You Ret-Con Batman

[Mr. Croup]

If you had your way, how would you ret-con Batman?

[Jason H]

Dick Grayson as the only Robin.

Joe Chill IS the Killer of Thomas and Martha Wayne.

Limiting the number of People that know Batman is Bruce Wayne.

Otherwise I like him as is.

[boy wonder]

Two words... Laser eyes.

[Rob H]

Two words... Laser eyes.
Seconded. :D :p

[Mister Intensity]

I would probably continue things from the point before the changes stemming from Crisis took effect. Batman was at a good point: a steady relationship with Catwoman, the Jason Todd Robin coming into his own (talk about a character hurt by Crisis), the unlikely pairing of Robin and Harvey Bullock, Bullock having a real personality beyond hard boiled cop (I like the movie buff aspect of the character). In many ways I felt Batman and his world was more three dimensional at that point. Maybe, the post-Crisis Dr. Moon mindwipe of Catwoman would take place to provide conflict and be something that resonates with Batman instead of something that was never referred to again.

Maybe I would move things to now but the basis would be based on where Crisis left off.

Mister Intensity

[sixstringguild]

maybe update the costume a little bit. Get rid of the blue under-roos. Otherwise, I like him as he is.

[Valen]

Two words... Laser eyes.
And the strength of five Gorillas.

[Murrocko]

Yeah I think the costume has to be updated. I never quite understood the whol underwear outside the pants thing. That just needs to go.

[Jason H]

Yeah I think the costume has to be updated. I never quite understood the whol underwear outside the pants thing. That just needs to go.

They did a few years ago when he had the all black costume. They brought it back , so I guess somebody liked it. It doesn't bother me and the drawings I've seen without them just don't look right.

[The Shadow]

Joe Chill IS the Killer of Thomas and Martha Wayne.

Limiting the number of People that know Batman is Bruce Wayne.



I like Tim as Robin... but I agree with these two

[muimi]

I would definitely limit the number of people that know Batman's identity.

And I'd somehow retcon him so that his personality is more like the animated Batman than the comics one: still kicks ass and gets the job done but isn't quite as much of a jerk.

[Buried Alien]

maybe update the costume a little bit. Get rid of the blue under-roos. Otherwise, I like him as he is.

Batman hasn't worn *blue* Underoos in years. The last time we saw the "Silver Age" era blue and grey costume was when Dick Grayson wore it in PRODIGAL back in '94. It was really the only lasting change from that entire KNIGHTFALL business.



Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[1HELLBOY]

I'd have everything happening to him right now eviscerated. There was NO Spoiler. I hate that character anyway. Everything dealing with War Games, War Crimes all with the word WAR in it. All that crap gone. Things should go back to the way they were in Hush. Oracle still with Batman. Tim and Cassandra still with Batman. And most of what happened in Identity Crisis.

[The Shadow]

I would definitely limit the number of people that know Batman's identity.

And I'd somehow retcon him so that his personality is more like the animated Batman than the comics one: still kicks ass and gets the job done but isn't quite as much of a jerk.
Read the 1970's and early 80's stuff (pre Dark Knight Returns) for this version! Or also grab Dark Detective (and it's predessor Strange Apparitions tbp) for a modern version of this Batman!

[gator_ash]

I would retcon Bruce's childhood so that he was simply born competitive, cunning, intelligent, self-motivated, daring, and a little reckless instead of it suddenly happening when his parents were murdered, though obviously not to the degree he is now. I would change it to where Bruce wanted to be a police officer, soldier, or firefighter growing up instead of a doctor, lawyer, or businessman that his parents probably wanted him to be. I would have Bruce be the child that asks his parents why God lets bad things happen to good people. Basically, I would have it so that the death of Bruce's parents just pushes him much further down a path he was already on as a child.

