Unfortunately, the uglier side of fandom made its presence known recently when writer Tom King started receiving death threats over the highly-anticipated Batman #50, featuring the wedding between the Dark Knight and Catwoman. Because of the threats, King has been assigned a personal bodyguard while attending Comic-Con International in San Diego.King posted a photo from the convention standing alongside Dave, his bodyguard, with the message, "Because of the Batman 50 death threats they got me a bodyguard for the Con. This is David. He is presumably already very bored with endless looking for toys. For my uh kids."RELATED: Why Are Comic Publishers So Afraid of Married Superheroes
Of course, King isn't the first comic book creator to receive death threats over what may be perceived as a "controversial" storyline, though that isn't an excuse to wish bodily harm to another person. In this case, the controversy lies in the fact that the Bat and Cat wedding never took place, even though the last twenty issues of Batman had been building to the happy occasion, with DC Comics promoting the wedding with a host of variant covers.
Batman #50 had a surprise ending where Catwoman was persuaded by her best friend, Holly, to not go through with the wedding because a happy Batman wouldn't be ideal to wage a war against crime. As the final page revealed, this was all a ploy by Bane to "break the Bat," as the villain was shown standing with other bad guys like Joker, Riddler, Ventriloquist, Hugo Strange and Psycho Pirate.
DC spilled the big wedding reveal days before the issue's release in an article at the New York Times, which left many fans upset at the outlet spoiling the surprise in its headline, to other fans disappointed in yet another comic book swerve of a story arc. However, King would confirm Batman #50 is only the halfway point in his expansive story while teasing big things for Batman #100.
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