What Happened To Everyone Who Killed Batman?

9. Superman

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DC Comics

When thinking of writers synonymous with the truly great works of Batman, Frank Miller immediately comes to the fore. Well, so long as you ignore his “goddamn Batman” mini with All Star Batman & Robin.

Back in 1986, Frank served up his exquisite The Dark Knight Returns, telling the story of a retired Bruce Wayne who dons the Batsuit for the first time in ten years in order to rid the streets of the scum that’s risen up to pollute Gotham.

Upon returning to action, Bruce is soon on an inevitable collision course with a Superman who is now a government lapdog with orders to make sure that this Dark Knight doesn’t rise again.

Famously, the conclusion of The Dark Knight Returns sees Batman and Superman face off in a legendary battle. In a beefed-up Batsuit – and with some assistance from a one-armed, kryptonite-arrow-wielding Oliver Queen – the veteran Caped Crusader looks to have toppled his all-powerful opponent. That is, of course, until Bruce's heart stops beating.

It was no particular strike from the Man of Steel that was directly responsible, but the sheer intensity of this battle with Superman caused Bruce Wayne to take his final breath. Or so we were led to believe.

Before TDKR wrapped up, readers were let in on the the fact that Bruce had staged his own death in order to go into hiding and later resurface in Miller's 2001 The Dark Knight Strikes Again - where Superman would end up working alongside Wayne.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.