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Quote1 Vengeance won't change the past, mine or anyone else's. I have to become more. People need hope. To know someone's out there for them. The city's angry, scarred, like me. Our scars can destroy us. Even after the physical wounds have healed. But if we survive them, they can transform us. They can give us the power to endure... and the strength to fight. Quote2
The Batman src

The Batman (real name Bruce Wayne) is the wrathful and obsessive vigilante protector of Gotham City, and the quiet, reclusive head of Wayne Enterprises in his civilian identity. Driven by grief, he uses a combination of genius tactics and advanced gadgetry to investigate and fight criminals such as the Riddler and Carmine Falcone, and instill hope in the city's people.

Origins

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A young Bruce with his parents

Bruce Wayne was born in 1992 in Gotham City, New Jersey to wealthy socialites Martha Arkham and Thomas Wayne, heads of Wayne Enterprises. At ten years old, his parents were shot and killed by a mugger in front of him, leaving him traumatized for life and in the care of the family butler, the protective and wry Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred taught Bruce to use his built-up trauma and rage to fight, hoping to help him heal, but instead driving the boy to become angry and closed off as a teenager. At seventeen, Bruce began honing his skills as a scientist, practicing forensics work and renovating a muscle car into a powerful machine, making himself a genius as well as an advanced fighter.

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Vengeance for Gotham

As an adult in 2020, seeing all the crime and injustice in Gotham City drove him to use his skills as a vigilante, donning a bat-like armored suit and taking on the name "The Batman" to strike fear into criminals and rid Gotham of crime and corruption, all while Alfred acted as his tech and tactical support. In his civilian identity, he took over Wayne Enterprises, and became a quiet recluse who rarely appeared in public, hyper-focused on pursuing his war on crime.

One of the Batman's early missions saw him take down an arms export into Gotham directed by ruthless crime lord Carmine Falcone's top lieutenant, the Penguin. They would become two of his most bitter enemies over his first two years of crimefighting. He eventually formed a working relationship with the Gotham City Police Department, even forming a friendship with steely and determined lieutenant Jim Gordon, and was able to be summoned by the police using the Bat-Signal. He and Gordon investigated several crimes in Gotham, and brought to justice criminals like the Joker.[1][2][3]

The Riddler killings

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Tension with Alfred

In 2022, two years after starting crimefighting, the Batman realized he wasn't making the impact he wanted, and that crime was on the rise despite knowing he'd made criminals deathly afraid of him, all in the name of vengeance. His relationship with Alfred was also straining, with Alfred becoming more anxious and concerned for him while he became more abrasive, and Wayne Enterprises was beginning to financially collapse thanks to his neglect of the company.

On Halloween, the Batman and Gordon investigated the murder of Mayor Mitchell, whose corpse had been left with a riddle and cipher addressed to the Batman. Batman and Alfred solved the cipher, locating a thumb drive with evidence of the mayor's extramarital affairs with a woman named Annika Kosolov at the Iceberg Lounge, which the killer, calling himself the Riddler, then sent out to the press, before murdering the police commissioner and announcing to social media that he was exposing Gotham's lies and corruption.

The Batman made his way to the Iceberg Lounge to question its head, the Penguin, who claimed to known nothing, but the Batman noticed bartender Selina Kyle seemed to know Annika. He followed her to her home and then to Mayor Mitchell's, where he discovered Mitchell had taken Annika's passport and locked it in a safe, Selina, being her roommate, trying to get it back for her so she could flee the country. When they went to go talk to Annika at her and Selina's apartment, they found the place ransacked and Annika missing.[2]

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Teaming up with Selina Kyle

After the Batman investigated the commissioner's murder and failed to profile the Riddler with the incarcerated Joker[3], Selina agreed to help him to find her friend, and so she infiltrated the Iceberg Lounge while wearing a special contact lens that allowed her to record what she saw for Batman. While there, Selina came across District Attorney Colson, and discovered that he was on the payroll of Carmine Falcone. When Batman discovered that Selina and Falcone had some kind of relationship, he pressed her for more information, but she decided to leave him on his own, removing the contact lens and leaving him alone.

