Batman

Batman is the vigilante protector of Gotham City who rose up to combat super criminals, crime and corruption who is known to be cruel and brutal in his methods. A man dressed like a bat who fights against evil and strikes terror into the hearts of criminals everywhere. In his secret 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 and the Outsiders. He is also the leader of the Bat-Family and Batman Incorporated.

Early Life
Bruce Wayne was born to the wealthy doctor 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 get into a car accident. She and Bruce survived, but the accident forced Martha into premature labour, and the baby was lost.

Young Bruce would often watch the television adventures of the Gray Ghost with his father and took many ideas from this show later.

On his seventh birthday, about fifty kids came over to celebrate, but Bruce was off outside on his own, obsessed with the bright red wagon that his father gave him as a present. He spent the whole day in the garden collecting rocks with his wagon, and when he was asked by Alfred what he was going to do with them Bruce told him "I'm gonna build a home for my wagon, a secret place, that only I know about".

Although the only child in the house, his loneliness eventually changed during his fourth birthday, when his parents brought in other children for him to befriend, but most spent his party running around and yelling. This left Bruce in a best friendship with the only well-behaved child among them, Rachel Dawes, who was the daughter of the mansion's housekeeper and lived in housing unit nearby. Despite having play dates with the other kid over the next three years, he secretly wished to stay away from some except Rachel, who was the friend he saw the most. One day at age 8, while playing with her in the garden greenhouse, Bruce fell down a dry well and into a cave, where he was attacked by a swarm of bats. His father rescued him, though Bruce developed a crippling fear of bats; the senior Wayne comforted his son by telling him that though people fall, they always have the strength to get up.

Later, Bruce accompanied his parents into the city to see a new monorail system they built that just opened up for the public. Throughout the ride, his parents explained that Gotham was suffering from an economic downturn and enduring deeper into very hard times. To help its citizens, his father nearly bankrupted his company, Wayne Enterprises, to build the monorails to unite the city, with Wayne Tower as the system central core, but it didn't seem enough. While watching a performance of Mefistofele at the Gotham Opera House nearby with both his parents, Bruce got frightened by a scene featuring a bat-like monster (which reminded him of the bats that attacked him in the well) and asked to leave.

Despite their wealth, Bruce's parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, loved him more than any. Growing up, he quickly found friends in the First Families of Gotham, primarily in Thomas Elliot. The case of Barton Mathis deeply affected Bruce as a child, being one of his first tastes of the evil in the world.

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 nine years old, he was picked up by Officer James 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.

Death of Thomas and Martha Wayne
After his parents came to retrieve him, the Waynes went to see The Mark of Zorro at the Monarch Theater. After the film, a mugger named Joe Chill attempted to rob them at gunpoint, and panicked, shooting both Thomas and Martha dead. Fortunately, physician and social worker Leslie Thompkins was making a house call that night, and arrived to give loving comfort to the traumatized Bruce. The second person to talk to him after the tragedy was Jim. He offered the boy what little comfort he could. Jim promised to find the killer. He was then raised on the Wayne Manor estate, with help from the wise and loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth.

The Aftermath of Thomas & Martha Wayne's Death
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.

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

Bruce later questioned how Gotham City worked, as he was troubled by the fact that the Falcone and Maroni crime families each got substantial pieces of the Arkham Project. He later agreed to go to the Wayne Enterprises charitable ball intending to question the board members about Arkham Asylum, after deducing from several files pertaining to the project that the company most likely gave Falcone and Maroni their shares in the Arkham Project. He later met with Molly Mathis of Wayne Enterprises' Middle Management, about the several irregularities he found within the Arkham deal. Soon after, former biochemist Stan Potolsky revealed to the attendants of the ball that he had created the drug Viper for WellZyn, which was a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises. Despite Mathis telling him otherwise, Bruce later discovered she was the onsite liaison between the two companies, leading him to believe otherwise.

While watching the news about the recent killings of the first born children of Gotham's wealthier citizens, Bruce refused to leave Gotham to go to the lake house, like Alfred suggested. As Bruce was under the mindset that there was still work to be done with his investigations of Wayne Enterprises and the murderer of his parents, he also noted that there was no one to take him from, furthering his reasoning for staying.

Despite his protest, Bruce was soon forced to re-enroll in Anders Preparatory Academy by Alfred, who thought he needed to be around children his own age. Later, while reading a book outside of the school, Bruce was approached and greeted by a boy named Tommy who questioned him about his parent's death, asking several questions, which promoted Bruce to leave for class. While walking attempting to leave the school, walking on a stairwell, Bruce was once more taunted by Tommy, who purposely got Bruce's name wrong, though Bruce corrected him. After mentioning Bruce's deceased mother, Bruce slapped Tommy, getting beat up by the latter because of this. Alfred asked Bruce what had happened when he came outside, to which Bruce explained the situation. Taking Bruce to Tommy's house for revenge, Alfred also gave him his father's watch to use as a knuckle duster. Knocking on Tommy's door, Bruce told him that the two of them had unfinished business, proceeding to beat him, until being stopped by Alfred. Bruce then left with Alfred, selecting pizza for dinner for the night.

Bruce later became friends With Theo Galavan. Bruce was also friends with Harvey Dent and Silver St. Cloud who Bruce loved.

In his youth, Bruce attended Gotham Academy. It was there that he dated Julie Madison, but his psychological issues with his parents death 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 in fire on the professors 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 to pretend to be Alfred to approve of the paper work 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
Bruce Wayne swore an oath to rid the city of the evil that had taken his parents' lives. Bruce began training in martial arts and sword-fighting. He spent his youth traveling the world, training himself to intellectual and physical perfection and learning a variety of crime-fighting skills, including chemistry, criminology, forensics, martial arts, gymnastics, disguise, and escape artistry.

