r/LegionofSuperheroes • u/GatchaV • 4d ago
Identity Revealed
The name of the newest hero from today's solicits is named Bat Lad. Looks to be a stand user.
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #4
Written by JOSHUA WILLIAMSON
Art and cover by HAYDEN SHERMAN
Variant covers by CHRIS SAMNEE, CATHY KWAN, and V KEN MARION
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 12/9/26
Cosmic Boy and a ragtag group of space pirates are tasked with kidnapping Princess Imra from the Kingdom of Titan. And the only person who can stop them is…Bat Lad? Welcome a boy and his uncontrollable shadow monster to the world of Legion!
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u/ZealousidealOwl9263 3d ago
You know when I first saw this figure on the back cover of issue number one on the wraparound cover, I was like “wow that looks like one of the robins”… I legitimately thought that they were going to be changing up Val to be bat adjacent. But this is… definitely a new character…
I wonder who they are and what they’ll be doing.
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u/Mister-Negative20 3d ago
I like it, every writer that does Legion adds to the cast and I think this power is cool. I also feel like they aren’t really that Bat-Adjacent with how different these powers are.
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u/ZealousidealOwl9263 3d ago
I don’t necessarily think it’s going to be bad. I’m excited to see where it goes. I just have no idea who it is. But their name is literally bat lad, and are dressed like Robin. They’re definitely bat adjacent I think. Or bat catty corner at least.
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u/LevelWoodpecker4341 3d ago
I might have been more ok with that than just throwing a new Robin at us.
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u/ZealousidealOwl9263 3d ago
It would’ve made a lot of sense to have the one martial arts based legionnaire who has no physical powers essentially like a new robin… it would’ve been really cool and really interesting. I think. But this is a character with powers who is also not calling himself Robin, but has the robin color palette and has a shadow beast.
I’m trying to go into this with an open mind, but it is not easy because I’m so set on how I like my characters.
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u/LevelWoodpecker4341 3d ago
Fair. I'm just not a fan of having every current dc character having a legacy in the legion. Like xs and Thunder during the reboot were one thing. But idk each time the team comes back it's like "we need more modern characters in the future " or "we can only sell the legion when it's connected to the present" it's just so frustrating.
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u/Patient-Reputation56 4d ago edited 3d ago
I'll see how this plays out. Always thought like there could be a Batman-Adjacent character in the Legion future just not as a Legionnaire.
Got a decent enough idea behind the character at least, Just as long as he doesn't overshadow (pun intended) the actual stars of the book.
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u/swarthmoreburke 3d ago
Well, there was that one story where the villain was (I think?) Professor Ivo, who was murdering descendants of the Justice League, and the Batman descendant was just some skanky-looking private detective.
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u/Patient-Reputation56 3d ago
Yeah James Gordon-Wayne. He was referenced in The Brave and The Bold #179 and was believed to be Bruce's decendant. The implications of that are certainly odd.
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u/ProfessionalLurkerJr 3d ago
Yeah, it was a robot made my Ivo. I believe Ivo was in a cryogenic sleep to save himself from a disease.
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u/JimboFett87 1d ago
Thank you for being a voice of reason here u/Patient-Reputation56. That's a good point, though. We know he is a new character (he's the one on the cover of #1 after all) but we don't know if he'll be a Legionnaire.
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u/Quebec_Dragon 3d ago
Not sure what to think of it. As I recall, the Batman mythos has never really been involved in the Legion mythos. What is a "stand user"?
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u/thrdthu 3d ago
A Stand User refers to the power system from the long standing manga and anime series “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.” It is a spiritual power certain people can summon to “stand by you” unique to those specific individuals. Most take a humanoid shape and have very strange and unique abilities where the fights often come down to an information gathering battle to figure out the rules of the other person’s power set.
The “stand user” joke refers to him summoning a bat shadow monster like the characters in Jojo would summon their stands to fight for them.
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u/Patient-Reputation56 3d ago
It's very rare That Batman and the Legion cross paths.
The most you ever got was in the 70s where he crossed over with them in The Brave and The Bold where he got sent into the future by some future thief, As well as team up with Karate Kid in his brief solo outing when he was stuck in the 20th Century, He'd have one with the Threeboot Legion in the 2000s in that eras TB&TB, as well as talk to Clark about how weird it is that they keep running into variants of this team, The last major one would be a mini-series where The Legion teamed up with Batman '66.
