Warning: contains spoilers for Batman #147!As Batman fights for his home, family, and life, he just debuted a new gray and blue Batsuit that’s a major statement about what comes next. Recently, Batman has been on the outs with the Bat-Family, officially handing over leadership to Nightwing and Batgirl after the Gotham War broke his trust and morale. But with Bruce gone from his beloved city, a pretender has taken up the Batman mantle, enacting a new era of brutal crime-fighting with Damian Wayne’s Robin by his side.
That pretender is the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh – a repressed personality long held within Bruce’s mind and designed to kick in when he comes under psychic attack. Bruce shaped Zur-En-Arrh as a ‘pure’ Batman without moral constraints. While Zur-En-Arrh won’t kill, he’ll do pretty much anything else, including downloading himself into the unbeatable ‘Failsafe’ robot and taking over Gotham. Now, Bruce is finally ready to fight back, having experienced a major realization – that he’s nothing without his family.
In Batman #147, Tim Drake reaches out to Bruce, who has been working outside Gotham without his usual funds and gadgets. Batman accepts his former sidekick’s help, confessing that he distanced himself from his family due to Zur-En-Arrh tampering with his mind, exacerbating his fears and doubts. Now, he’s ready to fight back. The new Batsuit is constructed of blue and gray panels, with the rare detail of the cowl and ‘ears’ being different colors. It includes an emphasized, symmetrical utility belt, deep eye recesses, and a 10-pointed bat symbol.
For months now, Zur-En-Arrh has been manipulating Batman’s perception of the world, distancing him from the Bat-Family. While the events were noticeable for a long time, they came to a head in Gotham War, in which Catwoman attempted to take charge of the Gotham underworld to minimize loss of life within the city. Taking an absolutist stance, Batman refused to accept any system that would allow for crime, taking on Catwoman and the Bat-Family when they disagreed. Fighting Nightwing and rewriting Red Hood’s mind so he can never kill again, Batman officially broke ties and went his own way.
Sadly, that’s exactly what Zur-En-Arrh wanted. Following the death of Alfred Pennyworth at Bane’s hands, one of Batman’s old contingency plans has gone haywire. Bruce long ago created the Failsafe robot to defeat him if he ever took a life, and the Penguin’s machinations made it look like he’d done exactly that. Failsafe easily bested Batman and his allies, including Superman. Zur-En-Arrh used Failsafe’s arrival to leave Bruce’s mind and take the robot body for himself. Currently, the Justice League believe that the consciousness inside Failsafe is the original Bruce Wayne, with Zur-En-Arrh having faked his death, using the lie to recruit Damian Wayne to fight alongside his ‘father.’
Now, Zur-En-Arrh has taken over Gotham with a fascistic new regime. Tapped into all the city’s technology, he has even created his own prison where Gotham’s rogues are being corralled under the care of Daniel Captio – the psychologist whose training led to the creation of Zur-En-Arrh in the first place. All of this is happening in Batman’s name, and Bruce Wayne is done allowing it.
Batman’s new costume isn’t just a new look – it’s a huge statement about how he’s going to try and beat Zur-En-Arrh. Bruce admits to Tim that he’s weaker without the Bat-Family. While he fears that he’s making their lives worse and dreads any of them being hurt on his watch, the team are far less capable apart than together. Bruce declares he can’t and won’t fight Zur-En-Arrh alone while putting on his costume, making this new look emblematic of his renewed commitment to his family. Assembling his new Batsuit, Batman declares, “I can’t do this alone. But, more importantly, I don’t want to do this alone. Not anymore. I need my family. It’s time to put this monster down.”
However, the suit’s significance goes beyond that. In the issue, Bruce actually creates the suit from technology he salvaged from a former Justice League headquarters in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. As he collects the materials, he reflects that “it’s been home to many heroes over the years, many friends” and indulges in a memory of genius chemist Barry Allen, aka the Flash, helping him design his smoke grenades. It’s clear that from its materials to his motivations in putting it on, Batman’s new Batsuit is an admission that he’s ready to reach out to his allies to stop Zur-En-Arrh.
The comic goes to pains to show that Bruce’s reliance on his friends and allies is part of why Batman can’t leave his humanity behind. Zur-En-Arrh – a Batman without any human components – is busy doing the exact opposite during the issue, designing a team of Amazo androids which will all be operated by the Zur-En-Arrhs of other worlds in the multiverse. Zur-En-Arrh is unwilling to depend on anyone else, to the point that even when he creates a team, he only recruits his own duplicates. The villain declares, “In another world, maybe I could trust others to do what’s right. But time and time again I’m shown that Batman can only rely on himself.”
While it’s great to see Batman reaching out to his family again to beat this incredibly powerful enemy, there is a dark edge to this new costume being introduced now. DC is heading towards the Absolute Power event – a story in which Zur-En-Arrh, Suicide Squad’s Amanda Waller, and the Brainiac Queen will unite as DC’s new Trinity of Evil. Currently, Zur-En-Arrh has turned down an offer of alliance from Waller, making it seem that being ousted from Gotham will change his mind. However, if Batman has designed a new Batsuit and admitted he needs the Bat-Family and Justice League to kick Zur-En-Arrh out of his city, what exactly does he have left when the Dark Trinity finally unite, especially once the army of Amazo-empowered evil Batmen is actually unleashed?
Fighting Zur-En-Arrh has broken Batman down, taking away everything he relied on as Gotham’s protector. Without his suit and gadgets, his heroic allies, or his connection to his city, Bruce has learned why the human element is so essential to the Dark Knight persona. Ever since the Failsafe robot was unleashed, Batman has been losing, forced to confront his worst qualities and the monster he could become in Zur-En-Arrh. Now, he’s finally ready to rise, gathering the Bat-Family starting with the Robin who has always made it his mission to save Bruce Wayne from himself.
While Absolute Power is looming in the future, Batman can only get to that challenge once he takes on Zur-En-Arrh and kicks his dark creation out of Gotham City. While the fight is near impossible, Batman will at least be facing it with the Bat-Family by his side.
Batman #147 is available from DC Comics now.