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Trying to save Colson

The following day, Bruce attended the funeral of Mayor Mitchell the following day. While Bruce was talking with the surviving mayoral candidate, Bella Reál, the funeral was crashed by Gil Colson, who had a time bomb fastened around his neck, a cellphone taped to his hand, and a letter taped to his chest addressed "TO THE BATMAN". Bruce changed into his Batman armor and, through a video call, came face to face with the Riddler. The Riddler taunted the Batman, and insisted he was a part of the conspiracy as well. He then threatened to detonate the bomb if Colson didn't answer three riddles, and while the Batman helped him answer the first two, Colson refused to give up "the rat", an informant who helped the police take down Salvatore Maroni's drug ring, afraid for his family. The Riddler gleefully detonated the bomb, killing Colson and knocking Batman unconscious.

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Interrogating the Penguin

Batman awoke in the GCPD headquarters, where he met up with Gordon and worked out their next move. They deduced that the rat may be the Penguin, and tracked him down to a drug dealing, which they worked out was part of Maroni's still functioning drug operation, now run by different people, and with several police officers involved, including narcotics investigator William Kenzie. Batman and Gordon's plan to interrogate the Penguin was interrupted by the arrival of Selina Kyle, who had deduced that her friend was there. A fight broke out, and the Batman ended up chasing the Penguin before catching and interrogating him, discovering him not to be the rat, but then being directed by the Riddler to investigate the remains of the Gotham Orphanage, which had been run by Thomas Wayne and Martha Arkham before their deaths.

Investigating the orphanage, Gordon and the Batman discovered that the Riddler had been a resident of the orphanage as a child, and that he held a grudge against Thomas, which was transferred over to Bruce after Thomas' death. Just then, a packaged bomb arrived at Wayne Tower with yet another riddle, and was remotely detonated by the Riddler, critically wounding Alfred. Bruce arrived home only for Alfred to be hospitalized, and still being no closer to figuring out what the Riddler's end goal was.

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Bruce's intense investigation

He began obsessing even more over his tests and clues, trying to find the connection, all before the Riddler leaked evidence that Thomas Wayne had tried to cover up his wife's history of mental illness by working with Falcone, which resulted in the death of a reporter. Bruce went to visit Alfred in the hospital, who confirmed the Riddler's story, adding that Thomas never wanted Falcone to kill the reporter, and that it seemed Falcone had the Waynes killed to keep them from going to the police about it. Despite this, Bruce began to question if he was really doing the right thing, and that if his journey to try and use his rage to instill fear in criminals was really worth it, or even all that noble.

Regardless, the Batman was summoned by Selina Kyle and Gordon, the former of whom had discovered that Falcone, who she revealed was her father, had her friend Annika killed because she learned from Mitchell that Falcone was the rat, and that he in fact controlled most of Gotham City through his criminal operations and political connections. Selina and Batman both went to confront Falcone, and Batman stopped Selina from killing him, instead opting to arrest him outside the Iceberg Lounge. Unfortunately, he was shot by the Riddler from his apartment, and died anyway.

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Confronting the Riddler

The Riddler was finally arrested and unmasked as forensic accountant Edward Nashton, and was incarcerated in the Arkham State Hospital. The Batman met with Edward in Arkham, trying to figure out why he enacted his plan. Edward confessed he was jealous of the wealth and care Bruce received after his parents' murder, feeling completely invisible because he and the other orphans were ignored. He had been inspired by the Batman's crusade of vengeance, and tried to apply the idea of instilling a message through fear. Batman angrily rejected Edward, and Edward revealed that he had planted bombs along the city's seawall, which were then detonated and began flooding the streets.

