In a preview of this week’s Superman #5, Comicosity released a number of panels that show Superman, Lois, and their son Jonathan headed to Batman’s off-world Bat Cave on the far side of the moon, complete with moon bat security drones.
Bruce Wayne chose to set up camp on the moon because the isolation allowed him to conduct all types of experiments without the risk of endangering innocents. But as for building on the far side of the moon? That’s a choice that comes down to secrecy.
For a long time, the far side of the moon was an enigma, and even now there are only a handful of people (astronauts who have orbited the moon) who have seen it IRL. We have pictures and firsthand accounts, but even now the far side of the moon largely remains a mystery. Harrison Schmitt, a geologist who went to the moon on Apollo 15, wanted to change that by making Tsiolkovsky (a crater on the far side of the moon) a landing site for later Apollo missions, but his proposal didn’t come to pass.
In the end, NASA would have needed to produce a communications satellite in order to keep the astronauts in contact with the Earth on that far side, which was too costly to consider seriously.
There was a silver lining to his efforts, though: Though being cut off from communication with Earth on the far side of the moon presents risks to manned missions, the research showed it was full of potential for radio telescopes, which can operate on the far side without interference from Earth.
With the immense difficulty that comes with exploring the far side of the moon, it’s easy to see why it’s a good choice for the Bat Cave — Bruce Wayne could pretty much count on being left to his own devices. Provided Batman could get the thing built (and ignoring the fact that he’d be SOL if something went wrong), the far side of the moon is a pretty good location for maintaining secrecy.
