WMG / Detective Comics (Rebirth)

The Kane/Cain surname similarity will be addressed and become a plot point.

• Specifically, it will be used as a springboard to teach Cassandra how to read.
  • I seriously hope they make something of this. I have to imagine that some of Kate's first thoughts when hearing Cass's surname were "how is it spelled?" and "did I take a knife to the heart for this kid?". That whole "Twice-Named Daughter of Cain/Kane" thing is too much to pass up here, I'd think. And hey, it'd be a great segue to bring Beth back in some way!

Kate will eventually become a Cool Big Sis figure to Cass.

• Possibly due in part to the name similarity as mentioned above.
  • I would adore this, though I think it may be more likely for this to happen with Steph. After all, both of their fathers share something in common now. Arthur and Jacob have served as primary antagonists for their daughters, though I'd hardly call Jacob a super-villain. I think there's a lot of potential for bonding, there. Plus, Kate is super snarky and dry, which complements Steph's bubbly irreverence.
• Word of God states that Cass looks up to Kate more than any other member of the team and wants to bond with her more, so... this is a maybe.
• Seemingly confirmed, with Kate wanting to take Cass out to a baseball game.

Steph, Cass, and Kate will eventually team up with the Birds of Prey.

• Maybe not for very long, but it'll happen.
  • I can see this happening with Cass and Steph, but not really Kate. At least, not in the typical 'team' dynamic. Having her be the field commander of two vigilante groups like that would be rather strange, and Helena would be the only one I can see her maybe taking orders from, since she's a super-spy with a ton of credibility now. However, a Chuck Dixon-style team-up with Babs operating as Oracle once again (please?) and Kate acting as a temporary agent could work beautifully.
  • Confirmed, though it happened during the "Manslaughter" arc of Batirl And The Birds Of Prey.

Bette Kane and Harper Row will be "cycled" into the team roster at some point.

• Bette's training was never completed, and after the further schism between Jacob and Kate, she'd wonder if her father's plans extended to her cousin. And it's not like anyone could stop her from being a vigilante before. Plus, Harper did say she wanted to team up with Batwoman at the end of Eternal. And the team needs a new techwizard if Tim gets to hang up his cape for a while.
  • Word of God has basically confirmed both of them will be showing up at some point. Harper in particular will be back in issue #943.
  • I thought he just confirmed Beth (referring to her as Red Alice) and Harper, but not Bette? Damn, I hope you're right!
  • EDIT: Apparently, Batwing is supposed to show up at some point. Kinda feel like that defeats the purpose of a Badass Normal team + a meta if one of the "normals" has Powered Armor, but I guess we'll see. Maybe he'll run ops? He's got his own tech company. Or, he did last we saw him.
  • Jossed. They both appeared, but didn't join the team.

Kate, Beth and Clayface will eventually pull a gambit involving three "Batwomen" existing simultaneously.

• Even better if they get Clayface to physically put on a spare batsuit to make it more convincing. Plus, it'd be a fun nod to Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman.
  • Okay, I technically still got this one. Mostly. Beth wasn't involved, but Kate did use the Mud Room to curbstomp Simon.

After "Rise of the Batmen", Kate's hair will return to its more iconic bobbed look.

• The importance of reinforcing her background as a soldier (the buzzcut itself) and how she looks so much like her father (facial structure, as seen in #938) would no longer be necessary. But maybe this is just wishful thinking...
  • Word of God is that her look will be played with as the series goes on. It may not grow back instantly, but a return to longer hair is definitely a possibility.
  • Based on solicits and various art, Kate becomes a kaiju during "Night of the Monster Men". Maybe the reversal process regrows her hair somehow, as a side effect or something.
  • Confirmed: Preview art shown at NYCC depicts Kate with her iconic bob. YES!

Lady Shiva will curb-stomp the team when she shows up, and has taken an "interest" in Batwoman.

