Batman's Bloom = America's Rebirth, Part 2

By Stone Washington


Batman...returns??

"Folk hero [Batman]. I'm the folk hero. I'm the only one strong enough to see the city [Gotham] for what it is: a fallacy. A construct to be thrown off so people can be free. Fight and love and live free."

~Mr. Bloom, Super-villain

"He [Batman] fights our nightmares to teach us to fight the real terrors by the light of day. That's the reason the power levels are going down – the seeds are coming out. It's why I'm here. Not because Batman can save us. But because he believes we will save ourselves. He's the Superhero who sees in us the Heroes we can be."

~Commissioner Gordon

This article is a continuation of my series on the New York Times bestselling comic, Batman New 52 saga, examining one of the final installments to the riveting saga, Batman Vol. 9: Bloom.

Bloom Part 3

Bruce Wayne demands that Alfred takes him to the Batcave, and asks what's behind their grandfather clock, which leads to a secret entrance to the hidden cave complex underneath the manor. But Alfred denies anything being there and disallows Bruce to advance any further. But Wayne eventually convinces Alfred to take him to the cave, which was deliberately hidden to hide his true identity and unremembered past, which, after several months of amnesia, Wayne now finally deduces is Batman. Bruce Wayne and Alfred dash through the abandoned Batcave, as Wayne seeks to discover a way to reactivate his memories as Gotham's greatest crime fighter. Bruce discovers the revolutionary machine Alfred mentioned to him and others in the past (see my more recent article on Batman Superheavy) , created by the former Bruce Wayne, that has the power to clone Batman, containing a codex of Wayne's memories and skills, with each clone succeeding the prior. But Alfred warns Bruce that the project was ultimately a failure, stating,

"Every simulation he ran, the host died from the shock of the trauma he inflicted on it. Batman was too much for another living mind to take. The project was a failure. And those minds were empty, Master Bruce. Your mind...it's filled with this new, real you. To try to add Batman to it, it would surely kill you."

But Wayne counters by proposing that the machine might instead make him into something new; a Batman without the trauma and something greater than he was ever before. But even as Alfred states how he destroyed the machine's server, out of holding a deep desire for Bruce to continue pursuing a safe life, Wayne activates the cave's computer system and indirectly activates a fail-safe protocol, containing a backup server of all of Batman's memories. But Alfred tells Bruce that he absolutely refuses to help Batman use the machine as it will destroy his current life and kill him. He tells Bruce to think of his relationship with Julie Madison, to which Bruce responds that he is honoring their relationship, on the basis that he is obligated to try everything in his power to save her and the rest of Gotham (comic version of New York) from Mr. Bloom's destruction. Wayne convinces Alfred to help him, as he activates the machine, while Bruce gets into position underneath it.


Bruce Wayne tells Alfred to keep powering the machine, as he believes that it is working, despite causing immense strain on his brain. But Bruce Wayne's repeated attempts to reactivate his memories as Batman continually end in failure, with each successive attempt activating an alternate reality dream sequence that ends in Batman's ultimate demise. Alfred demands for Bruce to end his reckless attempts through the machine, warning him that the machine pulls Wayne closer to the brink of brain death every time the machine is reset. Nevertheless, Bruce Wayne demands that Alfred run the machine faster, preparing to die from the results, and then reawakening after Alfred activates the machine at full capacity. Bruce Wayne argues,

"He [his former self] never ran the simulations past brain death, because Batman doesn't kill. But the most receptive brain would be fully blank, no self inside. He doesn't kill, but he does! He has to. For Batman to live, Bruce Wayne always has to die!"

But as Alfred threatens to turn the machine off due to the idea of killing the man he raised like a son, Julie Madison suddenly arrives to the cave, volunteering to activate the machine to kill her beloved fiancé Bruce, whom she admits that she always knew was secretly Batman. Wayne warns her that he won't remember all the loving times they spent together, and she asks if Bruce will be able to save them, to which he replies that he hopes so. Julie activates the machine that cause Bruce to yell in agony, as it burns through his brain, killing the man they once loved. She then activates the machine at full capacity, which shocks the life back into Wayne, successfully uploading all of Batman's memories, skills, and talents that he formerly had prior to his amnesia. As Alfred seeks to inform Bruce on all the deadly events that he missed during the Bloom invasion, Wayne stops him and tells him to save it for later, as he prepares to suit up and reprise his duty as Gotham's Dark Knight defender.

