Batman #50 Review: Momentous Wedding Derailed By Spoilers

If you’re reading this, then that means you are likely a Batman fan and have access to the internet. So, that means you probably already know about what Batman #50 has to offer. Last week, DC spoiled one of the big reveals found in this issue. There was backpedaling. They tried to explain that there is more to this issue than just that plot point. To an extent, that is true. The final page of this issue offers readers one last surprise. However, after months of build-up to this event, this issue would be a disappointment even if you go in completely blind.

Finally, after a decades-long romance between Batman and Catwoman, the two are ready to be married. It seemed like a bizarre choice for a while. Tom King’s run on the character has been good, but uneven. After 50 issues, it made sense that King would want to shake up Batman’s status quo. A wedding with Catwoman would lead Bruce Wayne to happiness and then ultimately to question where being Batman fits into his new life. It’s not a groundbreaking concept, but it offers an opportunity for King to dive deeper.

Coming in at around 40 pages, this book spends most of its time showing off different artists’ renderings of Batman and Catwoman’s relationship. The art is beautiful and features some of DC’s best talents. Meanwhile, King throws off some internal monologues from the super couple, meditating on their relationship and talking about each other’s eyes. It certainly starts out as a pretty sweet exploration of how the two feel about each other, but it goes on for way too long. By the end of this section of the issue, their platitudes are bordering on pretentious and you just want them to get on with it.

Again, you probably know by now that Batman and Catwoman do not marry in this issue. All that build-up we’ve been seeing across the entire Batman line of comics for months now was seemingly all for nothing. By the end of this issue, nothing has changed. We do get that extra surprise at the end, which does set up what is coming for series. However, the ending is ultimately unsatisfying. Whenever something like this is announced, the first reaction of a comic fan is always skeptical. We know by now the impermanence of a superhero marriage. These relationships very rarely work out, and it makes sense. Two superheroes marrying will undoubtedly change those characters at their core. They’re no longer what we all know and love. Still, it would have been nice to see this last for a while.

At the center of this storyline has been one question: Will Batman finally get to be happy? He is one of the most tragic characters in literature, and one that his fans are deeply connected to. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that we do want him to be happy. Instead, this issue just assures us that the next 50 issues of King’s Batman will be more of the same.

Final Score: 4/10