Batman (Bruce Wayne)

{{DC Database:Character Template
 * Theme                  = Batman
 * Image                  = Batman Vol 2 2 Variant Textless.jpg
 * RealName               = Bruce Thomas Wayne
 * MainAlias              = Batman
 * Aliases                =  Jack Shaw; Matches Malone (See Notes for more)
 * Identity               = Secret
 * Alignment              = Good
 * Affiliation            = Batman Family, Justice League, Outsiders, Guild of Detection; formerly Batman Inc., Justice League International, Justice League of America, Gotham Knights, Justice League: Team Entropy
 * Relatives              = Alan Wayne (great-great-grandfather, deceased) Catherine Van Derm (great-great-grandmother, deceased) Patrick Wayne (grandfather, deceased) Thomas Wayne (father, deceased) Martha Kane Wayne (mother, deceased) Philip Kane (uncle, deceased) Jacob Kane (uncle) Gabrielle Kane (aunt, deceased) Thomas Wayne, Jr. (possible brother, deceased) Kate Kane (cousin) Elizabeth Kane (cousin) Mary Elizabeth "Bette" Kane (cousin) Damian Wayne (son) Dick Grayson (adopted son) Jason Todd (adopted son) Tim Drake (adopted son) see Wayne Family and Kane Family for more
 * Universe               = Prime Earth
 * BaseOfOperations       = Gotham City


 * Gender                 = Male
 * Height                 = 6'2"
 * Weight                 = 210 lbs
 * Eyes                   = Blue
 * Hair                   = Black
 * UnusualFeatures        =


 * Citizenship            = American
 * MaritalStatus          = Single
 * Occupation             = Businessman, Adventurer, Vigilante


 * Creators               = Bill Finger; Bob Kane
 * First                  = Flashpoint Vol 2 5


 * Quotation              = His parents died when he was so young. Shot. Killed right in front of him. He was raised alone. A kid in a huge mansion. With his memories of his mother and father. He had love, and they took it from him. He should be a killer. He should want to tear the world apart for what it did. And yet he took that pain. That shock of death. And he turned it into hope.
 * Speaker                = Superman
 * QuoteSource            = Batman Vol 3 36

Batman is the superhero protector of Gotham City, a man dressed like a bat who fights against evil and strikes fear into the hearts of criminals everywhere. In his public identity he is Bruce Wayne, billionaire industrialist and notorious playboy. Although he has no superhuman powers, he is one of the world's smartest men and greatest fighters. His physical prowess and technical ingenuity make him an incredibly dangerous opponent. He is also a founding member of the Justice League.
 * Overview               =


 * HistoryText            =

Early Life
Bruce Wayne was born to wealthy physician Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha, who were themselves members of the prestigious Wayne and Kane families of Gotham City, respectively.

When he was three, Bruce's mother Martha was expecting a second child to be named Thomas Wayne, Jr. However, because of her intent to found a school for the underprivileged in Gotham, she was targeted by the manipulative Court of Owls, who arranged for her to have a car accident. She and Bruce survived, but the accident forced Martha into premature labor, and the baby was lost.

While on vacation to forget about these events, the Wayne Family butler, Jarvis Pennyworth was killed by one of the Court of Owls' Talons. A letter he'd written to his son Alfred, warning him away from the beleaguered Wayne family, was never delivered. As such, Alfred - who had been an actor at the Globe Theatre at the time and a military medic before that, traveled to Gotham City to take up his father's place, serving the Waynes as butler.

As he grew older, his family's reputation made Bruce restless, and he began sneaking out of school to visit Gotham City, where he wouldn't be so easily recognized. On one such outing, when he was ten years old, he was picked up by Officer Jim Gordon and his partner on their patrol. En route back to the station, Bruce witnessed Jim accepting a trenchcoat as a bribe from a tailor — though neither realized it was a bribe at the time — but Bruce would remember it as an indicator of Jim's character.

After his parents picked Bruce up at the police station, the Waynes went to see at the Monarch Theater. When the Waynes were walking home after the movie, a mugger named Joe Chill attempted to rob them at gunpoint, and panicked, shooting both Thomas and Martha dead.

Later Childhood
Following his parents' deaths, Bruce attempted to commit suicide with a razor blade. However, just before he went through with it, he realized that this wasn't what his parents would want, and it was at that moment Bruce vowed to spend the rest of his life warring on crime.

Bruce became obsessed with the search for meaning in the loss of his parents. He thought perhaps the mythical Court of Owls was responsible, but he never found anything to prove it.

Shortly after their deaths, Bruce became obsessed with using toy guns and killing the man who murdered his parents. Because of this, Alfred sent Bruce to an Arkham boys' rehabilitation home upstate where he first met Harvey Dent. The boys became good friends but wouldn't realize their identities until years later.

In his youth, Bruce attended Gotham Academy. It was there that he dated Julie Madison, but his psychological issues with his parents' deaths ultimately led to the end of their relationship. One day, he was asked by a professor to answer a problem involving a projectile being fired at a target. This triggered Bruce to answer the question by burning the answer on the professor's front yard. Bruce was later expelled from Gotham Academy and began attending Roxbury Fielding Academy.

Troubled by grief, Bruce found that he couldn't function the way he was, so he hired a homeless man to pretend to be Alfred to approve of the paperwork so that Bruce could erase his memory with electroshock therapy, but chose not to go through with it, and to use his pain as a motivator. At the age of 18, he used his relationship with Erin McKillen - a daughter of the Irish mob, and with whom he attended Roxbury Academy - to locate Joe Chill, and learned that he had simply needed the money, and there was no deeper meaning to his parents' deaths.

Travels and Training
Fueled by the loss of his parents, Bruce began a global sojourn, his first stop being in Tibet where he trained in martial arts and sword fighting under Shaolin monks.

At the age of 19, he learned how to race cars in life-or-death situations from Brazilian criminal, Don Miguel. He was also trained in stealth by an unnamed master in the Hida Mountains, in Japan.

At age 21, Bruce studied the ins and outs of technological gadgetry under the guidance of the brilliant inventor, Sergei Alexandrov.

At age 24, Bruce was training in Norway, and after 28 hours of fighting a new opponent each hour, Bruce's determination struck fear into all the Queen's men. Bruce spent time with a nomadic people in the Nigerian desert enduring grueling training. It was during this time that Alfred attempted to contact him, but when Bruce received the phone call, he couldn't bring himself to answer.

Sometime during his time abroad, Bruce also trained with Chu Chin Li and Tsunetomo, two martial arts masters in the Far East and was also arrested for illegal base jumping at Meru Peak.

Bruce traveled to Paris, France, to find Henri Ducard, a skilled manhunter. Bruce also became close training partners with Ducard's son, Morgan. However, when Bruce discovered that Henri killed his targets, he left. This caused Henri to send Morgan after him, but Bruce managed to defeat him, throwing him into Henri's office.

Throughout Bruce's training, he constantly crossed paths with a man known as Ghost-Maker, who was learning skills to become a vigilante too. Bruce and Ghost-Maker were rivals, having fought on a few occasions due to their differing opinions on killing criminals.

Near the end of his travels, Bruce went to the Himalayas to train with Shihan Matsuda, who taught him to fight with the katana. He soon struck up a romance with the sword-sharpener's daughter, Mio. Matsuda warned him against creating personal ties with others, and to embrace his darker side. Matsuda's wife, though encouraged it, and because of Bruce's feelings for her, he inadvertently let an assassin into the Matsuda household. In the following course of events, Bruce discovered that Mio had been hired by Matsuda's wife to seduce him and then kill Matsuda. Both women and Matsuda himself were gravely injured, but before he died, Matsuda warned him that death is what would come of fostering close personal relationships. Taking this lesson to heart, and after seven long years of absence, Bruce finally returned to Gotham at the age of 25.

To formally end his training, Bruce climbed to the top of Wayne Tower and did a base-jump off the top, resulting in a concussion, road rash, & a dislocated shoulder and elbow.

