Trying to make sense of FC/Batman R.I.P. (spoilers)

[J Sin]

Okay, so I just finished reading FC today. In this, it seemed that Batman was kidnapped and taken to a location where an experiment of some kind was performed on him that did not succeed. Subsequently, Batman broke free and confronted Darkseid, shooting him with the same bullet that took out Orion. At the same time, Darkseid used an incantation that somehow killed Batman. In fact, his corpse is shown at the end of the issue and all throughout the final issue. But then, the last page of FC7 seems to show Bruce Wayne in a cave painting his symbol on the wall while his shadow is his cowl. No earthly idea where he is, what this means overall, or how it related to R.I.P.

I had subscribed to and purchased all the Batman R.I.P. portions of that particular storyline arc. From what I gathered, The Black Glove, led by Thomas Hurt assuming the identity of Bruce Wayne's father, used a trigger phrase long ago implanted into BW to drive him insane. Somehow he got his mind back (unsure of how this happened, as the last Batman issue I read was Last Rites, which also made no sense to me, but perhaps that's for a different discussion topic) and then tried to rescue his girlfriend, who turned out to be in on the whole thing (again, not sure what her motivation was for that or how it made sense, but it's been a while). At the conclusion, both Batman and a Hurt were in a helicopter that exploded and it was assumed that Batman had died.

If I'm wrong in the above synopsis, please feel free to correct me.

What I don't understand is... which of these actually happened? Did both? How? If both, I assume R.I.P. happened first, since we don't see Batman actually die, but then where the hell was he, and how is he alive at the end of FC if he is dead throughout FC6/FC7?

Perhaps I need to catch up on the Batman issues since Last Rites, but the events of FC have turned me off so terribly that going forward I plan to only stick to Batman comics alone instead of these huge epic events that result in nonsense conclusions (Countdown and now FC).

That being said, I know there was a special called Cacophony, but I didn't read it. And I saw a promo for "Battle for the Cowl" as well, though I don't know much about it yet - I assumed it meant, after Batman's death in FC6, Bat-friends would clamor for the cape, but it seems like he's alive (FC7), so I'm very much confused.

Any help you can give me in making sense of it all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, everyone.

[Jkid099]

Both stories happened, just not concurrently. Batman R.I.P. occurred before Final Crisis.

During a flashback shown in Batman #683 Batman actually survives the explosion of the helicopter, and returns to the Batcave battered and exhausted after the events of R.I.P. The flashback shows him and Alfred discussing Dr. Hurt's lies, and their intent to repair all the damage Hurt has done to the Wayne name / Batcave / etc. However, Batman has just gotten a call from the Justice League - they need help investigating the murder of Orion.

This leads into Final Crisis where, of course, before Batman can do anything about repairing his life in Gotham - he's captured by the Gods of Apokolips, and so forth.

Batman #682-683 are essential to your reading of Final Crisis (not sure if you have these as they actually explain what happens to Batman not only after R.I.P., but where he was following his capture at the end of Final Crisis #2 and before his appearance during Final Crisis #6). If you want to know the explanation, it is below, otherwise just pick up the issues ...

During Batman #682-683, we have a retrospective of Batman's life ... further showing how he is unlike any other man alive as he has used all the traumas and tragedies during his lifetime to make him a better hero. These flashbacks are actually being caused by the New Gods who are using Batman as a genetic template to create an army of "Bat soldiers" to further their efforts to take over the Earth. They use a New God entity called "the Lump" who is "mining" Batman's mind in an effort to properly program these clones. However, while Batman managed to come out a super man as a result of his life ... the clones are being driven mad and dying as a result of the memory download. The New God scientists working on the clones kill the Lump and the clones in a panic, and abandon the facility with Batman there. They leave behind his utility belt (which contains the radion-bullet that killed Orion, and he later uses to poison Darkseid) and a "soul-killing" gun that they used to kill the Lump (and that Batman uses to attack Darkseid). #683 ends with Batman waking up ... and then obviously off to attack Darkseid who is in the same facility.

