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What is the Dark Knight looking at on the cover of Absolute Batman #20? It appears he’s staring at a giant R, which makes sense as that issue is set to introduce the Absolute Universe version of Robin (or Robins). However, the R is just a placeholder for the real cover image.

“We have a big reveal coming also,” Absolute Batman writer Scott Snyder says during a panel at MegaCon 2026. “I don’t know if they said or this is something I’m not supposed to say, but whatever. You’re here on a Sunday. So that cover with the R, that big R, is not the real cover.”

“The R is going to drop away, and you’re going to see the designs of what we’re thinking for Robin. We’re going to do that really soon. We didn’t want to spoil it. So, all the artists out in the world that are doing variant covers have those designs. They’re all encrypted like watermarks so nobody could share them.”

Absolute Batman has gone pretty hard with their designs, so the fact they’re hiding Robin from us means that whatever they’re cooking up is going to be pretty extreme. If Batman’s bat-emblem was a battleaxe, I can’t imagine what Robin’s R is going to be.

Absolute Batman #20 hits stores on May 13.

Need more? Here's our picks for the best DC Comics stories of all time, and here's a list of all the free DC comics you can look forward to as part of this year's Free Comic Book Day 2026 and Comics Giveaway Day 2026.