- "I met a billionaire with high-tech toys and a wonderous woman who will throw you for a loop."
- — Chloe Sullivan to Clark KentFortune
Bruce Wayne is the billionaire owner and CEO of WayneTech who also secretly moonlights as the vigilante known as Batman in Gotham City.
Orphaned as a young boy, Bruce vows to hunt for his parents' killer[1] and stand for justice against the criminal population in Gotham and planetwide. In order to fulfill his vow, he spends the following years training in every branch of human knowledge, reaching peak-human condition in both the body and the mind. Afterwards, with the help of his butler and surrogate father Alfred, his apprentice Nightwing, the technology of his company, he begins to use the power of fear against criminals.
He makes his first appearance in the second digital/print comic Smallville Season 11 story arc Detective and becomes a recurring character.
Although he and Superman have strongly different views on crime-fighting and justice (Bruce believes in the power of fear and brute force, while Clark bases his figure as a hero on hope and inspiration) they share a mutual relationship of respect and friendship that makes them a great team baptized by the Daily Planet as the "World's Finest" (much to the heroes and Lois' disapproval). After their first team up together, they decide to cooperate, if necessary. Later he began to give aid as a sort of "part time" member of the Justice League.
Physical Appearance[]
Bruce Wayne[]
"My daylight persona is nothing, if not irresponsible." — Bruce Wayne, Detective
Conceived and designed as a cross between Benjamin Bratt's and Simon Baker's appearance,[2] Smallville's version of Bruce Wayne is a tall, handsome and very muscular man with black wavy hair and deep black or brown eyes (Detective), that in some occasions are colored steel-gray or sky-blue due to different artists (Effigy).
Fitting the description of "tall, dark and handsome": Wayne is considered an extremely attractive man by many women and the newspapers often describe him as "Gotham's Golden Bachelor". Because of all this, he builds for himself the reputation of a spoiled and irresponsible womanizer: so he can cover his activity as a vigilante and be over every kind of suspect.
Bruce's traditional clothing style is the same of Oliver Queen's or Lex Luthor's, as he usually wear fashionable three pieces business suits which seems to be mostly gray or black. However differently from both of them, Bruce Wayne almost always wears ties.
While in his secret lair, he was seen wearing comfortable gray t-shirt, dark work pants and casual shoes (Detective).
The Batman[]
As a mere human, to defend himself to the injury as Batman, Bruce wears a Bat-Inspired costume that can withstand lots of massive physical toil and damage. During his career as a vigilante he shows to have wore at least two different suits:
- Original Batsuit: The first, regular, Batsuit, seen in a flashback at Checkmate headquarters (Detective) probably was the first one and the prototype to the armored one: a gray kevlar or maybe leather-made costume with black bands that run length wise along his sides from under the arms to his knees, a pair of reinforced black gloves and boots, black padding on the side of his legs and ribs, the classic wing-like cape and a "bat" helmet very similar to that of the second batsuit, a yellow utility belt and a large bat mark on his chest that covered lot of his shoulders too.
- 2nd generation Batsuit: The costume he wears at his first appearance (Detective) is an armored, dark-toned knight-like one which also makes him look bigger than he actually is in order to intimidate his enemies. A cross between antique and futuristic, it presents a base coat of chainmail and various flexible metal plates, one of which form the logo of the bat on his chest and can activate to re and a blue outline that surrounds the bat symbol. His head, underneath the helmet that reaches to his nose and ears, is protected by chainmail headgear similar to what knights wore. It's also known as a stealth suit.
Bruce also puts on blue-gray camouflage face paint only around the mouth area (similar to what the Navy SEALS wears) in order to disguise his face. Also he wears a black utility belt with a bat as its buckle, a reinforced "bat" cowl and a wing-like kevlar cape to complete his look as The Batman. - 3rd generation Batsuit: This Batsuit first debuted during a fight with Bane (Smallville: Alien), it shares some similarities to both his first and more armored batsuit. He wears a gray Kevlar with more complete armored plating with a yellow utility belt that resembles his armored batsuit's utility belt with a bat buckle, and high tech pouches. He has a large bat mark on his chest, similar to his original costume, albeit smaller so it only reaches to his chest. He also wears Black armored boots that go up to his kneecaps and black high-tech gauntlets. His helmet/face-plate seems to be more complete and seems to be detachable when Batman needs it to be. The helmet has white eyes, but glows when examining evidence, or detecting whether someone is telling the truth.
- Thermal Armored Batsuit: A costume with thermal capability that was created by Bruce during Detective to defeat Mr. Freeze. This suit was an almost bionic one and does not show even the facial skin of The Dark Knight.
Personality[]
"You walk a line, but you don't cross it." Clark to Bruce, Detective
Batman, like his main comic book counterpart, is a dark and brooding hero with a personal vendetta against crime and injustice. Psychologically traumatized by the death of his parents, Batman has sworn to rid Gotham from the criminal elements that took his parents away from him. He is extremely pessimistic and suspicious, which often makes it difficult for him to trust people other than Alfred and few of his allies.
Despite this, Batman has proved to have a great love for humanity, which was instilled by his parents: His father was a doctor, while his mother was a crusader against child abuse. Indeed, Batman's oath of vengeance is tempered with the greater ideal of justice. He refrains from killing, as he feels this would not make him any better than the criminals he fights. As a proof of it he didn't try to murder Joe Chill when he had the occasion: which is how he gained Superman's respect. (Detective).
Beyond all that, he has a completely different attitude about fighting crime than many other heroes. Batman, in fact, has no problems bending the rules a bit in order to achieve his goals, by being some what drastic in a violent method of interrogation or combat, manipulative or harsh towards his friends and allies etc.
To protect his secret identity, Batman has constructed a fake persona he can use in his civilian identity: To the planet at large, Bruce Wayne is a self-absorbed, irresponsible playboy and philanthropist. Only his closest allies know that this attitude is just a facade.
Powers and Abilities[]
Bruce doesn't possess any natural superhuman abilities, however, he relies on his own scientific knowledge, detective skills, as well as athletic prowess. He also uses his vast wealth, as well as his company's unlimited resources and the latest state-of-the-art science and technology gadgets and his own will to defy the odds against him in his crusade against Crime.
- Peak Human Condition: Through intense training, specialized diet, as well as biofeedback treatments, Batman's strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, and coordination represented in fact the peak human perfection.
- Nigh-Super Strength: Bruce has trained rigorously to supersede the limit of his body's muscular potential, and while not necessarily superhuman, precise muscle control and technique allows him to effectively simulate superhuman strength in his strikes. His raw strength is such that he can balance his whole body weight on one hand, punch through a brick wall, hoist a man off the ground, bend metal plates, and knock a Mutant off a speeding motorcycle - all single-handedly, and with no significant effort.
- Peak Human Agility: His agility is so advanced that he can scale the city's rooftops in an acrobatic manner, even without a grapple.(Detective).
- Master Martial Artist: Wayne is a superb grandmaster in multiple martial arts from any country of the globe, roughly mastering every single martial art known to man. He is one of the finest human combatants Earth has ever known, if not the greatest: perfectly capable to defeat a huge amount of enemies all by himself without getting tired, and sometimes even defeat metahumans with relative ease. Even Clark Kent, who while powerless can put up a decent fight against Oliver Queen, aka, the Green Arrow, one of the finest human fighters alive, is no match whatsoever against the Batman's virtually unbeatable fighting skills, while under the light of a red sun (Detective).
- Expert Marksman: Despite showing to prefer hand-to-hand combat, Wayne is a very expert marksman. He is skilled with throwing projectile weapons, archery and firearms. He has been practicing such skills since the early days of his training: as a result of this, he's got an unerring aim.
- Master Acrobat: Batman has proven capable of amazing aerial maneuvers and flips. Batman has proven to be at the peak of human agility, able to perform amazing feats such as leaping high into the air. His extraordinary acrobatic skills are shown while he runs away from Prankster's guided projectiles carrying Joe Chill with him (Detective).
