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Batman

Origins - As a young child, Bruce Wayne watched his parents murdered before his eyes. Thomas and Martha Wayne were walking home from the theater one night with their son, when they were held up at gunpoint by a mugger who demanded the pearl necklace that Martha was wearing. When Dr. Wayne refused to surrender it, both he and Martha were shot dead in the streets. He was then raised on the Wayne Manor estate, with help from the wise and loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Bruce had very few friends during his childhood. Bruce Wayne swore an oath to rid the city of the evil that had taken his parents' lives. He spent his youth traveling the world, training himself to intellectual and physical perfection and learning a variety of crime-fighting skills, including chemistry, criminology, forensics, martial arts, gymnastics, disguise, and escape artistry. Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham City after many years of study and training with his body and mind developed to perfection. Despite having all of the skills and methods to fight crime, he felt that he was still something missing to complete his physical and psychological arsenal. Wayne discovered the answer late one night while sitting in his manor. He recalled his fear of bats as a child after a large one crashed through one of the windows; he ultimately decided to theme his appearance off of a bat. Wayne designed himself a costume equipped with experimental technology and set out against the crime and corruption that thrived in Gotham City. Wayne's tactics to oppose crime as a vigilante at night proved successful leading him to become an urban legend in Gotham City. He would reveal himself at a dinner of the most influential and corrupt figures in Gotham City promising them all that their reigns on the city would eventually end. Wayne's first ally is assistant district attorney Harvey Dent. Most of the Gotham City Police Department is sent in force to capture him. He gained his most powerful ally when he met police officer James Gordon, one of the few honest cops on the force. The two developed a working relationship operating outside of the law when they needed to. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent first met while they were forced to share a room on a cruise ship. They are made aware of each others secret identities when both are called upon to fight threats including Deathstroke and the Crime Syndicate. Superman later introduced him to Wonder Woman when they teamed up against Ra's al Ghul and Bizarro, and she disliked Batman at first for his methods. She later gained respect for him after they fought together as a team for the first time. Eventually they would decide that they could better protect the planet if they permanently joined forces and they helped form the Justice League of America. Bruce Wayne was on an excursion to the circus when he witnessed another tragedy that would shape his life. The parents of a young acrobat named Dick Grayson were murdered. Although Bruce knew he could never replace Dick's father, he adopted Grayson as his legal ward to help him and provide guidance where he didn't have any when he was that age. He eventually revealed his secret identity as Batman. Dick wanted justice for his parents, and he agreed to a regiment of rigorous physical and mental training so that he could become Batman's partner. After several months Dick was finally ready to take to the streets as Robin, fighting crime alongside his mentor. Batman quit the League when they refused to help him rescue Lucius Fox from Baron Bedlam in Markovia for political reasons. Determining that he needed a new team more concerned with justice than the way they were viewed by the world, he created the Outsiders as a black ops super-team to go where they couldn't. Some weeks after firing Dick and him becoming Nightwing, it's the anniversary of Bruce's parent's death. He makes his annual visit to Crime Alley to pay his respects. The alley is remarkably quiet; it seems word of this regular visit has got around the criminal fraternity. Despite this, Batman discovers that a young kid named Jason Todd has stolen the tires from the Batmobile. Impressed with Jason, Batman decides to take the boy on as the new Robin. Batman gathers Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel, Doctor Fate, Doctor Light, Guy Gardner, Martian Manhunter and Mister Miracle and agrees to take leadership of them as a team. Maxwell Lord convinces the United Nations to grant them an international charter and they become Justice League International. Batman begins having problems with Robin's attitude, when the boy gets increasingly violent and careless during their crime fighting. The boy is still grieving over the deaths of his parents Catherine and Willis Todd, and Bruce takes him off active duty until he can keep himself in check. Jason learns through old records that the mother he knew was actually his step mother, and his estranged birth mother is still alive. Searching across several countries eventually leads them to a doctor named Sheila Haywood, and Jason is reunited with her at last. Jason is betrayed by his mother when he tries to rescue her, and the