The Superheavy arc is approaching its end. As we all speculate what the end will mean for Jim Gordon as Batman and what Bruce Wayne is going to do next, we suddenly get a bit of a twist in the end of BATMAN #47.

We had the chance to talk to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo about the arc and Gordon's tenure as Batman but of course we ask about what happens at the end of the issue.

There will be some minor spoilers below.

COMIC VINE: What’s been your favorite thing about Jim as Batman so far?

GREG CAPULLO: For me, the great thing, as I’ve said plenty of times, Jim Gordon is like my favorite character in the Batman books, next to Batman himself. To have him in this role where he’s finding himself and challenged and coming up against all kinds of great monsters is just so much fun to do. It’s like taking a vacation from BATMAN while staying on BATMAN. For me, Scott has come up with so many great monstrous action scenes and things I don’t normally get to draw in BATMAN so it’s been a visual feast as an artist to do it. It’s nothing but good times for me.

SCOTT SNYDER: For me, it’s been getting to examine everything from such a different angle. I’m almost done writing the last issue of the Superheavy arc right now. It’s really the bedrock of the whole arc. Really what it’s about is a guy who believes deeply that if Batman isn’t there, then the things that sort of keep us safe and protect us are supposed to be the things that show up and make us feel guarded, like the police, the government, all the things he believed in his whole life, they can serve that role. In a lot of ways it’s about contemporary issues for me.

What does Batman mean to us? He can’t solve the problems we see on the news everyday. It’s been a really incredible experience. It’s been just wonderful. When you get to do something in BATMAN you haven’t visually seen before. When Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely did BATMAN AND ROBIN when it was Dick Grayson and Damian, just looking at it, you know it’s Batman and Robin but it just looks different. To see Greg do Jim’s Batman in that black costume and stand up with his gun, I’m like, "That’s not Batman! But it’s so Batman!” It really makes me excited and feel like we’ve been able to explore some corners that nobody has before. It’s been a real joy.

COMIC VINE: As your working on each issue with Jim versus Bloom, do you ever picture how Bruce might handle it all?

SCOTT SNYDER: Yeah. How I feel about Gotham is it’s this big antagonist. It creates villains that prey on your worst fears about yourself. Bloom wouldn’t be the same challenge for Bruce that he is for Jim. In all honesty, Mr. Freeze or one of those characters might not be the same challenge for a Jim/Batman that it is for Bruce. They each have their own Achilles heel when Gotham creates a villain. Maybe we’ll get to see if Bruce ever comes back from the dead, which I’m sure he won’t. One of the fun things is you might get to see how he would pummel some of the villains.

COMIC VINE: Greg, did you ever draw as many flowers as you have been with Mr. Bloom?

[laughs]

GREG CAPULLO: No. I only had that one scene with a flower truck a bunch of issues back. I’ll be very very very very VERY amazing at drawing flowers from now on in my career.

SCOTT SNYDER: I’m going to send you a bouquet at the end with those predator flowers we saw.

COMIC VINE: When Bruce Wayne appears, whose idea was it for him to have a baseball bat?

GREG CAPULLO: It was Scott’s. He was going for the gag from old comics or films where there’s the guys with the guns have Duke in a bad spot. You hear the crack from the bat but you think it’s a gunshot but it’s actually a guy’s skull getting whacked. Scott had that little trick in the script. But then everyone will go, “Oh wow. Get it? Batman…”

SCOTT SNYDER: Actually I didn’t even think of that until afterwards. I figured yeah he could have a bat. It wasn’t until after I did it I said, “Oh wait, BATman.”

COMIC VINE: Is Duke angry at Bruce because he feels he’s in denial?

SCOTT SNYDER: Yes. The reason Duke’s a great character to be the one to talk to Bruce is he’s deeply inspired by Batman, as he was, as were his parents. His parents he felt like in times when the city goes down, we step up and do more than we ever thought was possible because Batman does that. Seeing Bruce day after day just doing what he can, it’s just to much because he knows something terrible happened to his parents. He’s reached a point and says, “I can’t take anymore.” The idea that he hears Bruce say, “It’s gonna be okay” and he remembers from Endgame when Bruce as Batman said, “It’s all going to be okay, your parents are going to be okay,” he just snaps.

COMIC VINE: Greg, did you come up with the design for Duke’s helmet?

GREG CAPULLO: No actually. I don’t know who to credit. I was sent stuff that was already done.

SCOTT SNYDER: It was Lee Bermejo since he’s writing WE ARE ROBIN.

COMIC VINE: Could you see Bruce deciding to keep the new Batmobile if he decided to come back?

