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Future State: Dark Detective Vol 1 1

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"Future State: Dark Detective, Chapter 1: Bruce Wayne's a Dead Man": Gotham City, ruled by the Magistrate

Quote1 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. Quote2
— 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.

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:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • The Doctor (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Flashback only)
  • Robin (Dick Grayson) (First appearance) (On a TV or computer screen) (In a photograph only) (Cameo)
  • The Joker (Mentioned only)
  • Mayor Nakano (Mentioned only)
  • Wayne Enterprises (Mentioned only)

Locations:

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:

Supporting Characters:

  • Luke Fox

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Notes

  • The events of the Dark Detective story take place in 2027, two years after the Magistrate took over Gotham City.
  • Grifter's story takes place in 2025 some time after the Magistrate's takeover.

Trivia

  • In the first story, Bruce Wayne states "Die a hero or stick around to be vigilante #1" which is a reference to the famous Harvey Dent's quote, "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain…" from The Dark Knight.
  • Grifter believes the Flash's name to be "Alan West", which is obviously a reference to the two superheroes, Alan Scott and Wally West.


See Also


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