Batman Is Wearing a New Costume in 'Doomsday Clock'

Spoilers ahead for Doomsday Clock #3, on sale today.

In today's Doomsday Clock #3, Rorschach and Batman finally get to share a few words that are not about pancakes -- and audiences might find something odd about the scene in which Bruce Wayne is given the original Rorschach's journal.

Namely that Batman is wearing a different costume in it than he is in the previously-released image that serves as a variant cover for this week's issue.

The image, also seen on posters and t-shirts released at New York Comic Con this year, featured Batman in his Rebirth costume, with a large black bat that covered most of his chest and had just a yellow outline or silhouette around it.

In the actual comic, the costume features a small, yellow oval inset with a bat. The textured look of the image feels reminiscent either of Michael Keaton's Batman movie or of the Batman: Earth One comics drawn by Doomsday Clock artist Gary Frank.

He also wears a belt that is more typical of Batman's post-Jim Lee utility belts, seemingly made of cloth and featuring visible pouches rather than the yellow compartments of his Rebirth costume.

Given the many Watchmen teases since Rebirth launched, it seems almost inconceivable that the story will take place instead in the "Earth One" continuity.

The story, which takes place a year in DC's future, pits DC superheroes against their twisted mirror images from Watchmen -- but the story has been described as being a high-concept battle of hope (as embodied by Superman) and cynicism (Doctor Manhattan).

That cynicism is beginning to rear its head on The Bulletin, a viral site that reveals the backmatter from last month's Doomsday Clock #2.

But because the story takes place a year from "now," heroes of the DC Universe are dealing with issues in Doomsday Clock that have not yet come up in their own books, most notably a struggle with "The Supermen Theory," which questions why so many of Earth's metahumans are from the United States and speculates that a number of them, including Man-Bat and Metamorpho, are willing participant in secret government experiments.

On a somewhat less dire note, apparently sometime in the next year, Batman will undergo a costume change. Why or exactly when is not yet clear, but we have seen the future, and in that future, the Dark Knight is differently clothed.

Doomsday Clock #3 is on sale now. You can get it at your local comic shop or buy a digital copy on ComiXology.