DC Just Made a Huge Change to Batman After 83 Years (And It’s Hilarious)

Over his 86-year history, Batman has introduced a lot of elements to his lore. While some of those elements were short-lived gimmicks and others naturally phased out over time, there are a few that have become integral to the Dark Knight and his crusade against crime in Gotham City. They’re the things that people closely associate with the hero — things like the Bat Cave and the Batmobile. Now, however, 83 years after its initial introduction, DC has made a major change in how Batman operates and its replacement is surprisingly hilarious.

We’re talking about the Bat-Signal. First introduced in Detective Comics #60 in 1942, the Bat-Signal was first used by Commissioner Gordon as a signal to summon Batman when he was needed and serve to instill fear in the criminals of Gotham City at the suggestion that Batman was on his way. For decades, it’s been a major part of Batman’s lore, the big beam of the modified searchlight shining a bat symbol into the night sky. Now, however, Matt Fraction’s Batman #3 has done away with the light and replaced it with something no one would ever guess.

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The Bat-Signal Is Gone; Enter The… Bat-Plushie?

In Batman #3, Gordon reaches out to Detective Harvey Bullock and asks him to “toss up the signal” for a meeting with Batman. Something is going on with Vandal Savage and they need to meet as soon as possible. However, instead of lighting up the searchlight on the building’s roof, Harvey sticks a small stuffed animal of a bat in the window. It’s so small that it seems almost comical even beyond the idea that Batman could be summoned such a way, but sure enough, Batman arrives and even Harvey seems surprised, wondering aloud how much Gotham taxpayers spent on the signal over the years when a small stuffed animal was enough to do the trick.

Gordon tries to explain that the Bat-Signal had an additional purpose, that it was for more than alerting Batman and actually was meant for the people of Gotham. It’s enough for Harvey — and Batman moves the meeting forward — but the reality is that Harvey has a very good point. Gotham taxpayers have been funding the Bat-Signal for years and operating it can’t have been cheap. If a simple stuffed animal sufficed, why not move to something smaller sooner, especially when it’s never really been clear that the symbol does all that much to terrify villains anyway. Still, the idea that a plushie is enough to get Batman’s attention is an appreciated bit of humor in Batman’s story and feels like a nod to some of the lighter, brighter stories in the character’s past. It’s unclear how long the Bat-Plushie will last or if we’ll get the genuine Bat-Signal back anytime soon, but for now it seems like a good solution. With Vandal Savage the current police commissioner and actively trying to take down Batman, it feels like the more subtle calls for the Caped Crusader’s help will be around for a while.

This Isn’t The First Major Change to the Bat-Signal This Year

With Batman getting rid of the Bat-Signal (at least for now), it feels like DC is very committed to making some big changes to the iconic piece of the character’s lore — even across different realities. Earlier this year, Absolute Batman also made a major change to the iconic light. Absolute Batman #5 saw Black Mask planning to make a deal with Batman, giving him hundreds of millions of dollars to fund his efforts in Gotham. However, Batman had already taken the money and put it to a different use — utilizing a memorial spotlight at the Gotham City zoo to light the cash on fire and project a massive Bat-Symbol into the sky above Gotham City.

While the Absolute Batman version is more of an origin for a very different sort of Bat-Signal and Batman’s is an ending, it’s very interesting to see how important the concept of the light is to Batman. Even after almost a century, it’s an element of the hero’s story that has an important role and it will be interesting to see what’s next, especially on the pages of Batman with this take on the hero taking Batman in interesting new directions.

Batman #3 is on sale now.