- Intimidation: It is widely known that Batman has the ability to instill fear in others, even the people that know him best are intimidated by him. Batman commands a very powerful presence and his power of intimidation is probably his greatest weapon, that on which he built his career of crime-fighter. Even those who aren't afraid of metahumans like Superman fear The Batman.
- Master of Stealth and Deception: Batman is able to disappear and reappear without anyone noticing. His Ninjitsu training has made him a master at stealth capable of breaching the high-security features without being detected (Detective). Another proof of his ability to deceive is given by the change of voice that makes between Wayne and The Batman, which, according to Babs sounds like "whiskey and cigarettes-and-razor-blades"(Detective).
- Genius-Level Intellect: He is a brilliant, virtually peerless: detective, strategist, scientist, tactician and commander: he's proven to have one of the keenest analytic minds on the planet, discovering the location of Mr. Freeze and Prankster's secret lair in a few seconds. He was also able to create a suit able to shield kryptonite radiation for Superman in less than a day. (Detective). Bruce is also well-read, having quoted Will Durant to Lex Luthor during their lunch. In fact, he claimed to Chloe Sullivan that he knows about everything.
- Master Criminologist and Detective: He is capable of observation, forensic investigation, as well as an inductive and deductive reasoning of the highest caliber. Human intuition, however, is not a trait one can learn and it is one of Batman's most effective tools. Given the mystery, he can arrive at any conclusions with a fraction of the data. Bruce was able to reveal, in less than an instant, that it looks like Superman is taken based on his reaction to the crowd. He is also able to do detective work and figured out Superman is an alien, linking him with the Kandorians and discovered some of his vulnerabilities in case he had to use it against him (Detective).
- Master Tactician and Strategist: He commonly utilizes cunning tactics to outwit his foes. As a master strategist, Bruce shows to be able to create complicated tactics and to predict any possible variable of his plans at a master-planner level. He proves these abilities while distracting Superman in order to make Mannheim evade from Stryker's Island Penitentiary (Detective). Bruce had set up a contingency plan called "Babel Five", in place in the likely event he'd encounter a Martian. When John Jones attempted to use memory manipulation ability on him, Bruce resisted and informed Alfred to use a flamethrower gun against the Martian Manhunter (Effigy).
- Expert Inquisitor: Batman is adept in interrogation techniques, often using law enforcement methods, as well as torture. Several methods seen include hanging a person over the edge of a building by one leg or chaining a person upside down and beating them. He usually just plain uses his frightening appearance to get answers. He used these interrogation techniques on both the weapons dealer Saul as well as Intergang head Bruno Mannheim. (Detective).
- Indomitable Will: He has no known superhuman powers, but he does have an extreme, almost superhuman "force of will". This makes him able to function while tolerating massive amounts of physical pain and survive nearly death experience (Detective): also it allows him to resist telepathy or mind control.
Equipment[]
- Batsuit: The Batsuit protects Bruce from sustaining massive and detrimental damage to his body like physical blows as well as protect his body from both cold temperatures and explosions (Detective). Also his cowl is equipped with a com-link, much like Superman's blue-tooth ear-piece he uses when contacting Watchtower or Lois, so he can contact his partner Nightwing or Alfred while on patrol of Gotham.
His cowl has white lenses within the eyes to give Batman an element of being non-human to those around him but also serves a purpose of given Batman through the use of advance tech connected to the cowl of visionary powers such as: Night Vision, Infrared Vision, X-ray, Telescopic and Microscopic Vision. The emblem on his chest can be used as a means to project artificial solar light (be it Red sun or Yellow sun radiation) against Superman.
- Utility Belt: Batman's belt is equipped with all sorts of devices and state-of-the-art weaponry to combat any and all situation The Dark Knight finds himself in. The most commons of those tools are: plastic explosives, nerve toxins, smoke bombs, a fingerprint kit, a cutting tool, a grappling hook gun, a re-breather, a medical kit and a signature boomerang-like gadget called "Batarang" (Detective) (Effigy).
- Batmobile: Batman's personal and primary vehicle means of transportation on the streets, simply called "The Car", is a heavily armored bat-stylized-tank-like automobile equipped with an extremely powerful engine. the Batmobile has no problem breaking through a police barricade or the side of a building to securing Batman and the injured Superman (Detective). Its equipment include: short-wave police radio with microphone, losed circuit television, morph changing device, missiles and voice-command recognition. Also, the Batmobile is accessible to be driven remotely from the cave or The Leviathan ship control computer by Nightwing. The Batmobile also contains shields which are made of ceramic fractal armor panels, simiar to the shields of the Batmobile from the Tim Burton Batman movies. They explode outward when struck by projectiles, deflecting injurious force away from the car and its occupants. If Batman must leave the Batmobile for an extended period of time, he can activate the Batmobile's shielding system. This prevents anyone from tampering with the vehicle while it is left unattended. Bulletproof and fireproof steel armor plates envelop the body and cockpit entirely. While this armor is in place, the vehicle cannot be driven. (Effigy).
- Batwing/Batplane: Batman's aerial vehicle, simply called "HoverBat" as well as "The Jet", is an hovercraft-like futuristic jet that gives him air superiority and is equipped with a state-of-the-art clocking tech so as to make it invisible to radar, much to Chloe's and Oliver's astonishment (Detective).
The HoverBat is shaped like a stylized bat with very long wings that jut out past the "head" of the plane. It's design resembles the animated version style of the vehicle and the classic Batman emblem logo.
- Batboat: Batman's armored watercraft vehicle, that gives him means to traverse the waters, is a sort of little submarine with bat-wing-shaped spikes on its sides and top. Batman and Superman use this vehicle as a means to enter Mr. Freeze's secret lair (Detective).
The Batboat is virtually undetectable, since allows the heroes to traveling through Metropolis sewer system without anyone noticed. Aslo it has an extremely advanced speed compared to that of any other kind of water vehicle humans known.
Early History[]
Bruce Wayne was born in 1981 and raised in Gotham City. His parents were billionaire, Thomas and Martha Wayne. The Wayne family own WayneTech, a successful company in their hometown. When Bruce was a little boy, he and his parents were walking in an alley when a thug approached them from the shadows named Joe Chill attempted to steal Martha's necklace and held the family at gunpoint. He then shot and killed Bruce's parents right in front of him and escaped into the night. Bruce was devastated by his parents' death and vowed to spend the rest of his days fighting criminals and to find and gain vengeance against their killer.
Bruce spent years honing and perfecting his mind and body up to its maximal potential of excellence until he was ready to wage his war on crime. In 2001, he donned a bat themed costumed as a means to strike fear into the criminal world that resided in Gotham and at the age of 20 he began his career as the vigilante/urban legend, Batman.[3] [4][5]
Eventually, Batman would later take Barbara Gordon as his protégé and train her to become his sidekick. She took up the name Nightwing and assisted Batman in his war on crime.
Later, Batman discovered and conducted an investigation on the Kandorians conspiracy: He went to the wreckage site of Checkmate headquarters "The Castle" after Zod's attack upon it and used his detective skills to uncover a few files that confirmed alien presence on Earth. Batman cataloged this information with the rest of the other findings that he uncovered regarding Kryptonian symbols such as the ones found in The Kawatche Caves,The Z symbol burned into world monuments by flying terrorist and a unique set of blueprints of R.A.O. Corporation Solar tower.
Season Ten[]
Bruce met Chloe Sullivan during her travels around the Earth. Chloe would later tell Clark that, she met "A billionaire with high-tech toys".
Unlike Green Arrow and other heroes, Bruce chose to keep his presence as The Batman for the most part as an "urban myth" in order to increase the aura of superstition around his own figure and instill more fear into the criminals.
Season Eleven[]
One stormy night in Gotham, Batman intercepts a minor weapons dealer meeting convening in the alley. Watching from the shadows Batman observes as the meeting is disrupted by his protégé Nightwing. While Nightwing deals with the goons present. Batman focuses his attention on Saul the gun-runner who's been transporting these hi-tech weapons on the behalf of Intergang to gangs around various cities featuring Heroes. Descending from his location Batman swings down and grabs Saul bringing him ten stories up high above the alley suspending him upside down attached to a grappling line crane. Batman is later joined by Nightwing whom he reprimand her for showboating in her approach with dealing with the goons prior to the arrival of the police who caused interference.
