"Endgame" Concludes In This Week's Batman #40

Before we get started, let me state the obvious...SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Still with me?  Good!  Let's get started...
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Yesterday, the conclusion to Scott Snyder's Batman storyline came to a conclusion, and it was amazing!  It ended with a bang, so to speak.  Batman and the Joker are in a cave that contains the cure for the Joker's plague,  both duking it out, both of them doing heavy damage to the other.  Near the end of the battle, the Joker detonates the cave.  Satisfied that he's saved the city, Batman comes to terms with his fate and the two are buried in the cave.

Wait...what?  They died?  Let's go to the source and find out, here's what Snyder had to say:

"So what I'm saying is, yes, they're dead -- and they went in ready to die; so there's no sort of trick to it.  But, that being said, if we didn't have a story that we really loved about where they're going to end up somehow, we wouldn't do it.  You love the characters too much to do that to the fans.  So yeah, just stay tuned."

Well that sucks.  Here's more from Synder:

"Batman knows that he is going to go down fighting.  And that's the way that Batman will always end.  He's not going to retire, at least our version of him.  He's not going to ride off into the sunset.  He's going to go down fighting for the city whether old or young.  Giving him the chance to fight his greatest enemy, who represents everything that he stands against is the perfect ending for him.  The Joker represents meaningless and the idea that everyone is laughing at him and you.  Joker doesn't think that your life means anything whereas Batman says, 'Stand up and make your life matter.'  Who wouldn't want to go down in a blaze of glory?  If you're going to go down some way, what better way than saving the city and making sure that this monster never gets out of the box on your watch.  It's almost a happy ending for Batman."

Batman #41 will be released next week, and it features a mech-suit Batman, but it's not Bruce Wayne inside of it.  Do you want a hint as to who's inside?  I'll give you a hint...Commissioner...