Lessons in badassitude

[lucean]

There's this scene from Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive that I have been wanting to post for a small eternity now, but couldn't find even though I searched through my collection of the issues. So you can imagine my surprise and delight today, as I was looking for another scene from the crossover, when I stumbled across the scene in question and found out that the reason I couldn't find it before was because I thought it belonged to another part of the crossover. So anyway, finally I am able to share this scene of Bruce Wayne showing why he is the personification of badassitude in the DCU. And as always, this scene might not be for everyone's taste, so be forewarned.

The scene requires very little knowledge of BW: M/F, although as a huge fan of that crossover I would recommend it to anyone interested. The basic idea is that after Bruce Wayne was framed for a murder so well even members of the Batclan started doubting it, Batman decided the civilian identity was taking too much attention and time, and decided to ditch it, cutting ties to the clan along it. It's a great story that examines Bruce Wayne's importance and role in the Bat-mythos as a separate entity of Batman. Anyhow, during that period of time Batman became aware of a drug smuggling operation in Gotham involving a goverment agency, Checkmate to be precise, as it hadn't gone international at that point. So in Gotham Knights 31, written by Devin Grayson and illustrated by the magnificent Roger Robinson, we follow Batman as he tracks down the agent responsible for the operation, one agent Amherst. While we see this, we follow the narration of the said agent.

The thing is that Amherst doesn't believe in Batman, he's been in the game so long that he realizes the importance of myths, so he just thinks it's an operative of another goverment agency using that alias to go after the operation. Even though his supreiors tell him that they aren't aware of such an operative, he still continues to be convinced of it. Now, the goverment had sent a top secret commando unit to help Amherst to clean up any traces, as their operation nonetheless has been compromised, with the team completely emptying the offices of the dummy corporation that Amherst had set up. Unfortunately for them, they are up against the world's greatest detective, who we see following clues and locating the team while Amhearst makes guesses about his identity in the narration. Which leads us to the following scene.



A valid criticism might be made of the commando team standing around with the combat gear on, but they had the heads up that someone is on the move and, more importantly, it just makes the scene that much cooler so I don't really care. By the way, notice how when confronting an elite team of black ops soldiers, Batman decides to make his entrance through the door. Seriously. He walked in to the room and allowed them to look at him, because that's how hard he is going to own them.





Again, notice how Batman gave them an opportunity to attack after taking two of them out. Secondly, notice the chair breaking and Batman not even caring. The art, by the way, just sublime.



I have to skip the next page for the posting limits sake, although it is seriously awesome, as we the smoke clearing and only two persons remaining standing. Batman and the leader of the team wearing a gas mask. Yeah, Batman doesn't even wear a breather. We see the two measuring each other up.

So, so far we have seen Batman take out an elite army team without breaking sweat. So of course Batman decided to increase the level of badassitude. After the leader notes that Batman had no reason to show his fighting prowess either to impress or intimidate them, he tells Batman that let them pretend that it worked and ask what he wants. The answer is of course Amherst and after Batman rejects the leaders claims that he doesn't know who Amherst even is, we get this.








As said, I simply love this scene for portraying Batman as the ultimate badass. Of course it might be seen questionable for the leader to give Amherst up for that threat, but the threat itself is so awesome that I'm also wiling to overlook that.

Suggested tags: creator: Devin Grayson, creator: Roger Robinson, char: Batman/Bruce Wayne

Comments

[icon_uk]

Credit where it's due, that's a REAL badass Batman scene!

[sistermagpie]

It's so badass I'm giggling. I mean...yeah.

[lucean]

Out of curiosity, was your giggling in a positive or in a negative sense?

[sistermagpie]

Very much in the positive sense!

[hybrid2]

good to know it was'nt just me.

[sailorlibra]

Goddamnit, I miss you and your awesomeness, Bruce.

[catey]

A million times, THIS!

[rhythmbandit]

If that guy was smart, he would have changed hotels. Ah, hindsight.

[sir_razorback]

Well, he's probably shortly going to have to change underwear.

[fungo_squiggly]

Sergeant: "And who's is it that's gonna bring you down, soldier?"

Soldier: "Batman, sir!"

Sergeant: "COR-RECT! And should you encounter Batman, soldier, what are you gonna do?"

Soldier: "Run like hell, sir!"

Sergeant: "I can't hear you."

Soldier: "Run like hell and piss my pants, sir!"

Sergeant: "I can't HEAR you!"

Soldier: "Run like hell, piss my pants, and cry like a little girl while screaming for my mommy, SIR!"

Sergeant: "That's right, soldier. And don't you forget it."

[taggerung301]

Batman: He will make you wish that he kills people

[shadowpsykie]

Oh, oh! this should be his theme!

"No not batman, send me to manhunter, i want manhunter!"

Manhunter: "You know, when they want you to kill them, its just not the same..."

