When & Why Did Batman Shoot Darkseid? Explained

We all know most superheroes have strict rules against killing, and some, like Batman, don’t even like to use guns. However, some characters go through such extreme situations in comics that they feel forced to betray what they believe. One such situation was during ‘Final Crisis’ when Batman shot Darkseid. So, why did Batman shoot Darkseid?

During the event ‘Final Crisis,’ Batman shoots Darkseid to save the whole world. Darkseid was attempting to destroy the Earth, so Batman has no choice but to abandon his rule and fire a bullet of Radion, the villain’s weakness.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the ‘Final Crisis.’ At the same time, Darkseid shoots his Omega Sanction, a power similar to Superman’s heat vision but stronger, seemingly killing Batman. The final issue of the event shows the villain’s ultimate defeat and indicates that Bruce Wayne is still alive.

Why does Batman feel forced to kill Darkseid in ‘Final Crisis’?

Destroying the Earth is Darkseid’s way of escaping Death. ‘Final Crisis,’ like many stories written by Grant Morrison, is complicated, but that’s what motivates the villain, basically. He plans to stop all heroes and make it impossible for the Black Racer, the representation of Death itself, to ever catch him.

First, Darkseid starts controlling part of Earth’s population using the Anti-Life equation, which is a formula that allows those who know it to dominate the will of anyone. A signal is sent, transmitting it to screens and devices around the world and instantly corrupting everyone who sees it.

The villain also starts sinking the Earth into a black hole. Time slows down near a black hole, so if the Black Racer tries to reach the Earth, it’ll only get slower and slower, never arriving at its target. That way, Darkseid eliminates one of the things that could kill him.

Orion is the only other character that can kill Darkseid, so the villain also murders him. A prophecy says that Orion, the villain’s son, will murder him one day. Darkseid eliminated that threat by shooting the hero with Radion, a toxic substance to New Gods, their race.

You might be wondering how Batman plays into all this and manages to get close to the villain, and that is all Darkseid’s fault. Trying to clone Batman and take him out of the board, he kidnaps the hero and sends him to his planet, Apokolips. There, Batman is tormented day in and day out.

However, in the pages of the Batman comics, the readers see Batman escaping and destroying the clone army. While still being tormented by reliving his memories, Batman uses his mind to turn the system against itself and overload the clones with everything he’s gone through. He frees himself and goes after Darkseid.

At last, in ‘Final Crisis’ issue 6, Batman finds Darkseid and shoots the evil New God with Radion. Batman gets the bullet used to kill Orion and makes a once-in-a-lifetime exception for the villain, shooting him with the bullet that was supposed to end the prophecy and save Darkseid’s life.

As said, the villain also hit Batman with an Omega Sanction. Superman finds a carcass of Batman’s body, and Darkseid, fatally wounded but alive, tries to kill the hero and end all hope. But there’s another thing he didn’t prepare for: The Flash.

Barry Allen, the Flash, arrives with Black Racer behind him and outruns Death by making it kill Darkseid. Barry is faster than light, so the black hole doesn’t apply to him. As he is being chased by Death, he uses that to transport the being to where Darkseid is tormenting Superman, so it gives the final blow to the New God.

How does Batman survive Darkseid’s attack in Final Crisis?

Darkseid had another plan that would cause the world’s destruction with the Anti-Life Equation, and it revolved around Batman. During their battle, the New God actually sent Batman to the past with his Omega Sanction instead of killing him. The skeleton Superman finds belongs to one of the clones previously destroyed.

Darkseid sent Batman to the past, so he would eventually arrive in the present and destroy everything in the villain’s place. The Omega Sanction’s power makes Batman travel throughout time while being stalked by a hunter-killer parasitic being, the Hyper-Adapter, which will gather Omega energy and possess Bruce Wayne. Darkseid’s plan is that when Batman time jumped to the present again, the possessed hero would embrace Anti-Life and, with all the energy gathered, he would essentially become a bomb and destroy reality.

But Batman is Batman, so he realizes Darkseid’s plot before it’s too late and makes his own plan to stop it. When he arrives at the end of time, he reprograms the hunter-killer, molding it with his own mythology. While it was supposed to get stronger by feeding on Batman’s pain, the hero uses it to create his own story (yes, Grant Morrison really wanted to make everything cyclical and confusing).

In the end, the Hyper-Adapter is shrunken down to the form of a bat, not being able to affect Bruce anymore. Even so, he almost dies because of all the energy gathered inside him, but Tim Drake and the Justice League purge the radiation and save his life.

In the best ending possible for this kind of story, Tim says Bruce will be brought back if they say Gotham is in trouble and by giving him the cowl. And that’s what happens. Bruce comes back to being Batman and says he isn’t done while Gotham still needs him.

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