ICYMI: Discover Tim Drake’s Shocking Fate In ‘Detective Comics’ #940

James Tynion IV, Eddy Barrows and Alvaro Martinez's Detective Comics has been one of the absolute stand-out comics from the DC Rebirth initiative, melding X-Men style team dynamics with fan-favorite Batman characters and providing the highest of stakes for the heroes on Batwoman's team.

Heading into this week's Detective Comics #940, things didn't look too good for Tim "Two Weeks From Retirement" Drake as he faced down a horde of killer drones, but the conclusion of "Rise of the Batmen" and the revelation of Tim's fate are more shocking than anyone could have predicted.

Spoilers follow. Turn back now if you don't want to know what happens in Detective Comics #940.

As we start the issue, Tim Drake has reprogrammed the killer drones so that he is their only target, instead of the hundreds of innocent Gotham civilians that Jacob Kane wanted to assassinate as suspected members of the League of Shadows. Tim managed to fight off the first wave, and as he prepared for another fight, he said an emotional goodbye to Batman and Spoiler before, well...

In the aftermath, all that Batman can find is Red Robin's staff. He then checks in on Spoiler and discovers that Tim was planning on attending Ivy University in the coming weeks. It's a touching and emotional scene, and Tynion's affection for Tim Drake shines throughout the whole issue.

However, in the epilogue, we discover that Tim Drake did not die in a hail of laser bullets and was instead rescued at the last second by none other than the mysterious Mr. Oz.

The cloaked enigma has been skirting around the Superman books since Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr's run in 2014, but his presence has been more prominent since the beginning of DC Rebirth and the character is speculated by many to be Watchmen's Ozymandias in disguise.

The conclusion of Action Comics' "Path of Doom" storyline also ended with Mr. Oz mysteriously taking a player off the board --- Doomsday on that occasion --- and the empty cells next to Red Robin suggest he isn't done yet. As DC Rebirth ramps up and more books reach the conclusion of their first storylines, it wouldn't be surprising to see other characters disappear into Mr. Oz's care, as the nature of his threat to the DC Universe becomes more apparent.

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