At age 14, Bruce Wayne began his global sojourn, attending courses at Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and other European universities. However, he never stayed long and would often drop out after one semester. Beyond academia, Wayne successfully acquired various "practical" skills. Bruce studied at several prestigious colleges, including Cambridge University, the Sorbonne in Paris, and Berlin School of Science, only taking subjects that suited him and his plan. While abroad, he studied and received training in multiple martial arts under various instructors and in different countries, man-hunting under Frenchman Henri Ducard, stealth and reconnaissance under Lady Shiva and the Japanese ninja Kirigi and other certified shinobi, hunting under the African Bushman (the Ghost Tribes of the Ten-Eyed Brotherhood, among others), hand-to hand combat under the tutelage of Ted Grant, a World Champion Boxer and David Cain, one of the world's premier assassins; traditional healing disciplines under Nepalese monks and even ventriloquism under skilled practitioners. Bruce also trained with Chu Chin Li and Tsunemoto in martial arts. He was trained in kung fu by Richard Dragon. Bruce was also trained in archery by Oliver Queen. At the age of 17, Bruce was trained by detective Harvey Harris to improve his detective skills. At age 20, he attempted to join the FBI, but after learning about its regulations and conduct, Wayne deducted that he would never be able to completely oppose crime while working within the legal system. At age 21, Bruce studied the ins and outs of technological gadgetry under the guidance of the brilliant inventor, Sergei Alexandrov. Bruce also learned escape artistry from Zatara. During his three-month training stint with Zatara, Bruce and his mentor's daughter Zatanna became very close. Near the end of his travels, Bruce went to the Himalayas to train with Shihan Matsuda, who taught him to fight with the katana. Bruce also trained with the League of Shadows and Ra '' s al Ghul. The final mentor Bruce trained with was bounty hunter Willis Doggett, when Bruce and Willie were tracking a target, Willie was killed and Bruce managed to fight off the target by throwing him over a cliff, along with his parka. Luckily Bruce was rescued by a shaman and survived. After this, Bruce returned to Gotham after twelve years of training at the age of 25.

The Zero Year
Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham City after many years of study and training with his body and mind developed to perfection. 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, in his father's study, he recalled his fear of bats as a child after a large one crashed through one of the windows; he ultimately decided to make his appearance resemble a bat's. Wayne designed himself a costume equipped with experimental technology and set out against the crime and corruption that thrived in Gotham City.

Wayne's tactics to oppose crime as a vigilante at night proved successful leading him to become an urban legend in Gotham City. He revealed himself at a dinner of the most influential and corrupt figures in Gotham City and promised them all that their reigns on the city would eventually end. Wayne's first ally was assistant district attorney Harvey Dent.

Later the next day, when Philip invited Bruce to join him for dinner at Puccio's, the young Wayne drove there in his Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 with two beautiful young European women, Kiki and Soozey, as a company. While talking about Batman's achievement and the police's "jealousy" of it with Earle and his friends, Bruce let Kiki and Soozey swim an inside pool nearby, but even though a maitre'd told him that they couldn't go in since the pool was a decoration and they didn't have swimwear, he told the waiter that he was going to make some changes before signing a check for ownership of the restaurant on the spot and joining the two women for their swim. On their way back to the Lamborghini, the three passed Rachel, who arrived for a casual blind date. Bruce tried to convince her that he wasn't who he seemed to be with his behavior, but she noted that one isn't only who they are on the inside, but also how they act.

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 James 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 Long Halloween
Batman and his trusted allies James Gordon and Harvey Dent met up on the rooftop of police headquarters one night, and they swore that they would bring down the organized crime syndicates led by Carmine "The Roman" Falcone and Sal Maroni that were completely controlling their town. Although it was necessary to bend the rules in their efforts, they agreed that they would never break them, and become as bad as the evil they fought against. Meanwhile a serial killer named Holiday began stalking prominent Mafiosos and shooting them dead. There was suspicion immediately cast on the three men in the triumvirate, and the possibility that it might be someone trying to remove their competition. Gotham's new breed of criminals was replacing the traditional gangsters, and the underground was slowly being taken over by costumed freaks with no respect for the old ways. Batman's presence was arguably the cause of this. Amongst the killings Falcone's son Alberto was murdered. Bruce Wayne went on his first date with Selina Kyle around this time, who flirted with him as Catwoman by night unaware of his alter-ego.

In his desperation, the Roman changed the game by employing super-villains in his activities. Falcone and Maroni each believed the other was responsible for Holiday, and their gang wars tore Gotham apart. Harvey Dent became a leading suspect because of his vindictive attitude towards criminals. Bruce Wayne was also suspected of involvement with the Roman's organization and arrested. His father Thomas Wayne had reluctantly performed emergency surgery on a young Carmine Falcone for bullet wounds and indebted him, making him indirectly responsible for the Roman's empire. Bruce's trial proved his innocence thanks to the testimony of Alfred Pennyworth. Dent later admitted this was a mistake, and Maroni brought himself into custody with the intention of spilling his secrets before he was killed. At the trial, Maroni smuggled in a bottle of acid and threw it at Dent's face during the prosecution, leaving him horribly disfigured. This also drove him insane, and he killed a doctor escaping from the hospital. They arrived at the conclusion that Harvey Dent was Holiday, and Batman attempted to find him after he escaped. While Gordon was transporting the gangster to a different cell, Holiday appeared and shot Sal Maroni in the head, finally revealing his real identity... Alberto Falcone, having faked his own death. Batman was disguised as the guard accompanying them, and he beat Holiday down before taking him into custody.

Harvey Dent reappeared calling himself Two-Face after the nature of his personal tragedy, taking a team of villains into the Roman's private office. As the two leaders battled, Batman arrived and put most of the criminals down, but he was unable to stop Two-Face from shooting Carmine Falcone twice in the head. The three men, Batman, Gordon and Dent, had a final meeting on the rooftop of police headquarters. Dent was accused of betraying the things he believed in, but he insisted that his methods were the only ones that actually got rid of the Roman and he did what he needed to. He was then arrested, and although Batman and Gordon had seen one of the best men they knew completely broken, they still maintained that Gotham City could be saved and ridden of evil. Neither of them was willing to give up.

The War of Jokes and Riddles
Not long after 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.

Having created a prototypical version of it during Zero Year, Jim Gordon took the risk of placing a Bat-Signal on the roof of the GCPD precinct.

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 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.

The Mask of the Phantasm
Bruce very nearly gave up his plan to become a force for justice in the night when he almost found happiness with Andrea Beaumont. However, when she abruptly called off their engagement under mysterious circumstances, a heartbroken Bruce dove headfirst onto the path of becoming Batman with renewed vigor.

