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Batman is dead. Bruce Wayne is dead. There's no one left to stand over their graves. Nothing left of them but mistakes. And the city those mistakes helped build. Wayne Enterprises, Batman. My technology, my justice. It's what helped build the Magistrate. Which means I know how to break it down. Whatever I am now, I've got nothing left but time to fix this mess. Funeral's over. 
- — Batman
Future State: Dark Detective #1 is an issue of the series Future State: Dark Detective (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 2021. It was published on January 12, 2021.
Contents
Synopsis for "Future State: Dark Detective, Chapter 1: Bruce Wayne's a Dead Man"
Gotham City, ruled by the Magistrate
Bruce is living in the alleys, after being assaulted and almost killed by Peacekeeper-01, the leader of the forces known as the Magistrate. Bruce was able to use the last money of Wayne Enterprises to pay a "surgeon" on the streets, to stitch him up and save his life, then he stayed quiet and away, leading the Magistrate to believe they were able to complete their mission: killing Batman. They knew who he really was and they hunted him down for it, then Peacekeeper-01 made an announcement on live TV about Batman being murdered, and the Magistrate conducting investigations.
Bruce had his go-to signal: now he could come back, and act to take down the Magistrate. He looks at his city, and what he sees is a funeral with no one attending. They must be stopped. And after donning the identity of the Bat once again, with an impromptu suit, he saved a policeman from some masked thugs, and then escaped from a Magistrate unit. After all, the Magistrate is built upon his technology and his way of approaching crime-fighting. They are a product of Batman. And thanks to that, he will take them down.
What he doesn't know is that the Magistrate software, running around the whole city, snapped a picture of him while active as Batman, something Peacekeeper-01 made sure to not miss. He knows the Batman is alive, but he also knows that for the Magistrate to succeed, he needs to be dead.
Appearing in "Future State: Dark Detective, Chapter 1: Bruce Wayne's a Dead Man"
Featured Characters:
- Batman (Flashback and main story)
Antagonists:
- Magistrate
- Peacekeeper-01 (Flashback and main story) (First full appearance)
Other Characters:
- Robin (Dick Grayson) (In a photograph only) (First appearance)
- The Joker (Mentioned only)
- Mayor Nakano (Mentioned only)
- Wayne Enterprises (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Gotham City (Flashback and main story)
- Sport Fitness Gym (Single appearance)
Items:
Synopsis for "No Future Past, Part 1"
A tavern in Gotham City
After the Magistrate came to Gotham, Cole Cash decided to lie low, and abandon his name and his Grifter persona for awhile. Right now, he has a gun pointed on his forehead, because a guy thinks he's cheating at poker. He makes him sorry for even doubting Cole's fairness. Then, two guys come it and question him, telling him they are GCPD. Then, they call him with his real name, Cole Cash, and this leads to hell. This place is a refuge for street thugs and any kind of lowlife, so when the Grifter is revealed to be inside, it's pretty normal someone comes up with problems to settle.
Cole escapes the bar, but outside the Magistrate is waiting for him. They lock him up and throw him into a van, where another guy stands: Lucas Fox, former vigilante known as Batwing, and a member of the famous Fox Family of Gotham. Lucas tells Cole he knows who he is, and tells him that the Magistrate is about to lock up everyone ever associated with masks, including retired vigilantes like Luke, or former mercenaries like Cole. But Cash must help him, after all he cannot forget the debt he has with Lucas' dad, Lucius. Or can he?
Grifter agrees, in his own way, to help Lucas and they escape together. They reach Cole's refuge then and, after a faceoff, due to Cole believing there was something else going on with Luke, Grifter puts his mask back on, and blindfolds Lucas to take him to a contact that should be able to make him get away from Gotham. They reach the place, but Cole's contacts, right now, decided to kill him because of a mistake he made: they are the Black Mask Syndicate, led by Veil.
Luke and Cole run away, and by pure luck, or so Cole sustains, they end up in the place he wanted to go all along: a place where they can talk to Huntress, the only one able to help them. Acting with a lot of confidence, Cole does not know Helena is pointing an arrow right at his skull...
Appearing in "No Future Past, Part 1"
Featured Characters:
- Grifter (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Black Mask Syndicate (First appearance)
- Veil (First appearance)
- Gotham City Police Department
- Kristof (Single appearance)
- Magistrate
Other Characters:
- Batman (In a photograph only)
- Huntress (First appearance)
- The Joker (In a photograph only) (First appearance)
- Killer Croc (In a photograph only)
- The Flash (Mentioned only)
- Lucius Fox (Mentioned only)
- Superman (Mentioned only)
Locations:
Items:
Trivia
- Bruce Wayne, in the first issue, cites famous Beatles song Eleanor Rigby.
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Future State: Dark Detective series
- Images from Future State: Dark Detective Vol 1 1