[aaron_bourque]

EXACTLY.

This is the point people on the internet who try to out-cynicism fictional characters fail to understand.

Batman is so frightening, that he occasionally makes THE JOKER afraid.

[majingojira]

It reminds me of what Yoshiyuki Tomino is attributed to say about Victory Gundam villain, Katejina Loos, one of the most despised villains in this, the most kill-happy of the Gundam series did not die.

She was left a blind, half-insane shell of a woman who has nothing more to look forward to.

The attributed quote: "for people like Katejina, death is the easy way out."

It also reminds me of the first Noble Truth of the Buddha: To Live is to Suffer.

[kingrockwell]

I like the way the Dread Pirate Roberts put it. Fight to the death? Hardly. To the pain.

"Your ears you keep and I'll tell you why. So that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish. Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out, 'Dear God! What is that thing,' will echo in your perfect ears. That is what to the pain means. It means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever."

[majingojira]

As you wish ;)

[lonewolf23k]

Exactly. It's one thing to kill a guy.

It's another thing entirely to cripple him. He'll have to live with his injuries, the pain, and the months, if not years of rehabilitation needed to recover.

[cmdr_zoom]

"That is what 'to the pain' means."

[aaron_bourque]

This is a great scene.

Terrible, terrible storyline.

But great scene.

[big_daddy_d]

.......OWNED!

[ar_feiniel]

"What you mean is that you have no evidence."

Win.

[kintotech]

"So far."

That was awesome.

[endless_aegis]

Yes! That's what just made this scene for me. :D

[mercia]

Dammit, this reminds me of the scan I saw on 2.0, I think.

Batman's up against a guy who's got the same "You don't kill, so you don't scare me!" attitude. So he knocks out the fellow... who then wakes up in a crevice in the butt end of the Batcave with almost no room to move and just enough water to last him awhile.

Now, if only I could remember where that was or if I even got it correct....

Still, Batman is Badass.

[omgwtflolbbqbye.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it an issue of Batman Adventures?

He knocks out a League of Assassin's henchman, who wakes up on a little platform in the middle of a huge void in the Batcave. Then Bruce sics a swarm of Bats at him until he gives up Ra's location.

[aaron_bourque]

City of Crime.

[jelly_ace]

One of my instructors spent five years building up my confidence.

Wow. Just...wow. That is certainly a very elite bodyguard training camp. Usually they cost you an arm and a leg for this type of counseling.

Oh, and Batman being a bad-ass, right. The dialogue kinda reminded me of BTAS/the Arkham Asylum game. Reading it in Conroy makes it even more good.

[cmdr_zoom]

There's another way to read it?

[jelly_ace]

I don't usually read Bat-books in Conroy, mainly because I reserve that for the Batman Adventures, and because some dialogue doesn't deserve to be read in Conroy. But once in a while there's dialogue that fits it just right, and this is one of them.

[miramira]

I wasn't really hearing it until I got to the "so far," and now I am willing to sell my firstborn for a real recording, because ohmigod so much awesome.

[aaron_bourque]

That is certainly a very elite bodyguard training camp.

The implication is that the guy was trained by the US government, and is freelancing as a bodyguard.

Least, that's how I read it.

[jelly_ace]

The US government using taxpayers' money to build up this guy's confidence? For five years? So where's the public clamor against this military program?

[hatman]

West point (for example) is a four-year program. Add on another year of special ops training, and that's five. Assume he had a mentor from the start (perhaps he made an early impression, perhaps he came into it with a promising record, perhaps an instructor was a family friend), and there you go.

[jelly_ace]

So the "suck it up or just quit" type of military training is not true?

American movies, you have failed me. :(

[hatman]

TBH, I don't have the personal experience to say. I imagine it varies. West Point is an academy. Essentially a four-year college dedicated to military officer training. A whole different animal from boot camp, which is what you're used to seeing in the movies.

[omgwtflolbbqbye.livejournal.com]

Hey those Tony Robbins seminars are intense!

[jelly_ace]

How many sessions did he have, I wonder.

[salamangkiero]

That scene brought tears to my my eyes and a "fuck yeah!" out of my throat. I miss Batman badassery so much. He's not just a grim-'n'-gritty character, he happens to be the world's greatest detective, one of the richest men in the world, and one of the best hand-to-hand fighters ever. And somehow, most writers just latch on to the "darkness."

frrrf.

Granted, he's a bit more violent in this scene, but hey, he had to somehow impress them that he was badass. and yes, the biggest badass move was to know who they were.

[hatman]

The scene is indeed awesome.

It's a little over the top, in that it shouldn't actually be possible. Giving them the opportunity to attack like that is just stupid, for one thing. But what good are superheroes if they can't do what shouldn't otherwise be possible? And it's worth it for the pure badassery.

However, looking at the second page, I have to wonder how Bruce is fighting so well when his ankle is clearly horribly broken.