We live in unsubtle times so Batman (living up to the absolute branding) needs to be even bigger and more badass. “Absolute” Bruce is a 6 ‘9, 400+ pounds of muscle giant. His costume is made of weapons; his ears are knives, his chest insignia is an axe head, his cape is prehensile like a bat’s wings, etc. He’s even more ingenious and creative with his gadgets, because lacking immense resources, he has to be.
In “Absolute Batman” #2, while Batman is fighting the Party Animals at Gotham Aquarium and tank water spills, he perches from the ceiling and drops a vinegar pellet. That turns the water into hydrochloric acid, burning the Party Animals’ feet. The mechanics of that gadget is classic Batman, but the results of it are a lot more brutal.
So “Absolute” Batman is still impossibly cool with an ace up his sleeve for any obstacle he comes across. Yet he can’t do it alone. This Bruce only lost his father; his mother Martha is still alive when he becomes Batman. After his father died, Bruce wasn’t a lonely orphan in an empty mansion. He had his friends (including Waylon “Killer Croc” Jones, Harvey Dent, Selina Kyle, etc.) to take him to see the “Zorro” movie he should’ve gone to with his dad.
The true main character of “The Zoo,” per Snyder, is Alfred Pennyworth; not a butler, but an MI6 agent observing Batman in Gotham. Alfred is the book’s narrator and we often see Batman from his eyes, while we’re denied hearing Bruce’s thoughts. Over “The Zoo,” Batman’s actions shake Alfred out of his cynicism; they may not be surrogate father and son here, but Alfred will still be there to pick Bruce up when he falls.
Bruce needs the help because the odds (and money) is against him. As Batman podcast “The Black Casebook” has argued, money itself is “Absolute” Batman’s greatest enemy. Why do the Party Animals wear masks? Not to conceal their identities, but because Sionis set up a game where they earn cash points for committing crimes and the helmets keep them wired in. Batman now isn’t a fantasy of a single rich guy doing impossible things because of that money, it’s one where people are more powerful than money.
“A lot of the people [my kids] are most afraid of are generational billionaires, and they don’t necessarily aspire to that, that isn’t someone they think of as a hero… most people coming up these days, their generation has a big struggle to make it,” Snyder said in 2024, explaining how he wanted to revamp Batman to resonate with his sons’ generation. Not for nothing, Snyder’s sons love manga, too.
“Absolute Batman” issues #1-12 are currently available; issue #13 is scheduled for release on October 8, 2025.
