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One of the most unlikely figures in Gotham City knows the truth about Bruce Wayne and Batman — teasing how easily things could change for Batman.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the story “The Weekender” from Detective Comics on sale now from DC Comics.
Batman’s secret identity has long been one of his most valuable weapons. Able to appear to the world as a symbol instead of just as a man, the revelation that Bruce Wayne is secretly Batman could have perhaps the biggest possible impact on his crusade against crime. Yet, there are numerous people who know the truth about him. As revealed in Detective Comics #1040, by Mariko Tamaki, Dan Mora, Jordie Bellaire and Aditya Bidikar, one regular man from the city even knows his secret identity. But while he may not have sinister intentions for the secret, it’s a reminder of just how easy that secret could be to uncover.
After being accused of being involved with the death of his neighbors, Bruce Wayne was arrested. But in the chaos of Mr. Worth’s attack on the Gotham Police in a bid to kill him, Bruce had the chance to escape. But rather than have the police hunting him down, he chooses to turn himself back in. While this will likely help his case, it also means Bruce Wayne — and by extension, Batman — has to spend the better part of the weekend in a holding cell. While sitting in the cell with other low-level offenders, Bruce finds himself sitting with an inebriated Gothamite. The drunk man greets Bruce and reveals a massive secret: he knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman.
It turns out at some point years earlier, the man had been working at a pizza restaurant when he heard chaos break out above him. Soon, Batman and the Joker — mid-battle — fell through the skylight of the building. The man rushed outside and onto the fire escape in an attempt to escape the cloud of gas spreading from the fight. Reaching the roof, the man lay down, trying to calm himself. He was completely hidden in the shadows when an exhausted Batman also made his way to the roof.
Unaware he was being watched, Batman raised his cowl to pull something from his eye — revealing Bruce’s face. Stunned, the man kept the truth a secret. But as he explains to Bruce, the litany of horrible things that have happened to Bruce over the years makes him a perfect candidate for the Caped Crusader. By Monday morning, the man — having sobered up — is revealed to not remember a single shred of their conversation.
It’s a minor moment, and the nameless man is presumably just another figure from around Gotham City. But if nothing else, he’s living proof that Batman’s secret identity — and by extension, the secret identities of the entire Bat-Family — might be less of a protected secret than they’d like to imagine. The simple realities of Batman being a normal human being under his costume means that, like any human, he’s prone to mistakes. Nobody’s perfect, not even the Dark Knight. Even small moments of weakness and fallibility can have massive impacts. Considering that the exposure of his identity to the Magistrate in Future State resulted in an attack on Bruce that left the world believing he was dead, it’s possible this seemingly benign encounter with another Gotham citizen could have major ramifications.
Even if this one encounter doesn’t cause serious chaos for Batman specifically, it’s a reminder that Batman needs to be more careful with potentially his most destructive secret — and that even regular people can end up being the additional chaotic wildcard that causes ruin for the heroes.
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