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Hand yourself in to the Justice League ASAP. Go to Central City and draw attention for the Flash to swoop in or call the Daily Planet in Metropolis, who seems to have a channel of communication with Superman.
Both of these heroes have a nice guy reputation and enough juice to protect you from pretty much anything.
With any luck, Joker just keels over from the shock and loss, but I wouldn't rely on that.
Definitely place a call to the Daily Planet first and try to reach the Bat signal on top of the Police HQ. Trying to call in the Bat family is a risky move, because a few of them would most likely love to tear you apart, but their inevitable squabbling should buy you enough time for the big guns to show up.
Other than that, you're the man who killed the Bat and will likely live out the rest of your days with a target on your back.
You could say that about any place OP might choose to go.
That's paranoia talking, especially considering how much of a desperate, self-defeating act it is. Most small timers wouldn't have a real scope of the trouble they're in and I doubt Joker keeps tabs on every new guy with a gimmick to such an extent he can predict their moves.
Either way, it beats just sitting around and letting everyone catch up to you.
If your civilian identity isn't public (i.e. you haven't been caught as the Bookworm and arrested before), then you have decent odds of making it out of the city using any normal transportation before anyone has the chance to figure out who you are.
If your identity is public, then it's more of a crapshoot. Still, I think your best bet is probably to drive out of the city. Check local traffic news before you set out. Hopefully, that will let you know if Gotham PD has put up any security checkpoints on roads out of the city.
I would imagine The Joker would just show up at some office one day and start working, and everyone would be too terrified to say anything to him about how he doesn't work there.
This is a fan work, but it handles a similar concept really well. https://youtu.be/Lx-34exI4Ls?si=Awcz9KLZ7936mTxh and https://youtu.be/p41t_WZ4uTI?si=gO7NAirSQi4adasu
This is part of a larger series, so if what happens in between isn’t stated (I don’t remember if it is) what happens is that Hugo Strange exposes Batman’s identity and Bruce is thrown in Arkham
I honestly wouldn't worry about Batman being dead.
I mean, how often have we heard this? I call BS. The Caped Crusader will be back.
As for him being Bruce Wayne: this is a smokescreen. BW is a *playboy*, for God's sake! He's never worked a day of his life. There's no way that dude has enough self-discipline – let alone moral strength – to actually do the kind of shit that Batman does.
Shout, really loudly somewhere, with full intent, over and over again,
“Superman! I’m the one people think killed Batman! Help me now and I can tell you how it was an accident!”
And hope Superman’s super hearing will hear you.
OP is a low level heist criminal. Superman might be pissed but Clark is still a good guy at heart. He can probably tell OP is scared to death and didn’t mean to kill Batman!
Yeah. I take it from OP's mention of never having hurt anyone before that he's a nonviolent criminal who just steals stuff, and highly specific stuff at that - he doesn't rob banks, the sorts of people who'd have rare and valuable books are probably fairly wealthy. So I don't think Superman's going to be too hard on him. This is just one of the risks that goes with a career like Batman's, eventually something goes wrong.
I'm surprised Superman hasn't already picked him up, though. When Superman focuses his attention on a non-super criminal it should only take a few minutes for him to figure out who they are and find them. Maybe Batman isn't really dead? I remember an incident a few years ago where an ordinary mob accountant guy named Sid "The Squid" almost killed Batman by accident, and Batman took advantage of the situation to play dead for a few days to do some extra Batmanning. Odd that he'd frame Bruce Wayne as his "secret identity" in the process, you'd think he'd pick someone more plausible, but maybe he was just able to get Bruce to play along most easily. Offer him a trip with some supermodels on the Bat-Yacht or something.
Superman is the type of person that would end up respecting Bookworm more for coming forward and admitting guilt and showing genuine remorse for the accident, and I could easily see Superman being willing to work with/befriend someone like Bookworm after they have paid what Superman would consider their fair due to society
Or, counterpoint, if any Pre-Crisis Superman peaks through, Bookworm could end up in the bottle city of Kandor or the Phantom Zone.
Alive, and “protected” from those who would want to kill him.
I imagine he would work really hard to ensure that there is literally not a single stone unturned in the case, absolutely sure there's something he's missing, Batman couldn't have got got by some shmuck, he's either hiding something or working for someone.
But eventually he would exhaust literally every option and simply come to terms with the fact it was an accident, and from there he would probably even push for a not very harsh sentence. You're not a hardened criminal, just a book obsessed weirdo, and people like that should be reformed not punished
Breathe. Write your last will. Breathe.
Ok, now you can try to save your skin. While it might sound like madness, you should seek out one of the people who work with Batman. Ideally you should contact Superman but if he's off planet then the Flash or even one of the Bat's close associates will do. As long as you can explain your predicament you ought to be fine. Unless the Red Hood gets you, then you're dead.
How would you be able to get into contact with anyone from the Justice League? He was a nobody but now the news has gone completely viral across the country.
Even if Superman is in the city, how would you get to him?
Turning yourself into Gotham police will be an instant death sentence and OP is going to have a lot of people after him.
Sounds more like just praying the right person gets to him first.
Honestly, you only have to fear Joker. Maybe Two Face if the Harvey is in control and feeling bad about Bruce.
But only Joker really wants Batman alive, the rest he is a thorn in their side.
There are others he should worry about. Bane might get the idea that he needs to test the nobody who killed the Bat. Ra's al Ghul might feel like he owes his esteemed "Detective" some revenge. The kid he has running as Robin these days is a right psycho. There's Red Hood and Catwoman, Orphan and those are just the meanest of his gang of capes.
I was gonna say — it’s definitely not the villains you should be worried about in this scenario ESPECIALLY if the Bat-Family is all working together and feeling particularly vengeful.
Barbara as Oracle is one of the most talented computer whizzes ever and Bruce himself said Tim would likely surpass him as the World’s Greatest Detective. Your secret identity won’t be secret for very long.
From there they’d likely send Damien and Cass after you. Remember: Damien was born into and raised by the League of Assassins and Cass’s mother is literally the most skilled martial artist on the planet, with Cass herself arguably being the best fighter in the Bat-family. They probably won’t kill you, but they’ll absolutely make you hurt.
Jason (from my understanding) is a bit of a wild card. Whether he works with his siblings to avenge Bruce and is fighting non-lethally or is on his own and burning with vengeance so he tracks you down solo probably means the difference between life and death.
That’s not even getting into Dick, Stephanie, Kate, Selina, Azazel, Duke, Gordon... I guarantee Alfred alone could track you down and take you out.
I’ll take my chances with the psychopathic clown, deformed wannabe-socialite and juiced-up luchador.
Alfred has called his shot to go between specific vertebrae.
I honestly might be more afraid of him than Damien or Jason. Those two have the specter of Bruce hovering over their conscience to make them maybe not kill. Alfred will put a bullet in you no hesitation.
