Today, revisit the origin of the transformation of young Bruce Wayne into the hero Batman it is something so used that it is already a cliché. So many writers have presented their own vision of this event, that it is difficult for a comic reader who has not seen Marta and Thomas Wayne being murdered before the eyes of their son, who from that moment decides to become a vigilante to avenge to their parents and protect the innocent from Gotham City. However, there is a version of this event that is completely different.
It all happened in the anthology Detective Comics #500 (1981), in the lead story of that issue, titled To Kill a Legendby Alan Brennert and Dick Giordano. In the story, it is the anniversary of the death of his parents, but Batman he’s not so obsessed with the date since the hero witnessed the death of Joe Chill, the criminal who committed the Wayne murder, so many years ago.
Phantom Stranger, Batman’s ally in the Justice League, has fixed all of this.
Later, chasing criminals, Batman He is mysteriously found on the street where his parents died, the infamous Crime Alley. Suddenly Robin is there too, even though he had traveled to Europe the night before! Turns out that Phantom Stranger, the ally of Batman in the Justice League, he has fixed all of this. Informs Batman that, in another reality, the Wayne have not yet been killed and offers, as a gesture of friendship, to let his friend try to save the Wayne in that world. Batman he agrees, and insists on doing it alone, but Robin accompanies him anyway.
Phantom Stranger transports the heroes to that world and, once there, Robin is struck to see that this is a world devoid of superheroes and even heroic mythology, so he wonders if it is fair of him to deprive this world of Batman, even if it costs them the lives of Bruce’s parents.
Batman he dismisses these concerns of Robin, but it is remarkable that he thinks the same. Is it worth losing your parents if it inspires you to become one of the greatest superheroes in the history of the world? In the end, Batman He just can’t let the Bruce Wayne from this other reality deal with it, so when he gets a chance to save the Wayne ones, he does, and Batman and Robin are returned to their own reality.
However, the big twist occurs in the epilogue, where we see that despite the fact that his parents were saved, young Bruce from that alternate reality has decided to train to become a superhero: a decision no longer motivated by revenge or guilt. but out of gratitude and his desire to protect the innocent.
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