Earth 2 Annual #2 is an issue of the series Earth 2 Annual (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 2014. It was published on January 29, 2014.
Synopsis for "Origin"
The story begins in 1979. Young Bruce Wayne is walking down a dark alley with his parents Thomas and Martha when he sees them suddenly gunned down by a mysterious murderer. Thomas reaches up to his son and says "Bruce...I'm sorry..." with his last breath. The murderer looks at Bruce and says "You got lucky, kid" before he disappears into the night.
In 1994, Bruce Wayne as Batman visits the Gotham Morgue and recognizes a body as that of Joe Chill, the murderer of his parents. Chill has his skull caved in by someone with enhanced strength using their bare hands, just like the last three victims Batman has investigated. The victims all had links to the Falcone crime family, yet Alfred the butler points out that everything Batman uncovered about Chill points to his being nothing but a petty criminal. Batman decides to sneak into the home of Frankie Falcone to see if he has any answers regarding Joe Chill.
Alone in Frankie's bedroom, Batman covers Falcone's mouth and injects him with a truth serum, warning him not to scream or call out or else things will end very badly for him. Frankie says that he knew about the deaths of his top guys Mario Boroni, Paolo Balotelli, and Fabio Maldini, but Joe Chill was a professional that he only used once to deal with a "traitorous punk" named Thomas Wayne. Batman asks how he knew Thomas, and Frankie speaks of the time he was the victim of a drive-by shooting, when Thomas used a piece of torn clothing to help save Frankie's life. Frankie repaid Thomas' efforts by inviting him to a party at the Falcone estate, where Thomas would meet his future wife Martha.
Thomas, Martha, Frankie, and Alberto enjoyed parties together, although Alberto eventually died of an overdose, until Thomas and Martha had a baby together and started to clean up their lives. Thomas tried to end the relationship he had with Frankie, but Frankie threatened to ruin Thomas before he would let his friend walk away. Thomas landed a punch in Frankie's face and told his friend that he knew things and that he would talk if Frankie ever threatens him again. Frankie responded by sending his three hit men to rough up Thomas, but they soon got Jarvis, the Waynes' chauffeur, fending them off with a telescopic walking stick.
Soon, Batman and Frankie hear somebody entering the Falcone estate, and the Dark Knight realizes that somebody is coming for Falcone. Leaving Frankie chained to a radiatior until he returned, Batman goes downstairs to see a masked man with a gun murdering the men in Falcone's household. Batman tries to get the gun out of the masked man's hands, but the masked man easily picked up Batman and threw him into a chair. The masked man calls out for Francesco Falcone, telling him to stop hiding behind his thugs. Batman tells the masked man he knows why he's here, that he knows about the Waynes, and that he's going to put Falcone in a prison cell. He tries to reason with the masked man that he wants to see Falcone pay for his crimes, but the masked man clubs Batman and runs off, though not before Batman manages to stick a tracking bug on the masked man's jacket so he could follow him.
The trail leads to an apartment that is near Crime Alley, and as Batman enters the apartment through the window leading from the fire escape, he thinks that the man inside injecting himself with a needle is Jarvis Pennyworth. The man pulls his gun and shoots Batman in the chest, causing him to fall backwards and crash through the window before the man grabs him and threatens him with a gun, demanding to know how the Batman knew Jarvis' name. Then the man sees something about Batman that he recognizes from somewhere, and Batman also sees that the man who shot at him was none other than his own father Thomas.
With Bruce's wounded tended to and his son resting, Thomas tries to tell him that he had to make it look like he died so that Bruce could live. He was tended to in the hospital by Leslie Thompkins the nurse, and then disappeared into hiding. He recently started taking a strength enhancing drug called Miraclo, which he stole from his old friend Rex Tyler, so he could have the strength to deal with the Falcone household, and tells Bruce that once Frankie is gone, he could have his old life back. Bruce reacts negatively to what his father told him, saying that people like what his father became are the very reason that he became Batman, and walks out of the apartment, leaving his father to return to the Falcone estate to finish what he started, letting Frankie see the face of his killer before he died.
In the present, Thomas Wayne is telling the story to the heroes assembled in the Batcave so that they may know the kind of man they were following. He tells them he cleaned up his life and tried to see Bruce, but his son turned him away, although Thomas continued to watch the events of Bruce's life unfold, such as his marriage to Selina and the birth of his daughter Helena. On the day that Bruce died saving the world, Thomas realized that the one thing he could do for his son is to honor him and what he stood for, to take up the mantle of the Bat, to atone for his sins by helping the world, by becoming something better than what Thomas Wayne ever was -- by becoming Batman. Red Tornado tells Thomas that he would need to keep taking the drug, which Thomas confirms. He says that the drug probably has a hold on him, but he's sixty-five and he can't be Batman without it, and it doesn't matter to him anymore because everyone he loved is dead and he has no one left to disappoint.
Appearing in "Origin"
Featured Characters:
- Batman (Thomas Wayne) (Flashback and main story)
- Batman (Bruce Wayne) (Dies in flashback)
Supporting Characters:
- Alfred Pennyworth (Flashback only) (First appearance)
- Jarvis Pennyworth (Flashback only) (First appearance)
- Red Tornado
- Hawkgirl
Antagonists:
- Joe Chill (Dies in flashback) (First appearance)
- Falcone Crime Family
- Frankie Falcone (Dies in flashback) (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Alberto (Dies in flashback) (Single appearance)
- Mario Borini (Dies in flashback) (Single appearance)
- Paolo Balotelli (Dies in flashback) (Single appearance)
- Fabio Maldini (Dies in flashback) (Single appearance)
- Martha Wayne (Dies in flashback) (First appearance)
- Leslie Thompkins (Flashback only) (First appearance)
- Selina Kyle (Flashback only)
- Helena Wayne (Flashback only)
- Rex Tyler (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Earth 2
- Gotham City (Flashback and main story)
- Crime Alley (Flashback only)
- Batcave (Flashback and main story)
- Gotham City (Flashback and main story)
Items:
Notes
- In the print version of the annual, Frankie's last name is Falcone. However, in the digital version, Frankie's last name is Francavilla.
- The mobsters Mario Borini, Paolo Balotelli and Fabio Maldini are named after footballers Mario Balotelli, Paolo Maldini and Fabio Borini.
See Also