Batman
Back to Heroes Main > The Batman
Real Identity: Bruce Wayne
Affiliation(s): Justice League and Wayne Industries
Appearances: All 65 Episodes and The Batman VS Dracula
Appearances (TBATB): Night of the Batmen!
Skills: Deduction, Knowledge of Sciences, Martial Arts and other Unarmed Combat, Electronics, Above Average Physical Attributes, Escape Arts, and Infiltration
Voiced By: Rino Romano
On one fateful Christmas day, a family of three left their favorite movie theater in Gotham City's Park Row after watching "The Cloaked Rider." The couple's son, Bruce, is riveted by the movie. They take a wrong turn into an unlit alleyway. A desperate man, Joe Chill, with a gun demands the group's valuables. A scuffle follows. Within seconds, Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne are dead. Their son, Bruce Wayne has forever had his childhood stolen from him. Chill was never convicted of the murder.
While waiting at the Gotham Police Department headquarters, Wayne clutched his mother's pearl necklace and waited to be picked up by the family butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Pennyworth vowed to never leave his side again. Pennyworth and family friend, Lucius Fox, tried their best to raise Wayne and make him feel like a child again. An airshow is their fondest memory. Enrolled in middle school, he met his best friend Ethan Bennett and shared an interest in basketball. However, Wayne became obsessed with the pursuit of justice and created a mission for the rest of his life, a deep rooted need to rescue.
Once old enough, Bruce Wayne traveled the world and honed his body and mind to the highest physical peak. Along the way, he studied every known science including criminology, forensics, chemistry and psychology. Wayne trained under manhunters and martial arts masters and in time, became an unrivaled master, himself. The only confirmed region in the Far East that Wayne trained was in Tibet with Buddhist monks. There he learned meditation and honed his mental defenses. Wayne embraced the Eastern mind over matter and the scientific method of the West.
Years later, Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham City. He took on what most critics called a figurehead position as joint CEO in Wayne Enterprises. Many were leary of associating with Wayne Industries because of his lack of a public image. While thinking about his promise, a bat flew through the window in his study. After exploring his property, Wayne found a den of bats on his property and discovered a system of caverns that stretched beyond his 150 acre estate into most of Gotham. He converted the caverns into a secret base of operations, complete with state of the art technology pinched secretly from Wayne Industries. Chemistry and forensics lab, a high-tech computer database, a secret driveway, dock and shrines decorated the cave. Lucius Fox helped him construct the cave.
Wayne then created a suitable identity for himself. It was something to use the darkness as a weapon, to strike fear in the hearts of criminals, The Batman. At 23 years old, just before his October birthday, Wayne started his mission as Gotham's Dark Knight. As a precaution, Batman also constructed two other base of operations around Gotham. One was even built underneath WayneTech, the technology arm of Wayne Industries. In addition, to be more mobile and able to travel around the city with ease, he constructed spider holes all over that fed in one way or another to the Batcave. He also crafted several entrances to the Batcave from the Wayne Mansion. A grandfather clock and an arcade are two ways. While Wayne prefers the automated fire pole, Pennyworth takes the elevator.
Armed with various vehicles modeled after the Bat and a utility belt armed with tools and weapons, the Batman began his war on crime by shutting down every operation of Gotham's various crime lords. Batman integrated receivers into his costume and vehicles with his Batwave, a wireless database. It also monitors his vital system and if anything dips too low, preprogrammed emergency measures are activated. His cowl even houses optic scanners that look at various spectrums including ultraviolet and infrared. Three years later, crime dropped to a nationwide low and the Batman was an urban folk hero. Pennyworth became concerned that Wayne's constant absence would warrant investigation. At his behest, Wayne became a champion of social causes. He donated to the local concert hall, organized several children's charity fundraisers, hosted police gala's, is on various Board of Trustees such as Arkham Asylum, and aids crime victims. While Batman was the Dark Knight, Wayne was Gotham's White Knight.
However, the three year anniversary brought a new challenge to the Batman's mission. A new criminal fringe of costumed super villains began to emerge. Some were inspired by the Batman, others created by the Batman, and others who simply wanted to get rich quick. The Joker was his first such opponent. After six months, another opponent became apparent: Gotham Police Chief Angel Rojas. Rojas saw the Batman as the root problem and attracted villains to Gotham like moths to a flame. However, many in the force began to trust the vigilante from Detective Bennett and Yin to eventually the Police Commissioner, James Gordon.
After the tragedy at Haley's Circus, Bruce Wayne offered to adopt the orphaned Dick Grayson as his ward. Grayson was angry at himself for not trying harder to stop his parents' deaths. Then, he was discovered the Batcave. Batman revealed his secret identity to the shocked Grayson. Batman saw a kindred spirit in Grayson and offered him a partnership. After swearing an oath of justice, Grayson became Robin and together, they became the Dynamic Duo. Together with Batgirl, a new family was born. The Batman was often blinded by his fear of losing both Robin and Batgirl and forebade them from patrolling without his presence.
Over the years, Batman ventured outside of Gotham to face more supervillains side by side his allies. Batman joined the super hero group, the Justice League, after being invited by the Martian Manhunter. Batman integrated his Batwave technology into the Justice League Satellite, a space-based headquarters, dedicated to not repeating the nightmare of the Joining invasion. As a failsafe, Batman envisioned a doomsday scenerio where all of his allies were under the control of his enemies. He analyzed his allies and devised methods to defeat them. The file was kept on the Bat Computer in the Batcave.
In the year 2027, Wayne is war torn and still active as the Batman despite being in his 50's. The mission mattered more than his own health. At the Gotham Airport, Batman and Robin, now Nightwing, confronted Mr. Freeze. Taking into account that the Batman would always be needed, Batman hid binary code that activate his data files all over the Batcave's titanium reinforcements. Sure enough, in 3027, the Gotham Police Department found the cave in search of a way to defeat Freeze. After containing the villain, the force refurbished and upgraded the Batcave as a base of operations.