Bloom Part 4 (Conclusion)

The reborn, Bruce Wayne prepares himself in the Batcave, shaving his beard and entering his massive armory containing his many Batsuits from the past. Bruce Wayne delves all the way back into a secret chamber in the armory where he grabs a hidden new Batsuit never donned before until now. The story then shifts to an unconscious Commissioner Jim Gordon, who is contemplating to himself what Bruce Wayne is also thinking to himself elsewhere,

"All right. It's time. It's been a good rest, but the city is calling you. They need their Batman back. You left them when they needed you, though. So, if you do this...if you come back...you better give it everything you got. You better give them what they've been waiting for, and then some. Give them the Batman they deserve. Give them something they've never seen before."


Bruce Wayne revisiting his armory in the Batcave

At that moment, Gordon awakes on a stretcher being pushed by his technical assistant Julia Pennyworth, who was injured from the truck crash caused by Mr. Bloom's goons earlier. On their way to a helicopter to escort Gordon to the hospital, due to the fact that Mr. Bloom recently punctured his spleen, Gordon orders her to stop. He runs over to a nearby balcony to see the harm and destruction caused by Bloom and his minions rampaging on the streets below. There he sees police captain Maggie Sawyer, and other Gotham city police wearing the police-inspired Batman robot suits, introduced to Gordon by billionaire Geri Powers earlier. The fleet of police seek to direct all the blood-shed caused by Mr. Bloom away from the surviving innocents in the area and begin shooting missiles and nets to subdue an increasingly growing Bloom, who stands at over 30 feet tall. But Mr. Bloom raises his hand and activates his electrical powers, which control the Batsuits computer systems and causes them to start firing their cannons and missile at innocents in apartment complexes surrounding them.

Horrified, Commissioner Gordon blames the terrible turn of events on his doing, once believing he could bridge police work and super-hero activism, which he now believes has only allowed Bloom to grow more powerful. Suddenly, four of Mr. Bloom's criminal flunkies (each with a special super power) approach Gordon and Julia from around their helicopter, taunting Gordon about how Mr. Bloom promised them that they would each have a chance to reap revenge on him, due to Gordon locking them all in prison years ago. As Julia raises a gun to shot them, one of the crooks uses his powers to shoot her with a large stream of electricity, knocking her out. Two others, grab Gordon, while the electricity-powered crook walks over to the nearby Bat-signal, formerly used by Commissioner Gordon to contact Batman when crime was afoot in Gotham.


Mr. Bloom battling Gotham City's armored police.

Gordon identifies the crook as Lucius Precious, brother of criminal "Precious Precious," whom Gordon defeated in his first mission as the new Batman. As Gordon tells Precious that he is just a pawn for Bloom, Precious rebukes his words, and tells him that he was promised to rule a section of "New Gotham" once Bloom takes control of the city, and promises to hang Gordon's corpse at the gate of the city. Sucking all of the energy from the building via his electrical powers, Precious prepares to use it to destroy Gordon, seeing this as a fitting end to the police Commissioner. But suddenly, a gloved hand smashes Precious's head into the Bat symbol projector, revealing to be non-other than the real Batman, shocking Commissioner Gordon and the crooks who all believed him to have died battling against the Joker months ago. Batman sarcastically responds to Commissioner Gordon's astonishment by asking, "Hello Jim, who died and made you Batman?"