One day while Bruce was exploring the recently discovered bat-infested caverns below Wayne Manor, Alfred informed him that Andrea would be leaving both he and Gotham behind. Recalling the omen of bats bursting from the belly of the caverns when he decided to give up his life as a crime-fighter to be with her, Bruce set up an appropriate identity to strike fear into the hearts of "superstitious and cowardly" criminals. He donned a suit made to look like a giant bat and built his secret headquarters, the Batcave, in the caverns below the Manor. After being accused of murdering several members of Salvatore Valestra's gang some years later, Batman was able to determine that the real assassin was actually his former love. When he confronted her, who was in a heated battle with the Joker, she said that vengeance was all she had left before she disappeared with a detained Joker as an abandoned theme park exploded in their wake.

A Heart of Ice
In the Batcave, Batman examines a list of the stolen devices, and finds that, when combined, they form a larger version of the freeze gun, large enough to become a fully-operational freezing cannon to the extent of being a city-wide threat. However, the machine is still missing one more component, meaning Batman knows where the thieves will strike next.

That night, an armored vehicle attacks the GothCorp installation in question. When the Batmobile arrives, a freeze ray from the van creates a sheet of ice that causes the car to spin out of control and crashes. Batman exits the car and engages the thieves. Their ringleader appears, a man in a strange suit of armor calling himself Mr. Freeze. He fires his freeze gun at Batman, but misses and accidentally hits one of his own men in the legs, before managing to freeze Batman. Freeze orders his men to leave his comrade behind, and they escape. Batman manages to shatter the ice on himself, and is forced to take care of the thug, who is dying of hypothermia, rather than pursue Freeze.

After using a special bath to revive the man and melt the ice sheet on his legs, Batman, who has himself developed a cold from the encounter, visits Gothcorp as Bruce Wayne, hoping to learn who might have a grudge against it. Boyle says the only person he can think of is dead: a former research scientist who used the company's funding for his own benefit and who apparently died in a laboratory accident. When Bruce expresses mild surprise, Boyle states that when employees get out of line, it's time to "pull the plug" so to speak and admits that his "People's Company" speeches are just an act he puts on for the sake of Public Relations. As Bruce is leaving, Boyle comments that he is to be presented with a humanitarian award.

Posing as a security guard, Batman sneaks into Gothcorp's offices and finds a security camera tape with footage of the accident: on it, a man named Victor Fries records that he has put his wife, Nora, into cryogenic stasis after she became terminally ill, to give himself time to research a cure. Suddenly, Boyle and a pair of security guards burst in. Victor protests this intrusion but Boyle says that Fries's funding has been cut and he is using company equipment without authorization. He orders his guards to disconnect the equipment, despite Fries's horrified objections that Nora will die if they do so. In a panic, Fries seizes one of the guard's guns and orders them to stay back. Scared, Boyle attempts to reason with Fries. Fries lowers the gun... and then Boyle kicks him in the chest, sending him crashing back onto a table of chemicals, which fill the room with vapor. As Boyle and his guards flee the room, Fries drags a hand over his wife's tank, calling her name as they are both cryogenically frozen.

Watching this, Batman can only mutter "My God!", when Fries, now Mr. Freeze, appears behind him and telling him "It would move to me to tears, IF I still had tears to shed." and blasts him with his cold gun.

Batman is kept prisoner in Freeze's hideout, partially frozen and without his utility belt. Freeze's men have finished assembling the giant cold gun, with which Freeze plans to attack Boyle's award ceremony. Freeze explains his suit: after the accident, he is incapable of living outside of a sub-zero environment, which the suit maintains. Batman tries to reason with Freeze, but he refuses to let the man who ruined his life and effectively murdered his wife go unpunished.

After Freeze leaves, Batman manages to free himself. At the building, Freeze's cannon opens fire, covering the lower part of the building in ice. Freeze tells his men to go on firing until the entire building is covered, but Batman arrives and barely stops the cannon. Unwilling to admit defeat, Freeze smashes a fire hydrant and uses his gun to convert the fountain of spraying water into a column of ice that lifts him to the top floor of the building. Smashing his way into the awards ceremony, Freeze confronts Boyle and begins freezing him slowly from the legs up. He has just reached Boyle's waist when Batman arrives and distracts him. However, Freeze reveals that his suit's circuitry also triples his strength, and Batman is outmatched.

As Freeze holds Batman aloft, helpless, Batman remembers he is carrying the thermos of hot chicken soup that Alfred gave him for his cold. He dumps the soup onto Freeze's helmet, and the temperature difference causes the helmet to crack and shatter, letting the room-temperature air into Freeze's suit and paralyzing him. Freeze laments that he has been denied justice, but Batman says he won't be: he tells everyone what Boyle did and gives Summer Gleason the video tape of Fries's accident, then bids Boyle a sarcastic "Good night...'humanitarian'" out of disgust and leaves without freeing him for the ice.

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 Martian Manhunter 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 travelled 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.

Dick Grayson, the first Robin
Bruce Wayne was on an excursion to the circus when he witnessed another tragedy that would shape his life. The parents of a young acrobat named Dick Grayson were murdered by the gangster Tony Zucco. He saw both great potential and something of himself in the boy that night. Although Bruce knew he could never replace Dick's father, he adopted Grayson as his legal ward to help him and provide guidance where he didn't have any when he was that age. He eventually revealed his secret identity as Batman. Dick wanted justice for his parents, and he agreed to a regiment of rigorous physical and mental training so that he could become Batman's partner. After several months Dick was finally ready to take to the streets as Robin, fighting crime alongside his mentor. They swore an oath late one night that they would fight together against crime and corruption, never swerving from the path of righteousness. Batman had realized for the first time that he did not have to be alone in his crusade.

Before he could go into action regularly, Robin had to pass a final exam and he proved himself by taking down the gangster Joe Minette. Their first adventures as a dynamic duo were a remarkable change in tone, with Robin's lightheartedness alleviating the grim seriousness. Dick's first solo mission was stopping Mad Hatter in a sex trafficking ring while Bruce was indisposed. Everything changed when Robin was targeted by Two-Face. A double-gallows trap caused Robin to inadvertently cause the death of an innocent man, after which Two-Face beat him within an inch of his life using a baseball bat and made Batman watch. Batman refused to let Robin go out with him anymore after the boy recovered because he didn't want to put him in further danger. Dick had to prove again that he really wanted this life, demonstrating his competence and resolve.

