At 8 p.m. on Tuesday, students began to crowd around a yellow Batman logo etched in chalk in front of Geisel Library’s Silent Tree. As EsDeeKid’s “4 Raws” echoed through Library Walk, Sophie Holmes, creator of the @whoisucsdbatman Instagram account, riled up onlookers who had gathered to await UCSD Batman’s arrival.

Four weeks earlier, Holmes theorized that first-year student Cole Porter was behind the @ucsdbatman Instagram account. That same day, she also speculated that Associated Student President William Simpson may be another suspect, due to his similar strawberry-blond mustache.

Then, two weeks ago, UCSD Batman advertised a “Who is UCSD Batman?” event, adding @whoisucsdbatman as a collaborator.

Holmes, the event’s emcee, asked the audience members who they thought the true UCSD Batman was. The longer Batman waited to emerge from the shadows, the more eager the crowd became. One especially enthusiastic attendee attempted to summon Batman by getting on his belly, grabbing his ankles, and performing an impassioned sea lion impression.

Two Batmen eventually stepped out from the rabble, both claiming with vigor that they were the masked hero the crowd was waiting for. A member of the crowd described the first Batman, third-year student and A.S. director of programs and initiatives for the Office of the President Charlie Reeves, as “Temu Batman.” He was quickly ousted by Batman’s followers. The second, who revealed himself as Porter, announced that he was the true Batman and began to attack Reeves, ripping off his mask and challenging him to a pushup battle that never came to fruition.

After about five minutes, a third Batman stepped down from the stairs of Geisel Library West — in a suit rumored to have cost him nearly $1,000 — silencing the crowd and declaring, “I am Batman.” Enraged, a loyal Porter fan emerged from the audience and pledged her loyalty to Porter as the one true vigilante on UC San Diego’s campus. However, moments later, Porter admitted he was not the real UCSD Batman.

The third Batman then finally responded to the audience’s pleas and tore off his mask, revealing himself as Simpson.

“My time as Batman is unfortunately over,” Simpson said in an interview with The UCSD Guardian. “I believe that my job has been accomplished. Students have been enlightened; they’ve been happy. It’s brought positivity to their day, and I believe that it’s time for someone else to take the mask. So, while William Simpson is done with Batman, Batman is not done himself.”

As students waited in line to take pictures with Simpson in the Batman costume, members of his crew approached them and asked if they had voted in the A.S. election.

Simpson denied that the event was part of his campaign.

“This has been planned since the beginning of Winter Quarter to announce it early spring because that’s when a lot of students are out,” Simpson said. “[Using Batman as a campaign stunt] would be a great, great, genius idea, but unfortunately, I’m not smart enough for that.”

Last November, UCSD Batman sat down with The Guardian for a short interview. Simpson drew inspiration from a previous UCSD Batman account, @batman_of_ucsd. On Batman’s changing identity, Porter said, “Maybe the real Batman was the friends we made along the way.”

Simpson echoed this sentiment, saying he would “like to pass [Batman] on over to someone and have them pass it on over to someone else.” Before the crowd went its separate ways, Simpson announced that he would release a Google Form for those willing and ready to inherit the mask. Simpson “[hopes] for Batman to live on far after [he] is a student here at UC San Diego.”