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I would absolutely hate if Tim Drake turned heel! Actually, DC seems to have taken a heel turn.

"It is pretty darn suspicious, though, that Tim has not appeared in R.I.P. as of yet."
Its not really true - he hasn't been in RIP for the past issue or so but he was in #676 where he seems insecure about Damien and #677 where he's reading a Black Casebook he took from the Batcave and is followed by the Mime villain.

I seem to this its Bruce though if you read the 5 page preview on Newsarama

Bruce Wayne. Why are you punching yourself in the face?

I don't buy that Jezebel Jet bringing up the theory over dinner automatically disqualifies it.

However, it could just be Joker.

Dr. Thomas Wayne.

Maybe it's Leslie Thompkins.
No?
They were silly enough to do it before.
God I hope it's not Tim.

I buy that it's probably Bruce being set up by someone who implanted the character in his subconscious.
But who?!?!
Probably someone silly.

Harley Quinn. She wears a black glove.

What, she's already showing up in another book? I claim the Wolverine Defense!

Joe Chill or bust.

It's Joker from an alternate universe!!! Batman doesn't die...but Catwoman does! And that's enough to push him over the edge to quit and leave it to Dick and Tim

I think the Tim Drake idea is plausible, mostly because it might explain the otherwise-inexplicable departure of Chuck Dixon, who's not a guy likely to get into a snit over just any old plot development or crossover headache. And Tim *does* seem to be acting strangely, particularly in his interaction with the rest of the DCU (where he seems to be saying "Move along, nothing to see here!" a lot.)

But thinking from there, I wonder... I can't see any reasonable motivation for Tim to be the Black Glove. I'm not sure this would fit in with what we've seen, but is it possible "Tim Drake" isn't really Tim Drake? Ra's al Ghul's plan was to take either Tim or Damian's body, right? It seemed to fail, but what if that was all misdirection, and he really succeeded?

Tim's motivation could be his father's death. Batman has failed him a few times: Jack Drake, Spolier...it could be enough to drive him over the edge. And someone with the ability to deduce Batman's identity and have the guts to tell him that to his face would be rather dangerous if they were ever put over the edge.

That said...I said at the beginning that I thought it was Thomas Wayne...so I'm gonna stick with that.

This would be my top 3:

1. Thomas Wayne
2. Tim Drake
3. Bruce Wayne

I haven't really considered the theory that Tim Drake is the Black Glove. For one, I just haven't really seen any convincing evidence of this being the case, and for another, I just don't want that to be the case. I've loved Tim Drake since the "Lonely Place of Dying" storyline, and I think he's been a great Robin, it would be a shame to see him turn into a villain.

Bruce does wear black gloves. I think I'm leaning towards the Joker, with Bruce in second.

If you've been following the "Heart of Hush" story in Detective (I've yet to read the last part yet), I think that what's happening in that story could possibly be playing into what's going on in RIP, but I won't spoil it. "Heart of Hush" does take place about 6 months before RIP, according to Paul Dini.

1. "Bruce Wayne" because of what Jersen said
2. Jason Todd - "Why did you leave me dead?"
3. Zoom - "To make you bettttteerrrrrrrrr!"
4. Ra's al Ghul
5. Clayface
6. Bat-Mite (Kevin O'Niell's dark Bat-Mite)

Bruce Wayne will stop being Batman, and become.... "Hush 2"... More like the "Paladin" character from JLA 26...

Thank you, Matt D! I've been saying it was Joe Chill since the beginning of RIP. I'm glad someone else sees it.

I can't imagine it being Tim Drake, as the past five issues of Robin have taken place after RIP and Tim is not only clearly a good guy, but is working with Alfred, who I imagine wouldn't want to work with the Black Glove. I know people could say this is misdirection, but that seems an awful lot of misdirection.

Either Fred Hembeck or Jimmy Palmiotti. Or Bill Finger.

I'll admit that the Joe Chill theory isn't something I came up with on my own, but people convinced me.

I think the Tim Drake theory is downright laughable for any number of reasons. Perhaps the most considerable one is that it makes no sense to put him through the character arc he went through in the Ra's story if he was just going bad in the end.

I get it when they have to do a quick reverse course with Mary Marvel in Countdown due to Editorial blathering, but the same writer did both stories. There's just not enough foreshadowing.

Granted, there's not THAT much more foreshadowing for Joe Chill, but it still makes more sense.

Anyone who's picking Tim is doing it almost solely out of behind the scenes stuff or metatext or whatever, not what's actually on the page and while that's usually not a bad plan, with Morrison stories like this, I wouldn't suggest it.