Batman returns to interrogating Saul to learn who the boss is behind the shipment. Saul frightfully gives up the name of Joe Chill. For a brief moment Batman recount the horrific moment from his past as a child that changed his life forever. Nightwing notices the effect the name has on Batman and attempts to learn the significant behind it. But Batman merely says to Nightwing to go back to the cave because they are heading to Metropolis.
The following day, Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon arrive in Metropolis, Bruce observes as Superman has just rounded up a group of armored-tech thugs for holding hostage a school bus filled with children. Superman hands these criminals off to the Metropolis police department lead by Detective Dan Turpin before flying off. Dan instantly recognizes Bruce and welcomes him to Metropolis before he summoned away by his partner Maggie Sawyer. Bruce is then left with Barbara who then display a fan-girlish appreciation for Superman much to Bruce's annoyance. However Bruce doesn't let it bother him, instead he counteracts it by addressing a fact he observed which is that Superman is already involved in a relationship with a woman. Barbara realized that Bruce was "showing off" his Detective skills thereby ending the subject discussion.
Bruce then reveals that he'd like to get through his scheduled meeting in Metropolis as quickly as possible as he finds being in Metropolis... unnerving in comparison to Gotham City. Barbara attempts to pokes fun at Bruce by referencing some of Batman's well known rogue gallery of villains (The Joker, Killer Croc, & The Penguin). Thereby addressing a lack of these type of characters found in Metropolis. Bruce sarcastically response with a Yes as he displays a smile to the viewing public around him. Barbara slightly confused asked if Bruce is so uneasy in Metropolis why show emotion of happiness in public.
Bruce state that is all apart of his "daylight charade persona". Barbara informs him that he is currently very late for his lunch rendezvous with Lex Luthor. Bruce simply explains that it's deliberate as a means to keep up appearances as an irresponsible billionaire playboy.
Arriving fashionably late at the Ace of Clubs, Lex and Bruce have their lunch meeting on the outside balcony while Barbara is having lunch with Otis inside.
As the waitress begins to take down their food order, Lex suggests to Bruce that he shouldn't be a slave to the food menu, as he is a billionaire and is beyond restriction. Bruce however disagrees and orders the Health plate while counter acting Lex's statement by quoting Will Durant's classic quote "Civilization begins with order, and dies with chaos". Lex finishes the quote by adding "Order grows with liberty". Bruce then mentions the debacle that occurred with the Guardian space launch. Lex merely address it as his attempt to save the world. Upon further discussion Bruce asked Lex if he'd be interested in saving the world in a different way. He reveals to Lex that WayneTech has recently undergone constructing a super collider in Antarctica with a joint company venture between Michael Holt and Ted Kord committed to the project already would LexCorp be interested in joining the fight to save the world from itself.
Lex graciously declines the offer insisting that he's currently think about the welfare of his employees. Since currently his company been through enough turmoil with Tess running it into the ground and then some psychopath doppelganger posing as Lionel destroyed whatever remained. Bruce reveals to Lex his relief in Lex not being involved as he only offered this partnership as a means of being polite seeing as the Wayne family and Luthor's were almost very well acquainted at one point. Unfortunately Thomas choose to stay clear from joining The Veritas society that Lionel Luthor had once offered to him. Lex sees the cults quest to find a the Traveler the very thing that lead them all to ruin and he's chosen the opposite. Bruce thinks that Lex share the same obsession like Lionel once did. Bruce and Lex's meeting is however interrupted by the presence of Superman hovering in the sky above them. Superman apologies for the interruption and Bruce uses this as his means to excuse himself as he informs them that he has another meeting to prepare for.
Nightfall at Stryker's Island, Batman confronts and interrogates Bruno Mannheim on the whereabouts of Joe Chill. Mannheim is unfortunately not as cooperative as Batman would've like him to be. Forcing Batman to take stronger methods of terrifying intimidation to convince him to talk. Mannheim pleads that he's changed as a result of Gordon Godfrey who gave him the Crime Bible which he recites various passages of scripture from as Batman continues to pummel him with his fist harder. Batman reveals to Mannheim his awareness and knowledge that he knows he's not only the boss of Intergang, he is the main facilitator of Intergang and therefore he knows exactly where Chill is. Nightwing contacts Batman via his cowl-com device to suggest he might want to dial down his method of interrogation as Superman is behind him.
Floating above Superman attempt to resolve the matter peacefully by requesting a word with Batman. Batman acknowledges and response by activating a device upon his gauntlet gloves producing a red electrically charged energy. He then process to lunge towards Superman and hit him directly in the face causing him to bleed. A fierce battle ensure between The Man Of Steel and The Dark Knight.
The Battle between these two titans is taken outside in the courtyard of Stryker's Island where prisoners observe from there window cells. Batman going head to head with Superman and is appearing to hold his own quite well. Superman is slightly taken back by this stating he's aware of most of his weakness, but this is somewhat new to him. As Batman plants three explosive charged batarangs on his cape causing him to lose balance in flight from the explosion and plummet to the ground. Superman regains his stance and uses his super speed and strength to outflank Batman long enough to grab firmly a hold of him using selective gravity negation to hold him still long enough to use a simple portion of his super strength to flick him backwards but Batman uses his grappling hook to catch himself which superman grabs a hold of the line and swing Batman attach upon it through the wall.
Superman goes to the rumble site of the crushed wall to find it vacant with no sign of Batman nearby. Superman figure Batman being human with no sign of extraordinary metahuman abilities would survive the impact of crashing through a wall due to his armor he was wearing. But with no sign of him at the site of the wreckage he starts to wonder if maybe Batman does have abilities. Superman then hears Batman voice being projected from somewhere among the shadows of the rooftops.
Batman begins to explain to Superman that he's figured out that Superman isn't human and in fact an alien. He also points out the "red energy" dispersing from the chest of his Bat-emblem is "Red Sunlight that is meant to negate his powers. Superman is curious to know just how much Batman knows. Batman reveals that he gathered his information and complied a reference based around Kryptonian symbols, such as the ones found burned into various world monuments by flying terrorist a few years back, cross referencing a set of blueprints for a solar-powered citadel and the Kawatche Caves filled with similar kryptonian writing. In addition Batman indicates that the few files he'd managed to salvage from the ruins of Checkmate's base helped as well.
Superman super plunges Batman into the penitentiary's main cell block, Where he engages him once more and apologizes for not put him into consideration as much as he did regarding his presence or intention. Superman also express that he'd like to stop fighting Batman. Batman replies that it's not about the fight it's about misdirection. Superman is aware that Green Arrow is currently on the scene above fighting against Nightwing and assures Batman that Arrow won't harm his partner. Batman firing his bat-grappling gun upwards reveals he isn't concerned about Nightwing. Superman using his super-hearing recognized a familiar pattern to his voice speech and deduces Batman's identity as none other than Bruce Wayne.
Impressed Batman complements him, Superman grabs a hold of Batman crushing the device on his emblem and interrogates him on why he tried to free Bruno Mannheim. Batman informs him that Mannheim has intel to find the man who murdered his parents. Superman is shocked and puts Batman down.
Returning to the his invisible aerial hovercraft "The Batwing", Batman and Nightwing fly off into the sky from Stryker's. Nightwing apologizes for losing Mannheim, Bruce sans cowl surprisingly gives a creepy smile which makes Barbara unease. Bruce reassures her that his smile is related to going toe-to-toe with The Man of Steel and coming out relatively unscratched. Barbara points out that the telemetry from the ships computer shows the suit received hairline fractures all over Bruce's body. She jokingly asked him how many sold structures he was thrown through by Superman. Bruce merely glances broodingly at her as he informs her he planted a tracking device on Superman during their battle. He also surmised that Superman must like him since he didn't throw him into space.
Bruce observers from the cockpit of the Batwing, Superman conducting an interrogation of Mannheim in the sky using method of fear.