Robin began teaming up with other young heroes and sidekicks, starting with a fight against Mr. Twister where he worked alongside Aqualad and Kid Flash. Speedy, Cyborg, Starfire and Wonder Girl joined them to fight an evil being named Antithesis who was mind controlling their mentors. This group decided to call themselves the Teen Titans and would go on to a long career with Robin as one of their core members. As the leader of the Titans, Dick decided to give up his identity as Robin. This happened after an incident where Bruce had fired Dick as his partner after Robin was shot off a rooftop by the Joker. While he was doing some soul-searching, he met and talked with Superman who inspired him with a story about a Kryptonian vigilante named Nightwing. He reinvented himself using this new name and designing a new Nightwing costume, intending to honor all of the people who had shaped him into the man he had become.

Batgirl
When Bruce was invited to the Million Dollar Masquerade Ball, Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara crashed the party in a female version of Batman's costume to surprise her father, who was also attending the event. At the party, before she revealed herself to Gordon, Killer Moth and his henchmen crashed the party, gunning for Bruce Wayne. James Gordon was taken out quickly so Barbara decided to step in. Bruce Wayne was previously shoved out of the way by Barbara so that she could protect him and her unconscious adoptive father, thinking that Bruce was but a helpless bystander. She defeated Killer Moth, breaking a heel in the process. She was later named Batgirl by Killer Moth, which stuck, even though she stated that she would have preferred Batwoman. Directly after the confrontation with Killer Moth, Batgirl met Batman and Robin. Batgirl's first encounter with Batman and Robin proved to be unpleasant. While she was angry with Batman's automatic dismissal of her capabilities, she was repulsed by Robin having a romantic interest in her. Soon after that, Batgirl attempted to swing from rooftops, being saved by Robin, who told her that regular rope is not good for diving from forty feet in the air. Later, Robin sent Batgirl equipment, pretending that he believed in her and Batman didn't. In reality, Robin was sending them on the orders of Batman. She was later captured by Batman and Robin to be tested, an examination she failed in Batman's eyes, not being able to save the innocents in a holographic containment chamber. Batgirl later teamed up with Black Canary, her idol, and she finally gained some respect from Batman, while Robin still harbored a crush on her. She was introduced to James Gordon as Batgirl, one of Batman's protégés.

The Killing Joke
A concerned Batman visits Arkham Asylum and goes to Joker's cell. The Joker is sitting alone in his cell, playing with a deck of cards and Batman sits in the opposite end of the table. The Dark Knight tells Joker that the constant madness of their lives must end, or otherwise one of them will surely die at the hands of the other. Joker doesn't move and keeps playing with the cards, and Batman grabs the clown's arm, infuriated. Batman notices that he has white stains on his hands and grabs the man in front of him, who is just a man dressed and wearing make-up to look like the Joker. Batman questions the man about the location of the Joker, who has escaped Arkham and is on the loose.

Joker is looking to buy an abandoned amusement park and after he checks the whole place, he kills the owner and claims the park as his own. However, Joker is lost in thoughts and he starts remembering memories from a past life.

Joker makes his move and he knocks on the door of Commissioner Gordon. Barbara opens the door and is shocked at the sight of the Joker, dressed in a tourist outfit and pointing a gun at her. Joker shoots Barbara in the spine and his henchmen enter the house and knock Commissioner Gordon out, while Joker starts undressing the wounded Barbara and takes out a camera.

Barbara is taken to a hospital and the doctors tell Bullock that the damage caused by the bullet would make her unable to use her legs ever again. Batman visits Barbara and when she recovers, she begs Batman to save her father from whatever the Joker has planned.

Joker takes Gordon and imprisons him in a run-down amusement park. His deformed henchmen then strip Gordon naked and cage him in the park's freak show. He chains Gordon to one of the park's rides and cruelly forces him to view giant pictures of his wounded daughter in various states of undress. Once Gordon completes the maddening gauntlet, the Joker ridicules him as an example of "the average man," a naive weakling doomed to insanity.

Batman searches all over the city for Joker with no good results. Suddenly, the Bat-Signal beacons in the night and Harvey Bullock gives Batman two tickets to the abandoned amusement park. As Batman arrives to save Gordon, the Joker retreats into the funhouse. Gordon's sanity is intact despite the ordeal, and he insists that Batman capture the Joker "by the book" in order to "show him that our way works". Batman enters the funhouse and faces the Joker's traps, while the Joker tries to persuade his old foe that the world is inherently insane and thus not worth fighting for. Eventually, Batman tracks down the Joker and subdues him.

Batman then attempts to reach out to him to give up crime and put a stop to their years-long war. The Joker declines, however, ruefully saying "It's too late for that... far too late". He then tells Batman a joke, which reflects their current situation and is funny enough to make the normally stone-faced Batman laugh. While they are laughing, Batman reaches across to Joker. The picture moves away from the two foes, and they stop laughing abruptly while the sirens of the police cars keep getting louder as they approach the two men. In the end all noise cease and only the rain keeps pouring down.

Ra's al Ghul
Struggling against the League of Shadows, Batman met the beautiful Talia al Ghul when he rescued her from Doctor Darrk. Ra's al Ghul determined his secret identity through logical deduction and confronted him after Talia had been kidnapped again alongside Robin. Realizing that Ra's was behind this as a personal test, Batman confronted him and fought his bodyguard Ubu. Ra's explained that he was making sure he had found a worthy successor in the detective, as Talia had fallen in love with him. Batman eventually came to the conclusion that Ra's is a dangerous criminal who must be stopped at all costs, and declared war on him.

Outsiders
Batman quit the League when they refused to help him rescue Lucius Fox from Baron Bedlam in Markovia for political reasons. Determining that he needed a new team more concerned with justice than the way they were viewed by the world, he created the Outsiders as a black ops super-team to go where the League couldn't. This team involved Black Lightning, Geo-Force, Halo, Katana and Metamorpho.

