Batman
Bruce Wayne is the main protagonist in the Batman Animated Universe. His parents were murdered by a gunman named Joe Chill. Bruce swore revenge and eventually became the caped crusader Batman when he was an adult. He stops crime at night. He is voiced by Kevin Conroy in Batman : The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited.
Biography:[]
Early Life[]
A family of three left their favorite movie theater in Gotham City's Park Row. The couple's son mimicked a scene from "The Mask of Zorro". They took a wrong turn
Bruce Wayne as a child watching his father get killed.
into an unlit alleyway. A desperate man with a gun demanded the group's valuables. A scuffle then followed. Within seconds, Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne were dead. Their son, Bruce Wayne forever had his childhood stolen from him. Bruce became obsessed with avenging his parents' murder and created a plan for the rest of his life.
Becoming Batman[]
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. He trained in Jiu Jutsu in Kurahawa, Japan under Yoru. Beforehand, Wayne traveled somewhere in Europe (possibly Turkey) or even in America, with the famous stage magician, Zatara. Zatara passed on his escape arts onto the young man. Wayne also trained in martial arts and possibly other subjects under the Master in Nanda Parbat.
Years later, Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham City. He took on what most critics called a figurehead position as joint CEO in Wayne Enterprises, as he maintained a public image of a billionaire playboy. All the while, he
Bruce Wayne as Batman.
stalked the night as a nameless vigilante. He struggled to win every fight, intent on trying to find a way to strike fear from the start. While visiting his parents' grave, Wayne encountered Andrea Beaumont. The two fell in love but Wayne was conflicted with love and his promise. He couldn't make any attachments and maintain a straight course in his never ending crusade. Wayne decided to propose to Beaumont. In that moment, a swarm of bats awakened from below and flew past the couple, leaving them in a state of fear. Beaumont's father was a businessman embezzling from the mob. Soon, he was forced to flee the States, with daughter in tow. Wayne was emotionally crushed but moved on.
ayne investigated the den of bats and discovered a system of caverns that stretched beyond his 150 acre estate into most of Gotham. He converted the caverns into his alter-ego's base of operations, complete with state of the art technology pinched secretly from Wayne Enterprises Research and Development. Chemistry and forensics lab, a high-tech computer database, a secret driveway, dock and shrines decorated 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, Batman.
Making Allies[]
n the early years, Batman was aided by his confidante, Alfred Pennyworth. He soon became the ward of an orphan named Dick Grayson. At age nine, Grayson was the first of Batman's partners. Originally an aerial performer, Grayson was personally trained by Batman and soon donned a costume of his own, Robin. Batman also befriended Gotham City's Police Commissioner James Gordon. Though Gordon didn't approve of Batman's methods, he recognized that Gotham would need all the help it could manage as the city began to witness the advent of bizarre monstrosities and murderous psychopaths in addition to the corrupting force of organized crime already present. Going on 10 years, Batman met another ally, Batgirl, who was actually James Gordon's daughter, Barbara.
In approximately Year 13, Batman and Robin parted ways. Dick Grayson longed to establish his own identity in the world and questioned Batman's plan. The last straw was when he learned that Batman had long deduced
Batman, Batgirl, Robin, and Nightwing.
Batgirl's identity and never told him. For about three years, Grayson traveled the world in a manner similar to Wayne. Meanwhile, Batman fully endorsed Batgirl into the fold and took in another orphan, Tim Drake. Drake was the son of a small time crook that betrayed his employer, Two-Face. The trio became embroiled in Two-Face's latest blackmail scheme. Despite Batman's orders, Drake interfered and donned one of Grayson's earlier Robin costumes. Batman decided to allow Drake to become the next Robin and began to train him. Grayson returned to Gotham with a new identity, Nightwing. The four maintained a partnership and patrolled Gotham for several more years.
The Justice League[]
After Superman was brainwashed and unleashed on Earth by Darkseid, Batman was checking on a security anomaly at a Wayne Tech Satellite Observation Station outside of Metropolis. Instead, he encountered sleeper agents of a race of planet conquerors led by the Imperium. After being aided by Superman, Batman and the other people of Earth witnessed a full scale invasion. Batman followed Superman to a secret military facility and released the last Martian J'onn Jonzz, whom was held prisoner and was telepathically reaching out to super heroes. The three were joined by the Flash, Green Lantern John Stewart, Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman. The group was able to prevent the invasion's success. Batman, however, was still concerned with the likelihood of
Batman as a child in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Kid Stuff".
another alien invasion. Using funds and technology from Wayne Enterprises, Batman managed to secretly construct and launch a Watchtower into orbit around the Earth. It would serve as a space station to monitor deep space activity and act as a pre-emptive strike. The seven super heroes later formed the Justice League. Batman maintained he would stay on as a part time member.
While on the League, Batman went on to lay witness to may ordeals alien to any other denizen of Gotham City, the lost city of Atlantis, Greek myths come to life, a hidden city of technologically advanced apes, the New Gods, a nano-technological marvel called AMAZO, a millennia old dictator, an alternate reality or two and saving the space-time continuum, to name a few. Batman went onto be known as one of the founding fathers in the light of the expanded Justice League Unlimited. Though the founder's circle was often viewed as mutually exclusive, Batman recognized the importance of other members such as Green Arrow or the Question.
