Some context is necessary for “Absolute DC”. Snyder isn’t just writing “Absolute Batman,” he’s one of the architects of this initiative. The big idea behind the project is to turn DC’s familiar superheroes on their head. “DC All-In Special” #1 (by Snyder and Joshua Williamson), which shows how the “Absolute” universe came to be, has literally the back half of its pages printed upside down.
So in this “perfect” world created by the god of evil, Darkseid, Superman is an orphan on both Earth and Krypton, Wonder Woman was raised in Hell instead of Heaven, and Batman belongs to the working class; He fights outside the system instead of sitting on top of the system. However, there is no need to panic, You can read “Absolute Batman” without this context if you prefer.
“Absolute Batman” #1 begins on the day Bruce becomes Batman. He’s not walking out of a movie theater, instead he’s on a school trip to the Gotham City Zoo. Young Bruce is looking at, where else, a bat exhibit.
This Thomas Wayne is a teacher, not a billionaire industrialist/surgeon. While his class is on a trip, a gunman enters the zoo and starts shooting. After getting Bruce and his classmates to safety, Thomas is shot. Since Martha Wayne is not there, she has saved her husband’s fortune. (The shooter is not named or clearly seen in this first issue – will it be Joe Chill, the usual killer of Bruce Wayne’s parents, or someone else?)
So yes, Absolute Batman’s origin focuses not on a robbery, but on a mass shooting. This kind of timely writing is Snyder’s specialty.,He has previously said, “I’ve always liked the symbolism of the anvil to the head.”) In a blurb for his and Greg Capullo’s “Batman: Last Knight on Earth”, he writes about the anxiety he feels about having his son conduct an active shooter drill at school.
As you’d expect from a teacher’s salary, this Bruce Wayne didn’t inherit a fortune worth billions from his father. He’s got a day job as a Gotham City engineer, Martha lives in a modest apartment complex, and as Batman, Bruce’s secret base is on the top floor of an empty office building, not in the Batcave.
Talking to Polygon about “Absolute Batman” snyder said so The strength of Batman as a character is that he inspires both those in the stories and those who read them to overcome fear and become better. Therefore, he wanted this Batman to be someone with whom readers would have more in common: “Well, the first thing would be to take away some of the resources, some of the privileges, some of the things that make [Batman] Such a big part of the system.”
It remains to be seen whether Bruce Wayne will put an end to all the tired discussions about “better” ways to solve crime by becoming Batman.