[Buried Alien]

I would retcon Bruce's childhood so that he was simply born competitive, cunning, intelligent, self-motivated, daring, and a little reckless instead of it suddenly happening when his parents were murdered, though obviously not to the degree he is now. I would change it to where Bruce wanted to be a police officer, soldier, or firefighter growing up instead of a doctor, lawyer, or businessman that his parents probably wanted him to be. I would have Bruce be the child that asks his parents why God lets bad things happen to good people. Basically, I would have it so that the death of Bruce's parents just pushes him much further down a path he was already on as a child.

That might not be so much of a retcon as it would be a fleshing out of the Batman character. The pre-Wayne murder Bruce's life is an area that writers have seldom touched upon. We've seen glimpses of it over the years, but never a fully developed story that concentrated on Bruce's early life (before his parents' death). I think it would add to his tragedy if we saw that the pre-murder Bruce was an emotionally healthy, well-adjusted kid who seemed poised to grow up to a great adult social life.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Lurker]

Less outlandish gimmickie rogues and sidekicks wearing colorful easy target outfits.

Since Batman has no powers, I'd use him as a real-world hero fighting real world crime & criminals . . . mostly.

[1HELLBOY]

Less outlandish gimmickie rogues and sidekicks wearing colorful easy target outfits.

Since Batman has no powers, I'd use him as a real-world hero fighting real world crime & criminals . . . mostly.


But most of his Rogues don't have powers. Joker, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, Penguin, Ra's Al Guhl. They just use weapons and/or hired thugs to do their dirty work. They just LOOK outlandish. Which, if you've read the Ultimate Handbook to Batman, means that most of them adopt a phobia as their M.O. Fear of clowns, fear of numbers, fear of cold and/or being frozen. Batman JUST fighting plain criminals would be boring and not sell the book very well. That's why his Rogues are the way they are.

[meethraa]

First of all, less gadgets. The batcar would still exist, but rarely be seen.

No Robins before Tim. This one would be hard to pull off, especially because I think there's a lot of potential in Dick's character (but I won't go into it lest I get some rage from flaming fanboys), but Tim is the first and only Robin I ever liked.
Tim would still be as independent as he is now. He'd be Bruce's way of training a future replacement, even though we'd still know that Tim has other plans.

Batman wouldn't get involved in JLA's cosmic adventured. His participation on the team would happen in more mystical/political stories, like the earlier Giffen series.

Bruce never found out who killed his parents.

Oh, and he would date. A lot. He would be the worst kind of millionaire playboy, with a huge ego and a superiority complex. Not a very nice guy, but not really intimidating in any way. You'd get the feeling that all his financial success was just a mix of old money and very competent advisors.

Batman, on the other hand, would be less of a jerk. He'd still act basically the same way with most people, but you'd see the real man around Alfred and Tim and some of the core JLA. Being a tormented person doesn't mean looking like one all the time. Some writers could remember that.

More of the classic detective work and multiple disguises/identities. I just read Half A Life for the first time today, and one of my favourite scenes was Batman standing in the shadows, impersonating a police officer. I'd like more of that, he should be the guy that you rarely actually see, which brings me to another big point...

The urban legend angle. I like that idea. Not 100%, in the sense that people have seen him and were saved by him, and the signal would definitely be up, but a lot of people would think he was just a bogeyman created by the MCU to keep the crime rate low.

And Catwoman and him would get it on occasionally. Always as the Bat and the Cat, though. No "normal people" relationship between those two.

[gator_ash]

That might not be so much of a retcon as it would be a fleshing out of the Batman character. The pre-Wayne murder Bruce's life is an area that writers have seldom touched upon. We've seen glimpses of it over the years, but never a fully developed story that concentrated on Bruce's early life (before his parents' death). I think it would add to his tragedy if we saw that the pre-murder Bruce was an emotionally healthy, well-adjusted kid who seemed poised to grow up to a great adult social life.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)


I see your point. On the other hand, many children lose their parents in comics and don't end up as driven as Batman. I also hate to throw real word logic into a comic book, but many mainstream psychologists suggest that a person's basic personality is very well established by age 12, the age when Bruce lost his parents. I think both of our ideas are not mutually exclusive though. A writer could show young Bruce Wayne as both competitive and wanting social justice while still being a fun loving, caring child.