The Zero Year
With only his mission in mind and no care for his legacy as a Wayne, Bruce moved himself out of Wayne Manor and into a brownstone on Park Row from which he based his early attempts to infiltrate the Red Hood Gang after only six weeks back. Despite trying to remain off the grid, Bruce's uncle Philip Kane had kept tabs on him and had also gained control of Wayne Enterprises in Bruce's absence, hiring strategist Edward Nygma, who advised him to have Bruce killed if he wouldn't play ball. Philip outed Bruce's return to the media. When Bruce refused to return to the company while his uncle was selling weapons, Nygma advised Philip to have Bruce killed, and the Red Hood Gang soon attempted just that by blowing up Bruce's brownstone with him inside. Injured, Bruce crawled back to Wayne Manor and, in his father's study, decided to take on the appearance of a bat.

Using the fact that he was outed to his advantage, Bruce called a press conference outside the ACE Chemical plant to expose the Red Hood Gang's plans to the media. The gang attempted to disrupt it, and inside the plant, Bruce used a blackout to debut the Batsuit. Through blackmail, Philip was recruited into the Red Hood Gang, and when he failed to kill the Batman, he was shot dead. In fighting with Red Hood One, Batman knocked the man into a vat of chemicals, and he was thought dead. Despite having won that battle, Nygma returned to detonate an EMP blast that left the entire city in the dark.

Commissioner Loeb declared the Batman a vigilante criminal as Bruce began investigating a series of murders committed by a disgruntled Waynetech employee, while building a jammer to prevent another EMP attack when power was restored. The ex-employee, Dr. Karl Helfern was challenging enough that Batman allied himself begrudgingly with Jim Gordon, and together they learned that Helfern was the Riddler's pawn. Their plan to defeat both men failed, and the jammer was destroyed such that when the power was restored, the Riddler stole complete control of the power grid, shutting it down and flooding the city.

In the following months, the city fell into ruin, with the Riddler nightly challenging the citizens to best him with a riddle in order to earn back civilization. Allying with Jim Gordon and Lucius Fox, Batman planned to locate the Riddler by piggybacking his signal during the challenge. The plan failed, but Batman managed to find the Riddler in the place they'd first met, and best him in a battle of wits, both restoring power and saving the city from an inevitable air-strike. Afterwards, Bruce and Lucius began rebuilding Wayne Enterprises, and Jim Gordon was promoted to Commissioner in Loeb's stead.

The Justice League
While investigating the appearance of Parademons, Batman encountered Green Lantern for the first time, and the two teamed up. Believing them to be aliens, the pair sought Superman for answers, and he attacked them, thinking they were a threat, prompting Lantern to call on The Flash for help until Superman was convinced of their good intentions. Joined by Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Cyborg in fighting off the Parademons attack, the team soon learned that Darkseid of Apokolips was behind the invasion. It was Batman who convinced the heroes to work together as a team, and then secretly traveled to Apokolips in search of a kidnapped Superman, whom he then rescued from Darkseid's torturers. Upon their return to Earth, they forced Darkseid back to his homeworld, and received praise and recognition. Batman insisted that they remain a team in order to maintain public approval.

Year Two and the War of Jokes and Riddles
Not long after the Zero Year, Batman had his first confrontation with the resurfaced Red Hood One, now going by the name "the Joker". The clown had attempted to poison the Gotham Reservoir, only to be stopped by the Bat, and a week after their first meeting, Batman was not only able to figure out that he was the Red Hood One who fell into the vat of chemicals, but also find out who he really was, and also found out where his family lives. But Batman decided, that his name is not important, so he swore that he would never reveal the Joker's real name, because if he reveal the Joker's real name, the media would find Jeannie and her son, who the Joker never knew, which meant the Joker would find them and kill them.

Having created a prototypical version of it during the Zero Year, Jim Gordon took the risk of placing a Bat-Signal on the roof of the GCPD precinct. Batman for awhile worked closely with Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent in a war on organized crime until Dent was scarred with acid by the criminal Erin McKillen.

Approximately a year after Zero Year, the Riddler broke out of prison and spurred a war between himself and the Joker, who had lost the ability to laugh, in what would be called "the War of Jokes and Riddles".

With each side recruiting all the villains they could to fight for them, the city was turned into a war zone for weeks, forcing Batman to choose a side to work with in order for the casualties to stop. Batman begrudgingly chose the Riddler and meticulously took out all of Joker's forces until only the clown was left. When Batman predictably betrayed the Riddler, Nygma surrendered and revealed that he orchestrated the entire war in an attempt to solve the riddle of how to make the Joker laugh again. Furious that Riddler caused the deaths of so many innocent people for something so trivial, Batman lost control and attempted to stab Nygma in the face with a kitchen knife, only to be stopped by the Joker himself - this event becoming one of Batman's greatest failures.

First Robin
Around this time, Bruce took in young circus acrobat Dick Grayson after his parents were murdered by the gangster Tony Zucco. Without knowing Bruce's secret, Dick would sneak out of Wayne Manor at night, hunting Zucco, and the Batman would be there to protect him every time. Eventually, when Bruce was ready, he finally revealed his identity to his ward, but, at that point, Dick had figured it out for himself. With the common goal of justice, the pair began fighting crime as Batman and Robin.

At this point, the Scarecrow became an active criminal and gassed the Dynamic Duo with his fear toxin for the first time.

In one specific mission, Batman and Robin tracked Scarecrow's international operations by following him to Prague. Batman realized that the Scarecrow was dealing with a child trafficker named Mother, who planned to use his experimental "trauma toxin" to create more traumatized children to abduct. Bruce kept this information secret from Dick, convincing him the mission was exclusively to capture Scarecrow. Bruce contacted Mother, pretending to be interested in purchasing a replacement Robin, but the ruse was unsuccessful. Mother escaped and remained dormant for years.

Batman once took Dick on a mission with the Justice League so that the boy could understand his worth as part of a superhero team. Even though Robin was outclassed for most of the mission, Batman assured the boy that, in the future, he wouldn't just be a member of the League - he was bound to be its leader.

Other Early Adventures
Within another year, Barbara Gordon had caught Batman's attention and was recruited into his crusade as Batgirl. Barbara only acted as a hero for less than a year before retiring to focus on her studies. Despite that, her father's position still made her a target, and she was shot by The Joker and remained paralyzed for three years. Following Barbara's injury, Dick decided to quit being Robin and moved on to a new identity for himself as Nightwing.

In an effort to take control of Gotham City, Bane ran Batman ragged, and then broke his back. Some time later, Ra's al Ghul attempted to eradicate the population of Gotham City using the Ebola Gulf-A Virus, and was thwarted by the Batman.

Sometime after that, Batman caught orphan Jason Todd trying to steal prescription drugs from Dr. Leslie Thompkins. Believing that Todd had the potential to turn over a new leaf, Wayne offered him the vacant position of Robin and, when he accepted, trained him for months. However, soon after Jason had become active as a vigilante, he was lured into chasing a woman he believed to be his mother to the middle east - a setup by the Joker - and killed before Batman could save him.

After the death of Jason Todd, Batman became increasingly violent and reckless, which worried a boy named Tim Drake. Tim, who had deduced Dick Grayson's identity as Nightwing, tried to convince Dick to return as Robin once again in order to rein in Batman's rage. When Dick refused, Tim put on a Robin costume to aid Batman and Nightwing in a fight against Two-Face. Tim was of vital help in that fight, and Batman agreed to train Tim as the third Robin. Tim would later leave his identity as Robin to become Red Robin and lead the Teen Titans.

Having encountered Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins some time ago, and fallen in love with his daughter Talia, Bruce was surprised years later when Talia came to Gotham and introduced him to his son, Damian, whom she had grown in a lab at an accelerated rate and trained to lead the League from birth. She intended for Bruce to train their son in the ways she could not, and in the hope of curbing his homicidal tendencies, he took on the boy as Robin to keep a close eye on him.

Not long after taking on Damian, though, Bruce was seemingly killed by Darkseid, having in fact been sent back in time. While Nightwing eventually took on the role of Batman in his stead, training Damian as Robin, Bruce fought his way forward through time. and upon his return, announced that he had been privately funding the Batman, and declared the creation of Batman Incorporated.

