in āInfinite Frontierā and we seem already peaking at the next reboot āTime Mastersā mentioned in āDoomsday Clockā and supposedly restoring the timeline altered thru the āFlashpointāā¦ back to pre-Flashpoint ?ā¦ so the game between the Bruce and Diana seems not over.
After all ā¦ Saving Bruce from his worst nightmares ? ā¦ Hera, thatās a job for Wonder Woman ! ā¦XD
(Edit from DCās animated series āJLUā episode āFor the man who has everythingā, fromĀ āJustice League(2018) #52ā³, from āRWBY-Justice League #12ā³and from āTrinity(2016) #3ā³Ā )
There is really a pattern here ā¦ XD
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