[Alan2099]

He's secrely been controlled by a yellow fear monster since having his back broken.

Well, it would explain his jerky behavior and it worked for Hal!

[Mister Intensity]

He's secrely been controlled by a yellow fear monster since having his back broken.

Well, it would explain his jerky behavior and it worked for Hal!

I like that one. :D

Mister Intensity

[Mr. Croup]

I think that Batman Begins had a pretty good origin in it. The only things that I would change is that Bruce would find out that Lucius Fox, Alfred, and Thomas Wayne were all members of a secret society that had been fighting against the Society of Shadows down through the centuries.

Robin would be a street kid imitator of Batman. Batman would be in the Narrows and find a couple of crooks tied to a street light, and he would also find some copies of his batarangs and other stuff. He stake out the place, and discover that he had a imitator who was pretty good. The relationship would be like that of Batman and the New Batgirl. Alfred would outfit him, like the 1960's version did for the 1960's Batgirl. Batgirl, or Batwoman would be Barbera Gordon. The Wraith would be returned to the pages of Batman.

Who is the Wraith? He was a pre-Crisis villan who was a mirror image of the Batman. He parents were a couple of second-storey artists. On the same night that Thomas and Martha Wayne were to be gunned down, the Wraith's parents had gone out to do a job, and he followed them. Their job went wrong, and they got into a fire fight with the GPD, in fact, the cop who ended up shooting them was Patrolman James Gordon. The Wraith saw Gordon shoot his parents. The Wraith became a thief and assassin, with similar weapons and acutrements to the Batman's, except, he used a gun. Years later, the Wraith would encounter the Batman while he was trying to get revenge on Commissioner Gordon.

The Penguin is a bored rich kid who does crimes for the "Kicks".

[Jason H]

The Wraith would be returned to the pages of Batman.

Who is the Wraith? He was a pre-Crisis villan who was a mirror image of the Batman. He parents were a couple of second-storey artists. On the same night that Thomas and Martha Wayne were to be gunned down, the Wraith's parents had gone out to do a job, and he followed them. Their job went wrong, and they got into a fire fight with the GPD, in fact, the cop who ended up shooting them was Patrolman James Gordon. The Wraith saw Gordon shoot his parents. The Wraith became a thief and assassin, with similar weapons and acutrements to the Batman's, except, he used a gun. Years later, the Wraith would encounter the Batman while he was trying to get revenge on Commissioner Gordon.


I remember that story from back in the 80's. The Wraith was very cool. If I recall, His costume was similar to Batman's and was a maroonish color. Wasn't Leslie Thompkins in the story as well?

[We R. Venom]

heres my retcon. Bruce and Selina had a child whom later became batgirl. also, i would have had barbara nto parralyzed.

[Lightbend]

I remember that story from back in the 80's. The Wraith was very cool. If I recall, His costume was similar to Batman's and was a maroonish color. Wasn't Leslie Thompkins in the story as well?

I remember him-I thought he was called Rogue, but it could be someone else.

Apparently, this is what Morrison was drawing on when he made Prometheus.

[TheOnlyXTremeFan]

1. Jason Todd was never resurrected.

2. Spoilers was Robin for at least a year, that would've made for a better tragedy, IMHO. I just read War Drums today and it was like, three issues and done, goodbye.

3. I agree with whoever said less Bat-gadgets.

4. I would've kept Batman and Catwoman in a relationship at the end of Hush.

5. I would've made Azrael a more tragic figure. I don't really like the path they chose with the character. I would've made "the system" a whole different entity in his personality. So he goes out, fights crime as Batman (under Bruce's rules, too) but then blacks out from time to time and kills a couple criminals, wakes up in the mansion thinking he's doing a great job as the temporary Batman. Bruce realizes "the system" is taking over and has to stop him before there's no more JPV.

[jonahhex]

the return of Batmite and Ace the Bat Hound. ret-con the book back to the days when Jack Schiff was editing the book in the 1950s and early 1960s. ;)