Bruce Wayne (New Earth)



Real Name: Bruce Wayne Nicknames: The Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader Former Aliases: Thomas Quigley, Ragman, Detective Hawke, Sir Hemingford Grey, Frank Dixon, Gordon Selkirk Other Current Aliases: Matches Malone

Status
Occupation: Billionaire Playboy and industrialist Legal Status: Citizen of the United States With No Criminal Record Identity: Secret Marital Status: Single Group Affiliation: Formerly Justice League of America; Formerly Outsiders

Base of Operations: Wayne Manor and the Batcave, Gotham City; Formerly JLA Watchtower

Origin
Young Bruce Wayne was traumatised after witnessing the murder of his parents at the hand of a mugger named Joe Chill. Reared by the Wayne's faithful servant, Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce travelled across the globe developing his martial arts and combat skills. Returning to Gotham City, Bruce created the persona of Batman to combat the criminal element of the city.

Place of Birth: Gotham City Known Relatives: Thomas Wayne (father, deceased), Martha Wayne (mother, deceased) First Appearance: Detective Comics #27 (May, 1939)

History


In the Batman mythos, Batman is the alter-ego of Bruce Wayne, a billionaire industrialist and philanthropist who was driven to fight crime after his parents, the physician Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha Wayne, were murdered before his eyes at the age of eight. The identity of the mugger traditionally is known as the small-time criminal Joe Chill, though some versions have deviated from that (the 1989 Tim Burton movie Batman presented the Joker as the killer of Wayne's parents.) In the present comics continuity, the killer was never caught and thus his identity is unknown. In the comics and animated series, medical doctor and social worker Leslie Thompkins was there to give loving comfort to the traumatized Bruce. Depending on the adaptation, he was then raised on the Wayne Manor estate by uncle Philip Wayne and/or wise and loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth.

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 criminology, forensics, martial arts, gymnastics, and disguise. At age 14, Bruce Wayne began his global sojourn, attending courses at Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and other European universities. Beyond academia, Bruce acquired more "practical" skills. While abroad, Bruce learned all 127 major styles of combat, from Aikido to Yaw-Yan. Frenchman Henri Ducard made him an apprentice in manhunting. The ninja Kirigi schooled Bruce in stealth and the ways of the shadow warrior. African Bushmen taught hunting techniques, while Nepalese monks revealed healing arts. (In the film Batman Begins, he conducted his studies at Princeton University in New Jersey as a young adult, and learns jujitsu, ninjitsu, and multiple forms of martial arts from Henri Ducard, who is depicted as secretly being Ra's al Ghul.) He even studied ventriloquism from practitioners of the art. And so it went for seven years as Bruce matured into manhood. His knowledge of so many varied disciplines has made Bruce an unconventional and unpredictable opponent. After returning to Gotham City in his early to mid-twenties, Wayne made several harrowing and near-fatal forays into the world of crime-fighting before donning his now familiar costume that was in part inspired by another tragic accident of his life that would have a profound impact on who he would become — at the age of six, he fell down a cavern, located beneath Wayne Manor (later to become the Batcave), that was swarming with bats, nocturnal creatures, wherein he was forever haunted by the event despite the timely arrival of his father. After a particularly fatal brush with the criminals of Gotham (his last encounter before donning the cape and cowl) Bruce sat in his father's study questioning his mission and seeking direction. A bat crashed through the window, and he took it as a sign that he should take on the appearance of a bat to strike fear into the criminal element, whom he thought to be "a superstitious, cowardly lot."



The Dark Knight is an imposing vigil of darkness that prowls on criminals fulfilling his own strong sense of justice. Whenever Bruce Wayne dons his bat suit, he is transformed into the dark vigilante, the nightmare of Gotham's villains. The Dark Knight is typically portrayed as a brilliant tactician and peerless martial-artist, possessed with a stoic personality. In recent comics, Batman has often been presented as having an obsessive, humorless personality. He generally does not kill, but will use lethal force to defend himself or others if necessary.

In keeping with the "dark" theme of the comics and the nature of bats, Batman is usually presented as operating primarily at night. In recent comics, the idea was introduced of Batman being an urban legend and not believed by the denizens of Gotham City to actually exist; however, this notion is contradicted by various previous stories that indicate otherwise. In order to make up for this flaw in continuity, Batman was recently "outed" in War Games, a story that stretched across all Batman titles, when his live image was broadcast over the news as he made a brief daytime appearance in front of a violence-overtaken high school in Gotham.

Whenever he is needed, the Gotham City police activate a "Bat-Signal" (a searchlight with a bat-shaped insignia over the lens) that shines into the night sky. In Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, the Bat-Signal is used as much to enhance the terror effect of Batman on criminal elements as a signal.

