We don’t talk enough about how, for all of his skills, Batman is only one man. Maybe he has a clear advantage when going one-on-one against a criminal or super-villain who isn’t as skilled a fighter as he is, but when taking down a group of baddies who are all fully armed? That takes some real wizardry. Everywhere you turn, there’s something that can kill you. The danger is coming from every angle. Honestly, we’re not sure how Batman survives it night after night.
Bruce Wayne, at least, has been doing this for years and has trained the rest of the Bat-Family in the proper tactics. Tim Fox, though? He’s still new to the cowl and as far as we know, has no connection to any of Gotham’s other caped crusaders. How he fares when facing off against a highly armed group still remains to be seen, particularly when he’s fighting with an injury. In Future State: The Next Batman #2, we saw Tim track down two murderers who brutally assaulted an unarmed man on the street. In the process, he discovered that things weren’t quite so simple. The murdered man was far from innocent and his killers? Well, they were just grieving. However, any pain Tim feels for their situation is likely blunted by the greater pain coming from the bullet that’s currently in his side—a gift from one of the Magistrate’s peacekeepers. And speaking of the Magistrate, it appears they’ve finally managed to corner Tim, as they open fire on him and the two unarmed killers in this exclusive first look of next week’s Future State: The Next Batman #3.
So, how will Tim fare when the heat’s on and he’s under fire? And perhaps less certain, will the two misguided killers meet a similar fate as their victim? (While murder is wrong, it’s hard to see how they deserve that.) All of these questions will be answered next Tuesday, but you can get a sense of how things go by checking out the preview right now!
Future State: The Next Batman #3 by John Ridley, Laura Braga, Nick Derington and Arif Prianto is in stores and available digitally on Tuesday, February 2.
Looking for a bird—or Birds—of a different feather? Head on over to the DC Community for a preview of the final issue of Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti’s DC Black Label series, Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey!
