Summary
- Batman’s badass moments have evolved over the years, from defeating Ra’s al Ghul to taking on Despero solo with Justice League Detroit.
- Batman quitting the Outsiders and rejoining the Justice League to train new heroes sets the stage for his iconic battle against Despero.
- Despite an unwinnable fight, Batman’s determination and leadership inspire the Justice League Detroit to ultimately defeat Despero and save the day.
This is “Nothing is Better,” a feature spotlighting classic older comic books. This time around, we look at how Batman took on Despero with Justice League Detroit in one of Batman’s lesser-known moments of badassery.
I think that it is important to note that our framework of what a “Badass Batman moment” is has changed CONSIDERABLY in the past 30 years or so. Basically ever since Grant Morrison introduced the notion of “Bat-God” to the world, what we think of when it comes to badass Batman moments tends to be really over-the-top moments where Batman, like, takes on all-comers, and easily wins. Heck, even before Morrison’s JLA run cemented “Bat-God” as a concept, there was Frank Miller, Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley’s Batman: The Dark Knight, with the sight of Batman defeating Superman in a fight (even if it was for just a brief moment, and even if Superman had just survived a literal nuclear explosion soon before the fight). So I guess I should say August 1986-onwards changed our view of what it means for Batman to be a badass.
Before that Batman/Superman fight in The Dark Knight Falls, when we thought of Badass Batman moments, they were stuff like Batman defeating Ra’s al Ghul in Batman #244 (by Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams, and Dick Giordano) after a bare-chested sword fight in the desert…
As I’ve pointed out when discussing that moment in the past (for this very feature, actually), what made that moment stand out particularly well is that O’Neil had spent that entire story arc highlighting just how FALLIBLE Batman was, so the sight of him effectively rising from the grave to confront Ra’s after first bare-chest sword fighting him in the desert took things to a whole other level…
I mention all of this to give you a framework of what we were all dealing with when Gerry Conway, Luke McDonnell and Bill Wray gave us the badassery of Batman taking on Despero solo in Justice League of America #254.
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What was Batman’s deal with the Justice League at the time?
As I discussed in a recent Never Gonna be the Same Again post, Batman had rejoined the Justice League in Justice League of America #250 following him quitting the league three years earlier to form the Outsiders, a team of heroes who he could mold into a sort of private strikeforce, and wouldn’t question him the way that his Justice League peers did. In Batman and the Outsiders #1 (by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo), Lucius Fox is in trouble, and Batman plans to help him. When Superman tells him that he promised the United Nations that no one in the Justice League would get involved, Batman says fine, he quits then…
Okay, so Batman then develops the Outsiders as a team for a few years, and their dynamic is much different, as Batman sort of opens up to them, allowing them all to know him as Bruce Wayne, as well. Things were going well, but the problem is that developing a team also means that they develop PERIOD, and Batman was not prepared that their development might come with them growing to the point where they no longer just obeyed Batman’s orders, and as soon as that happened, Batman shut the whole thing down, and quit this team, as well.
After helping the new Justice League members (Aquaman had formed a new Justice League made up of heroes willing to commit themselves to the League full-time. He added a bunch of new heroes, and the team was based in Detroit, so this version of the League has come to be known as Justice League Detroit) in Justice League of America #250, Batman ultimately agrees to rejoin them, as they need someone to train them to be better heroes.
So how does Batman handle the new team? And what happens when Despero shows up?
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How did Batman stand up to Despero one-on-one?
As we pick up in Justice League of America #251 (by Gerry Conway, Luke McDonnell and Bill Wray), Batman is working the League really hard, and Vibe, in particular, one of the newest heroes on the team, has had enough…
Vixen cuts Batman to the quick about whether this is what drove the Outsiders away from him. She finds Batman sort of thinking about stuff, and she essentially tells him to mellow out a bit, and offers to go to dinner with him. He agrees.
Meanwhile, Despero has landed on Earth, and he is much more powerful than he was the last time that the League faced him. He wants to know where the Justice League is, and plucks the information from innocent bystanders, destroying their body in the process…
He learns that the there is a new League, but it is led by one of his old enemies, Batman, from the original League (and Martian Manhunter, too, but J’onn doesn’t get Despero’s main attention here for some reason).
We cut to Bruce and Mari (Vixen) enjoying dinner, but Bruce explains that in the end, Bruce is a mask, and Batman is who he REALLY is…
When Despero makes his presence in Gotham City known via a huge explosion, the heroes run into action, and Vixen sees that, yep, it’s true, Batman IS who he really is…
Okay, the rest of the League finds out about the attack on Gotham City, and they go in to investigate, and discover that Despero has built some strange temple, and he has Batman and Vixen all trussed up as part of his temple…
In the following issue, the League attacks Despero’s new base, and things don’t go well for them. Batman, meanwhile, goads Despero to explain why he is so much more powerful now. Despero explains that it has to do with the Flame of Py’tar, which can either destroy, or recreate you. In Despero’s case, it has recreated him more powerful than ever, and so he keeps the Flame with him at all times now. That’s all Batman needs to hear. He reveals that he could have escaped at any time, he just needed some information for his plan. Vixen will get the rest of the League and destroy the Flame, while Batman distracts Despero, likely dying in the process…
Things look bleak, though, when Vixen finds the League, and they’re all seemingly DEAD!
The next issue (#254) opens with a brilliant splash page by McDonnell and Wray, as Batman prepares to face Despero…
I love Conway’s way of handling Batman’s thoughts. “Yeah, this sucks, but hey, what are you going to do?” The splash is followed by a DOUBLE-page splash that I used for the feature image of this piece. So Batman takes on Despero, to buy the League time, and it is fascinating to see Batman fighting a rare unwinnable fight (again, this was pre-Bat-God)…
Vixen revives the rest of the League (they were out cold, not dead). Vibe thinks that they need to get out of there, as this is way past their skill level. Steel, though, explains that they might not be the BEST Justice League, but they’re still the Justice League, dammit, and they head off to take Despero down, and Vibe ultimately agrees with them, and follows suit…
Batman has been captured by Despero, and is being tortured, but Batman explains that Despero has already lost, as what he wants is to see Batman beg, and that’s never going to happen, and Despero is just a loser. So cool. Vixen then shows up, as the League has decided to take down the Flame as a team, including their leader…
There is a great bit where Batman yells at Elongated Man for ignoring his orders. There’s an awesome panel where Elongated Man also asks what the plan is, and Batman is basically, like, “Fight like hell.”
In the end, Vibe is able to destroy the Flame, and Despero collapses upon himself, and the day is saved…
This is such a great, and mostly forgotten, Justice League AND Batman story. Conway left the series soon after this, and it is good to know that he went out on a high note.
Okay, folks, this is a feature that is a BIT less conducive to suggestions (as it really is about stuff that speaks to me, ya know?), but hey, feel free to still send suggestions for future installments, to brianc@cbr.com! Maybe you and I have the same take on things, and I’ll use your idea!