The Court of Owls
While Bruce Wayne revealed plans to revolutionize the city of Gotham, the GCPD uncovered a body with ties to the legend of the Court of Owls and a warning of an attempt against Bruce's life. Batman believed the Court of Owls were just a legend, but after taking a meeting with an interested business partner in Lincoln March, Bruce was nearly killed by an assassin dressed like an owl in Wayne Tower. While investigating the assassination attempt, Batman became trapped in an underground labyrinth where the very much real Court of Owls held him for eight days and attempted to drive him insane. Despite this, he managed to break his way into an underground portion of the Gotham River and was found and revived from cardiac arrest by Harper Row.

Urged on by Batman's interference, the Court of Owls elected to resurrect all of their undead Talons from over a century of assassinations, in order to kill off several prominent Gothamites and regain full control of Gotham City. A swarm of assassins attacked Bruce Wayne at his home, but he was able to fend them off using an emergency robot-suit in the Batcave.

After tracking the Court of Owls back to their hideout, Batman found all its members dead - poisoned by their food. Following clues to the ruins of a mental hospital, Batman learned that Lincoln March, his former business partner, was behind the betrayal within the Court. March believed himself to be Bruce's Wayne's younger brother, Thomas Wayne, Jr., and that, when he was a boy, he had been taken in by the Court and raised to believe Martha Wayne was his mother. March grew to resent Bruce and took the role of King of the Owls to win control of the city for himself and to kill Bruce. In their encounter, Lincoln March escaped, leading Bruce to assume the Court of Owls would one day return.

At that same time, a murderous vigilante called NoBody began attempting to win Bruce's son's loyalty away from him, encouraging him to break with Batman's no-kill policy. He soon realized that this man was Morgan Ducard, with whom he had trained in man-hunting some years ago. When Damian declined to join him, NoBody turned on him, and Batman was forced to save him. In the resulting battle, it was Damian who made the final blow and killed NoBody, causing his father to worry if he'd ever be able to train him not to perpetuate the cycle of violence.

Death of the Family
Having waited for nearly a year in hiding, the Joker reappeared at the GCPD Headquarters and killed several officers to signal his return to Batman, and to retrieve his face from the evidence locker, which he had cut off and left behind before his disappearance. The Joker then threatened to recreate one of his first recorded murders with Gotham's Mayor, but he killed all of the guards outside the Mayor's office instead, leaving disturbing frowns instead of the trademark Joker smiles on their faces. Seeing a pattern in Joker's twisted recreations of past crimes, Batman went to the A.C.E. Chemical building, where a distraction provided by a reluctant Harley Quinn allowed the Joker to go to Wayne Manor and attack Alfred.

Once free, Batman returned to the Manor to find a cassette tape revealing that Alfred had been kidnapped and tortured. Confiding in Nightwing, Batman asked him to keep Alfred's kidnapping a secret, insisting that the Joker had not yet deduced his identity. Meeting next at the Gotham Reservoir, the Joker claimed that he did know everyone's identities, and promised to kill each of the allies who had made Batman weak within 72 hours.

Bruce's allies compelled him to admit that after his second encounter with the Joker, he had found one of the Joker's cards in the Batcave, but had never believed that his identity was compromised. Insisting that his allies remain safe in the cave, Batman followed a lead to Arkham Asylum, where he learned that the Joker had taken over without being noticed. There, Batman discovered that the Joker has renovated and rearranged the building into a kind of castle, of which Batman was King, and he was Jester. The only way to find out what happened to his kidnapped allies, whom the Joker had captured in the interim, was to go along with the skit the madman put together and electrocute himself in his hot-wired "throne".

Batman woke at a dinner table in the Batcave surrounded by his allies, all with bandaged faces. Removing the lids from the dinner platters in front of them, the Joker revealed each of their faces. After discovering that the bandages and severed faces were a fake-out, Batman chased down the Joker, who chose to fall into a chasm rather than allow Batman to reveal either of their identities, and spoil his fantasy. Despite everyone being alive and well, Bruce's insistence on keeping secrets the Joker's taunts drove a wedge between he and his family.

The Demon Star & Gotham's Most Wanted
Armed with the League of Assassins' power, Leviathan began taking over the city of Gotham, and in an effort to gain more information, Batman took on the identity of Matches Malone to infiltrate the crime ring. He was, however, betrayed to Leviathan and sentenced to death, requiring Damian - who had been grounded in the Batcave, to defy his father's wishes to save him.

Batman was captured yet again by Man-Bat Commandos and put in a death trap by Talia, who had taken over Wayne Tower in the meantime. Against Batman's wishes, Alfred allowed Damian to leave the Batcave, once again, and help his father. While Batman escaped his death trap, Damian faced the villainous Leviathan agent the Heretic alone. Though he fought well, Damian was no match for it and he was skewered on the Heretic's blade, perishing. Thwarted in avenging his son, Bruce was thrown from the Tower, and later held a small, private funeral for Damian, even as his city was overrun by Leviathan and the Mayor declared him a menace, forcing Wayne Enterprises to cut funding to Batman Incorporated.

Borrowing the Suit of Sorrows to face Talia and the Heretic, Batman transformed himself into a bat-creature After Batman pummeled the Heretic and discovered with disgust that he was a clone of Damian, the Heretic escaped Batman only to be executed by Talia for failing to follow her orders.

Batman and Talia came to a final confrontation in the Batcave, with the woman forcing him to choose between taking her life or giving his life along with his city - with the trick being that she had already poisoned him. In a bid for Batman's life, Wingman offered the Oroboro device Talia sought, as a distraction, as the headmistress of Spyral shot her in the head, freeing the city of Leviathan's grasp.

In the aftermath, Bruce Wayne was arrested, but charges were dropped. Upon his return to the manor, he and Alfred discovered that the corpses of both Damian and Talia had been dug up and stolen by Ra's al Ghul.

Requiem for Damian
Damian's death left Bruce an emotional wreck, compounded by the fact that his romantic interest, Natalya Trusevich had been murdered by the Mad Hatter when he allowed her to get close to him. He began going through the five stages of grief, beginning with denial. Bruce began alienating his family but, after spending time with each of them however, Bruce began to accept that he had lost a son, and that he was not completely responsible, which allowed him to see that Alfred, too, had blamed himself and been going through pain.

While attempting to recover from his grief, Batman was faced with the threat of The Wrath - a cop-killing arms dealer who had a vendetta against the GCPD, but soon defeated him.

Forever Evil
In the hopes of ridding the world of evil, Pandora tried to have members of the Justice League open Pandora's Box for her, believing that their virtuousness would prevent the calamity that occurred when she opened it. Unbeknownst to her, a secret organization was using her as a pawn in a ploy to have the three Justice Leagues come into conflict. The leagues split up in order to discover their own solutions to the puzzle of Pandora's Box. Batman headed the team who believed that there was a scientific explanation for the box and its apparent affect on Superman. Upon their eventual convergence upon the box, the Leagues discovered that it was a doorway to another world, from which the Crime Syndicate emerged, and imprisoned the majority of the Justice Leagues within the Firestorm Matrix.

Only Batman and Catwoman evaded the Syndicate's imprisonment and, after bringing a critically injured Cyborg to S.T.A.R. Labs for repair, learned that Nightwing's secret identity had been revealed by the Syndicate. Together, Batman and Catwoman decided to seek him out and rescue him from imprisonment. While searching for more resources in a Wayne Enterprises storage facility, Bruce and Selina encountered Lex Luthor and his followers, who were also prepared to combat the Syndicate. Their confusion at Batman's survival was smothered by the arrival of Power Ring. Hoping to counter him, Batman donned a Sinestro Corps Ring, only to have it removed and destroyed. Fortunately, Sinestro, himself was drawn by the ring's energy, and killed Power Ring, suggesting that Batman join the Sinestro Corps, if ever he had the opportunity to wear a yellow ring again.

