The final chapter of Batman RIP hits stores today , bringing with it an end to the secret plan to destruct Batman by undermining Bruce Wayne ’s sanity – But while we now recognise who is n’t behind the villainous Black Glove , the concluding chapter “ Hearts In iniquity ” leaves behind at least as many mysteries as it solve . Chief amongst them being “ Wait , what actually happened ? ” Spoilers in the lead . One thing that you have to hand to author Grant Morrison is that he does n’t write a boring history . The conclusion of the long - running RIP is filled with last - minute escape , revelations , fights and even flashbacks to Batman escaping death in to begin with , more simple times . The trouble is that it not only does n’t really give ear together in and of itself , it ’s also whole unsatisfying as a conclusion to all of the issues erect during the storey ’s run so far . For instance , while we ’ve essentially been testify , over and over again , that Bruce Wayne is clearly harebrained – this is a world who does n’t just dress up to fight crime at nighttime , but someone who also created a back - up personality who happened to believe that he was from another satellite , just in pillowcase someone tried to drive his primary personality harebrained , remember – the last chapter of the account does an about - face and start lauding Batman as someone who ’s so sane that they knew everything that was about to happen and had be after for all eventuality ( “ But that ’s the matter about Batman . Batman thinks of everything ” are the first dustup in the issue ) ; a last page flashback where Bruce Wayne ’s father tells Bruce as a child that the authorities would lock up a vigilance man like Zorro just adds to the foiling that Morrison , or DC Comics editorial , or someone understandably did n’t want to just derive out and say that Wayne is mad .
And about Bruce Wayne ’s father – Is he the mysterious chief of the Black Glove ? The divine revelation of the bad guy ’s identity is frustratingly vague :
Simon Hurt : I ’m your father , Bruce . Doctor Thomas Wayne . You were think to die that night , too , along with your female parent … But Chill lost his nerve . A pathologist friend faked my expiry certification . Wayne became Hurt . Batman : You ’re not Thomas Wayne . Hurt : And still , the cloak fits . And if not Dad , have you presume to deal the only alternative ? Batman : Mangrove Pierce , star of [ movie observe in the first place in the series ] “ The Black Glove ” . My father ’s two-fold , and mine . You had an affair with [ earlier scoundrel ] John Mayhew ’s married woman and he had you framed for her slaying … Hurt : No , I bark Mangrove Pierce active and wore him to Mayhew ’s political party . I am the hole in thing , Bruce , the foe , the piece that can never agree , there since the get-go .
So … Is it Thomas Wayne , who skinned Mangrove Pierce ? Is it Pierce , and the skinning is metaphoric ? Is it someone else who never gets mention , wearing Pierce ’s skin ? We get no further attempt at an answer ; Hurt and Batman are both in a crashing helicopter three pages later , and disappear . They ’ll both be back , of course ; if nothing else , Morrison has a two - part epilogue to write , and a Batman shows up in his Final Crisis serial , which patently takes spot after this story – but more than the want of Batman “ dying ” in any horse sense of the password ( Because , really , like anyone really expected that seriously ) , it ’s the lack of firmness of purpose to anything and everything that Batman RIP was about that leave behind the story as such a disappointment , and the reader with such a sulfurous taste in their mouth .
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