• Word of God already all but confirmed that Shiva will be a major thing in the third arc, which focuses on Cassandra, and it'd make sense that Shiva's classic "grooming" thing would apply to Kate, as her background was drawn from war rather than Bruce's crusade. Ironically, I don't think it would be particularly difficult to coerce Kate into killing someone. Trying to take Beth away would warrant that reaction with very little, if any, hesitation, IMHO.
  • While it makes more sense for Shiva to be after Cassandra, this could be possible as well. New Shiva is considerably less capable as a fighter, however.
  • I kinda got the impression that they were rolling back Shiva to her Pre-Flashpoint incarnation, or at least a variation of her. And yeah, of course Shiva is going after Cass, but I was thinking Kate's thing here would be like a B/C-plot. Like "one day she'll come for you; be ready". Could make a fun Raiders of the Lost Ark reference there if that comes to pass; Kate just shoots her in the leg.
  • Jossed. Shiva fights but doesn't curbstomp the team, and takes no interest in Kate except as a channel through which to hurt Jacob.

Harper Row will come out as lesbian or bisexual.

• She is joining the book in issue #943, and has already expressed an admiration for (but not necessarily an attraction to) Batwoman back in the last issue of Batman Eternal. Maybe her learning that Kate is gay will give her some confidence to come out. She's also had previous minor Les Yay moments with Stephanie and Cass, so it's not like it would be completely out of nowhere. It would also be an interesting payoff of sorts to how Harper and her brother Cullen (who is gay) affectionately refer to each other as "homo".
  • Oh thank God it's not just me who sees this. In the final issue of Eternal, Steph and Tim had the EXACT same moment that Harper and Steph earlier on. Same blocking, same pause as they stare into one another's eyes. So yes, please, all of my yes. I'd say, if anything, she'll probably be bisexual, since she did comment to a comatose Cullen about Tim's body (though that could have easily been for his benefit) during Eternal, but, yes, absolutely, having Kate's mere existence inspire Harper to come out would be beyond amazing. Also there was that one time in Batman (2011) #12 where she shaved fag into the back of her head as a show of solidarity to Cullen. I mean... think at this point it'd be weirder if she was straight.
  • In issue #943, Harper mentions that her Bluebird costume "is in a locked trunk in [her] closet". Foreshadowing? Symbolism? We'll see.
    • Are you saying that Harper's gear is in the closet in a gay metaphor way?
  • Great catch! Tynion himself is openly bi, so it's highly unlikely he'd use that kind of terminology casually.
  • Issue #944 has Harper drooling over a flying car, claiming something so beautiful could only be a lady, and wants to make the car her wife. I mean... might need Word of God confirmation, but once again, struggling to see how Harper being straight makes any kind of sense.
  • Word of God from Tynion's Twitter implies the answer will be in #945.
  • Confirmed in #945. Harper mentions she's bi in a conversation with Jean-Paul.

Clayface will eventually return to being a bad guy...

• ...by merging with an evil being with similar powers to his. Since this is comics, we know he's probably not going to be a good guy forever, so this would prevent his Heel–Face Turn from seeming arbitrary, and could even serve as a Heroic Sacrifice on his part, completing his character arc with Redemption Equals Death.
  • I dunno, if he stays a mostly good guy, it'd discourage writers from using the ol' "It was Clayface all along" gimmick. He doesn't HAVE to be a superhero or even work with the Bats. He could just...y'know be an actor? Live his life? I think that'd be really interesting, as opposed to him being the "tank" forever. Plus, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn have basically given up the supervillain thing altogether, so it's not unprecedented for this kind of thing to stick. Even the Riddler worked as a Private Detective (who teamed up with Dick!Bats!) for a while before Flashpoint undid that.

The Mud Room will malfunction, because it's basically a Holodeck.

• ...what? It's almost a requirement that this sort of thing happen. Same with it being used to as a trap for a bad guy.

The Colony's helicarrier will crash into the bay.

• The real twist would be making a safe landing back at Fort Richards. But if it does crash, it'd be the second massive aircraft to splash down in Kane Bay (they still call it that, right?) in a very short period of time. Which is hilarious.
  • Jossed. It teleports from the area in #940.

Gabi Kane is still alive and will reappear in this series.