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Hope for Gotham

The Batman made his way to the city center, where a celebration of the mayoral election of Bella Reál was being held as the flooding continued. He fought off a violent mob of Edward's internet followers, who planned to assassinate the new mayor in the ensuing chaos, even being aided by Gordon and Selina Kyle. During the fight, the realization hit Batman: instilling fear was only creating more problems, and what Gotham needed was a symbol of hope. After taking down the last of Riddler's followers, the Batman aided in the recovery efforts, trying to help people get to safety to avoid the flood waters. When martial law was put into effect across Gotham, Selina decided to leave, despite being rather fond of Batman, and Batman attempted to continue being a symbol of hope his city desperately needed.[2]


Abilities

  • Aviation: Bruce was able to escape from the GCPD by gliding off the top of police headquarters with a wing suit.[2]
  • Peak Human Condition: Bruce keeps in good physical shape and regularly goes to the gym, having designed his own exercise routine to work his muscles for lean strength and speed instead of bulk. This makes him very strong, being able to take down a man with a single punch while holding back his full strength, and very fast, carrying a woman to safety before a fuel tank explosion.[1][2]
  • Martial Arts: Bruce was trained by Alfred in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, and during his college years he studied martial arts with masters in different countries, borrowing moves and tactics from each discipline to become a truly dangerous fighter. He spent thousands of hours perfecting his skills as a fighter to the point where Alfred could no longer catch him off guard.[1] Two years after he began fighting crime, he singlehandedly defeated the Train Gang, defeated Penguin's henchmen in the Iceberg Lounge twice, knocked down Gordon with a single punch, and fought against Riddler's army of followers.[2]
  • Genius Level Intellect: Bruce is academically gifted, being a straight-A student who had repeatedly made the Dean's List at his private boarding school, later graduating at the top of his class and changed his college majors from chemistry to physics to biology.[1] According to the Joker, he is usually ahead of the curve.[2]
  • Intimidation
  • Interrogation
  • Indomitable Will
  • Stealth
  • Driving: Bruce is an expert driver, as he left another driver in the dust and he nearly won his first street race.[1]
  • Throwing
  • Demolitions
  • Disguise: Bruce was able to traverse through crowds in his drifter persona without being recognized.[2]

Other Characteristics

  • Mental Disorder: Bruce seems to suffer from severe depression, anxiety, and potentially some kind of social disorder, given his family's history with mental disorders, obsession over the tragedy in his life, general social isolation, quiet behavior, and occasional violent outbursts of rage. He begins to reevaluate himself and possibly heal in the aftermath of the Riddler investigation, but he is still clearly suffering to a visible extent.[2]

Equipment

Transportation

  • Batmobile: As the Batman, Bruce drives a black muscle car which he personally modified to increase speed. The car features a free-flow, large-diameter true dual exhaust system, a high-flow fuel pump, large-diameter gas lines to get more fuel and air into the engine while keeping the ratio right. The car is powerful but tuned, sporting performance cylinder heads and a supercharger, and the weight has been decreased weight by having the trunk and hood replaced with carbon fiber versions, as well as replacing the panels with ones made from lighter material, and removing everything he deemed unnecessary. Bruce has also contemplated using iridium spark plugs, he shortened the shaft of his gearshift so he could shift through the gears more quickly, he lubricated everything and he cut down the car's wind resistance as much as possible.[1]
  • Batcycle
  • Chevrolet Corvette: Bruce drives a black Chevrolet Corvette to social events in his civilian identity.[2]


  • This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the Batman Saga and is an adaptation of Batman. The original character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane and first appeared in Detective Comics #27.
  • Batman is portrayed by Robert Pattinson, and by Oscar Novak as a child.
  • Matt Reeves was inspired by the late rockstar Kurt Cobain when writing and directing Bruce Wayne.[7]
  • The scene where the Batman interrogated the Joker to learn more about the Riddler was cut from the film, but was later released via the promotional website rataalada.com, which releases material canon to the film's universe.[3]
  • Bruce's character arc in The Batman shares many similarities with Caesar's arc in War for the Planet of the Apes, Reeves' previous film. Both characters learn to let go of vengeance and hate for those who slaughtered their family for the greater good of those they care about, and to let themselves heal.
    • Their greatest enemies are also dark reflections of themselves, with the Riddler reflecting the Batman's angry crusade for justice, and Colonel McCullough mirroring Caesar's crusade of vengeance clouding his responsibilities.
  • The only person known to be aware Bruce is the Batman seems to be Alfred Pennyworth, although it is possible Dory, the Wayne Tower maid, knows as well.[1][2]
  • Bruce is a fan of the band Nirvana and owns an electric guitar.[2]

Related

External Links

Footnotes


Batman Allies
Batman Family member
DC Bullet 2024

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.

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