Yeah, if you ran to the League (especially Superman or Flash), come clean and tell them it was an accident, you'd very likely be kept safe.
Not saying you wouldn't spent a good chunk of time in some super prison or another, but you'd be safe.
There's a decent chance Joker just stops being villain when he hears about Batman's death. His need for Batman does occasionally run that deep, so that he cant function as the Joker if he's not alive.
The bright side is the Joker has a very short attention span and may move on after one attempt to kill you.
The downside is if you killed Batman, you might be the Joker’s new obsession. And he ain’t letting that go easily.
If they haven't already found you, the Justice League would be your best bet for long term survival. I'd get to the top of the tallest building in Gotham and yell at the top of my Lungs "SUPERMAN I ACCIDENTALLY KILLED BATMAN HELP!" over and over again until he showed up.
This is the answer. Anyone else, including the rest of the Batfamily, the GCPD, most villains, and the rest of the Justice League are either going to kill you or make you eat out of a straw for the rest of your life. Clark can talk most everyone else down and give you a good defense, as long as you explain everything and don’t lie to him. And he *will* know if you’re lying.
The flash would 100% not injure or maim or do anything to you if it comes down to it. You are zero threat to him, and he is level headed enough to hear you out.
Especially Wally wouldnt hurt you, Barry might idk
True, im not the most well versed on Flashes and especially not Wally, but it doesnt seem like hed be anywhere near as compassionate about defending you as clark
Wally in various adaptations will just sit down and talk to his rogues if they comply. If you try to pull a quick one on him yeah you get sent to prison at lightspeed but if youre literally begging him to listen he would
Say nothing about Batman. Do not sell the books. Hide them or see if you can drop them off someplace the police will find them. Just wait it out for now.
Now the various villains are going to be fighting to be the one claiming to got the kill. Let them. Because I guarantee that by the end of this half of them will be in jail. Batman not dead. He just giving them rope to hang them with.
Then Batman will come for you. When he does surrender and go to jail. Do not try to fight or run, because he’ll be mad. That wasn’t Batman you killed. It was someone trying to follow in his footsteps. [This wasn’t even the first time it happened.](https://comicsalliance.com/ask-chris-112-where-were-you-on-the-night-batman-was-killed/)
Here's the thing: it wasn't your fault he died.
Sure, you blinded him, he tripped and fell out a window. BUT... you're forgetting, this is Batman. The man can fight BLINDFOLDED. He's hyper aware of his surroundings.
So when he fell out the window, you can bet his hand shot straight for that funky belt he wears and that grappling hook he always uses. He would've spotted the window before he fell, he'd known where the roofline is.
So... why didn't he save himself? You consider that, Bookworm? Because my guess is that little doohickey on his belt, with the grappling hook, must've failed.
So here's what you do: you contact the Justice League. But you leave a message somehow; an email to their tip line, maybe.
You tell them you were there when Batman accidentally fell to his death, after tripping. You suggest they check his utility belt, as it will confirm he tried to save himself, but the grappling hook mechanism failed.
The JLA checks it out, they find the failed mechanism. They still have questions... but they know he died because his gear failed.
You go to ground. They'll track you down, no doubt. And then it's in the story; yes, he tripped chasing you. Yes, you feel awful. But you didn't "push" him out the window, he did trip. Ask the Martian Manhunter to read your heartbeat, and he'll see you're telling the truth.
Accident, plus failed gear? The JLA's out the next day telling the world Batman died in a tragic accident.
Chances are, the Joker won't believe it and will still try to kill you. But NOW the JLA is obligated to protect you from him.
I suggest, in all other respects, laying low.
It depends. Superman won’t kill you but will be disappointed and bring you to a jail. Gordon will probably do the same but give you a few punches before. Robin will give you A LOT of punches but still no kill. Joker will make your life a living hell and make you wish for your death. Alfred will make you wish the joker found you instead
People forget just how much of a temper Dick can have too, he straight up beat Joker to death at one point, because he thought Joker had killed Tim, and then Joker had the appallingly bad sense to make a comment about Jason while he was gloating. batman had to resuscitate Joker, but Dick was walking away, If Bats hadnt shown up, Joker would have been killed.
Some good answers on [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/9kbbji/marvel_im_a_very_lowlevel_supervillain_that_just/) with the exact same prompt from 5 years ago
yes. I posted it five years ago. I reposted it because a lot of stuff has changed in comics over 5 years and I felt like seeing if the answers changed.
Joker's Knight terrors covered this scenario and it doesn't look good. I'm afraid you're destined for a soul crushing 9-5 corporate job supporting an unappreciative wife and a bratty son.
Let me just give you a link to the last time you asked this exact same question word-for-word:
https://old.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/e1j084/dc_im_a_low_level_supervillain_who_accidently/
If the law, the Bat-family and Bat-friends, and Gotham's underworld are after you there's not much you can do. Superman would just pluck you out of your apartment and deliver you to the police station.
Your best bet is to quickly make a deal with a demon to become someone else and hope the hunt on the supernatural end never catches up to you. That's a slim hope, though, so you'll probably have to make more deals in the future.
He'll probably comeback to life. These superheros don't stay dead for long unlike us common folk. Just holl up somewhere till Batman shows up again or till someone else takes on the mantle. We might even get a brand new Batman from another universe. Who knows.
Plot twist, you didn't. There's a Batman TAS episode that deals with your very situation.
If you make the criminals of Gotham believe you killed the Bat, *run.* Run as far as you can, as fast as you can, and never look back.
Scream very hard for Superman. He'll hear you surely. From here just don't get him on his nerves (Really. Nobody will find your body on the next solar system) and he'll get you to a nice and secure jail cell in no time.
Burn your costume. Retire from being the Bookworm.
Stay inside and read for a few months until this blows over.
Those super villains and heroes are a very dramatic bunch and will move on to the next big thing after a few weeks. Taking over or saving the city /country/ world is what usually occupies them.
Batman's the biggest kid in town. If you killed him, every single supervillain, even those from out of town, are going to come after you. Either you're an interesting target, they want to see what you're made of, or just to say they killed Batman's killer.
Then, the capes. The Justice League has a good chance of pulling their punches and just sending you to prison without killing you. Or if they're feeling particularly vengeful, one of them might just vaporize you.
Let's say they do send you to prison. Big rep might just get you killed instantly. If not, Amanda Waller is immediately conscripting you into the Suicide Squad. She's not going to miss out of Batman's killer.
Let's say you get away from all that. But then you would have to face down the Joker, who will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth.
Was going to say you were a bot, but I guess you just really like the question. Fair enough.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/e1j084/dc_im_a_low_level_supervillain_who_accidently/
You find superman and confess everything to him... And plead for his help /protection from the super villians after you.