As the four criminals charge at Batman, the Dark Knight leaps into the air while throwing several smoke bombs to partially cover his movements. Batman rips off a Gotham city flag and pole on the building and rams the end of the pole into the mouth of one of the crooks taunting him. While speaking to his butler Alfred via earpiece, Batman charges toward one of the crooks, who is gathering a ball of fire in her hand, while another crook uses his invisibility to hold down Batman's cape from behind. Batman then slides under the invisible crook's long legs just as the other criminal accidentally blasts him with a large stream of fire. Batman then back-flips with the flag rapped around the burning criminal's head and throws him into the other crook who burned him, knocking them both unconscious. Batman then charges at another criminal, who shoots a stream of icy wind from his mouth, to which Batman dodges by using the pole as a jousting stick and pole vaults into the villain, knocking him out cold. During Batman's fight, Alfred speaks to him, stating,

"Having fun, sir? I suppose you should feel good. Much as I hate to admit it...when you were revived by the Dionesium, your body was fully healed. All the years of scarring...they're gone. You're the fastest and strongest Batman since...well, ever."


Batman battling Mr. Bloom's goons.

Batman then walks toward the Bat symbol, as Precious shoots a large electrical charge at him. Batman dodges it as the electricity hits the Bat symbol and sends the large metal medallion flying, to which Batman uses his pole to hit it like a baseball into Precious, knocking him out. After defeating Bloom's minions, the revived Batman confronts Commissioner Gordon, who covers Julia on the hospital stretcher to recover, and tells him that he is a lot better off with Batman's assistance. Suddenly, a massive quake shakes the ground, with the two looking over the horizon to see an unbelievable sight, a massive strange star (defined as a star of extremely high temperature and pressure with forced nuclear particles to form a continuous state of matter, consisting primarily of free quarks).

At that moment, Geri Powers contacts Gordon via earpiece, telling him that Bloom created a strange energy surge fueled by the increasing number of people taking his seeds for powers. This power is funneled to a Collider (a particle accelerator in which two beams of particles moving in opposite directions are made to collide) at Powers' base of operations, that could potentially destroy the entire city. Batman deduces that Bloom has some sort of super-seed implanted in his back, acting as a transmitter for the active seeds in Gotham to feed the strange star. As the two talk, Batman handcuffs Gordon's hand to the helicopter with a GPS set to release when the copter arrives to a hospital, intended to heal Gordon's internal bleeding. As Gordon attempts to resist, Batman disappears to go and fight Mr. Bloom, leaving Gordon on the rooftop.

Elsewhere, Duke Thomas, dressed as Robin (Batman's side-kick), sneaks aboard the Batman blimp flown by Daryl Gutierrez, technical assistant for Commissioner Gordon who is shocked to see his friend. Thomas tells Gutierrez the bad news that his parents, who had disappeared after the Joker attack, were found, but permanently diseased by Joker's toxins, causing them to remain in a perpetual state of delusion and venomous hatred. Duke speaks on how he was going to quit his vigilantism as Robin and throw away all his tools and evidence, until he had discovered a list of names in his mission at Penguin's lair earlier, containing a list of Crowne Genius Grant Nominees (a grant for gifted Gotham scholars), with he and Daryl's names on it. Duke states that Penguin was tracking Bloom's technology to its source, Daryl, to which he demands that he tell Thomas what's going on.

Daryl then activates a mysterious power that knocks Duke into a window, as the story shifts to Mr. Bloom who has grown even larger as he watches the strange star grow bigger. Suddenly a cable ties around his neck, pulling him down to the ground upon being connected to a nearby van with a batarang on the accelerator that caused it to move. This, as Batman shoots multiple cables to pin Bloom down to the ground. Batman leaps on top of Bloom's massive back and moves to kick him in the face, as the Super-villain compliments his new suit and vigor upon being shocked by his return, calling Batman "the first unkillable weed." As Batman prepares to pierce Bloom's back with a batarang to disarm the super seed, a bullet fired by one of the police bat-robots knocks the weapon out of his hand, still being controlled by Bloom's power. Bloom changes the colors of the robot suits to appear like Batman's many Super-villains of the past (Penguin, Killer Croc, Harley Quin, and Poison Ivy), and breaks free from his bonds as Batman charges at the robots. Bloom then sees Commissioner Gordon's helicopter flying overhead toward the direction of the strange star, as he seeks to stop Bloom's plot, and leaves Batman to fight his robots. Batman throws grenades at two of them, destroying them both, before being blocked by a large robot's foot, taking the appearance of Batman's former arch nemesis, the Joker.