Also, greatest Batman villain ever is easily Bob Wayne. You could ALMOST see Morrison doing that too.

... BOB KANE, not Bob Wayne. Geez. I just triple posted too. It's an amusing image on its own too. Bob Wayne just promises us Suicide Squad collections we don't get.

Alfred Pennyworth

It's probably Bruce himself. Subsequently, he realises just how far over the edge he has gone in recent (comic-book time) years and "retires" his version of Bats!

But, in truth, I really don't care that much. I'd really hoped that Morrison would revitalise Batman, but we're just seeing the same poor characterization and just barely cohesive plots that we have been served repeatedly for the last twenty years (real time).

Seriously, what was the last story in "Batman" that you could recommend to a interested non-comicbook reader? Heck, what was the last story you could recommend to a comicbook reader? Detective Comics have fared marginally better, but not by much.

Batman has been edging ever closer towards the Mendoza line on my pull-list for months now, and finishing up after the whole "Black Glove" saga gets resolved seems as good a place to stop as any.

Ra's Al Ghul. Why else would he be resurrected, anyway?

Either that, or Bruce Wayne wakes up and finds out that his spine is still broken from his skirmish with Bane way back in Knightfall, and everything from Batman 497 till now is essentially a bad dream that happened when he was incapacitated. Dick Grayson is now Batman, and he's fighting for the title with Azrael and....

Oh well, maybe not.

I've really refrained from dedicating myself to any one theory, and I've gone between a few people from issue-to-issue. For a little bit, I thought it was Alfred, then I thought it might be a Bruce Wayne split personality thing. I've even entertained the thought of Hush. As I said earlier, I would really hate it if Tim Drake were behind the Black Glove, and I feel that if it turns out to be Thomas Wayne, that's just cheapening the whole mythos.

I think the key points are that the Black Glove is somebody who has intimate knowledge of Bruce Wayne, and is affluent, with a compulsion for gambling. The name itself, Black Glove, has to be significant also, aside from the connection to the movie. John Mayhew is dead, so what other links to the movie do we see?

Side note: I've found very often lately that comic book "mysteries" aren't really mystery stories, but just a series of unexplained events with alot of red herrings and no actual clues (at least, that seems to be the Jeph Loeb method).

Going to place my vote in the Joe Chill camp. From what Morrison said "70 years in the making". Who made Batman....seems obvious to me.

Bob Wayne IS evil. And scary looking. Plus, he's from Texas, so, yeah.

Think about it.

(Or maybe it's Bruce Bristow. Hmmm.)

While I can kinda see Morrison having it be Bruce Wayne on the back of "Untold Legend of the Batman" ending with a similar twist... I don't think that's right. Joe Chill's as good a bet as any, although I'm personally expecting it to be Joker or Ra's.

(Or, continuing on from the last time there was a hidden mastermind in the Bat-books... Lex Luthor. Why are we confining ourselves to strictly only Bat-characters?)

Alfred. The Butler did it.

Why? To save Bruce from being Batman.

Quite a game! I think its Joe Chill, or Joe Chill's son.

I think someone already guessed the correct answer, so it'll be Hawk. Or maybe Dove.

The butler did it...but I don't rule out a return of long lost Thomas Wayne Jr., the good doctor himself and/or Joe Chill's son along the way. Being exceptionally bright, I needed no help whatsoever figuring it out, especially not from those slackers at FunnybookBabylon.com.

after the fold? this isnt a newspaper

My friend's theory is that it's Bruce Wayne... but not the Bruce Wayne that became Batman.

He thinks that the guy who became Batman isn't Bruce Wayne. He's Joe Chill's son. He saw his dad murder the Waynes and it haunts him. Alfred's convinced him he's Bruce Wayne, took him under his wing and is monitoring his diary to make sure he doesn't suspect.

My friend's suggested re-reading the Joe Chill issue, assuming that Batman is 'the son he lost' (the one that little Bruce reminded him of so much) and to see how it still works, point for point, and is actually a little bit neater than if the official version is true.

The Black Glove is the 'real' Bruce Wayne. I don't know how he disappeared from the scene for thirty years, but I think it could be very easily explained.

I don't know what to make of it as a theory...and yet it hasn't been disproven yet!

the hints are all there...the glove...the black color...it can only be...Derek Smalls from Spinal Tap.

It's Superman. He got sick of all the jokes about Batman beating and decided to implement Superdickery at it's finest.

I think it's Bruce's brother, from the Silver Age "Brave and the Bold"

Obviously it's Xorn.

"the hints are all there…the glove…the black color…it can only be…Derek Smalls from Spinal Tap."

Finally, an explanation for that miniature of Stonehenge in the background of one of the "International Batmen" issues!

