Top Ten Batman Moments Of 2015
BATMAN™: ARKHAM KNIGHT_20150624003355
2015 was a pretty big year for Batman. We got a first glimpse of him going up against the strongest hero of the DC universe, the penultimate Batman video game (at least according to Rocksteady, more on that later). We saw him go through many changes in comics and more. So now we look back at what are in my opinion, the top ten biggest Batman moments of 2015.
WARNING: Some spoilers may be contained within this list, so read at your own peril
Next: #10:....Batman Dies
#10. Batman Dies
Superhero deaths (especially of the most popular superheroes of all time) tend not to stick, but that doesn’t meant they can’t be exciting, impactful and game-changing. “Endgame” was a masterful telling of what will probably be considered the penultimate battle between Batman and The Joker (certainly the “New 52” versions, since that continuity has been sort of killed off with “convergence”) for a long time. It involved Joker proving how dangerous he is in that he can control the Justice League, teasing the possibility that he might be an immortal being, and the most brutal fight between the Dark Knight and The Clown Prince of Crime to date, presumably ending in both of their “deaths”.
Of course, it was revealed in short order that Bruce Wayne was still alive, and presumably it won’t be too long before we see The Joker pop up again, but the event still had huge impact, one of those being someone else taking on the mantle of the Caped Crusader. Speaking of which…
Next: #9:....Jim Gordon Is The New Batman
#9. Jim Gordon Is The New Batman
While we knew Batman’s “death” was far from permanent, we knew he would be sidelined for awhile. And Gotham city, hell the world, needs a Batman. And while he was on the shelf, somebody needed to step into the shoes of the Caped Crusader. And this has certainly happened before. Bruce Wayne isn’t the only man to wear the famous cape and cowl.
But what might’ve been most surprising after the events of “Endgame” is just who stepped up to be the new Batman. It wasn’t Dick Grayson, it wasn’t Tim Drake, Damien or Jason Todd. It was of all people, James Gordon. I feel like the surprise there is two-fold. One, as much as Gordon might be an ally of Batman and believe in his purpose, he himself is at heart a man of the law and thus wouldn’t become a vigilante himself, and also Gordon has often been portrayed as way too old or at least not in the kind of shape you would need to be consider being Batman. Yet for the past few months, Gordon has stepped up, and put his own stamp on being the Caped Crusader. It seems like a story line they should actually give some more time to, but corporate synergy and all means the original Bruce Wayne will be back as Batman when Batman v Superman rolls around. But it will be interesting to see how this affects the dynamic of Gordon and Batman in the long run (at least til they reboot the universe yet again in 5 years or less).
Next: #8:....Young Bruce Wayne Pulls A Batman
#8. Young Bruce Wayne Pulls A Batman
While Gotham has had plenty of defining moments for Jim Gordon, and plenty of origin-creating moments for it’s increasing cast of villains, Bruce Wayne himself hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to show that this will be the young man that eventually turns into one of the greatest heroes of all time.
That is until this masterful deceit, which is very much in the spirit of the Batman. Sure, Batman can punch criminals until the sun comes up, but one thing that sets him apart from many other superheroes is how masterful he is at the art of deception. And hey, Bruce is like 14 at this point, he’ll get to the physical aspect of Batman in a few years, but here he shows that he’s mentally ready to become Batman, and it’s such a cool moment on a TV that while improved in it’s second season, is a little lacking in cool moments.
Next: #7:....Batman Becomes A God
#5. Batman Becomes A God
Batman in the Justice League is primarily known as a man who stands among gods. After all, he’s the only founding member of the Justice League without super powers of some kind, yet his value to the league is never in question. But as a result of the Justice League story arc “Darkseid War”, Batman becomes a god himself, and probably no role would be more fitting for Batman than being the God of Knowledge, which he becomes when he sits in the Mobius chair (it should be noted this is Bruce Wayne as Batman in a story not connected to any larger events going on in the DC Universe).
But, even at his best, Batman can be kind of a fascist and a jerk, and this turns Batman into an even bigger fascist jerk. Batman used his new powers to stop crimes before they even happened, but that kind of pre-cog future is one the old Batman would have vehemently fought against. Of course since, this is a story outside of current DC continuity, it’s won’t have any affect on the universe at large, which is a shame. But it’s still a really interesting angle to look at.
Next: #6:....Arkham Knight Completes The Rocksteady Batman Saga
#6. Arkham Knight Completes The Rocksteady Batman Saga
Whether you were a fan of Arkham Knight or not, it was a huge 2015 moment for Batman. It was Batman’s debut on next-gen consoles (not counting Lego Batman 3, which isn’t really the same thing) and at least supposedly the final entry in Rocksteady’s Arkham Knight series. Whatever happens to Batman games from here on out, odds are they will be very different from what we’ve been used to by Rocksteady, because why would you try and follow that formula?