SCOTT SNYDER: Yeah man.

GREG CAPULLO: I don’t think Bruce would use that one. It wouldn’t be big enough. It has to be bigger and better.

SCOTT SNYDER: I could see him possibly keeping the truck. This run has us doing things you haven’t seen for Batman before. Greg, 100%, if we ever bring Bruce back ever as Batman, is going to get to redesign Bruce as Batman now. His gear, his vehicles, and all that.

COMIC VINE: Will we find out what the man on the park bench has been up to all this time? Where does he go?

GREG CAPULLO: This is great. I’m working on issue 48 right now. I get a lot of great action that takes place in this but there’s a whole long scene that takes place in that setting. It is, by far, probably my top favorite thing I’ve drawn in this issue, if not the arc. It’s just such a powerful scene to me. I was really very careful in the planning of it because I knew Scott was careful enough in the writing of it. We had the cool sharks and giant robots and giant monsters but these character moments are the things that’s the real meat of the stories. I probably put more love and attention into those scenes than I do all the big bombastic stuff. I’m really really anxious for everyone to see this scene play out, using the characters you mentioned.

SCOTT SNYDER: It’s probably my favorite scene too. A lot of it has to do with watching it come to life under Greg’s pencils. I write it and write the dialogue then I see it and rewrite it a lot of the times. One of the things I wanted to get to, not to get too much into spoilers, those two characters, Bruce and this other character, constantly represent meaning and a lack of meaning in life. Joker’s always about, whatever you do, it matters nothing. Bruce is at a point in his life where he realizes who he has to go back and be.

Yet, to do that, it negates everything he just did. He understands that he can’t be working at the center. He can’t be with Julie. He can’t do these things. He can’t have the life he just built. In completely that scene, and I won’t tell you how it plays out, it’s just they’re on opposite sides of the same argument all of a sudden. Bruce is saying, “What does any of this mean?” We have a character we’ve been waiting for him to get to that point from day one sitting next to him on a bench. Is that character going to say nothing, “Thank you,” or “Finally, I win”? Or is he going to say something else?

COMIC VINE: Do you think DC Collectibles will make the GCPD card game (mentioned in the issue) or other items from this run?

SCOTT SNYDER: Oh I hope so. If they made a statue, I’d buy it in a second. I just love the aesthetic of this art so much. I love the Rookie, which is the robot. Credit to Greg and the art team, it’s so gorgeous. I love looking at it and realizing, we made that’s real and in official continuity. The other thing I want to say, and I know I’ve said it before, it’s just so important to us, plus the fact that we’re coming to the end of our current run.

The fact that we’re still selling thousands of copies with this crazy-ass storyline, with these characters, it means the world. This is their Batman too. I feel like the end is going to be the biggest comfort food. Endgame was in a lot of ways a reward for letting us do a story that mattered to us in Zero Year, which is still one of my favorites. It stretched things. It made people go, “I’m going to go through the origin again?” but they did and kept the book where it was. They’re doing it again here with us. That just means the world. Now it’s time to reward them. We’ll be like, “Here comes all the stuff you’ve wanted to see, and then some.”

BATMAN #47 is on sale now!

Never leave Batman Scott, and Greg, come back soon!

Epic issue! Can I just say that ending was epic. Also Greg did an awesome job with that part with Duke and Bruce. If you read the issue you know what I'm talking about.

You are great Scott and Greg.

The train scene was amazing. Dat huge bat. And the last page makes me truly shocked.

Hey DC how about having the giant cajones to not make Bruce Wayne Batman again, and to leave The Joker dead. At the very least stay away from both characters for at least a couple of years. Let's see if fresh creative blood like Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo can take the bigger idea of The Batman and Gotham somewhere completely new, higher, brighter and different. Let sales and social media feedback on the Batman books dictate whether we need Bruce Wayne and The Joker back. I find Scott and Greg's current take on Batman and Gotham very refreshing as a long time comic book reader. It's not the same old repetitive Bruce Wayne, Batman, Gotham circle of life I've lived with for 20 years and have become jaded too. Thank you Scott and Greg, keep up the good work.

@kid_america: Sales have dropped for Batman and the rest of DC books the past few months, so they already tried and it failed. Either way, it was always in the plan for Batman to come back, but at least it's obvious the status quo can't remain the same.

I really hoped Snyder will leave along with Capullo.