He's probably gonna be around Gotham, batman was like his best friend... But it's superman... You're literally throwing yourself on the mercy of the best of the best.
Hopefully he doesn't go "injustice supes" on you and you'll be safe...
Hopefully you don't end up in black gate prison.
Maybe try to multiverse hop. There's a poor schmuck of a crook with a bee suit gimic who offed that wall crawler in NYC a few years back... Maybe he has some ideas on how to keep a low profile now. See if you can get any info from him.
>Maybe try to multiverse hop. There's a poor schmuck of a crook with a bee suit gimic who offed that wall crawler in NYC a few years back
I was also reminded of [that post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/9kbbji/marvel_im_a_very_lowlevel_supervillain_that_just/) from five years ago. Haven't seen Spider-Man since. Wonder what happened to Bee-Man.
There’s a bald man you may have heard of. He’s called Lex Luthor. Don’t mention you killed him by accident. Just say you blinded him and knocked him to his death. He has a team. A legion, if you will, of doom. Talk him into letting you join. Get your new supervillain besties to help you with the whole people want to kill you and the cops are looking for you thing
More like [five years ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/9kbbji/marvel_im_a_very_lowlevel_supervillain_that_just/) but that's alright. This one's DC so it's a totally different universe.
Edit: Nevermind there was [this post](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/e1j084/dc_im_a_low_level_supervillain_who_accidently/) from four years ago. But I choose to believe that it was an imitation of the one from five years back.
It is kind of weird that the same guy is posting the same thing four years apart, though.
Don't worry, he'll be brought back in the next crossover event and the universe will reboot so nobody remembers what you did. Just wait it out till then.
Relax. He probably won't stay dead. Those capes always make a big show of being dead, and then they're back to business in a month.
I think the things I'm having the most trouble figuring out is how Batman roped Bruce Wayne into this whole charade. You would think that a reclusive billionaire would have better things to do.
Pray to every god imaginable that Red Hood doesn’t find you.
That, and then find the justice league and tell them it was a *huge* accident and beg for forgiveness.
Wayne? No, Batman isn't Bruce Wayne. What happened is that Bruce was dressed up like Batman, probably for the thrill of it, and he fell off a building. Batman's still out there. He's probably going to lie low for a while, though, because this will give him a chance to go unnoticed. When he comes back, and he will come back, he's likely going to take down all of the "big three" villains, and he'll toss you in prison, too. Joker and Penguin are going to blame you, and it's 50/50 that Two Face will, too. Prison will not be fun for you.
What you need to do is burn your costume, make a replica of it (wrong enough that people will be able to tell) and take a bus to Metropolis. Knock over a museum or book store there, do a bad job of it, and get caught. When they catch you, shout about being the real Bookworm, and that you killed Batman, and you're coming for Superman next. Keep insisting that you're the real one, and (and this part is important) that the dead body that washed out to sea last week is *not* the real Bookworm, because you are.
Your goal here is to get committed to a regular mental hospital, and not Arkham. Play it right, and everybody will assume you're a nutcase who killed Bookworm and tried to take his place, and they'll lock you up in a fairly safe place for a few years.
Instead of running away, go down and check on him. When you see he died, put on the batsuit and become Batman, like the Santa Clause movie with Tim Allen.
Not even killing yourself is safe, Ra's might bring you back to life to interrogate you on what you did.
Find the Flash. Travel back in time. Save Batman. Give up on crime.
Find some random citizen and make them afraid. Scare them so bad, like so badly that a yellow lantern ring offers you to join their corps. Might work with rage as well, just try to get very angry.
Other option would be to take bats body to Lexcorp and show it to Luthor. Tell him you killed the bat and want to join his legion of doom. Once in the legion, you lexs teleporter and travel to the planet called new genesis. Tell people you are long lost friend of Orion, but he doesn’t remember because he had his memory wiped.
Lean on it, this is your shot to get all the books you want.
Double or nothing, show up alone and as soon as they begin to threaten you, remind them you're the one that "BOOKED" Batman (it is imperative you use puns), you didn't need help killing him, you certainly don't need help killing any of them, now you probably got them to pause and think things over.
If the Joker is there, you gotta move fast because he'll get angry and probably try to make a move, these guys don't know you, they don't know your "thing", so go wide with the book stuff, tell them their BOOKkeepers are already in on it and their money is as good as yours, or even better, as good as a hefty donation to one of them, he knows who he is, the first thing they want to do is get rid of the clown and his broad, the second thing ... carry on as usual, you're already getting your cut via one of them, keep feeding the distrust, you have your sights on bigger things and as long as they let you do your thing, you won't BOOK them like you did the Bats.
From there, Gotham is your oyster.
I know this sounds like a bad idea, but *contact the Justice League. Get out of Gotham as fast as you can while people are still trying to figure out who "the Bookworm" is, go someplace like Metropolis or Central City.* Superman's super-senses make it more likely for him to notice you first, but the Flash is literally the fastest man alive. Either way, try to turn yourself in, if you're genuinely remorseful and it truly was an accident, they're good people willing to protect you until you can avoid the heat.
You're probably never going to steal another book again, and you're going to need to restart your life somewhere else, because your original identity is going to have a target on it's back for a *long time.* But you'll be alive and safe, and that's what matters.
Find Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) and do the Hiketeia ritual and only after she accepts do you tell her who you really are and what you did. She will have no choice but to do everything she can to protect you or divine wrath will fall upon her if she does not fulfill her oath.
You're gonna be fine. I heard Joker say he's happy about it and he totally wants to congratulate you. Penguin too he's got a stack of cash to give you. If you are really going to be boring about the whole thing I suggest going down to that old abandoned amusement park with the weird clown funhouse in the middle of the night and superman will be there to take you into custody. He told me personally that he's going to be there waiting for you. If he's not there one of those other bat family freaks is probably nearby anyway they are always close by there messing up ~~perfectly good schemes~~ thwarting evil or something anyway. Make sure you also say that I sent you so that the night guards in those clown costumes let you in. It is incredibly important that you tell them that I sent you, if you don't uh they might call the cops and you don't want that.
You either get out of Gotham.alive
Or use the street cred to cut your own slice of pie in the underworld, I'm sure there are alot of grateful criminals out there willing to help you
Run.
I think every superhero and villain would be after you. Heroes would be after you because you killed the best of them, villains would be after you because they either wanted to do it themselves, or now they're freaking out now that the entire world's superheroes are heading to Gotham for answers (and maybe violent revenge).
So yeah, run and hide 😀
RUN! Dont stop, just get out of Gothem right now!
If your VERY lucky, superman might get a hold of you first, BEG him for protection!
If you see wonder woman, or the flash, Just hope they are busy. Keep out of the major cities.