Like Superman (Kal-El/Clark Kent), the prominent persona of Bruce Wayne's dual identities has varied with time. Present comics seem to favor portraying the decadent playboy aspect of his character (earlier versions of Bruce Wayne depicted him as a more mature, refined gentleman) as the facade, while the masked and particularly dark, grim vigilante is marked as the "true" man. Usually, Batman is further separated from Bruce Wayne by the raspy and stony bass voice he usually assumes while costumed. (Except for Adam West's smooth baritone from the TV series.) Interestingly, Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan interpreted the character as having three personas: the affable goofy playboy, the extremely gritty and violent Batman, and the man in-between, when he takes off the mask but doesn't put on a tux. Nolan sees that as the true, pure character, a person that really only Alfred sees.

Another identity Batman has is of Matches Malone. Matches Malone was a small time thug who acted as Batman's snitch. When Matches was killed, Batman assumed his identity. As the Matches Malone identity, he was able to access areas of the criminal arena neither Bruce Wayne nor Batman could enter.

Wayne guards his secret identity well, as only a handful of individuals know of his superhero alter-ego, including Superman (Clark Kent), Wonder Woman (Diana), The Flash (Wally West), Green Lanterns John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and Alan Scott, Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brien), Aquaman (Orin/Arthur Curry), Green Arrow (Oliver "Ollie" Queen), Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Jason Todd, (aka Robin II, aka The Red Hood), Robin (Tim Drake), Oracle (Barbara Gordon), Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz), and his butler Alfred (in the Justice League animated series, Hawkgirl (Shayera Hol) also knows Batman's true identity). The kindly Doctor Leslie Thompkins also is aware of Bruce's secret identity. In the films, the female lead usually learns of Batman's identity, because more often than not, she likes both of them. However, several villains have discovered his true identity over the years, most notably eco-terrorist Ra's al Ghul, Hugo Strange, the Riddler, Catwoman (Selina Kyle), Scarecrow, and Bane. Of recent, the villain Hush has attempted to take revenge on both sides of the Batman/Bruce Wayne persona, and is noted throughout his run as a villain who has personal ties to Bruce Wayne and/or Batman; Hush is later revealed to be Thomas Elliot, a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne. Fortunately, most of Batman's enemies have dismissed the notion of Bruce Wayne as Batman because of Wayne's apparent dim-wittedness and self-absorption while the ones who do know prefer to keep the information to themselves for their own reasons. The Joker has had opportunities to learn himself, but refused them since it would personally rob the mystique of his enemy. An important part of the mythos is that although Batman is commonly referred to as a superhero, unlike Superman and most other costumed heroes, he is a normal human being who does not possess any superhuman abilities. However, he has elevated himself to near-superhuman status through years of rigorous training - eventually he became an exceptional escape artist, master of hand-to-hand combat/martial arts, acrobatics, bodybuilding, science, technology, disguises, criminology and detective skills.

Being only human, Batman doesn't have any unusual personal physical strengths or weaknesses, like Superman's weakness to kryptonite, but has character flaws that can be exploited by enemies. In recent comics, Batman is shown as being vastly paranoid by nature and tending to not trust other heroes beyond those he has known for years, like Superman or Robin. Batman, also in recent comics in particular, keeps a wary eye on metahumans, similar to Lex Luthor, and is especially suspicious of Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) and Hal Jordan (Green Lantern). He does so because he always has contingency plans, and, assuming something goes wrong, he wants to be ready for a metahuman threat.(This stems from events revealed in the Identity Crisis storyline where his memory was erased by other members of the Justice League to cover up their roles in the punishement of Doctor Light (Arthur Light), who had raped Ralph Dibny's (Elongated Man's) wife. This has caused conflicts among his peers, who wonder what measures Batman has taken against them (e.g. the recently discovered OMAC project). Some enemies have used this to isolate Batman and play games with him. Batman has recently been portrayed as arrogant, treating many of his allies with various degrees of disrespect. He also sometimes overestimates his own abilities and allows foes to take advantage of that. All of these traits are a reversal of more traditional (pre-1990s) portrayals of Batman, which usually tend to show him as more willing to work with others, much less paranoid, and more trustful/respectful of his allies.