• This is waaaay out there. But think about it: Beth turned out to still be alive, with another child killed in her place. And we the readers never got to see the face of the woman who was shot during Kate's rescue all those years ago, since she had a bag over her head. Why didn't Jacob notice? Assumption perhaps, as with what happened in Beth's case at first. Plus, the woman who was actually shot may have had her face significantly distorted from the bullet, just from the impact energy alone, making her plausibly look enough like Gabi that no one thought anything of it. Why have a decoy for Gabi too? Who knows? Again, this is so far out there as to be stupid, but it's here now just in case.
  • Jacob would have had to identify the body at some point, which is when he presumably discovered that Beth was not Beth. He's most likely known since the day it happened. Even if Gabi's face was damaged that badly, they still have dental records, her Army Special Forces tattoo, height, hair, her dog tags, birthmarks, and her wedding ring. If Jacob could notice that the dead girl in that room wasn't Beth, then he'd absolutely be able to tell if a corpse wasn't his wife. Probably even faster. And yet, ironically, even if they did pull this kind of thing (they shouldn't)...Kate would still be Batwoman. That tragedy has almost nothing to do with why she does this. All it really did, from a narrative perspective, was push her more towards following in her father's footsteps and enlisting, which she probably would have ended up doing anyway. DADT, Batsignal, etc. So really all this would accomplish is a giant middle finger to Bruce, whose parents STAY DEAD.
  • Jossed, thankfully.

Jacob will be extracted from the Belfry holding cells by the Colony.

• It would be such an amazing set-up for future stuff, and they already know where it is.
  • Apparently, according to a recent interview, Kate actually did throw her father in a private jail cell instead of handing him over to ARGUS. It's easier to keep him in the story if he's RIGHT THERE, for sure, but that feels...weird. Hm. Guess we'll see.
  • Partially confirmed. The solicit for issue #949 indicates they're at least going to try.
  • Narratively, I hope they manage to do it. I can think of few things more motivating for Kate to go on a series globetrotting black ops than to hunt her father down. Even better if Jacob flips when he learns somebody gave authorization to use lethal force to extract him. Ugh, this just keeps getting better. Uh, from a story perspective. Not for Kate.
  • The initial WMG is fully confirmed in #954.

The Mud Room will produce an army of Red Robins to distract and confuse the second wave of drones.

• Or attack it, whichever.
  • Jossed. The drones "kill" Tim, but Mr Oz removes him from the timeline before he is killed.
  • ...okay I was right, from a certain point of view. There is a clay Red Robin now...

Bruce does not believe Tim is dead.

• There's a lot to unpack here, so bare with me. He never found the body, and we've seen other iterations of Batman that doesn't trust "vaporized" for a second. See the Justice League Unlimited episode "Hereafter" for a beautiful example. If there was no trace, no blood or bones or anything (Law of Conservation of Mass: Matter can neither be created nor destroyed; only transformed) remotely resembling a body at the crime scene, except his own weapon, that is a massive red flag.
• The fact that the panel where he finds it is clearly an homage to Death in the Family, and by extension DC Bombshells which recently did the same with an alternate Jason but with Kate instead of Bruce, but doesn't have Bruce cradling a broken body should be a massive hint to readers that not only is he not dead (as is revealed in the last bit of #940), but that Bruce doesn't truly believe it.
• The World's Greatest Detective has every right to grieve, but that doesn't mean his head's not parsing it all out. What's most interesting here, is if it's true, besides the obvious role-reversal from Final Crisis, is that it only further ties Bruce and Jacob together in their actions and motivation.
• Bruce, presumably, will hide this from the rest of the team (ideally excluding Kate and thus Dick, instead of lying to his cousin again about the first time she's ever lost a soldier under her command which would make his promise in #939 meaningless) so as not to get their hopes up...just like Jacob did with the prospect of Beth still possibly being alive to Kate, which Bruce most likely knows about.
• This just adds further credence to Jacob's assertions that the League of Shadows is indeed real, since the more he appears to uphold Bruce's ideology of "What Happened To My Family Will Never Happen To Anyone Ever Again", but with a different approach, the more legitimate he becomes.

Tim and Steph's relationship is undoing Flashpoint, and Mr. Oz is working to stop it.

