When Bruce was a child, he was scared of a winged gargoyle statue on Wayne Manor which he called the "bat-man". His mother told him that gargoyles existed to protect people from evil and comforted him by telling him a story about a demon cub that fell to earth and broke its wing. She told him that the cub was found by a man who saved it, and the demon grew up to become a gargoyle and protect the man.[1]
Bruce's parents were murdered when he was a child after a family night at the movies. The police found Bruce alone and traumatised in an alley and called the family's butler Alfred to come and collect him, as Bruce had no other family. As Alfred was about to drive them home, Bruce slipped out of the car and stole Sergeant Jim Gordon's billy club. He prowled the alleys for hours searching for the killer and eventually found a homeless addict who he violently assaulted. The police and Alfred found him and pulled him off, but the beating Bruce had inflicted left the man quadriplegic.[2]
Young Bruce against "Joe Chill"
After his parent's funerals, Bruce refused to leave their graveside, claiming that it was his home. Because of this, and his previous violent outburst, he was briefly institutionalised at Arkham Asylum's children's wing where he was treated by Dr. Charles Quinton. During a therapy session, Quinton told Bruce that his parent's deaths weren't his fault; and Bruce replied that it was the bat-man's fault because he hadn't saved them. Quinton was secretly working for a secret society called the Stadtgeist to turn his patients into living weapons called "Geistermen". He subjected Bruce to an experiment involving acupuncture needles and hypnosis; during the "treatment", Bruce told Quinton the story his mother had told him about the demon cub. Quinton replied that the story was wrong, and instead the demon grew up to become the devil and killed the man, drilling the story into Bruce's mind.
The experiments awoke a "dark aura" in Bruce. Because Bruce's traumatic memories and rage were too much for a child to handle without going mad; Quinton suppressed Bruce's memories of his treatment and what he had done to the homeless man, leaving him only with the memories of his parents' deaths and a vision of a demon cub with a broken wing. The Stadtgeist intended to release the suppressed memories when Bruce grew up and turn him into a Geisterman, but due to his privileged position the Stadtgeist were unable to get their hands on him.[2][1]
At some point after Bruce's release Quinton disappeared along with all of his patient files, including Bruce's. After years of training, Bruce grew up to become Batman, a vigilante who patrolled Gotham City. After two years, he was considered an outlaw by the Gotham City Police Department but secretly worked alongside Jim Gordon, now a detective, although Bruce did not remember their history.[3]
Crytoon
Batman worked with Gordon to try and catch a serial killer who left a distinctive pattern of puncture wounds on his victims. Traces of chemical residue on the third victim lead him to an illegal lab in Gotham's industrial zone, where kidnapped homeless people were forced to manufacture TNT. Batman snuck into the basement of the building and lured the criminals overseeing the kidnapped workers into the basement, where he picked them off one by one from the shadows. One of the henchmen managed to escape and ran upstairs to warn their boss. When Batman followed him up he found the henchman and all the kidnapped people bludgeoned to death by the head of the operation.
He followed the trail of bodies to a small room on the mezzanine level, where a projector was displaying an old cartoon on the wall. He was attacked by the leader; a constantly weeping man dressed all in black and splattered in blood. The man overpowered Batman, always appearing to be one move ahead, and knocked him unconscious. When Batman woke up, the man was gone and a bomb he had rigged went off; Batman survived due to his suit protecting him but the henchmen, who were still in the basement, were killed. He was buried under debris and was able to call Alfred for help before he passed out again.
Alfred dug Batman from the wreckage and took him back to the Batcave. The next morning Batman, realising that the man he fought was not the serial killer due to their wildly different methods, tried to identify the cartoon he was watching to find some kind of clue as to his identity. He discovered that the cartoon was an old series called "Crytoon", and that the man in black was emulating the slapstick violence of the show with horrific real-life consequences. He left to rendezvous with Gordon but before he went he told Alfred that he had decided Gotham needed a full-time protector, and that he planned to fake Bruce Wayne's death and live solely as Batman once the case was over.
