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8 Batman Stories With Endings That Make No Sense

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Batman is one of the most popular superheroes of all time. Even in these days of MCU supremacy, Batman’s popularity hasn’t flagged at all. With over eighty years of stories, in just about every form of media imaginable, there’s always a Batman story for every type of Batman fan. Batman comics are still some of the most popular in the industry and where he’s gone through the most changes, with all other forms of media taking their marching orders from them.

RELATED: DC: Who Is The Best Batman After Bruce Wayne, Ranked By Effectiveness?

Batman has had some absurd stories over the years with endings that have stretched readers’ credulity many times over. The stories are still pretty great but the endings just came out of nowhere.


8 Batman In The ’50s Is Full Of Bizarre Endings

This one is kind of cheating but the absurdity of 1950s Batman comics really has to be experienced. Batman In The ’50s is a reprint collection that does exactly what one would imagine, presenting Batman stories from the 1950s. The ’50s were a strange time in comics and Batman was home to all kinds of weird stories.

The changes that stemmed from the Comics Code Authority made Batman stories into something that is very different than today, with bizarre sci-fi, weird stories about Batwoman to make sure everyone knew Batman and Robin weren’t gay, and so much more. These Batman stories’ endings were always nonsensical and are something that all comic readers should take a look at.

7 Tales Of The Dark Multiverse: Knightfall Ends In The Most Unexpected Way

Azrael Batman Tales From The Dark Multiverse Batman Knightfall

Tales Of The Dark Multiverse has become DC’s version of What If…? and has opened up a whole world of differences for familiar stories. Batman has been in several, but the first was based on the ’90s classic Knightfall. In it, Azrael stayed as Batman, transforming Gotham into a police state. He held Bruce Wayne prisoner as a torso hooked to machines.

RELATED: DC: 10 Terrifying Batman Villains Who Revel In Horror

Eventually, Bane’s daughter and several others helped Bruce escape, gave him a robot body, and they went after Azrael. They were able to end Azrael’s reign but then Bruce decided to basically keep up what Azrael was doing. While these types of stories always end with things worst than before, it was such a strange way to end the story, especially since Azrael even keeping Bruce alive at all for years doesn’t make any sense in any way.

6 Batman #50’s Ending Has Gotten Stranger Since Batman & Catwoman Got Back Together

Tom King’s Batman did a lot of great stuff for the Caped Crusader but one thing that a lot of fans didn’t like was the ending to Batman #50. This was the wedding issue and DC had been building up to it heavily, so when it ended with Catwoman leaving Batman at the altar, fans were mad at the bait and switch. The explanation made the whole thing worse.

To begin with, Catwoman believing the “a happy Batman is weak Batman” thing is so story-convenient that it’s not funny and if that was what she actually believed, she could have just told Batman about it instead of leaving him. The whole thing was obviously a comic plot, made to stretch things out longer, and the fact they’d end up together eventually anyway just makes the whole thing ever more nonsensical.

5 Batman Never Should Have Been Able To Beat Gotham In Batman: I Am Gotham

Tom King’s inaugural Batman arc, Batman: I Am Gotham, is incongruent with the rest of his run, as it’s more Batman as a superhero than any story that comes after it. Batman meets two young people with superpowers, Gotham and Gotham Girl, and takes them under his wing. Psycho-Pirate turns them both berserk and Batman has to stop them. The thing about it is he never should have been able to take down Gotham.

Gotham is shown to be powerful enough to defeat the Justice League completely on his own. While his powers burn him out and end up killing him, there’s still no way that Batman would have been able to beat him. Gotham had no exploitable weaknesses like other superpowered heroes Batman has fought, so Batman surviving against him, especially driven crazy by Psycho-Pirate, makes no sense at all.

4 Batman: Three Jokers Destroys Its Own Premise By The End

Three Jokers Batman DC

Batman: Three Jokers was an all-around disappointment and the ending adds so much to that. To begin with, the book kills off two of the titular three Jokers, with the only left alive being The Killing Joke version of the Joker. This is bad enough but the thing that really destroys the story is the ending, where Batman reveals that he knew the identity of that version of Joker the entire time.

This book’s entire premise comes from Batman asking the Moebius Chair who the Joker is. While one can speculate that since this moment took place in the New 52, it might have been out of continuity, there’s no way that Batman would know about the three Jokers without it. So, why would he ask who the Joker is if he knew who the Joker was? The ending made no sense at all because it completely destroyed the entire premise of the story.

3 Superman’s Powers Make The Ending Of The Dark Knight Returns Make No Sense

The Dark Knight Returns is one of the most important Batman comics of all time and most people love the ending. Batman tricks Superman into thinking he’s dead but at his funeral, Superman realizes he was tricked and lets it go. The problem comes in why didn’t Superman realize Batman wasn’t dead when Batman “died” in his arms?

Even if Batman took a Romeo and Juliet style soporific that slowed down his breathing and heart rate, Superman is someone who can hear atoms scarping together. Even with his reduced powers, he’d still be able to tell that Batman was alive after his heart “stopped” if he was holding him in his arms. It was a cool ending but it was strange that he didn’t know the whole time that Bruce was faking his death.

2 Batman: The Last Knight On Earth’s Ending Has A Very Weird Moment

batman last knight on earth

Batman: The Last Knight On Earth is a cool post-apocalyptic Batman story that teams Batman up with Joker’s severed head to figure out what happened to the world in his absence. The world-building is top-notch, there’s a great twist about the evil overlord ruling the now-ruined world, and the ending has a nice hopeful bit that gives the world and the characters a new chance. The problem is the how of that ending.

RELATED: Has Batman Ever Killed? & 9 Other Questions About The Caped Crusader, Answered

The end of the book sees Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Joker, now Robin, awaiting something. It’s revealed to be a rocket carrying an infant Kal-El. This isn’t a world without a Superman, though, as Lex Luthor killed Superman before the story started. This is apparently a multiversal Kal-El or something, which is just a strange thing in general. Great story, bizarre ending.

1 Batman: Endgame Sees Batman & Joker Seemingly Kill Each Other

Joker Batman Endgame

Joker is one of Batman’s greatest foes and he popped up several times in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman. Endgame was the team’s big Joker story and it opened up a lot of questions about who the Joker was. The story ended with Batman and Joker fighting it out in the Batcave and both dying, although they’d get better. It was a great fight but somehow, the Joker was actually challenging Batman in the fight.

That’s the biggest problem. Batman is amazingly strong for a non-superpowered human and a master of many fighting arts. Joker is a crazy guy. There’s a reason the two rarely go head to head; Batman wipes the floor with Joker every time. Having the whole thing hinge on a big cool fight between Batman and the Joker is a great moment but as far as an ending goes, it doesn’t make any sense.

NEXT: Batman: 8 Most Powerful Versions (& 7 Least)

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