The next hero to take up the role of Batman will be a Black man, named Tim Fox, DC Comics has announced.
The new series will see Tim Fox, the estranged son of Bruce Wayne’s business manager Lucius Fox, take his place in the spotlight.
In an announcement yesterday, December 10, DC Comics said the new series will be written by John Ridley, the screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave, with art by Nick Derington and Laura Braga.
The latest addition to the Batman saga will be set in a futuristic Gotham City, where all superheroes have been outlawed and Batman has been killed. That is, before Fox rises up as the new Batman in a bid to save the day.
In November, Ridley told The New York Times that the next Batman would be Black, and that it was the first time the writer’s sons had been ‘genuinely excited’ about his work.
‘They appreciate the things that I do. They’re happy for me. They’re great supporters. But they would much rather see Black Panther than 12 Years a Slave, let’s be honest,’ he said.
He added:
So to be able to write the next Batman, for them to know that this next Batman is going to be Black, everybody else on the planet can hate it, have a problem with it, denigrate it, but I have my audience and they already love it.
The choice may come as a surprise to Batman fans, as Fox has been largely absent from the series’ narrative.
Fox made his first appearance in 1979, when it was established that he has a particularly rocky relationship with his father.