At a supply ship called Leviathan docked in Metropolis is an HQ for Batman and Nightwing, where inside they are getting medical treatment. Bruce mentions his woman at Interpol liaising with the FBI and has found Chill's location: Suicide Slums. Barb jokes about how Superman figured out who Batman was and Bruce jokes about maybe she could be Superman's Supergirl. Barb points out how she'll hate it like she hated the name "Batgirl", as well as the fact that Superman has or had a Supergirl. The cameras pick up something and Bruce decides to head out alone, while Barb is in the Hub, when he looks outside to see what it is: the Bat-Signal.
Batman arrives on the rooftop source of the signal to find Superman waiting for him. Superman knows enough about the Batman that this is the specific way to call a meeting with him. Superman also knows Batman and Nightwing located Joe Chill's safe house in Suicide Slum.Superman doesn't want Batman tearing through Suicide Slum hell bent on revenge for Joe Chill so he proposes "a joint investigation mutually beneficial to both of us." They make sure Joe Chill is safe from Intergang and then find out who's manufacturing the weapons he's peddling and Batman agrees.
At Suicide Slum, Superman and Batman are on a stakeout. Batman is irritated by Superman's penchant for conversation but Superman seems to really be enjoying having a partner in crime fighting. Superman revealed that, he didn't want to draw attention to it and compromise Batman's security because he knows Lex Luthor is watching all his movements. Superman and Batman then scans the building and Batman's night vision goggles spot some extra snipers Superman missed when he bathed the building with X-rays. Batman then easily and stealthily penetrates the safe house and finds Joe Chill's room, though Superman beats him there with Super speed.
At the safe house, Chill, a lifelong criminal, isn't exactly repentant about killing Batman's parents, whoever they were. Batman can't be specific and Chill has killed a lot of people for lots of reasons. This isn't good enough for Batman, who loses it, until Superman literally slaps him down. Superman calmly explains to Joe Chill that they're really here to find out where they can find a man named Loomis, who they believe is manufacturing the weapons Chill fenced for Intergang.
But hey, they don't have to look very far because Loomis is already there! Batman and Superman spring into action with Heat Vision and Batarangs, but a burst of cold takes out both. Loomis isn't alone. He has help from Mr. Freeze.Superman and Batman are fighting Prankster and Mr. Freeze. Batman reveals that Mr. Freeze is Victor Fries. Prankster reveals that he wants to prove himself to Intergang. While Superman tries to distract the villains, Batman and Joe Chill try to escape. Superman gets shot by Kryptonite bullets while Mr. Freeze kills Joe Chill and frames Batman for the crime.
Batman frees himself and sees that Chill is dead and Superman is critically wounded. Batman contacts Nightwing to inform her about Superman's condition. The FBI comes in to arrest Batman. Batman escapes with Superman within the Batmobile.Then Daily Planet reporter Lois joins the police and the FBI in the pursuit chase.Upon dropping off his last passenger: a bus driver doses off in the middle of the street, only to be waken up by the Batmobile going through his bus. News stations cover the pursuit of the "murderer Batman kidnapping a wounded Superman" just as Lois and Ollie meet up (wondering where Batman is taking Superman) and Chloe is hacking into the traffic system so no one is hurt during the chase.
Inside the Batmobile: Nightwing comments on the stress she's feeling over Superman being hurt and Batman being chased, just as Superman tells Batman to call him Clark and Batman, relieved that Clark is still alive, asks him who to call to save him. Nightwing calls Chloe, who in turn calls a choked up Lois: Nightwing gives her the situation: Superman has four Kryptonite bullets, none to the heart, but his vitals are fading. Nightwing, later, gives Batman Lois' message: get the Kryptonite out and then expose Superman to yellow sunlight. But as Batman says, he's already has his hands full.
A road block is set up, with cops surrounded, so Batman can't "go through it" like before, so he comes up with a different idea. Shifting the front tires to a "X" position, as well as firing the boosters from below, the Batmobile literally goes around the road block from above. The cops and even Lois and Ollie, can't believe what they saw. A helicopter approaches, with an EMP on board. Batman knows this and but can't do anything about it, until Ollie messages him that he can. Ollie simply "pops up" to the helicopter and it goes away.Nightwing takes control of the Batmobile, leading it outside the Leviathan ship. Batman performs the surgery inside the car, just as Lois arrives and she sees it happening.
After getting the bullets out, Batman reprograms his vest and splash Clark with yellow sunlight, just as the police report that they lost the Batman. Chloe is relieved that it's over, but Batman and Nightwing respond that it isn't: they need to make sure that the authorities know it was Freeze and Prankster who killed Chill. Ollie agrees, but also asks for his lawyer to be called too (he's been arrested).
Inside Leviathan: Clark wakes up with Lois by his side, Barbara Gordon, introducing herself to the two, gives Clark some orange juice before he heads out to speak with Bruce, who is hard at work at the armory. Bruce asks why Clark hasn't destroyed Lex' satellite, but Clark points out Lex would build more, as well as that he prefers hope and inspiration over fear and brute force (in a way, criticizing Bruce's Batman). Bruce tells Clark that he's been having a hard time finding Prankster and Freeze, because Freeze needs to be in extreme colds to survive: Clark points out the Hobbs River as an idea, but the list is too big. Then Clark has an idea: use Lex' tracking from himself to read other types of radiation, like Kryptonite. Bruce tries that, as well as then successfully, finds the villains' location. Given Clark's weaknesses, as well as Bruce still being human who can't survive colds 40 below: Bruce reveals what he has built: armored suits for Superman and Batman to fight in. In order to still keep a low profile, the two heroes head out into the sewers with another one of Batman's vehicles: the Batboat.
At Freeze's hideout: Superman and Batman find no one there, at least until Prankster appears using a robotic suit Toyman was developing, complete with Kryptonite on the chest. He reveals that Freeze is under his control and is attacking the citizens, but in actuality, his suit's fuel cells are overloading and will explode. And with Freeze above the city's water purification plant, anyone within one mile will die. Batman heads out in the Batboat to take care of Freeze, while Superman goes to handle Prankster.
In Metropolis, the next morning, Lois Lane talks to Superman about the news headline of today. Superman and Batman have been hailed as heroes by the Daily Planet, labeled World's Finest in the paper. In Gotham, Superman speaks with Bruce Wayne about the corresponding loss of their parents and how this affected their life. Then Bruce puts the flowers down in an alley and reveals that he and Superman are at the spot where his parents died. They both agree to work together again if necessary.
Later on, a member of the Mutants street gang races through a sewer on a motorcycle, fleeing from a robbery. An armored arm juts out and clotheslines the gang member off of the bike. He cowers as he finds himself before Bruce. Using a small Bat-tazer, the Dark Knight incapacitates the gang member and calls to Nightwing for a report. The sidekick quips about using the handlebars from another motorcycle as she takes out two more Mutants. A voice calls for help from another sewer tunnel and Nightwing alerts Batman. Pulling her charged escrima sticks to investigate, Barbara finds two dead homeless men and a third being attacked by a gruesome figure in a dark long coat and hat. As she intervenes, the figure turns to reveal itself as a large white creature. Before Barbara can react, the creature brutally slashes her. Batman arrives and quickly throws a flash bomb that stuns and frightens off the creature. He collects and comforts his injured apprentice.
Later, in cave, his cohort and confidante Alfred Pennyworth attends to Barbara, sedated in a recovery tank. Bruce searches through records on his computer to try to determine just what it was that attacked her. Alfred suggests that it might have been Matt Hagen, a man whose body has been transformed into malleable protoplasm who refers to himself as Clayface, which Bruce refutes. Alfred asks about a message the creature left at the scene in the sewer tunnel. Bruce says he run it through the computer but can't find any match for the language, including Kryptonian symbols he's cataloged, leading him to the conclusion that it's an alien language. A voice from behind them informs them that the language is Martian. Bruce and Alfred turn to see Metropolis Lieutenant Homicide Detective John Jones. Alarmed at Jones' presence in the Batcave, Bruce throws Batarangs at the detective. John phase shifts and the Batarangs fly through him and past Alfred. He attempts to reason with Bruce, explaining that this fight with the White Martian is not his. With Barbara hurt and people dying in Gotham, Bruce begs to differ. John puts a hand to Bruce's head and begins to tap his mind, trying to alter his reasoning. Always prepared, Bruce tells Alfred to enact a safety protocol called "Babel Five," based on information he learned of Jones from Checkmate's files.
