The only kind of talk possible for a man who is a prisoner. The kind of talk that comes from a man who has not stood in a room with another person -- or touched or smelled or laughed with another person -- in hundreds of years. The kind of talk that comes from -- the loneliest man the world has ever known. 
- — Sir William src
History
The story of Sir William begins in Arthurian England. Sir William was one of the original Knights of the Round Table. However, he was seduced by Morgan La Fey and convinced to fight King Arthur with her magic. Although he was unsuccessful and Morgan La Fey was stopped, Sir William was still held accountable. Trapped in his Castle (the Castle Bat), he was enchanted by the wizard Merlin that he could never leave the castle until he had atoned for his misdeeds. As a knight who went rogue, William was written out of every version of the legend of King Arthur from "Le Morte d'Arthur" and onward. And so he remained alone for centuries.
Soon after the death of the second Atom, Sir William discovered that he could project his spirit into his armor and have it walk free, performing good deeds. His armor protected London as Batman, the Dark Knight.
Sir William became a great ally of the Secret Six and allows them the use of his castle, which unseen to Superman and his oppressive regime, in their fight for their freedom. Their fight soon led to an alliance with the heroes of New Earth, in which Sir William met his New Earth counterpart.[1]
In the course of the fighting, Batman was sent to New Earth to carry on the fight. There, he fought the Ultra-Humanite and was apparently killed. However, a spark of life remains in the armor, so it is unknown if Sir William is alright or not.[2]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Spirit Projection: Ability to project his spirit into inanimate objects, he uses his ability to inhabit his former suit of armor.
Abilities
- Combatant: Due to professional knight training and centuries of experience Sir William is masterful at sword fighting.
- Occultism
Weaknesses
Curse: Sir William is cursed to never be able to leave his castle physically, until his sins have been redeemed.
Notes
- While designing the Tangent Batman, Dan Jurgens and his fellow creators had tried hard to invoke a different interpretation of Batman, which include making him a "Man-Bat creature" and a former World War II intelligence officer who employs several operatives to fight crime and injustice. The final design eventually came to being when realizing Batman's other name: the Dark Knight, and it immediately became the basis for the character. Also, Dan Jurgens related that the remaining challenge in creating Batman was his bat ears; stating that "if you don't use bat ears, what can you possibly do to create the notion of being named after a bat?"[3]
- Batman's armor was made to look as different as possible from the armor worn by Azrael during his time as Batman in Knightfall.[3]
Related
- 20 Appearances of Sir William (Earth-9)
- 9 Images featuring Sir William (Earth-9)
- 3 Quotations by or about Sir William (Earth-9)
- Character Gallery: Sir William (Earth-9)
Footnotes
Template:Tangent Character