While it’s true that Batman is a vastly different character than Captain America, the two are constantly being compared. That comparison has its basis in the idea that neither has super powers to speak of, yet they fight similar fights. To be clear, despite their apparent deaths this editorial is about Steve Rogers and Bruce Wayne not Bucky Barnes and Dick Grayson. What I want to discuss today is simply why are the two stories seemingly mirroring each other in overall theme?
Let’s start with Cap, who has been dead for almost three years now. His former sidekick was reintroduced into the story and eventually went on to become the new Cap. It looked for a time that this was a permanent switch, but who are we kidding, the revolving door in comic book heaven is working just fine. It has been revealed in recent issues that Cap wasn’t just shot in the stomach with a simple gun, no this was a gun that could apparently send the victim barreling through time itself!
Fast forward about a year and guess what, Batman gets killed by Darksied with a laser that, you guessed it, apparently sends Batman barreling through time! In the case of Batman his replacement is in fact is original sidekick Dick Grayson. How could such a thing happen to these characters at just about the same time?
Comic books aren’t made on a whim, especially decisions like killing a popular character. A lot of thought goes into what happens to these characters, so the question is really, who dropped the ball this time? Marvel and DC have an interesting relationship and have worked well together in the past, but is this some new type of collaboration where the characters go through similar circumstances at almost exactly the same time? Or is this a new era of one-upmanship?
Technically Marvel acted first with the death of Cap, point for them. Looking back, when Bucky first reappeared as the Winter Soldier we should have known then that Steve’s days were numbered. He died less than a year after Buck reemerged onto the landscape. DC didn’t telegraph their move in the same fashion, instead going for extreme shock value with the surprise death of Batman, even though a lot of fans saw it coming.
While Marvel toyed with the idea of several heroes attempting to become Cap, Battle for the Cowl made the Batman issue rather unique compared to Marvel. Battle for the Cowl was a solid story that firmly supplanted Dick Grayson as the new caped crusader. Point for DC.
This comic book pissing contest made for great reading from a fans perspective, Ed Brubaker took the ball and ran with it concerning Cap and has put together one of the greatest single runs in comic book history. What would DC do to score more points with their death story? Not much to be honest. For one, DC never let it stick that Bruce Wayne was truly dead, which is a little weird. Marvel sold the idea that Cap was dead, which is funny looking back because its obvious now that Steve Rogers wasn’t going to stay dead.
Marvel is playing with fire for their part in this coincidence, mainly because Bucky Barnes isn’t nearly as established as Dick Grayson is. Will Marvel bring Bucky full circle and keep him around, or will we see Bucky go back to being dead? Is there room for Bucky in the Marvel Universe?
On the DC side of things the future looks a bit clearer. Bruce Wayne will likely come back sometime after Blackest Night is done, but to what capacity? This is important because these two stories seem to be on the front line of DC and Marvels battle for sales and movie properties.
If I had to declare a winner I would go with Batman for a few reasons. One being that fans have more of a vested interest in Dick Grayson as a character. Unlike Jean Paul Valley, Grayson isn’t a place holder; he’s an important piece to the DCU puzzle. It’s hard to simply discard Grayson like Valley was. Bucky Barnes is historically relevant but the jury is still out on whether he’s made it back into the mainstream. His character has developed slowly but his back story is still pretty light. Plus his supporting cast is still Steve Rogers cast, which makes Steve’s return all the more evident.
What got me to writing this editorial comes from the major similarity between the two stories, the lost in time angle. I dare Marvel and DC to deny that the fates of their two marquee characters are very similar. My question is why? It seems almost deliberate and that’s weird to say the least.
If this bugs you then you’re not alone, I have noticed this strange coincidence as well. Hopefully that’s all it is, a strange coincidence. But how can such a thing happen in this day and age? I call shenanigans.