• Since the Wham Shot when Rebirth first began, Dr. Manhattan's influence since the relaunch has been minimal, largely relegated to a few quiet references by Flash over in Titans. But according to Oz, Tim Drake has some responsibility in putting threads that had been separated back together. Most notably, he and Steph have not been dating more than a few months but seemingly have the seriousness and care for each other of their pre-relaunch selves. May sound goofy for The Power of Love of two teenagers to have universal impact, but it seems to be what Oz is implying.
  • Alternatively, Tim and Steph's relationship is just one part of the threat to Oz's plans, and it along with other things specific to Tim are why he was taken.
  • Oh, man, this looks like Fridge Brilliance for Rebirth in general. That would be so perfect.
  • Building on this and Oz's comment that Tim was reconnecting with people he wasn't supposed to, perhaps we'll see Steph start to be confused at remembering moments that couldn't have happened in the New 52 continuity...
  • ...things like "War Games"? Hooooooly shit that would throw her for a damn loop. All the stuff surrounding it, Batman treating her like garbage, letting her "die", getting smuggled out of the country...even if she doesn't remember the specifics, just a vague understanding of just how horrible he treated her could seriously alter her behavior. Alternatively, she keeps asking for "gooparangs". Or instantly becomes better friends with Cass with zero explanation, and nobody really questions that.
  • Oh, and if they do go the "memory-bleed" route, it'd be a fantastic opportunity for humor...because as it stands, there's a rather staggering amount of evidence that Kate's memories are 100% intact. She seriously remembers that Kate Spencer was Manhunter, and that Renee was The Question. Getting stabbed in the heart gets a bunch of callbacks, and since Abbot's around until #17—-you get the idea. So while everyone is having these earth-shattering revelations, Kate's just standing there...remembering the stuff she watched on the news, I guess? XD
  • Doctor Manhattan accidentally fixed Tim and Steph's relationship. When he took a chunk of their memories and past away, they forgot their arguments, fights and break-ups... but they still remembered they liked each other! Tim's presence was making the heroes happier, so of course Oz kidnapped him.

One of the issues in the upcoming Cass-focused arc will be entirely silent.

• This is the third full arc, to be clear, the one after "The Victim Syndicate". And if not literally entirely silent, then overwhelmingly so.
  • I'd love to see this, but how would they justify it? Having it from Cass's POV entirely wouldn't really make this happen; she can still understand English. Hmmmm...
  • The silence could just be a stylistic choice. For example, we might see that characters are talking and even that Cass is reacting to and understanding what they're saying, but we the audience wouldn't "hear" what's being said.
  • It could also forgo total silence for abbreviated "translations" of what Cass is understanding from everyone; she clearly understands most of what people say and do, her mind simply doesn't think the way its "supposed to."
  • With a huge focus on facial expressions! Ugh, that'd be amazing.
  • Jossed, though Cass's story from #950 is close, being mostly narration.

Issues #960 and #985 will be special issues in some way.

• Obviously issue #1000 will be a commemorative issue of some sort (as it well should be), but those other issues will be the 27th and 52nd issues of the renumbered series, respectively. 27 is an important number associated with Detective Comics because that was Batman's debut issue, and 52 is a bit of an Arc Number for DC Comics as a whole, so it seems likely that those issues will be different somehow.
  • Likely Jossed? Turns out, #950 is the one that gets a double-sized issue. I feel like we should have seen that coming...
  • The other two could still happen.
  • Jossed as far as #960 goes. It was a regular issue.

The Victim Syndicate is one massive subversion of "War Games" aka the one where Steph was tortured to death.

• Just...just think about it, for a second. This is a new group of Gothamites who sprang out of nowhere, are lead by the mysterious First Victim, and hate Batman for all the people he couldn't save. They're getting caught up in group-think, presumably, and are taking to the streets. Tim just died, and this arc has a focus on Steph. It's a profound sense of loss for everyone, and while Steph wasn't fired (far from it) she proved to Batman that he's not always right with the college acceptance letter. Remember, Steph "died" because she accidentally united all of organized crime under Black Mask using a plan that Batman created to do the opposite...while trying to prove Batman was wrong in firing her. Now, we have disenfranchised citizens rising up against the very heroes who claim to protect them united under a single voice...which means something had to have gone very, very wrong. I'm not saying Steph is the First Victim (too easy, despite the December solicitations, and she's hardly the first if we take that literally), but I am saying that she may honestly agree with A LOT of the points that the Victim Syndicate makes, and in doing so proves Batman wrong in a pretty devastating way.
  • The biggest point, I'm guessing, is that Steph hammers home just how much they talk about being better, and how little some of them actually become better. "Find a way". "Be Better". Those words mean nothing without follow through.
  • #945 seems to support this...
  • I feel like if this arc is War Games, it's War Games in reverse. Think about it: it starts with a dead Robin and a city crumbling into chaos, then moonwalks the entropy back to culminate in Steph showing up in her original Spoiler getup. It's about reconstructing a deconstructed narrative, proving that superheroes can be a necessary source of good in the world. I...don't feel like she's the First Victim, because it just doesn't seem like a role that she'd take on herself, but I could really buy that the First Victim is Crystal. A lot of what makes her so classic is that she's so much about owning up to her mistakes and moving past them, becoming more than the things that have happened to her, and that's not a Victim Syndicate kind of vibe. but I feel like she's in a good place to sort of...mediate? If anyone's a victim of Batman here, it's Tim, who gave his life in his cause. Everything else could have just happened whether or not Batman was there. It's about proving that the fight can go on even when you lose somebody, I think.
    • WOOO! NAILED IT!