Need the Bruce back in the cowl. Keep him as gothams knight but give him a new outlook. A fresh one. Whatever it is, surprise me. Gothams already changing with these robins running around. Bruce was spread too thin but now he should be able to focus more then ever assuming he retains all memory from when he was amnesiac. He'll know what it was like to live a normal non-vigilante life. He'll know what it was like for him and for Gotham. Thing is it feels like there's no more stories left to tell after this. That's when real comic genius breaks through. Bring Supes back to full power before Bruce comes back to the cowl. Supes outlook on things should have changed as well. Hopefully we get that scene where Supes is atop a roof in metropolis smiling. Then Bruce as Bats appears out the shadows to his side with Clark exclaiming "good to have you back."

So, was that Joker at the end?

@lamdaddy20: Who else would it be?

@nightfang: Just looking for confirmation. Though I do realize that yes, that really couldn't have been anyone else

Glad to see your hopes come crashing down.

Me too buddy. Hopefully we will have good Batman comics again one day.

Why do Snyder and Capullo insist on giving interviews to over-explain the complexity of their latest issue? Isn't it kind of sad that this Superheavy arc has one issue left and really don't know much more about Mr. Bloom than what we learned from the first issue in this arc? Does it make sense for Damian to have zero interaction with Bruce Wayne now that the media and most people in Gotham know he's still around? Why would Bruce see a giant bat when looking into the headlight(s) of an oncoming train? Don't you think Lincoln March would've come out of the woodworks by now to scr#w with Bruce the amnesiac? These are questions that Snyder and Capullo probably will never answer.

I have a good question

Does Duke have radar sense? Telepathy? enhanced senses? his ability to know things he shouldn't know is remarkable.

@squalleon: Me too His comics are boring.

Honestly what Snyder is doing with Alfred is so clumsy and sloppy Bruce loves his son , sons (for me the robins ARE his sons .) he separates him from his child. Batman and Robin # 18 shows how much he loves his child.Alfred is cruel I am curious what will happen to him post 50.

Damian his 10 year old son Snyder has blatantly ignored him.

Alfred is often treated as a saintly figure. While i think he should be held accountable, im not sure they'll really do it. I wish they would though. Personally i think between We Are Robin, and hiding Bruce's past, when Bruce remembers they should seriously consider a story where Bruce fires Alfred. I think it would be justified to give Al some time off given his recent actions, and could make for an interesting development.

Grayson 15 is another instance of that. While it is an easy deduce, its still baffling how Duke is perfectly smart and trained.

It reminded me of Lobdell's Tim Drake. A travesty of the actual Tim Drake.

Glad someone else has noticed this. Makes zero sense, but when a writer wants to really push a new character that's how it goes I suppose.

@squalleon: And this whole We are Robin concept is just stupid. , now we have dozens of untrained unremarkable boys and girls. I just hope Damian remains Robin, i don't care for these wannabe Robins.

t just seems like the whole book is turning into a Harper and Duke puff piece and that really doesn't interest me.

I think the real problem here is the contradiction,on one hand they want an average joe character's perspective of what it's like to be part of Batman's world but one the other hand they realize that the Bat family is so specialized and over the top that such characters are completely redundant if they really are depicted as being average. I believe it's time for Snyder and Tynion to realize that this isn't the 90's Batfamily any more,from Cass Cain and onwards everyone has been over the top and all the spots are occupied.

Put Chuck Dixon back on Batman!

Man, this whole arc is trash.

I actually liked team Snyder/Capullo before Superheavy.

I stopped reading this after Endgame. I'm thinking if I should read this Gordon saga, so can someone tell me if Bloom is the Joker ? He looks cool, but if this is just another Joker story I really don't care about reading it.

With BvS coming out in March the timing is perfect to bring Bruce back as Batman. DC did the right thing with the New 52 moving steadily along when TDKR came out, learning from their mistake by not having Bruce in the cowl during Morrison's nonsensical run when TDK came out and made $1 billion. They will be much better aligned at this time.

Even though on a concept level I HATE the thought of someone else being Batman for any length of time, Snyder has shown that even though Gordon is Batman during this time, this story is still 100% a Bruce Wayne story. And that's what makes it worthwhile, and far more tolerable than the insanity of Morrison's run.

And LOVED that final page reveal!! I didn't think Snyder would bring him back at all. Snyder can stay on Batman as long as he wants - he's the Chris Nolan of Batman-in-comics. In other words, the BEST!!

You're wrong,Bruce was Batman when TDK came out,he didn't lose the cowl until a few months later.