Jason Todd, Robin II
When Dick Grayson reached maturity, Bruce forced him to retire from the Robin persona. Shortly after this decision, Batman came across a young boy called Jason Todd, who had turned to crime out of necessity. Batman tried to help him by placing him at Ma Gunn's school, which was in fact a criminal hideout. Investigating Jason's background, Batman learned that the boy was an orphan. When Batman checked upon Jason, he realized the truth about the school and stopped the criminals with help from Jason, after which Batman took him under his wing and allowed him to become his new Robin.

With Jason as the new Robin, the new Dynamic Duo stopped various criminals like Two-Face, Magpie, the Penguin, Mime, the Crime Doctor and Deacon Blackfire. Batman also worked together with Talia to stop the Penguin from spreading a lethal drug.

Around this time, Batman also confronted numerous threats on his own and faced new criminals like The Ventriloquist, The KGBeast, The Ratcatcher, The Corrosive Man and Kadaver, Cornelius Stirk and the Dumpster Slasher.

A Death in the Family
Over time, Batman realized Jason was behaving more aggressive towards criminals and this violence wound up being the cause of the death of a criminal. When Jason became an inconvenience while fighting crime, Batman restricted him from going out as Robin. In the meantime, Joker had escaped from Arkham and Batman followed the trail of the madman to the Middle East, where he also found Jason. Batman learned that Jason was looking for his real mother and when their missions crossed, they worked together to foil Joker's plans. Although they couldn't capture the Joker, Jason was reunited with his mother, Sheila Haywood. Unfortunately, she was being blackmailed by the Joker and the Dynamic Duo had to separate to deal with a double threat by the madman. While Batman went on to stop a deadly cargo of Joker Venom, Robin tried to save his mother, but he was captured and beaten by the Joker.

By the time Batman arrived at the crime scene, the warehouse where Jason and his mother were locked exploded and Batman couldn't save either of them. After dealing with the funeral arrangements for them, Bruce returned to Gotham, where he tracked down the Joker to the United Nations Building and learned the madman had become an Ambassador, which granted him diplomatic immunity. Batman was soon confronted by Superman, who was asked to prevent Batman from starting an international incident by attacking the Joker. Despite this, Batman continued his investigation and he confirmed Joker's involvement in Jason's death. Finally, when the Joker attempted to murder the people at the UN Building, he was stopped by Batman and Superman, but on his escape attempt, he fell to his apparent demise, but his body was not found.

Loner Vigilante
After the death of Jason, Batman mourned his loss and became a loner for quite a while; stopping threats like the alien invasion, Mr. Freeze, the League of Shadows, the Bonecrusher, Two-Face, and solving other minor cases. Batman also faced other strange incidents like the mysterious “Batman Killings”, the mystery of Tulpa, an ancient, dark and mystic ritual with help from the Demon, Etrigan, the threat of the Mud Pack, which resulted in the creation of the Ultimate Clayface, and finally he stopped the misguided vigilante Anarky. During one of his last acts as a loner, Batman was forced to take back Arkham Asylum from the many maniacs who had taken over the institution.

Tim Drake, Robin III
Following the death of Jason Todd, Batman became much more violent and aggressive while coping with the tragedy without someone to balance him out. A young man named Tim Drake figured out his secret identity using detective work, and determined that he needed a Robin to keep his darkness in check, just as Two-Face reappeared with new plans to kill the Dark Knight. Drake begged Dick Grayson to go back to his identity as Robin again when he was needed most. After explaining that he had deduced their identities by following Grayson's acrobatic career to Dick and Alfred Pennyworth, Tim was taken into the Batcave where it was suggested that he become the new Robin. Batman and Nightwing tracked down Two-Face, and he caught them in his underground death-trap. Tim took the Robin costume to rescue them and succeeded, although Batman argueed that he no longer needed a side-kick. Begrudgingly, as he proved himself and helped them defeat Two-Face, Bruce agreed to start training Tim Drake and take him on as his new crime-fighting partner.

Prelude to Knightfall
Batman (at the onset of a personal psychological mid-life crisis) was forced to deal, in rapid succession, with the returning villain Black Mask and his gang (who targeted Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox), a crazed killer called Metalhead, and a sharpshooter assassin hired by Vincent Morelli to murder Commissioner Gordon. Batman began to feel he had lost his edge, especially after his failure to capture Black Mask. He found himself unable to meditate or even focus. As Bruce Wayne, he contacted holistic therapist Shondra Kinsolving for treatment. He also assigned Tim Drake to train Jean-Paul Valley in detective work to aid them as an ally, hoping he could prevent him from becoming a villainous threat. Despite the advice of everyone in his life, including Dr. Kinsolving, Bruce refused to rest, and continued to pursue his self-imposed duty despite his worsening condition. Bruce's condition was worsened by The General usurping power in Gotham's underworld and assaulting a police station, Cypher attacking companies' CEOs and The Riddler creating chaos in Gotham. Meanwhile, Robin found it difficult to work with Jean-Paul, due to the man's violent subconscious training and lack of social skills, and also found himself being shut out from working alongside Batman.

Knightfall
Bane, a brilliant tactical mastermind who had trained his body to physical perfection, came to Gotham City and dedicated himself to destroying Batman and taking over his territory. This villain was more driven and powerful than anyone he had ever faced before, and wanted to prove himself by defeating and breaking Batman. At their first meeting, Bane did not introduce himself but said that his name would eventually make him beg for mercy. Batman suggested that if he was threatening him, he should get in line behind everyone else.

Broken Bat
Bane began his assault by organizing a massive break-out at Arkham Asylum with the help of his henchmen Bird, Trogg and Zombie. Aware that he would lose in a direct assault against Batman, Bane's plan consisted of weakening Batman by forcing him to deal with the deadly villains simultaneously. Among the freed inmates, there were numerous high-profile villains, which Batman took down one by one. Batman faced against great criminals like Poison Ivy,undefinedthe Joker and the Scarecrow, as well as many lesser known villains, such as the Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, Amygdala, Firefly, Cavalier, and Victor Zsasz. The scenario created a rift in the relationship between Robin and Batman, as Batman irrationally sought to face the outbreak alone -- Robin later asked Batman if he was even needed as his sidekick anymore. Batman became weaker and weaker as each criminal was put away. The rescue of Mayor Krol from the combination of the Joker and Scarecrow took Batman to his mental and physical limit: a dose of Scarecrow's fear gas made him relive the murder of Jason Todd, which he considered to be his greatest failure.

