Warning! This article contains spoilers for Future State: Gotham #11
The new Superman Batsuit. Jace Fox has taken up the mantle of Batman in the Future State timeline of the DC Universe. While he isn’t the first to be Bruce Wayne’s successor, he did become Batman in a more unusual way compared to the others that came after Bruce, taking up the mantle after Bruce appeared to have died when the oppressive Magistrate regime came to power. Fox has taken that legacy as his own by donning one of the most iconic Batsuits in history.
In Future State: Gotham #11 by Dennis Culver and Geoffo, the futuristic version of Gotham is being taken over by the new Joker who is using an army of androids to bring the city down to its knees. The only heroes left to stop this new Joker, who is much more of a brute than the original, are Batman, Hunter Panic, Red Hood, and Harley Quinn. However, even the team of vigilantes aren’t enough to take this Joker down, so this Batman has to use a suit that looks exactly like the one built to fight a Kryptonian.
The anti-Superman Batsuit Fox uses is seemingly the same one donned by Bruce in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. Fox is introduced to the suit by Jason Todd who shows him where Bruce Wayne kept a number of satellite Batcaves around Gotham City, with one of them containing the suit. Jace Fox wearing this iconic Batsuit is incredibly significant as it is a statement made by the character as well as DC Comics itself that during this time period, Fox is the definitive Batman even though he didn’t follow the path of Batman’s previously written successors.
Terry McGinnis Batman Beyond after Bruce Wayne retired, though he was trained by the original Caped Crusader himself with Bruce acting as Terry’s version of Alfred. Dick Grayson was also Batman for a period of time after he believed Bruce to be dead, after years of being his ‘Robin’ sidekick. These two instances make the Future State’s Batman stand out as Terry and Dick were trained by the original Batman who also gave them his blessing to take over once he no longer could, an initiation period Jace did not go through before donning the cowl.
Jace Fox took the mantle of Batman when Gotham City needed him to, when there was no one else who stepped up to the plate before him. In a way, this assertion makes him more worthy to call himself Batman than those who were given the title. No one made Bruce Wayne Batman, he made himself Batman when he saw people in need, just like Jace Fox did during one of the darkest periods of Gotham’s history. While he did it differently than the other successors, DC Comics’ new Batman has claimed Bruce Wayne’s legacy, something that became official the second he put on such an iconic Batsuit as The Dark Knight Rises’ anti-Superman armor.
