DC Comics Just Added Another Dead Body to Batman’s Origin Story!

John F. Trent |

May 16, 2018

Warning Spoilers for Batman #47 Below

Tom King is back on top with his Batman series. In his most recent story arc, “The Gift,” Booster Gold traveled back in time to give Bruce Wayne a gift. Booster Gold explained exactly what that gift was back in Batman #45. He basically pulled a Barry Allen and altered the timeline by saving Bruce Wayne’s parents. Booster Gold’s changes have drastically changed Gotham, Hal Jordan has become Jokerized and commits suicide. Dick Grayson is Batman. Jason Todd is a tire salesman. But Bruce Wayne’s parents are alive.

It’s a pretty horrible dystopian timeline. But Booster Gold has a way to fix it. As he explains in Batman #45 he just needs to use Skeets’ time machine to travel back in time to allow Joe Chill to kill Bruce Wayne’s parents.

However, there’s a catch. Bruce Wayne in this timeline actually enjoys his life and he destroys Skeets.

Some crazy stuff happens between Batman #45 and Batman #47. Booster Gold believes he can use the current Catwoman to convince Bruce he loves her. It backfires wildly and she kills Martha and Thomas Wayne.

The deaths of his parents hardened him. But he already knows a way to fix it. Bruce Wayne repairs Booster Gold’s Skeets and tells him to use the time machine to travel back to when his parents die. He believes it will take him to when Catwoman killed Thomas and Martha. However, it actually takes him to Crime Alley.

An older Bruce Wayne witnesses Joe Chill murder his mother and father. And that’s when the unthinkable happens. The elder Bruce Wayne commits suicide on the rooftop overlooking the alley where his mother and father were murdered.

If you didn’t think Batman’s origin story could get even more tragic, Tom King and Tony S. Daniel just proved that wrong. Not only did Martha and Thomas Wayne die in that alley, but so did Bruce Wayne. But it’s not just about who died. The event appears to have absolutely broken Booster Gold.

I have to admit, Tom King’s storylines in Batman had been fading since his War of Jokes and Riddles. A lot of the Catwoman stories just weren’t as good as the War of Jokes and Riddles and his Bane stories. But this storyline might have been even better than his previous work. Now, who wants a Tom King written Booster Gold miniseries?