Summary
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #29!Batmanhas had his ups and downs, but his latest transformation is nightmare fuel almost too gruesome to witness. The final battle with theSixth Dimension threat Doom-Miteis here and unfortunately, he had the foresight to take the Dark Knight out. But as Batman recuperates, he takes on a form that’ll have readers cringing.
InBatman/Superman: World’s Finest #29by Mark Waid and Dan Mora, Superman, Robin, Bat-Mite,and Mr. Mxyzptlk arethe last ones standing against Doom-Mite. Batman has been turned into a puppet by the Sixth-Dimensional foe, but the wooden Caped Crusader manages to utter the word ‘pull’.
The imps gather every magic hero they can and return to the battlefield and manage to turn the tables by pulling time energy from Doom-Mite’s body. As the heroes tug, Doom-Mite’s magic lessens and Bruce starts to recover.Batman is briefly seen as a half-man/half-puppetas the heroes keep pulling Doom-Mite’s strings.
Batman Puppet Man Transformation is Just Terrifying
Doom-Mite is a powerful villain from the Sixth Dimension, a realm where all of time exists at once. After observing the lower dimensions, Doom-Mite followed Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk to the Third Dimension. Determined to find the Earth’s mightiest hero, Doom-Mite unleashed an army of imps onto the world, pairing them with the DC Universe’s greatest villains. With assistance from Mr. Mxyzptlk, Jimmy managed to hold Doom-Mite back a bit. But even Fifth-Dimensional magic wasn’t enough to save the day. Thankfully, the Dark Knight figured out a way to stop Doom-Mite,who subsequently Batman into a puppet.
Transformations from one state to another aren’t an uncommon sight, especially in stories about the Fifth Dimension. Whether it’s Bat-Mite or Mxyzptlk, when an imp’s around one can always count on a character changing forms, willingly or unwillingly. But while those are played for laughs, there’s nothing funny about what’s happening here with Batman. Bruce looks like hell. One side of him still has puppet-sized limbs and half of Batman’s face is still a puppet! Granted, this appears to be just one moment of Bruce’s transformation back into a human. But still,seeing Batman like this is, frankly, quite horrifying.
Batman’s Twisted Moment is a Dark Parody of Silver Age Fun
Back in the Silver Age, transformations like this were silly and never meant to be taken seriously. But this modern take on Silver Age shenanigans subverts that classic bit of comic book storytelling for something a little more twisted. Thankfully, it’s not as horrifying as a puppet transformation could be, but still, it’s pretty perturbing (probably more so to those with pupaphobia). While it’s just one brief moment in an otherwise busy comic,Batman’smoment of sheer body horror is probably going to stick with some readers for a good long while.
Batman
One of DC’s most iconic heroes, Batman is the vigilante superhero persona of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Forged by tragedy with the death of his parents, Bruce dedicated his life to becoming the world’s leading martial artist, detective, and tactician. Recruiting an entire family of allies and sidekicks, Bruce wages war on evil as the dark knight of his hometown, Gotham City.