After being forced to follow Lex Luthor's lead, begrudgingly, the pair discovered Nightwing trapped within an Apokoliptian device called the Murder Machine, deep within the ruins of the Justice League Satellite. Dick warned, though, that the device he was strapped to was synced with his heart rate, such that they would either blow up with the device, or they would have to kill him. Despite Dick's begging, Bruce refused to leave him. More decisively, Lex chose to suffocate Dick until his heart stopped, buying them the time to get him out of the machine and then resuscitate him. He had, in fact, given Dick a pill that would stop his heart temporarily, requiring a shot of adrenaline before brain death. Once Dick was revived, he, Batman, and Catwoman escaped to seek out the remainder of the Justice League. With a plan to use Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth to pull the League out of the Firestorm Matrix and Steve Trevor out of action though, Martian Manhunter appointed Batman to be the one to wield the Lasso, because of his connection to Wonder Woman. Using it, he saved the imprisoned heroes while Lex and his allies defeated the Crime Syndicate.

Afterwards, despite his closeness with Catwoman, Batman insisted that they could not start a romance together, and returned home with Dick. Having been presumed dead, Batman offered him an opportunity to take advantage of his compromised identity by joining Spyral. In the meantime, Gotham had become a war zone between the inmates of Arkham Asylum and the inmates of Blackgate Penitentiary the latter of whom were led by Bane. As victor, Bane claimed the mantle of the Bat for himself, requiring Batman to wrest it back from him. When Bane was safely imprisoned in Arkham, Bruce Wayne promised funds to improve the asylum's security and to the city's restoration.

The Big Burn
Soon after taking control of the city again, Batman experienced a blast from the past when Erin McKillen returned to Gotham to meet with the other crime families to take back the city from the "freaks". McKillen's return caused a conflict with Two-Face, who received his famous scars from McKillen. After Batman managed to stop the two from killing each other, McKillen was arrested, her plan thwarted, and Two-Face, disillusioned with his life, shot himself through the head.

Also around this time, Batman and his allies were mind controlled by Scarecrow and a group of Batman's other psychologically-focused foes into believing they were living in Gothtopia, an idyllic version of Gotham. However, Batman broke free of the control before his allies did, and, not realizing the world they were living in was fake, they targeted him for apparently losing his mind. The Bat successfully stopped the Scarecrow and brought his friends back to reality.

Batman Eternal
When a mysterious malefactor came to Gotham City with a yearlong plot to destroy Batman's life, phase one of the mastermind's scheme involved framing Commissioner Gordon for the murders of a derailed train car full of people, which Batman swore to exonerate him for. Simultaneously, the mastermind invited former Gotham mob boss Carmine Falcone back from his refuge in Hong Kong to initiate a gang war with the Penguin, again to add another conflict on Batman's hands. However, despite the corrupt replacement Commissioner Forbes' interference, Batman, with the help of the GCPD, captured the two gang leaders, seemingly putting their war to an end.

While hunting for Hush, a criminal that was hired to participate in the real mastermind's plan, Batman had his first - albeit indirect - encounter with The Spoiler, who used him to save her from assassin Eduardo Flamingo who had been after her because she knew something about the secret of the attack on Gotham.

Another part of the plot to wear down Batman was to resurrect the evil cult leader Deacon Blackfire in Arkham Asylum, but this plan was (mostly) foiled by Batwing and Jim Corrigan. However, the building of Arkham Asylum was destroyed in the process, setting its inmates loose in Gotham. When Batman finally managed to catch Hush, it was too late - Batman had been distracted so long that the real conductor had totally cleaned out all of Batman's secret gadget caches and sold them to his enemies. While still searching for who was behind this complicated conspiracy, Batman set his sights on Ra's al Ghul who, also, was another red herring.

Upon Bruce discovered that while he'd been distracted chasing down leads, the city was on fire, and its infrastructure had been turned against the citizens. He then, at last, received an invitation back to Beacon Tower, to watch the end of everything he cared about. When he arrived, the one who met him there was The Cluemaster. However, despite all the Cluemaster's taunting and explanations as to how he pulled the scheme over on Bruce, he was unexpectedly murdered by the one who had really been behind it all - Lincoln March - the man who believes himself to be Bruce's younger brother. In their battle, Bruce found himself too weak to fight, but was bolstered when Jim Gordon called on the entire city to take on the role of Batman and be heroes for the sake of their own city. Soon, Batman's allies rallied around him, and it was Spoiler who beat March down - though he escaped into the sewers, only to be caught by the Court of Owls.

Following Arkham Asylum's destruction, Batman allowed Wayne Manor to be the temporary home to its inmates, and even went into the new asylum undercover as the dead man "Jack Shaw" to investigate a series of murders. Despite solving the mystery, and having the opportunity to get his home back, Bruce let the city keep the Manor until they were able to erect a permanent replacement in the wake of the recent attack on Gotham.

Robin Rises
Eventually, Batman decided at last to begin the search for Ra's al Ghul and the stolen bodies of Damian and Talia. When Batman had finally tracked down Ra's and successfully defeated him, Damian's sarcophagus was stolen by Glorious Godfrey and taken back to Apokolips. Ignoring the League's dissent, he snuck onto the Satellite to steal a specialized Batsuit designed to help him survive against the threat of Apokolips. While Batman fought his way to Glorious Godfrey on Apokolips, his family decided that they would not allow him to fight this battle alone and kidnapped Cyborg, forcing him to open a Boom Tube that would get them to Apokolips as well. Before they left, Alfred gave each of them a new costume resembling that of Robin to remind them who they fought for. After questioning Godfrey, Batman united with his allies and learned that Darkseid's son Kalibak was using a powerful stone known as the Chaos Crystal and Damian's sarcophagus to power a weapon called the Chaos Cannon that could destroy an entire moon.

Batman's arrival on Apokolips roused even Darkseid himself, who challenged the determined father. Managing to get to Damian's body, Batman thrust the charged Chaos Crystal shard into Damian's chest and restored him. Escaping Darkseid's world through a Boom Tube, it was then that they discovered Damian's resurrection from the Chaos Crystal had given him super-human abilities. which wore off after some time.

Endgame
While recovering from an attack by the Scarecrow, Batman was attacked by a Jokerized Justice League, signaling the Joker had returned again at last. After subduing the Justice League, Batman then learned that the newest doctor at Arkham Asylum - Eric Border - had actually been the Joker in disguise all along. The madman, shedding his disguise in front of the hero, activated a toxin in Gotham that rendered all of its citizens Jokerized.

Looking for a cure for the new strain of toxin, Batman sought patient zero at the hospital for an antibody, but discovered that patient zero was Joe Chill, the murderer of his parents. After hearing many rumors from friends and enemies alike, Batman began to believe that the Joker could possibly be immortal thanks to an exposure to the element Dionesium, a component found in Lazarus Pits.

By the time Batman had discovered the fabled pool of Dionesium that had been in the Joker's system, the villain had found him and attacked him in the tunnels. They fought brutally until both of them were near death, and as the cavern collapsed around them, Bruce held the Joker back from the healing pool, forcing him to acknowledge that he had not been around for centuries as he'd claimed. Together, Batman and the Joker died in that cave.

Resurrection and Memory Loss
When Batman's dead body was discovered in the rubble of the collapsed cavern, he suddenly came awake, apparently revived by the Dionesium within the cavern's pit. Alfred discovered that the revival had had the profound effect of remaking Bruce's brain from scratch - with no memories of his past life. Alfred told him all that he felt necessary, but withheld the fact that Bruce had been the Batman. Bruce - a new man - had not wanted to know anyway. He later reunited with Julie Madison, an old girlfriend of his, and began working with her at the Lucius Fox Center for Gotham Youth in an effort to serve Gotham.

Many of Batman's former allies tried to contact Bruce, including the Justice League, but Alfred insisted that Bruce's past as Batman remain a secret to him. Any invitation that was made for Bruce to become a hero again was by buried by Alfred.

After seeing firsthand just how awful the effects of the new super villain Mister Bloom's attacks were, Bruce's feelings on the issue were resolved, and he decided to accept being Batman again. Despite Alfred's efforts, Bruce made it past him to the Batcave and discovered a device his former self had built in order to create clones who would have all of Batman's skills and memories. Bruce used the machine to get his memories back and returned at last to the role that killed him before. The newly returned hero faced and defeated Mister Bloom and was returned the title of Batman from its current owner - Jim Gordon.

Darkseid War
Bruce returned to being Batman just in time for an intense multiverse crisis - the Anti-Monitor and Darkseid were going to war, and they chose Earth as their battlefield.