After saving the Mayor, Batman was confronted by Trogg, Zombie and Bird and he took them out with the last amount of energy left in him. Bane finally confronted him by breaking into Wayne Manor when Batman was at his weakest, beating him nearly to death in his weakened state and breaking his spine. Bane took his body downtown to Gotham Square and threw it from a rooftop to demonstrate his superiority to the populace. With Batman incapacitated, Bane assumed control of Gotham City's underworld and took over several illegal operations within it.

Who Rules the Night
After his defeat, Batman was rescued and his injuries were treated in the Batcave. When Bruce woke up, he was moved upstairs to Wayne Manor and Alfred summoned Dr. Shondra Kinsolving to tend Bruce's injuries, telling her that they happened in a car crash. As the city was in need of Batman, Bruce asked Jean-Paul to fill in for him, much to Tim's dismay. Around this time, Bruce started to develop feelings for Shondra and considered revealing his secret to her. Unfortunately, Shondra was kidnapped along with Jack Drake and Bruce couldn't stop the kidnappers, even though he tried.

Bruce investigated the evidence left behind by the kidnappers and with Oracle's help, he tracked them to the island of Santa Prisca. It was then that Bruce and Alfred started their quest to find Dr. Kinsolving and Jack Drake and upon arriving at Santa Prisca, Bruce acknowledged his love for Shondra.

Knightquest
Once in Santa Prisca, Bruce was joined by Bronze Tiger, Gypsy and Green Arrow; all temporary members of the Justice League Task Force. Working together, they tried to rescue Shondra and Jack, but they failed and the hostages were moved out of the island.

Bruce then tracked Shondra and Jack to London, as he learned about Shondra's connection to Benedict Asp. Disguised as an old aristocrat, Bruce investigated Asp's residence and failed to rescue Shondra, as he came to the wrong conclusion that she was criminally involved with Asp. Bruce managed to rescue Jack Drake, but learned that Shondra was somehow involved in the murder of an entire village and he swore to bring her to justice.

When his efforts to locate Shondra proved futile, Bruce dug into her past and managed to locate Shondra's foster mother, who revealed much about her past, before she was killed similarly to the people of the village. Bruce and Alfred returned to Gotham, where Bruce was told by doctors to rest. Despite this, Bruce was compelled to track down Asp and Shondra, which caused Alfred's resignation due to Bruce's recklessness. Using the identity of Sir Hemingford Gray, Bruce forced Asp to come to him as the criminal kidnapped Bruce. Asp took Bruce to his hideout, where he was reunited with Shondra and Bruce tried to rescue her, leading to a confrontation between Asp, Bruce and Shondra. Confused and still under the effects of drugs, Kinsolving tried to heal her brother, but instead she killed him. Filled with regret, Shondra used her powers to completely heal Bruce from his broken back. Unfortunately, the experience was too much for her mind and her psyche returned to that of a child permanently. Bruce Wayne bought a big residence, where Kinsolving could spend the rest of her days under the best medical care.

Finally back in Gotham, Bruce learned of the disastrous effects of Jean-Paul's actions as Batman and he decided to reclaim the mantle of the Bat. However, Bruce's physical condition was deteriorated after months of inactivity and he decided to start an intensive training to confront Jean-Paul and take back the mantle of Batman.

KnightsEnd
In order to regain his lost skills, Bruce sought help from the only master fighter he trusted: Lady Shiva. After weeks of rigorous training, Shiva wanted Bruce to learn a dealy technique, but when he refused, set a plan in motion in which Bruce would fight the Disciples of the Armless Master, who was murdered by Shiva as she wore the Mask of Tengu. Shiva then gave the mask to Bruce in order to lure the Disciples to him. Bruce confronted the first two Disciples and although they proved to be a great challenge, Bruce managed to defeat them, regaining some of his lost skills. However, he knew that it was not enough and he continued Shiva's trials. Like this, Bruce defeated the rest of the Disciples and every match became much easier than the last one, with minor exceptions in which luck was on Bruce's side.

On the final confrontation, Bruce realized that Shiva wouldn't stop sending fighters his way to challenge him unless he used the deadly technique she taught him. In order to get rid of her, Bruce pretended to use the leopard blow and deceived her, officially ending his training. Knowing that he was finally ready, Bruce dons the Batsuit, marking the return of the real Batman.

Taking Nightwing and Robin along, Bruce tracked down Jean-Paul and confronted him in order to claim back his rightful position as Batman. Jean-Paul put up a fight and the struggle attracted the attention of the authorities. As the building they chose to battle was slowly consumed by the flames, they attached the Batrope to a nearby helicopter, which dragged them to the Gotham Bridge. The fight continued over the bridge, where Bruce managed to get the upper hand and caused Jean-Paul's drop into the river. After saving the people on the chopper, Batman tried to use the Batmobile, but it exploded due to a trap prepared by Jean-Paul.

Bruce avoided the explosion in the last minute and after talking to Robin, he went to Wayne Manor to challenge Jean-Paul for the last time. Bruce tried to talk sense into Jean-Paul, but he wouldn't listen and a confrontation started. Bruce managed to avoid violence and eventually forced Jean-Paul to remove his armor and admit his defeat. Bruce showed mercy at the end and allowed Jean-Paul to leave and start a new life while he continued with his own. After this victory, Bruce decided to return to the role of Batman, even though it might not be absolutely permanent.

Zero Hour
The Timestream was damaged by Extant and Parallax working together, causing time to deteriorate and reality to break down throughout history during the Zero Hour crisis. A new Batgirl appeared from an alternate timeline where she had never been crippled, and went on to get romantically involved with Bruce. Alfred was temporarily replaced with his Earth-Two counterpart Alfred Beagle. There was another timeline he saw in which his parents were never killed by Joe Chill, and he wasted the time he could've spent with them tracking the mugger down anyway. Batman was killed by an entropy fissure that opened right on top of him as the universe died. The timeline was then rebooted at the Big Bang with changes in history that caused slight differences in Batman's continuity.