Batman is a brilliant, virtually peerless, detective, criminal scientist, tactician, and commander; he is widely regarded as one of the keenest analytical minds on the planet and possesses an eidetic memory. Given his lack of superpowers, he often uses cunning and planning to outwit his foes, rather than "out-fighting" them. Grant Morrison and later writers are sometimes criticized for having elevated Batman's prowess to such an extent that many fans now joke that Batman can defeat litterally any opponent, no matter how powerful... "as long as he's prepared." Given that the character has in modern times faced off with and defeated superbeings with near godlike powers (including Superman, several times over) it may be more than just a joke. At the start of Grant Morrison's run on the Justice League, it is revealed that Superman considers Batman "the most dangerous man on Earth."

Equipment, vehicles and weapons


Bruce designs the costumes, equipment, and vehicles he uses as Batman, which are produced by a secret military division of Wayne Industries. Over the years, he has accumulated a large arsenal of specialized gadgets (compare with the later James Bond). The designs of most of Batman's equipment share a common theme of dark coloration with a bat motif. A prime example is Batman's car, the Batmobile, often depicted as an imposing black car with large tail fins that suggest a bat's wings; another is his chief throwing weapon, the batarang, a bat-shaped boomerang. In proper practice, the "bat" prefix (as in batmobile or batarang) is no longer used by Batman himself when referring to his equipment, especially as this has been stretched to camp in some portrayals (namely the 1960s Batman live-action television show and the Super Friends animated series). The 1960s live-action television show arsenal included such ridiculous, satirical "bat-" names as a bat-computer, bat-rope, bat-scanner, bat-radar, bat-handcuffs, bat-phone, bat-pontoons, bat-drinking water dispenser, bat-camera with polarized bat-filter, shark repellent bat-spray, bat-funnel, alphabet soup bat-container, and emergency bat-turn lever.

Batman keeps most of his personal field equipment in a signature piece of apparel, a yellow utility belt. 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. In recent comics, Superman had entrusted Batman with a ring made of kryptonite, to be used should the Man of Steel ever need to be reined in (due to being mind-controlled by a villain, etc.). In some of his early appearances, Batman used sidearms (see especially Detective Comics #32, September 1939), but since that time, he has eschewed their use because his parents were murdered by a gunman. Some stories have relaxed this rule to allow Batman to arm his vehicles for purposes of disabling other vehicles or removing inanimate obstacles.

Characteristics
Height: 6'2" (1.88 m) Weight: 210 lbs (95 kg) Eyes: Blue Hair: Black Unusual Features: No unusual features

Powers
Known Powers: No known powers. But he does have an extreme, and almost superhuman "Force of Will."

Known Abilities: Batman has been highly trained in most of the world's martials arts. He has studied criminal psychology, chemistry, forensics, biology, and disguise. He is widely considered by those who believe he exists as the World's Greatest Detective.

Strength Level: Batman engages in an intense exercise regimen daily.

Miscellaneous
Equipment: Batman costume, utility belt contains a wide variety of tools and equipment.

Transportation: Batmobile, Batwing, Batboat, Batcycle.

Weapons: Batarangs (several different types), small explosives, smoke and tear gas pellets.

Trivia

 * Bruce Wayne has been played by several actors including: Robert Lowery, Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney and Christian Bale. He has also been voiced by Olan Soule and Kevin Conroy for his animated adventures.


 * The character was named Bruce Wayne in honor of Robert Bruce, the Scottish Patriot, and "Mad" Anthony Wayne, the American Revolutionary War general.


 * A personality trait that creator Bob Kane shared with Batman was a certain fondness for keeping late hours.


 * Official DC statistics state that Batman stands 6'2" and weighs 210 lbs. Ironically, Christian Bale stands at the same height (as does Adam West), and at the time of filming weighed 210 lbs., effectively becoming Batman for the role in Batman Begins.


 * In the original Pre-Crisis continuity, a crime boss named Lew Moxon hired Joe Chill to assassinate Thomas and Martha Wayne. The Zero Hour event retconned the history establishing that the Waynes murderer has never been identified. Recently, it has been suggested that Metallo may have been involved in their murder, but this theory has yet to be confirmed.


 * According to Wizard Magazine, Batman is the only DC Comics character who has made an appearance (either as Batman or as Bruce Wayne) every single month of every year since his first appearance in 1939.

Recommended Readings

 * Batman: Year One
 * Batman: No Man's Land
 * Batman: The Killing Joke
 * Batman: Hush
 * Batman: Arkham Asylum
 * Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
 * Batman: The Long Halloween
 * Batman: Dark Victory
 * Batman: Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Series.
 * Kingdom Come.
 * Batman Begins: The Movie and other Tales of the Dark Knight.
 * Batman: Under the Hood
 * Identity Crisis
 * The OMAC Project
 * Infinite Crisis

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 * Batman (Bruce Wayne)/Appearances
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 * Joker
 * Robin
 * Justice League of America
 * Knightfall