The next accommodates spoilers for Batman: Fortress #2, on sale now from DC Comics.
Batman: Fortress sees the Darkish Knight having to deal with an alien invasion with out assist from Superman. Within the newest problem, he concerned the Justice League. Though it appeared like the perfect plan of action, it resulted in catastrophe. A lot of Earth’s heroes have been captured, injured, or worse. Oddly although, probably the most tragic destiny in the entire problem simply made a serious DC hero embrace a narrative beat from the Teen Titans Go! animated sequence.
The ultimate pages of Batman: Fortress #2 (by Gary Whitta, Darick Robertson, Diego Rodriguez and Simon Bowland) confirmed that after Cyborg seemingly died, however the Darkish Knight wasn’t carried out with him but. In a big steel case, there lay the well-known Teen Titan’s head. Completely indifferent from his physique, it appeared that the pinnacle had no human stays that hooked up it to the physique. This means that, other than the pinnacle, every part about Cyborg from the pinnacle down is all mechanical.
This surprising twist is, oddly sufficient, a working joke within the Teen Titans Go! animated sequence. On quite a few events, Cyborg’s head has been indifferent from his physique, each willingly and by power. When this occurs, the cartoon character’s head makes use of little wires sprouting from the neck as make-shift legs and arms. Though it is unlikely that Batman: Fortress will see Cyborg use wires coming out of his neck to stroll across the Batcave, it actually provides the Teen Titans Go! model of Cyborg some legitimacy within the comedian books.
In distinction to the present, this portrayal is a much more severe tackle a comedic portrayal of the character. Seeing Cyborg’s head right here confirms one thing fairly horrific in regards to the character. The picture of Cyborg’s head strolling and speaking on Cartoon Community would possibly make viewers chortle however seeing it in a comic book e book removes a big aspect of Cyborg’s humanity. The premise of the character is that he’s half human and half machine. Having him survive as a head, and one with visibly no natural components under the neck too, implies that the pinnacle is the one a part of the unique Victor Stone that continues to be. That makes him extra machine than man, general. Even when he nonetheless has his thoughts, that is develop into half machine too. It seems that the human aspect of Victor Stone is being phased out, and it is not simply on this specific story.
When he was part of the Teen Titans within the Nineteen Eighties, Cyborg confirmed he had human physique components beneath his robotic exterior. His legs, arms, and chest all confirmed components of the human beneath, held collectively by a cybernetic body. Now, nonetheless, none of that’s seen, and it has been taking place for some time. His present Teen Titans Academy design exhibits him utterly encased in silver. In one other instance, his New 52 design lined his entire physique too. Teen Titans Go! exhibits Victor Stone as a head and now Batman: Fortress has too. Because the years go by, what stays of Victor’s human physique is being more and more excluded from his comedian e book portrayal.
The fashionable Cyborg is now little greater than a human head. Actually, he is lower than that. Even his head is half machine. The New 52 launched the character’s Crime Syndicate counterpart, Grid, a virus that grew contained in the DCU’s Victor Stone. The Injustice 2 online game turned the chilly, calculating character right into a model of Victor if he lastly eliminated his remaining human components. It is onerous to not learn this and see that as a doable future for Cyborg.
It is unclear for now whether or not Batman saving Cyborg’s head is to save lots of Victor or use him for a larger objective. It is solely doable the Darkish Knight simply needs the superior know-how saved in his head to assist him save the world from this mysterious invasion. Though a noble aim, this fashion of going about that may be solely unethical. What’s extra, it may take away the final items of humanity left inside Victor. It may tip the character over the sting and full the change that is been taking place to him for a variety of years now – utterly eradicating the very humanity that gave him the title Cyborg.