DC Just Permanently Shattered The Biggest Rule Of Batman’s Iconic Gadgets

Published Oct 11, 2026, 8:33 PM EDT

Jared is a writer, editor, and Communications Studies graduate who loves popular nerd culture (almost anything to do with Marvel, DC, Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings) and the interactive storytelling medium. Jared's first console was the PS1, wherein he fell for Spider-Man, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot.

Warning! The following contains SPOILERS for Batman (2025) #14.

Batman’s suite of niche gadgetry hasn’t always had the phenomenal representation that it does now. For instance, The Batman (2022) is a superb Year 2 Batman story, but it may ultimately be a little lackluster for anyone who isn’t a fan of when Batman only has access to a rudimentary handful of gadgets, no matter how neat it is that the movie’s World’s Greatest Detective has a bat symbol that doubles as a knife. Plus, we’ve only recently been treated to a treasure trove of the best Batman gadgets in DC comic book source material.

Indeed, this is one of the many reasons why the mainline, ongoing Batman run is so terrific. Nearly every issue has either introduced or reprised a fantastic, high-tech gadget that is either incredibly amusing or creative, such as Batspikes and Bat-Bollards, but his newest gadget literally hails from an era of ancient space deities in DC Comics lore.

Batman’s New Gadget Is New God-Like

In Batman #14, as Batman descends beneath Gotham toward Victor and Nora Fries’ Kingdom of Cold and the Engine of Eternal Winter, he uses a gadget called the Bat-Com to communicate with Verity Pennyworth, who hilariously and rightfully believes Mister Freeze should go by the name “Doctor,” not “Mister.” Suddenly, the Wayne family’s new majordomo questions how Bruce has a “self-powered comms network during an electromagnetic blackout,” claiming that it’s “strange and inexplicable,” and Batman’s answer is rather startling:

Boom tube broadband. Probably harmless.

To this, Verity merely grumbles to herself: “Ahh. Hm.” And, well, if Batman thinks it’s harmless, and Verity didn’t take this opportunity to scold him on how foolish he is to have such technology, maybe it isn’t as sketchy as it seems. Shaped like an ordinary earpiece, yet unlike any ordinary technology that humans have access to, the Bat-Com’s features include:

• Fourth World Boomband infranet
• Source-powered localized shortwave
• Polydimensional quantum encryption

Is Batman’s Tech Getting A Fourth World Upgrade?

Of course, even if it’s painstakingly detailed, perhaps this gadget wasn’t designed with the hope that readers would look into the logistics or repercussions of it, as it could simply be Fraction’s excuse to be able to have Batman communicate with the Bat-Family and not be wholly isolated from them during Batman: Bad Seeds, the enormous DC Comics-spanning event entangling all of Gotham. Either that, or there is some unforeseen consequence to it that solicitations have not yet alluded to.

There’s a low likelihood that Matt Fraction’s Batman run is going to begin dabbling in shenanigans involving the Fourth World/New Gods anytime soon. That said, the door to such a storyline or event certainly has a foot wedged in it now if DC Comics or Fraction ever wants there to be. Until then, where or how Batman was able to obtain this technology is anyone’s guess, but the Bat-Com is now undoubtedly his most bombastic and fantastical gadget ever.

Batman has been rewriting the book on how wildly inventive and elaborate gadgets can be, but nothing comes close to what the Bat-Com proposes in terms of how powerful it is. Impossibly high-tech gadgetry distinguishes this blue-clad Batman apart from other runs and iterations of the character, to be sure, but staple items like batarangs hopefully won’t become paperweights anytime soon.

Batman #14 is out now.