Is it the Death of a Batman That Brought the Legion of Super-Heroes Back to DC Rebirth?

04/19/2017 08:17 pm EDT

In today's Batman #21, Legion of Super-Heroes member Saturn Girl, still committed at Arkham Asylum, becomes panicked when a hockey game begins.

Shouting about how "they're going to kill him," and that as a result the Legion is doomed, she's carted off camera and leaves a big mystery for the audience to try and untangle -- just as, like she expected, one of the hockey players is killed in a brawl on the ice.

It seems like a bizarre and improbably connection: somehow the death of one person means that Superman will never come to save the Legion of Super-Heroes? That implies that a 21st Century hockey player would have to somehow have ties to a 31st Century superhero team.

Thing is -- it seems like that is exactly the case.

The hockey payer's first name isn't given -- neither is the man who kills him -- but while the violent killer's name is Shuster in an apparent homage to the co-creator of Superman, the victim's name is Taylor.

That's a much more common name. What could it be? A reference to Injustice: Gods Among Us writer Tom Taylor?

No, it's much more likely that's much, much more than just a knowing wink at the audience.

In the future, a man alled Brane Taylor ("Brane" being a mashed-together version of Bruce Wayne, we're assuming) becomes Batman, resurrecting the costumed identity. While he existed at the same time as the Legion, he isn't a member and has never actually met them, having adopted the Batman identity after being inspired by archival footage of the original Batman and Robin.

When Robin, Brane's nephew, broke his ankle, the Batman of the Future went back in time to recruit Dick Grayson to help defeat the a villain called Yerxa. After that, he returned to the past to briefly stand in for Bruce Wayne when Bruce had a broken arm.

Is it possible that the hockey player seen dying here is an ancestor of Brane Taylor's, and that as a result the 31st Century is left without a Batman?

If so, how does that impact the Legion, when he's never actually been part of the team?

...Hopefully, some answers on this mystery by the time "The Button" is over. The story continues in next week's issue of The Flash.

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