Some time later, when Amanda Waller was the official US military liaison to the JLU, Batman and Shayera Hol led a small unit to fight the second Royal Flush Gang. Waller arrived and warned the League that the Gang's founder, Ace was going to die of an aneurysm and the resulting psychic backlash would kill everyone within several miles. Batman accepted a device that would safely kill her. Batman ventured forward and confronted Ace, alone. However, Batman had no intention of using it. Ace found solace with Batman because he was the only person, she'd known that never feared her and later realized they were kindred spirits. Both had their lives stolen when they were children. Batman promised to stay by her side until she died and convinced her to undo the things she altered with her mind.
Last Encounter with The Joker[]
During, right before or after Batman resigned from the JLU, he went through a final battle that ultimately decided the fate of his partners in Gotham City. Dick Grayson had long left Gotham to establish himself in another city, Bludhaven. Tim Drake, Robin, one night, was on patrol by himself. He thought he was saving a woman from two
Batman's final fight with The Joker.
hoodlums. Instead, Drake fell into a trap laid by the Joker. For three weeks, Batman and Batgirl searched every lead to no avail. Then, the Joker left a jack-in-the-box prop that revealed his location at the former Arkham Asylum. Batman and Batgirl discovered that the Joker had systematically tortured Drake and molded him into a crude replica of himself. In the process, Joker learned Batman's secrets. In the aftermath, Batman lay beaten but the Joker didn't completely succeed in turning Drake. Drake resisted and killed the Joker.
Joker was buried beneath Arkham, to which the only other person who knew was Commissioner Gordon. Dr. Leslie Thompkins was entrusted to help Drake. After a year, she succeeded. However, Batman blamed himself for allowing such a thing to happen and forbade Drake from being Robin anymore. Drake angrily struck out on his own. He attempted to repair his relationship with Batman, but with his inability and refusal to share his true feelings, Drake was frustrated and eventually retired.
Retirement[]
Batman devised and created a new Batsuit that would effectively turn him into a walking utility belt. However, the prototype version had an ill effect of straining his heart. Twenty years later, with the final suit, Batman broke up a blackmail ring that kidnapped Gotham socialite, Bunny Vreeland. Batman suffered a heart attack and resorted to picking up a gun to scare off the last thug. Horrified, Wayne gave up and resigned as Batman. In that time, the financial cutthroat, Derek Powers of Powers Technology finally succeeded in a hostile takeover of Wayne Enterprises. Wayne no longer had the stride to fight it and became reduced to a mere presence among the Board of Trustees.
20 years later in 2039, a young teenager named Terry McGinnis while on the run from a gang of Jokerz, trespassed on Wayne's estate. After the scuffle, McGinnis helped Wayne get to his medication. McGinnis then encountered
Bruce Wayne as a elderly man.
Wayne's dog, Ace whom he saved recently while visiting Crime Alley on the anniversary of his parents' deaths. McGinnis went into Wayne's study and discovered the entrance to the Bat Cave. Wayne woke up and chased him off. McGinnis later discovered his father left him incriminating evidence against Powers. He returned to Wayne who refused to do anything but refer him to the authorities, to which McGinnis didn't trust because of his own past. After he escaped an encounter with Powers, McGinnis stole Wayne's Batsuit and infiltrated the Wayne-Powers compound. McGinnis convinced Wayne to let him avenge his father's murder.
Wayne hired McGinnis as a part time assistant while he mentored McGinnis as the new Batman. Together they fought resurgence in costumed criminals and metahumans like Inque, Spellbinder, Stalker and Shriek. Wayne eventually retook his position atop Wayne Enterprises and witnessed his pupil defeat old enemies. Wayne also mended fences with his former allies, Tim Drake and Barbara Gordon.
15 years later, Wayne suffered a kidney failure and needed a transplant to survive. Surprisingly, Terry McGinnis was an exact match. The chances were nearly improbable. McGinnis then discovered he was a genetic match, technically Wayne's son. Decades ago, Amanda Waller came to realize the world needed a Batman. She had some field agents collect blood samples and synthesized a DNA payload with nanotechnology. After rigorous profiling, the McGinnis couple was chosen. Whether Wayne knew or not, Warren McGinnis was injected and had his DNA overwritten with Wayne's. Though hiding his care like with his former allies, McGinnis eventually came to accept Wayne as his father and continued on the legacy of Batman.
Trivia[]
- Kevin Conroy who voiced Batman in many of the Batman animated shows also voiced Joe Chill, who is the killer of Batman's parents.
- Batman's childhood hero was The Gray Ghost who was voiced by Adam West who also had the role as Batman in the 60's TV series.
- Batman was also referenced in the animated series Teen Titans. Robin told Slade that he had a father then you seen a lot of bats screeching and flying.
- Kevin Conroy also voiced Batman in the video games Batman : Arkham Asylum and Batman : Arkham City.
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