I've maintained for years that Alfred is really the big brain behind everything going wrong in the DCU. He's manipulated Bruce, had access to wealth, power, etc.

We will see.

"Obviously it’s Xorn."

Naaaaa.
It's the Riddler!

Even though Bob Kane makes for a much, much better supervillain, I suppose a vengeful Bill Finger would fit the glove motif better.

I've basically staked my entire Internerd reputation on it being Alfred and nothing I've read so far convinces me that isn't the case. Tim would make absolutely no sense.

Stop being so literal people! The answer's obvious...

(from Batman #674)

"...to reconsider a particular possibility that has always haunted me...

What if there were an ultimate villain out there, unseen?

An absolute mastermind, closing in for the kill?

What if there existed and invisible, implacable foe who'd calculated my every weakness?

Who had access to allies, weapons and tactics I couldn't imagine.

An adversary whose plots and grand designs, were so vast, so elaborate, that they went unnoticed...

...until it was too late.

[snip]

If my hypothetical ultimate enemy can be imagined, I can't help considering the possibility that he actually exists.

And if he exists...

...if the king of crime is real...

...is he telling me his name?"

Again...

Ultimate villain, unseen, absolute mastermind, invisible, access to allies, weapons and tactics I couldn't imagine, plots so elaborate they went unnoticed, ultimate enemy can be imagined, possibility he actually exists.

The Black Glove is:

GRANT MORRISON (and every other creator who's contributed to the Batman mythos over the decades)! They're the ultimate adversaries who keep sending enemies for Batman to confront, who can recreate reality to challenge him further, who create vast and elaborate plots and grand designs.

We already know, from Animal Man, that you can get to Grant Morrison's apartment from the DC universe!

Alright, I admit that I think it's just subtext but it would be hilarious and very Morrison if, as he awakens from unconsciousness at the beginning of the final part, Batman finds himself sitting in Morrison's apartment while Grant starts explaining to him what the "real" point of RIP is and how all the different iterations of the himself (through multiple media) fit toegther.

C'mon Grant, I can't imagine DiDio would let you do it, but piss off everyone and go all metatextual right when everyone expects something as ho-hum as "Oh, it was the Joker all along."

You're all wrong.

It's Ted Kord, returned from the dead and still pissed off that Batman ignored him during C2IC.

For those who had others convince them that it is Joe Chill, convince me. I haven't heard this theory, but would like to.

My guess: the reveal will only make sense using Morrison logic, meaning it will quickly be ignored by subsequent writers.

"I’ve maintained for years that Alfred is really the big brain behind everything going wrong in the DCU. He’s manipulated Bruce, had access to wealth, power, etc."

My brother and I have come to that conclusion before as well; we even had a motive but I no longer remember what it was.

But that was nothing compared to our theory/scenario that Martha Wayne and Martha Kent are in fact the same person.

Everyone knows it's Bucky. Gawwwwwwd.

Okay - I think its actually Bruce Wayne. Bats has been infected by the Anti-Life Equation (Final Crisis) and Bats/BW's back-up personality. BW has the money and the connections (as Bats) to do all the dirty work.

If it were BW and Alfred brainwashed Joe Chill's kid to believe he was Bruce Wayne (and facilitated his training to become Batman) it would undercut far too much of the past 69 years of Bat-lore. I doubt that DC would go for something that drastic.

When confronted with the fact that the Black Glove is Bruce Wayne is Batman, BW decides he is way too screwed up to keep going. Alfred exercised Power of Attorney over all of Bruce's finances and over all medical decisions involving Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne is "officially" declared insane and Joe Chill's son is locked up in Arkham or some other institution for the rest of his life. The actual Bruce Wayne change his name and travels the world so that he can sort out why he put himself and the people he cared about through so much crap. Nightwing becomes Batman, Damian becomes Robin and Tim Drake becomes Red Robin. Jason Todd stays as Red Hood and at some time in the future Bruce Wayne comes back to reclaim the cowl resulting in another multi-chapter, multi-series story arc.

Or, the Black Glove is a left over Spider-man Clone

(50/50 chance of either)

Wow, I totally forgot what has happened in this series. I didn't even know it was a mystery. I just figured it was that Dr. Hurt guy. Oh well, every idea sounds ridiculous, so I'm hoping for the cop out of it being Bruce Wayne or the Joker.

At this point I don't care i'm just glad we are at the start of the end. It can'yt be bruce tho' because i recall an awful John Bryne and Len Weim mini series in which Bruce played Roger Acroyd.

"It is pretty darn suspicious, though, that Tim has not appeared in R.I.P. as of yet"

I remember him being in at least two issues.