He looked over crime scene photos of the serial killer's four victims with Gordon and they both deduced that the puncture wounds had been inflicted post-mortem; as the killer would need them lying perfectly still to make the precise pattern, which corresponded to energy points on the human body. Prior to being marked the victims had been killed by a strike to the back of the neck that severed the spinal cord, leaving them paralysed and unable to breathe so they slowly suffocated to death. Gordon matched the method of killing to the thirty year cold case of Franz Ebner, a scientist who had been murdered shortly after being released from prison for killing his assistant. Prior to going to prison, Dr. Ebner had been researching the body's energy field, which suggested another link.
While Gordon went to interview Ebner's old cellmate, Batman sent Alfred to talk to the creator of Crytoon's widow and learn where they archives of the cartoon were. She told Alfred that a producer had bought the rights years ago and the archives were all in storage at his studio's warehouse. She also revealed that the cartoon had been cancelled as it had been linked to a violent incident in a school that her husband's lawyers had hushed up. That night, Batman went to the warehouse to retrieve the archives, but the man dressed as Crytoon was already there. He attacked Batman from behind and then fled in a stolen truck with one of the film reels, taking a security guard hostage.
Batman chased after Crytoon in his thought-controlled car, the Blind Machine. Crytoon tried to lose him by pushing the guard out of the moving truck and off a bridge, but Batman sent the Blind Machine to follow him while he rescued the guard. After saving the man, Batman pursued on foot and, seeing the the Blind Machine was level with Crytoon's car, he ordered it to sideswipe him. However, to his horror the Blind Machine launched itself into the air and came crashing down on the cab of Crytoon's truck, almost killing him. A civilian pulled over by the crash to check on Crytoon, but he took her hostage and ordered Batman to leave or he would kill her.
Batman grabbed the reel from the cab and threatened to burn it, and after a brief standoff Crytoon released the hostage. Batman demanded to know where the explosives he had manufactured were but Crytoon refused to tell him and even encouraged Batman to attack him, saying that he had embarrassed Batman by sparing his life twice.[3]
The Stadtgeist
Batman beat Crytoon in a rage, horrifying the woman he had saved. The police responded and he fled, leaving Crytoon to be arrested by the GCPD. He retreated to the Batcave and called Gordon, telling him that Crytoon had been manufacturing TNT with slave labour and was responsible for the warehouse explosion. He then went into a sensory deprivation tank to calm down, ashamed of himself for losing control.
Later that day, Gordon came to Wayne Manor to speak to Bruce Wayne. Bruce sent Alfred up to to speak with him while he watched from the cave. Gordon told Alfred that a serial killer appeared to be targeting former patients of Charles Quinton and he believed Bruce may be at risk, much to Bruce's shock as he didn't remember Quinton or being in Arkham. Alfred was able to get Gordon to leave, but as soon as he did Bruce came up to confront Alfred. He asked Alfred why he had never talked about his apparent time in Arkham and Alfred told him that Dr. Quinton had instructed him not to in case it triggered another outburst. When he realised that Bruce truly did not remember what had happened on the night his parents had been murdered, Alfred told him about how he had attacked the man and been sent to Arkham.
Bruce realised that more of his memories could be false, and even the idea of becoming Batman may not truly be his. Alfred told him that he needed to discover who Bruce Wayne really was and took him to the assisted living facility where his victim now resided. Despite having maintained his innocence for decades, the man claimed he had murdered Bruce's parents for his mother's necklace, and told Bruce that now he would think about him every night, just like he thought about Bruce. On the drive home Bruce reflected that the man may have just been lying to try to hurt him. They passed a protest outside Wayne Enterprises Tower on the way and the leader of the protest, Nia Garcia, tried to speak with him but he refused.
He then met Gordon again as Batman at the site of the latest murder, which had occurred after Crytoon was arrested and proved that he was not the serial killer. Gordon also showed Batman a symbol that Crytoon had drawn in his own blood, a triangle with two crossed lines drawn through it. Batman noticed that the crime scene had been tampered with and items had been removed, meaning that some police officers were in on whatever was going on. He also discovered a talisman in the shape of a small cross between some floorboards. Gordon became annoyed by Batman's arrogant attitude and stormed off.