Steph will don Tim's Red Robin costume at some point just before his return

• Inspired by the above, Stephanie originally got her shot in the Robin uniform shortly after Tim took a 10-Minute Retirement. With him out of a picture, I could see her wearing the suit in his honor for a few issues and actually get the chance to kick ass in the role before Tim returns. Maybe coming to an end when he comes back alive, at which point she gives it back to him, but the rest of the team agree she did the R justice.
  • True to form, Bruce put up a memorial for Tim in the Belfry. And since those glass cases always get smashed, this is looking more likely a possibility. It would also be a very Rebirth-y thing to do. She was Robin the first time because Tim quit, so now this time she takes up the mantle of her own volition since he's "dead".
  • Steph having become the new Red Robin could be exactly the excuse needed for Tim to switch to a new superhero mantle when he returns. The name Red Robin has always sounded temporary: even as far back as the pre-New-52 "Red Robin" solo series, they were making jokes about how much it sounded like a Permanent Placeholder.

Possible identities for the bearded, cap-wearing man with dark eyes seen in #938:

• An agent of Mr. Oz.
• A member of the League of Shadows.

  • Confirmed in #951.

  • 100% this. Jacob being right about the League of Shadows makes everything so much murkier. Doesn't mean he didn't deserve to get clocked in the jaw though...
  • It's a member of the LoS, but not a man; it's Lady Shiva herself, in disguise.
• A member of the Victim Syndicate.
  • Wouldn't that be super hypocritical if he was a member of the Syndicate, though? It's the team that SAVES his life, and I'm pretty sure there was only "one" casuality caused by the Colony that night.

Catherine, Kate's stepmother, isn't going to inquire about the specifics of Jacob's disappearance. She'll just want to know if he's alive and if he's safe.

• Williams and Blackman made a point of her never asking about what he did for the government, and only got involved when she found out about Bette and Kate (and somehow found the strength to support them in that) so it makes sense that she'd rather stay in the dark. Makes you wonder what Gabi would have thought of all this, being in Army Intelligence and all...but I'm guessing Kate hasn't brought that up because she's not sure whose side she'd take, either.

Renee and Kate will get back together, and it might actually work since they've grown a ton since they were first an item.

• Why else would she have been such an integral voice of reason to Kate in 'Tec 936 if they weren't setting something up? Dropping Renee in a Kate-centric story has a lot of weight just by her being in the same room. An honest, relatively deep conversation like the one they had, completely without hostility...I guess I just want Kate to be happy.
  • Word of God has hinted towards such. Yes!
  • Confirmed at the end of Batwoman (Rebirth).

Julia Pennyworth will join the team and run operational logistics from the Belfry.

• Word of God confirmed she was coming back in "a big way", and considering her past experiences in the mythos, as well as her military history (which would be interesting to see explored as it relates to Kate's authority) she'd be a great fit for it. Plus, Alfred can't run ops for EVERYONE all the time, so it'd give the team a certain level of autonomy from Bruce.
  • Likely Jossed. Info from NYCC indicates she'll be part of Batwoman's new solo series, and no mention was made of her appearing in Detective.

Steph and Harper will invent a name for the team, and it will be ridiculously cheesy.

• Because that's totally something they would do. They will also be the only members to use the name.
  • One of them has to suggest "Birds of Prey", totally unironically. But yes, all for this. Team needs a name, anyway.
  • Maybe Jossed? It was actually Luke who brought it up.