Joker beats him within an inch of his life using a crowbar. The two of them are tied up in a warehouse set with a time bomb and it explodes before they can escape. Batman arrives moments too late, and finds to his horror that both of them were killed in the explosion. Bruce feels responsible for the death of his young partner, having endangered him by bringing him into this lifestyle. Following the death of Jason Todd, Batman becomes much more violent and aggressive while coping with the tragedy without someone to balance him out. A young man named Tim Drake figures out his secret identity using detective work, and determines that he needs a Robin to keep his darkness in check. Tim is taken into the Batcave where it is suggested that he become the new Robin. Batman (at the onset of a personal psychological mid-life crisis) is forced to deal, in rapid succession, with the returning villain Black Mask and his gang (who target Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox), a crazed killer called Metalhead, and a sharpshooter assassin hired by Vincent Morelli to murder Commissioner Gordon. Batman begins to feel he has lost his edge, especially after his failure to capture Black Mask. He finds himself unable to meditate or even focus. Bane comes to Gotham City, a brilliant tactical mastermind who has trained his body to physical perfection and dedicated himself to destroying Batman and taking over his territory. This villain is more driven and powerful than anyone he has ever faced before, and wants to prove himself by defeating the best and breaking him. Bane begins his assault by organizing a massive break out at Arkham Asylum with the help of his henchmen Bird, Trogg and Zombie. Aware that he would lose in a direct assault against Batman, Bane's plan consists of weakening Batman by forcing him to deal with the deadly villains simultaneously. Bane finally confronts him by breaking into Wayne Manor when Batman is at his weakest, beating him nearly to death in his weakened state and breaking his spine. After his defeat, Bruce Wayne enlists Jean-Paul Valley, Azrael, to take up the mantle of Batman so that Gotham has a protector. Jean-Paul, in his new mechanical Batsuit, confronts Bane in a vicious battle and prevails, although many innocent citizens were put at risk. Jean-Paul leaves Bane broken mentally and physically, although he struggles with the choice of whether to simply kill Bane or hand him over to the police. Stating that he will let Bane go to Blackgate Prison, Jean-Paul continues to watch over Gotham after the fight, but grows increasingly unstable. Bruce Wayne realizes that his skills are gone after spending so much time in his wheelchair, and he must undergo a serious training regiment before he is ready to take his position back from his dangerously unstable successor. Once returned to his former glory, he puts on his costume once again to take back his city from the impostor. The final battle of the Knightfall saga takes place between Jean-Paul Valley and Bruce Wayne in the caverns surrounding the Batcave. Rather than beating Jean-Paul at hand-to-hand combat, Bruce outwits him by escaping into a passage too narrow for Jean-Paul to go through in his armor, thus forcing him to remove most of it. Bruce then opens a hatch to the outside, which covered the very hole he fell into as a child, allowing sunlight to enter the night lenses in Jean-Paul's helmet. After being momentarily blinded, Jean-Paul removes his cowl, sees Bruce standing over him in the original Batman costume and concedes defeat, saying "You are Batman and I am nothing." Bruce comforts Jean-Paul, who leaves to wander the streets of Gotham, homeless and destitute. Bruce decides not to take Jean-Paul to the police because it was his decision to make Jean-Paul the Batman. Brought together through a fight against Doctor Destiny, Aquaman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Superman and Wonder Woman realize that Earth needs its greatest heroes working together and reform the Justice League of America. Their first challenge is to prove themselves against a new superhero team called the Hyperclan who attempt to discredit them. They are revealed as White Martians, and the League stops them from taking over the planet. Realizing how dangerously wrong things could go if any of his friends were mind controlled or manipulated into doing evil, Batman begins to study their weaknesses and develop contingency plans to neutralize them. Soon, he realizes that his plans have been stolen and warns everyone else. Recovering from defeat, they save their aggression towards Batman's controversial actions and fight back. After saving the world, they vote to dismiss Batman from the League on grounds of distrust. Superman eventually convinces him that he needs to regain the team's trust to be accepted again though, and Batman returns by revealing his secret identity to the rest of his allies. Jason Todd is resurrected as an amnesiac and crawls out of his own grave, eventually taken in by Talia al Ghul who restores his personality through a Lazarus Pit. Distraught to find that Batman had not cared enough to avenge his death against the Joker, he takes on the identity of Red Hood as his own man. During a climactic fight between the