Bruce Wayne (The World of the Knight)

When Bruce Wayne was eight years old, his family was mugged and his parents were killed. He grew up to become Batman and waged a personal crusade against crime, assisted by his loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth and his young ward Dick Grayson, aka Robin. Batman's world seemed to get worse by the day, suffering an improbable streak of misfortunes: natural disasters, drug epidemics and novel diseases. Batman and Robin were able to maintain law and order in Gotham City, but other cities like Metropolis were carved up between organized crime groups.^[1]

One day, Metropolis crime lord the Spider Lady attempted to break three inmates out of Arkham Asylum. Batman and Robin foiled the escape but the Spider Lady told them that she had learned that a secret society was responsible for the world's ills and that the Asylum's warden was part of it. The two vigilantes handed the criminals over to the police, and while the inmates were returned to the Asylum, the Spider Lady escaped in transit.

Batman decided to investigate her claims and they broke into Warden Luthor's office. Batman stole some files from the warden's computer and discovered that he made regular trips to the Arctic. The Dynamic Duo flew to the coordinates in the Batwing and found a Fortress in the snow. They entered the Fortress and fought their way through the soldiers inside, and in the inner sanctum they found a mysterious hole in reality. A woman identical to the Spider Lady fell out of it.^[2]

They left the Fortress and put the woman on the plane, flying back to Gotham. Batman tried to interrogate her but she told him she was not the Spider Lady; she was Lois Lane, a reporter for the Daily Planet; which was impossible as the Daily Planet had been destroyed two years ago and Lois Lane was missing, presumed dead. A man seemingly flew under his own power out of the Fortress and chased down the plane. Lois identified him as Superman and was shocked that they had not heard of him. Batman initially attempted to neutralize Superman but realized he was on their side when he destroyed aircraft sent after them from the Fortress and let him on the plane. He took the two strangers back to the Batcave and told them how the Daily Planet had been destroyed, which neither of them remembered ever happening. He also revealed that there was no record of Superman anywhere, and he had deduced that they were from another reality and that the Spider Lady was his reality's Lois Lane, who had survived the explosion.

They all went to confront the Spider Lady in Metropolis. Superman flew Lois up to the Spider Lady's headquarters at the top floor of the old Daily Planet building, but before Batman and Robin could follow they were attacked by Warden Luthor, accompanied by mutated Asylum inmates. Luthor ordered the Joker and The Penguin to deal with the Dynamic Duo while he and Jones went after Superman. Batman and Robin managed to foil the freakish villains and also flew up to the top floor in rocket seats. The Spider Lady held Luthor and Jones off while the rest escaped though another hole in reality.^[1]

They emerged in a cavern which Batman instantly recognized as the site of the Batcave and were attacked by security robots which the heroes easily destroyed by working together. Superman and Lois heard their friend Jimmy Olsen call for help and rushed off to help him. Batman led Robin up a nearby staircase, and Robin realized they were beneath the other reality's Wayne Manor. Batman emerged into the Manor from the secret entrance and found that it was still decorated the way it had been in his youth before his parents were killed. He saw another version of himself cowering behind his mother, who was alive in this world. While Batman was frozen in shock the other Martha Wayne dispassionately shot him in the shoulder. Batman used a high-frequency transmitter to call Superman for help and he and Robin jumped out of the window. They landed in the Batmobile which was being carried by Superman.

Superman flew them back to Metropolis and cauterized Batman's wound. Batman was awed by the beauty and peace of this other Metropolis and Superman told him Jimmy had learned from their world's Lex Luthor that Martha Wayne was part of the secret society, working for a man named Dr. Atom, who was also the leader of the Fortress they had visited. Martha sent criminals from her world to The World of the Knight and in return Dr. Atom gave her advanced technology, which turned The World of Tomorrow into a near-utopia at The World of the Knight's expense. Jimmy had also slipped Luthor a phone and he called to tell them that Martha was taking him to Gotham Cemetery to deliver him to Dr. Atom. Superman, Batman and Robin arrived just a little too late to save Luthor, and Martha injected the other Bruce with a serum developed by Dr. Atom, which granted him superhuman strength. As Superman was weakened by Dr. Atom's Kryptonite pendant, he was unable to fight the other Bruce, but when Robin stole it and Superman regained his full strength, he easily knocked Bruce out with a single blow. Martha attempted to flee but Batman unmasked and when Martha realized that her schemes had hurt another version of her son she surrendered.

They unmasked Dr. Atom and realized to their shock that he was yet another Lex Luthor from a destroyed reality. He told them that their worlds were the creation of Auteur.io, who was trying to create a perfect world, and that he had been trying to turn The World of Tomorrow into a utopia to save it from Auteur.io's wrath. Dr. Atom broke free and jumped through the burn hole, with Superman, Batman and Robin chasing him. They all jumped through the hole into the higher reality, which was populated by giant versions of themselves.^[3]

Auteur.io trapped the real-world versions of Superman and Batman in a Phantom Zone crystal, then noticed his creations. He attempted to destroy them, and Dr. Atom sacrificed himself to injure the mad god. Auteur.io fled into one of his worlds to heal, and the three heroes chased him into The Planet Rann and met up with Alanna, the hero of that world. Auteur.io attacked them in the form of a Mammoth Quake Worm. He offered Superman the chance to continue Dr. Atom's work, but he refused and in response Auteur.io ate him. Alanna led Auteur.io back to her father's laboratory, where Batman used an experimental weapon called the Tornado Cannon to blast Auteur.io and he spat out Superman. While being blasted parts of Auteur.io's armor came away, revealing a being inside which begged for help. Auteur.io's armor reformed when the gun ran out of power and he fled through another burn hole.

