WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman: The Detective #2, by Tom Taylor, Andy Kubert, Sandra Hope, Brad Anderson and Clem Robins, on sale now.

In training for years to become the World's Greatest Detective, a young Bruce Wayne was mentored by some of the globe's foremost minds and formidable fighters to hone his body and wits into the crusading crimefighter he was destined to be. And now, that crusade has taken Batman to Europe, where he's hunting down a murderous gang targeting anyone that the Dark Knight has ever saved.

In Batman: The Detective #2, he reunites with a familiar face from his early years, Henri Ducard, only to have this new ensemble of enemies lethally target him and cut this reunion horrifically short.

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Batman Henri Ducard Death

Created by Sam Hamm and Denys Cowan in 1989's Detective Comics #599, Ducard was a reputable detective and martial artist primarily operating out of Paris. It is because of this singular, crimefighting reputation that a younger Bruce seeks him out, calling him one of the greatest manhunters in the world. While Bruce learns much about Ducard's deductive and tracking skills, he was shocked to learn that Ducard occasionally works with criminals and has no moral qualms about employing lethal force on his enemies. The mentor and student had a falling out and sometime later, after Ducard has deduced Bruce's identity as Batman, his estranged protege defeats and has Ducard convicted and locked away for his crimes.

With Batman fighting the gang of criminals targeting those he previously saved, the investigation moves from London to Paris, with Bruce riding a bullet train line connecting the two European capitals. He discovers that Ducard is also on the train, having ensured that the dining car would remain private between the two men. Revealing he was pardoned for all of his convicted crimes due to his service in defending London from total annihilation, Ducard offers to help his old pupil track down the gang in Paris in exchange for a hefty payday. As Batman mulls this offer, Ducard is ambushed at his penthouse suite by the gang after they learn the reformed criminal is working with Interpol as part of his early release agreement. While Ducard puts up a valiant fight, he is gunned down and apparently left to die when Batman finds his old teacher.

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Batman Henri Ducard The Detective

Ducard is often depicted as one of the most important mentors in Bruce's training to become a superhero, both through detective and tracking instruction and by providing a clear example of what Bruce could become if he dropped his own moral code. This relationship was underscored by the 2005 film Batman Begins, with Liam Neeson portraying the character, with the genuinely effective plot twist that Ducard was simply a pseudonym used by Ra's al Ghul to conceal his true identity from his most promising student before offering him a moral choice of his own.

The Dark Knight seen in the miniseries Batman: The Detective is a committed loner, having presumably alienated the rest of the Bat-Family due to his obsessive war on crime. Just as Batman seemed to finally reconcile with his old mentor Henri Ducard to take on a common, mass-murdering set of villains, Bruce Wayne's teacher has been stripped from him as the fighting escalates. And with the gang still very much on the loose and plenty of additional targets close to Bruce, Batman's European adventure just got a lot more personal.

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