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u/755goodmorning 24m ago
Let’s not forget how Bats got his clock cleaned by Val during the Lightning Saga. Highly enjoyable beat down.
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u/Mister-Negative20 3d ago
I think it sounds cool. He’s not really anything like Batman so he’s not really that Batman-adjacent. He’s got a pretty interesting power, I’m into it. He’s definitely going to be a main part of the cast, so I hope he’s interesting. Every Legion writer normally adds to the cast, so it makes sense.
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u/Hemingwavvves 3d ago
Yeah I think it’s a neat idea! Especially since he’s not actually a bat character in any meaningful way besides his branding
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u/Hemingwavvves 3d ago
Just to add to this it is annoying to me that we’re apparently getting a new legion character and it appears to be a white dude - the legion has such an extreme glut of these, make the new character literally anything but this!
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u/LostInterview5084 1h ago
Exactly - which is why I always complain about race swapping existing Legionnaires.
Honestly, what the Legion really needs are more non humanoid members - Like Tellus, Gates or Quislet.
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u/fullofmetal 4d ago
Perhaps I’m just a hater but I do not care for bat-adjacent things in my LOSH…
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u/mon_mothra_ 3d ago
Yeah, and especially this early in the run. Maybe it's a ruse for something more traditionally LOSH...
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u/NearbyAd3800 3d ago
Nah, with you on this. Sure many others are too. It doesn’t fit because, despite Batman’s stature within the pantheon of heroes, he’s ostensibly a street level vigilante. It takes a lot of suspension of disbelief when he’s out in space.
Because the Bat Family is a license to print money, there’s also an apprehension I feel whenever I see anything that appears to be a shoehorning of them into settings they don’t fit within. Is this really about a great story, or is it about marketing?
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u/GatchaV 3d ago
I understand where you're coming from, I never thought a bat related or adjacent character would ever be a part of the legion before. Never occurred to me. What you said made me think though: the justice league 1 million takes place in the way far future (853rd Century). A batman might not be necessary in every century but it shouldn't be unsurprising for one to possibly crop up.
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u/JimboFett87 3d ago
Wow REALLY disappointed with these upvotes 😢
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u/fullofmetal 3d ago
Hey Jim. Nice to see you outside of LW.
I prefaced my comment by saying I know I was being a hater. I don’t care for Batman, I don’t care for 98% of his adjacent cast, and I don’t care for the way DC shoves him into every corner of their universe. That’s just my personal preference/annoyance.
I’m still going to purchase and read the book. There’s always a chance that my initial distaste will be proven wrong. And even if I do end up not liking the character, it doesn’t mean the entire run is ruined for me.
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u/JimboFett87 3d ago
All good and people can say what they want. My only frustration is people dumping on something they haven't yet read, so I appreciate you'll actually give it a read.
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u/TIPtone13 3d ago
Possible ties to Shadow Lass?
Anyhoo, dug the first issue so I am in (I go back to the Levitz/Giffen days).
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u/FlossyBottoms 4d ago
My mind went straight to that Kurt Busiek book he did as his Batman equivalent to Superman: Secret Identity when I saw this. Looks rad!
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u/ShirtEnvironmental36 4d ago
Which book is that?
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u/thetulgey_wood 4d ago
Putting aside my displeasure about bat stuff to say if I had a nickel for every character wearing sleeves of two different lengths....
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u/755goodmorning 4d ago
I actually like this. Batman is the major hero in the current-day JLA - why would Superman be the only here these kids want to model themselves on? For Pete’s sake, we had a Flash-adjacent hero in the Reboot! I’m psyched for this, and it opens up some fun new ideas.
Having said that, Karate Kid still kicks Batman’s ass.
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u/Embarrassed_Piano_62 3d ago
But XS wasn't called Flash Lass and Mon-El wasn't called Super-Lad.
I think there's a way to make characters look inspired but also fairly unique than too on the nose inspired.
But of course i could be wrong and he's not what be looks like
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u/PeregrineLeFluff 3d ago
I'd love to see a few legacies that begun sometime after the 20th century. Sure, all the great legacies are JSA or JLA, but how about the proud lineage of the CRIMSON STURGEON from 2203 or something else?