The four heroes followed him into the Desert of Doom and met up with El Diablo, who was trying to stop a runaway train. The group was attacked by robots working for Auteur.io who El Diablo shot down. They realized that Auteur.io had taken the form of the steam engine itself and Batman uncoupled him from the train. Auetur.io attacked the five heroes, and Batman told Superman to fly around him at high speed to create a vortex which stripped off his armor, revealing the being within. He told them that he was an ancient god of stories who had been forgotten centuries ago and eventually corrupted by the internet. The armor reasserted itself and took back control, and Auteur.io announced that he would destroy Superman's world as punishment for his insolence.^[4]

Auteur.io returned to the superseding reality and unleashed a horde of demons led by Etrigan on The World of Tomorrow. Superman flew the heroes to a nearby burn hole and found themselves surrounded by the various realities in the Archive of Worlds. Superman was able to hone in on his home reality by listening for Jimmy Olsen's signal watch. They entered The World of Tomorrow and found it under attack by demons. Batman, Robin, Alanna and El Diablo protected the people while Superman raced off to the Daily Planet to rescue his friends from Etrigan.^[5]

Superman learned that Etrigan was going to his Fortress of Solitude to get the advanced weapons stored there. He, Batman and Robin flew to the Fortress in the Batwing and were attacked by the Superman Robots. The plane was forced to crash land but the three of them managed to defeat the robots by targetting their weak spots. They entered the Fortress and found Etrigan, but they were able to convince him to come with them to confront Auteur.io. Etrigan freed the "superseding instances" of Superman and Batman, who overpowered Auteur.io. The two Supermen split The World of Tomorrow from the demon's world, while the two Batmen reprogrammed Auteur.io's armor, transforming him into Observer.io.^[6]

Superman and Batman created a dimensional nexus between their two worlds called The Fortress of the Knight, allowing easy travel between the two. In The World of Tomorrow the other Bruce Wayne, now calling himself Bizarro Two-Face had broken out of prison. As Batman was more experienced in dealing with psychopathic supervillains he and Robin crossed over to deal with it while Superman handled Warden Luthor's takeover of Metropolis in The World of the Knight. Batman deduced that Bizarro Two-Face would go after his mother on Sunday, which was Father's Day. In Bizarro Two-Face's twisted mind, attacking his mother on Father's Day made perfect sense.

Batman went undercover in Arkham Gardens Rehabilitation Centre where Martha was being held. Despite Robin's best efforts to slow him down, Bizarro Two-Face easily broke in and Batman quickly changed into costume, with Martha recognising him as her son's counterpart. Batman was thrown off by the situation and Bizarro Two-Face was able to overpower him and escape with Martha. The GCPD, led by a softer and much less experienced Commissioner Gordon than Batman was used to, attempted to stop him but only succeeded in getting in the Dynamic Duo's way and the crazed supervillain got away. Batman deduced that Bizarro Two-Face would take Martha to Crime Alley and attempt to reverse the night his father was killed. However, Bizarro Two-Face was plagued by indecision and could not decide if the true opposite of his father dying would be killing his mother or letting her live.

Batman and Robin staked out Crime Alley, and as Batman expected Bizarro Two-Face arrived with Martha, but he still could not decide what to do. Remembering how his former friend Harvey Dent suffered from a similar psychosis, Batman offered him a coin with a marked and unmarked side and suggested he flip it: clean side, he would let Martha go; marked side, he would kill her. The coin came up marked and Bizarro Two-Face announced that he would kill Martha, which in his mind meant let her go, Batman had anticipated this and had palmed the original coin, giving him one which was marked on both sides. While Bizarro Two-Face was distracted, Robin dropped down from the rooftops and slapped a power suppression collar on him, and the Dynamic Duo returned them both to prison.

Batman and Robin went to the cemetery to use the burn hole to get home but they were confronted by the Alfred Pennyworth of The World of Tomorrow. This version of Alfred had been Martha's lover and henchman and was enraged that they had taken her to prison instead of returning her to him. Alfred used a drug to transform into a Doomsday-like creature and attacked them. Superman had dignalled to Batman that he had completed his mission and was in the Fortress of the Knight, so they led Alfred through the burn hole into the Fortress where Superman easily knocked him out. Batman realised that Superman and the Spider Lady, who had accompanied Superman to the Fortress, wanted to be alone and so he took Robin to another room in the Fortress where he kept statues of his parents which Superman had gifted to him.^[7]

Bruce Wayne (The World of the Knight)

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