Alfred retrieves a flamethrower from a weapons locker and fires it in Jones' direction. With his fear of fire, Jones recoils and severs his connection with Bruce. Things returned to relative calm, John apologizes for the mind intrusion and offers a hand to help Bruce off of the floor. Wayne slaps the hand away and gets to his feet on his own. Putting on his Batman cowl, he steps to the Batmobile and tells Jones he has a crime scene to show him.
In the sewer tunnel where Batman and Nightwing encountered the White Martian, the place is crawling with Gotham City police detectives, commanded by police commissioner James Gordon. Stepping from the shadows, Batman tells Gordon he needs the cops out for the time being. Gordon is initially reluctant and Jones tells him this is a bigger problem than what's occurring in the city. Using a portable projector, Batman explains how he ran the Martian glyph through federal databases and revealed multiple locations where it has appeared over the past eighteen months. They identify it as a message and John tells them that the Martian got his attention with it: the symbol for his Martian name. Gordon clears the room of the detectives.
John confronts Batman about Gordon being unaware that his daughter is serving as the Dark Knight's apprentice and says that as a father he has a right to know that she was attacked. Batman explains that the solution she is suspended in at the cave will heal her wounds within hours. Other than some anxiety when she first emerges from the tank, Barbara will be fine, Batman assures John. He mentions John's vision and guesses that White Martian is hunting the Manhunter. When Batman addresses the fact he lives alone with no one to be harmed, it dawns on John that there are those in his building that might be. He flies off quickly.
Batman radios Chloe Sullivan at Watchtower in Metropolis. He alerts her that something might be going down in the city and asks about Superman's location. Chloe says he's away on a mission in Utah. Yet, before she can suggest someone else to help, the Dark Knight breaks contact. He buzzes Alfred and like a well-oiled machine, Alfred notifies him that he's sent the Batwing to his location.
In Metropolis, in the apartment of John's neighbor, the boy from earlier hears a loud noise from John's apartment. He runs out to check on the detective and finds a cloaked being in the apartment, holding the cracked Martian tablet and watching a TV news report about the art raid by monkeys in Paris and dead bodies caused by "speed storms." The boy asks where Jones is and the cloaked being attacks, revealing itself to be the White Martian. Chasing the boy downstairs toward his mother, the Martian is nearly upon them when John intervenes. At the building's front door, Batman orders mother and child out for their safety.
John fights with the White Martian. The creature identifies him by his Martian name, "J'onn J'onzz," and calls him a "murderer." As John unholsters his guns, the creature jumps on him and tries biting him. John struggles as Batman tosses a flare near them and orders John to roll away from it. The flare goes off, scaring the White Martian. It crashes through a window and escapes into the city. Batman helps John to his feet and asks why the creature accused him of murder. Staring out on the city, John admits to it.
John reveals to Batman the result of the Holocaust war that occurred between his people and their twin race: the White Martians and in the end it made John the sole survivor of Mars which left him bitter and lost until he rediscovered a sense of purpose when he began to aid Jor-El as a bounty hunter rounding up dangerous criminals of the galaxy and in turn keep an watchful eye on his son Kal-El on Earth. Batman later contacts the Batcave and Alfred informs him that Barbara has fully recovered.
He and John go to the Watchtower HQ and using the advance computer system work together to find the source of origin of the White Martian attacks and make a startling discovery that leads them to the Colorado rockies the former base of operations for Checkmate: The Castle.
Inside the ruins of the castle they find clues that reveal the White Martian was being held under observation in an abandoned rocket silo the Duo discover the remains of a dead agent. Batman deduces that evidence suggest he died under natural circumstances. The deceased agent is revealed to be King Faraday who left a recorded message on his cellphone to take care of his "daughter".
At that moment the White Martian leaps down from the shadows and attacks J'onn J'onzz, While Batman goes to the nesting spot of the Martian where he finds an ID card with a photo attached to it which he knows would be useful. Returning to the conflict between the two martians, Batman tells the White Martian to cease fighting as he knows her secret. He shows her the photo of Faraday's daughter and she manages to calm down and reveals her history telepathically to John Jones. Batman ceases action as well and Jones offers him his gratitude for his help. Later Bruce returns to the Batcave and has a sparring session with the now healed Barbara.
Months later, Batman drops into a building where three men are playing cards and talking about a criminal called "Hatter", who is looking for a crew. They are all shocked by Batman's sudden appearance. They claim to have done nothing wrong until Bane kicks in the door, saying that Batman is after him. After a brief fight Bane gains the upper hand and is about to break Batman until the cape crusader calls in the Batmobile for backup and kooks Bane down. Just then Nightwing appears and they finish off Bane together. Batman then questions Nightwing's tardiness who simply explains she was on a date with an acrobat. Batman then notices the bat signal in the sky and leaves.
Jim Gordon lights a cigarette while waiting for the arrival of the dynamic duo and starts to countdown. On their arrival, he questions the whereabouts of Bane and Batman tells him that he can be found in a warehouse, depowered. Gordon then shows to him a corpse of a young man in a Superman T-shirt and he tells Batman that this sort of hate crime is right up his alley.
Chloe and Lois arrive in Gotham City and they find Batman and Nightwing, who have been interrogating a criminal known as Zsasz, on a rooftop. Bruce seems to be a little surprised that the two women were able to trace him and then he invites them to the Batcave.
There, the two cousins get impressed by the amazing underground complex that Bruce has assembled. Bruce is investigating the murder of a man dressed as Superman, which clearly looks like a hate crime connotations against the aliens and the recent revelation of Superman about his origin. Batman is using his billion dollar computer to make a face reconstruction of the corpse based on photos from the crime scene, so they can identify the dead man but the results the computer shows leave everyone speechless, the face of the murdered man is none other than Clark Kent.
Later, Batman meditates with Chloe trying to solve the murder of the man dressed as Superman and they talk about the crisis that is about to happen. Bruce questions Chloe on how does she know about the crisis and what will happen and Chloe tells him that she has seen it with her own eyes, through the memories of her doppelganger.
In the morgue, Batman and Commissioner Gordon examine the body of the deceased "Clark". Batman scans the body with a device, finding DNA samples from the killer, which reveal something he says he'd rather not share. He immediately contacts Nightwing, who is with Lois and Chloe at the Batcave, telling them he's "going dark." Without a word, Barbara races out of the cave on a motorcycle and meets Batman at an abandoned park called Amusement Mile, the one that the Joker often used as his refuge. After a brief argument, Batman says he's not the hunter right now, he's the hunted and so is Barbara. Suddenly, someone throws Batman and Nightwing explosive balls, incapacitating Batman momentarily, as well as stepping out of the smoke. When Nightwing turns to face her opponent the man reveals himself as the other Clark's killer. Surprisingly the man appears to be a version of Bruce Wayne, dressed in a mockery of the Batsuit with his face painted with makeup similar to Joker's.
Batman fights with his alternate self from another Earth and the fight seemingly ends in draw but surprisingly the alternate Batman overpowers him. Nightwing intervenes but she gets stabbed in the belly by the villain, who tells her that he also killed the Barbara Gordon of his reality and this causes the wrath of Batman, which he needed to beat his opponent. The alternate Batman confesses that he killed the Clark of his universe, who was found dead in Gotham, because Clark discovered his identity and revealed it to the police. The alternate Batman then asks Batman if there is an Arkham Asylum on this world and tells him to better kill him now and not take him there but Batman responds by saying he doesn't kill because of what happened to his parents and his alternate self says that he killed his. After Batman makes sure Nightwing is okay, he proceeds to arrests the doppelganger.
