Bruce Wayne (The Imposter)

Last week Gotham had its first night with zero violent crimes in fifty-four years. That didn't happen because of the cops. It's not because of the mayor. Or the D.A. It's not because Gotham City suddenly grew a conscience. It's because of me.

— Bruce Wayne ^src

The Batman (real name Bruce Wayne) is the angry and mentally unstable vigilante protector of Gotham City, and the reclusive head of Wayne Enterprises in his civilian identity. Using a combination of tactics and gadgetry to fight crime, he was forced to fight an imposter Batman in his city.

History

Bruce was born in Gotham City to as the son of the wealthy Thomas and Martha Wayne. At a young age Bruce watched as his parents were brutally gunned down in front him by a mugger. As a result, Bruce was left in the care of the Wayne's family butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Shortly after his parents' murder, an eleven-year-old Bruce began attending therapy sessions with Leslie Thompkins to help him deal with his anger. Once Bruce's outbursts of anger became too much for Alfred to handle, he suggested Bruce be put on medication to help calm him. When Leslie refused, Alfred decided to quit as Bruce's butler, after which Bruce was sent to military school in Russia.

As Bruce grew older he became determined to stop crime in Gotham. After briefly spending time studying at Yale University, Bruce decided to drop out and travel the world to obtain the skills he would need to combat criminals. Part of Bruce's training was spent in Brazil.

After six years of training, Bruce returned to Gotham to begin his mission. Bruce decided to design a bulletproof resembling that of a bat to strike fear into the hearts of criminals. Over the course of his first year as a vigilante, Batman quickly became the scourge of Gotham's criminal underworld, with many considering him an urban myth. Bruce set up a network of zip lines around the city in order to travel from one part of the city to another quickly and make it appear as if Batman could fly in the night sky, further adding to the idea that Batman wasn't human. Bruce also hid several motorcycles at various spots across Gotham and began using sewer tunnels to move across Gotham undetected.

During his first year, Batman formed a working relationship with GCPD Captain James Gordon. The two discovered evidence that a number of judges were taking bribes from crime families to throw cases and let criminals go free. When it was discovered by the GCPD that Gordon and Batman were working together, Gordon was fired and the judges were set free without any of the crime family members being charged. Because of this, several of the judges' cases were overturned, putting multiple dangerous criminals back on the streets. After Gordon was fired, Batman continued stopping crime in Gotham on his own. During his second year, Batman stopped Joe Rigger from blowing up a Wayne Enterprises building. Despite managing to stop Rigger, the incident resulted in the deaths of fourteen people.

By the time of his third year, Batman became increasingly more violent in his efforts to stop criminals. One night after stopping three robbers from robbing a convenience shop, Bruce was heavily injured and made his way to Leslie Thompkins'. Leslie awoke to find Bruce unconscious and bleeding on the floor and discovered his identity as Batman. When Bruce woke up, Leslie forced him to recount him stopping the robbery. Bruce explains he became Batman to control his rage in order to make Gotham City a better place. After deciding not to call the police, Leslie tells Bruce that he can leave her place, but on the condition that every morning at dawn Bruce must meet up with her to talk about his methods.

Meanwhile, a man named Mr. Wesker is not happy about Batman being in Gotham City and wants Detective Blair Wong to arrest him. Detective Wong learns that someone dressed as Batman has been killing innocent people and the Gotham City Police Department decides to arrest the Batman killer. Bruce meets up with Leslie and tells her that he isn't the killer, and confronted The Loman Family and Penguin about it, but they also denied hiring someone to be the killer. Bruce and Detective Wong deduce that the imposter is targeting criminals in the upper class and may have a personal vendetta against the victims. Wong meets up with Bruce to talk about Batman and asks him if he's selling motorcycles to Batman, but Bruce successfully convinces her to leave. As Leslie waits for Batman, she recalls Bruce being in fights at a young age. Batman arrives and tells Leslie he was late because he went to Mr. Wesker's company to get technology to find the imposter. Batman gets in a fight with a couple of guards and escapes after successfully managing to hack Wesker's network and meeting Arnold Wesker who wants Batman to kill his father.

Bruce recounts what happened with Detective Wong to Leslie Thompkins, and realizes that the Batman imposter is targeting criminals. Bruce also realizes that Wong can help him catch the imposter because she has a similar backstory to him, which he can take advantage of. The next day, Bruce and Detective Wong bond and have sex. Bruce dresses up as Batman, and realizes that the majority of the victims were sentenced by the same judge named Alex McCard. Batman confronts McCard, but he tells Batman that the victims were set free after Batman and Jim Gordon exposed the judges' corruption during his first year. Bruce realizes that the imposter is killing the victims to clean up Batman and Gordon's mistake.

Detective Wong asks Mr. Wesker to let her access the surveillance network while Batman tries to find Otis Flannegan, an accomplice of the Batman killer. Batman attacks Wong, Otis and her partner Hatcher and abducts Otis to a secret location and asks Hatcher who the imposter is, but Otis says he doesn't know. Detective Wong and Hatcher then gather more guns to take down Batman.

Otis Flannegan commits suicide in the police department, but not before revealing the Batman imposter had a hideout in the sewers. Batman confronts the imposter but the Gotham Police arrive and start shooting at Batman. Batman is wounded heavily and caught by Wong. Batman reveals his identity to convince Wong he isn't the killer, and she lets him go. Bruce meets with Leslie to tell her he won't be attending her therapy sessions anymore. Leslie tries convincing Bruce that Batman isn't the solution to Gotham's crime problem, claiming Bruce Wayne could donate to charity to make Gotham City a better place but Bruce ignores her. Bruce realizes the imposter is using guns from Lawrence Loman, a criminal who wanted to become the Kingpin of Gotham, but was stopped by Batman and Gordon. Batman meets up with Detective Wong to ask her for help and asks her to meet alone. They meet up, but Wong is shot by the Batman Imposter. As Batman fights the imposter, the Imposter reveals himself to be Wong's partner Hatcher who tells Batman the reason why he's killing the criminals is because of Batman and Gordon's relationship putting hundreds of violent criminals back on the streets. Batman and Wong manage to defeat the imposter, and allows himself to be arrested by Wong.

Batman asks Wong if she arrests him, would Gotham City be safe, and Wong decides to let him escape. Batman meets up with Arnold Wesker, but instead of turning Arnold in, Batman leads him to Leslie Thompkins and visits his parents grave before vowing to help Gotham City as Bruce Wayne.

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Peak Human Condition
- Athleticism
Martial Arts
Genius Level Intellect
- Tactical Analysis
- Science
  - Gadgetry
  - Mechanical Engineering
  - Chemistry
  - Forensic Pathology
- Investigation
Intimidation
Interrogation
Indomitable Will
Stealth

Other Characteristics

Mental Disorder: After the death of his parents, Bruce suffered from immense trauma, and Leslie Thompkins was quick to diagnose him with acute anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other diagnoses. Along with conditions related to his trauma, Leslie also speculated he may be on the autism spectrum.^[1]
- Obsession

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Transportation

Batmobile
Batcycle

Weapons

Batarang

Notes

Batman's outfit in the comic is based on the outfit of the version of the character appearing in the then-recent film The Batman, which Mattson Tomlin, The Imposter's writer, co-wrote the screenplay for.

Trivia

When asked by Leslie Thompkins why he doesn't just donate all of his money to various charities to help better Gotham, Bruce states that the terms of his parents' estate only allows him to inherit one million dollars annually until he turns thirty.^[2]
Bruce doesn't drink coffee and instead drinks chai tea and owns eight hundred pounds of it.^[3]