5 Batman Stories Too Dumb to Believe

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Comic books are often surprisingly smart and capable of telling complex, meaningful stories. However, some superhero comics are… not. We’re talking about plots so illogical, it’s astonishing anyone could come up with them while sober. These stories crumble the moment a character behaves realistically, because no sensible person would ever let things escalate to this point.

Batman is the most published character in comic book history, so it’s not surprising that some stories haven’t aged well. We’re taking a look at five particularly bad ones today – stories with plots that are ridiculous and completely misrepresent the characters involved. While many Batman stories have flaws, these ones are especially nonsensical and take themselves far too seriously. Let’s dive into some of the worst Batman tales ever told.

5) “The Gift”

Tom King’s run on Batman (2016) is now often criticized, but initial reactions were positive until the storyline involving Batman’s wedding. That storyline, however, was designed to provoke a strong reaction. It began with Booster Gold attempting to give Batman a unique gift: traveling back in time to save Bruce Wayne’s parents. Predictably, this created a disastrous alternate timeline where Bruce never became Batman, and Gotham City descended into chaos. Booster Gold hoped this would give Batman a moment of realization, like the classic story “For The Man Who Has Everything,” and help him appreciate his life. However, since this alternate Bruce never experienced the loss of his parents, the plan was doomed to fail.

The most frustrating part of this story is how it portrays Booster Gold. After years of consistently protecting the timeline, he suddenly acts as if he’s new to the job. This is especially disappointing because it came right after the Action Comics (2016) arc, “Booster Shot,” where he was depicted as his usual self, successfully preventing Superman from changing the past. For fans of the character, this recent portrayal felt like a complete contradiction and didn’t really fit with his established personality.

4) “H2SH”

This is the newest story arc, and unfortunately, it’s one of the weakest, especially considering it’s still ongoing and may never conclude. The plot centers around Hush returning to get revenge on Batman by manipulating his allies. He starts by leaving a fatally wounded Joker for Batman to find, forcing Batman to save him. This inexplicably angers the entire Bat-Family, even though most of them would likely have made the same choice. Meanwhile, Jason Todd, as Red Hood, has reverted to being a villain, seemingly due to lingering effects from his resurrection decades ago, which now appears to have caused brain damage.

This comic is frustrating because the characters make unbelievably silly decisions, and the plot feels incredibly outdated. Batman defeats Hush’s plan by engaging in a chaotic fight with his own family, rather than simply talking things through – a single conversation could have prevented the entire conflict. The story’s core is weak and illogical, and unfortunately, it doesn’t improve as it goes on.

3) Widening Gyre

The comic Widening Gyre feels like overhearing a conversation in a high school locker room. The story introduces a new vigilante, Baphomet, who teams up with Batman and Robin to protect Gotham City. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne reconnects with an old love, Silver St. Cloud, and their relationship quickly becomes intense. However, the comic suffers from poor execution. The romance between Batman and Silver is awkward and overly sexual, with scenes so frequent and loud that it even attracts the attention of Aquaman, who mistakes it for abuse. Bruce even calls Silver ‘Dee-Dee,’ a nickname referencing the double-digit number of times they were intimate during their first encounter. It’s a detail I regret having to share.

The villain, Baphomet—who is actually named Onomatopia—schemes to earn Batman’s trust so he can ambush him in the Batcave. This entire plan hinges on Batman’s failure to investigate Onomatopia’s past, something he completely overlooked. It’s ironic that the World’s Greatest Detective fell for such an easily debunked lie, especially considering his profession; the plot only works because Batman doesn’t act like a detective.

2) Fortunate Son

This comic isn’t a typical Batman adventure. It’s a wild story about Batman’s intense dislike of rock and roll. He was explicitly warned against it by his father, Thomas Wayne, on the night he died, and believes the genre is connected to violence, citing the Sid Vicious case. The story follows Batman’s battle with Izaak Crowe, a troubled musician who hallucinates a divine Elvis and is driven to commit acts of terror in the name of rock music. Crowe essentially represents pure evil in this bizarre tale.

This comic doesn’t feel like a superhero story at all. It reads more like a bitter, rambling complaint you might hear from a disgruntled relative during the holidays. It’s unnecessarily harsh and attacks an entire genre, even portraying Batman as someone who sees rock and roll as an enemy. The writer unfairly used Batman to express their personal, and frankly incorrect, outdated views on music, which just doesn’t make sense.

1) “Gotham War”

Superheroes traditionally focus on fighting crime and saving people, but this comic presents a bizarre situation. Batman wakes up after a coma to find Gotham surprisingly peaceful. Catwoman has united all the city’s criminals, training them to steal only for charitable purposes and preventing them from working for other villains. While Batman objects to Catwoman essentially running a criminal organization, even his allies, the Bat-Family, support her, arguing it has drastically reduced violent crime. This leaves Batman as the perceived villain, leading to a ridiculous fight and an ultimately disappointing plot twist.

It’s hard to know where to start with the problems in this story. The idea of training all of Catwoman’s henchmen to be thieves is simply ridiculous. The story also wrongly assumes that giving people a stable income would stop all crime – thieves and murderers aren’t motivated by the same things. This creates a team of highly skilled criminals that actually increases the danger to everyone once they return to their old jobs. Selina Kyle claims this won’t happen, but they immediately fall back into working for Vandal Savage with little encouragement, which makes the whole plot pointless because it never explores whether this plan actually benefits Gotham.

The characters behave completely out of line, and it’s frankly baffling. It doesn’t make sense that anyone associated with Batman would accept these actions, and Damian’s objections feel repetitive and motivated by arrogance. While Batman’s descent into madness is explained by the voices in his head, even that doesn’t justify his extreme decision to essentially lobotomize Jason Todd. The entire story is infuriating because everyone acts so unlike their established personalities.

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2026-02-12 00:14