Later, Batman watches from afar Barbara being on a date with her acrobat boyfriend, curious about who is the young man she is dating.
In the Watchtower, Lois, Chloe, Clark and Tess read an article on the Daily Planet, written by Cat Grant, presenting Superman as a threat and even stating that the Monitor's ship was actually his. Clark says that they have bigger problems to worry about as the danger of the "Crisis" hasn't passed yet. Suddenly Bruce appears and says that even though he knew that the man in Gotham wasn't actually Clark he is happy to see him standing on his feet. Bruce also informs them his evil doppelgänger is safely in custody with John Jones. Moreover he says that because of the "Crisis" he has decided to join the team, at least temporarily, so they can face the threat together.
Batman and Nightwing are just finishing off some members of the Mutants, when suddenly Nightwing notices the bright light on the sky, thinking that it's just a storm but Batman says it is not, while he is watching them making a beeline for Arkham Asylum.
Batman and Nightwing are doing their best to contain the newly powered inmates of Arkham have already been transformed into Yellow Lanterns. Luckily, Superman arrives just in time to offer assistance.
They find it difficult to defeat the super-powered inmates. Superman tries to control the situation but his inexperience with his power ring doesn't help at all. Batman then tells him that the ring is not doing either of them any bit of good so Superman manages to break free of his Green Lantern armor and operate in his own suit once more, saying that he is more than just the ring. After this, all the Yellow Lanterns stand still and kneel before him. Nightwing asks Batman if he has a bad feeling about this and he says that that he has a nad feeling about everything. Parallax suddenly appears behind Superman, having John Stewart under his control.
Batman receives a call from the ladies in the Watchtower, who ask him to secure a single yellow ring for them so Batman, who is in battle with Firefly, says he will see what he can do for them.
In Gotham City, Batman fights with Firefly and during the battle Batman tricks him into colliding to a building. There Batman finds the chance and takes the yellow ring, which tempts him to become his new bearer, from Firefly and then puts it on his analyzer on the Batplane and sends the data to Watchtower and S.T.A.R. Labs, who verify that they can't turn the rings off but they can reboot them. Unfortunately, that would reboot both green and yellow rings in the area.
Weeks later, Superman and Lois arrive at Watchtower where Tess Mercer, Chloe and Oliver along with Batman, Nightwing Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, Jay Garrick and his team of teenagers. Clark tells Chloe, Tess and Bruce to find out everything from one of the Manhunters he destroyed about the Crisis, because more ships are on their way.As Batman starts to examine the crumpled Manhunter head he wonders where are they going, Clark grimly says everywhere.
Bruce and Clark sit in the Kents' apartment to figure out a game plan. Bruce is angered when he finds out about Lex Luthor's machinations but he distracts himself by revealing what he has extracted from the Manhunter head. Bruce points out that the Manhunters can be hurt but the Crisis is not something Superman can just punch away. Clark asks Bruce if they will be able to stop the crisis without either side having any casualties but Bruce remains uncomfortably silent. He then says to Clark to put on another pot of coffee.
Soon Clark gathers all of the heroes onto his rooftop and gives them the lowdown. They can distract the Manhunters with physical attacks while Watchtower leads an evacuation to the heartland. If the distraction they provide fails everyone will die or be 'rebooted', but if they win everything will stay as it was and how they all remember the world. Clark tells them to say goodbye to their loved ones and suit up ready for war.
Superman delivers a rousing speech to the heroes. The other Earths might have been erased or rebooted but they are determined for their Earth to survive and their continuity to continue. With that Superman, Luthor and all of Earth's heroes attack the incoming Manhunters.
Superman spots the pod approaching Earth. Green Arrow and Batman are thrown backwards by the sonic boom's force but stare in horror as the pod speeds up and aims itself at Watchtower.
Batman is proving a weak link in the fight with the Monitor warriors. Clark tells him to fall back, get Lois and Chloe to safety and try to re-establish the link to the Monitors' ship. Batman is reluctant and asks about Arrow, but Ollie points out he would be a better protector for Chloe and Lois as he has a better skill set for it. Batman then melts a hole in the sidewalk into a basement safely out of the way of the battle, and with Nightwing at his side they fire their Bat Grapples to get to the rooftops.
Watchtower calls through to Batman to tell him that Superman has been beaten. Aya and Nightwing tries to fight off the Manhunters. Batman voices his regret in involving Barbara in this war but she points out if she hadn't been fighting she would have been reset. Barbara tells Bruce that the difference between them is that she believes in hope. Suddenly a flash of blue energy envelops her and she is given Saint Walker's Blue Lantern ring which she uses to create blue hope constructs that destroys all nearby Manhunters.
The League stands in the Fortress standing judgment over the female Monitor. The universe is now back to normal though all that died is still dead. The female Monitor asks to die but J'onn points out that Clark would never kill anyone. The League then decides to send the Monitor to the Phantom Zone.
Batman then says goodbye to Barbara who leaves to learn more about her abilities but not before leaving Batman a new sidekick to take on her mantle.
Three weeks later LexCorp holds a major press confrence and Lex introduces the public to a new monument built on the former Watchtower site. In a massive turnout Lex publicly admits that if it weren't for the heroes of earth the universe would be lost. Then Superman makes a speech that is broadcast all over the world. As the tarp falls away it reveals a stunning bronze statue of the Justice League.
After her son's birth, Chloe worries about the dangers in the world and the rise in heroes. Oliver reminds her they all fight for justice and will ensure their new baby will have a safe and healthy upbringing. Chloe laments that family should be here for their big occasion and Ollie smiles as he wheels her into the waiting room to be greeted by their 'family' composed of the Heroes that they met over time.
Alternate Realities[]
Season Eleven[]
- Alien (Earth-13)
See: Bruce Wayne
Appearances[]
- Season 1: Hourglass (Vision)
- Season Ten: Fortune (Mentioned only)
- Season Eleven: Detective, Effigy, Hollow, Olympus (Mentioned only)
- Smallville Miniseries: Alien, Lantern, Continuity
Trivia[]
- Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939)
- The Year 2014 marked the 75th Anniversary of Batman, better know as the Year of The Bat.
- According to Bryan Q. Miller, Bruce Wayne has been The Batman for a couple years longer, around the time Clark started being the Red-Blue Blur and is "between year 5 and 10".[6][7] He later revealed on Twitter that Bruce Wayne first became Batman at the age of 20, when Clark started High School in 2001.[3][4]
- Bruce's age is on par with Oliver, Lex[6] and Dinah Lance, making him 30–32 years old by Effigy.[8]
- According to Miller, Bruce does not take the Green Arrow, Oliver Queen, seriously.[6] Ironically, Oliver essentially replaced Bruce in the TV series since Batman could not be used.
- According to Miller's twitter, if you were to hear Bruce's Batman voice, it would sound almost identical to Christian Bale's Batman voice from The Dark Knight Trilogy.
- He also confirmed that he left the design of Bruce Wayne open for the artist (CrissCross) to play with and landed somewhere between Benjamin Bratt and Simon Baker.[2] He has also revealed in an interview with Comic Book Resources, in his head Smallville Batman is also based on Kevin Conroy's Batman and " his voice from the Bruce Timm stuff is always Batman to me."[10]
- With the design of the Smallville version of Bruce Wayne being half-Benjamin Bratt, it is possible that Bruce has some Latino or indigenous heritage (Bratt's mother was of Quechuan heritage).
- Interestingly, Benjamin Bratt had portrayed Catwoman's love interest (a role often occupied by Batman) in the film Catwoman (2004).
- Batman's wears an armored Batsuit that bears a resemblance to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.
- Bruce Wayne's visit to Metropolis revolves around a meeting with Lex Luthor, usually when Bruce would be coming to Metropolis in the comics to cover his true motives as Batman, he'd set up a business venture between Wayne Enterprise and LexCorp to explain his presence in Metropolis to the public eye.
- Batman and Superman's first encounter usually always involves a physical altercation before they put aside their differences and come together as one to team-up. Superman and Batman's first encounter in Detective also resembles how Clark usually meets other heroes on the show.
