Every Batman Clone in DC Comics, Ranked

Batman is one of the most dangerous and capable people in the world. He’s trained in just about every form of combat and deductive reasoning skill you can imagine, and the ones he doesn’t know he can learn with a genuinely terrifying ability to take in new information and grow from it. Bruce might not be the undisputed best fighter or detective, but what makes him so incredibly dangerous isn’t that he’s the best at any one thing, but that he’s so good at so many different things. He can and has become a master at everything you put in front of him, and the ability to be so skilled at so many different things is what makes him a genius and a major threat.

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With the ability to master everything and so many skills already checked off the list, it makes perfect sense that someone would want to make their own Batman. Plenty of people have, in fact, made their own Batman, and today we’re going to be looking at and ranking every clone of Bruce Wayne in the comics.

We’re going for a strict definition of clone here, so no genetically modified children like Damian or Terry; no clones of other characters who have been Batman (like Dick Grayson), and we will be including Elseworld tales. With that established, let’s get right into it.

6) The Bat-Monster

This evil clone appeared in the nonsensical Elseworlds title Superman: At Earth’s End. In the post-apocalypse, a weakened Superman tried to save Gotham from being purified (read eradicated) by a group of alien overlords, and went to fix it himself. He found an army of animal-people hybrids, including an army of bat-man hybrid clones of Bruce, and a massive Batman-monster clone, all created by twin clones of Adolf Hitler.

Superman wound up destroying these creatures, then cremated Batman along with himself to ensure nobody else would desecrate his body. Calling this whole situation weird would be like calling the sky blue, but these clones get last on our list because while they had the aesthetics of Batman, they didn’t have any of his personality or skills. Frankly, they could have been anyone else, and nothing would have changed beyond Superman’s reaction to the big one.

5) Bizarro-Batman

The original evil clone of the Dark Knight, esteemed member of the Federation of Bizarro Idiots and the Daffy Duo, Bizarro-Batman is an imperfect clone made by, shockingly, Bizarro. Bizarro World’s worst detective would help the opposite of Superman fight the actual Justice League on Earth, even teaming up with the Joker, all in their mission of inspiring chaos wherever there’s peace.

His useless belt has all manner of unhelpful items like cigarette butts, rusty nails, and actual garbage. He’s the opposite of everything Batman, and he’s always a laugh, so the only reason he’s so low on this list is because there’s an even better version of him on this list.

4) Darkseid Clone

During the events of Final Crisis, it was thought that Darkseid killed Batman, but he actually sent the Dark Knight careening through time. To cover his tracks, Darkseid created an exact duplicate of Batman, who had already been killed. Jason Todd would talk Dick into trying to revive this clone in a Lazarus Pit in the “Blackest Knight” storyline, thinking it was the original. However, between being killed by Darkseid, turned into a Black Lantern, and the Pit, its mind was horribly damaged.

The clone had all the skills of the original, but none of the morality, making him a one-man murder machine. It was a glimpse into just how monstrous and unstable Batman could be, but his evil actions are what convinced the Bat Family that it wasn’t the real Bruce and that he was still out there somewhere.

3) Batzarro

Batzarro is the modern take on Bizarro-Batman, and he’s great in all the same ways the original was. He’s every bit the World’s Worst Detective his predecessor was, but he has a few key advantages. Namely, his suit is incredible. Instead of being a floppy-eared version of Batman’s costume, Batzarro has his own upside-down Bat-Symbol and a cowl with no eye holes. He’s literally as blind as a bat, and that’s great.

His useless belt is constantly overflowing with trash, and he even has his own Batzarrocave, which is fitted with neon lights and welcome signs at the entrance. Batzarro is a beautiful mess, and I wouldn’t change anything about him.

2) Robin of Zur-En-Arrh

Chip Zdarsky’s Batman run was messy, to say the least, but one cool concept he introduced was a brand new young Robin, cloned from Bruce himself. He looked to Zur as his father, and had all of the original’s memories, though they were locked behind mental blocks Zur used to control him. After defeating the mad alternate personality, the second Bruce regained his full memories, but learned he was aging fast and would be dead in weeks.

The two Bruces spent this time together, appreciating their shared history, with the clone even giving his hand to the original after he lost his. They had a poignant, heart-wrenching conversation, both saying how much they love the life they remember and the people they’ve lived it with, as the clone dies from old age. This was a tragic yet beautiful connection, digging into emotions we don’t often get to see Batman show.

1) Last Knight on Earth

In the Batman: Last Knight on Earth Elseworld, the Earth has been ravaged and turned towards evil, with the remnants of humanity ruled by the evil Omega. This clone of Bruce was made by Alfred and implanted with Bruce’s memories before the apocalypse, and locked in a fake Arkham Asylum where the butler attempted to convince Bruce that Batman was a delusion, hoping to give him some semblance of a life. Instead, he realized what was happening and broke out, finding the still living head of the Joker, and together they retook the world. The new Batman fought Omega, who was revealed to be the cynical and broken original Bruce, but the ideals of his younger self won the day.

The clone showed us that being Batman is about making a choice, choosing to do the right thing even when you might not be able to change anything, simply because there’s always something you can do, and people can change for the better. This clone saved the world and reminded everyone what Batman is supposed to stand for, even against impossible odds, and how can you make a better version of Batman than one who beat the original? This clone and many others actually originated in the Batman: Futures End comic, although this is the only one we see in action.

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