Whenever fans debate whether Batman would beat a superhero that has an advantage over him, be that Superman, The Flash, or Captain America, the answer also relies on Batman's ability to think ahead. Along with Batman's psychological warfare against criminals, his greatest strength is being able to plan and research his enemies' flaws to use against them.
However, Batman cannot predict the future. He's a mere mortal and while he's at the peak of strength and intelligence that any human can attain, he's still fallible. The DC Universe can be chaotic and unpredictable. Batman's skills to deal with that universe are outstanding. Yet there are some tragic events that even the brilliant Caped Crusader cannot see coming.
10 The Shooting Of Barbara Gordon
The Killing Joke is considered one of The Joker's greatest origin stories brought about by the legendary Alan Moore. While there's a lot of notable plot points for DC fans, the key event that sends waves in the DC universe is Joker's shooting of Barbara Gordon, leaving her paralyzed. Neither Batman nor Jim or Barbara Gordon saw this coming. While this may seem small in the grand scheme of the Universe. But it's significant as Barbara becomes The Oracle, debuting a hero with a disability. Eventually becomes Batgirl again to exact her revenge.
9 No Man's Land Destroys Gotham
The most devastating event to ever hit the struggling city of Gotham brought a number of unexpected obstacles for Batman. After a virus and earthquake destroys Gotham, Bruce Wayne goes to Washington, DC to ask for help from the federal government to save his home city. The government turned Bruce down and declared the city "No Man's Land" before sealing it off from the general population. This was a year-long DC event and also brought out one of Joker's most evil moments.
8 Flashpoint Turns Reunites Thomas And Bruce Only Briefly
DC's Flashpoint was a very popular event among Flash fans that saw the Flash going back in time to save his mom and by doing so messing up the DC Universe. One of the biggest changes is that Thomas Wayne lives to become Batman after Joe Chill kills his son Bruce. Thomas Wayne becomes a much darker version of Batman that kills his enemies. The most unexpected event though is that after Flash and Bruce search for Reverse Flash, Batman gets to briefly meet (and fight along) his father, only to have him taken away as the Flashpoint universe unravels. What's most tear-jerking about this moment is that Thomas begs Bruce to give up being Batman in his universe.
7 Tower Of Babel Terrorizes The Justice League
This tragedy is not only a tragedy that the Caped Crusader did not see coming but it's also his fault. The JLA series Tower Of Babel Ra's Al Ghul leaves every member of the Justice League, except for Batman, incapacitated as he plans to destroy the world's ability to communicate.
Batman's paranoia led him to create plans on how to take down every member of the league which Ra's eventually got ahold of. The JLA recovered from the attack but it severed trust with Batman and caused the league to expel him from the group.
6 Alfred Kills Bruce To Stop The Anti-Life Equation Virus
To be fair, no one in the DC Universe saw the Anti-Life Equation virus coming. Cyborg spreading a virus after being infected by Darkseid through the JLA for a loop. In DCeased, one of the saddest tragedies occurred when Nightwing and Tim Drake are infected with the zombie virus and ultimately infected Bruce. Alfred had to kill Nightwing and Tim while Bruce tried to slow down the virus spread with Mr. Freeze's suit. Bruce was able to warn others such as Superman about the virus. But once the virus spread was complete, Alfred had no choice but to kill Master Bruce. Alfred killing a zombie-like Bruce was certainly not in Batman's plans.
5 Jason Todd Has To Bury The Bat Family
The ultimate tragedy and irony of DCeased was that of Jason Todd, who was brutally murdered and resurrected as the Red Hood and had to bury Bruce, Dick Grayson, and Tim after they were killed. Jason finds all three of them spread out on the floor and ends up writing their own epitaphs on their tombstones. His engraving for Bruce was very noticeable as it encapsulated their complicated relationship. While Bruce always felt guilty about Todd's original death, he would've never imagined a universe where Jason buried him
4 The Death Of Jack Drake
Very few events in Justice League's history rocked the core trust of each other like Identity Crisis did (besides Tower of Babel of course). The murder of Elongated Man's wife caused unintended tragedies in the Dark Knight's circle. The villainous hitman Captain Boomerang puts out as hit on Jack Drake, father of Robin aka Tim Drake. Jack manages to shoot and kill Boomerang but Jack also gets hit in the process. Batman holding Tim while he's grieving over his father is one of the most memorable scenes in the series.
3 City Of Bane Sees Thomas Wayne Turn And Alfred Dies
Alfred Pennyworth's death is something that devoted readers for years and years did not see coming, let alone Batman. In Batman #77 as a part of the "City of Bane" series, Thomas Wayne returns from the Flash's alternate universe to the DC Main Universe. Thomas helps as Bane who now completely runs the city of Gotham.
As if that doesn't hurt Batman enough, Bane makes a promise that if anyone from the Bat-Family is seen in Gotham, Bane's hostage Alfred will die. Damien can't help but break the rule to attack and Bane snaps Alfred's neck in retaliation. It's a blindsiding and gut-wrenching act not only for Bruce but for fans who've grown attached to Alfred as a surrogate father to Batman
2 Batman Gets Killed By Darkseid
Batman's fight against Darkseid in Grant Morrison's Final Crisis is inspirational but a result of poor planning. The League is fighting to defeat Darkseid, Batman is captured by Granny Goodness, Darkseid's Lieutenant. Batman's choice to underestimate his opponents lead to him being captured by Darkseid. The good news Batman is able to Darkseid with a Radion bullet and although it seems that Darkseid killed Batman in the process, the Caped Crusader comes back to the DCU.
1 The Death Of Jason Todd
There's arguably no event more unexpected and tragic than the death of Jason Todd. Batman knew that he had started Jason as Robin way too young. Jason was impulsive and bad-tempered. But Death In The Family showed that Batman was not expecting a Robin he took under his wing to be brutally murdered by The Joker. The iconic scene of Batman holding Jason's lifeless body shows a mixture of confusion and despair in Batman's soul. Even though the readers killed Jason off in a poll, it was one of the events in the comic book world that put an age of innocence to rest.