- The scene where Batman and Superman are in the Batmobile being chased by the police is very similar to the scene in Batman Begins with Batman and Rachel Dawes.The Batmobile itself resembles a cross between the Batmobile seen in the Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan movies.
- Three of Batman's primary vehicles of transportation on "Land", "Sea" and "Air" have appeared: The Batmobile, the Batwing and The Batboat.
- The creators of Smallville were originally thinking of making a Bruce Wayne TV series before the idea of a Superman-oriented show ever came about, but it was never realized. The idea was conceived as a pitch from screenwriter Tim McCanlies and went as far into development until being shelved in favour of, at that time, the planned film Batman: Year One. The concept would later be rethought and turned into the television series Smallville, this time focusing on a young Clark Kent before he became Superman.[11][12]
- Due to Batman's restarted film franchise, Bruce Wayne did not appear on Smallville because the film division of Warner Bros. (DC's parent company) was working with the character. Alfred Gough had said that an appearance of Bruce Wayne on the show was unlikely, though he finally makes an appearance in season 11.[13]
- Some fans claim that despite restrictions, Smallville was able to sneak in a cameo appearance, in Cassandra Carver's vision, alleging Batman's suit and skeleton appears among the dead.
- When planning for a hopeful appearance in the early seasons, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar saw Bruce as a rival for Lana's affections, but they were disallowed the use of the character. [citation needed]
- Before Bruce appeared, Clark and Oliver's friendship on Smallville have a somewhat similar to that of Superman and Batman's friendship in the comics. In both cases, both characters are skeptical about the others' view on justice before ultimately warming up to each other and becoming good friends.
- Oliver and Lois's relationship in Smallville also resembles the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Lois in the Superman/Batman animated episode "World's Finest". Lois didn't like a rich billionaire at first but slowly fell for him. Unfortunately he spent the night as a superhero. She found out the hero's identity by accident, which led to their breakup.
- In an earlier story included in a Justice League compilation, Bruce reveals to Clark in the Batcave that Clark grew up with the childhood that Bruce craved - particularly having good parents in the Kents while Bruce's own parents were murdered.
- Since Bruce became Batman in 2001 at the age of 20, that would place Bruce's birth year in 1980 or 1981.
Batman Rogues Gallery[]
Batman has a very large rogues gallery which includes:
In the Comics[]
Batman is the secret dual identity of Billionaire Bruce Wayne. Witnessing the murder of his parents as a child leads him to train himself to physical and intellectual perfection and don a bat-themed costume in order to fight crime. Batman operates in Gotham City, assisted by various supporting characters including his sidekicks Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing and his loyal and faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth, as well as fights an assortment of villains such as The Joker. Unlike most superheroes, Batman does not possess any superpowers: he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess and intimidation in his war on crime. Batman's history has undergone various revisions, both minor and major. Few elements of the character's history have remained constant. In early strips, Batman's career as a vigilante initially earns him the ire of the police. During this period Wayne has a fiancée named Julie Madison. Wayne takes in an orphaned circus acrobat, Dick Grayson, who becomes his sidekick, Robin.
Starting in 2006, the regular writers on Batman and Detective Comics were Grant Morrison and Paul Dini, with Grant Morrison reincorporating controversial elements of Batman lore (most notably, the science fiction themed storylines of the 1950s Batman comics, which Morrison revised as hallucinations Batman suffered under the influence of various mind-bending gases and extensive sensory deprivation training) into the character. Morrison's run climaxed with "Batman R.I.P.", which brought Batman up against the villainous "Black Glove" organization, which sought to drive Batman into madness. "Batman R.I.P." segued into Final Crisis (also written by Morrison), which saw the apparent death of Batman at the hands of Darkseid. In the 2009 miniseries Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Wayne's former protégé Dick Grayson becomes the new Batman and Wayne's son Damian becomes the new Robin.Batman's relationship with the law thaws quickly and he is made an honorary member of Gotham City's police department. During this time, butler Alfred arrives at Wayne Manor and after deducing the Dynamic Duo's secret identities joins their service.
During this time Batman would regularly team up with other heroes to fight evil (these adventures were published in World’s Finest Comics from the 1950s through the 1980s) and many of the team-ups featured Batman, Superman and, occasionally, Robin and led to the formation of the Justice League of America.
After Robin (Dick Grayson) sustains an injury, Batman insists on going without a sidekick. Dick leaves to attend college and moves out of Wayne Manor. Batman primarily works solo but occasionally teams up with Robin and Batgirl. It was during this period where Batman starts becoming a bit darker (partly due to the loss of Robin's presence, but mainly because times were changing in the real Earth). Violent crimes increase in Gotham and the Joker returns with a darker, more sadistic nature (i.e. he was starting to kill his victims)
The Batman also comes face to face with Ra's al Ghul, the Demon's Head. Ra's has lived for over 600 years and is one of the few people who deduces that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Ra's saw their ideals as being the same, but the two became rivals quickly when Batman realized that Ra's did not value the lives of others as he did. During this time Bruce's older brother, Thomas Wayne, Jr., reappears. Thomas becomes an assassin, but his body was taken over by the anti-hero Deadman. Batman was able to remove Deadman from his brother's body, but Thomas soon dies trying to save his younger brother's life. Batman later quit the Justice League to form his new group called the Outsiders. Batman leads the group for a while, but he eventually quit the Outsiders as well. In the new continuity Batman found Jason trying to steal the wheels off the Batmobile. Unlike Dick, Jason would question and eventually defy Batman's orders. It would get to the point where Jason was becoming a danger to himself and others around him. Batman considers removing him as Robin, but Jason manages to convince him otherwise. Jason Todd eventually learns that the woman who raised him was not his biological mother and became determined to find his true mother. He travels to the Middle East, where he encountered Batman (who was searching for the Joker) and explained that he was searching for his birth mother. Batman saw the list of candidates and recognized one of the names on the list as Sandra Woosan: the assassin Lady Shiva.
After a brief fight Batman learned that she was not Jason's mother. Jason managed to find his mother, Sheila Haywood, as well as revealed his secret identity to her, but she turns him over to The Joker. Jason's mother was being blackmailed by the Joker, but as she had some shady dealings herself she did not want attention being drawn to her. Joker savagely beats Jason with a crowbar, then detonates an explosive that kills Jason and his mother. This was during the story arc Death in the family.
After this tragic event, Batman becomes even darker and more violent when he battled crime. Tim Drake, a young boy who witnessed the death of the Graysons, noticed the dark nature of the Batman after the loss of Robin. He had figured out that the original Robin was Dick Grayson and thus, Bruce Wayne had to be Batman. Tim knew that Batman needed a friend in his war and after being unsuccessful in convincing Dick to return to the role, Dick petitions Bruce to train Tim to become the next Robin, in order to keep Batman sane. After a grueling training regime, Tim finally becomes the new Robin. With Tim Drake finally the new Robin, unknown to Batman, Jason Todd is secretly recovered by Ra's Al Ghul.
While the resurrection was a success it also had repercussions. Jason Todd was alive, but he was without emotion and pain. When Ra's told Talia that the plan to bring back Jason was a failure: he told her to kill him. Growing an attachment to Jason, Talia decided to take drastic measures and dumps him into the Lazarus Pit a second time. This time it brought back all of his memories, emotions, as well as pain back into his life. Talia decides to start training him to be ready to finally kill Bruce Wayne and the Joker. Jason is seen telling Thomas Elliot (better known as Hush) the true identity of Batman. Jason eventually fights Bruce and the Joker and fails to kill either of them.Hush was revealed to be a childhood friend of Bruce's, Tommy Elliot. He wanted to ruin Batman's reputation so he could replace him as protector of Gotham City. For a time Bruce's personal life was greatly challenged when Jason Todd returns from the dead as the violent vigilante Red Hood with a personal vendetta against Bruce for letting Joker live in the story arc Under the Hood. Tim Drake's father is killed, which led to Bruce to adopt Tim a short while later.
