That sounds plausible, to a degree. I think a televised showing of Batman screwing up only slightly, but resulting in the deaths of dozens of innocents would suffice as well.

Agreed. Killing off Batman would be like Disney killing off Mickey Mouse, or maybe Donald Duck, since Superman would probably be DC's Mickey Mouse.

Anyway, it would just be another publicity stunt to sell more books and then Bruce would be back before we know it. People complained and complained about wanting Hal back, the fans wanting Bruce back would be huge.

Only kill off Batman in Elseworlds. In which case, let Tim Drake take over as Batman. Have Grayson continue to try with his own identity.

First off Bruce Wayne is a character that should NEVER be killed or die. Kind of like Steve Rog....he's what?

Not at all unlike Superman or Captain America.

I really like the idea of multiple Batmen. BEcause no one can do everything that Bruce did.

If there was a Batman for the League (Dick)
One for the Outsiders, as they are now, portrayed as bad guys (Jason)
And one for Gotham (Tim)

And I don't think it should be Joker who kills him. I think it would be much more interesting to see Joker hunting down the one who did it, because he believes he is the only one who had the right to do it. Meanwhile the new Batman is chasing after Joker, unsure as too whether he should stop him from killing the killer or not.

I'll take it a step further since Bruce has had some relation with Wonder Woman, Cat Woman, and Talia has produced a son, wouldn't it be awsome to see all three have a son and the kids all take on the role of Batman. Three offsprings working together now that sounds good.

I would like to see Jason Todd kill him and take over as Batman. I have liked Jason Todd since they brought him back, he has a good reason for being angry at Batman, and he's doing something about it. His numerous noble attempts to kill Joker are also cool, but he should give up on trying to get Bruce to kill Joker, Bruce is just too weak. The way I see it is Joker is doing what he does best and Bruce is fistfighting with him and Joker takes a step back and makes some lame joke, and then a gout of blood leaps from his head, *BLAM!* Bruce sees Joker fall to the ground for the las time, and traces where the shot came from and sees Jason sitting on a rooftop or landing where gargoyles are and Jason says something like "See, Bruce, that wasn't so hard." then they fight, and Bruce whines on "killing is wrong...blah blah blah... legal system...prison..." all that other #### he always says when he's protecting Joker from someone with a sense of right and wrong. Then they fight some more, and he says "Jason, you know I won't kill you" Jason replies "I know." *WHAM!* crowbar to Batman's face. Then Jason beats him to death with the crowbar and steals his costume. No one finds out Bruce's secret since Jason messed up his face so badly, and Gordon keeps anyone from doing a DNA test out of respect for his fallen friend.
Then, Nightwing and Tim Drake Robin would have a new enemy in their rogue's gallery, which will grow ever-larger, since they are unwilling to kill any of them.

It'd be more fun to watch all three getting getting preggers... at the same time.

Cue the disco music, as Batman begins the horizontal Bat-Tusi dance of love.

If Batman were gone then I would like to see a King Lear style story about how all three claim the Cowl. Then it could only end in tragedy with Darwin's theory ringing true. Gotham would be forever changed and the shape of the Batman persona would be like nothing we've read before. It would shape the victor into the next big super villain in which becomes an adversary to the next generation of crime fighters in Gotham. Then the book would be canceled in six months and all will be returned back to normal pending the backlash from irate Bruce Wayne as Batman fans.

Bruce Wayne dead and his proteges fighting over the right to his identity? I didn't like that idea when they did it in the mid-70s (World's Finest #228) and I think I'd like it even less now.

Of course, that does seem to be the current editorial policy, doesn't it? Take ideas dumb enough to make Bob Haney blush, and throw in enough gore and nihilism to make them palatable to today's audience.

Well, I think Batman should be involved in a huge DC story arc where the government tried to force all the masked crime fighters to register their names on some kind of database. Then after a long struggle against the government he would see that no good will come out of his resistance and surrender to the authorities. His death would come about with a resurrected Maxwell Lord mind controlling Selina Kyle and having her shoot him while he was being taken into court to stand trial for treason.... Wait...why does that sound so familiar? Must be just my imagination.

As far as the person that should don the cowl? My first inclination would be that Grayson should do it. but then I kinda want hiw character to not be in the Batman comics too much. I've always believed a little goes a long way... So it would have to be Tim Drake. Also with Tim as Batman, instead of Grayson, we wouldn't see all the jokes about how Batman is always such a......pain in the rear.

You have been paying attention to Tim going crazy emo-boy over Superboy, haven't you?

Seriously. Were writers allowed, I swear Tim Drake would be gay. Meanwhile, Dick's firmly established as heterosexual as they come, at least since his Nightwing days.

Anyway...

First off, a Batman death could work if done like the Captain America death. Not as in the same story - just that it's built up to, it matters, it's not completely arbitrary and, ultimately, the writer involved isn't doing it just to boost sales.

As for his heir?

Eh...definitely not Jason Todd. Jason should be rotting in a grave. Nor Nightwing, either - despite editorial fiat during the 90's, Dick has moved past the Batfamily. Have him shack up with Starfire and quit all the garbage with Barbara Gordon already. I also don't peg him as anywhere near as intelligent as Bruce nor quite as physically threatening.

Tim, meanwhile...has the potential. But that would require advancing the DCU by about two or three years to get him to the right age, which I just don't see happening. Despite all of Tim's protests to the contrary, he seems destined, eventually, for the role of Batman. It's not going to happen just due to the way comic books work - he's never going to be allowed to grow up and, ultimately, Bruce will be back regardless of what happens in the short term - but were things allowed to reach their logical conclusion, I'd peg Tim as the future Batman.

Mind you, rumors also were that Bruce was going to get locked up in Arkham for a while and Dick was going to replace him for One Year Later. But that never happened, now did it? So I don't exactly give these rumors much credence. Not to mention I doubt DC really has the creative team to do a death of Bruce Wayne story right these days.

I think Batman should die while carrying around an old-timey bomb (black ball with the fuse). He'll be looking but there'll be baby carriages, baby ducks and marching bans everywhere. Kinda like this except it goes off.


What?

I remember when Batman died at the hands of a no-name villain but it sent his teammates out on a search for justice.

Years later, it appeared as if Bruce had caused them all grief from beyond the grave with some damning evidence in some secret diaries he had left (it was also a nice excuse for DC to go through the team's history). Turned out he was still fighting evil with "planning and preparation" as the diaries were full of clues and evidence the team needed to take on a threat.

What? I'm the only one who remembers the Batman of Earth-2?