DC Comics debuts the next Batman

The identity of the star of DC Comics’ Future State: The Next Batman — a book about the bright future of the DC Universe — has remained shrouded in mystery since it was announced in October. But now the comics publisher has pulled back the cowl to reveal Tim Fox, son of Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox, is the future of Batman.

The news was revealed alongside a new variant cover for Future State: The Next Batman #2, but you could say it’s been teased since August, when writer John Ridley indicated that he’d soon be penning a Batman who was a person of color. Ridley is joined on the book by Nick Derington, Batman-artist extraordinaire.

Image: John Ridley/Nick Derington/Laura Braga/DC Comics

“Featuring striking art by Doug Braithwaite and Diego Rodriguez,” DC said in a press release, “Gotham’s defender in this dystopian future is revealed as Tim (Jace) Fox, estranged son of Lucius Fox and brother to the former Batwing Luke Fox.”

DC notes that Tim made his comics debut in the pages of Batman #313 on April 10, 1979. And he’s recently returned to the Fox family fold in a story in September’s Batman: The Joker War Zone anthology, which revealed how the Fox family reacted when Catwoman gave them nearly all of Bruce Wayne’s fortune.

Image: DC Comics

Image: John Ridley, Olivier Coipel/DC Comics

DC’s Future State event will take over most of its publishing in January and February of 2021, to feature a slate of books imagining a potential future of the DC Universe, from a top notch stable of unexpected writers and artists. But there will still be some places to catch Tim’s Batman after Future State: The Next Batman wraps up. DC says he will also have an appearance in the publisher’s newest incarnation of the Batman: Black & White anthology series, in a story in which Tim will get his own sidekick.