4. Bruce Wayne/Batman (2008)
Grant Morrisons time at DC in the last few years has been nothing if not interesting. Not only has his Batman run been extraordinary but he also wrote one of the most controversial and endlessly fascinating Event books, ever Final Crisis. The book is polarising to those whove read it, even among DCs most ardent fans. Some love it, some hate it most can agree that its utterly confounding and difficult to follow in places. Broadly, it is about the New God Darkseid spreading his Antilife Equation (a mathematical spell that drains all hope and emotion from those who hear it) across Earth with the JLA fighting to stop him. Just before Final Crisis, Morrison had grabbed headlines by seemingly killing Batman in a helicopter explosion while the Dark Knight was battling Dr Hurt. Its revealed shortly afterward that Batman survived the blast and later in the Batcave received a call from the JLA summoning him to fight alongside them against Darkseid. In Final Crisis #6, Batman battles Darkseid, using a radion bullet to mortally wound the New God just before Darkseid uses his Omega Beams to kill Batman, with Superman appearing too late to save him as the cover of Final Crisis depicts. However, the last issue of Final Crisis shows a primitive man, thousands of years in the past, drawing a bat symbol in a cave. He is wearing Batmans utility belt and lower half of his costume Batman hadnt been killed but sent back in time instead! He made his way back through time in The Return of Bruce Wayne, successfully re-emerging back to present-day Gotham. Dick Grayson meanwhile had taken up the cowl to temporarily become the new Batman of Gotham, a title he ceded once Bruce returned. Where can I read about the (supposed) death of Bruce Wayne? Final Crisis by Grant Morrison, JG Jones et al.