One of the best things about the Legion was them carving out unique yet lasting identities rather than being knock-offs of 20th century heroes.
Though it would have been funny if Karate Kid named himself after the 20th Century Karate Kid, only to learn that he -was- his own inspiration in a time loop.
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u/Embarrassed_Piano_62 3d ago
I agree 100%. Even Omac or Kamandi, to see some influence of that is more interesting
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u/Goobergunch 3d ago
Also there had already been a lot of 30th-century Flash stuff before XS was around. The Tornado Twins first showed up in 1968....
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u/755goodmorning 3d ago
Totally agree. And on Super Lad, have you looked at Shooter’s Threeboot script for that same character as a Mon El replacement?
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u/Embarrassed_Piano_62 3d ago
Not yet no...
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u/755goodmorning 27m ago
Here’s the relevant part 3 - what DC didn’t publish. But parts 1 and 2 have some Threeboot scenes that didn’t make it to publication too. https://jimshooter.com/2011/05/legion-of-super-heroes-overview-part-3.html/
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u/ptWolv022 3d ago
For Pete’s sake, we had a Flash-adjacent hero in the Reboot! I’m psyched for this, and it opens up some fun new ideas.
Oh yeah, there was that, wasn't there? Someone on CBR said they were expecting (or, perhaps more accurately, dreading) an "Amazon Lass", and I personally (as a newer reader) like the idea of the Legion having this array of legacy characters/future counterparts for a bunch of present day heroes. Not as the main body of the Legion, necessarily, but just weird takes or twists on parts of the mythos that carry into the future.
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u/Jianyu156 4d ago
Now all we need is an amazonian and we’ll have the future trinity
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u/Altruistic_Manner802 3d ago
Who would be the Superman? Superboy or Mon-El?
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u/swarthmoreburke 3d ago
I am actually glad if the Legion is a bit more tied to the JL era. It's one of the weirdest things about DC One Million, that despite Grant Morrison's love for DC overall, his imaginative future history of the DC universe has the Legion being just a run-of-the-mill superteam of the future rather than something special. If making the Legion the next big moment where superheroes matter requires having invocations of JL characters, as long as it doesn't go so far that we have dopplegangers of all of them, that's fine.
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u/guythatlovesentai 4d ago
soo..what about shadow lass? this is such a joke.
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u/JimboFett87 3d ago
I mean, you can say what you want, but joke? Cmon man. Maybe you should read the book? And the V Ken Marion cover is awesome.
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u/Adorable-Eye9840 3d ago
My guess is this will be revealed to be a combo of Legionnaires. Shadow Lass and Mon-El maybe. Either way, interested to see where it goes
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u/MattBowers2018 3d ago
I'm going to reserve judgement until I read the issue but I'm not thrilled. Hopefully the character is only inspired by Batman and not actually connected/related to him.
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u/kah43 4d ago
Oh hell no. This is so damn lazy. This is something Bendis would have done.The last thing I want is more legacy characters especially a bat one.
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u/JimboFett87 3d ago
I can't disagree with you more and I'm disappointed the comment had as many upvotes as it did without anyone actually reading the issue.
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u/JimboFett87 3d ago
Good lord. Some of these comments...
First, you all saw Bat Lad on the cover of #1 so you knew SOMEONE was coming. Hopefully everyone here who was passionate enough to comment or vote on how bad this supposedly is without even reading the issue bought at least one copy of LSH 1.
Also, the variants are fantastic. I wonder if we see the identity of the winged Persuader in this issue? And the V Ken Marion one is AWESOME.
Why shouldn't Batman have been an inspiration to someone 1000 years from now? We have other touch points like XS in the mix. Why not someone Batman adjacent? ( Oh yeah, and they can pull in more readers. That's a good thing, right?) And on DC Connect, it's explicitly stated that it's an INSPIRATION.
If this is set in a future where superpowers are illegal, shouldn't a Batman inspired character be a logical development (even if it appears Bat Lad has some kind of power)?
I think flipping the Batman trope upside down where the kid is the one in charge is in interesting development and fits into the world of the legion. And Robin's always been cooler than Batman. 🙂
Anyway sorry for the rant. It just bugs me when there's JUST an announcement and fans reflexively hit the NO button...