I remember him being in at least two issues.

Sorry, I meant interacting with Batman or the bad guys.

Owlman

I think it's Bruce. It's not Tim because in the Robin comics, Tim was searching for Bruce and they mentioned that it has been a while since he was last seen. Stephanie (Spoiler) also tells Tim that Bruce asked her to help him "disappear."

Bruce Wayne stopped being Batman in 52. Jason Todd is now Batman, but has been brainwashed to think he's Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne is posing as Alfred to guide Jason. Alfred is the Black Glove.

Or Vicky Vale.

Or Thomas Elliott is now Batman... and Bruce Wayne is Hush and the Black Glove...

One problem is that, given DC's spotty record of editorial control, anything outside Morrison's series (including "RIP Tie-ins") may or may not be apocryphal *or* a source of real clues.

I like the theory that it's batman's crazy brother from the silver age thats never been mentioned since. Morrison claims to love those silver age "classics."

come on! it's the clone Batman going by the name Thomas Wayne, remember Batman thought he was dead and he put his body in the...wait that's not right..Howard the Duck? never mind. later!

Alfred, since he was a villain (briefly) in the Silver Age, and Morrison seems to want to make Batman's complete history in continuity.

Or maybe Aunt Harriet, who just knew there was something funny about her nephew...

Dr. Thomas Wayne still seems like the most likely suspect to me. But has anyone tried to make sense of the "red and black" petals Batman was greeted with upon his arrival to Arkham? It might point to a partnership between the "red" (Robin) and the "black" (Jezebel Jet, for "jet black")...

...or not. Damn. Maybe it was Maggie Simpson?

THE BLACK GLOVE INVITES YOU

For years, the Black Glove has been an industry leader in the fields of entitled amorality and inducing insanity in superheroes. But in these troubled economic times, it is best to diversify one's portfolio; we can't expect to make our yearly projections from Batman-related games of chance alone. So the Black Glove is proud to announce our first foray into the music business, and the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership.

Having spent most of our promotional budget on red-and-black flowers and an appearance fee for the Joker, we were unable to afford the likes of Kanye West or Jay-Z to spin the tale of the Black Glove in hip-hop form, so we had to go with up-and-coming Los Angeles rap group The Grassy Beast--but once you hear the single "Black Glove," you will know, as we did, that this is the future of both music and diabolical scheming. We cordially invite you to point your browser to http://thegrassybeast.com to download the track and see for yourself. Happy listening and, as always, death to the Batman!

Having read this issue, I have some mad speculations which I'll frame simply: in some sense, all the theories are right, and the only way Batman can win is to die. And I mean ALL the theories, the big ones about Batman and the theories about this particular storyline.

I'll start with some of the simpler stuff, and move up.

Batman Is Crazy

More accuratey, Batman is craziness. Steve Engelhart famously penned a cpation in the legendary "Laughing Fish" story: "Ever since Joe Chill stpped out of the dark to gun my parents down, my world goes crazy sometimes." Batman isn't just the resaponse to the craziness, he is the craziness.

Little Bruce Wayne became a symbol, a symbol he believed in so much that he turned his life into the maintenance of that symbol. He made his entire existence a prolongation of that crazy, horrifying moment when he watched his parents die in front of him. This is part of why Simon Hurt has been able to tear him down over the years.

How did Batman choose to deal with the Joker? As the Joker himself puts it, he gave hismelf a "cheap nervous breakdown" as if he could simply become the Joker, be that crazy, and achieve what Le Bossu calls "a product of random circumstance" by planning the whole thing out in advance. Being the Joker, to Batman, was just a matter of willingly plunging into one more bit of craziness, and now he's paying the price.

Thomas Wayne Is the Black Glove

Or rather, what Thomas Wayne has become in order for Batman to work has made him the ultimate antagonist. As long as Bruce has that "First Batman" costume in the cave, as long as he's got the portrait over the fireplace and drops roses every year at Crime Alley, he's going to be Batman and not Bruce Wayne.

The ideal of Thomas Wayne's life, the ideal of his memory as the perfect father and the archetypal innocent victim of crime that Batman's always trying to rescue too late has become part of what destroys Bruce Wayne. Thomas Wayne is an unanswerable ghost, an image or a phantom demanding soemthing Bruce Wayne can never do: save me, avenge me, or, worse, become me. Batman is a symbol of all of that; but no one can do all of that. Thomas Wayne died int hat alley. Bruce Wayne sacrificed being Bruce Wayne, but also the life Thomas Wayne led.

