Batman’s Resume Includes Some Very Big L’s
You know, a lot of people are Batman this and Batman that—but not everyone pays attention to the whole picture. Wayne looks unbeatable until you stay with him long enough to notice the pattern: he wins a lot, but he also loses in ways that leave bruises on Gotham and himself. Though he tries to do right by both, the (Joker) cards don’t always fall in his favor, so it’s time we explored just what makes this hero so beloved.
1. Knightfall’s Famous Snap
A snap heard ‘round the world. In the Batman: Knightfall saga, Bane drains Batman night after night by emptying Arkham and forcing him into nonstop firefights. Surely that wouldn’t be enough to stop our vigilante…would it? Well, when Bruce finally confronts Bane, he’s running on fumes and gets broken in front of Gotham in the most literal way possible.
2. Year One’s Reality Check
If you’ve ever pictured early Batman as polished, this story corrects you pretty quickly. In Batman: Year One, Bruce learns that determination doesn’t magically make you bulletproof. He gets injured badly enough that his crusade almost ends before it truly starts, and he has to rethink how he moves through Gotham.
3. “A Death in the Family” Arrives Too Late
Don’t even talk to us about Jason Todd, the poor boy ruined at the hands of the fans. We all know the story: Batman throws everything he has into reaching Jason before the Joker finishes the job. But he doesn’t make it.
4. The Killing Joke Leaves a Permanent Scar
Of course, Batman’s foes have never shied away from his other companions. In Batman: The Killing Joke, the Joker targets Barbara Gordon and changes her life in an instant. Batman gets there, but “getting there” doesn’t undo what already happened, and that’s the point we were all forced to sit with.
Nubelson Fernandes on Unsplash
5. Venom Shows Him His Own Worst Habit
You never know which hero will fall for what, even if you never suspected it. Batman: Venom showed us how Bruce turned to a performance drug because he was convinced sheer output would fix everything. Instead, the addiction bent his judgment and pushed him into behavior he’d condemn in anyone else.
6. “Zero Year” Lets the Riddler Run the City
Forget the Joker for a second. You know who needs more attention? The Riddler. He doesn’t just challenge Batman in “Zero Year”; he takes Gotham hostage with infrastructure-level control. Batman fights back, but Gotham still plunges into engineered chaos while Nygma forces everyone to live inside his puzzle.
7. “The Court of Owls” Proves Gotham Hid a Secret Society
You wouldn’t think guys in goofy owl masks would cause so much chaos, but here we are. In “Court of Owls,” Bruce’s confidence takes a hit when he discovers Gotham has been shaped by enemies he didn’t even know existed. The Court lures him into a labyrinth that breaks him down physically and mentally, and it’s a rare moment where he’s actually outmatched.
8. “Batman R.I.P.” Pulls the Floor Out From Under Him
You can’t punch your way out of a psychological ambush, and “Batman R.I.P.” reminded us of that. The Black Glove attacks Batman’s identity by dismantling his plans, contacts, and sanity in one sustained campaign. Sure enough, Bruce loses the ability to control the story about himself, which is usually his greatest advantage.
9. “Hush” Wins by Turning Trust Into a Weapon
“Hush” uses Bruce’s relationships like pressure points. Batman keeps moving and keeps fighting, but the manipulation lands and the damage only sullies his alliances. You can mock him for guarding his secrets so fiercely, but this arc showed exactly what happens when they’re played against him.
10. “Death of the Family” Leaves Him With the Aftermath
You know, Batman may have survived the Joker’s physical threats, but he couldn’t protect the Bat-Family from the emotional fallout. If you think about it, the Joker’s real win was making everyone question whether they could survive in Bruce’s orbit.
11. No Man’s Land Shows He Can’t Hold Gotham Together
This 1999 classic turns Gotham into a fractured city—and Batman can’t prevent what happened to it. He does what he can, but the breakdown isn’t a single crime he can solve, and the suffering keeps spreading while he’s stretched thin.
12. Contagion Doesn’t Care How Smart He Is
It’s unfair to assume one billionaire can outsmart a disease, cape or no cape. In Batman: Contagion (1996), an outbreak spreads and Batman can’t detective his way to a clean, quick fix. He investigates. He fights opportunists. But people still get sick, and the city still plummets.
13. Tower of Babel Costs Him the League
Think your friends can protect you in a crisis? Think again. In JLA: Tower of Babel, Batman’s contingency plans for the Justice League get stolen and used to cripple his teammates. The League’s trust in him collapses, too, because that very “preparedness” just looks like betrayal.
14. War Games Spirals Past His Control
Batman’s strategies and the chaos of Gotham’s gangs collide in a way he can’t contain. In this ‘04 comic, the city erupts, and the collateral damage is so severe that the moral victory disappears behind the body count.
15. Under the Red Hood Forces Him to Face Jason’s Anger
Facts were on Jason’s side with this one, not Bruce’s, and that’s the pain of it. In Batman: Under the Red Hood, Jason’s return turns Batman’s old failure into a present-tense crisis. Bruce can stop the plan, but he can’t unmake the pain that built Red Hood, making that limitation the whole tragedy.
16. “Endgame” Pushes Him to the Brink
The Joker always escalates conflict until Batman’s left fighting for Gotham—and his own existence. But even when Batman manages to counter the threat, the cost is enormous, and the line between victory and loss gets blurry. If you want a reminder that Batman can survive and still pay dearly, this 2014-2015 arc hands it to you.
17. “City of Bane” Turns Gotham Into an Occupation
In “City of Bane,” Bane takes over Gotham and forces Batman into exile-like conditions within his own story. Bruce not only loses his position but also his stability and his ability to protect the city in real time, all while enemies run things openly.
18. The Dark Knight Loses Rachel to the Joker’s Timing
Okay, yes, technically we’re pivoting to the movies, but they still hold an important place in the universe! Just in case you forgot, Batman tries to save both Rachel and Harvey, and the Joker punishes that simple-minded hope. With a little misdirection, he winds up in the wrong place and has to live with the consequences.
19. The Dark Knight Rises Starts With a Brutal Setback
The Dark Knight Rises included that famous back break, but that’s actually not what we’re talking about. In the movie, Bruce comes back before he’s ready, and Bane makes him pay for it in a myriad of ways. Gotham watches Batman fall, and Bruce gets physically and psychologically dismantled before he can truly rebuild himself.
Tehsigo Eternamente (J Mondragon) from USA on Wikimedia
20. Knightfall’s Aftermath Shows a Different Kind of Losing
We end as we began. Back in Batman: Knightfall, Batman’s defeat doesn’t stop at the moment his back breaks; Gotham still needs protecting while he can’t move. The vacuum gets filled in ways Bruce wouldn’t choose, and the identity of “Batman” becomes unstable in his absence.
