--- description: Back in 2006, Frank Miller--the cartoonist behind Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, as well as 300 and Sin City--announced that he would be writing and... title: How Batman Almost Fought Osama bin Laden image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Business](/section/business/) * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) # How Batman Almost Fought Osama bin Laden by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) May 2, 2011 6:30 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) May 2, 2011 6:30 PM CUT Back in 2006, Frank Miller–the cartoonist behind _Batman: The Dark Knight Returns_, as well as _300_ and _Sin City_–announced that he would be writing and drawing a graphic novel for DC Comics called _Holy Terror_, in which Batman would take on al-Qaeda and face Osama bin Laden. (“Superman punched out Hitler,” [he said at the time](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4717696.stm "undefined"). “So did Captain America. That’s one of the things they’re there for.”) By November of that year, he [claimed](http://movies.ign.com/articles/745/745674p1.html "undefined") he only had “about 50 pages left to go.” **(More on TIME.com:** [**Bin Laden’s Low Tech Hideout May Have Been His Undoing**](http://techland.time.com/2011/05/02/bin-ladens-low-tech-hideout-may-have-been-his-undoing/ "undefined")**)** The title _Batman: Holy Terror_ had been floating around for a while–a riff on Robin’s exclamations on the old _Batman_ TV show, it had been an early working title for _The Dark Knight Returns_, and was actually used for a [1991 one-shot](http://www.comics.org/issue/48950/cover/4/ "undefined") by Alan Brennert and Norm Breyfogle. By 2008, though, Miller had switched tacks. When the _New York Times_ [profiled him](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/movies/20webs.html?pagewanted=2&%5Fr=2&ref=movies "undefined"), he noted that _Holy War, Batman!_–as the article called it–had become “something that was no longer Batman… I decided it’s going to be part of a new series that I’m starting.” **(More on TIME.com:** [**The Man Who Blogged Bin Laden’s Death By Accident**](http://techland.time.com/2011/05/02/the-man-who-blogged-bin-ladens-death-by-accident/ "undefined")**)** In early 2010, Miller [announced](http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/04/holy-terror-batman-may-be-dead-but-holy-terror-isnt/ "undefined") that he was “94 double-page spreads” into _Holy Terror_, but that “it’s just not a Batman story anymore. The content got too extreme, and a brand new superhero popped into my head.” Later in the year, he [explained](http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2010/07/29/frank-miller-takes-holy-terror-out-of-gotham-ive-taken-batman-as-far-as-he-can-go/ "undefined") that Batman had been replaced in it by a new character called The Fixer, and that it wouldn’t be published by DC, but that it “should be finished within a month” and come out “next year, certainly,” meaning 2011. There’s been no official word so far on publication of _Holy Terror_, or indeed on how it might be affected by yesterday’s news. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7241336/how-batman-almost-fought-osama-bin-laden/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7241336/how-batman-almost-fought-osama-bin-laden/"},"headline":"How Batman Almost Fought Osama bin Laden","datePublished":"2011-05-02T18:30:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T10:59:07.555Z","description":"Back in 2006, Frank Miller--the cartoonist behind Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, as well as 300 and Sin City--announced that he would be writing and...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7241336/how-batman-almost-fought-osama-bin-laden/","keywords":["Tech","Comics","Batman"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7241336/how-batman-almost-fought-osama-bin-laden/","name":"How Batman Almost Fought Osama bin Laden"}}]}] ```