Thomas Wayne didn't wear a costume to fight crime, he wore it as a fun game at a party once upon a time. He was a doctor, a socialite, a high-functioning part of the normal, sane world Batman treats as the game of dual identities. He didn't use Wyne Mnaor as a secret base with a hidden crime lab and trophy gallery, he used it as a home in which he lived a married life and raised a son. Joe Chill didn't kill that, not all by himself. Bruce Wayne killed that in becoming Batman. He took a home and turned it into a military base,a secret headquarters, the biggest and bestest fort ever.

Batman is something Thomas Wayne would never have wanted for Bruce, and would never have imagined. "Imagination is the fifth dimension;" it's not normal reality. It's bigger, wilder, madder, but ultimately no place a human being can live.

Simon Hurt Isn't Thomas Wayne; He's Just the Black Glove, Just Simon Hurt

It's all in the name, really: Simon Hurt is pure hurt, the pain that made the Batman. Even if there's some real guy under the old Thomas-Batman costume, everything Hurt has done is simply to magnify the terrifying consequences of a decision Bruce Wayne made once upon a time. What Hurt has done is take the "fractured psyche" that split Batman off from Bruce Wayne and buried little Bruce, and keep the fragmentation going.

Batman wants to be more than a mortal? Fine, he can pare everything that's left of the sham of Bruce Wayne's adulthood away and become the Batman of Zurr-En-Arrh, the superman with no trace of the man, running at a pace even Batman (as Bat-Mite/Might) knows is unsustainable by a real human being anda real human body, barking madly into a broken radio and calling it an alien geegaw.

Batman wants to live in a superpowered world of mad costumes and high goofy adventure? Fine. Talk to a floating little imp -- never mind the creepy-crawly on its shoulders, the hidden symbol of the pain ad seriousness supposedly lost behind the wacky 1950s fun -- and flashback to impossible adventures on alien planets whenever you like. Fight wackos like the Joker and the campy "Club of Villains," more people playing along witht he childish fantasy of being Batman, cheerful crimefighter and thwarter of ludicrous theme villains. Forget, for the sake of fun, that "Batman is cool! Batman wears black!" and put on brright grey tights, use a glowing red telephone to call your buddy Jim Gordon, and run downtown in day-glo blue and a modded-out supercar to stop Egghead from stealing all the chickens in Gotham City.

Whatever you do, don't live your life, don't find love, don't grow up. Play, play, play!

Simon Hurt Is Thomas Wayne

He's wearing that first Batman costume, he's inhabiting Wayne Manor, he's playing a lethal game with lives with other bored rich folks. He knows Bruce better than Bruce knows himself. And he' a doctor, albeit a creepy doctor who uses his skills to harm people, not to save them.

In short, he's the dark thing that Thomas Wayne can be if Thomas Wayne is the hurt that made the Batman. If Bruce is crazy, living in a symbol, and the symbol is lifted off his father's ghost and made into a shrine in the Batcave -- the glass case with "The First Batman" costume in it -- then Thomas Wayne, the impossible ghost, is a dark spirit indeed. If he's Batman's father as much as Bruce's, then yes, he is the source of all that pain and all that craziness.

Thomas Wayne, the ghost in Bruce's head, was the first oen to put on the black gloves of the Batman. His existence, for Bruce, is a pattern of black and red, jet-hued leather or Crime Alley asphalt showing spots of blood from a gunshot wound or from one of those devastating Batman punches. You can't take the red without the black, the black without the red. If Bat-Mite nd his dimension are real, might not Lovecraftian monsters from beyond space and time be hitching a ride on the little imp's shoulders? If Zurr-En-Arrh is real, might not the impossible alien world where Batman's adventuring gets Robin killed be real?

If holding onto Thomas Wayne is what created the schsim that the Black Glove is exploiting, then yes, Thomas Wayne, the image, at least, is the Black Glove. He made it all possible. A rich man consorting with superheroes and villain,s dressing up in a Halloween costume to inflict pain on his enemies, pretending to be beyond the bounds of normal morality and working as a master manipulator of merely normal people and superpeople alike? That's what Batman does, too, and what Batman makes Thomas Wayne into as a reason and an indelible image, a haunt at Wayne Manor who can't be simply exorcised.

And yes, he turned Martha into an addict, ruined her, destroyed her family. Bruce IS her family. But Bruce doesn't model himself on her, after all; he wears a costume he saw his father wearing once, he fantasizes about tha other reality in which Thomas Wayne KOed Joe Chill, and he takes up the business Thomas Wayne ran. Martha's just part of the madness, part of the addiction to symbols that makes Batman dress up as Batman. Bruce's Thomas Wayne killed Martha after all, stringing her out like that ruined pearl necklace Bruce sees in his nightmares.