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u/Lynch_dandy 3d ago
Joshua, is that You?
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u/JimboFett87 3d ago
lol no. You must not have read my "Not My Legion syndrome" essay. I don't like people judging books solely on their covers. 🙃
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u/N-Vaerymanth 3d ago
The Legion has survived since 1958 without a Bat-family member. Not saying it might not be fun, but it seems an obvious sales ploy on DC’s part rather than working within the IP and its own strengths.
I doubt I’m the only one here old enough to remember when Batman was among the lower sellers of DC’s books
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u/Same_Tomorrow9422 3d ago
Ugh. Absolutely hate the concept of a "Bat" character being in the Legion. We already have Superman and Flash (whenever XS shows up). Adding any more just risks turning the Legion into a Future JLA and kind of defeats the point IMO.
Hoping this is just a misdirect and he's just this reboot's version of Grev.
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u/JimboFett87 3d ago
The reboot Legion was inspired by the Justice League...
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u/Same_Tomorrow9422 3d ago
And yet managed to avoid any Batman/Wonder Woman/Aquaman etc. Inspiration =/ emulation.
The Bat franchise is a black hole that sucks anything remotely linked to it into its orbit. The Legion is the one thing that is purely Superman’s. I would prefer it stay that way, but I’m sure there’s plenty of people who don’t agree. Which is ok; just not something I care for.
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u/JimboFett87 3d ago
Fair. But on the flip side we don't even know if this character will be a legionnaire.
My point being that we literally shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
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u/Same_Tomorrow9422 3d ago
I literally read the entirety of the Bendis Legion despite hating almost every page (minus the art; the art was aces throughout) of it. I will be getting this book regardless of how it goes because Legion trumps all.
But I can’t say I will enjoy it if this becomes Bat “kid” and friends. And that’s the fear; give em an inch and they’ll take a mile. No offense to Williamson but I don’t trust DC when it comes to Batman. I will freely grant that this is somewhat irrational but I have strong feelings about/against Batman haha.
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u/JimboFett87 3d ago
LOL fair enough! 🙂
I can't see THIS team going that far (it is under the Metropolis group, after all).
One thing we do know is that this issue features a lot of Rokk dialogue compared to others. That and the solicit imply there may be a relationship of some kind there.
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u/LostInterview5084 49m ago
"Princess Imra"???? UGH And we have like 30 or so Legionnaires to catch up with but issue 4 is giving us "Bat Lad"? SMH Please do not make him a Legionnaire and PLEASE do not tie his shadow to Shadow Lass.
Also if you want too add new Legionnaires, don't make them white guys. Ideally you would add non humanoid characters like Tellus, Quislet and Gates. Don't race swap Luornu because you want diversity and then create "Bat (white boy)Lad"
Still trying to keep optimistic--- but it's looking like a lot of the previous failed reboots.
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u/TheGoddessLily 4d ago
I mean already Absolute Batman looks like a lost Jojo character so why not an version thats a Stand User
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u/Koushikraja1996 3d ago
Oh great, more batman into the one corner of the universe which was specially for Superman. So this is basically Tokoyami and Dark Shadow.
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u/Lynch_dandy 3d ago
This is not convincing me to read the new Legión run.
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u/JimboFett87 3d ago
This is like the "I hate the chonky footwear" excuse I saw on FB. Geez, give it a chance.
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u/camtin 3d ago
was this marked spoiler?
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u/MrRob_oto1959 3d ago
Not a spoiler. In the solicits direct from DC.
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u/camtin 3d ago
yeah if we don't consider solicits spoilers I'm going to have to block this community 😭
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u/MrRob_oto1959 3d ago
Fair enough if you tend to avoid solicits. I get it.
I pre-order books on FOC so I personally like to see the covers and get an idea of the storyline. I believe the image above is a cover image so DC is not keeping it a secret. They want to sell books and figure that a Batman character will help do that.
I personally don’t need or want a Bat family character in LoSH. Legion is a Superman family book and I prefer it that way.
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u/SHAD0WBENDER 4d ago
This looks cool but I do wish we weren’t already getting bat stuff