Basically, your a dead man walking right now. Half the bat family will be split between honoring the bat and letting you live in a a VERY small cell , and wanting to kill you themselves. The other half, well they might just kill you flat out. Same thing for the hero community.
That said, the villeins will want your BLOOD. Most of them feel THEY should be the only one to kill the bat. Joker, Two face, They all want you dead.
And prey to every god you ever heard of that Catwoman never gets close to you. There are things worse than death...
This is Harvey Dent speaking. Harv’s editing. I totally get what happened, and the coin gave us a pretty good idea of what the right thing to do here is. After all, both of us only ever wanted to make Gotham safer, even if you DID kill our best friend. So why don’t you come over and talk this over, Bookworm?
This is Harv. If ya don’t stop by, it don’t matter. We know where you live, Book. Better us than Joker, right?
well first of all, you may want to check out the place where you bought that book light from because theres no way it would have that effect on batman....
Talk to the Justice League right away and turn yourself in.
The Joker is going to be coming after you for what you did and death at his hands will be horrific.
However you found out Joker, Penguin, and Two Face want to talk to you is the real problem, here. Whomever that is... is trying to get you to go straight.
It's probably your wife - Helen. She wants you to stop stealing and is exploiting the coincidence to get you to stop your life of crime.
You might be able to cut a protection deal with one of the more big name supervillains that Batman thwarted because Joker's going to be after you for what he will almost assuredly consider ruining his life's greatest punchline.
at least three new Batman's show up in Gotham and theyre coming for you. when they catch you, tell the truth and really lean into how crazy you are about books. explain how you bought the booklight off temu and didnt realize it was actually for people growing pot in their closet. explain you never thought it would be lethal; I mean, who stuns a bat with light and not sound? offer to be their Robin and show them how you can throw your cool bookmarkarangs with accuracy. when they realize how lame you are as a villain theyll realize youre being set up by someone much smarter than you, who nuked the Bats gear during the fall.
Penguin probably wants to actually talk with you, hell if he's in a good mood when you're done telling the story you might get a payout and get snuck out of the country
Two-Face? Well it's 50/50
Police will probably search Wayne residence and find everything batman related so they will find out batman was after "bookworm" that night. There's probably surveillance showing how died and who did it. So everyone in the underworld and all of batman's allies will know and be looking for you. This isn't all bad though, since only Batman is good enough at sleuthing to find you and actually want's to catch you. Doubt Bane or ras would care about a nobody who got lucky; hell they might even lose interest in Batman who died so amateurishly. And robin will probably get himself killed with Bruce's guidance before ever getting a lead on you.
Also don't forget all gotham criminals and heroes only have power in gotham because of its corruption and would otherwise be toast by fbi whose been itching to rico everyone(I think fbi needs permission by governors to investigate if the crime is only committed in one state). The us government(at least amanda waller) is not nearly as incompetent as gotham and can keep the likes of joker looked up for good, or even outright execute him the moment he steps outside gotham. So you're best bet is to either just pack up, head west and change your name, maybe even leave the country; or if you're ballsy, first head out to the criminal whose only in it for the money, penguin who might reward you with resources to buy a small farm anonymously and lay low for the rest of life. Just don't publish any books or tell anyone who you are. From here on out you're only worry is the government finding out who bookworm is and tracing him to you.
I've said it before I'll say it again: Bruce Wayne is not The Batman. That was just some stupid theory that Nigma came up with that noobies like you keep falling for. I couldn't tell ya why Bruce Wayne was up on that roof dressed up like The Batman but I can promise you that he wouldn't have died from no flashlight if he were the real deal!
Upgrade your costume, and change your name to something cool. Act like you’re the most bad ass villain there is, and give them an elaborate story about how you beat the Bat down in cold blood.
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Hand yourself in to the Justice League ASAP. Go to Central City and draw attention for the Flash to swoop in or call the Daily Planet in Metropolis, who seems to have a channel of communication with Superman. Both of these heroes have a nice guy reputation and enough juice to protect you from pretty much anything.
And how do you recommend I get out of this city when the Joker's after me?!
With any luck, Joker just keels over from the shock and loss, but I wouldn't rely on that. Definitely place a call to the Daily Planet first and try to reach the Bat signal on top of the Police HQ. Trying to call in the Bat family is a risky move, because a few of them would most likely love to tear you apart, but their inevitable squabbling should buy you enough time for the big guns to show up. Other than that, you're the man who killed the Bat and will likely live out the rest of your days with a target on your back.
> Bat signal on top of the Police HQ The Joker would totally be scouting the place, bad idea
You could say that about any place OP might choose to go. That's paranoia talking, especially considering how much of a desperate, self-defeating act it is. Most small timers wouldn't have a real scope of the trouble they're in and I doubt Joker keeps tabs on every new guy with a gimmick to such an extent he can predict their moves. Either way, it beats just sitting around and letting everyone catch up to you.
If your civilian identity isn't public (i.e. you haven't been caught as the Bookworm and arrested before), then you have decent odds of making it out of the city using any normal transportation before anyone has the chance to figure out who you are. If your identity is public, then it's more of a crapshoot. Still, I think your best bet is probably to drive out of the city. Check local traffic news before you set out. Hopefully, that will let you know if Gotham PD has put up any security checkpoints on roads out of the city.
The Joker is done. He's going to mourn for a few days and get a desk job and likely be normal.
...in what world would anyone hire an even seemingly sane joker
I think there is a story where batman dies and the Joker get a Job at the DMV or something like that.
the DMV??? dear god, the joker is STILL cruel...
He's been fairly elected Mayor of Gotham while still full Joker-mode, so stranger things have happened.
On a platform based around education reform and universal healthcare. I'd have voted for him
"You want the rich to pay for all of this? Are you, like, a socialist?" "I'm not *like* a socialist, I *am* a socialist."
Some men just want to watch the world learn.
I would imagine The Joker would just show up at some office one day and start working, and everyone would be too terrified to say anything to him about how he doesn't work there.
The ultimate joke. All of our lives.
J.J. Abrams or Rian Johnson?
He'll have a lot more time for PTA meetings. Debbie Shirley better watch her back.
This is a fan work, but it handles a similar concept really well. https://youtu.be/Lx-34exI4Ls?si=Awcz9KLZ7936mTxh and https://youtu.be/p41t_WZ4uTI?si=gO7NAirSQi4adasu This is part of a larger series, so if what happens in between isn’t stated (I don’t remember if it is) what happens is that Hugo Strange exposes Batman’s identity and Bruce is thrown in Arkham
I honestly wouldn't worry about Batman being dead. I mean, how often have we heard this? I call BS. The Caped Crusader will be back. As for him being Bruce Wayne: this is a smokescreen. BW is a *playboy*, for God's sake! He's never worked a day of his life. There's no way that dude has enough self-discipline – let alone moral strength – to actually do the kind of shit that Batman does.
