If you think about it, and Frank Miller did, Bruce Wayne would be the first name on the list to either be Batman or at least funding him. He’s the right age, weight and build. He’s immensely wealthy and can afford “those wonderful toys”. He watched his parents gunned down by a mugger at an impressionable age and received no apparent therapy.

The line to Lawton was my favorite. It was one of the rare instances where it’s explained why a villain who is supposed to be the best at something never succeeded in killing the hero.

…Batman’s life would be made a lot more difficult if he were to be targeted by the intelligence community…

I’ve read and reread that issue and the letter column in the subsequent issues and it’s surprising to see the same argument hasn’t changed in twenty years.

He knows he didn’t leave prints or knows they’ll be traced back to dummy ID. It’s Batman. But I choose to think that it was Waller’s conviction with the obvious government backing she had that it was enough to make him back down. Besides, Waller’s got a good argument and the Squad did(does?) good work and Batman is allowed to change his mind.

The moment for me is Flag’s reaction and Waller re-instating him. She had wanted the Bronze Tiger to lead and been forced to use Flag and had resented it and him.

Having her present actual evidence here diminishes the coolness factor a bit.

In a later issue, Sarge Steel has a similar conversation with Batman, though he has no particular evidence; he just says that Batman’s life would be made a lot more difficult if he were to be targeted by the intelligence community. Prints or no, that might be the conclusion Batman comes to here.”

That’s possible.

It’s also possible that Batman did this for his own purpose.
He left fake prints, but wanted to avoid the suspicion he did leave fake ones.
Maybe the fake prints he left belonged to the president or Amanda Waller, etc. That would have been fun.

Seems at a later time that was followed up when Deadshot had Batman in his site, Batman called him down and Deadshot said something to the effect of “screw you” and walked away without ever pulling the trigger. Also cool.

In a later issue, Sarge Steel has a similar conversation with Batman, though he has no particular evidence; he just says that Batman’s life would be made a lot more difficult if he were to be targeted by the intelligence community. Prints or no, that might be the conclusion Batman comes to here.

He’s not perfect, but always tries to learn from his mistakes and improves his skill set on that.
He can’t always win, but he can’t always lose either.

I personally prefer the Justice League Unlimited version of this confrontation, where Waller already knows who Batman is and when she threatens him, Bruce tells her, “Let’s step into the light together.” They both look really cool in that confrontation.

Though, interestingly, there’s a comic out there that has a statement by Nick Fury (?) that they’ve got a file on Spider-Man as thick as your arm and they STILL don’t know anything about him, and I prefer that to the government already knowing his identity. I don’t know why that is so cool to me and should remain sacrosanct while I’ll give away Batman’s ID for some butt-kicking cartoon interaction.

One moment I like here is that Batman says, flat out, that Deadshot can’t hit him because there’s a problem with Deadshot. That’s a theory I’ve heard before, and seeing it in continuity, with Batman AWARE of it… Cool Comic Book Moment.

BTW, if anyone can point me to the issue where that “thick as your arm” comment is, I’d appreciate it. I came across it on a forum years ago and would like to own it.