The reasoning behind the two different "deaths" of Batman has been explained as late by Grant Morrison. Originally he wrote Batman R.I.P. more as a story of just Batman up against the ultimate mastermind foe, and how this foe would take him apart psychologically. Editorial intended to have the "death" of Batman in Final Crisis, and asked Morrison to connect the two ... naturally have it so Batman / Bruce Wayne is "gone" by the end of R.I.P. However, for the sake of trade paperbacks, they wrote his "death" ambiguously - so someone could just read R.I.P. and know that Batman was gone after this.

As for how Bruce Wayne is in the past, it depends on how one (or Morrison) understands Darkseid's Omega Sanction. In the past, this ability hasn't really outright killed anyone ... it's either hurled them into a different time period (while leaving a corpse behind), or thrown them through reality to live and die repeatedly in a succession of increasingly horrible lives. Up front, it seems that Bruce has been hurled into the past. However, the present DC Universe will assume him dead based on the "toasty remains" found by Superman. As such, a new Batman in the present is needed ... (that is until Bruce returns)

Hopefully this explains matters.

[nepenthes]

At the conclusion, both Batman and a Hurt were in a helicopter that exploded and it was assumed that Batman had died.

wait, why did you assume this?


Batman survives, goes home, is called by the JLA which you see in a Last Rites flashback. While investigating Orions death he's captured in FC 2, then in last Rites we see him escape (The New Gods are stealing his memories, he turns the tables and starts using his memories as weapons to traumatize the clones which messes up the whole process. The monkey and the yellow guy are about to kill Lump to abort the whole thing but Batman convinces Lump to help him).

What isn't shown is what happens between his escape and busting into Darkseids throne room. But you can imagine this part for yourself, it probably involves alot of sneaking around hallways and karate chopping dudes and until he finds him.

When Darkseid shoots him he doesn't just die, rather his soul or whatever is transported to another plane, another earth, anther time, leaving his body an empty husk. Others can answer this better than I. In Seven Soldiers Morrison introduced the idea that the Omega Sanction actually traps a person in a descending spiral of progressively worse lives. We'll see exactly what happened later on.

[J Sin]

Thanks.

That does actually help a lot, although I don't quite understand the motivations of Hurt and Jezebel in R.I.P.

Also, how does Cacophony fit into this?

[Captain Jim]

Also, how does Cacophony fit into this?

It doesn't.

[nepenthes]

Thanks.

That does actually help a lot, although I don't quite understand the motivations of Hurt and Jezebel in R.I.P.

Also, how does Cacophony fit into this?

Jezebel was a victim of evil at a young age, which transforms her into a malevolent bitch. The whole time she was simply playing a role for her masters, the Black Glove, in the overall plan. Batman says "I know what they did to you, and what they turned you into".

Dr. Hurt..many have come to believe he is some manifestation of 'the Devil'. A pure source of evil, Bruce's existential angst, the black hole in existence, it could mean many things and there's alot of interesting views. One poster here (Retro I believe?) suggested that when Bruce expelled all fear and torment from his soul in Nanda Parbat, the Devil, "who has personal vendettas against every human being on earth" took an exceptional offense to Bruce's temerity, his purification, and went down to undo it personally. He's the tempter, which is an age old motivation of various concepts of 'Devil'. Consider these lines from throughout the run, particularly the last....

(Jim Gordon) "Why did you have to choose an enemy that's old as time and bigger than all of us?" (Batman) "I figured I could take him"

(Bruce) "I was five years old when I first sensed the presence of a gaping, toppling void in the center of existence"

(Bruce) "In my attempts to see clearly in the deepest dark...did I open myself to some pure source of evil? Did I find the devil waiting? And was that fear in his eyes?"

So Batman basically faced down the primal force that's been the driving nemesis of his whole crusade...and made him shit his pants.