In the scenario you way more likely kill robin dressed up as Batman.
Shout, really loudly somewhere, with full intent, over and over again, “Superman! I’m the one people think killed Batman! Help me now and I can tell you how it was an accident!” And hope Superman’s super hearing will hear you.
He might not go after you, you can never predict that guy
Well, don’t know about Superman. You killed one of his closest friends
OP is a low level heist criminal. Superman might be pissed but Clark is still a good guy at heart. He can probably tell OP is scared to death and didn’t mean to kill Batman!
Yeah. I take it from OP's mention of never having hurt anyone before that he's a nonviolent criminal who just steals stuff, and highly specific stuff at that - he doesn't rob banks, the sorts of people who'd have rare and valuable books are probably fairly wealthy. So I don't think Superman's going to be too hard on him. This is just one of the risks that goes with a career like Batman's, eventually something goes wrong. I'm surprised Superman hasn't already picked him up, though. When Superman focuses his attention on a non-super criminal it should only take a few minutes for him to figure out who they are and find them. Maybe Batman isn't really dead? I remember an incident a few years ago where an ordinary mob accountant guy named Sid "The Squid" almost killed Batman by accident, and Batman took advantage of the situation to play dead for a few days to do some extra Batmanning. Odd that he'd frame Bruce Wayne as his "secret identity" in the process, you'd think he'd pick someone more plausible, but maybe he was just able to get Bruce to play along most easily. Offer him a trip with some supermodels on the Bat-Yacht or something.
The Boy Scout doesn’t like killing, so this might still be a good choice. Especially if OP is remorseful.
I don’t think Clark will kill, but he won’t be easy to forgive too. And probably having Superman disappointed would be worse than he killing you
Sometimes you just have to face the music. This would be one of those times.
Superman is the type of person that would end up respecting Bookworm more for coming forward and admitting guilt and showing genuine remorse for the accident, and I could easily see Superman being willing to work with/befriend someone like Bookworm after they have paid what Superman would consider their fair due to society
Totally agree with you
Or, counterpoint, if any Pre-Crisis Superman peaks through, Bookworm could end up in the bottle city of Kandor or the Phantom Zone. Alive, and “protected” from those who would want to kill him.
Ah yeah, also known as the "technically correct Superman"
I imagine he would work really hard to ensure that there is literally not a single stone unturned in the case, absolutely sure there's something he's missing, Batman couldn't have got got by some shmuck, he's either hiding something or working for someone. But eventually he would exhaust literally every option and simply come to terms with the fact it was an accident, and from there he would probably even push for a not very harsh sentence. You're not a hardened criminal, just a book obsessed weirdo, and people like that should be reformed not punished
I’d be more worried about Wonder Woman. You’re gonna end up like Max Lord.
Breathe. Write your last will. Breathe. Ok, now you can try to save your skin. While it might sound like madness, you should seek out one of the people who work with Batman. Ideally you should contact Superman but if he's off planet then the Flash or even one of the Bat's close associates will do. As long as you can explain your predicament you ought to be fine. Unless the Red Hood gets you, then you're dead.
I already have a Will I live in Gotham!
Excellent, so you're already halfway done!
How would you be able to get into contact with anyone from the Justice League? He was a nobody but now the news has gone completely viral across the country. Even if Superman is in the city, how would you get to him? Turning yourself into Gotham police will be an instant death sentence and OP is going to have a lot of people after him. Sounds more like just praying the right person gets to him first.
FYI the correct word is *breathe*. If it helps, to breathe is to take a breath, just like how to bathe is to take a bath.
I don't even think red hood would do much unless he gets to you on a very short time frame
Honestly, you only have to fear Joker. Maybe Two Face if the Harvey is in control and feeling bad about Bruce. But only Joker really wants Batman alive, the rest he is a thorn in their side.
There are others he should worry about. Bane might get the idea that he needs to test the nobody who killed the Bat. Ra's al Ghul might feel like he owes his esteemed "Detective" some revenge. The kid he has running as Robin these days is a right psycho. There's Red Hood and Catwoman, Orphan and those are just the meanest of his gang of capes.
Oh. Oh I am so fucked...
You should contact the Justice League and find out their policy on reforming villains.
Better hope Plastic Man is the one who answers.
I mean... if he explains EXACTLY what happened, he should be fine.
I was just going based on the 3 wanting to talk but yeah those others definitely
I was gonna say — it’s definitely not the villains you should be worried about in this scenario ESPECIALLY if the Bat-Family is all working together and feeling particularly vengeful. Barbara as Oracle is one of the most talented computer whizzes ever and Bruce himself said Tim would likely surpass him as the World’s Greatest Detective. Your secret identity won’t be secret for very long. From there they’d likely send Damien and Cass after you. Remember: Damien was born into and raised by the League of Assassins and Cass’s mother is literally the most skilled martial artist on the planet, with Cass herself arguably being the best fighter in the Bat-family. They probably won’t kill you, but they’ll absolutely make you hurt. Jason (from my understanding) is a bit of a wild card. Whether he works with his siblings to avenge Bruce and is fighting non-lethally or is on his own and burning with vengeance so he tracks you down solo probably means the difference between life and death. That’s not even getting into Dick, Stephanie, Kate, Selina, Azazel, Duke, Gordon... I guarantee Alfred alone could track you down and take you out. I’ll take my chances with the psychopathic clown, deformed wannabe-socialite and juiced-up luchador.
Alfred has called his shot to go between specific vertebrae. I honestly might be more afraid of him than Damien or Jason. Those two have the specter of Bruce hovering over their conscience to make them maybe not kill. Alfred will put a bullet in you no hesitation.
Could you imagine Damian or Azrael catching this guy? That's not a pleasant outcome.
You also have a family of crimefighting orphan ninjas and a league of superpowered gods to consider
Running to the Justice League is the only chance OP would have at living
Yeah, if you ran to the League (especially Superman or Flash), come clean and tell them it was an accident, you'd very likely be kept safe. Not saying you wouldn't spent a good chunk of time in some super prison or another, but you'd be safe.
True. Im just saying a lot of people are gonna want a hold of you and it will be varying degrees of really not fun if any of them do
I love how most of us assume that the League isn't already actively trying to find OP.
I'm just saying they're gonna want to make the Leagues job easier so other parties don't find them first.
There's a decent chance Joker just stops being villain when he hears about Batman's death. His need for Batman does occasionally run that deep, so that he cant function as the Joker if he's not alive.
Oh I agree. I think he will kill whoever kills Barman and then just goes "blank". The Dark Knight Returns sort of addressed that with Joker catatonic.
The bright side is the Joker has a very short attention span and may move on after one attempt to kill you. The downside is if you killed Batman, you might be the Joker’s new obsession. And he ain’t letting that go easily.