Possible Identities of the First Victim, because there are no wrong answers yet:

• Crystal Brown (even if it's a retread of Rise of the Batmen, it'd be interesting to see how Steph deals with this in contrast to Kate)
• Vesper Fairchild, because that storyline where she was murdered can't have happened and she could "remember" dying because of Batman?
• Katherine Webb-Kane (I'M KIDDING! She's dead and also never existed.)
• Catherine Hamilton-Kane (I just wanted to list her here under the other other Kate Kane)
• A Time Traveling Ghost
• Stryker, the corrupt businessman Batman knocked into a tank of acid in Detective Comics #27.
• Jeremiah Arkham, on stilts.
• Luka Netz, with a prosthetic arm. (We never found the body!)
• Booster Gold as Supernova as Booster Gold
• Maxwell Lord, but like, a brain-addled one thanks to memory-bleed.
• Francine Langstrom
• An android remotely piloted by the Calculator
• Prometheus?
• An ex-GCPD officer who was corrupt as hell?
• LEAGUE OF SHADOWS AGENT!
  • There never WAS a First Victim: He/She/They are just co-opting these people and focusing them to incite terrorism in an attempt to destabilize Gotham. Take out the Batman, and the criminal underworld should eat itself. It'd be the perfect lead-in to "League of Shadows" as well as legitimize everything Jacob was warning them about.
• Arthur Brown, who had survived his supposed death and created The First Victim as a way to turn his daughter against Batman.

At some point, Steph will fix waffles, her Trademark Favorite Food, for the rest of the team...

• ...and Kate will decline them, since Belgian waffles were one of the foods she was going out to get when she was kidnapped.
  • That would also explain why we've never seen Kate eat chocolate! GASP.
  • Jossed. It's also been established elsewhere that Kate has no adverse reactions to eating waffles nor chocolate.

Steph will quit the team, and being a vigilante, following the events of "The Victim Syndicate".

• The #950 cover preview shows Batman, Batwoman, Orphan, Azrael, Batwing and Clayface. However...
  • She'll return as Red Robin, having smashed Tim's display case, making everything super Rebirth-y.

Azrael will have a chaplain-type role on the team in addition to working in the field.

• ...If this were to happen, I could see it really getting under Kate's skin.
  • Jossed.

Kate and Luke will become Fire-Forged Friends.

• Since Kate is misreading Luke and his intentions, and given the fact that their backstories involve misfortunes befalling their respective sisters, it's not hard to see how they could patch things up and become close relatively easily despite the initial tension between them.
• Luke gave her some backup during the final fight with the Victim Syndicate, and she now knows a bit more about him and admitted she was wrong. Not quite there yet, but close.
• Adding on to the initial WMG: this will be finalized during "League of Shadows". The two of them will fight side-by-side and save each other's asses a few times, maybe even with a side of Back-to-Back Badasses thrown in.
• Word of God states that their friendship will be built up starting in "League of Shadows", so this is basically confirmed.

The team will ring the bell during the final issue of Tynion's run on the book.

• Of course, finding a way to do that without accidentally conjuring up memories of Cry for Justice is another conversation entirely. Because the bell is called Justice.
  • Jossed.

Steph will keep her new mask.

• I really, really hate the Cluemaster half-mask.

Steph and Cass will make out at least once.

• A girl can dream.

Bruce will become the Team Dad.

• I mean he basically was already with Tim, but he just grounded Steph. I don't know what's up with Cass but I suspect fatherly shenanigans.
• "I'm tired." "Hi tired, I'm Batman."
• "You're my favorite child." "I'm not Cass. That's Cass." "Oh. Sorry." -turns- "You're my favorite child."

The Spoiler in the preview of #947 is an imposter, created to destabilize the Bat Family completely.

• The prospect of utilizing one of Batman's own to bring down his team really would be a brilliant move by the First Victim, and with Tim seemingly killed off, Spoiler would be a perfect means to that end... Until the real Stephanie returns, garbed in the Red Robin uniform, and beats the snot out of said imposter.
  • Jossed. It's really Steph.

Cassandra Cain will get an updated version of her old Batgirl costume during her arc.

• Tim and Steph both had their first designs restored in their arcs, so Cassie getting her's would follow the pattern.
  • Jossed.

