20 of the weirdest Batman stories ever

19. When Batman beat up a bear

This wasn’t just any bear that Batman had to face down. No, it was a Christmas bear.

To get a sense of what happened, you have to first understand that, over the course of his comic book history, Batman has beat up a surprising number of animals. It’s not as if he’s just walking down the street, kicking puppies and scaring kittens, though. At least he has normally faced off against large predators, including a lion, a shark and multiple intelligent or semi-intelligent gorillas.

This particular incident happened in Batman #285, published in 1977. At this point, the Comics Code Authority was still in effect (it wouldn’t be completely disregarded until DC and Archie Comics abandoned it in 2011). However, the CCA had considerably less clout than in previous decades. Publishers were beginning to abandon the CCA seal in order to publish “edgy” comics.

However, that didn’t mean that CCA ideals weren’t lingering here and there. Hence, the goofy story wherein Batman learns that something is awry at the Gotham tree lighting. He heads on down, only to discover that a bear has taken up residence in the tree itself. Batman decides to do the humane thing and — oh, wait, he just decides to kick it in the face.

The bear tries to defend itself, before Batman puts it in a wrestling hold. All seems lost, when the tree itself comes to life and starts beating up the Dark Knight. Sure. Seems normal.

If the idea of Bruce Wayne whaling on a bear during the holiday season seems especially horrifying, take heart in knowing that the bear was never real. Instead, it was an apparition created by a mind-bending crime lord with a sweet cape known as Dr. Tzin Tzin. Whew.