Meanwhile, Duke Thomas is being held against the glass of the airship by Daryl's power, granted to him by one of Bloom's seeds, that gives him power over bio-organic matter (people's bodies). Daryl reveals that he is not working for Mr. Bloom like Thomas believes, but hates the villain more than anyone as he admits that he himself was the original Bloom and had everything taken away from him by the current Bloom. Daryl recounts a flashback where he used the money from the Crowne Grant to develop prototype seeds. Daryl states, "I was going to be Gotham's hero, Duke. Mister Bloom. Named for Blossom Row. Where people came together, once upon a time," believing that he could help Gotham when it was believed that Batman couldn't, such as during the Riddler's Zero Year attack and later Joker's Endgame virus. Daryl describes how he tested the seeds on unidentified deceased victims, to which at first it bared no success. But suddenly a crash occurs in the testing room, where Daryl finds an unknown test subject who was revived by the seed, turning out to be Mr. Bloom, who took all of Daryl's work and escaped without a trace.

But Daryl assures Thomas that he can replicate his research and achieve his dream of making everyone accountable for keeping themselves, safe from danger by using his super-powered seeds. But Thomas's seeks to reason with Daryl, telling him that powers aren't the answer, but instead the power of good hard-working people. But as Daryl rejects that idea, Thomas takes his Robin pin and stabs Daryl with it, moving to kick him in the head to break his bondage. Elsewhere, Gotham's citizens continue to rampage and attack each other with super powers using Bloom's seeds. Commissioner Gordon is revealed to have flown to the Powers building seeking to use a blocker on an available robotic Bat-suit to stop the strange star, similar to how he used a blocker to nullify Mr. Bloom's powers earlier. But Mr. Bloom smashes the antenna of the building, that would have been used to amplify the blocker, through the window onto Gordon, who demands that he end his evil plan, which he warns will destroy all of Gotham. But Bloom responds by stating his intent to destroy downtown and center of power and grow a wild new garden in its place.

As Bloom sends his large fingers through the building to crush Gordon, the villain is punched by a large fist, coming from non-other than Batman operating the 50-foot robotic Bat-suit that attacked him earlier. Batman tells Gordon to find a way to shut the strange star down as he goes for the super seed in Bloom's back. As Mr. Bloom attempts to coerce Batman to work with him, Batman grabs his head and smashes it through a building and drags it through the structure, until it collapses onto him.

As Batman rebukes his offer, one of Bloom's razor-sharp fingers stretches to pierce through Batman's robotic suit, as the Super-villain mocks him as being an entitled "Gardner," referring to the big and powerful in Gotham whom he believes tarnish the city's true beauty. Bloom uses his power of fire to burn one of the Bat-suit's arms and freezes it solid with ice. Bloom then pierces the suit again with his fingers, and tauntingly states, "Folk hero. I'm the folk hero. I'm the only one strong enough to see the city for what it is: a fallacy. A construct to be thrown off so people can be free. Fight and love and live free." But Batman tells Bloom that he knows nothing about Gotham, as the Super-villain raises his hands to strike the Dark Knight again. Suddenly a missile knocks Bloom down from the Bat-blimp above, now driven by Duke Thomas, allowing Batman to move onto an incapacitated Bloom, and destroy his transmitter.


Batman (in robotic suit) battling Mr. Bloom

Bloom uses his vines and fingers to destroy Batman's suit, while attacking Thomas's airship, which activates a magnet to pull Bloom up into the sky at the aircraft. Thomas then parachutes out of the exploding airship, damaged by Bloom's attack, and is cut out of the sky by one of Bloom's sharp vines, causing him to fall. But he is caught by Batman, who swings by to save him, and glides over the city, whose returned appearance inspires all the citizens to take Bloom's seeds out of their bodies, thereby weakening the strange star. Elsewhere, Commissioner Gordon is revealed to have grabbed a metallic superheavy element (an unstable element with an atomic mass or atomic number greater than those of the naturally occurring elements) dubbed "Batmanium," introduced to him earlier by Geri Powers. Gordon hauls the element to the top of the building as the strange star nears his location. The star consumes multiple buildings, even Mr. Bloom himself as it nears Gordon. Speaking to Geri Powers via earpiece, Gordon delivers a philosophical soliloquy as he prepares to attempt to stop the strange star, which states in-part,

"He [Batman] fights our nightmares to teach us to fight the real terrors by the light of day. He believes in us, Geri. That's the reason the power levels are going down – the seeds are coming out. Its why I'm here. Not because Batman can save us. But because he believes we will save ourselves. He's the Superhero who sees in us the Heroes we can be.

