How Batman Should End

One of the negative aspects of a lot of comics, especially DC and Marvel is that they will just never end and nothing is permanent, and that can cause the loss of a lot of tension, so here's a new series i'm starting where i'll be giving my theory and idea on if these stories were to ever end, this is how i believe they would end in a realistic manner given the environment and characters. In this case, we have Batman, a very difficult character to talk about how it would end because as long as there is crime in Gotham, Batman has to exist, this is why even after he retires Terry McGuiness becomes the new Batman, because crime is still rampant, Gotham needs Batman. SIDE NOTE: This is why the famous phrase from The Dark Knight "He's the hero Gotham deserves but not the one it needs" really should be the other way round, Gotham needs Batman but it's so corrupted most of Gotham don't deserve a Batman.

So the only way for Batman to not be needed is for crime to end...which is kinda impossible, yes, even for Batman. So what is my solution for this? Well they kinda already did it. The Dark Knight Returns ends with an elder Batman faking his death and having pretty much an army of vigilantes and trains them to be an army of Batmen, thus while crime will always be active, we now have a small army of Batmen out there...whether or not that's a good thing will be up to you to decide. Frankly this is the best way to end it with the character, Batman is still around saving people but the pressure and responsibility doesn't fall on just one single person. Granted this isn't me saying I want The Dark Knight Rises to be canon, there's a lot about that universe i don't like, in particular is, well literally every other DC Superhero to appear in that franchise gets the shaft.

But what about Bruce Wayne? If the Batman legacy can continue, why would Bruce Wayne ever give up being Batman? And I wouldn't want it to be him faking his death because honestly i can't think of a time where i liked a Batman story that did that; and i don't want him to be forced to stop being Batman through age, injury or threat, i want to see Bruce Wayne make the active decision to quit being Batman because he genuinely believes things would be better off. So what would stop Bruce Wayne from being Batman? He becomes happy. I want to see Bruce Wayne settle down with Andrea Beaumont or Selina Kyle or Talia Al Ghul or maybe someone completely new, i want to see him have a family and settle down. I want to see him finally move on from the death of his parents and let himself be happy without feeling guilt, or duty or anger or regret, i want him to be comfortable that he's passed on the torch, Gotham is in better hands now and he can rest easily for the remainder of his life.

That is how I would want Batman to end should we ever reach that point.

-Danny