Batman Is the Black Glove

He wears one, after all, and nothing the Black Glove has done would work without Bruce Wayne's having committed a kind of psychic suicide and becoming the inverted emblem of the hurt that Simon Hurt has turned against him.

Bruce started the split that Hurt has busted wide open. Bruce's little experiment to "become" the Joker in mind has had far-reaching consequences, and it's what put him in Hurt's gloved hand to start with.

And it gets worse: where did the Man-Bat serum come from? Kirk Langstrom's efforts to imitate Batman, that's where. Whence Damien? Why, from Batman's adventuring and getting captured by Ra's Al Ghul, a man who sought him out because h was Batman, because his pain and drive might be turned into a motive for a proper heir to the empire. And would Talia have met Batman and fallen for him if Bruce Wayne hadn't believed a little too much in his symbols, in his terrifying, saving alter ego? Probably not.

The three ghosts of the Batman are moreso consequences of being Batman, and very obvious ones. The Club of Heroes and the Club of Villains exist because people across the world followed Bruce in buying in to the wacky, scary, crazy costume games, and tried to form their own fantasy league version of Bruce's personal fantasy life.

Every single tool the Black Glove has used against Batman has been a tool Batman invented, promulgated, and practically gave the Black Glove.

Alfred Is the Black Glove

What sort of guardian allows his charge to spend decades clinging to madness as a way out of pain, a pain that eventually comes back, that never stops coming back, until it consumes that young man entirely? Alfred's enabling Bruce's Batman career -- snotty asides and gentle chiding with no real force put aside as ineffectual, unserious, mere rationalization and "I told you so" where intervention and guidance were necessary -- has made Batman a victim of the Black Glove in its own way. And by helping Bruce do what he's done to Thomas and Martha, Alfred may as well be a part of that, too.

Batman Is Hyperrational, Not Irrational Like His Villains

No matter who or what the flesh-and-blood Simon Hurt turns out to be, he's goign to be an irrational villain. What rational reason coudl there be for playing games of chance with human life, or devoting years upon years of tangled schemes to driving someone mad and then having garishly-clad maniacs beat him to a bloody pulp? Hurt isn't rational, because pain and hurt aren't rational and don't provoke rational responses.

But this is how and why Batman is insane after all: because his response to hurt and pain is to become hyperrational, to develop endlessly rational and well-constructed, practical tools to avoid the original hurt and to fight the new ones or the new symbols that stand in for that primal grief in Crime Alley.

Batman is nothing if not methodical. He can split up his own personality into clearly-defined, rationally configured fragments: his training and ability (Zurr-En-Arrh), his imagination (Bat-Mite), the face, to steal from T.S. Eliot, that he prepares to meet the faces that he meets socially (Bruce Wayne, lazy playboy), and so forth. As breaks go, it's a very functional, very calculated one. Zurr-En-Arrh is a psychotic delusion that Bruce Wayne has turned into an impossibly efficient, impossibly tough version of the rationally precise Batman persona he's used as a tool in less strained circumstances.

He has his voice of reason and imagination, the flicker of the healthy child that was Bruce Wayne. Bat-Mite is nothing if not the wonderful and wise imaginary friend children use to try their own emotions and intellect out on, that is, a safe way of trying out wisdom and being oneself without the risks of, say, devoting one's life to a costumed identity and risking one's life every night.

But hyperrationality has a price, and the price is that it is insane, and that it impedes being a fully-developed adult human being. Human beings are a bit irrational, and their fears, fantasies, and emotions are not things they use to function int heir daily life by buying into them totally. Imagining you're Batman in a boring class or after you read about a mugging in the paper is a healthy way of fantasizing through little traumas and trials. Actually becoming Batman is not.

But this is also why Batman has to be hyperrational, to the point that even his breakdowns are too functional and pragmatic to really let him become the Joker or to lose himself completely in Zurr-En-Arrh or the Fifth Dimension. If your world goes crazy sometimes (all the time, really), the way you survive the madhouse you're in is to be almost purely rational, ultimately pragmatic, remarkably efficient at planning and executing plans, all in the pursuit of a lunatic goal in a lunatic world organized by that goal.

What is Batman's ultimate goal? Is it to answer to a dead father he imagines impelling him to impossible feats? Is it to eliminate crime, something no one can really do? Is it to make sure no innocent ever suffers again, another impossible task? Whatever he wants, he wants something irrational. He's survived so long despite that because he pursues that mad desire in ways shorn of madness and left entirely to method.