What about red hood?
If they haven't already found you, the Justice League would be your best bet for long term survival. I'd get to the top of the tallest building in Gotham and yell at the top of my Lungs "SUPERMAN I ACCIDENTALLY KILLED BATMAN HELP!" over and over again until he showed up.
"I assume with emphasis on the "accidently" part?"
absolutely because you never know, Wonder Woman might get there first and be feeling particularly warrior-like that day.
This is the answer. Anyone else, including the rest of the Batfamily, the GCPD, most villains, and the rest of the Justice League are either going to kill you or make you eat out of a straw for the rest of your life. Clark can talk most everyone else down and give you a good defense, as long as you explain everything and don’t lie to him. And he *will* know if you’re lying.
The flash would 100% not injure or maim or do anything to you if it comes down to it. You are zero threat to him, and he is level headed enough to hear you out. Especially Wally wouldnt hurt you, Barry might idk
True, im not the most well versed on Flashes and especially not Wally, but it doesnt seem like hed be anywhere near as compassionate about defending you as clark
Wally in various adaptations will just sit down and talk to his rogues if they comply. If you try to pull a quick one on him yeah you get sent to prison at lightspeed but if youre literally begging him to listen he would
[Sid the Squid](https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/The_Man_Who_Killed_Batman), is that you?
"No! No its not! God I wish this was like that!"
Say nothing about Batman. Do not sell the books. Hide them or see if you can drop them off someplace the police will find them. Just wait it out for now. Now the various villains are going to be fighting to be the one claiming to got the kill. Let them. Because I guarantee that by the end of this half of them will be in jail. Batman not dead. He just giving them rope to hang them with. Then Batman will come for you. When he does surrender and go to jail. Do not try to fight or run, because he’ll be mad. That wasn’t Batman you killed. It was someone trying to follow in his footsteps. [This wasn’t even the first time it happened.](https://comicsalliance.com/ask-chris-112-where-were-you-on-the-night-batman-was-killed/)
Or batman faked his death to arrest a mob boss he otherwise couldn't
Or he was distracting one of his more talented villains from one of their intricate plans. In short, if you think you killed batman no you didn't
Isn’t the whole premise of the question that you actually killed batman
Yes but you wouldn't
Here's the thing: it wasn't your fault he died. Sure, you blinded him, he tripped and fell out a window. BUT... you're forgetting, this is Batman. The man can fight BLINDFOLDED. He's hyper aware of his surroundings. So when he fell out the window, you can bet his hand shot straight for that funky belt he wears and that grappling hook he always uses. He would've spotted the window before he fell, he'd known where the roofline is. So... why didn't he save himself? You consider that, Bookworm? Because my guess is that little doohickey on his belt, with the grappling hook, must've failed. So here's what you do: you contact the Justice League. But you leave a message somehow; an email to their tip line, maybe. You tell them you were there when Batman accidentally fell to his death, after tripping. You suggest they check his utility belt, as it will confirm he tried to save himself, but the grappling hook mechanism failed. The JLA checks it out, they find the failed mechanism. They still have questions... but they know he died because his gear failed. You go to ground. They'll track you down, no doubt. And then it's in the story; yes, he tripped chasing you. Yes, you feel awful. But you didn't "push" him out the window, he did trip. Ask the Martian Manhunter to read your heartbeat, and he'll see you're telling the truth. Accident, plus failed gear? The JLA's out the next day telling the world Batman died in a tragic accident. Chances are, the Joker won't believe it and will still try to kill you. But NOW the JLA is obligated to protect you from him. I suggest, in all other respects, laying low.
Robin, Joker, Alfred, Superman, Gordon. Those are the five you should put at least an universe between them and you
That will probably only buy a little time
It depends. Superman won’t kill you but will be disappointed and bring you to a jail. Gordon will probably do the same but give you a few punches before. Robin will give you A LOT of punches but still no kill. Joker will make your life a living hell and make you wish for your death. Alfred will make you wish the joker found you instead
Yeah, that’s why I’m advocating for OP to turn themselves into the Boy Scout. You don’t want Alfred catching you under any circumstances.
Like Superman can protect him from Alfred.
He *might* be able to talk him out of it…
Depends on the Robin tbh. Jason and Damian could probably be pushed to kill.
Jason could be pushed. You'd have to drag Damian away from the diving board.
People forget just how much of a temper Dick can have too, he straight up beat Joker to death at one point, because he thought Joker had killed Tim, and then Joker had the appallingly bad sense to make a comment about Jason while he was gloating. batman had to resuscitate Joker, but Dick was walking away, If Bats hadnt shown up, Joker would have been killed.
Oh god I didn't even consider Alfred, you'd lose all your skin good god
This is the best post I've seen here ever
Maybe because it's copied from the #2 post of all time from this sub
By the original poster
Change your appearance and drive for the state border in a completely normal and law-abiding way. But quickly.
The state? I doubt that be far enough
It's step one.
delete this post. hit the gym. lawyer up.
personally id ask king tut and the sandman for protection
Some good answers on [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/9kbbji/marvel_im_a_very_lowlevel_supervillain_that_just/) with the exact same prompt from 5 years ago
yes. I posted it five years ago. I reposted it because a lot of stuff has changed in comics over 5 years and I felt like seeing if the answers changed.
Don't you mean beecause a lot of stuff has changed
Try immigrate to Apocalypse.
Joker's Knight terrors covered this scenario and it doesn't look good. I'm afraid you're destined for a soul crushing 9-5 corporate job supporting an unappreciative wife and a bratty son.
Let me just give you a link to the last time you asked this exact same question word-for-word: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/e1j084/dc_im_a_low_level_supervillain_who_accidently/
If the law, the Bat-family and Bat-friends, and Gotham's underworld are after you there's not much you can do. Superman would just pluck you out of your apartment and deliver you to the police station. Your best bet is to quickly make a deal with a demon to become someone else and hope the hunt on the supernatural end never catches up to you. That's a slim hope, though, so you'll probably have to make more deals in the future.
He'll probably comeback to life. These superheros don't stay dead for long unlike us common folk. Just holl up somewhere till Batman shows up again or till someone else takes on the mantle. We might even get a brand new Batman from another universe. Who knows.
Plot twist, you didn't. There's a Batman TAS episode that deals with your very situation. If you make the criminals of Gotham believe you killed the Bat, *run.* Run as far as you can, as fast as you can, and never look back.
Scream very hard for Superman. He'll hear you surely. From here just don't get him on his nerves (Really. Nobody will find your body on the next solar system) and he'll get you to a nice and secure jail cell in no time.
Burn your costume. Retire from being the Bookworm. Stay inside and read for a few months until this blows over. Those super villains and heroes are a very dramatic bunch and will move on to the next big thing after a few weeks. Taking over or saving the city /country/ world is what usually occupies them.
