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Before Bane famously broke Batman’s back in Knightfall, the Dark Knight was broken in a far more devastating way by a Gotham City cult leader.
Bane is known for being the villain who broke the Bat. His tactical assault on the Dark Knight in “Knightfall” left the hero worn out and vulnerable, allowing the merciless villain to attack an exhausted Bruce Wayne in his own home. However, one Gotham rogue broke Batman before Bane even had the chance and did it in a far worse and more disturbing way.
The 1988 limited series Batman: The Cult, by Jim Starlin, Bernie Wrightson, Bill Ray and John Costanza, saw the Dark Knight go up against the insane cult leader Deacon Joseph Blackfire. While investigating a string of murders, Batman is kidnapped by Blackfire’s underworld cult and taken deep into the city’s sewers. Although Gotham’s greatest defender is known for his mental fortitude, his defenses are methodically broken down bit by bit in the strange world beneath Gotham.
Blackfire and his followers keep Batman in chains and starve him to gradually weaken him. Even though the Dark Knight recognizes these as tactics often used by cults and knows how to resist, he is unprepared for the drugs mixed in with what little food the Underworlders give him. In the first issue, the strong will of the Caped Crusader slowly dissolves until he’s at his most vulnerable. The terrifying experience is made all the worse when Batman finally succumbs and accepts Deacon’s radical message.
Indoctrinated into Deacon Blackfire’s cult, the Dark Knight follows along with their insane schemes, not completely aware of what he’s doing until it’s too late. Blackfire’s methods make Batman do something that no other villain has ever managed – he makes Batman break his no-kill rule. He joins the cultists on a killing spree on the surface, even using guns. Regardless of the fact that the Dark Knight is drugged and isn’t fully aware of what he’s doing, it doesn’t change the fact that he has killed, something not even the Joker has been able to make him do.
Although he briefly escaped the cult’s clutches on his own and realized the horrific things he had done, Batman is ultimately saved from Blackfire’s cult by Jason Todd’s Robin. Not long after, the cult leader and his sewer-dwelling followers rise up to create the perverse vision of Gotham that Blackfire imagined. In a surprising turn of events, he and the Underworlders overrun the city, to the point that the national guard gets involved and cordons it off. As the city surrenders itself to this new fanatical regime, the Dark Knight abandons Gotham along with Robin and Alfred, claiming that he will never return.
What Deacon Blackfire does in this story is on par with many of the biggest schemes from Gotham’s greatest rogues. When Batman does eventually return, he does so in a monster truck style Batmobile and uses guns (with tranquilizer shots) to eliminate the Underworlders and pave a way for the army to regain control of the city.
When finally confronted by his original tormentor, Batman actually considers killing Blackfire, with a gun no less. However, his principles remain steadfast once more and he decides that the best way to deal with Blackfire is to defeat him slowly and show his followers just how weak he is. Upon realizing their leader is no messiah, the Underworlders tear him apart.
Deacon Blackfire only lasted for the length of this limited series, but the damage he caused in such a short time is immense. Had he survived beyond this series, it is very possible that he would have become a threat as formidable as Bane or the Joker.
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