Bruce also becomes more suspicious of other heroes, creating a super satellite called Brother Eye, which is stolen and eventually causes the death of Ted Kord. Things then hit a personal low for Bruce during the story Infinite Crisis when he almost murders megalomaniac Alex Luthor. Bruce realizes his morality is at an all time low and decides to take a sabbatical from fighting crime. In recent years after cleansing himself of personal demons and returning to his role as Batman, he discovers he had a son with his old-flame-turned-enemy Talia named Damian. Soon Bruce is tested in new ways both by a conspiracy to kill him and a journey through time caused by Darkseid. During this period Bruce is assumed dead leaving Dick Grayson and Damian to become the new Batman and Robin in his absence.With Damian as Robin and Dick as Batman, Tim Drake decides to leave his Robin mantle and find clues to prove that Bruce was not dead, but lost in time. He proves his theory by becoming Red Robin, a mantle that was used by Jason Todd years ago. After surviving his journey of time trials, Bruce Wayne had returned with a greater sense of responsibility and decides to take his crime fighting mission on a global scale with an organization called Batman Incorporated while Dick and Damian remain protectors of Gotham and also dedicated members to Batman Inc. Over the course of this series, it has become clear that Bruce's reasons for forming an international army of Batmen has been to combat an old global brain washing terrorist force called Leviathan.
In June 2009, Judd Winick returned to writing Batman, while Grant Morrison was given his own series, titled Batman and Robin. In 2010, the storyline Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne saw Bruce travel through history, eventually returning to the present day. Although he reclaimed the mantle of Batman, he also allowed Grayson to continue being Batman as well. Bruce decided to take his war on crime globally, which is the central focus of Batman Incorporated. DC Comics would later announce that Grayson would be the main character in Batman, Detective Comics and Batman and Robin, while Wayne would be the main character in Batman Incorporated. Also, Bruce appeared in another ongoing series, Batman: The Dark Knight.
In September 2011, DC Comics' entire line of superhero books, including its Batman franchise, was canceled and relaunched with new #1 issues as part of The New 52 reboot. Bruce Wayne is the only character to be identified as Batman and will be featured in Batman, Detective Comics, Batman and Robin, as well as Batman: The Dark Knight, among other comics. Dick Grayson returns to the mantle of Nightwing and appears in his own ongoing series. While many characters have their histories significantly altered to attract newer, younger readers, Batman's history remains mostly intact. Batman Incorporated will be relaunched in 2012 to complete the "Leviathan" storyline.Part of the New 52 relaunch involved a condensed timeline of the DC universe, which has affected Batman's origin slightly. Sometime after the death of his parents, Bruce left Gotham City for four years to travel the planet and receive his training, including a time at a monastery in the Himalayas. During his absence, Martha Wayne's family, the Kanes, actively sought control of the Wayne estate and fortune, including Wayne Enterprises. After returning to Gotham, Bruce moved out of Wayne Manor into a brownstone in Crime Alley where he operated as a vigilante (sans Bat-persona) for about a year. During the next year, Bruce would develop the Batman persona and build a relationship with Jim Gordon, resulting in Gordon's installation of the Bat-Signal. In this period, five years before the New 52 "present day," Batman is still a lone crime fighter when he meets other superheroes who will eventually become the Justice League to defeat the threat of Darkseid.
In the present day, on the anniversary of his parents' death, Bruce Wayne takes his son Damian, the current Robin, for an important night. Bruce Wayne decides he wants to celebrate how his parents lived instead of how they died. He then goes crime-fighting with Robin. Damian makes the enemies go missing and has a short argument with his father.
After stopping an outbreak in Arkham Asylum with the help of Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne works on contact lens technology that integrates the bat database wherever he goes. Bruce Wayne then goes to attend a formal gathering with his family: Damian Wayne, Tim Drake and Dick Grayson, as well as announces his new plans for Gotham. He discovers Commissioner Gordon talking about a murder. After sneaking out as Batman, he discovers a plot to kill Bruce Wayne with evidence pointing to Dick being the killer. This story arc is intertwined with Dick Grayson's solo series Nightwing, which is weaving an incredible siege of events. This story has Batman and his friends fighting against the Court of Owls, which is a task force that has been killing off esteemed members of Gotham City since the 1600s.
Later Batman tries to stop the Court, but the upset Court lets out all of their Talons, beginning the Night of the Owls. The Court strikes every Bat member that has something to do with Bruce Wayne or Batman. They strike the cave first but Batman is able to hold them off and eventually defeat them with a robotic Bat-Suit. After that he tries to stop the next assassination in the Court's list, but he is too late. But after that he learns the truth behind the Court, as well as who is standing behind everything.
The person Batman was searching for is the Gotham Mayoral Candidate Lincoln March, who is trying to convince Batman that he is the lost brother of Bruce Wayne. Being the ultimate Owl and killing the Court, March tries to kill off Bruce, but Bruce escapes and leaves the ruins of the destroyed building over Lincoln March (Thomas Wayne, Jr.). Later he tells Dick that he had a brother, but he died right after birth and if he managed to survive his parents would have told him.
After the events of the Court of the Owls the Joker has returned to Gotham City with the intention of taking on the Batman and all members of the Batman Family.
Upon the relaunch of Dc's Rebirth, Bruce is now more of a close knitted family relationship with Clark, and Diana as both of them take great interest in watching over Lois and Jonathan. Clark even appointed Bruce and Diana as the Godparents over his son Jonathan. Bruce's son Damian has befriended Jonathan and often times have teamed up together as the duo Superboy and Robin : The Supersons.
Other faces of Bruce Wayne[]
References[]
- ↑ INFORMATION ATTACK! SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 #5
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://twitter.com/bryanQmiller/status/241568388026089473
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://mobile.twitter.com/bryanQmiller/status/349669062613278720
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://mobile.twitter.com/bryanQmiller/status/349552463185055744
- ↑ [ http://www.tvguide.com/News/Smallville-Season-11-1048845.aspx Smallville Season 11 Comic Book Welcomes Batman —and Nightwing! ]
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Bryan Q. Miller Introduces Batman, Nightwing to "Smallville"
- ↑ The Dark Knight Comes to Smallville: Season 11
- ↑ https://twitter.com/bryanQmiller/status/391741065704665089
- ↑ https://twitter.com/bryanQmiller/status/236238396333363200
- ↑ BRYAN Q. MILLER EXPANDS THE UNIVERSE OF "SMALLVILLE SEASON 11""
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ Appearing at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention at the Shrine Auditorium on Sunday [February 10, 2007] afternoon, the show's creators said they have tried several times to get Bruce Wayne, but they've moved on from that pursuit.
"Sadly, no," Gough said with a smile after the first of several Batman/Bruce Wayne questions during the panel. "It's not our fault. We've tried and tried, but because of the feature-film franchise, they've made that kind of off limits. Unfortunately."
"It's a very clear statement: You can't use Bruce Wayne," Millar said. "We've got over it and we're moving on. There are plenty of other characters we can exploit."
http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0702/12/smallvillela.htm
See also[]
- Allusions to Batman
- Detective
- Effigy
- Alfred Pennyworth
- James Gordon
- Barbara Gordon
- Gotham City
- Joe Chill
- Thomas Wayne
- Martha Wayne
- WayneTech
- Wayne Manor
- Batcave
Links[]
- Batman - DC Comics
- Batman on Wikipedia
- Batman on DC Comics Database
- Batman on DCAU Wikia
- Batman at the Superfriends Wiki
- Batman (Bruce Wayne) at the Batman Wiki
- Batman on Young Justice Wikia
- Batman on Batman: the Brave and the Bold Wikia
- Batman on Teen Titans Wikia
- Batman on Smallville Comics Wikia
- Batman on Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology Wiki
- Batman on Arkham Wiki
- Bruce Wayne on Arkham Wiki
- Batman on Beware The Batman Wiki
- Batman on DC Cinematic Universe Wiki
- Batman on DC Movies Wiki'
- Batman on DC Comics Extended Universe Wiki
- Batman on DC Extended Universe Wiki
- Batman on Injustice: Gods Among Us Wiki
- Batman on ComicVine