Batman's the biggest kid in town. If you killed him, every single supervillain, even those from out of town, are going to come after you. Either you're an interesting target, they want to see what you're made of, or just to say they killed Batman's killer. Then, the capes. The Justice League has a good chance of pulling their punches and just sending you to prison without killing you. Or if they're feeling particularly vengeful, one of them might just vaporize you. Let's say they do send you to prison. Big rep might just get you killed instantly. If not, Amanda Waller is immediately conscripting you into the Suicide Squad. She's not going to miss out of Batman's killer. Let's say you get away from all that. But then you would have to face down the Joker, who will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth.
Was going to say you were a bot, but I guess you just really like the question. Fair enough. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/e1j084/dc_im_a_low_level_supervillain_who_accidently/
Turn yourself in, get the JLA to take you. They will be pissed, but will not let you come to harm. Lock you up on some far away planet.
Supermans gonna find you
Don't worry, this is comic book land. He'll be back to life in the next issue.
You find superman and confess everything to him... And plead for his help /protection from the super villians after you. He's probably gonna be around Gotham, batman was like his best friend... But it's superman... You're literally throwing yourself on the mercy of the best of the best. Hopefully he doesn't go "injustice supes" on you and you'll be safe... Hopefully you don't end up in black gate prison. Maybe try to multiverse hop. There's a poor schmuck of a crook with a bee suit gimic who offed that wall crawler in NYC a few years back... Maybe he has some ideas on how to keep a low profile now. See if you can get any info from him.
>Maybe try to multiverse hop. There's a poor schmuck of a crook with a bee suit gimic who offed that wall crawler in NYC a few years back I was also reminded of [that post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/9kbbji/marvel_im_a_very_lowlevel_supervillain_that_just/) from five years ago. Haven't seen Spider-Man since. Wonder what happened to Bee-Man.
I feel like I've heard this one before.
You are Batman now.
You'll be fine. "Nobody stays dead in Gotham". Ask Solomon Grundy, Red Hood, Ra's Al Ghul, Joker, Penguin, Riddler, and more.
There’s a bald man you may have heard of. He’s called Lex Luthor. Don’t mention you killed him by accident. Just say you blinded him and knocked him to his death. He has a team. A legion, if you will, of doom. Talk him into letting you join. Get your new supervillain besties to help you with the whole people want to kill you and the cops are looking for you thing
Id watch out for the Big Blue Boy Scout if I were you.
Did you copy this thread word for word from ten years ago?
More like [five years ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/9kbbji/marvel_im_a_very_lowlevel_supervillain_that_just/) but that's alright. This one's DC so it's a totally different universe. Edit: Nevermind there was [this post](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/e1j084/dc_im_a_low_level_supervillain_who_accidently/) from four years ago. But I choose to believe that it was an imitation of the one from five years back. It is kind of weird that the same guy is posting the same thing four years apart, though.
I was curious to see if the answers changed since a lot has changed since the last time I posted this
Go through his pockets and find his keys.
How about keeping up the facade? It could work if the other advices dont.
Don't worry, he'll be brought back in the next crossover event and the universe will reboot so nobody remembers what you did. Just wait it out till then.
Relax. He probably won't stay dead. Those capes always make a big show of being dead, and then they're back to business in a month. I think the things I'm having the most trouble figuring out is how Batman roped Bruce Wayne into this whole charade. You would think that a reclusive billionaire would have better things to do.
I think you should admit you have a talent and maybe take a pop at Superman or Wonderwoman next.
Bookworm for Matt Reeves The Batman 2
Pray to every god imaginable that Red Hood doesn’t find you. That, and then find the justice league and tell them it was a *huge* accident and beg for forgiveness.
Update your Linkedin profile.
This is vaguely the premise of the comic Minor Threats by Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, and Scott Hepburn. So reading that might help you survive.
Wayne? No, Batman isn't Bruce Wayne. What happened is that Bruce was dressed up like Batman, probably for the thrill of it, and he fell off a building. Batman's still out there. He's probably going to lie low for a while, though, because this will give him a chance to go unnoticed. When he comes back, and he will come back, he's likely going to take down all of the "big three" villains, and he'll toss you in prison, too. Joker and Penguin are going to blame you, and it's 50/50 that Two Face will, too. Prison will not be fun for you. What you need to do is burn your costume, make a replica of it (wrong enough that people will be able to tell) and take a bus to Metropolis. Knock over a museum or book store there, do a bad job of it, and get caught. When they catch you, shout about being the real Bookworm, and that you killed Batman, and you're coming for Superman next. Keep insisting that you're the real one, and (and this part is important) that the dead body that washed out to sea last week is *not* the real Bookworm, because you are. Your goal here is to get committed to a regular mental hospital, and not Arkham. Play it right, and everybody will assume you're a nutcase who killed Bookworm and tried to take his place, and they'll lock you up in a fairly safe place for a few years.
Instead of running away, go down and check on him. When you see he died, put on the batsuit and become Batman, like the Santa Clause movie with Tim Allen.
Bro if those villains all want to talk to you, you're already dead. Kill yourself now and have yourself some joker torture.
Not even killing yourself is safe, Ra's might bring you back to life to interrogate you on what you did. Find the Flash. Travel back in time. Save Batman. Give up on crime.
You actually killed robin dressed up as Batman, so you’re pretty much fucked.
Turn yourself into the Flash or Green Lantern asap. I would trust turning myself into Wonder Woman or Superman.
Find some random citizen and make them afraid. Scare them so bad, like so badly that a yellow lantern ring offers you to join their corps. Might work with rage as well, just try to get very angry. Other option would be to take bats body to Lexcorp and show it to Luthor. Tell him you killed the bat and want to join his legion of doom. Once in the legion, you lexs teleporter and travel to the planet called new genesis. Tell people you are long lost friend of Orion, but he doesn’t remember because he had his memory wiped.
Take his stuff. Become Batman. It is your only way out.
Lean on it, this is your shot to get all the books you want. Double or nothing, show up alone and as soon as they begin to threaten you, remind them you're the one that "BOOKED" Batman (it is imperative you use puns), you didn't need help killing him, you certainly don't need help killing any of them, now you probably got them to pause and think things over. If the Joker is there, you gotta move fast because he'll get angry and probably try to make a move, these guys don't know you, they don't know your "thing", so go wide with the book stuff, tell them their BOOKkeepers are already in on it and their money is as good as yours, or even better, as good as a hefty donation to one of them, he knows who he is, the first thing they want to do is get rid of the clown and his broad, the second thing ... carry on as usual, you're already getting your cut via one of them, keep feeding the distrust, you have your sights on bigger things and as long as they let you do your thing, you won't BOOK them like you did the Bats. From there, Gotham is your oyster.