Unfortunately, ultimately Arkham Knight will be marred by it’s rather disastrous PC release, which was so bad that even after being taken off sale for months, it still wasn’t fixed upon re-release and it was still so broken Warner Bros. basically ended up giving the game away for free. If this is the end of the Arkham series, it ends on a somewhat tarnished note.
Next: #5:....Batman Teams With The Heroes In A Half-Shell
#5. Batman/TMNT
Batman has teamed with plenty of oddballs in his time, but there may be no more pure fan fiction crossover than the Caped Crusader aligning himself with the Heroes in a Half-Shell. Like this shouldn’t be a thing, it’s too awesome to really exist as an official product, and yet it does. The possible match-ups are endless. How would Batman fare against Baxter Stockman or Shredder? Or dare I even say Krang? How would the Turtles handle someone like Killer Croc or even the Joker?
As of right now, only issue #1 of this crossover has come out, so all we can think of is where this story could potentially go. But if we don’t have Batman punching Krang at some point in this series in 2016, it will have squandered so much of that potential we see right now. Still a huge moment in Batman and TMNT history for 2015 though.
Next: #4:....Dark Knight III Is Announced
#4. Dark Knight III Is Announced
The influence of the seminal Dark Knight Returns has can be felt to this day. It’s spirit and imagery are very present in the Batman v Superman trailers. And while Dark Knight Strikes Again and Frank Miller in general haven’t fared nearly as well, it was still big news that in 2015 we’d be returning to Frank Miller’s dark futuristic vision of Gotham and Batman in Dark Knight III: The Master Race.
And the series is off to a promising start, with a big status quo change nobody could really see coming. Much like Batman/TMNT, we are very early in this 8-issue mini-series, so we’ll have to see where it goes, but considering Frank Miller has plans to write a Dark Knight IV, it should hopefully go in some interesting directions in 2016.
Next: #3:....Suicide Squad Footage Debuts
#3. Suicide Squad Footage Debuts
It’s funny to think that we may never have seen this if Warner Bros. had really dug their heels in. After all, they initially claimed they were never officially releasing this footage, only to relent and put it out in HD roughly a day after that statement.
And while Suicide Squad isn’t really about Batman (though he seems to be in it at some point, and rumor is he put every member of the Squad in prison), it is about many of his deadliest enemies. Some on which are on the big screen for the first time such as Deadshot, Killer Croc and most importantly Harley Quinn. And of course it’s hard to judge from just a few seconds from a trailer, but seeing Jared Leto in action did much to allay fears that he would be some awful juggalo wannabe rather than the psychotic clown we all love. The trailer was great and with very recent news of a new trailer I think I’m actually looking forward to Suicide Squad more than Batman v Superman next year at this point.
Next: #2:....Jared Leto Debuts Joker's New Look
#2. Jared Leto Debuts Joker’s New Look
I don’t think too many eyebrows were raised when Jared Leto was cast as the Joker. Leto is an award-winning actor, he has the chops. But what may have been the most controversial Batman moment of the year is when the DC cinematic universe’s Joker was revealed, and was drastically different than anything that had come before, and not in a good way to most. Getting the Joker right is just as important as nailing Batman, and this seemed to be a swing and a huge miss.
The grills, the bling, the tattoos. All scream some “edgy, in-your face” version of The Joker that only out of touch studio executives would think fans would want. Some pretty wild and desperate fan theories floated around as well, claiming that The Joker was either really a former Robin or that the tattoos were fake. Neither is true, it’s just a very different take on the Joker. As I said in the previous entry, I think some fears have been allayed by seeing Leto actually perform as the Joker, and the fact that he probably won’t be shirtless the whole movie, but it’s still arguably the biggest comic book movie controversy in recent years. Let’s hope Leto’s performance makes us forget the appearance.
Next: #1:....Batman v Superman Trailer Debuts
#1. Batman v Superman Trailer Debuts
C’mon, could it be anything else? I think we were all dying to see the first glimpse of the real start to DC’s cinematic universe and this was it. A historic moment as for the first time on the big screen you see Batman and Superman (and Wonder Woman!) together in a movie! Nothing else could hope to top this as the biggest Batman moment of 2015.
Now whether or not you are a fan of the trailer(s) and the direction they seem to be taking with Batman v Superman is an entirely different matter. I’m not a particular fan of how the movie looks to this point, but the latest trailer raised my hopes a little even if it showed far too much. But I’m also not a fan of a Zack Snyder in general, and am more hopeful that at worse this will just be an acceptable movie we have to get through in order to get an awesome Affleck-directed Batman down the line. We’ll find out in just under 3 months. I’m hoping I’m wrong and it’s incredibly awesome, but Snyder’s track record says otherwise.
And that’s my list of the top Batman moments of 2015! Got any moments you’d like to give a shout out too that weren’t on this list? Let us know in he comments! And look forward to a list of Batman stuff to look for in 2016 in the next few days!