Contains spoilers for Detective Comics Annual 2022 #1!Batman is no stranger to time travel, or mystic destiny, and a new comic has revealed that Bruce Wayne’s meddling in the distant past in fact led to his very creation in the present. Destiny is a funny thing, and Bruce’s time paradox is proof apparent of that fact.
part of this repeating cycle. Unfortunately for the Orghams, they don’t count on an unexpected archetype that’s also born that same day, a Dark Knight.
Detective Comics 2022 Annual #1 by Ram V, Christopher Mitten, Rafael Albuquerque and Hayden Sherman reveals that the creation of the archetype that is Batman is actually a huge time paradox stemming from Bruce Wayne’s own time travel. The first act of the Orghams in 1776 is the murder of the Wainwrights, Tim and Moira, analogous to Bruce’s own parents, also now part of Gotham’s repeating history. The Wainwright’s orphaned son is protected by the drifter Aldridge Pierce, who is convinced to save Gathome from the Orgham’s attack by a mysterious driver named Mortdecai. With Pierce donning a mask and cowl similar to Batman’s, the idea of a ‘"Dark Knight" accidently becomes part of the Orgham’s pattern, disrupting their scheme and baking Batman’s archetype into Gotham’s history forever. What’s fascinating is that "Mortdecai’"is actually Bruce Wayne. In Grant Morrison and Frazer Irving’s Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #2, a mostly amnesiac time-traveling Batman lands in the late 1700s, taking on the identity of Mortdecai. By imparting his wisdom to Aldridge Pierce in the Detective Comics Annual, Bruce Is literally creating himself, making sure that there will always be a Dark Knight in Gotham.
Batman Created Himself
This annual also literalizes ideas from Peter Milligan and Kieron Dwyer’s Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City. In this story, the demon Barbatos claims to be the personification of Gotham City, suggesting that it in some way created Batman by being involved in his parents' deaths. Now, with the reveal from Detective Annual, the death of the Waynes was caused by Gotham City, but by its repeating history. With the return of Barbatos in this same Detective run, however, what this precisely means will likely be explored further. The Poison Ivy analogue Aiyanna has called on Barbatos to protect the city, so it’s entirely possible that both Barbatos and the Orgham curse are shaping Gotham.
The reveal of Batman’s time paradox allows Ram V to have his cake and eat it too. Batman was created by a mystical repeating history, but his choice to become Batman was still his own, as he himself sparked this aspect of the repeating history. All that remains to be seen then, is how these cycles play out in the present day with the Orghams return, and whether Batman’s meddling in the past may yet reveal more secrets about Gotham City and himself.
Detective Comics 2022 Annual #1 is on sale now from DC Comics.
