Summary
Gotham City has a system where every 27 years a new Batman clone emerges, facing legacy choices.
Villains in Gotham aren’t caused by Batman; a reality engine ensures new villains will always arise.
Batman isn’t essential in Gotham; even in his ideal world, supervillains are an intrinsic part of the city.
Gotham City is one of the worst places to live in the DC Universe purely because of the absurd number of supervillains. It seems impossible to go a single day without some catastrophic attack being perpetuated by the latest costumed menace. While some comics and fans have suggested that Batman’s very presence draws these villains out, that isn’t exactly true.
The Detective Comics #27 story “Twenty-Seven” by Scott Snyder, Sean Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth, and Steve Wands gives a surprisingly deep look into the future of Gotham City. In this future, Bruce Wayne wakes up in a Batcave he doesn’t recognize, where a far older version of himself greets him. This older Bruce explains that the original Bruce Wayne set up a system where every 27 years, a new Batman clone would be made.
This clone would have to decide if he wanted to continue with Batman’s legacy or not. As the older Batman explains, he’ll need to destroy the contents of the Batcave to make room for his trophies. He also explains that Batman will undoubtedly gather new allies, like Robin, but he’ll also face off against new villains, like the mysterious Backwards Man. This implies that no matter what, new villains will appear in Gotham.
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Gotham Has Always Had Villains, Regardless of Batman
Detective Comics 2022 Annual #1 by Ram V, Christopher Mitten, Rafael Albuquerque, Hayden Sherman, Lee Loughridge, and Deron Bennett
The true reason that villains will always appear in Gotham City is explained in Detective Comics 2022 Annual #1 by Ram V and Christopher Mitten. In this story, it’s revealed that the mysterious Orgham family placed a reality engine beneath Gotham City. This reality engine creates “memories” that Gotham City is forced to live out. One of these is the Wayne family murders. No matter what happens in Gotham, an influential family will always end up being murdered, leaving their child an orphan. This repetitive history also seems true of the villains that appear in Gotham.
There will also always be villains, but these villains aren’t in Gotham because
of Batman.
Despite this story taking place several hundred years in the past, familiar characters pop up, such as a version of Poison Ivy, Two-Face, and Scarecrow. This reality engine has cemented the ideas of these characters into the history of Gotham, meaning that Gotham City will never truly be without villains. Batman himself is part of this memory, so while there will always be a Batman in Gotham, there will also always be villains — but these villains aren’t in Gotham because of Batman.
The Memory of Two-Face Will Always Haunt Gotham City
Ram V’s Detective Comics Explore Gotham’s Past
Even with Batman out of the equation, villains have still plagued Gotham City. After all, Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered by a criminal, and that was obviously far before Batman was on the scene. There were supervillains before Batman as well, such as Sportsmaster, who regularly fought Alan Scott when he watched over Gotham City as the first Green Lantern. There was also the supervillain known as the Reaper, who had battled Alan and prowled Gotham during the 1950s; he would later battle Batman as well.
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There are a few villains, of course, who have only traveled to or appeared in Gotham because of Batman, most notably the Joker and Bane. If Batman weren’t in Gotham City, the Joker wouldn’t exist and Bane wouldn’t have attacked the city. However, there are far more villains in Gotham who exist independently of Batman. Mr. Freeze, the Penguin, the Riddler, Two-Face, Ra’s al Ghul, Scarecrow, Clayface, and Killer Croc are all characters who would’ve become villains whether Batman existed or not. In fact, in Zero Year by Snyder and Greg Capullo, the Riddler attacked Gotham without knowing Batman existed.
As the years go on, a new generation of heroes take to defending Gotham City. Bruce Wayne can’t do the job forever, and other people step into the role in future timelines. Terry McGinnis is the future Batman and one of the most popular versions of the hero. Yet he only took the role because Gotham was overrun by criminal elements and supervillains.
Without an active Batman, Gotham repeatedly becomes overrun with villains, including in the alternate-universe story The Bat-Man of Gotham by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez. In this storyline, Bruce is sent to a universe without Batman, and unsurprisingly, Gotham City is overrun with supervillains such as Ghost-Killer and a twisted Bane version of Two-Face.
Gotham City Always Has New Villains Appearing, Even in the Future
Panels from Detective Comics #27’s “Twenty-Seven” by Snyder, Murphy, Hollingsworth, and Wands
The story “Twenty-Seven” shows many different versions of Gotham City, all of them further in the future than the last. While Gotham City constantly changes and things get more absurd and technologically advanced, the one thing that doesn’t change is the presence of Batman, Robin, and supervillains. It’s easy to claim that since Batman is always there, the villains will obviously follow, but as shown previously, that simply isn’t the case. Far more villains in Batman’s rogues gallery exist independently of Batman.
Batman needs villains to exist, but villains clearly don’t need Batman to try and destroy Gotham City.
While it’s fun to say that Batman is the cause of his villains, it seems far more likely that the villains are the cause of Batman. As shown, villains will exist independently of Batman without any problems, but there’s never been a Batman who has existed independently of villains. Batman was born in a dark alleyway because of a random criminal, and while this may be destined due to the Orgham reality engine, it doesn’t change the fact that Batman needs villains to exist, but villains clearly don’t need Batman to try and destroy Gotham City.
Gotham City Will Always Have Supervillains
Batman Isn’t Even Necessary
Even in Batman’s ideal version of Gotham City, which was seen during James Tynion IV’s run on Batman, Batman didn’t imagine a Gotham City without supervillains. He instead imagined a scenario where he could deal with them more humanly and with greater efficiency. It says a lot that even in Batman’s ideal version of Gotham, supervillains are still just a regular part of life. No matter how hard Batman fights or for how long he fights, it seems that Gotham City will truly never be free of supervillains.
Detective Comics #27 — and other mentioned stories — is available now from DC Comics!
Batman
One of DC’s most iconic heroes, Batman is the vigilante superhero persona of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Forged by tragedy with the death of his parents, Bruce dedicated his life to becoming the world’s leading martial artist, detective, and tactician. Recruiting an entire family of allies and sidekicks, Bruce wages war on evil as the dark knight of his hometown, Gotham City.
Created By Bob Kane , Bill Finger
Alias Bruce Wayne
Alliance Justice League, Outsiders, Batman Family
Race Human
FIRST APP Detective Comics #27 (1939)
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