The New God Metron, having infinite knowledge of the multiverse due to his Mobius Chair, came to the Justice League and tried to warn them of their impending doom. As a sacrificial precaution, Batman removed Metron from his chair and sat on himself to gain more knowledge of the war. By doing so, Batman was filled with every answer in the galaxy, total omniscience and nigh-unlimited omnipotence. He became the God of Knowledge.

Batman asked the chair questions to test its knowledge, such as who his parents' murderer was. When the chair answered correctly, he asked the identity of the Joker, of which it responded "there are three".

With his new power on the Mobius Chair, Batman patrolled Gotham. Though Jim Gordon lit the Batsignal for him, Batman informed Jim it was unnecessary because now he knew every crime happening in Gotham and every crime that would happen. Jim questioned Batman's ethics with such a power, but the new God ignored him and harshly punished would-be criminals before they committed their crimes.

Batman discovered he couldn't change crimes in the past though when he tried to stop his parents from being murdered. Furious, instead, he travelled to the present to the jail cell of his parent's murderer Joe Chill. Batman angrily scolded the man and, in a effort to torture him, revealed that he - Batman - was Bruce Wayne before teleporting away. Chill was traumatized by the incident and didn't tell anybody what he had learned.

Batman's power had another price - he was incapable of escaping the Mobius chair. As the battle between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor climaxed, Green Lantern Hal Jordan made a desperate attempt to free Batman from the chair's control by gifting him his Lantern ring, giving Batman enough willpower to leave the chair for good.

I Am Gotham, I Am Suicide, I Am Bane
While reestablishing himself as the protector of Gotham, Batman was greeted by two new super-powered heroes - Gotham and Gotham Girl - who he began to trust to serve the city. However, the two rookies soon found themselves victims of the mind-altering villain Psycho-Pirate, who was working under the instruction of Hugo Strange. Batman later discovered both men had been recruited to put a stop to the level of crime in Gotham City by Amanda Waller, but Strange had betrayed that mission. Psycho-Pirate drove Gotham into a rage, causing him to kill criminals in an attempt to prevent crime, while simultaneously rendering Gotham Girl a nervous wreck. With the help of the Justice League, Batman was able to restrain Gotham, but the overexertion of his powers killed Gotham.

Batman, wanting to find Psycho-Pirate to force him to fix Gotham Girl, discovered he had escaped to foreign nation of Santa Prisca and was under the protection of Bane. In order to get the Pirate back, Batman was encouraged by Waller to assemble a team that was practically "suicidal." He recruited a number of villains from Arkham Asylum: Ventriloquist, Bronze Tiger, Punch and Jewlee, and finally Catwoman, who was being held on 237 counts of murder. The mission was a success; Batman and his team escaped with Psycho-Pirate and left Bane beaten. Bruce later discovered Selina had taken the blame for the murders in order to protect her friend Holly Robinson, who had really committed the killings. She knew that if she took the fall, Batman would never let her die on death row and Holly's life would be saved.

Bane returned to Gotham to seek revenge on Batman for humiliating him. He fought and defeated dozens of Batman's rogues at Arkham Asylum to get to Batman, culminating in a fight between the two. Bruce emerged victorious, albeit barely.

After the Justice League were forced to team up with the Suicide Squad to fend off Maxwell Lord's nefarious plot for peace, Batman recruited an assembly of heroes and villains he thought could do some good to form the new Justice League of America.

Gotham Knights
Batman discovered he was being monitored by surveillance equipment, and after investigating he discovered Gotham's other heroes were being monitored as well. He recruited his cousin Kate Kane, also known as the vigilante Batwoman, to form a new team dedicated to combating this threat. The duo formed a boot camp for young heroes that would become known as the Gotham Knights, consisting of Red Robin, Orphan, Spoiler and a newly reformed Clayface; although the team would later recruit Batwing and Azrael as well. The Gotham Knights fought threats such as the Colony, a U.S. government agency dedicated to creating an army of soldiers modeled around Batman headed by Bruce's uncle (and Kate's father) Colonel Jacob Kane, the Victim Syndicate, a team of victims caught up in Batman's war on crime who sought revenge, the League of Shadows, an offshoot of the League of Assassins headed by Lady Shiva, and the Order of St. Dumas.

The team fell apart after Batwoman killed Clayface, who had gone rogue and was about to destroy the city. Batman objected to her use of lethal force, dividing the team and ultimately leading to its collapse.

The Button
Following his discovery of a mysterious button lodged in the walls of the Batcave, Bruce attempted to research the button to no apparent avail until, one day, it had a reaction when placed near Psycho-Pirate's mask. Seemingly connected, Reverse-Flash broke into the Batcave and began to wallop Batman until he was mysteriously disintegrated by a being he claimed was God.

In an attempt to discover who had killed Reverse-Flash and was manipulating the timestream, Batman and the Flash used the Cosmic Treadmill to follow the button's radiation and landed in the timeline Barry had created after he had gone back in time to save his mother. There, Bruce met the version of his father from that reality who had himself become Batman after the death of his son. Thomas Wayne encouraged Bruce to stop being Batman, and instead seek happiness. Batman and Flash managed to escape the collapsing timeline and return to their world with the help of Jay Garrick, who was stuck in the Speed Force.

Invasion of the Dark Multiverse
For some time, Bruce had been investigating the power of mysterious metals that he believed had been impacting the world since the dawn of mankind. By the time it was too late, Batman discovered that he had been selected by the demon Barbatos to be the vessel for his invasion of the Multiverse. Over the years, the Court of Owls, who were in fact worshipers of Barbatos, had exposed him to four of the five heavy metals required to open the portal to the Dark Multiverse. They exposed him to the final metal, Batmanium, which transformed Bruce into a doorway, allowing Barbatos and his army of Dark Knights to enter.

While his Justice League teammates fought the Dark Knights, Bruce's mind was trapped in the nightmarish Dark Multiverse. There, Barbatos told him that he first saw Batman when he was sent back in time to the dawn of man, and he had shaped Bruce's life in order to lead him to this point. Superman attempted to restore Batman, but he too was captured in the Dark Multiverse. With the help of Wonder Woman and Lady Blackhawk, Batman and Superman were rescued. Batman defeated the Batman Who Laughs, the leader of the Dark Knights, by teaming up with his most unlikely ally, the Joker. The Over-Monitor told the Justice League of the power of the Tenth Metal, Element X - the most powerful metal of all. Through channeling the tiny amount of Element X present in every living human being, the heroes were able to restore the Multiverse to its normal state, however in the process they shattered the Source Wall, the wall surrounding the Multiverse. As the League prepared to face any and all threats this could cause, Bruce presented his plans for a new Hall of Justice.

Rules of Engagement
Following his father's advice and motivated by a conversation with Gotham Girl, Bruce decided to seek happiness in his life and proposed to Catwoman using the diamond she had stolen when they first met, and she accepted.

While Bruce and Catwoman temporarily left Gotham on a mission to find Holly Robinson in the country of Khadym, Alfred informed Dick, Jason, Duke and Damian of the engagement. Despite his initial doubts, Damian accepted his father's decision. When Batman returned to Gotham, he was encouraged by Catwoman to tell his closest friend Superman of his engagement. Batman, Superman, Catwoman and Lois Lane went on a double date; a rare occasion in which the two heroes got to spend time together outside of crime fighting.

Wonder Woman arrived in Gotham, informing Batman that The Gentle Man had decided to take them up on an offer. Years ago, Batman and Wonder Woman discovered The Gentle Man, a man who endlessly protected Earth from the invasion of creatures from another realm. They offered him the chance to take his place for a day and he had decided to take them up on their offer. The Gentle Man failed to tell the heroes that time passed differently in this realm; while they spent what felt like years in battle, mere hours had passed on Earth. While alone for so many years, Batman and Wonder Woman almost gave in to a romantic attraction but refrained out of love for their partners. Catwoman forced The Gentle Man to swap places with Batman and Wonder Woman once more.