Alfred was able to match the symbol to a clock on the Hotel Townsend, a supposedly abandoned tower in Gotham's historic west side. Batman found the tower heavily guarded and attacked from the roof. As he fought the guards he fell through a skylight into a chamber behind the clock filled with masked people in white robes and a man on a throne who told him "Welcome home, child".[2]
Dark Aura
Bruce demanded to know who they were and the man on the throne replied that he was Doctorgeist, the grandmaster of the Stadtgeist; but the real question should be who Batman was. Batman remembered the demon cub with the broken wing and realised that the Stadtgeist were responsible for whatever had been done to him. He charged at Doctorgeist, demanded to know what he had done, but Doctorgeist dodged with remarkable speed and Bruce smashed his throne while trying to punch him. Doctorgeist shocked him at the energy point at the base of his skull to release the memory lock Quinton had implanted. While Bruce was spasming from the shock, Doctorgeist told him that fate took Bruce away from him, but the chaos spread by Crytoon had brought him back. Doctorgeist called in a hulking swordsman named Wounder and set him on Batman, so Bruce would need to either embrace his rage to fight him off or die.
Batman grabbed one of Wounder's swords and slashed him, then attacked the Stadtgeist in a berserk rage. Three of the robed people pulled off their masks, revealing that they were teenaged infiltrators, and helped him fight the Stadtgeist. Doctorgeist shocked Batman harder in the chest, sending him flying back and crashing through the wall. The three teenagers picked up the unconscious Batman and escaped the hotel.
Batman's rescuers were members of a group called the Ratz who were also opposed to the Stadtgeist.
They took him into the sewers and to their secret headquarters in the city's service tunnels, where they delivered him to their leader Sage. Sage recognised what Doctorgeist had done to Batman and was able to stabilise the process to prevent his brain dying. The memory lock in his mind broke down, allowing him to remember everything after his parent's deaths and what Quinton had done to him.
Sage knew that Batman would be in a violent and disoriented state when he woke up, and so assigned his largest and strongest follower "Big Mus" to watch over him. Bruce eventually came out of his coma and immediately knocked "Big Mus" out, then climbed up into the network of pipe along ceiling of the room. When Sage and another member of the Ratz called Lady Rat came in he dropped down to attack them, but Lady Rat was able to catch and judo throw him across the room, knocking him out again. Sage locked Bruce in a cage, afraid of what may have been awakened in him. Bruce was able to lure a homeless man named Wilbur to the bars and stole his cross necklace, then carved it down into a key.
Bruce escaped the cage and stole the passed-out Wilbur's hat and coat. He made his way out of the Ratz's homeless encampment and climbed a service ladder into the subway. As he walked along the tracks he half-wished that a train would come and kill him so he wouldn't have to deal with the emotions that had been awakened in him. When he reached a station he climbed onto the platform and tried to use a payphone to call Alfred, but they had all been vandalised. He tried to get a civilian to give him their phone but they all ignore him, and when someone bumped into him he explodes, screaming at the people around to look at him. He tried to calm himself and noticed a vagrant sleeping nearby, realising that people were deliberately avoiding him because they thought he was a mentally ill unhoused.
Suddenly, Bruce heard sounds of slashing behind him, and turned to see that Wounder had murdered everyone on the platform. Enraged, Bruce leapt at him and kicked Wounder off the platform onto the rails. Bruce remembered that what is inside him is more than rage; it is power. He impassively watched as an oncoming train ran Wounder over and he was splattered with the man's blood. He smiled slightly and calmly sat down on the platform. Nia Garcia was on the train and when it stopped she was directly in front of him. They made eye contact through the window.[1]
Batsuit: Batman's costume is heavily armoured to protect him from harm. Although it does not make him invincible, it does allow him to survive things which would kill him if he were unprotected, such as being in an exploding building or hit over the head with an anvil.
Sensors: His cowl incorporates microphones that allow Batman to increase the sensitivity of his hearing, and lenses that allow him to see in infra-red.
Blind Machine: The Blind Machine is a high performance car made of impenetrable metal and with no windows, making it almost indestructible. A network of micro-cameras linked to sensors in his mask allow Batman a 360 degree field of view of the outside while in the car. Batman can control the Blind Machine with his thoughts using circuitry built into his cowl.
This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Batman Family members" category.
