Is DC preparing to de-age Bruce Wayne?


Missy

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SPOILERS for Batman #134-135 (legacy #899-900)

Spoiler

During the events of Batman #131-135, in which Bruce was shunted to an alternate timeline in which Batman never existed, he once more became Batman to fight evil. Because he's Batman. However, in the penultimate issue, Batman's right hand was sliced off. It was later replaced with a cybernetic one, but Bruce Wayne now only possesses one organic hand.

This will clearly not be a forever change. At some point DC will either "forget" this happened and just say his hand is organic again, or, and this is the point of the thread, regrow the hand through in-universe means.

What are those means?

Well.

Before we get there, DC has allowed Bruce to age in recent years. As Dick, Jason, Tim, Stephanie, and Damian age, so does Bruce. Even if it's not stated verbally, visually he's older. He's clearly a man in his 40s. Possibly mid-40s. Since DC will never let Bruce become as old as his Dark Knight Returns or Batman Beyond counterparts, they're going to have to course correct at some point. That will either mean "forgetting" Bruce is older, or de-aging him through in-universe means.

And there's the connection.

I'm wondering if at some point before Chip Zdarsky ends his run on Batman, he'll have Bruce take a dip in a Lazarus Pit. Not only would this serve to solve the spoiler-tagged problem, but it would allow DC to have a 30-year-old Batman all over again. (If not younger.)

This path also allows the Robins and Batgirls to age without pushing Bruce into his 50s. Yeah, sure, it means Dick and Barbara, especially, would be older than Bruce, but a joke could be made out of it from time to time and it's not like in-universe science / magic hasn't been used to solve similar issues before.

I just don't see any other way out of the spoiler-hidden issue, especially if it could be used to solve the aging one.

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I often bring this up, but during The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul storyline during the Grant Morrison/Paul Dini era of the late 2000s, Batman fought the Sensei and got splashed into the Fountain of Youth which de-aged his body a few years, healing his permanent wounds and all. I know that's long since been forgotten, but I found it to be a simple explanation for how he can still pass for his mid-30s when Dick and Babs are both probably pushing 30 now (Oracle was definitely 30 before being de-aged in the new 52).

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