Batman: The Cult may be the most underrated Batman story of all time. With a dark interpretation of Batman losing to a new threat, it showed how far the psyche of Bruce Wayne can go. As one of the earliest Batman stories to go into very dark territory for the character, it set the stage for darker stories for the Dark Knight to come. Set in the Jason Todd era for Robin in a post-Crisis continuity, Batman: The Cult is as good as it’s leading villain, Deacon Blackfire. With a larger mystery around his background, Blackfire would go on to become one of, if not the most underappreciated Batman villain of all time.
While Hush may be the most overrated Batman villain to some, Blackfire should have title as the most underrated Batman villain. However, despite being an incredible villain within Batman’s overall story, he’s a case of a great evil-doer that we really don’t need to see more of; Batman: The Cult simply doesn’t need a follow up.
Deacon Blackfire Broke Batman Mentally
A preacher and shaman that lures the homeless of Gotham into his cult, in Batman: The Cult, Blackfire manages to capture Batman and torture him into becoming a member of his cult. With Robin out on the hunt to find Batman and same for the Jim Gordon, it’s a masterful mystery with plenty of sci-fi and horror elements to keep the reader hooked. With his simple-seeming appearance, Blackfire was portrayed as a relatively normal man with a sharp mind compared to everyone else in his cult, something that made the character a bit more complex and what was happening to Batman all the more horrifying.
But despite his unassuming apperance, Blackfire was a true terror. Blackfire was the first to break Batman in more ways than one. As a precursor to The Killing Joke, it was one of the first Batman stories to show the true dark side to Gotham City. For example, with how much Hush is credited for pushing Bruce to his edge, Blackfire did it way before with his mental manipulations and was one of the first villains that Batman almost broke his “no kill” rule for. After all he had been through and the hallucinations he was drugged into seeing, he was off his edge for the first time, giving readers the truly frightening idea of a Batman that wasn’t at the top of his game.
In a sense, Blackfire’s actions set the mold for the Joker, Bane, and Hush way before they would have their cracks at breaking the Bat, yet he never got the respect he deserves. A lot of that could be due to how this story ends for him. Now, with Hush getting a comeback of sorts thanks to H2SH there’s the question of if Blackfire should also come back to create issues for Batman, especially given how underappreciated he is. The answer is a bit more complicated than a simple yes or no.
Batman: The Cult doesn’t need a Follow Up
To put it simply, bringing back Deacon Blackfire for another story would ruin the impact of The Cult and lessen Bruce’s journey. It inspired many writers, including Grant Morrison, on their take on Batman, as well set the tone for crafting more intense, complicated villains. Blackfire could return because the character is intersting enough and Batman’s overall tone has lent itself to stories that challenge the hero psychologically in more recent years, but because he can doesn’t mean he should. What works best about Batman: The Cult is how it ends for Blackfire and leaving the mystery surrounding him unsolved was the best way to end it. Bringing the character back would weaken that moment and take something away from Batman, too, seeing as the hero went right up to the line when it came to dealing with the villain.
This is one of those essential moments Bruce needed to show how much he can endure while losing his values in the process. The restraint he shows from not killing Blackfire proves why he works as a figure for justice. He could have easily gone back and killed Blackfire but instead left him. While it’s never directly mentioned either this must have had a profound impact on Jason as well.
While Jason has more aggression and a need for vengeance than most of the members of the Bat-Family, Batman’s restraint shows him the point where to stop. While he goes to kill a lot of the low level thugs he fights, there are times where he shows its not worth it and that sense of justice lives in him from this particular event. For everyone involved, the interactions with Deacon Blackfire were significant and had major impact. While he’s never gotten the respect he deserves, Deacon Blackfire is a villain whose story worked incredibly well and served a major purpose in Batman’s lore. As great as he was at being bad, he’s not a villain we need to see again.
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