Bruce Begins to Remember, [SPOILER] Returns in "Batman" #47

CBR

By Stephen Gerding

Published Dec 9, 2015

Bruce Wayne's road to once again donning the cape and cowl continues as expected, but the real surprise is the issue's final-page reveal.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article discusses events from "Batman" #47, on sale now.

In "Batman" #40, the Dark Knight and Joker found themselves locked in a battle seemingly to the death. When the dust settled, Bruce Wayne was an amnesiac wandering the streets of Gotham City, and the Joker was nowhere to be found. This being comics, no body means no death, so when a gentleman with green eyes and a wide smile shows up on the final page of the week's "Batman" #47, his identity seems pretty clear.

While we've seen hints that Bruce would once again take up the mantle of the Dark Knight -- and Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo, and DC Comics' own solicitations reconfirmed as much last month -- the latest issue of "Batman" sent him significantly further down that path. Following a conversation with Duke Thomas, a boy Bruce saved during Zero Year and a member of the growing Robin corps currently spreading throughout Gotham City, the billionaire began to remember his life as a caped crusader.

"I'm... I'm Batm..." Bruce says to himself, before he's interrupted by the issue's real surprise -- a man who appears to be the Joker, albeit a Joker who, like Bruce, has also been reborn in the wake of his "Endgame" battle with Batman. "I was in an accident near here," Bruce tells his new acquaintance. "Ha. That's funny," his friend replies. "So was I."

"Batman" #47, by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Danny Miki and FCO Plascencia, is on sale now.