On eof the more disturbing implications in this storyline is that even Batman's sidekicks and surrogate family, like Robin, Alfred, and Nightwing, are simply practical tools he's used to keep his impossible drives seeming feasible and keeping Batman functional. The old bit is to to say that Robin humanizes Batman and keeps him sane. Here, we see how true that is -- the Zurr-En-Arrh costume becomes proof of Bruce's confidence, because Robin proved you could fight and survive in bright "shoot me" colors by exerting confidence and skill.

And when Batman really loses touch, one of two things always happens: he imagines his surrogate family perishing ('Robin Dies At Dawn" when Bruce's brain takes complete leave of reality) or the real people around him pull him back within the limits of Batman's functionality, if not anything like healthy normal existence. They keep him from falling over the edge entirely, and let him be hyperrational by haviong emotions, disputing his pure reason by bringing up the irrational goals it aims to reason towards, and by making him care about someone in some semblance of normal friendship or family life. They're tools and defense mechanisms he's built himself, just like the hallucinatory Bat-Mite and alien Batman have turned out to be reason's tools in the service of madness (be it Batman's madness or the madness of Batman incarnated in Simon Hurt, who helped "create" these further splits).

Batman is hyperrational because he'd be dead or utterly lost to his underlying madness if he weren't. His world goes crazy sometimes, and he keeps it going by offloading the "crazy" things, even the ones that give normal people normal personalities.

Batman Will Die At the End of "Batman R.I.P."

This doesn't have to mean that Bruce Wayne dies in the flesh, or even that he no longer wears the costume and fights the fight. It means that Batman as a persona, as the 'real" person where Bruce et al. are merely masks and tools, has to die.

The Black Glove has won by exploiting the split that let Batman take on all the unreason and hurt of Bruce Wayne, child victim of crime and traumatized orphan, making the split expand and multiply. So how does Batman win? By fixing the split, by unifying the personality again, the whole personality. By letting Bruce Wayne live, and hurt, and be a little irrational when it's human to be so, and ultimately, by killing the need for Batman.

Batman will die; Bruce Wayne will live. Bruce Wayne will no longer be "a daytimne mask for the Batman," but rather "Batman" will either cease to be or will become simply a mask Bruce Wayne finds useful in extreme circumstances.

Let's face it, you don't have to wear the symbol of your father-as-heroic-ideal and your childhood fears wrapped up into one Bat-emblem to fight crime, help crime victims, answer to and avenge your parents' memory. In fact, what Batman has done is to mix the impossibly perfect memory of Thomas Wayne with the impossibly infinite well of fear and suffering of that scary cave of bats and that terrible night in Crime Alley, tp the point that the heroic ideal Thomas Wayne can also be the murderous psychopath Simon Hurt. Thinking in absolutes about regular people gives you God and the Devil all in one. (The devil who is future-Damien's father and who tormented the Three Ghosts of Batman isn't Ra's Al Ghul or even Simon Hurt, whoever he is. It's the devil-bat Bruce Wayne kept going all those years. Damien doesn't want to be Bruce's son, he wants to be Batman's. Tim and Dick seem a lot saner by comparison for wanting Bruce as a father.)

What if Bruce Wayne puts himself back together to the point that he doesn't need Batman anymore? Would that be the death of Batman?

Oh, and some clarifications:

1) The post should read: "having read Batman #680." I haven't read the conclusion yet either, folks.
2) Batman can't physically die at the end of this story, since Morrison has said that it's Bruce under the cowl in Final Crisis.
3) Theories that Tim is the Black Glove would seem farfetched given that he's spent a chunk of this story fighting and escaping the Club of Villains's Aussie member, the Ned Kelly lookalike called the Swagman he evades in the junkyard in issue #680.
4) Between Alfred insisting that Hurt isn't Thomas Wayne and Hurt's apparent age, it seems very unlikely even in a Batman comic for him to "really" be Thomas Wayne, Sr.

I'm gonna go with Adam West, he's still kinda ticked off about not having any parts in any of the Batman films. And being the mayor of Quahog gives him access to resources.

Lookout, the New York Times has a pretty bold plot point (spoilerish I guess)on their web page. Didio also gets in on the fun to tell you the ending before it hits the stands

I have five bucks on Alfred.

Grant Morrison is going to write himself in as "the black glove".. I mean really, gosh, how eistential and wacky would that be?

Nobody's ever done something THAT daring before Buddy, I tell you what!

Clearly, the Black Glove is Michael Jackson.

Buddy Baker buddy?

I say it's Gay Marriage, but I get all my news from Rush Limbaugh.

