DC All In launch has kept Bruce Wayne busy between helping launch Justice League Unlimited and navigating the new state of Gotham City as Batman. That is all along with what Bruce has going on with his personal and business life. With so much going on it was only a matter of time before questions of Bruce capabilities to manage everything come up. That is something that finally came up in Detective Comics #1091 where Bruce’s age started to show both as Batman and personal. This led to Bruce being given an offer that not only seemed too good to be true but something that brings a story from Batman Beyond into play.
BRUCE WAYNE’S AGE CATCHING UP TO HIM
In a world of Gods Batman being a “normal” human is what has grounded him. Part of his humanity is that he does in fact physically age, even if it is slowed thanks to how comic books work. Bruce Wayne can’t stay in his prime late-20s to mid-30s form. That is in no small part because of how he has grown the Batman Family with his various Robin and Batgirl proteges aging to various degrees.
That aging process, no matter how long it takes, is something that is finally catching up to Bruce. It’s something that various alternate universes like the Dark Knight Returns and Batman Beyond have dealt with. In the core DC Universe, Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin’s Detective Comics #1091 dove into an offer made to Bruce to deal with his aging.
During Detective Comics #1091 Batman suffers a knee injury while fighting crime with Robin. It is an injury that Superman diagnoses as severe enough to require Bruce to take some time off, especially since Alfred Pennyworth is not around to help with his recovery. Before this injury Bruce Wayne’s reunited with an old friend, Scarlett Scott, who mentioned she had developed a serum to slow ones aging to stay in their prime. After his injury Bruce deliberated on taking the serum, seeking Superman’s advice, and ultimately decided to try out the serum.
The results of what the long-term effects on Bruce and if there is anything more to Scarlett Scott’s “immortality serum” is still left to be seen. Though this once again exemplifies how aware Bruce is that he is aging and is doing all he can to continue as Batman in a world filled with Gods. It is something we’ve seen in this modern era for the character. Whether it’s Batman’s Final Invention or Batman of Zur-En-Arrh’s Failsafe android, creators like Scott Snyder and Chip Zdarsky have shown Bruce has created things to combat his mortality.
GOTHAM CITY EVOLUTION TO NEO GOTHAM CONTINUES
As we’ve been getting more examples of Bruce Wayne aging we’ve also seen Gotham City evolve from the mafia run city it was before Batman showed up. Something that has been said about Gotham City is that it is a city from its residents to structure that it will reflect who Batman is. Since the New 52, there has been a heighten focus on the technology Bruce is developing to be a better Batman. As Batman has modernized so has Gotham City.
Both the Chip Zdarsky’s Batman and Tom Taylor’s Detective Comics have been showing how Gotham City is modernizing going into the future. Over in Batman, in the fallout of what Zur-En-Arrh did Edward Nygma has created his own crypto-based technology company that rivals Wayne Enterprise. Meanwhile, in Detective Comics we had this development of a youth serum. This is on top of things like Vandal Savage becoming GCPD Commissioner, Court of Owls return, gangs using animal genetics, and other things.
All of this shows that Batman’s city is evolving as he is and getting closer to the Neo Gotham setting seen in Batman Beyond. The youth serum that Bruce has decided to take is reminiscent to Batman Beyond’s episode “Out of the Past.” In that episode Talia Al Ghul, who had been taken over by Ra’s, offered an old man Bruce Wayne the chance to regain his youth through the Lazarus Pit. While we don’t know if Scarlett Scott’s serum uses some of the Lazarus Pit it wouldn’t be surprising given it has similar effects.
Having this type of advanced technology further hints at how Gotham City is transforming into a more future city. As we see it evolves closer to Neo Gotham how Bruce Wayne and the Batman Family respond creates a lot of questions for the franchise going into the new year.
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