First Look: EARTH 2 ANNUAL #1

I was leaning Bane based on the upper body alone but I wasnt quite sure how he would end up on e2

i hope its damian so they dont bring him back in the current titles

I've been working under the assumption that it's Dick Grayson since Bruce got his face pretty well exploded. But I'd be happy to be wrong and it be someone else. Either way, I've really been digging what's been going on in Earth-2.

I concur. And this would be awesome.

I don't care about the how, I think it would be totally awesome if it was Thomas Wayne.

Other than the 'dead' trinity of Earth 2, no other characters have doppelgangers so far (from what I remember). So its possible this is an all-new character OR some old Earth 2 character reimagined as Batman or an Earth 1 character that was dropped from canon after the New52 and being reimagined in the Earth 2 universe.

Hey everybody.... here's one that I'll admit is a silly reach: rich guy with gadgets fight crime.... what if.... Earth 2 Batman replacement ends up being... a much more serious (and buff)...TED KORD? (pleasepleasepleasepleaseplaseplaseasdigjhafehldah.

PLEASE BE BANE PLEASE BE BANE!

so keeping in the JSA era characters I think you could make Thomas Wayne work here, no reason he couldn't have been brought over along with Pandora,no?

Otherwise it would be interesting if they DIDN'T tell us who he is.

My money's still on Bat-Mite, y'all.

when is this being released?

i hope its a completely new character

Maybe it's Bruce Wayne, I mean, Bruce is unkillable, especially when it comes to Darkseid

It's been stated countless times by James Robinson AND by G-Man that it is NOT anyone from Earth-Prime (or what ever they call it). So Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, James Gordon Jr, and Bane can be ruled out. Now, unless he's totally got me fooled and is lying, it can't be anyone from the N52. So I have three guesses on who the new Batman is:

1. Batman never actually died (we never saw the body - main rule in comics)
2. Jean Paul-Valley
3. Completely new character who just wants to continue on the Batman legacy

It seems like it would be some one with some sort of golden age connections, and i can't think of any connected to batman that aren't being used in at least one of the two universes. Jean Paul valley is agood choice but I don't think he has any golden age connection?

@ravisher: yeah Thomas Wayne makes a lot of sense! He also might have a golden age feel! Being older and all.

Please let it be Damian Wayne!

This annual is out this week - finally! Remember, here's what Robinson had to say about the character:

“He’s a huge part of ‘Earth 2,’ he’s going to be a huge part of the DC Universe, and everything he does from the Annual onward will have huge implications for the DC Universe," series writer James Robinson recently teased to MTV GEEK. “This isn’t some new person coming in to be Batman. This is definitely a part of Batman lore. Robinson went on to say that as much as he seems to be looking forward to the lasting impact of his character on the universe that he says DC Editorial is allowing him to create pretty much whole-cloth, he's often very aware of the deep threads of history of these characters in their many permutations. With that in mind, if it's not Bruce acting as the Batman of the parallel universe of "Earth 2," he doesn't want it to be some random character no one has heard of.

I think this says a LOT about who the character is. I also believe that his "rule" (or DC's) about the fact that there will not be duplicate characters means that it COULD BE Bruce from the main continuity. It also could be Damien from Earth 2, since he was Robin but never Batman in the new 52. And it could also be Thomas Wayne as well. But it seems that it WILL BE someone tied to Batman's previous continuity.

Well, the issue is out and we've all had time to digest it ... right? I saw enough clues that I think I know who it is - did everyone else notice that bat spheres came out of this Batman's guns? For me, that was the biggest clue; they also referenced this character by name (given name, not super-hero name). Anyone else?