This Wednesday, Batman: Lost hit shelves and provided readers with a bizarre and wonderful look at the past, present, and future of the Dark Knight. However, mixed in with all the cosmic wonder of this issue, we found a few pieces of evidence which indicate that an upcoming Batman story arc will involve Bruce Wayne revealing his secret identity to the world. Today we dig into this evidence and see if this theory is a possibility or simply a case of our overactive imagination.

(spoilers for Batman: Lost and recent issues of Batman ahead)

In the first few pages of Batman: Lost (Review), an elderly Bruce Wayne is seen sitting in his study when his granddaughter, Janet, asks to hear a story from his days as Batman. In this future, Bruce apparently catalogued all of his adventures into writing and bound them as books in his library. The existence of these books in a rather public place and the fact that Janet knows who her grandfather is, indicate that Bruce is far more open with his identity and has, most likely, made his role as Batman public to the world. There are even pictures on the bookshelf which further give credence to this idea (which we discuss below). It almost is like DC Comics is teasing a world where people know that Bruce Wayne is Batman.

Based on recent events, this would make sense as a direction to head with Batman’s character. In Batman #22, Bruce had an encounter with an alternate version of his father, who pleaded with him to stop being Batman. He encouraged Bruce to “let the Batman die” and to focus on being happy instead. Only two issues later, Batman seemed to take his advice and ended up proposing to longtime love interest Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman). In Batman #32 she said yes. All of this seems to indicate that DC Comics is letting the Dark Knight evolve more than ever before; which then begs the question to what end is this evolution leading? If the events in Batman: Lost (Review) are to be believed, the answer is a future where Batman has gone public.

Near the end of Batman: Lost (Review) though, we discover that this alternate future was just an illusion designed to keep Bruce subdued while Barbatos takes over the Multiverse. This seems to throw our entire theory out the window, as there is no evidence that anything from this illusion is to be trusted.

That is until a tweet from writer Scott Snyder, the mastermind behind this entire event, brought everything back into relevance. In this tweet, he states that “there is a clue to something big planned for 2018 on those bookshelves in grandpa Bruce’s study…” The items on this bookshelf include a picture of Bruce in front of the Bat-Signal, a police badge with Batman’s name on it, and a picture of an unmasked Batman standing next to Commissioner Gordon. All of these would support the theory of Batman going public.

Thank you guys so much for the response to #DCMETAL BATMAN LOST today. And as a thanks, a secret: there is a clue to something big planned for 2018 on those bookshelves in grandpa Bruce’s study… — Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) November 8, 2017



In addition, a second tweet from Snyder, indicated there might be something of relevance in the titles of the books on the shelf. All of these books are named after previous comic book story arcs involving Batman, except for one. The title “No Justice” seems to come from nowhere and does not appear to have roots in comic books. Is it possible that “No Justice” will end up being the title for the story arc where Batman goes public?

So, in summary, tweets from writer Scott Snyder give weight to specific items in Batman: Lost (Review). These items highlight a future where Bruce Wayne will eventually go public as Batman. This would be in line with recent Batman story arcs where Batman is trying to change his life around. If all this is to be believed, then we can expect it to happen in a story arc titled “No Justice” sometime in 2018. However, we stress that this is all highly speculative, and it is probably far to early to call anything definitive.

What do you think about this theory? Could you see Bruce Wayne coming out as Batman or will that never happen? Let us know your thoughts on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Also make sure to check out our Dark Nights: Metal reviews here and our other Dark Nights: Metal deconstructions here and here.

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