This series will have one more Bat Family Crossover similar in structure to "Night of the Monster Men" before it reaches issue #1000.

• As of early 2017, there appears to be a break between story arcs every seven issues of this title. Issues #934-940 make up the first arc, "Rise of the Batmen". Issues #943-949 make up "The Victim Syndicate" and "Batwoman Begins". And issues #950-956 consists of a done-in-one prelude followed by a six-issue arc "League of Shadows". The only exception is for issues #941-942, which make up part of the "Night of the Monster Men" crossover. This appears to be done with the trade paperback collections in mind, with every volume containing seven issues – notably, "Night of the Monster Men" is collected entirely separately. So, projecting forward, we'd expect future story arcs to end with issues #963, #970, #977, #984, #991 and #998. Almost, but not quite, up to issue #1000 – there are two issues left over. Just enough to do another month-long crossover event with other titles, using the same structure as "Night of the Monster Men", where each title contributes two issues.
  • Apparently Jossed: issues #963-964 are a two-part story (following up on the events of #957) and #965 starts a new arc, which would make #957-964 a group of eight rather than seven. If trades after that stick to seven, that'd bring the last one up to #999 — and it would probably make more sense for #1000 to be standalone or to begin a story arc rather than end one.

Issue #1000 will be at least 100 pages long, have stories and art from every living creator who has ever worked on the series, and have appearances from every character who debuted in it.

At least one member of the team will actually die during the "League of Shadows" arc.

• But due to the association with the League of Assassins (along with Ra's al Ghul making an appearance), they will get resurrected in a Lazarus Pit or similar.
• The solicit for #955 mentions that some of the team have died. Maybe hyperbole or uncertainty, but also a possibility.
• Jossed.

Cassandra Cain is on the autism spectrum.

• James Tynion confirmed that she's neurodivergent, and she checks off quite a few markers for autism. Her love of ballet even comes across as a special interest at times.
  • He also said that he was never going to specify how she was neurodivergent, as so not to accidentally contribute to stereotypes. Not saying this guess is wrong (it most likely is, and it's a miracle it's not something far worse considering her upbringing) but y'know, don't expect confirmation. As awesome as that would be.

Dom and Cooper, the two captured Colony soldiers, will die during "League of Shadows".

• HAH! Perfect cannon fodder. I like it.
• Jossed.

The book has been making quiet allusions to Watchmen since day one.

• Kind of a longshot, probably too heavy on coincidences and grasping at straws, but here goes. For your consideration- A "war" breaks out in Gotham between vigilantes and a military force, signaling heightened tension between powerful forces. Tim's "death" and capture by Oz may have come from him getting too close to some kind of grand revelation, just like the Comedian. In the story's next arc, Strange unleashes Eldrich Abominations upon Gotham, causing massive damage and many casualties, not dissimilar to Adrian's giant squid. And towards the conclusion of the Victim Syndicate arc, Spoiler mentions she wants something to the effect of, "A more kind and loving world," which echoes Adrian's destruction of New York being described as creating "A Stronger Loving World." All of these events are towards the end of the story, so it's questionable how this trend could continue. Again, if it's actually a trend at all.

Dr. Victoria October was a minor Batman villain before she transitioned.

• Probably a mad scientist of some sort. She and Batman apparently do have some kind of history together, after all.

Mr. Oz's prison is in a place where all timelines are accessible.

It could be like the Vanishing Point of the Multiverse — where everything converges and ends, thus where all timelines are viewable.

• This is why Oz's prison can't be found by anyone, possibly including Doctor Manhattan himself.
• At the beginning of the series, it's explicitly said that Tim still wasn't ever Robin. As a result, it's not just a result of the relaunch. He only recounts being Robin when he's in Oz's prison. The prison itself is allowing him to recall his pre-Flashpoint past.
• When Tim recalls his origin, the Robin costume on display (Jason's) is the pre-Flashpoint Robin costume, no pants and all. This costume never existed in the New 52. Being here is affecting his memories and possibly his history itself.
• Tim Drake from Titans Tomorrow is captured. This Tim has no baring on anything and isn't relevant to the New 52 timeline. His capture only happened because Oz captured Tim, similar to Futures End Tim — it's basically a package deal.