Batman 75 Year in Review: Endgame Begins

Batman’s 75th Anniversary draws to a close, so we here at Caped Crusades intend to fill these twilight days talking about the year that was. A lot of big Batman moments happened this year, so let’s review them as many as we can before our year-end countdown of the biggest and best!

In October of this year DC started an ambitious new story arc under Batman super-scribe Scott Snyder. Endgame began in Batman #35 and looks to be Snyder’s ultimate Joker tale, following his acclaimed Death of the Family series in 2012.

"When asked about the big reveal of the Joker’s secret identity, he discussed the event’s origins and just how much planning went into it.…he was designed to be Joker — that was his whole purpose from the moment go.Marguerite [Bennett] knew that when we did the Annual together, and James Tynion knew that. I told Gerry Duggan as I went further, and in the Bat office, we told the other writers as we got closer. So everyone on “Eternal” knew he was Joker as far as a few months ago, but for [me and Greg], he’s always been Joker. That’s why we chose his name the way we did. I was worried that people would figure it out — I don’t know why I was so paranoid, but I was so worried people would figure it out all the way back in “Batman Annual” #2!At one point, Marguerite had him talking more about the Joker and I actually had her cut it, which I feel badly about — it would have been a nice throwback.Where I compromised is, when someone’s talking about the Joker and he interrupts; it always gets interrupted when the Joker comes up. In “Joker’s Daughter,” he’s in that issue, and I think you can start to see it. There’s little things like that, I think, where you can see by design he’s been lying there the whole time, if you look at his appearances. Endgame will be the last time we see the Clown Prince of Crime for a while, so its’s on a pretty big scale. Not only does Joker reveal himself to be undercover for most of the last year, but he uses the Justice League to exact his vengeance on the Caped Crusader.Snyder claims big changes after the event, leaving his personal stamp on Batman books forever.After “Endgame” I’m going to move away from some of the big cinematic arcs we’ve been doing and try to do something more textured and that leads to big stuff and has big stuff at the end of it, but is a little bit more mysteries on the ground kind of stuff, so it feels different. It’s burning certain elements of the mythology down to build something else, absolutely.Source: CBRMore from SuperheroesSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will have a battle pass (and that’s a bad sign)Batman: All 7 Batcycles ranked from worst to bestBatman: All 11 Batgirl actresses ranked from worst to bestAll 31 animated Batman movies ranked from worst to best27 best fighters in the Arrowverse, rankedWe want to hear from you! As always leave us your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!Want more Batman? Download the Fansided.com app for more Batman news! Don’t forget to like Caped Crusades on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!Really love Batman? Caped Crusades is always looking for volunteer writers! Leave us a comment, email me at capedcrusades@gmail.com, or apply on Fansided.com! Published on 12/29/2014 at 1:25 AM ESTLast updated on 12/29/2014 at 1:25 AM EST …he was designed to be Joker — that was his whole purpose from the moment go.Marguerite [Bennett] knew that when we did the Annual together, and James Tynion knew that. I told Gerry Duggan as I went further, and in the Bat office, we told the other writers as we got closer. So everyone on “Eternal” knew he was Joker as far as a few months ago, but for [me and Greg], he’s always been Joker. That’s why we chose his name the way we did. I was worried that people would figure it out — I don’t know why I was so paranoid, but I was so worried people would figure it out all the way back in “Batman Annual” #2!At one point, Marguerite had him talking more about the Joker and I actually had her cut it, which I feel badly about — it would have been a nice throwback.Where I compromised is, when someone’s talking about the Joker and he interrupts; it always gets interrupted when the Joker comes up. In “Joker’s Daughter,” he’s in that issue, and I think you can start to see it. There’s little things like that, I think, where you can see by design he’s been lying there the whole time, if you look at his appearances.After “Endgame” I’m going to move away from some of the big cinematic arcs we’ve been doing and try to do something more textured and that leads to big stuff and has big stuff at the end of it, but is a little bit more mysteries on the ground kind of stuff, so it feels different. It’s burning certain elements of the mythology down to build something else, absolutely.Source: CBRMore from SuperheroesSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will have a battle pass (and that’s a bad sign)Batman: All 7 Batcycles ranked from worst to bestBatman: All 11 Batgirl actresses ranked from worst to bestAll 31 animated Batman movies ranked from worst to best27 best fighters in the Arrowverse, rankedWe want to hear from you! As always leave us your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!Want more Batman? Download the Fansided.com app for more Batman news! Don’t forget to like Caped Crusades on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!Really love Batman? Caped Crusades is always looking for volunteer writers! Leave us a comment, email me at capedcrusades@gmail.com, or apply on Fansided.com! Published on 12/29/2014 at 1:25 AM ESTLast updated on 12/29/2014 at 1:25 AM EST After “Endgame” I’m going to move away from some of the big cinematic arcs we’ve been doing and try to do something more textured and that leads to big stuff and has big stuff at the end of it, but is a little bit more mysteries on the ground kind of stuff, so it feels different. It’s burning certain elements of the mythology down to build something else, absolutely."