The following article contains major spoilers for Batman #82 The City of Bane storyline, which is on sale now!
The City of Bane story arc has been one of the more crazier stories of the latest Batman iterations. Batman’s suffered loss, he reunited with his dead father… from another reality, and he was banished from Gotham City. It all leads to ahead on Batman #82 which promised the mother of all rematches, Batman vs Bane. No gadgets and no gimmicks. Just two big angry men fighting it out.
The series, written by Tom King, had taken Batman to his physical and mental limits when he finally reunited with Selina Kyle (Catwoman) to take back his city from Bane and his most difficult enemy, Thomas Wayne AKA Flashpoint Batman.
After taking his second major loss at the hands of the burly Bane, Bruce Wayne is exiled from Gotham City as Bane and Thomas Wayne have teamed up. Thomas’ actions aren’t necessarily out of pure spite though as it’s revealed that Thomas Wayne simply wants Bruce out of Gotham to pursue a better life for himself. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Flashpoint Batman, Thomas comes from a different reality where it was Bruce that died all those years ago in that dark alley. This led Thomas Wayne to pick up the mantle of a way more violent, and alcoholic, Batman. His wife Martha, on the other hand, loses her mind and becomes The Joker. In the Batman Flashpoint comic, a violent fight with Martha leads to Thomas seeing a premonition of how little Bruce would have grown up to be Batman. This upsets Thomas, who finds a way into that reality to stop it, wanting a better life for Bruce.
Thomas manages to lead Bruce into a false sense of security throughout the series as Bruce heals. Bruce then teams up with Catwoman and thinks of a plan to get Bane out of his away from his Venom supply. The fight is a brutal affair, as you’d expect from these two. With some help from Catwoman, Bruce manages to lift Bane above his head in the ultimate form of karmic justice. Bruce then announces he’s going to break Bane’s spine. Just before he’s about to do it, two gunshots ring through. One hits Bruce in the abdomen and the other through Bane’s head!
The shooter is revealed to be Thomas. It’s all revealed that Thomas’ plan was to take over Gotham and have Bruce give up the cowl, only to keep it for himself. Knowing Bruce would never willingly go for this, Thomas calls for the emotion manipulating Psycho Pirate to help with Bruce’s decision.
What do you think of this latest development in the Batman saga? Is Bane truly dead? Will Bruce give up the mantle of Batman peacefully? Are you enjoying this series? Sound off in the comments below!