Prodigal
Bruce reaffirmed his partnership with Tim, resolving the tension caused by Bruce's unwillingness to accept help during the Arkham prison break. Bruce passed the mantle of Batman to Dick Grayson so he could re-evaluate what it would take to restore his perceived aura of invincibility.

Because of previous events, considerable time passed before Commissioner Gordon restored his trust in the idea of a Batman working for good. Gordon could tell that he was not looking at the original Batman (based on Jean-Paul's costume and Dick's height, and the fact that Jean-Paul was more than ready to kill people), and he refused to place blind trust in a costume after spending so long learning to trust the man. Numerous loose ends were tied up during this time, with Killer Croc, the Ventriloquist, Ratcatcher and Two-Face, along with many other, less notorious released inmates being returned to prison. During his time as Batman, Dick avenged his worst mistake from his days as Robin, when a mistake in a confrontation with Two-Face caused a man to die and nearly killed Bruce. He also came to appreciate the incredible physical and mental burden Bruce placed on himself in donning the Batsuit. During this time, a firm bond arose between Dick and Tim as they shared Wayne Manor together in Bruce and Alfred's absence.

Troika
When Bruce finally returned for good, he wore a sturdier (made of Kevlar), darker Batsuit and drove a new, state-of-the-art Batmobile. He again fought Colonel Vega, KGBeast and Dark Rider, in order to foil a plot to nuke Gotham City with a device the size and shape of a baseball. Batman made changes to his life as Bruce Wayne, his relationships with his 'family', planned to live without Alfred, and coped with the decision of making Jean-Paul his replacement.

Contagion
Shortly after Batman's comeback, Azrael sent him a video tape showing the effects of a deadly and highly contagious virus named Ebola Gulf-A. Azrael told Batman that there would be an outbreak of the virus if he didn't stop it on time. The virus spread too fast among the citizens of Gotham and it was impossible for Batman and his allies to find a cure or develop a serum from the survivors' blood. The "clench", as the virus was known, decimated the population of Gotham and even Tim Drake was infected. The city was quarantined and the national guard was sent to control all of Gotham's access. It was later revealed that the Order of St. Dumas was responsible for creating the virus and for setting it free into the world. Azrael, together with Sister Lilhy, translated an old book from the Order of St. Dumas that contained the recipe to create a cure for the virus. Azrael delivered the cure to Gotham and the city was saved. The virus was under control, or at least it seemed that way.

Legacy
The Ebola Gulf-A virus was not completely cured from those who were infected; it mutated into something more deadly. Batman sought Azrael's help on where to search for further information on the virus in order to develop a true cure. Batman's investigations lead him to Sudan where he had to face two of his deadliest enemies. Ra's al Ghul joined forces with Bane in order to spread a new strain of the virus taken from the Wheel of Plagues. Batman, Nightwing and Robin traveled around the world to prevent the League of Assassins from spreading the virus in major cities like Paris, Edinburgh, Calcutta, and Gotham City. Once in Gotham, Batman and Bane faced each other in a long awaited rematch, but this time Batman defeated Bane and saved Gotham from the menace of Ra's' new virus. With Oracle's help, Batman managed to find a cure, although a great number of citizens had died from the mutated virus. Bane appeared some time later with a new threat to Gotham: a nuclear weapon.

New World Order
Brought together through a fight against Doctor Destiny, Aquaman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Superman and Wonder Woman realized that Earth needed its greatest heroes working together and reformed the Justice League of America. Their first challenge was to prove themselves against a new superhero team called the Hyperclan who attempted to discredit them. Although the team were nearly overpowered by the Clan, Batman was able to outmanoeuvre the clan and expose their true identity as the White Martians, and the League stopped them from taking over the planet.

Cataclysm
Gotham City was completely destroyed by an earthquake that reached magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale. Batman was trapped inside of his cave at the time and was nearly killed by falling rocks. The only properties that were not affected by the quake were those owned by Wayne Enterprises, not including Wayne Manor for geographic reasons. With his car crushed, Bruce was forced to scuba through underground streams before getting to the harbor and seeing his city in flames. Blackgate Prison had a break-out in the chaos, and Batman was able to put a stop to the rioting although many villains escaped in the process. He enlisted the Penguin's influence on organized crime to incorporate local gangsters into the rescue efforts for survivors in the wreckage. Teaming up with the GCPD he adopted the guise of Detective Hawke so he could drag people to safety in the daylight. A new villain named Quakemaster claimed to have generated the disaster, and held the city hostage for several million dollars, threatening to hit them again if they did not comply. In reality he had kidnapped seismologist Jolene Relazzo and was using her knowledge to plausibly take credit. Robin figured out that Quakemaster was a fraud; in reality it had been the Ventriloquist, and he was swiftly defeated. After the situation was stabilized, the body count had reached over one hundred thousand people. There were mass graves dug to burn the corpses and prevent spread of disease.

Mr. Wayne Goes to Washington
Bruce Wayne was called upon as Gotham's top citizen to speak on their behalf in front of the United States Congress in Washington, applying for federal assistance. His main competition was the ruthless and corrupt Senator Barclay Means. Nicholas Scratch also launched a smear campaign, attempting to convince America that the city wasn't worth saving. Bruce's testimony was a great speech delivered from the heart about the spirit of Gotham, its importance and the strong will of its people in dealing with adversity and helping to make the nation great. However, the negative sentiment was too great. There was not enough money in the federal budget, and they arrived at the conclusion that the negative elements would have to be isolated. Right before the ending of the trial, Mayor Grange was gunned down by an assassin. Everyone still living within city limits was given 48 hours to leave, excluding anyone with known connections to the criminal element. After that the bridges leading inside were destroyed, and the national guard was stationed to make sure that no one else got in or got out. Jeremiah Arkham was forced to release all the dangerously insane patients from Arkham Asylum into the streets.

No Man's Land
In response, the U.S government declared Gotham a "no man's land," destroyed all bridges leading to Gotham and forbade people from entering or exiting. The city was swiftly carved up by gangs and various supervillains Batman had battled over the years. Jim Gordon and several members of the Gotham police department stayed behind to protect civilians. Oracle and Huntress also ended up on the inside. Bruce Wayne left the city to lobby the government not to cut Gotham off, but failed. Gordon and his men waited for Batman's return, but by the time he returned more than three months later, they believed he had abandoned Gotham.