In an attempt to instill peace across the planet and protect Earth from destruction at humans' hands, Poison Ivy used her command over plant matter to take control of the minds of the entire planet's population, forcing them to live in harmony. Batman managed to inject himself and Catwoman with an antidote, leaving them the only people unaffected. Batman and Catwoman executed a plan to get to Harley Quinn, who he theorized could be used to break Ivy's control. The plan was a success and, upon the two women reuniting, Ivy dropped her control over humanity.

The time-travelling superhero Booster Gold, inspired by Superman's adventure to an alternate reality where Krypton survived, decided, as a wedding present to Batman, to create an alternate reality where Bruce's parents survived. However, after altering the timeline, Booster became trapped in this new, darker reality for two years until he was able to fix it again. Booster told Bruce about his attempted-gift but was permanently scarred from the incident.

The Wedding of Batman and Catwoman
When the Joker discovered that Batman and Catwoman were getting married, he staged an attack that he felt would ruin their wedding. Taking hostages at a cathedral, he forced Batman to play along in his mock-ceremony. Catwoman arrived, despite Batman's request that she stay home, and she fought off the Joker while Batman was incapacitated. As part of his plan, the Joker gave Catwoman the opportunity to let him bleed out and die, but she refused and actively saved his life. Though the clown was stopped and the wedding was saved, during the fight, the Joker had gotten into Catwoman's head, sewing doubt that maybe if Batman was happily in a loving marriage, he wouldn't be Batman anymore.

Afterwards, while fighting Kite-Man, Batman suggested to Catwoman that their wedding take place that dawn, on top of the building they were currently on - Finger Tower. The pair found a judge to officiate the ceremony - one they felt was so much of a drunk, he'd forget their identities after the fact. Bruce asked Alfred to be his best man and his witness, while Catwoman freed Holly Robinson from prison to act as her maid of honor and witness.

Though everything was going as planned, Bruce briefly reconsidered the wedding but, after a little soul searching, confidently told Alfred he was ready.

Selina had doubts of her own, as her maid of honor Holly continued to stoke Selina's fear that marriage would ruin Batman.

That dawn, after everything had been put into place, Catwoman never arrived, leaving Bruce alone at the alter. She gave into her fear and believed not getting married was for the best.

When Holly Robinson was returned to Arkham Asylum, she reported back to Bane that she had successfully stopped the wedding. All the events the past few months were orchestrated by Bane to mentally and emotionally break the Bat.

Aftermath of Breakup
Batman, after being left by Catwoman, became even more depressed than usual. During this depressed state, he viciously went after Mr. Freeze, who had been accused of murdering three women. Batman beat him mercilessly until he confessed to the crime.

When Freeze's case went to trial, coincidentally, Bruce Wayne was ordered to appear as a member of the jury. During the case, Bruce realized that he had made a mistake - Fries was actually innocent of the crimes - and had to convince the rest of the jury that Batman's evidence was not credible. Charismatically arguing against himself, Bruce successfully convinced the jury to acquit Mr. Freeze.

Afterwards, needing a fresh start, Batman decided to switch out the Batsuit he commonly wore, equipping one of his older models. He admitted he didn't want to wear the one that Catwoman left him in anymore.

When the Joker learned that the Batman Who Laughs became the way he was due to a chemical that activated when he broke his Joker's neck, the Prime Earth clown shot himself in the heart in front of Batman to activate the same chemical. Though Alfred managed to resuscitate the Joker after the fact, the plan worked, and Batman was temporarily infected to become evil just like the Batman Who Laughs. However, using Bruce Waynes from across the multiverse, Batman managed to overcome the toxin and even defeated the original Batman Who Laughs.

Bane's Conspiracy
During Bruce's jury session, Dick Grayson covered for him as Batman. After the trial, the mentor and mentee caught up with one another, and Dick expressed interest in returning to Gotham permanently. However, as part of Bane's ultimate plan to break Batman, the KGBeast was hired to shoot Nightwing in the head, damaging his brain and giving him total amnesia. More furious than ever, Batman tracked the KGBeast to a remote location in the north and beat him senseless, leaving him to try to survive in the harsh tundra by himself.

Batman returned to Gotham and was contacted by the Penguin, who informed him that Bane was behind everything: the wedding, the breakup, and the shooting of Nightwing. Bane had killed his favorite penguin, and Oswald had decided to defect from his plan.

Bruce, trusting the information, went after Bane in Arkham, against the authority of the GCPD, and proceeded to beat up Bane in incarceration, despite the villain claiming he had no involvement. Jim Gordon tried to intervene, but Batman punched him in anger. Gordon, cutting ties with the Bat entirely, destroyed the Batsignal with a baseball bat.

In his pursuit for answers, Batman was captured by Bane, who hooked him up to a machine designed by Dr. Crane to generate non-stop realistic nightmares. After many emotional, horrifying scenarios, Bruce broke free from the machine and battled his way out of Arkham Asylum, tactically taking out almost every inmate who had been let free in the downtime. However, after the fact, Batman's allies found no evidence of the breakout when they returned to Arkham hours later, leading them to question his sanity.

Doomsday Clock
While Batman dealt with the growing conspiracy against him, approximately a year after Superman was merged back into a singular being, political tensions rose in the United States due to the "Superman Theory" - the idea that the US government was actively breeding superpowers in its citizens due to the exponentially higher accumulation of super-powered people in the West. Simultaneously, Batman's vigilantism was subject to widespread protests in Gotham by activists who felt the Bat's power went unchecked. Further escalating the tension, Wayne Enterprises was financially struggling and was under threat of being taken over by LexCorp.

At this time, travelers from another dimension arrived in Gotham, looking for their their peer Doctor Manhattan, who would solve their political crisis back on their Earth. Rorschach II was assigned to contact Batman for help in their mission and, upon finding the Batcave, shared the original Rorschach's journal with Bruce in order to better explain the situation they were in. Batman took the time to read the journal, decided the entire story was lunacy, and tricked Rorschach into a cell at Arkham Asylum.

However, Batman learned to trust the story and, after finding and confronting Rorschach's leader Ozymandias, Veidt deemed Batman not useful to their cause and kicked him into a group of anti-Batman demonstrators. The protestors brought Batman to the Joker to be killed, but he was saved by Saturn Girl and Rorschach, having been released from Arkham by the former.

As political tensions continued to rise, now pitting the Earth's governments against one another, Batman aided the travelers in hopes that Doctor Manhattan could save his world too. Batman specifically kept the US nuke operators from overreacting and launching their weapons against Russia.

Upon summoning him, Manhattan admitted to his part in altering this world's timeline and, inspired by the unwavering goodness of Superman, reset the timeline once again to repair the damages he had made.

City Of Bane
Physically and emotionally drained from all the challenges he had gone through, Bruce returned to Wayne Manor to find Bane finally initiating his endgame plan with Alfred as his prisoner. Standing beside Bane was his co-conspirator - an alternate-reality version of Thomas Wayne. Unprepared for another fight, Batman was physically demolished by Bane as Alfred begged for mercy.

When Bruce awoke from unconsciousness, he found himself having been brought to a desert by his alternate-reality father. Thomas revealed that they were on their way to a Lazarus Pit to resurrect Bruce's mother's corpse. Though the two Waynes fought and bickered along the way, by the time they reached the Lazarus Pit, Bruce revealed he had secretly buried Martha's corpse in the desert without Thomas knowing. Both furious, the two men fought, and when morning arrived, only one Batman escaped the pit and returned to Gotham: Thomas.

Back in Gotham, Bane had taken control of the city and let all of the villains loose, assigning them as his new dystopian "police force". Batman's allies were powerless to stop the pandemonium as Bane had a hostage: Alfred, who he threatened to kill him should any Bat-Family member enter Gotham.

Meanwhile, Bruce was stuck in the wilderness, unknown how long he had been travelling for and on the brink of death. He only survived because he was found by Catwoman, who brought him to an apartment in Paris and helped him recover.

Back in Gotham, Bruce's son Damian ignored Bane's warning and single-handedly snuck into Gotham to depose Bane himself. However, Damian was captured, and, making good on his threat, Bane killed Alfred in front of the boy, now using Robin as his new hostage.

Once Bruce had recovered enough at Catwoman's side, he convinced her he needed to return to Gotham and save it from Bane's chaos. Though Selina was hesitant, she agreed and went with him; the time they spent in Paris helped rekindle their relationship.

