Contains Spoilers for Detective Comics #1090!Batmanhas had many opportunities to upgrade himself past normal human limits over the years, but a mysterious new formula that could turn him into the newRa’s al Ghulmight just be his biggest temptation yet. Bruce Wayne is principled, but the other elites who have access to this “miracle” formula aren’t so discerning, and the only thing worse than a billionaire is an immortal billionaire.
InDetective Comics#1090 by Tom Taylor, Mikel Janín, and Wes Abbott,Bruce Wayne is offered a dose of a new anti-aging formulawhich, if he took it, would make him more of a mirror to Ra’s al Ghul than ever before.
The formula has been invented byBruce’s newly introduced old friend Scarlett Martha Scott, a genius scientist who spent time in a Wayne shelter as a baby after Thomas and Martha Wayne hid her mother from Scarlett’s abusive father. Scarlett has already tested the formula on fellow billionaires Daniel and Gina O’Malley, proving that it does slow down and eventually reverse aging itself.
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While this medical marvel is obviously a tempting offer forBatman, he refuses it outright, noting in his narration that he’s done the same with other “miracles,” from Green Lantern rings to literal magic potions. This new formula - which Scarlett refers to as “Sangraal” another name for the Holy Grail - is clearly a temptation for Bruce, and one he might be pushed further towards using if needed. This temptation is highlighted neatly by the prior scene which seesBruce lament that his age slowed him down enoughto let a mysterious new serial killer get the jump on another younger victim.
Gotham City is full of scientists whose inventions have turned them into supervillains and monsters, and Scarlett might be no different.
Scarlett’s Sangraal mirrors Ra’s al Ghul’s Lazarus Pits, the source of the resurrection elixir that’s kept Ra’s alive for centuries. Bruce has been offered use of the pit before, but he’s always refused Ra’s temptations. It’s deinitely possible that Sangraal could have a similar origin. Ironically, several of Chip Zdarksy and Jorge Jiménez’s recentBatmanstories have involved the Lazarus pits, from Bruce using the pits to survive a deadly confrontation toVandal Savage searching for the pitsto restore his own immortality. However, Bruce is far more restrained with his use of supplements than these villains or Scarlett.
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The other obvious reference being made by Taylor and Janín is tothe real-life trend of billionaires attempting to find ways to prolong their own livesand look younger. In real life, this “trend” ranges from run-of-the-mill cosmetic surgeries to suspect blood transfusions, and Daniel and Gina O’Malley perfectly fit the vain billionaire stereotype. If Sangraal turns out to be dangerous, then it might be the billionaires who prove to be the real danger, especially if they resort to drastic measures to try to hold onto their newfound youth.
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The question is whether Sangraal is simply a moral wrong or actively nefarious. Gotham City is full of scientists whose inventions have turned them into supervillains and monsters, and Scarlett might be no different. She might just be naïve and unprincipled, or she might be evil. “Scarlett Scott” is a neat piece of comics alliteration befitting a villain - like Lex Luthor before her - and previews confirm that the series’ mystery serial killer isa woman. Whatever the case, this new invention poses an existential temptation toBatman, and it’ll be up to him to resist it, lest he become a newRa’s al Ghul.
Detective Comics#1090is available now from DC Comics.
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.
