WARNING: The following contains spoilers from recent issues of Batman, Detective Comics, Justice League and Suicide Squad.

Batman is one of the greatest superheroes in the world and a veteran member of the Justice League. Although he is known for rarely making a mistake, being in control and always having a plan, Batman has recently been on the receiving end of a few humiliating defeats that suggest the Dark Knight may be losing his edge.

The Caped Crusader's most recent embarrassment came in the latest issue of his own book, Batman #93. During the course of the current "Their Dark Designs" story, Batman has taken Deathstroke prisoner while trying to figure out the identity of the enigmatic Designer. He finds the Designer waiting for him inside of Wayne Enterprises, with the villain seemingly aware of Batman's true identity.

After a brief sword fight with the villain, the true identity of the Designer is revealed and Batman seems genuinely surprised. At that point, Deathstroke is activated by the Joker and incapacitates Batman by running a sword through his leg. Adding insult to injury, the Joker outsmarts Batman and steals the Wayne fortune from him.

Related: Batman: DC Just Revealed the REAL Identity of the Designer

In Suicide Squad #6, Batman works to track down the Squad when they come to Gotham after violently escaping from Belle Reve. Once he catches up with the Squad, a fight breaks out and they give Batman such a good fight that the team leader, Osita, believes that they can take him.

Deadshot, the veteran of the team, tells Osita that continuing to fight Batman is not a good idea and convinces them to try to escape instead. The team teleporter, Wink, then grabs Batman and teleports him high in the air before dropping him.

Batman of course manages to save himself, but when he lands, he takes a barrage of bullets to the chest from Deadshot that puts him down. Even worse, the Suicide Squad steals the Batmobile before they go, utterly humiliating the Caped Crusader in his own city.

Not only is this scene shocking, but it is a testament to the fact that Batman has slowed down and looks to be losing much of his edge. It is very much out of character for him to engage a team of fairly new villains and be defeated like a novice. He didn't seem to have a plan, nor did he seem prepared for a fight he knew was inevitable. It was like he went in blind with no idea of who the new squad was or what they were capable of.

Related: The Suicide Squad Just Pulled Off a Classic X-Men Move

Batman Tartarus

Granted, the Dark Knight is only human and is going to make a mistake every so often, but the errors are beginning to occur far too frequently, especially for a man who prides himself on being over-prepared and able to think his way out of any situation.

Recent issues of Detective Comics saw Batman shot up again, this time by Two-Face, who managed to sneak up on the World's Greatest Detective and place him in a deathtrap. In this week's Justice League #47, Batman and the League face Tartarus, who Batman admits to not knowing was both a god and a place, before the League is trapped in chains by the god. When they are trapped, Superman looks to Batman for a solution. The Dark Knight simply hangs his head and says he doesn't know how they are going to escape.

This is not the first time in the history of the character that he has depicted as losing a few steps. In Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, Batman is seen as aging and retired, famously not being able to climb a rope as easily as he once could and being beaten terribly by a younger opponent.

It is not outside the realm of possibility that Batman is being deliberately made to resemble Frank Miller's vision. Of course, it's highly unlikely the character will retire any time soon, but to see him begin to succumb to the inevitability of aging would be an intriguing and interesting direction to take the character.

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