Upon returning to Gotham, Batman teamed up with Clayface to take down all the villains that Bane had set free. Concurrently, Batman's allies made an attempt to rescue Damian from Bane but, despite their best effort, they were all defeated by Thomas Wayne.

Batman eventually fought his way to Bane's location and faced off with him, one on one, no equipment or help. Batman successfully defeated Bane by cheating, but, before Bruce had the opportunity to physically break his opponent, Thomas Wayne betrayed them both and them unconscious.

When Bruce came to, he was shown Alfred's mangled corpse for the first time by his father. In Thomas' eyes, his plan was complete - he had emotionally broken his son to give up being Batman. However, Alfred's death had empowered Bruce to strike out against his alternate-reality father. After a tough fight, Bruce reigned victorious over Thomas and swore that he was no longer his father.

Joker War
While still recovering from the loss of his mentor and father figure, Batman was dragged into a criminal conspiracy that had lasted for years regarding a secret supervillain named the Designer, and at the same time was forced to fight off five assassins who were after him as part of the Designer's grand scheme. The Riddler also staged an attack on Gotham, while he was broken physically and mentally due to not treating himself properly, being too busy trying to come up with the ultimate riddle to fool Batman. However, Batman quickly took out most of the assassins and teamed up with Deathstroke, Catwoman, Harley Quinn to defeat Riddler. Through all this the Joker was planning his ultimate surprise for the Dark Knight and his Bat-Family, with the startling knowledge of their secret identities once more.

After Batman tracked down the Designer, it was revealed the Joker was playing everyone, pulling the strings all along. He initiated his plot with his new sidekick Punchline, sending out waves of Joker rioters, who instantly took over the city. He also injected Batman with a toxin that made him see visions of Alfred and his parents with broken necks. Using the Designer's master plan designed for Catwoman, the Joker even successfully stole the Wayne fortune, making himself rich. Using more of the Designer's information, including a formula to reanimate corpses, the clown brought people back from the dead as zombies to attack Batman and Harley.

Meanwhile, Joker was wasting Bruce's money everywhere, on things like Jokerized limos and gold chain necklaces. Batman and Harley found their way to the rest of the Bat-Family, where they met and came up with a plan. Bruce also regifted the Nightwing Costume to Dick Grayson, who had gotten a large portion of his memories back since his shooting.

Finally, Batman went to confront the Joker once and for all at his headquarters - Ace Chemicals. Upon his arrival, Bruce discovered that the Joker had partially resurrected Alfred's corpse as a zombie. Though Batman was emotionally crushed by the sight, he was forced to fight the Joker, who was wearing his own Jokerized batsuit. Using Batman's gadgets against him, the Joker eventually got the upper hand on Batman and, as he was about to finish him off, was ambushed with a bullet through the eye by Harley Quinn. Harley then strapped bombs to both herself and Joker, forcing Batman to make the decision of which of the two he would defuse in time. To Joker's surprise, the Bat chose Harley, apparently leaving the Joker to die.

With the Joker War officially over, in the aftermath, Bruce discovered the Joker's bomb had been defused, theorizing that the Joker used his bat-equipment to set himself free. Bruce reburied Alfred's corpse with his allies.


 * Powers                  =
 * Abilities               =
 * : Bruce was able to hack and record the mobile frequency of the Suicide Squad members' brain bombs and deactivate them.
 * : Bruce is a master of disguise having been trained by Alfred. He was even able to impersonate Deathstroke.
 * : Despite his opposition to the use of firearms, Bruce is one of the world's top ten marksmen.
 * : Although he has no superhuman powers, Batman's unstoppable determination and strength of will make him an extremely formidable opponent. This makes him able to function while tolerating massive amounts of physical pain.
 * : Hailed as the World's Greatest Detective, Batman has few equals when it comes to forensic investigations and solving crime mysteries. He is able to use even the smallest clues and slightest details to solve extremely difficult cases and accurately deduce the identity of unknown criminal masterminds. He is capable of observation, forensic investigation, and inductive and deductive reasoning of the highest caliber. Human intuition is an unlearnable trait and one of Batman's most effective tools. Given any mystery, he can arrive at the correct conclusions with a fraction of the data. As a child, Bruce began his first investigation when trying to solve the murder behind his parents and that it was the The Court of Owls, who were responsible. What was thought to be a failure, his deduction of discovering the The Court of Owls' meeting location, turned out to be true. The truest testament to Batman's knowledge and effectiveness as a detective, is that he had already learned the Joker's true identity.
 * : Bruce learned how to pick a lock when he was in grade school.
 * : Batman is known as one of the finest martial artists in the world. He has been trained by the best fighters around the world, and has a wide variety of combat skills that are used in his fight against crime. In turn, he has also been able to pass on his learnings to his proteges. Batwoman was able to identify at least fourteen different styles of martial arts from him. Bruce has also trained in a style that he invented one which Alfred calls "Bam Pow". Bruce even learned a technique called "language of combat," wherein he can communicate with others while fighting. Batman's so skilled in marital arts that he has beaten most of the world's top skilled fighters; such as Red Robin, Ra's al Ghul, Orphan, KGBeast, Bane, Red Hood, Grifter, Frankenstein, Deathstroke, Cheshire, and The Batman Who Laughs.  His skills are so great that he even has stalemated famous fighters such as Savior, Bronze Tiger, Nightwing and even Lady Shiva. When around the beginning of his crime-fighting career, Batman managed to hold his own against Princess Vik. Considering she was faster than him and angry at the time, while being discomforted with a hollow point bullet, in his arm. Even while blind, he defeated the Arkham Knight in battle and held off a horde of Jokerized Zombies.  He's capable of going so far as to fighting against multiple Talons, while still in a wounded state and without any gear. Bruce may not look it, but he's one of the most experienced fighters on the planet. Due to him fighting an endless war against an army of demons in another realm, alongside Wonder Woman for 37 years.  Thanks to his years of martial arts training, Bruce can identify the martial art that his opponent uses against him and counter nearly any opponent.
 * : Bruce studied boxing during his time at Roxbury Fielding Academy.
 * Dim Mak: An ancient form of martial arts where you strike vital points of the opponent's body causing paralysis, intense and prolonged pain or death.
 * : Batman is fluent in Portuguese, Dhari, Latin, Chinese, Greek, Icelandic, French, Gaelic, and Kryptonese. He can also understand American sign language and Argot of the Ancient Sea People.
 * : Through intense training, a specialized diet, and biofeedback treatments, Batman represents the natural pinnacle of human physical prowess. His physical attributes roughly exceeded that of an Olympic level athlete. His strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes and coordination are at peak human perfection. He has spent his entire life in pursuit of physical perfection and has attained it through constant intensive training and determination. He can hold his breath underwater for 6 minutes. After being exposed to Dionesium, Bruce's body was healed from all the years of scarring, making him stronger and faster than he ever was before.
 * Peak Human Strength: Bruce's strength is at the highest limit of a normal human could achieve. He was able to break through a thin brick wall, and break a small motorcycle in half with a single kick. His strength is far beyond a normal human and increased more due to his exposure to Dionesium. Bruce managed to pierce through the skull of a android just by throwing a coin at it, while unrestrained. He has shown being strong enough to endure and fight for several hours on Kandor which has 5x the gravity of Earth.
 * Peak Human Agility
 * Peak Human Durability
 * Peak Human Reflexes
 * Peak Human Speed: Batman's so fast that his punches and kicks are blurs, in combat. Considered faster than his previous self from New Earth by Superman, due to his youth. His speed was already beyond that of any ordinary human, then got increased even more due to his contact with Dionesium. Bruce is fast enough to tag and then destroy an Amazo Flash and land a few blows on Reverse Flash.
 * Peak Human Senses: Throughout Batman's years of fighting crime and intense training, his senses became so heightened that he can identify magic by feeling it, detect invisible objects, and can even see spirits like Deadman; who remain unseen by normal people.      Batman has the best senses in the entire Batman Family, as he was the only one capable of sensing Nightwing's presence when Batgirl, Red Hood, Red Robin, and Alfred Pennyworth couldn't. Not even Orphan was capable of sneaking up on Batman, without him knowing. Bruce even managed to sense the likes of the Flash, approaching behind him at super speed.
 * Peak Human Stamina: Thanks to Bruce's training and experience, his stamina and endurance has allowed him to fight for 28 hours straight when he was first starting out. Fighting for days on end with the Justice League of America. Has been deprived of sleep for a week straight, while being drugged in the process, by Deacon Blackfire's servants, yet he still remained strong. Became trapped in the the Court of Owls Labyrinth and went without sleep and food for 8 days straight and still managed to fight and escape. He even underwent and survived the Thogal Ritual, where he spent 7 weeks in cave while undergoing a dangerous type of meditation in order to simulate an experience of death and rebirth. He has endured Kandor's gravity for several hours which is 5x that of Earth's.
 * : Bruce has acclimated himself to most toxins and poisons.
 * : Bruce was taught sleight of hand by Giovanni Zatara.
 * : Bruce studied fencing during his time at Roxbury Fielding Academy.
 * Weaknesses             =
 * : Through intense training, a specialized diet, and biofeedback treatments, Batman represents the natural pinnacle of human physical prowess. His physical attributes roughly exceeded that of an Olympic level athlete. His strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes and coordination are at peak human perfection. He has spent his entire life in pursuit of physical perfection and has attained it through constant intensive training and determination. He can hold his breath underwater for 6 minutes. After being exposed to Dionesium, Bruce's body was healed from all the years of scarring, making him stronger and faster than he ever was before.
 * Peak Human Strength: Bruce's strength is at the highest limit of a normal human could achieve. He was able to break through a thin brick wall, and break a small motorcycle in half with a single kick. His strength is far beyond a normal human and increased more due to his exposure to Dionesium. Bruce managed to pierce through the skull of a android just by throwing a coin at it, while unrestrained. He has shown being strong enough to endure and fight for several hours on Kandor which has 5x the gravity of Earth.
 * Peak Human Agility
 * Peak Human Durability
 * Peak Human Reflexes
 * Peak Human Speed: Batman's so fast that his punches and kicks are blurs, in combat. Considered faster than his previous self from New Earth by Superman, due to his youth. His speed was already beyond that of any ordinary human, then got increased even more due to his contact with Dionesium. Bruce is fast enough to tag and then destroy an Amazo Flash and land a few blows on Reverse Flash.
 * Peak Human Senses: Throughout Batman's years of fighting crime and intense training, his senses became so heightened that he can identify magic by feeling it, detect invisible objects, and can even see spirits like Deadman; who remain unseen by normal people.      Batman has the best senses in the entire Batman Family, as he was the only one capable of sensing Nightwing's presence when Batgirl, Red Hood, Red Robin, and Alfred Pennyworth couldn't. Not even Orphan was capable of sneaking up on Batman, without him knowing. Bruce even managed to sense the likes of the Flash, approaching behind him at super speed.
 * Peak Human Stamina: Thanks to Bruce's training and experience, his stamina and endurance has allowed him to fight for 28 hours straight when he was first starting out. Fighting for days on end with the Justice League of America. Has been deprived of sleep for a week straight, while being drugged in the process, by Deacon Blackfire's servants, yet he still remained strong. Became trapped in the the Court of Owls Labyrinth and went without sleep and food for 8 days straight and still managed to fight and escape. He even underwent and survived the Thogal Ritual, where he spent 7 weeks in cave while undergoing a dangerous type of meditation in order to simulate an experience of death and rebirth. He has endured Kandor's gravity for several hours which is 5x that of Earth's.
 * : Bruce has acclimated himself to most toxins and poisons.
 * : Bruce was taught sleight of hand by Giovanni Zatara.
 * : Bruce studied fencing during his time at Roxbury Fielding Academy.
 * Weaknesses             =
 * : Bruce studied fencing during his time at Roxbury Fielding Academy.
 * Weaknesses             =
 * : Bruce studied fencing during his time at Roxbury Fielding Academy.
 * Weaknesses             =
 * : Bruce studied fencing during his time at Roxbury Fielding Academy.
 * Weaknesses             =
 * : Bruce studied fencing during his time at Roxbury Fielding Academy.
 * Weaknesses             =
 * Weaknesses             =


