Batman Villain Dies In Detective Comics

05/10/2017 03:43 pm EDT

The last few issues of Detective Comics have seen Batman's team of Gotham vigilantes battered to the point of exhaustion. Even the vaunted Bat himself has fallen to Shiva and her League of Shadows. An unlikely ally though changes the landscape, and ultimately causes a shocking death.

Spoilers for Detective Comics #956 from here on out, so you've been warned.

The team is barely holding it together here, as Batwoman, Azrael, Clayface, Batwing, and Orphan are the only things between Shiva and the massive bomb that sits underneath Gotham. For Cassandra, this fight means even more than that though, and she not only holds her own against her mother Shiva but eventually overtakes her. Cassandra asks "Burn...my city...my friends. Why?", with Shiva responding "You couldn't understand." A flashback occurs that gives fans a glimpse at why she ultimately took control of the League away from RA's Al Ghul, and Cassandra reaches out once more saying "Yes. I could". Shiva glances upward, and then a shot goes through her chest.

RA's Al Ghul holds his sniper rifle proudly, saying "My dear detectives. You've done marvelous work, but I felt I've earned the final shot. It was my dog that went rabid after all." As Batman and RA's talk over the situation, Shiva calls out 'Cassandra...come to me..." She whispers something indecipherable in her ear, asking "do you understand?". Cassandra says "yes", and after Shiva says "good. g.." she passes on.

The mystery of what she said to Cassandra is something RA's will be investigating, as afterward, he says "There are ways to make the dead speak. I need to understand what she put in motion here." As Cassandra glares at him he says "Such fury in those eyes...I do hope I'll be seeing you again."

With that, the longtime Batman rogue is taken away, and it remains to be seen if she will return via the Lazarus pit or end up staying dead for foreseeable future. The possibilities are endless in comics, but regardless of whether she's living or not she did set something in motion that fans will see flourish in future issues. You can check out the spoiler images in the gallery.

Detective Comics #956 is written by James Tynion IV with art by Marcio Takara. Marcelo Maiolo provides the issue's cover. The official description can be found below, and the book is in stores now.

"League Of Shadows" finale! It's all out war against the single most ruthless villain Batman's ever faced: Lady Shiva and her army of nihilistic killers! But at least one member of the team might wind up swallowed whole by the darkness of the League…

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