two men, Jason reveals himself to Bruce and explains his intention to change the face of crime-fighting. To prevent hundreds of unnecessary tragedies, he will bring death to those who deserve it. Alfred asks if the old Robin costume should be removed from the Batcave, but Bruce insists that this doesn't change anything at all. During the Infinite Crisis, Batman nearly broke his most sacred law. When it appeared that Alexander Luthor may have killed longtime ally Dick Grayson, Batman knocked down Luthor and threatened to kill him with a gun. Fortunately, Dick was still alive, and Batman avoided making what would have been the worst decision of his life. Having virtually eliminated all super-crime in Gotham with the energy from his recent vacation, Bruce goes abroad. Alfred explains that he's become so consumed by Batman he's forgotten how to act as Bruce Wayne, and must relearn. Talia al Ghul takes him prisoner and reveals that they had a son together she never told him about, introducing him to Damian Wayne. Bruce must take care of the child and teach him respect while figuring out her plans, as Damian proves to be spoiled and petulant. Raised by the League of Assassins he is a master martial artist and proves extremely difficult to control, beating up Tim Drake. Batman agrees to let Damian fight at his side rather than leave him alone, with the understanding that he will follow their no killing rules and obey orders. Batman must solve the murder of a New God when Orion is killed in Metropolis by a Radion Bullet. Libra, prophet of the Religion of Crime, kills Martian Manhunter. At the funeral, he pays his respects by placing a Choco on his departed friend's grave. Investigating the killings, he was taken prisoner by another dark servant Granny Goodness posing as Kraken of the Alpha Lantern Corps. They intend to use Bruce Wayne to create a clone army of Batmen, using his body and mind as the template for perfect soldiers. Batman goes to the Command D bunker and challenges Darkseid, the ultimate personification of evil, as the Anti-Life destroys reality around them. Although he made a very solemn vow about firearms, he says that he is making a once-in-a-lifetime exception and shoots Darkseid in the chest with the Radion Bullet. This is a reversal of the moment when evil struck down his parents in the streets and this time, Batman stands with his smoking gun pointed at evil himself. The last thing he says is "gotcha." Right before dying, Darkseid blasts Batman with an Omega Sanction that seemingly kills him. Arriving moments too late, Superman recovers Batman's skeletal burnt corpse. Bruce Wayne is shown to have survived the Omega Sanction, and his body has been flung backward thousands of years in time. He is trapped in the Prehistoric Era, where he is present for the death of the first man Anthro, and draws cave paintings of his own insignia. Feeling a combination of obligation and hesitation, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake Wayne, Alfred, and Damian Wayne debated as to what the future of the Dark Knight should be, until an estranged Jason Todd turned up as having taken a twisted cowl (which seems reminiscent of Jean-Paul Valley) for himself. Todd decommissioned an arrogant Damian, making Dick, Tim, and Alfred feel an even greater sense of urgency to send the Caped Crusader back on the streets. However, Dick still refused, prompting Tim to hijack an old Batsuit himself and seek out Jason and his twisted Batcave. Jason managed to defeat Tim and severely injure him, leaving only Dick and Jason as the the heir to the cowl. The conclusion of this struggle found Dick accepting his role as the new Batman, with the darkest Robin yet, Damian, by his side. Tim, however, is far away from Gotham, believing that Bruce is not actually dead. He has taken the mantle of the Red Robin, and is currently exploring the globe for clues as to where his adoptive father was. Superman later returned the cowl on the remains to Nightwing and Robin, to be left in a memorial similar to the one Batman made for Jason. At Alfred's insistence, no public funeral was held for Batman, and Robin, refusing to believe he was dead, prevented them from declaring Bruce Wayne dead. Wayne's body was buried in an unmarked grave next to Thomas and Martha Wayne. After the Blackest Night, Hal and Barry return to Bruce's grave to talk about what transpired. After stating that "dead is dead from here on out," Hal says that Batman is the exception because the Black Lantern Batman they fought did not recognize any of them and was not really Bruce, proving that Tim Drake was right; Bruce is still alive, somewhere. Trapped in the past with no memory, Bruce is forced to fight his way through time back to the present day. Having come to a new conclusion about the direction of his fight against crime, Bruce reveals in a press conference that he has been privately financing Batman for years and goes public with Batman Incorporated. Batman gathers his closest associates in the Batcave and gives them all new assignments as they start an army against crime. Bruce tries Damian out and determines that they will not work well together on missions, insisting that he continue his position with Grayson as the Batman and Robin of Gotham City.