 * Equipment              =
 * Batsuit: The costume Batman wears is composed of Kevlar and a small percentage of titanium; it's bullet-proof and resistant to various types of attack (explosions, impacts, falls, among others). It is also flame-retardant and insulated. The gloves and the boots are reinforced to rebound the impact of punches and kicks. The gloves have some metallic blades on their sides. The cape is super-light and it can be used to glide. The mask has a small percentage of lead, which shields Batman's face from X-ray powers or X-ray technology, and incorporates an infrared and night vision viewer, auditory sensors and a sonar. The mask is accessorized with some security systems (aggravating gas, electric blasts, etc.) like the utility belt, and also integrates an audio and video transmitter receiver device.
 * Utility Belt: Batman keeps most of his personal field equipment in a signature piece of apparel, a yellow utility belt. The utility belt has a button to call the Batmobile, and a command for teleportation. Over the years it has contained items such as plastic explosives, nerve toxins, batarangs, smoke bombs, a fingerprint kit, a cutting tool, a grappling hook gun, torches, and a "re-breather" breathing device. Superman entrusted Batman with a ring made of kryptonite, to be used should the Man of Steel ever need to be reined in (due to being mind-controlled by a villain, etc.). The kryptonite ring is contained in a lead pocket, in order to shield Batman from its radiations. Along with a portable EMP, the belt also has its own automatic security systems preventing outside users from accessing it. It has been counted that 42 sets of items, covers at least 30 percent of how much the Utility Belt can carry; meaning that the average belt can carry at least 140 sets of items.
 * Hellbat: Making it's first appearance in Batman and Robin Vol 2 issue 33, this suit is one of the three most powerful suits that Batman has ever used. Made for the battle, for the most extreme situations, due to Batman not having powers of his own. Although he couldn't originally access this suit by himself, without the permission from the rest of the Justice League. Batman now has full access to the suit and can summon it to him whenever he wants. Powerful enough to contend with a demon that was capable of containing Etrigan, beat down Kalibak and even stalemate Darkseid.
 * Mobius Chair
 * Black Lantern Ring
 * Batcomputer: The central focus of all of Batman's computer based technology, wired into nearly all of Batman's equipment. Built and manufactured by Batman, Alfred Pennyworth and Lucius Fox. It even possesses security protocols so that only Batman and members of the Batfamily are allowed to use it. The Batcomputer is capable of initiating commands that involve hacking, scanning, solving, storing and processing any information that Batman or Batman Family desires. Holding a plethora of cryptic data and information, that even someone like Amanda Waller would find valuable. The communication connection and transitional frequencies can span up to 3,137 million light years.  Bruce has even expanded it's processing power and other capabilities by adapting a bot root code known as the Genie A.I. into it.
 * Genie A.I.
 * EMP Mask: Batman carries EMP tech that he can use as holographic disguise to morph his face to even his entire body.
 * Transportation         =
 * Batboat
 * Batcycle
 * Batmobile
 * Batplane
 * Bat-Copter
 * Weapons                =
 * Batarang


 * Notes                  =

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 *  appears as Batman (Prime) a playable character in the Infinite Crisis video game.
 * Other less notabled aliases Bruce has used are Bee Gee, Knute Brody , Dormouse , The Batman Who Laughs , Bat-Baby , the God of Knowledge, and Sinestro.
 * Trivia                 =
 * As deadly and as skilled Lady Shiva is, not even she would want to cross Batman.
 * Batman considers Superman as his favorite superhero.
 * Superman considers Batman to be his best friend.
 * Amanda Waller considers Batman a metahuman, though he does not fit the traditional or the expanded definition of the term.
 * Like in previous continuities, Bruce rarely drinks alcohol and instead fools people by drinking ginger ale.
 * Bruce visits his parents grave once a week.
 * Bruce is currently engaged to Selina Kyle.
 * Recommended            =
 * DC                     = Batman
 * Wikipedia              = Batman
 * Links                  =

Bruce Wayne (Terra Primal)