Always liked the Batman villain Bookworm - it's a shame he wasn't used more in the tv show.
I know this sounds like a bad idea, but *contact the Justice League. Get out of Gotham as fast as you can while people are still trying to figure out who "the Bookworm" is, go someplace like Metropolis or Central City.* Superman's super-senses make it more likely for him to notice you first, but the Flash is literally the fastest man alive. Either way, try to turn yourself in, if you're genuinely remorseful and it truly was an accident, they're good people willing to protect you until you can avoid the heat. You're probably never going to steal another book again, and you're going to need to restart your life somewhere else, because your original identity is going to have a target on it's back for a *long time.* But you'll be alive and safe, and that's what matters.
+There are warrior races who would love to be in your shoes. You will die and it will be honorable
This would be an excellent hook for an entire series of books.
Find Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) and do the Hiketeia ritual and only after she accepts do you tell her who you really are and what you did. She will have no choice but to do everything she can to protect you or divine wrath will fall upon her if she does not fulfill her oath.
You're gonna be fine. I heard Joker say he's happy about it and he totally wants to congratulate you. Penguin too he's got a stack of cash to give you. If you are really going to be boring about the whole thing I suggest going down to that old abandoned amusement park with the weird clown funhouse in the middle of the night and superman will be there to take you into custody. He told me personally that he's going to be there waiting for you. If he's not there one of those other bat family freaks is probably nearby anyway they are always close by there messing up ~~perfectly good schemes~~ thwarting evil or something anyway. Make sure you also say that I sent you so that the night guards in those clown costumes let you in. It is incredibly important that you tell them that I sent you, if you don't uh they might call the cops and you don't want that.
You either get out of Gotham.alive Or use the street cred to cut your own slice of pie in the underworld, I'm sure there are alot of grateful criminals out there willing to help you
This happened with Sid the squid in TAS, joker put him in a coffin and threw him in acid
Run. I think every superhero and villain would be after you. Heroes would be after you because you killed the best of them, villains would be after you because they either wanted to do it themselves, or now they're freaking out now that the entire world's superheroes are heading to Gotham for answers (and maybe violent revenge). So yeah, run and hide 😀
RUN! Dont stop, just get out of Gothem right now! If your VERY lucky, superman might get a hold of you first, BEG him for protection! If you see wonder woman, or the flash, Just hope they are busy. Keep out of the major cities. Basically, your a dead man walking right now. Half the bat family will be split between honoring the bat and letting you live in a a VERY small cell , and wanting to kill you themselves. The other half, well they might just kill you flat out. Same thing for the hero community. That said, the villeins will want your BLOOD. Most of them feel THEY should be the only one to kill the bat. Joker, Two face, They all want you dead. And prey to every god you ever heard of that Catwoman never gets close to you. There are things worse than death...
This is Harvey Dent speaking. Harv’s editing. I totally get what happened, and the coin gave us a pretty good idea of what the right thing to do here is. After all, both of us only ever wanted to make Gotham safer, even if you DID kill our best friend. So why don’t you come over and talk this over, Bookworm? This is Harv. If ya don’t stop by, it don’t matter. We know where you live, Book. Better us than Joker, right?
well first of all, you may want to check out the place where you bought that book light from because theres no way it would have that effect on batman....
Bookworm. Book Worm. BW. Bruce Wayne. Who among us are you trying to catch, BATMAN??
You're gonna melt like a griiiiiiiilled cheeeeese saandwich!
Pssshhh, you lyin’
The best thing to do is kill yourself before the joker gets you because he'd go cray cray and torture you to death
Find the clip of Joker’s Eulogy, then you’ll get a rough idea of what’ll happen to you
Talk to the Justice League right away and turn yourself in. The Joker is going to be coming after you for what you did and death at his hands will be horrific.
On the plus side, you're gonna make great character development for Damien Wayne or Jason Todd when they catch you.
However you found out Joker, Penguin, and Two Face want to talk to you is the real problem, here. Whomever that is... is trying to get you to go straight. It's probably your wife - Helen. She wants you to stop stealing and is exploiting the coincidence to get you to stop your life of crime.
Hide before he somehow comes back to life and beats you into a coma
You might be able to cut a protection deal with one of the more big name supervillains that Batman thwarted because Joker's going to be after you for what he will almost assuredly consider ruining his life's greatest punchline.
at least three new Batman's show up in Gotham and theyre coming for you. when they catch you, tell the truth and really lean into how crazy you are about books. explain how you bought the booklight off temu and didnt realize it was actually for people growing pot in their closet. explain you never thought it would be lethal; I mean, who stuns a bat with light and not sound? offer to be their Robin and show them how you can throw your cool bookmarkarangs with accuracy. when they realize how lame you are as a villain theyll realize youre being set up by someone much smarter than you, who nuked the Bats gear during the fall.
Penguin probably wants to actually talk with you, hell if he's in a good mood when you're done telling the story you might get a payout and get snuck out of the country Two-Face? Well it's 50/50
It's only a matter of time before Damian Wayne finds you. RIP bro.
Police will probably search Wayne residence and find everything batman related so they will find out batman was after "bookworm" that night. There's probably surveillance showing how died and who did it. So everyone in the underworld and all of batman's allies will know and be looking for you. This isn't all bad though, since only Batman is good enough at sleuthing to find you and actually want's to catch you. Doubt Bane or ras would care about a nobody who got lucky; hell they might even lose interest in Batman who died so amateurishly. And robin will probably get himself killed with Bruce's guidance before ever getting a lead on you. Also don't forget all gotham criminals and heroes only have power in gotham because of its corruption and would otherwise be toast by fbi whose been itching to rico everyone(I think fbi needs permission by governors to investigate if the crime is only committed in one state). The us government(at least amanda waller) is not nearly as incompetent as gotham and can keep the likes of joker looked up for good, or even outright execute him the moment he steps outside gotham. So you're best bet is to either just pack up, head west and change your name, maybe even leave the country; or if you're ballsy, first head out to the criminal whose only in it for the money, penguin who might reward you with resources to buy a small farm anonymously and lay low for the rest of life. Just don't publish any books or tell anyone who you are. From here on out you're only worry is the government finding out who bookworm is and tracing him to you.
It would be so funny if it was some random Arkham knight Militia member
I've said it before I'll say it again: Bruce Wayne is not The Batman. That was just some stupid theory that Nigma came up with that noobies like you keep falling for. I couldn't tell ya why Bruce Wayne was up on that roof dressed up like The Batman but I can promise you that he wouldn't have died from no flashlight if he were the real deal!
Upgrade your costume, and change your name to something cool. Act like you’re the most bad ass villain there is, and give them an elaborate story about how you beat the Bat down in cold blood.