I think it's bruce wayne, mainly because the plot to this seems oddly like an elaborated version of the untold tale of the Batman. The insider plots, the placement of everything. It seems like the ultimate act of hatred for somebody who has ruined someone else's life. And who has caused more harm to Bruce Wayne than Batman?

Black Glove is none other than:

(wait for it)

Dan DIDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The SCOURGE of DCU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OFF with 'is 'ead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sure don't know who the Black Glove is, but hidden in his coat is a red right hand.

...you have no idea how long I've wanted to make that joke.

But seriously, it's Superman.

I hadn't even thought of it being Robin until today, wow, if it is, that's HUGE, but would explain Damien's slow introduction via Morrison.

It's a Skrull.

Desaad.

I don't think Tim Drake is the Black Glove. I think Tim is on his way to being the Batman that he was in the Titans Tomorrow storyline. I actually think that the whole Batman R.I.P. story is happening because of the machine that Bruce is strapped up to in Final Crisis. He must get rescued because he was in Brad Meltezers Last Will and Testament. So I doubt he will die, he may just leave for a while because of the things he went through in Final Crisis.

Wow. A lot of typing there.

But you know what- i don't care. Haven't for years.

And it's sad, because I miss my monthly Batman fix. Too bad they haven't published a Batman story in at least 10 years.

Grant Morrison is the black glove. the 4th wall is breached

The Black Glove is ... The Bat Computer gaining A.I.? Just a guess. With Jason Todd becoming the Red Hood, it'd be hard to see another Robin becoming a villain but anything's possible. Love the Grant Morrison idea ...

Last Will and Testament is set before Bats is captured.

Its Oracle, i thought that was obvious

Seems to me like it's Bruce Wayne; Morrison's whole rationale for the story, as stated in interviews, was "Imagine that every single Batman story had actually happened to one man, over the course of his lifetime. Imagine how badly that would mess him up."

I think this is the 'Fight Club' ending. Batman's need for someone to act out his childhood revenge fantasies against has finally resulted in his making the perfect enemy to fight: Himself. By realizing it, he ends the need to become Batman, and lets the identity "die".

It has the added advantage, as an ending, of being easily undoable five years down the line when the line absolutely tanks because someone else is Batman.

Morrison's rationale is ludicrous because at least 90% of that stuff that would "mess him up" so badly is extremely contradictory. It'd be like if Johns suddenly decided Superman can still shoot miniature, evil versions of himself out of his fingers, and that Ma and Pa's names were Sarah and Eben as well as Martha and Jonathan. Also, is Lori Lemaris still in continuity?

Not really, Kevin. Batman's continuity has never been "rebooted" the way Superman's has. Other than the Joe Chill thing, there hasn't been that many straight-up retcons in Bat-History. There's a whole lot of junk that's been quietly forgotten about, but not all that much "This didn't happen, no wait, yes it did"

This is true, but I took Morrison's comment to mean that even all that wacky Earth-2 crap and whatnot happened to "our" Earth-Prime Bruce...and I wouldn't put it past him to think that, because, well, he's proven to be a little bit special before. Remember his origin for Doctor Doom?

Also, it was looking for a little while before Infinite Crisis like John Corben was the Waynes' killer, which would have been -- I'm looking for a kind word here...uh...erm..."gifted".

"Also, it was looking for a little while before Infinite Crisis like John Corben was the Waynes’ killer, "

No it wasn't - Loeb set that up in the first issue of Superman / Batman and dismissed it about four issues later. It was never presented as anything more than an (obvious) red herring.

"There’s a whole lot of junk that’s been quietly forgotten about, but not all that much “This didn’t happen, no wait, yes it did”"

Well, Jason's origin changing, Batwoman and the original Batgirl vanishing, Ace... there's a lot of stuff that was straight-up retconned, even if it wasn't as obvious as with Man of Steel. Batman *himself* hasn't been, granted, but just about everything around him with maybe the exception of Dick Grayson has at one point or another.

Well whattaya know...I was right!

Dan Didio.

Batman won't die but his methods will. He will do away with his one rule. He's learned that the only way to fight the evil that he faces is to match its level of violence.

Either that or I'm on board with the Spinal Tap comment.

Two words : Brane Taylor. He's the Batman of the 31st Century. This is Grant we're talking about. Either he's the bad guy or the new Batman. or the old dead Batman. Dick Grayson will wonder if he's good enough, Tim Drake's aunt will be killed by Kite-Man. Jason Todd will gay-marry Owlman and they'll all go to heaven in a little row-boat.

I don't read Batman, so I don't care.

Those proclaiming they don't care obviously do, or they wouldn't have bothered to come here to comment.

Either that, or they are attention whores.

It's Jezebel. Wasn't that obvious?

Who was the Black Glove?