WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Detective Comics #1013 by Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Keith Champagne, Christian Alamy, David Baron and Rob Leigh, in stores now.
Bruce Wayne is someone who is always prepared. During his long years as a crime-fighter, he has earned himself a reputation as someone who, no matter what happens, always has a plan. And while these plans vary greatly in shape and form, they often include a brand new suit or armor for the Dark Knight to wear. Whether he takes out his Thrasher suit to fight the Court of Owls, the Hellbat armor to take on Darkseid and the evil New Gods of Apokolips or the Justice Buster suit to take out the Justice League, Bruce Wayne has a new suit for nearly every occasion.
Therefore, it only makes sense that, as his battle against Mr. Freeze intensifies in Detective Comics #1013, Bruce takes a whole new suit out for a test run -- a suit specifically designed to take on Victor Fries and all of his glacial attacks.
In Detective Comics' latest storyline, Mr. Freeze has taken his quest to cure his frozen wife Nora further than ever before. Thanks to Lex Luthor's help (as part of the Year of the Villain event), Victor Fries now has the means to do what he never could before: wake his wife up. However, before he can do so, he has been running test on a group of women he specifically chose thanks to their genetic resemblance to Nora. Of course, Batman has been on the trail of these missing women and, in Detective Comics #1013, he finally learns who is behind it. With Freeze's name and location, the Dark Knight only has one thing left to do: face the supervillain and stop him.
And this time, Batman's going in prepared. When he shows up at Freeze's hideout, he is sporting a new weaponized armor designed to take on Mr. Freeze's cold, and deal out as much heat as it can. The color scheme of this new suit is meant to echo its function: the contrast of the black and red makes it clear this armor is meant to clash Freeze's ice with fire, but it's still also very much Batman. But what makes this suit really come alive is the new red visor, which not only evokes the bat-symbol right on the mask, but also extends out into the signature bat-ears.
Plus, the breathing apparatus, the fire rifle and the fuel pack also all bring a sort of Firefly flair to this new costume. Better yet, it also comes with its own heat energy ability which emanates straight out of the extra-large bat-logo on the chest -- something that actually ends up saving Batman's life in this latest confrontation with Mr. Freeze. Oh, and if all that weren't enough, well it turns out Batman also has a matching snowmobile to go along with this new suit.
As Detective Comics #1013 comes to a close, Mr. Freeze wins this first round. But the battle is far from over, and we're certain the next issue will reveal even more abilities from Batman's new Mr. Freezebuster suit.
Detective Comics #1014 goes on sale Oct. 23.