Warning: spoilers ahead for Dark Nights: Death Metal #7!
Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 has brought an end to DC Comics’ latest Crisis event, saving the world from ruin and reshaping the DC multiverse in the process. During this climactic finale, it was none other than Wonder Woman who delivered the finishing blow to defeat the villainous Batman Who Laughs, transforming into her most powerful form yet to combat him. But she also delivered a surprising revelation about her friend Batman that doesn’t actually make sense.
During the events of Death Metal, heroes and villains from countless realities united together under Wonder Woman to combat the sinister Batman Who Laughs and prevent him from reshaping reality itself in his own twisted image. In order to fight the Darkest Knight in his new, godlike form, Wonder Woman bound herself to the world forge, transforming into a cosmic being strong enough to protect the omniverse. As they fight, Wonder Woman starts to imagine all the people that she’s trying to protect, including a vision of all her friends and loved ones living happily together and dancing, including Batman, who apparently doesn’t know how to dance.
Bruce Wayne awkwardly shuffling on the dance floor is certainly funny to think about, but the idea that Batman can’t dance doesn’t make sense for longtime fans. During his lifetime of training Batman traveled the world to discipline his body and study every form of martial arts he could, making him incredibly agile and disciplined. Not only that, his secret identity as Bruce Wayne requires Batman to act like the playboy socialite Bruce Wayne, which usually involves going to parties and mingling with the Gotham elite. Bruce Wayne may not be the most social superhero, but the idea that a man who dedicated a huge portion of his life to mastering his body, and who leaps across rooftops every night alongside trained acrobats, can’t dance at least passably just doesn’t stack up.
The dig could refer to the fact that Batman is too taciturn to lose himself in dance… except the issue ends with Batman playing a Bat-guitar on a huge stage at the heroes’ victory party. And Wonder Woman should already know this about Bruce! Both are veteran superheroes and founding members of the Justice League, so they have a history of working together as superheroes. The two spent years alone together, trapped in an alternate dimension during Tom King’s Batman run, even verging on beginning a romance. So if there’s anyone Batman is willing to open up to and dance with, it’s Wonder Woman.
Of course, dedicated fans of the Dark Knight should already know that Batman is an expert dancer. After all, in the 1966 Adam West Batman TV series, he invented his own style of dance: the Batusi. The idea that Batman knows how to do everything can be overused, but a character who has learned multiple languages, escape artistry, and forensic science and who lives undercover as a hard-partying socialite can definitely dance. As one of his longtime friends and confidants, Wonder Woman should know that the Caped Crusader does not have two left feet.
