Batman has a legendary mythos under his utility belt in his 80-plus years of history with DC Comics. Given his expansive rogues' gallery and a city that seems to be stuck in a near-perpetual state of strife, the Dark Knight is constantly having to face some of the worst that Gotham has to offer.
Ever since the superhero went the more brooding, grounded makeover in the '70s/'80s, writers have given their takes on him overcoming different adversities in the comics. Often those setbacks are a mix of the physical and psychological. Nonetheless, he's known for being more than capable of making triumphant comebacks, which typically culminate in some of Batman's most iconic moments in the medium.
10 Knightfall: Broken By Bane
Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy closer gave this a live-action interpretation, and it's undoubtedly one of the biggest setbacks Batman has ever had to recover from. In the classic Knightfall arc, Bane was the new major threat and systematically broke Batman down. Bane released his most dangerous rogues from Arkham, knowing that Gotham's protector would run himself ragged rounding them all back up with virtually no breaks in between.
After Bane breached Wayne Manor and broke Bruce's back, he needed to do intensive rehabilitation to not only return, but defeat the increasingly deranged Azrael that succeeded him. Bruce beating Azrael with brain over brawn was so definitive, it forced the latter to snap back and accept Bruce as the genuine Dark Knight.
9 The Court Of Owls: Trapped In The Labyrinth
A big contributor to Batman's New 52 success was the excellent The Court of Owls comic arc that opened this reboot, introducing them as new supervillains to Batman's rogues' gallery - and quickly proved to be fan-favorites. The Court completely flipped his world, proving that the World's Greatest Detective doesn't know everything there is to know about Gotham City and that he's simply avoided confrontation by the Court because they allowed it.
Their Talon has assassinated Waynes before, and they subjected Bruce to the most torturous physical and psychological trials in their maze. Talon toyed with him like prey, and that's why it was so cathartic when Batman rose above the odds stacked against him. The Court and what they put him through served a meaningful purpose, making this story and victory stand out in the pantheon of Batman lore.
8 Year One: The Inspiration To Become Batman
Year One is widely accepted as the definitive Batman origin story, and while his most infamous rogues have yet to appear at this stage in his career, it portrays an early--and crucial--comeback. After spending years training to find some way to fight the crime that took his parents so no one has to go through what he did, he eventually found himself on the verge of giving up.
He went to one of Gotham's most troubled neighborhoods to help but returned bloody and unsure if his training culminated in anything. The crime families of the city seemed too much, and Bruce contemplated letting himself bleed out until becoming inspired by a bat on the bust of his father. From there, he struck fear into Falcone and partner crime families, assuring them that their reign was coming to an end.
7 The Dark Knight Returns: Beating The Mutants' Leader
Following up a Miller classic with another is The Dark Knight Returns. Batman's victory over the Mutants was another cathartic, visceral comeback moment. Sometime after Bruce initially retired from being Batman, the Mutants gang formed and contributed to Gotham's resurgence in violent crime.
The frustration of seeing the city rotting again moved him to don the mantle again but was initially defeated by the Mutants leader. He was slower given his age, but his victory in round two was thoroughly deserved. Batman broke him down physically and in spirit--by beating him convincingly in front of his own underlings.
6 Final Crisis: Mortally Wounding Darkseid
The Final Crisis arc was a grand culmination of DC's pantheon up against one of the greatest threats they'd ever face. Darkseid, a New God, seeks to take control over reality and Earth's entire population with the Anti-Life Equation and tries to have Batman's mind cloned to create his own army.
Darkseid's agents initially release the Equation, sending the planet into a universally authoritarian state. The Justice League was thwarted for the time, but Batman eventually mortally wounds the New God with a Radion bullet after breaking out of imprisonment. He breaks his vow for this and is "killed" by Darkseid's Omega Beams.
5 The Return Of Bruce Wayne: Batman Going Through Time
Picking up after his fate in Final Crisis, The Return of Bruce Wayne sees him travel through time back to the present. At the end of the former comic, it's revealed that the Omega Beams didn't "kill" Batman necessarily; rather, they sent him spiraling back through time.
An overwhelming fate to deal with, but it nonetheless showed Bruce's resilience to conquer any manner of obstacles and reclaim his place as the world's premier Batman. Starting during prehistory, he needed to break out of his amnesia and essentially defeat the history of the world to make his comeback--literally and figuratively--in the present.
4 Ten Nights Of The Beast: Outsmarting KGBeast
Few of his rogues can best him in hand-to-hand combat, but KGBeast--as the name suggests--an assassin made by a secret cell of the KGB, was able to do just that. The Hammer sent him to kill 10 top U.S. government officials, which included the president, to destabilize the Strategic Defense Initiative.
Not only did he beat Batman in combat, but the latter also couldn't stop the Beast in successfully killing most of his targets. In their final rematch during Ten Nights of the Beast, Batman destroyed his cybernetically-enhanced arm and lured him into a room deep in Gotham's sewers. The Beast expected a death match but was instead promptly locked in the room alive.
3 Curse Of The White Knight: Beating Azrael
Though Azrael is more synonymous with Knightfall, the alternate-timeline White Knight universe made a great spin out of that piece of lore. Curse of the White Knight saw a similarly brainwashed Jean-Paul Valley (by Joker) into leading a crusade on Batman/Bruce as the former is the true remaining Wayne.
Part of his fall was from self-inflicted wounds, as the disappearance of Jason Todd devolved him into an unhinged menace. Public perception soured, and Azrael was ruining the lives of his loved ones, so his final stand as Gotham's Batman, beating Azrael, turning himself in, and donating all his money was a well-earned redemption.
2 Zero Year: Riddler's Death Games
In another origin story, Batman has Riddler as one of the first threats to deal with in his early career. It's a tall order, and more so for a novice Caped Crusader. Riddler shuts off power to the city and challenges Batman to bring it back. He then has to stop both him and Doctor Death from setting off bombs with an airship, only managing to beat Death while Riddler succeeds in flooding Gotham.
In a No Man's Land-inspired setting, Batman and Gordon form a delicate alliance to beat Nygma at his game and bring power to Gotham using the former's own heartbeat attached to an electrode. It's an exciting twist on his origins dealing with mobsters like Falcone.
1 City Of Bane: Taking Back Gotham
In a reversal, Bane--surely among his most powerful enemies--managed to put Gotham in a vice-grip after breaking Batman again--and throwing him in the prison that Bane grew up in. He even gained control of the city with the help of Thomas Wayne from another reality and murdered Alfred in the process.
While King's run in Batman was divisive in parts, this is arguably among the lowest points the character's been in. Finally, with the help of his Batfamily, Batman defeats Bane in a grueling, bloody fight in which he barely survived. It still manages to demonstrate the superhero's iron willpower.
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