Future State: The Next Batman #1 (2021)

Gotham City A serial rapist is trying to escape from the police, when Batman stops him in his tracks, removing his mask. This will mean he saved his life, even if it's not really worth it. As two agents of the GCPD spot them, they capture the rapist and leave Batman be, even if they shouldn't. This Batman, he's not Bruce Wayne, but a different man: since Bruce disappeared, Gotham stopped being safe for whoever had a mask on: the Magistrate, led by the Peacekeepers, is in town, with a precise order, to shoot on sight to anyone spotted with a mask on. Including the Dark Knight: he's number one in the Magistrate's list. The Fox Residence Luke is getting ready to leave, when his mom warns him he should stop staying up at night: he needs to work, and to represent. He must not turn into a new version of Bruce Wayne. Changing the subject, Luke and his mom talk about the new challenge made from the ACLU against the Peace-Keepers and the contract the city has with them, as Tanya is working on the case. Luke sustains that if they cannot stay up to the challenge, maybe the anti-mask law is wrong, but Tanya disagrees, especially for what happened to Tamara. This shakes up Luke a little bit, and to drop the discussion, he tells Tanya he's going to visit his sister, in the hospital. Reaching Tam's room in the hospital, Luke finds out Timothy is there. He wants to be called Jace now, but Luke does not care: he wasn't there when Tam got hurt, and he should not stay around. He's unwanted, and should leave. Tim tries to defend himself, but there's no reasoning with his brother, and so he goes away. Luke, sitting on a chair, holds Tam's hand, telling her he's sorry for how her brothers behave. Meanwhile, in the Neighborhood of Little Santa Prisca A new gang, the Bane-Litos, is recruiting new members: two kids from the neighborhood are searching some protection, and want in. But they must face a trial: killing a gang rival on the street. At the same time, GCPD's agent Chubb is talking with her former partner, Whitaker. Chubb remembers that Whitaker was one of the cops sustaining the masked vigilantes, like Batman, and wanted his opinion on the anti-mask law, but Whitaker does not want to talk, after all, he retired from the police. Then, Chubb asks him the real question she wanted to ask: there is a former cop helping criminals prepare jobs, with the only condition that they leave as soon as they finished. Is he involved in this? But Whitaker answers with a veiled suggestion, making Chubb understand she should not look into the case. On the street, the new recruits of the Bane-Litos, together with two older members, are trying to find a rival to kill, when Batman steps in, saving their target. He knows there are two young recruits there, and due to the fact they have masks on, they are in danger: if the Peacekeepers find them, they are dead. Batman then moves and finds the two kids, just when the Keepers were ready to shoot. He manages to escape with both, and the Keepers leave them be, afraid that reporting to the boss, Peacekeeper-01, might make them more than sorry. Batman is happy, because this day was a good day in Gotham: two young lives were saved, with a chance at turning their lives into something better. But in the end, Gotham is always Gotham, some things never change. But while he says this, two masked people attack a man in an alley.