Although he became famous as Robin, Tim Drake is poised to be Batman in the future DC Comics. That was the massive revelation made in the latest run of DC’s Detective Comics about Tim Drake making a comeback from the dead after his friends and family had been witness to his murder by the new Gotham villain as a part of DC’s Rebirth. The truth is that Tim’s murder was only an illusion and he was actually taken captive by an unknown villain who was aware of the fact that the ex-Robin was extremely smart, talented and had a destiny too great to oppose him. At the time when Tim escapes that prison and returns to DC’s Universe, he realizes that it is these qualities that will ultimately make him the Batman after Bruce Wayne’s fall in DC’s future.
That’s how things were planned to be or maybe still are, that’s the kind of confusion that builds this story. The latest Detective Comics issue is based on all the things that have been created by Tynion IV, Eddy Barrows and other members of the Detective team ever since Rebirth. This is including Tim’s exit from playing Red Robin and Bat-Family to pursue academic excellence. However, Tim came face to face with the future Batman, and he saw that it was nothing but a mirage for him to imagine a life beyond the Batman’s shadow.
Tim Drakes of the future told Tim that he is destined to be Batman and way more corrupt than he had ever thought of himself to be.
IS TIM DRAKE MEETING THE FUTURE BATMAN AKA TIM DRAKE?
It is impossible to accurately define the ‘prison’ where Tim Drake was held hostage, and it is the same case about the guy who held him there – a revived Jor-El, the father of Superman. While the reason or even the location of his incarceration is unknown, it still turns out to be a great news. The “death” of Tim was quite a dramatic decision to sacrifice his own existence for Gotham. Tim had resolved to inform Bruce about quitting ‘Red Robin’ after he had built a system which enabled the Bat-family to protect Gotham (and others) totally, but, had also started harboring dreams of a normal, happy life with his lady love Stephanie Brown, the Spoiler.
Therefore, when Tim did get a chance to escape the prison in what seemed to be an otherworldly castle, he was not shocked to hear Batman’s voice on his radio, assuring to give him permanent freedom. The only difference was that it wasn’t the Batman that Tim Drake was accustomed to. It wasn’t Bruce Wayne. It was himself but much older and someone who used guns to keep the enemies down. That too not just any usage of guns, but, the same guns that were used to kill Thomas and Martha Wayne, which have now been redeemed to be used on villains. Therefore, it is clear that Tim Drake would be a much darker and nastier hero than he ever thought of himself to be.
At this point, the story moves to the older Tim Drake and the sequence of events that brought him to the same prison, and that clarifies all the darkness in Tim’s future. The fact is, that despite not wanting to be Bruce Wayne’s heir Tim was the only Robin left standing to do the job.
WHAT IS THE FATE OF THE ROBINS?
As an added bonus, Detective Comics #966 revealed the futures of Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Damian Wayne. The futures we talk about are what they were destined to have before a strange twist happened in the timeline – which could be the “Rebirth” mystery which will be explored in the Geoff John comics Doomsday Clock. These are not heart-breaking, but, predictable, yet, a clever acceptance of the past and present storylines.
Tim of the future tells the younger Tim Drake that the most obvious Batman was to be Dick Grayson. However, Dick never became Bruce, and that became critical. Dick longed for a family and kids and “moved on” just the way he is renowned for being. There is a panel which showed Dick denying to accept the cowl when Tim asked him to, however, it is apparent that Grayson is moving into the very house that he inhabits in his dystopic future Nightwing: The New Order series. Therefore, just hang on.
With Dick exiting, Tim then tracked the next ‘Red Hood’ on the other side of the planet and found a masked hero battling with a hundred savage killers. Most of the attackers get killed in the fight that saw Jason lose an eye, a leg and whatever willpower he had to carry on. Taking everything into account, this is the kind of ending that Jason Todd was bound to have. Next in line was Damian and for that, we can have a look at the nightmare vision of Damian’s Gotham which we had first seen in Batman #666.
Ultimately, there was no option for Tim, but, to accept his fate. The only thing was that the kind of life that he wanted to escape was the life that caught up with him. He was ultimately compelled to murder and separate himself from his friends and family and to make even Stephanie Brown reconcile to the fact that the Tim that she loved was no longer exists. This was the track that led him into a prison with the younger Tim Drake, and ultimately both were freed, and the younger Tim went home and continued onwards towards his destiny, until…
WILL A MURDER MODIFY TIM DRAKE’S FUTURE?
Let’s begin with the good news. Once Tim came back to the present DC Gotham, but, before the older Batman Tim went back to his time and responsibilities, he found an unforeseen twist. The Tim, Gotham and the reality in this version are not exactly identical to what he remembered. A sharp cut across Tim’s arm created a scar on the older Batman’s flesh affirmed the fact that the past could be modified. While he was rough and tough when he told Tim that it was stupid to imagine another life, Batman’s eyes well up with tears of joy when he realized that there was an opportunity to amend things.
That’s where the bad news comes in. Instead of hugging the younger Tim, Batman unleashed an electrical blast to paralyze him. Therefore, he could go executing his mission alone. It seems like while this opportunity to modify the past and escape from the cowl was unlikely, it might all have been planned by the older Tim Drake (he still happens to be Tim, after all). To protect the future and avoid the “Elimination of the Batmen,” all that Tim had to do was to kill one person: Batwoman.
Why or how Kate Kane was responsible for everything to go so wrong is something that hasn’t yet been revealed, and fans are left speculating whether Kate was instrumental in Bruce Wayne’s death. However, now that Tynion controls Tim, Bruce, and Kate since the Rebirth of the series, it is increasingly becoming clear that this is where things are headed.
So what’s up next? We need to wait and read to know more as even the future Batman doesn’t know anymore.