Yeah this story is about Bruce and that's EXACTLY what makes it stupid,you either give us a new Batman or you dont and if you give us Bruce then he's Batman period. Snyder just having an uninteresting,bland version of Bruce tag along speaks of his own lack of confidence in this flop Gordonbot,he knows well there are people who'll just read it for Bruce alone. I take it you're one of those and while I respect your opinion I ask just imagine for one second if amnesia Bruce wasn't here,what would your response to this exact story be? Either way there's no point to a earth shattering status quo if the writer cannot commit to it,he couldn't commit to March,not Harper and not Jim Gordon and it took him 2 tries to commit to a Joker who knows Bruce's secret(chickened out in DOTF). I'd rather he stop trying to alter the status quo altogether than give us these half hearted idiotic attempts because like you said yourself this is a Bruce story period.

Chris Nolan made 2 Batman movies without Joker,Snyder cant even write one story without the character,he even retconned the Joker in to the COO storyline via Endgame. There really isn't any comparison.

@kaspercole: Read the other comic books. Damien has only been in like 2-4 issues the entire run tops. All of that is explained in the other books.

@entropy_aegis:

"retconned Joker into COO in Endgame"

Woah, must have missed this detail. What happened here?

Agree with everything you said by the way. Snyder has an issue with pussy-footing around these stories he builds uo to be bombastic.

The substance Joker was using to heal was used by the Court to create electrum which is found in the Talon serum. So in the end every single thing circles back to the Joker.

@entropy_aegis: Oh, duh. I remember that.

Really pathetic.

I'm not a big fan of Snyder on this book, his inability to write Damian Wayne annoys me.

For me it looks a little bit this series has still the same problems as Batman Eternal, pointless cameos that "steal" the action scenes from the main characters, bringing old characters back and not really focussing on them, the story revolves to much around Harper and Duke ...

Duke attitude towards Bruce urg ...it's poor writing to just drop a bomb

@entropy_aegis said:

I 100% disagree with all of this. We obviously have different sensibilities when it comes to Batman. For me, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Batman is Bruce Wayne, end of story. I love Jim Gordon, I love Dick Grayson, but neither of them are BATMAN. If Bruce wasn't in this story, then I would be 100% uninterested and not reading. But because he is, that is keeping me invested.

My initial point was that DC made a mistake by allowing Morrison to take Bruce out of the cowl within a few months of TDK making $1 billion. Paul Dini's HEART OF HUSH run was much more palatable to people who might have been wanting to get back into Batman comics after the film came out, and instead of trying to keep Batman semi-realistic, Morrison went full-on fantastical. So, DC made the wrong choice in terms of timing the events of their books with the movie releases. I think they have a much better handle on that now, as it looks like Bruce is set to return to the cowl right when BvS comes out, and since the New 52 had only been going on less than a year when TDKR came out (plus EARTH ONE had just come out) so it was perfect timing for someone to jump into the comics when the movie came it, if they so desired.

Snyder and Capullo need a break. Not that they are bad (though I really dislike this current arc), but at this point they've been on Batman for over 4 years. I think we need a change up in both writing and art to keep it fresh.

Pretty much every arc in the New 52 Batman run has left me with the same feeling: Artwise it's incredible (all credit to Capullo for making it happen every single issue) and storywise it is cool, but something seems to be missing. Superheavy has finally made it obvious what that thing is: Snyder's fear of commitment.

Almost every interview I have read here of Snyder is the same. "The arc we are doing right now is just mind-blowing, we get to do these things you could never imagine and it is all canon! How crazy to look at all the places we are pushing the book towards within continuity!" While they haven't done any "ah it was all a dream" conclusions, most of them sort of felt that way to me. We always go in for this huge story but in the end it's left vague as to actual repercussions which usually means there are little to none. Bruce has a brother! ... or not. Joker knows Bruce's identity! ... or not. Bruce is dead! ... definitely not. I wish they would go for a bold story and actually follow through on it or just not attempt to at all.

As I have said before, I like Jim being Batman and I like Bruce not being Batman, but not on opposite pages within the same comic. It just completely takes away from both stories because it is so obvious that they will go back to Bruce being Batman for BvS and makes everything going on now seem less important.

I know this might rub a lot of people the wrong way, but I actually liked when Morrison killed off Bruce and we got Dick as Batman and the status quo really felt like it had changed. So far, none of Snyder's stories have left me feeling the same. All of that being said, the stories definitely have their moments and have so much potential if they would just follow through on them!

You just read my mind,completely agreed.

bruce never died, he was in the past and in endgame he was not dead either but got a red bull(dyonesium) just like joker, so now he should be better as before but without memories

@arkhamace: Loled at the red bull man that was a good one.

I feel the same way about everything you just said. Well except for Dick being Batman but I get what you mean about it, by bringing it up.