Warning: Spoilers for Future State: Superman of Metropolis #2!
In DC Comics, Batman is a character synonymous with the idea of technology. From his various bat-gadgets to the ridiculous amount of high-tech weaponry packed into his fashionably compact utility belt, the Dark Knight is often considered to be the go to guy for all kinds of crime fighting contraptions, regardless of what they may be.
But in DC’s Future State, a decidedly different hero just took Batman’s crown as the King of Gadgets, and doesn’t seem too keen on giving it back. Returning to the spotlight as a future hero of Metropolis, the new Mister Miracle, aka Norman Shilo, has more tricks up his sleeve than Batman has back-up plans, and if his nifty set of gadgets and tech are to be believed, Bats has his work cut out for him if he ever attempts to one-up this futuristic hero.
Introduced way back in 1973 by Jack Kirby, Norman Shilo is the third Mister Miracle to hold the mantle after the original Thaddeus Brown and the second and most popular incarnation of the character in Scott Free. Now the only man behind the mask in DC’s distant future, the second issue of Future State: Superman of Metropolis holds a backup story by Brandon Easton and Valentine de Landro that shows just how far Norman has come in handily stealing Batman’s thunder.
Paired up with the Apokolips tech known as a Mother Box, or M.B. as Norman calls it, Norman is immediately shown to be a capable fighter and tech-user as he attempts to find a way to save Metropolis from being trapped in a dome of the new Superman, Jonathan Kent’s, doing. Tussling with a robotic sentinel as he tries to get to the bottom of the city’s predicament, Norman uses his trusty aero-discs, or small circular pads that allow him to levitate, to beat back the machine to the best of his abilities. And it’s here where Batman starts to blush as Norman whips out some cool tech to escape his metal foe.
Using his aero-discs as a weapon to chop the robot’s tentacles clean off, Norman proceeds to slice open a nearby fire hydrant that sprays water everywhere in a fine mist that he uses to his benefit. Amplifying the water droplets with the scattered light from his costume, Norman projects duplicate images of himself onto the battlefield “like a million tiny kaleidoscopes”, allowing him to briefly escape, only to be forced to use a tried and true bat-gadget in a singular smoke pellet moments later to escape the still pursuing machines. Still not having the upper hand, Norman risks it all with the ultimate tech attack in his arsenal: a full-blown energy blast called the Parasite Effect that uses the ambient cosmic background radiation around him coupled with the power inherent to M.B. to wipe out his attackers and give Norman the final win he so desperately needed, something Batman’s tech couldn’t even compare to if it tried.
So even though recent developments might not currently have Batman on the top of the high-tech gadgetry list in present day continuity (and even Future State continuity for that matter), the new Mister Miracle easily snatches Batman’s crown in a timeline that has yet to come to pass. Batman will always be a technologically advanced hero, but Norman Shilo can clearly give The Dark Knight a run for his money any day.