1990-1995: "Strangers"
1990-1995 is the absolute nadir of Superman and Batman's friendship. Elie Wiesel is quoted as saying "The opposite of love is not hate. It's indifference," and between 1990-1995 Clark and Bruce prove that point, as they simply do not speak to or think about each other at all, with only very rare exceptions. Oddly enough, in some ways I find this time very fertile ground for slashy speculation, more so than when they're best friends. The reasons lie in the way people approach texts and make them mean things to us, and the ways in which silence can mean so many different things.
In July 1990, the JLI is in mourning for the apparent death of Mr. Miracle. Superman decides this is a great time to stop by and offer his services so more people don't die on Batman's watch. Smooth, Superman. A sharp exchange follows and the two part ways, baffled and angry.
This is, as far as I can find, the last time Clark and Bruce will speak to each other for four years and two months in any DC comic book.
This is their last conversation before Superman dies.
Just before Superman dies in battle with Doomsday in January 1993, the Justice League engages Doomsday and fails to stop him. Even though Batman is on the team at the time, he does not appear in that issue. He's not there when Superman dies, he does not appear to witness the fight, he is a total absence in the comic. We have no idea, canonically, how he responds to that information--in JLA 0 (2006), we are given a short retconned "flashback" to that moment, but in the comics of the time, Bruce has no reaction whatsoever.
Batman does not attend the funeral, the only major hero not to. At least, not officially. But he's there, lurking around and keeping things safe. And he has some sad conversations about Superman with other heroes in which he says that the fact he wasn't there to help Clark "may haunt me forever." You can see a few of those scans here.
By sheer coincidence, because DC wanted to put Superman and Batman through the wringer that year, 1993 is also the year in which Bane breaks Batman's back. This means that two months after Superman's funeral, the " Knightfall" arc begins. And in this arc, Bruce completely and totally falls apart. He never once mentions that he's just buried Superman, but he suddenly seems crushed by the burden of his responsibilities, exhausted and isolated and miserable. When Bane finally defeats him and breaks his back, Bruce lapses into delirious babbling and seems to have lost the will to live entirely.
Now, clearly the editors and writers at DC did not mean to imply that Clark's death led to Bruce's breakdown. But in my discussion of the "Knightfall" scans, I talk about some of the fun games that can be played with textual coincidences like this, and the ways in which Clark and Bruce's very lack of a reaction to each other can imply some interesting narratives.
Despite these traumatic events, when Superman returns from the dead in Sept. 1993 there is no reunion between him and Bruce at all. Part of that is because Bruce is at that point deep in rehabilitation for his broken back and hiding from the world. In fact, when Superman first runs into "Batman" after his return, he fails to even notice that it isn't Bruce in the costume, beyond a vague suspicion. It's hard to get two characters more estranged from each other at that point.
And then they still don't speak to each other for almost another full year.
By " Zero Hour" in late 1994, it has been four years and two months since Clark and Bruce have had a conversation in comics canon. And even then, when Superman at last meets Batman again, it's the wrong Batman:
Superman: The Man of Steel #37 is part of that "Zero Hour" crossover event, and it's a crazy romp in which Superman meets a variety of different Batmen from various continuities (Denny O'Neil's Bronze Age Batman, Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns Batman, Dick Sprang's goofy Silver Age Batman, the original Golden Age Batman, and so on). At the end, he has a terse conversation with the real Batman--his first in years--and flies away again.
Well, I guess you have to start somewhere.
1994 marks the breaking of that long silence there and also in the mini-series Legends of the World's Finest, which despite technically being a "team-up," they really only interact at the very beginning and very end of the mini-series, and their conversation is hardly affectionate (or interesting). A brief sample:
Then, as far as I can tell again, 1995 goes by without any Superman-Batman interaction in canon at all. But things begin to pick up in 1996 with two major events in-canon (Superman's marriage to Lois Lane and Superman rejoining the Justice League) and one major event outside of canon--Mark Waid's Kingdom Come retelling of the future, a vision that, like Miller's Dark Knight Returns, appears to have had a ripple effect back into present continuity.
Back to the full history
Forward to 1996-2000
In July 1990, the JLI is in mourning for the apparent death of Mr. Miracle. Superman decides this is a great time to stop by and offer his services so more people don't die on Batman's watch. Smooth, Superman. A sharp exchange follows and the two part ways, baffled and angry.
This is, as far as I can find, the last time Clark and Bruce will speak to each other for four years and two months in any DC comic book.
This is their last conversation before Superman dies.
Just before Superman dies in battle with Doomsday in January 1993, the Justice League engages Doomsday and fails to stop him. Even though Batman is on the team at the time, he does not appear in that issue. He's not there when Superman dies, he does not appear to witness the fight, he is a total absence in the comic. We have no idea, canonically, how he responds to that information--in JLA 0 (2006), we are given a short retconned "flashback" to that moment, but in the comics of the time, Bruce has no reaction whatsoever.
Batman does not attend the funeral, the only major hero not to. At least, not officially. But he's there, lurking around and keeping things safe. And he has some sad conversations about Superman with other heroes in which he says that the fact he wasn't there to help Clark "may haunt me forever." You can see a few of those scans here.
By sheer coincidence, because DC wanted to put Superman and Batman through the wringer that year, 1993 is also the year in which Bane breaks Batman's back. This means that two months after Superman's funeral, the " Knightfall" arc begins. And in this arc, Bruce completely and totally falls apart. He never once mentions that he's just buried Superman, but he suddenly seems crushed by the burden of his responsibilities, exhausted and isolated and miserable. When Bane finally defeats him and breaks his back, Bruce lapses into delirious babbling and seems to have lost the will to live entirely.
Now, clearly the editors and writers at DC did not mean to imply that Clark's death led to Bruce's breakdown. But in my discussion of the "Knightfall" scans, I talk about some of the fun games that can be played with textual coincidences like this, and the ways in which Clark and Bruce's very lack of a reaction to each other can imply some interesting narratives.
Despite these traumatic events, when Superman returns from the dead in Sept. 1993 there is no reunion between him and Bruce at all. Part of that is because Bruce is at that point deep in rehabilitation for his broken back and hiding from the world. In fact, when Superman first runs into "Batman" after his return, he fails to even notice that it isn't Bruce in the costume, beyond a vague suspicion. It's hard to get two characters more estranged from each other at that point.
And then they still don't speak to each other for almost another full year.
By " Zero Hour" in late 1994, it has been four years and two months since Clark and Bruce have had a conversation in comics canon. And even then, when Superman at last meets Batman again, it's the wrong Batman:
Superman: The Man of Steel #37 is part of that "Zero Hour" crossover event, and it's a crazy romp in which Superman meets a variety of different Batmen from various continuities (Denny O'Neil's Bronze Age Batman, Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns Batman, Dick Sprang's goofy Silver Age Batman, the original Golden Age Batman, and so on). At the end, he has a terse conversation with the real Batman--his first in years--and flies away again.
Well, I guess you have to start somewhere.
1994 marks the breaking of that long silence there and also in the mini-series Legends of the World's Finest, which despite technically being a "team-up," they really only interact at the very beginning and very end of the mini-series, and their conversation is hardly affectionate (or interesting). A brief sample:
Then, as far as I can tell again, 1995 goes by without any Superman-Batman interaction in canon at all. But things begin to pick up in 1996 with two major events in-canon (Superman's marriage to Lois Lane and Superman rejoining the Justice League) and one major event outside of canon--Mark Waid's Kingdom Come retelling of the future, a vision that, like Miller's Dark Knight Returns, appears to have had a ripple effect back into present continuity.
Back to the full history
Forward to 1996-2000