Originally published on Patreon
What happens when five Batmen end up in Gotham, all with their own agendas, and none of them willing to work together or listen to the others? Fights. It ends in fights.
The story of the multiple Batmen continues in the latest issue of Future State, and it's leading to violence and the fracturing of the Bat Family. Jason, having picked up an intruder alarm on one of the Batcaves scattered throughout the city, finds Talia and Bruce back in the city; however, having recently been manipulated by Hush for a while, Jason doesn't believe that this is Bruce, or that he's even alive. While Bruce tries to deescalate things Jason is ultimately stopped when Talia impales him on her sword. Bruce makes the reckless decision to leave the wounded Jason in order to continue tracking down Damian (which I'm sure will help convince Jason that he's the real Batman).
Speaking of Damian, he's being further manipulated by Hush, posing as Bruce, who tells him about three impostor Batmen he fought years ago before Damian entered his life, and how they're back in Gotham. He tells Damian that they, and the city, need destroying in order to save the day. I like the nod to the Morrison run and the three Batmen there, and how it's being used here to justify turning Damian against the others. I also enjoyed the peeks we get into Damian's time in hell; it's also easy to see how Hush is manipulating when you start to realise the things he's been through over the years.
Meanwhile, Dick is confronted by the rest of the Bat Family, who refuse to allow him to continue on as Batman, shutting them out, and using the Brain drug. However, Dick seems to have seen this outcome thanks to the precognitive drug, and has prepared to fight his friends and family. I'd put good money on Dick being able to fight off several members of the team on a normal day, but with him on the drug it seems that the fight is not going to go well for the others.
The issue ends with the final Batman, Jace, being attacked by Damian and Hush. The final page shows Jace with a hellfire Batarang stuck in his chest, whilst Damian makes ready to deliver a killing blow.
Future State: Gotham is a series that has a lot of room to do its own thing, so I kind of wouldn't be surprised if it did decide to just kill people off, and that Damian could kill Jace next issue. However, Bruce jumping in to save Jace and confront his son, leading to a 'which is the real dad?' stand-off is kind of where I see things going.
I'm not sure how this particular story arc is going to wrap-up, and I can see this book bucking the expected trend and doing something completely unexpected and wild. Could we lose a Batman or two for good? Possibly. Whatever happens, it's probably going to be a bit weird.
The back-up story for this issue focuses on Cassandra in the Future State, Magistrate controlled Gotham. The story is in full colour, and looks really nice. Cass gets chased by Magistrate across the city, and we get to see how cool she is as she dodges bullets, beats up soldiers, and dash from rooftop to rooftop. It's a fun little story that just shines a spotlight on a character that's always a lot of fun to spend time with.
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