At the end of Batman #127, Superman arrives just moments before Batman's Failsafe robot finishes Bruce Wayne for good. Now, Batman #128 picks up where the previous issue leaves off, and Clark Kent's perfectly-timed rescue doesn't go as planned.
Spoilers ahead for Batman #128
In Batman #128, written by Chip Zdarsky, drawn by Jorge Jimenez, colored by Tomeu Morey, and lettered by Clayton Cowles, Superman attempts to fight Failsafe while Batman pontificates on how poorly the battle will go. The robot was created by Batman of Zur-En-Arrh to stop Bruce in the event he ever goes too far and kills someone. And Batman of Zur-En-Arrh was created by Bruce in case he ever lost control of his own mind.
So of course, Failsafe is also equipped to fight every single one of Bruce's allies, including the entire Justice League.
That obviously includes Superman, whose biggest weakness is kryptonite. Failsafe extends two kryptonite sabers and strategically pushes Clark out of the Batcave to keep his distance, but it's a trap being set by Failsafe. When the robot runs, Supes follows from behind. When he gets close he's impaled by a surprise third piece of kryptonite extending out of Failsafe's back, leaving both Clark and Bruce in states of near-dying.
Green Arrow arrives right after Superman is stabbed, in much the same way that he arrives in Justice League #75 - and fails to rescue the team from Pariah. Then Martian Manhunter shows up, followed by Hawkgirl, Black Canary, and finally, Robin.
Batman and Superman are loaded onto the Justice League jet and Robin is tasked with flying them to a safe location for medical treatment. Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, and Hawkgirl attempt to keep Failsafe on the ground so he doesn't follow - but that turns out to be an unnecessary concern.
Failsafe doesn't follow the jet. It flies into Gotham proper, to a block owned by Bruce that's been set up as a trap for Batman's allies. There's a magnet that can control Nth metal to stop Hawkgirl from flying and fire to weaken Jonn. And when Nightwing and Oracle attempt to help, it goes as poorly as when the Bat Family tried to stop Failsafe in Batman #126.
Meanwhile, Bruce orders Tim Drake to take Superman to the Fortress of Solitude, where Tim can heal Clark's kryptonite-poisoned wounds. Then, Bruce jumps from the Justice League jet and into the ocean... where he's rescued by Arthur Curry, AKA Aquaman.
In the two weeks Bruce takes to heal under Arthur's careful watch, Failsafe completely takes over Gotham and captures many of Batman's allies, including Oracle. Some members of the Bat Family are undercover and attempting to subvert Failsafe's rule, but the post-apocalyptic vibes are strong - especially with how Failsafe keeps casting the Bat-signal into the skies, knowing Batman will come save his city no matter how long it takes.
Failsafe cutting through the Justice League and Bat Family so easily feels like a more personal attack than the one made by Pariah in the ongoing Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths event. And according to an editorial note in Batman #128, the fight with Failsafe takes place before Pariah "kills" the Justice League. But here, the blood isn't on Pariah's hands - it's on Bruce Wayne's.
It seems safe to assume Batman will make his way back to Gotham and attempt to save not just the city itself, but as many of his friends, family, and allies as he possibly can.
Still, we can't help but notice a repeating pattern in major DC titles. Zdarsky's writing in the Failsafe arc could make him the perfect candidate to take on the Justice League in 2023, during the new DC editorial era being called the Dawn of the DCU. And Tom Taylor recently wrote about the superhero Dreamer envisioning a future in which Henry Bendix killed the Justice League, too, but she warns Jon Kent-Superman and Jay Nakamura in time for them to stop Bendix's grab for power.
Any way you slice it, the death of the Justice League feels in some way inevitable, which means reestablishing their place in the DCU could belong to any of the writers currently working on cape titles for DC.
Batman #128 is available now.
What's next for Batman? Check out all the new Batman comics, graphic novels, and collections from DC in 2022 (and 2023).
