DC announced Batman: Reign of Assassins yesterday, a 5-issue limited series that puts both of its Batmen, Jace Fox and Bruce Wayne, together for the first time. John Ridley writes the series and Olivier Coipel draws it, with colors by Mat Lopes and letters by AndWorld Design. The 32-page first issue goes on sale at comic shops and digital retailers on February 17, 2027, for $4.99.
DC's announcement says that when "mysterious forces from Jace's past converge on his present, Jace turns to Katana and Gotham City's Caped Crusader for help." The mission sends the 2 Batmen on a globe-spanning adventure against a new threat. The series continues the story of Jace Fox, who took the Batman name and became New York City's Dark Knight in I Am Batman.
Who Is Jace Fox
Timothy "Jace" Fox is the son of Lucius Fox, the Wayne Enterprises executive DC calls "Bruce Wayne's tech and money man," and the brother of Luke Fox, who has operated as Batwing. DC dates Tim Fox's first comic book appearance to Batman #313, released on April 10, 1979. Writer Len Wein and artist Irv Novick created the character. DC's own 2022 interview with Ridley described Tim as "an obscure character who hadn't really been around since the early '80s" before Ridley brought him back.
The 2020 version came with a new origin. In that interview, Ridley explained that he picked Tim over Luke because Luke was already established, while Tim represented the discord in the Fox family and had been estranged from it. He also said that the one note he got from DC early on was that the name Tim would not work, partly to avoid confusion with Tim Drake, which led to the name Jace.
In the rebooted version, laid out in The Next Batman: Second Son, Tim was a teenager from a wealthy family who hit a man with his car the night before his 17th birthday and ran. Lucius used lawyers and investigators to shield him, then sent him to a military academy abroad. Tim spent the following years training under several mentors, Katana among them, and took the name Jace before he returned to Gotham.
The 2020 Setup
DC teased the character before revealing him. Tim was mentioned in "Family Ties," Ridley and Coipel's story in the September 2020 anthology Batman: The Joker War Zone, and he came up in a conversation between Batman and Lucius in Batman #101 that October. At that point in the main Batman line, Lucius had acquired the Wayne fortune and technology as a result of The Joker War.
On December 10, 2020, DC revealed Tim Fox as the Batman of Future State: The Next Batman through a variant cover for issue #2 by Doug Braithwaite and Diego Rodriguez.
Future State And Second Son
Future State: The Next Batman, by Ridley, Nick Derington and Laura Braga, ran 4 oversized issues from January 5 to February 16, 2021. It is set in a dystopian future Gotham City after Bruce Wayne's apparent death, where Jace fights the Magistrate, a privatized security force waging war on vigilantes. Ridley and Coipel also gave The Next Batman a sidekick in a story for DC's Batman: Black & White anthology on February 23, 2021.
The Next Batman: Second Son went back to Jace's past. Ridley wrote it with art by Tony Akins, Ryan Benjamin and Mark Morales and colors by Rex Lokus, and DC released it as a Digital First series starting on February 23, 2021, with print issues following in April. It covers where his combat skills came from and why he is estranged from his family.
I Am Batman
Ridley's series I Am Batman launched in 2021, with Coipel drawing issue #1. DC's own summary of the series has the Fox family holding much of the Wayne fortune after The Joker War and Fear State, while Simon Saint's Magistrate program puts armed enforcers on Gotham's streets under citywide curfews. With the original Batman missing and presumed dead, Jace comes home after years of overseas training and goes after groups such as the Moral Authority, using non-lethal gear and help from his hacker ally Vol.
The series also gives the rest of the Fox family a larger role, including Lucius's wife Tanya and their daughters Tam and Tiffany. Jace's uneasy relationship with the Gotham City Police Department runs through Detective Chubb and Commissioner Renee Montoya, who hold opposing views on vigilantes.
Jace joined Batman and his allies against the Scarecrow and the Magistrate in the Fear State crossover. Then, with I Am Batman #6 on February 8, 2022, he and his family moved to New York City. DC noted that it was the first time an ongoing Batman title had been based in New York since Detective Comics #47 in January 1941. Ken Lashley drew that issue, with colors by Rex Lokus, letters by Troy Peteri and a main cover by Coipel and Alex Sinclair. Ridley said at the time, "This new setting is a great opportunity to do some really creative world building and give Jace his own allies, adversaries, and challenges that will continue to shape and define him as his own character under the cape and cowl." DC's official teaser for the move features Ridley:
The series ran 19 issues, from #0 to #18, and wrapped in 2023. DC Universe Infinite carries I Am Batman along with Ridley's other DC work, including The Other History of the DC Universe.
Reign Of Assassins
Reign of Assassins reunites Ridley and Coipel for the first time since I Am Batman #1. Issue #1 has a main cover by Coipel and Lopes, variant covers by Dan Mora, Kyuyong Eom and Travis Charest, and a foil variant by Coipel and Lopes. The card-stock variants cost $5.99 and the foil variant costs $7.99. DC released 4 interior pages without text from the first issue, including one with both Batmen meeting outside a hangar:
DC is also bringing the main Batman together with his Absolute Universe counterpart in the Batman of Two Worlds crossover.
Jace Fox Reading Order
- Batman #313 (1979), Tim Fox's first appearance
- Batman: The Joker War Zone (2020), "Family Ties"
- Batman #101 (2020)
- Future State: The Next Batman #1 to #4 (2021)
- Batman: Black & White (2021), Ridley and Coipel's Next Batman story
- The Next Batman: Second Son (2021)
- I Am Batman #0 to #18 (2021 to 2023), including the Fear State tie-ins
- Batman: Reign of Assassins #1 (February 17, 2027)
Are you picking up Batman: Reign of Assassins #1 in February, or catching up on I Am Batman before Jace and Bruce team up?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.