The Most Controversial Batman Was Just Secretly Returned To Canon
In Task Force Z #1, a short-lived Batman villain fights alongside the Red Hood, suggesting that the most controversial Batman is still canon.
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Warning! Contains spoilers for Task Force Z #1.
A long-absent villain from Batman’s newer rogues’ gallery recently returned in the pages of Task Force Z, suggesting that Commissioner James Gordon’s controversial tenure as the Dark Knight is still canon. The villain in question is the rehabilitated Mr. Bloom, who is trying to rehabilitate by joining the Red Hood on his task force of former Batman villains, most of whom are reanimated corpses. His presence in this book is notable because it is his first appearance since being defeated in the final outing of the most controversial person to use the Batman name.
Jim Gordon took on the Batman mantle for a brief period of time, specifically from Batman Vol. 2 #41 (2015) up until Batman Vol. 2 #50 (2016), both by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. This was the tail end of Snyder’s tenure as writer for Batman and the story saw Jim Gordon becoming Batman while Bruce Wayne went through a coma and temporarily lost his memory. Mr. Bloom was one of Gordon’s main nemeses, and seemingly died during his final battle against both Batmen. In Task Force Z #1 by Matthew Rosenberg and Eddy Barrows, Mr. Bloom re-introduces himself to the reader by revealing that (somehow, likely due to his superpowers) he is still alive, unlike his zombified teammates.
The return of Mr. Bloom is significant because it more or less confirms that Jim Gordon’s time as Batman has been reaffirmed as part of the current DC continuity. That story arc took place in the New 52 continuity, which completely rebooted DC’s canon. However, after DC launched its Rebirth initiative, the New 52 continuity was fused with the “Post-Crisis” continuity that began in 1985, making the continued existence of these events somewhat up to debate. DC’s current Infinite Frontier initiative, during which the DC Multiverse has expanded into a larger “Omniverse,” has promised that elements of stories from previous continuities will return, so if a character as scarce as Mr. Bloom is back, it seems to reason that Caped Crusader Jim Gordon has also been confirmed as canon.
And the question of whether or not DC would want to make that story canon is a valid one. Jim Gordon’s career as Batman was loathed by many fans. The basic premise of it was criticized as far-fetched and more than a little silly, but even more-so was the physical appearance of Gordon’s batsuit. While Gordon did have a standard Batman costume, most of his crime-fighting was done in an enormous mech suit that was mocked for having the appearance of a robotic humanoid bunny rabbit. Jim Gordon was always invaluable as an ally to Batman, but putting him in this context was arguably taking it too far. If this wasn’t bad enough, even the characters in the story seem to realize that the idea is peculiar if not outright bad, as Jim Gordon himself comments on both the ridiculousness of it and the appearance of the robot suit.
If DC wanted to simply write off that particularly strange period of Batman history, it could have. Commissioner Gordon has a large enough legacy without being Bruce Wayne’s temporary successor. But by putting Mr. Bloom in his most recent story teaming up with the Red Hood, the Batman creative team is showing that they have confidence in the notion that some elements of that story arc are worth holding onto, and that is admittedly pretty admirable.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/jim-gordon-batman-dc-comics-canon-mr-bloom/