DC Comics Universe and Batman #50 Spoilers follows.
New York Times and DC Comics Spoils Ending Of Batman and Catwoman Wedding Days Before Batman #50…
….and Catwoman #1 Land In Stores!
New York Times got the scoop from DC Comics. Batman #50 is spoiled big time as is how Catwoman #1 begins (both books ship on July 4, 2018). The revelations:
Wayne Manor is the setting for many of issue No. 50’s emotional scenes, some of which are depicted in parallel as the couple ready themselves for their ceremony in separate wings of the estate.
Ms. Kyle is assisted for her dawn wedding by Holly Robinson, a friend and protégée who was introduced in 1987. Ms. Robinson noted to Ms. Kyle that she had never seen Mr. Wayne so happy. “He always seemed to need his misery” to serve his crusade, she said, as the two prepare to leave for the ceremony. The observation begins to stir some doubt in Ms. Kyle, who later asks her friend, “Am I a hero?”
Mr. Wayne has his own confidant, namely Alfred Pennyworth, his loyal butler for 75 years, who often wonders if his employer will survive his evening exploits. Mr. Wayne complains that his wedding suit is “too tight,” and Mr. Pennyworth is quick to jokingly scold: “Every night you wear a molded leather bat suit. You will be fine.” In another sequence, Mr. Wayne expresses his doubts to Mr. Pennyworth: “Can I be … happy?”
The answers to the questions are found in letters the couple have written to each other before their wedding day. Mr. Wayne’s correspondence reveals an acceptance of Ms. Kyle, who in her time has been a jewel thief, a villain, an antihero and a mob boss. “You’re not someone who can be figured out. Or solved. And never will be,” he declares. He also writes that he can be “more than a boy whose parents are dead,” that he can be “the man who loves you. Who will always try to love you better.”
Ms. Kyle’s letter lays out the truth as she sees it: “You’re still a child, Bruce. A hurt child.” Their happiness, she speculates, would kill Batman, who rescues everyone and turns pain into hope. “How can I do that,” she writes. “To save the world, heroes make sacrifices.”
In order to keep countless innocents safe, she concludes that she cannot marry Mr. Wayne. “My sacrifice is my life. It’s you.”
In the final moments of their story, the bride and groom end up at different locations in the early morning hours. In a silent page, Ms. Kyle sits on a rooftop, contemplating. She discards her veil and leaps toward the street. At the Finger Tower skyscraper, after an hour of waiting for his bride, Mr. Wayne realizes she is not coming. He throws off his tie and takes a similar leap, but in the opposite direction. Theirs is a story that is forever to be continued.
And, I’ll post this last, but the headline of the NYT actually spoiled the ending, the headline!
- It Just Wasn’t Meant to Be, Batman
All of these tie-in one-shot preludes, plus over 100 variant covers, for this ending? The story may be good, but the marketing may well torpedo fan and retailor support? Time will tell.
