10 Scariest Ever Batman Comics Stories
8. Mask
Bruce Wayne wakes up in a hospital bed, bearded, unmasked and unwashed. Trapped in the psychiatric wing of Gotham hospital, he learns that his Batman identity is nothing but the delusions of a homeless alcoholic, of which the doctors have been trying to cure him for years. It's like Buffy's Normal Again, except with the Bat.
Literalising the old 'is Batman as crazy as the criminals he fights?' theory, Mask is one of the best short stories from the Legends of the Dark Knight line, weaponising his demons against him. Illustrated with unusual realism by Bryan Talbot, it leaves the audience questioning whether this might all be but some Elseworlds nightmare.
Thankfully for the detective, this isn't the case, and Batman's apparent delusion is revealed to be but the trickery of a pair of villainous conmen. Admittedly, that resolution is a disappointment, but it's all about the journey, not the destination. And in this case, the journey is Bruce Wayne falling off a building while dressed in a Batsuit made of trash bags.