DC Comics confirms next Batman will be black

Tim Fox, the son of Bruce Wayne's estranged business manager Lucius Fox, will take over for the Caped Crusader

DC Comics have confirmed that the Batman will be black. Courtesy DC Comics

DC Comics has announced a new series of Batman comics and they will star a black successor.

The new series will be penned by John Ridley, the screenwriter behind 12 Years A Slave, and will focus on Tim Fox, the son of Bruce Wayne's estranged business manager Lucius Fox. The younger Fox will take over after the Caped Crusader's death in a future Gotham City where superheroes are outlawed.

Oscar-winner Ridley said he is most excited for his sons to read the comics with a black superhero taking over.

"They appreciate the things that I do. They're happy for me. They're great supporters. But they would much rather see Black Panther than 12 Years A Slave, let's be honest," he said in an interview with The New York Times. "So to be able to write the next Batman, for them to know that this next Batman is going to be black, everybody else on the planet can hate it, have a problem with it, denigrate it, but I have my audience and they already love it."

The series is part of a two-month event called DC Future State, in which new characters take up mantles of the comic publisher's key characters. In addition to Batman, Clark Kent has been replaced as Superman by his son Jon and Yara Flor, the daughter of an Amazonian warrior and a Brazilian river god, will become Wonder Woman.

Back in 2009, DC Comics also introduced Calvin Ellis, an alternative-universe black Superman, who was also president of the USA in his reality, with co-creator and writer Grant Morrison confirming that US president Barack Obama inspired the character.