Lost in the timestream since early 2009, the original Batman will return to the DCU's main continuity next year in a six issue miniseries titled Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne. The miniseries will follow the Dark Knight as he travels through several different eras beginning with the neolithic age, where fans last saw him scrawling the bat-symbol on a rockface.
Readers have known since the haunting last page of Final Crisis that Bruce Wayne survived the evil Darkseid's Omega Beam, but Ex-Robin Tim Drake and Superboy Conner Kent are the only DCU characters convinced that Batman still lives. As Red Robin, Tim Drake spent 2009 scouring the world for archaeological clues to his former master's whenabouts. The rest of the still-mourning Bat-family remains deeply concerned about Tim's mental health, even though he's managed to dig up a fossilized batarang, not to mention Bruce's now ancient cave drawing.
Gotham's other vigilantes might presume their comrade lost forever, but unlike the rebirths of Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Flash Barry Allen, the original Batman's comeback was never a matter of "if," but rather "when?" Now that fans know the answer to "when," they're clamoring for the "how." Current Batman architect Grant Morrison had this to say:
"Return is a fairly intricate time-travel story in which the world's greatest hero, the optimum man, is up against the supreme challenge to his ingenuity and skill. How does Batman get out of the ultimate trap? It has a mystery and an apocalyptic countdown going on, there are some major twists and reveals, and it sets up big changes to the Batman universe status quo."
Speculation abounds as to what the Batman universe will look like at the end of the series. Will Dick Grayson (the original Robin, who assumed Batman's mantle after his apparent death) stay on as Batman after Bruce makes it back to his own time? Will the Bat-family take on a new dynamic, possibly placing Bruce into a more Batcave-based forensics role while Dick handles the actual fighting? Will the DCU find itself with two Batmans, a la the Flashes? What will Bruce think of Stephanie Brown's rather presumptuous turn as Batgirl? Will Batwoman have to give up her starring role in Detective Comics?
And what will Bruce do to the Black Hand when he finds out about the skull licking?
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne begins April 2010. Tim Drake's search continues in Red Robin, now ongoing monthly.
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