Warning! Spoilers for Teen Titans Academy #4!
In DC Comics, Batman has had his fair share of ups and downs when it comes to the cases he takes on as the “World’s Greatest Detective”, and now it’s just been revealed as to which ones were his toughest. Fans might want to take note because these three cases are not only regarded as Batman’s most difficult, but are also some of the greatest Batman stories ever told!
Revealed during a low-key moment from Teen Titans Academy #4 by Tim Sheridan and Steve Lieber, the newly formed trio of students calling themselves the Bat Pack is having a hard time deducing the identity of the mysterious new Red X running around their school as they try to channel their idol, Batman, and his sweet detective skills to get to the bottom of their predicament. All hailing from the streets of Gotham, Bratgirl, Chupacabra and Megabat aren’t finding much success in their detective work, and are feeling a bit down as a result.
Thinking that Batman would have already solved the case of Red X’s identity by now, Chupacabra’s morale is at an all time low, leading Bratgirl to muse over what their favorite hero’s struggles are when faced with adversity. Saying, “You think Batman never had a tough case? The Court of Owls? The Phantasm? The Long Halloween?” Bratgirl goes on to give Chupacabra a much needed pep talk to get her back on her feet, inadvertently revealing Batman’s toughest cases in the process.
Considered to be one of the most popular, iconic and well regarded stories of Batman’s entire career, Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale saw The Dark Knight take on a killer that struck only on holidays, and who managed to plague Gotham for a full year before finally being stopped for good. Adapted into an upcoming two part animated movie as well as spawning a sequel comic series in Batman: Dark Victory, The Long Halloween was a wild rollercoaster of a story that’s just as enthralling today as it was when it was released.
The next case mentioned, The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, is one that’s much more recent but no less iconic. Broken and beaten down by a secret organization that has pulled the strings of everyone and everything in Gotham for years, Batman had finally met his match in a case that saw the Court infiltrate every crack and crevice of Batman’s psyche, and nearly destroying him in the process. Of course Bats made it out of that one alive, but the ramifications of the Court and their evil politics has been a hot topic in the lore of Batman for quite some time now, as any appearance of their creepy owl masks immediately gives Batman pause.
Lastly, the case of the Phantasm is either a direct reference to the groundbreaking animated Batman film, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, or the more recent and still ongoing series that’s taking place in Batman/Catwoman by Tom King and Clay Mann, wherein the villain of that film has reared their skull-shaped head to give Batman a run for his money and ruin his relationship with Catwoman in the process. In either instance, it can’t be denied that all three cases mentioned by the Bat Pack are ones that are Batman’s toughest, and ones that prove how good a detective The Dark Knight truly is.