Commissioner Gordon activates the blocker in his Bat-suit while holding the Batmanium at the strange star, absorbing the strange star's energy along with Mr. Bloom inside of it into the element, saving the city. It is later revealed that Gotham city is back to normal, with repairs being made. Commissioner Gordon is back to his role as the head of police, while Bruce Wayne secretly continues to protect Gotham as the Batman. Duke Thomas is also taken under Wayne's tutelage, after his parents are confined to Arkham Asylum, beginning a new life as Batman's next crime-fighting partner.

Message for Modern Day

The final segment of this Batman story produces a plethora of profound political, philosophical, scientific, and spiritual lessons for modern day Americans. As explained previously, the master-mind weed-like Super-Villain, Mr. Bloom, personifies the scheming Progressives in government under the era of Trump, unrelenting in their daily efforts to derail and delegitimize Trump's Presidency, yet President Trump's triumphs are daily manifested – DrudgeReport Headlines (11-30-2017): "Dow 24,000! +300, McCain 'Yes' on Tax Cut."

Mr. Bloom's many powers gained through his super-powered seeds represents the many sectors of power Democrats still wield over Republicans in key areas of society, such as in public education, mayoral offices, urban centers, and a substantial minority in the Senate that has allowed the Left to remain a major opposition for conservative pro-American policy, such as tax reform, in 2017. Another example of this opposition are apparent through the heavy resistance of Democrat operated sanctuary cities (Chicago, San Francisco, New York) and federal judges pledging to directly oppose Executive mandates issued by the Trump Administration to disallow or deport illegal aliens.

Mr. Bloom's minions and the people of Gotham taking his seeds represent the negative products of the anarchistic and nihilistic methods of Mr. Bloom's agenda, which is to demolish the foundation of Gotham, what he calls the "Gardeners," Gotham's businessmen, politicians, activists, police, and everyone that has shaped the city into what it is. In its place, Bloom sought to grow a savage garden of chaos and destruction where no laws exist and all are free to fight for their own existence, which unleashed pandemonium in Gotham.

'Thus, until the real Batman arrived and saved the day, after regaining his memories and skills through a process of rebirth, representing how President Donald Trump has attained an historic Presidency in order to save America from a downward spiral of decay and decadence, and usher in a new era of rebirth (MAGA). President Trump abandoning his former life as a billionaire business man to preserve America as President, represents how Bruce Wayne discarded his former life as social worker for the city and to an extent his life as a billionaire, to devote the greatest amount of efforts toward protecting Gotham as Batman.

Lastly, Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham police symbolize the failed system of the GOP establishment, which means well to uphold conservative principles and pro-American policy, but has many actors that do not represent America's best interests. Gordon's failure to prevent Gotham's destruction is evident of the failed political system (as Trump repeatedly warned: "the system is RIGGED"), that is only now being repaired with the apotheosis of President Trump, just as it was with Batman's glorious return that saved Gotham. Gordon's soliloquy at the end is a beautiful examination of Batman's legacy for Gotham and his inspiration on the people of Gotham to be their own heroes and have faith in their own abilities, absent of artificial powers such as Mr. Bloom's. Thus, America must learn from Gordon's words of wisdom and strive to follow in Batman's brave example to protect and preserve the goodness of his city, even from beyond the grave, just as President Trump is currently revitalizing the exceptional greatness of America's heritage as a God blessed nation.

*N.B.: This essay is based in part on The New 52's Batman Vol. 9: Bloom by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, Nos. 46-50.

© Stone Washington