From the very first issue of Batman/Catwoman, readers have been aware that Bruce Wayne/Batman is dead. It’s something that’s revealed by Selina Kyle/Catwoman when she goes to visit The Joker who is living in retirement in Florida and while that first issue makes it seem like Bruce’s death is a recent development, this week’s Batman/Catwoman #3 confirms just how recent the passing of The Dark Knight actually was.
Warning: Spoilers for Batman/Catwoman #3 below.
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In Batman/Catwoman #3 news of The Joker’s death reaches Gotham. It’s first simply a suspicion that Dick, now police commissioner, has when a man is found murdered in Florida whose skin is white underneath his more normal skin tone makeup. While Helena Wayne/Batwoman isn’t quite willing to believe that it’s her father’s old nemesis that easily, DNA eventually confirms it. Helena informs Selina, letting her mother know that she’s going to be going to Florida to help Dick with the investigation because a murder is still a murder even when it’s The Joker.
When Selina notes that Helena sounds just like her father in that regard Helena says that she assumes that Bruce’s death had some sort of role to play in The Joker’s murder because the men died within weeks of one another, first Bruce and then The Joker. How Bruce died, however, remains a little bit of a mystery. In Batman Annual #2, readers got a glimpse of the near-end of Bruce’s life, one in which he appeared to have Alzheimer’s though in Detective Comics #1027 it’s shown that Bruce has cancer courtesy of Doctor Phosphorous.
Whatever the actual cause of Bruce’s death in Batman/Catwoman, the fact that his death is recent makes Selina’s murder of The Joker a bit more interesting. She wasted no time in ending The Joker and considering how calm she is about the death being investigated by both Helena and Dick, it makes one question what is next for Catwoman. She mentions that Bruce left everything to her, but reassures her daughter she won’t be without — Selina will leave it all to her daughter after her own death. It makes one wonder if Selina is planning some sort of exit all her own or if there is a much larger story in play.
Batman/Catwoman #3 is on sale now.