Powers and Abilities - Although he has no superhuman powers, Batman's unstoppable determination and strength of will make him an extremely formidable opponent. This makes him able to function while tolerating massive amounts of physical pain, and also allows him to resist telepathy or mind control. His willpower is strong enough to operate a Green Lantern Ring which should not be possible for one not chosen to be a Green Lantern. 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. Even those who aren't afraid of the likes of Superman fear Batman. 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. "Fear is an excellent motivator" he once said. Through intense training, specialized diet, and biofeedback treatments, The Batman represented the pinnacle of human physical prowess. His physical attributes exceeded that of any Olympic level athlete that has ever completed. Strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes and coordination were at peak human perfection. Batman began his physical and mental conditioning when he was 11 and then intense physical training and weight lifting at age 12. He has mastered full body control by the time he was 18. Bruce Wayne, since the age of 15, has created a strict diet to enable his body to develop and operate at its most proficient, along with biofeedback treatments (using portable/non portable machines to stimulate muscles to contraction. Batman has performed amazing physical feats due to his superior physique. He engaged in an intensive regular regimen of rigorous exercise (including aerobics, weight lifting, gymnastics, and simulated combat) to keep himself in peak condition, and has often defeated opponents whose size, strength, or other powers greatly exceeded his own. He has spent his entire life in pursuit of physical perfection and has attained it through constant intensive training and determination. Batman regularly bench-presses at least 1000 lbs during his exercise routine. Bruce's reflexes were honed to such a degree that he has caught one of Green Arrow's arrows in mid flight when he tried to shoot him. He has also been able to dodge point blank gunfire. Wayne is one of the finest human combatants Earth has ever known. Through his martial arts training, he has become an expert on all melee weapons. Wayne has displayed exceptional sword-fighting capability and proficiency with knives, sticks and various other weapons. He practices during his combat sessions to keep his skills intact, but he prefers unarmed combat. Batman is a brilliant, virtually peerless, detective, strategist, scientist, tactician, and commander; he is widely regarded as one of the keenest analytical minds on the planet. Given his lack of superpowers, he often uses cunning and planning to outwit his foes, rather than simply "out fighting" them. He is widely considered as the World's Greatest Detective, capable of observation, forensic investigation, and inductive and deductive reasoning of the highest caliber. Human intuition is an unlearn-able trait and one of Batman's most effective tools. Given any mystery, he can arrive at the correct conclusions with a fraction of the data. He commonly utilizes cunning tactics to outwit his foes. He is an excellent leader and at times commands the Justice League and the Outsiders. He has been described as second only to Mister Miracle as an escape artist. Has mastered the art of disguise by the time he was 23. Batman has many aliases he uses to infiltrate the underworld or just to go undercover in public situations. His current aliases are: Matches Malone, Thomas Quigley, Ragman, Detective Hawke, Sir Hemingford Grey, Frank Dixon, Gordon Selkirk, and Mr. Fledermaus. Batman is able to project his voice to sound as though it is coming from other places. The costume Batman wears is composed by kevlar and a little percentage of titanium; it's bullet proof and resistant to various types of attack (explosions, impacts, falls, etc). It's also flame-retarding and insulating. The gloves and the boots are reinforced to rebound the impact of punches and kicks. The gloves have also some metallic blades on their sides. The cape is super-light and it can be used to glide. Batman keeps most of his personal field equipment in a signature piece of apparel, a yellow utility belt.The utility belt has a button to call the car in a few appearances on Justice League, the belt has a button teleportation. Over the years it has contained items such as plastic explosives, nerve toxins, batarangs, smoke bombs, a fingerprint kit, a cutting tool, a grappling hook gun, and a "re-breather" breathing device. Superman had entrusted Batman with a ring made of kryptonite, to be used should the Man of Steel ever need to be reined in.

Weaknesses and Limitations - Due to the fact that Bruce Wayne does not possess any superpowers he has the same limitations and weaknesses a normal man in peak physical condition in his mid to late 40's would have. It is even suggested that Batman is in better shape than any human being has ever been in therefore making him equivalent to ten or more years younger physically than his age would suggest.


Sometimes, I admit, I think of Bruce as a man in a costume. Then, with some gadget from his utility belt, he reminds me that he has an extraordinarily inventive mind. And how lucky I am to be able to call on him. - Superman