The following article contains spoilers from Batman vs. Robin #4, on sale now from DC Comics.

The explosive conclusion to the battle between Batman and the Devil Nezha did not disappoint. However, in the process of saving his son, Batman may have accidentally caused a massacre in Batman vs. Robin #4 (by Mark Waid, Mahmud Asrar, Scott Godlewski, Jordie Bellaire, Steve Wands). After putting on the Helmet of Fate, the resulting conflict caused it to shatter, with the pieces dissolving into the increasingly volatile Lazarus resin.

Considering that the helmet was by that point a prison for multiple mages within the DCU, it stands to reason that the destruction of the helmet also resulted in their souls being lost. If so, then Batman is indirectly responsible for their deaths, as it was his decision to use the helmet at all.

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Batman May Have Killed Nezha's Victims

Batman-Helmet-of-fate

In preparation for his son's return, Nezha had been siphoning the magic of other magicians into the Helmet of Fate, using it as a focal point of magical energy. He intended to use this superweapon to dominate the minds of the entire planet. This would make him the undisputed ruler of several billion, and a percentage of those would have been metahumans. Unfortunately for the victims of his machinations, their souls were trapped within the helmet along with the power.

Batman mentioned hearing their voices guiding him during his battle with Nezha, but he was unable to give them control over his body. The strain that resulted from his lack of experience wielding magic eventually caused the helmet to break into several pieces. The explosion was enough to knock Nezha back, but it robbed Batman of his best weapon against the villain. To make matters worse, the pieces fell into the Lazarus resin, which had become more and more unstable as time passed. It was this mixture that triggered the volcanic eruption that would lead to the Lazarus Planet event, but it also meant the helmet, and those trapped inside it, are presumably gone.

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The DC Universe Just Lost Most of its Mages

Helmet of Fate Fragments

From Jakeem Thunder to Timothy Hunter, and even the Phantom Stranger, some of DC's most powerful and prominent magic users were kidnapped by Nezha and used to fuel his weapon. Since they couldn't break out on their own, it could only mean that their souls were bound to the helmet. Should anything happen to it, then they were likely doomed as well. By that logic, Batman is responsible for the loss of several lives. Nezha may have put them in this situation, but Batman made the executive decision to use the helmet, knowing what had become of the mages whose bodies he saw earlier.

Of course, there is the slight possibility that the destruction of the helmet meant the souls were freed. As shown in the fight the helmet's shattering released a massive blast of energy. This could have been all the souls escaping to return to their bodies before the shards hit the resin. Given how quickly the volcano detonated though, along with the fact that they would have woken up heavily disoriented in an unfamiliar cave system, it's unlikely that they would have survived being so close to the eruption. There is a good chance that no matter this issue might have been the last fans will see some of these characters for quite some time.