Bruce Wayne's Batman appears to be killed off at the conclusion of the Batman R.I.P. storyline presented by DC Comics and written by Grant Morrison.

Bruce Wayne's Batman appears to meet his end during a fight with Simon Hurt on a helicopter. The vehicle crashes in a ball of flames into a body of water. The next panel shows the character of Nightwing clutching the tattered cowl of Batman as he looks at the wreckage. The corpse of Bruce Wayne is not visible in the issue.

A new Batman is expected to emerge to replace Bruce Wayne as Batman. The logical successor is Dick Grayson, who is the former Robin and current Nightwing character. Another possible candidate is Tim Drake, who is the current Robin.BBC News: Uncertain future set for Batman (November 24, 2008)

After the conclusion of Batman R.I.P., Neil Gaiman will write a two part story entitled Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? The title is an homage to a two issue story released in 1986, called Whatever Happened to the Man of Tommorrow? In that book, Alan Moore created a tribute of the character of Superman which looked at the comic books Superman and Action Comics, throughout the years. The book closed the continuity of the current series in preparation of a reboot.USA Today: Neil Gaiman to design a demise for Batman (November 17, 2008)

The executive editor at DC comics, Dan DiDio, admitted in an article in the New York Daily News that Batman will live on. Didio stated, "He's not dead, though he'll definitely be gone for a while. Batman and Bruce Wayne have been here long before me and they'll be around long after me."New York Daily News: Fans prematurely mourn Batman (November 28, 2008)

"What I am doing is a fate worse than death, things that no one would expect to happen to these guys at all."—Grant Morrison