It has been a year of speculation as to who the next Batman would be long before John Ridley and Nick Derington’s The Next Batman was announced and today the man behind the cowl has been revealed. Luke Fox will be the next Batman as revealed in a new variant cover for issue #2 of the four-issue Future State: The Next Batman set to debut this January.
If you don’t know, Tim (Jace) Fox is the estranged son of Lucius Fox and brother to the former Batwing Luke Fox.
Check out the cover below by Doug Braithwaite and Diego Rodriguez.
Tim Fox’s first comic book appearance was in Batman #313, April 10, 1979. The character has since been teased in the current Batman line, first as a mention in “Family Ties,” the John Ridley/Olivier Coipel story from September’s Batman: The Joker War Zone anthology. In October’s Batman #101, he also shows up in a conversation between Batman and Lucius Fox, who has since acquired the Wayne fortune and technology as a result of The Joker War.

A page from Ridley and Coipel’s Batman: The Joker War Zone.
Credit: DC Comics
For more of this character check out Batman: Black & White on February 23, 2021. Ridley and Coipel reunite to tell another story of The Next Batman and give him a sidekick.
Future State: The Next Batman debuts in comic book stores and participating digital platforms on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, with new issues available every other week. Each 64-page oversized issue includes backup stories of other Gotham City heroes and villains taking on the oppressive rule of The Magistrate and its war on vigilantes:
Future State: Arkham Knights, by Paul Jenkins and Jack Herbert (issues #1 and #3)
Future State: Outsiders, by Brandon Thomas and Sumit Kumar (issues #1 and #3)
Future State: Batgirls, by Vita Ayala and Aneke (issues #2 and #4)
Future State: Gotham City Sirens, by Paula Sevenbergen and Emanuela Lupacchino (issues #2 and #4)
For the latest information on DC Future State, visit the hub page at www.dccomics.com/futurestate. For more information on the World’s Greatest Super Heroes, check out the main page, www.dccomics.com or follow on social media at @DCComics and @thedcnation.

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