Batman Inc. Finale Preview: Ullo, what's all this then?

[espanolbot]

Talia and Bruce face off against each other for the last time, and oddly Talia is wearing a mask and cape of someone familiar...


http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/54121092703/first-look-batman-inc-13-batman-vs-talia

For those who've forgetten in her absence, I'm talking about former Batgirl and Batman Incorporated's South East Asia's representative, the one and only Cass Cain, aka the Black Bat.



I know that due to DC's... fickle attitude towards Cass (and how they'd made Grant and the artists revise issues multiple times depending on whether Steph was meant to be Batgirl or just the Spoiler at that point in time) that IF Talia is dressed as Cass as deliberately, it'll be editted before the issue to published to be a reference to something else.

That, or Cass vanished from a title she was banned from appearing in, despite Morrison wanting to use her, only to be killed off-panel only a few issues after her adoptive brother was killed, and probably to next to no fanfare.

Going more with "It's meant to be a Cass reference, but it won't be one in the book" over "Talia had Cass killed off-panel", personally.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

wait... when was Cass killed off panel?

also, that seems more like an OG Batwoman cape than Blackbat.

[omgwtflolbbqbye]

Could be that, or a direct reference to Thomas Wayne's old Bat-Man costume which was brought up in Morrison's "R.I.P." arc several times.

I assumed the Black Bat mask was supposed to be paying tribute to that in the first place.

[bewareofgeek]

That's what it looks like to me, as well.

Of course, traditionally, the climactic duel between Batman and the leading Al Ghul should be done with both participants shirtless....

[darkknightjrk]

I was thinking of the Kathy Kane Batwoman, actually, but that works just as well.

[christianconnor]

That's my opinion too, based on Leviathan "owning" the school that Steph investigated. I think the colours (yellow and red, rather than black and black) will confirm either way.

[icon_uk]

Definitely looks like Thomas Wayne's outfit. The fact the cape Talia tosses away is a scalloped cape rather than the mass of strands that Black Bat's was seems like the clincher to me.

[rainspirit]

That doesn't look much like Black Bat's cape.

I'm not even sure Black Bat even uses a cape. That just looks like a... mass of ... tangled fabric.

[q99]

We never really did get enough of her to tell precisely what the deal was there :)

[jaybee3]

Ironically I think whatever embargo DC has on Cass (and Steph) in the DCnU actually protects them from being killed off since we don't know if they exist in the DCnU (for instance when Scott Snyder just wanted to use Cass in Batman #1 in the scene where Bruce, Tim, Damien and Dick were tuxes and ready for a Wayne Ent. party even that cameo was nixed).

[q99]

Yep. Wait for a less killy editorial to come in then show up, not dead. That's the plan.

[rordulum]

I wish that was just the plan for all DC characters. Except Jason Todd. If they ever feel like killing him again, they're totally welcome to.

But I kind of think the characters whose existences have been erased in the DCnU (Cass, Steph, Donna Troy) might be the ones who got the best deal out of this whole reboot.

[q99]

Maybe. Especially for Cass and Steph who, like, get, gigantic tons of fanart/comics as a result ^^

[filthysize]

Huh?

That's clearly Dr. Hurt's costume that Talia is wearing.

[icon_uk]

Wasn't Dr Hurt's outfit made out of Thomas Wayne's Bat costume that Hurt took from the Batcave display case? (Probably mangling my memory on that one)

[big_daddy_d]

Just saw the preview. Why the hell are they kissing?

[aeka]

One word, mate: Morrison.

[superfangirl1]

She was giving him the kiss of death?

[icon_uk]

Neither of these are entirely healthy people right now.

[mrstatham]

For the same reason that James Bond makes out with female villains he knows to be villains. That's the kind of vibe Morrison stated he was aiming for, sort of a more modern take on the 70's/O'Neill version of Batman.

[joetuss]

Um...dat...ass :u

[nezchan]

Looking closely (which I seem to be expected to do), dat ass doesn't look like it's attached to someone who's walking. More like someone who's standing still with their weight on the left leg. But then, that whole sequence doesn't have a lot of actual motion in it.

[joetuss]

Butt still...you have to admit,its a nice bottom.