Huntress attempted to keep order, fashioning a Batgirl costume. She soon discovered that criminals feared her more as Batgirl than they did Huntress and succeeded in holding territory of her own. When Batman returned, he allowed her to continue to use the costume. However, when she failed to hold off Two-Face and his army of men and lost Batman's territory, she abandoned the costume.

Batman and James Gordon's officers worked separately to reclaim Gotham, piece by piece, by beating and subduing the gang leaders and then marking the reclaimed territory with graffiti. Poison Ivy took up residence in Robinson Park and Batman allowed her to remain there as long as she cared for the local orphans and distributed food.

Gordon allied with Two-Face, but Two-Face betrayed their alliance. Two-Face also hired David Cain to kill Gordon, but Cain was thwarted by his daughter Cassandra. Cassandra later took up the mantle as the third Batgirl to help clean up No Man's Land. Later, Two-Face kidnapped Gordon and put him on trial for breaking the alliance. Police officer Renee Montoya reached out to Two-Face's Harvey Dent persona, whose defense led to Gordon's acquittal. Dent's questioning concluded that Two-Face had essentially blackmailed Gordon into the alliance, hence making any alliance between them void.

The turning point for No Man's Land came when Lex Luthor arrived with helicopters to rebuild Gotham. However, Luthor's covert plan was to take the deeds and much of the property in Gotham, since the original deeds had been destroyed, and many of the owners had died in the earthquake. Lucius Fox discovered the original documents and notified Luthor. Luthor then attempted to kill Fox, but Batman intervened and told Luthor that Gotham was not for sale, warning him to leave.

The United States government reversed the No Man's Land order and allowed Gotham to rejoin the United States. Gordon and his surviving police officers were promoted. The Joker attacked police sergeant William Pettit's compound, killing Pettit and leaving the Huntress badly injured. The Joker later kidnapped all of Gotham's babies. When Sarah Essen-Gordon discovered the babies, the Joker murdered her. Batman later convinced a grief-stricken Commissioner Gordon not to kill the Joker, who gloated at Gordon about murdering his wife. Gordon shot Joker through one of his kneecaps instead and let Batman take him away to be incarcerated.

Tower of Babel
Realizing how dangerously wrong things could go if any of his friends were mind controlled or manipulated into doing evil, Batman began to study their weaknesses and develop contingency plans to neutralize them. Talia al Ghul broke into the Batcave and stole the plans from the Batcomputer. Ra's al Ghul began using these special methods to incapacitate every member of the League, while distracting the detective by stealing his parents' corpses. Ra's' plan was an attempt to thin the world's population using a machine that destroyed people's ability to process language worldwide. Bursting into the League of Shadows' base to fight Ra's and prevent his parents from being lowered into a Lazarus Pit, Batman realized that his plans had been stolen and warned everyone else. Recovering from defeat, the Justice League saved their aggression towards Batman's controversial actions and fought back with help from a defecting Talia. After saving the world, they voted to dismiss Batman from the League on grounds of distrust. Superman eventually convinced him that he needed to regain the team's trust to be accepted again, and Batman returned by revealing his secret identity to the rest of his allies.

Bruce Wayne: Fugitive
Bruce Wayne and his bodyguard Sasha Bordeaux were framed for the murder of Bruce's girlfriend, radio talk show host Vesper Fairchild. There was a trial and they were unable to defend themselves without revealing their secret identities. Escaping from custody, Bruce determined that he would become Batman permanently and allow Bruce Wayne to disappear completely. Eventually he realized that he was wrong to think he didn't benefit from the companies of his allies, and they proved his innocence by determining that the man who framed him was David Cain.

Hush
Bruce Wayne realized that he was in the center of a malevolent shadow conspiracy targeting his life one night when his batline was cut in mid-air by a thrown batarang and he barely survived the descent from the rooftops. Tommy Elliot, his out-of-touch closest childhood friend who had grown into a skilled surgeon, repaired the damage and saved his life. Soon afterward, the tires on the Batmobile were shot out by a sniper during a mission that led to a dangerous crash. At the same time, Batman became romantically involved with the reformed Catwoman after saving her life from Killer Croc. They shared a passionate kiss together and gave into the feelings they had both been experiencing for years. Having begun to open up emotionally again, Bruce reopened ties with his old friend Tommy and began working more closely with Catwoman in the field as a partner, teaming up with her to fight Poison Ivy. Ivy mind-controlled Superman and the two were forced to fight against the most powerful being on the planet. Batman was able to combat Superman's brute force by using superior tactics and his Green Kryptonite Ring. Catwoman kidnapped Lois Lane and put her in mortal danger so Superman would be forced to break the hold and rescue her. After they caught Ivy by having Krypto track her down, Clark felt reassured that he had given the one weapon that could hurt him to the right person.

During an excursion to the opera that was interrupted by Harley Quinn staging a robbery, Tommy Elliot appeared to be shot in the heart and killed by the Joker. This drove Batman into a furious rage, and in his grief-stricken state he intended to beat the villain to death, thinking that he should have done many years before to prevent so much senseless tragedy. He was stopped only by Commissioner Gordon until his senses returned. Harvey Dent reappeared in Gotham no longer insane, having gone through surgery to fix his face, and wanting to return to his former position as district attorney. Bruce took advice from Nightwing that if he was truly going to pursue a meaningful relationship with Selina he would need to open up to her, and to her surprise he made the decision to reveal his secret Identity.

Further investigation led him to suspect Ra's al Ghul might have answers about the unseen hand coordinating recent events, so Batman abducted his daughter Talia al Ghul and held her hostage. Besting Ra's in a sword-fight only allowed him to learn that there had been recent unauthorized access to the Lazarus Pits and the League of Shadows was desperate to kill whoever was responsible. Catwoman was almost killed by Lady Shiva while trying to stop her from rescuing Talia, meanwhile Batman acknowledged that the love he felt for Selina made it worth being emotionally vulnerable about her. A fight against Scarecrow led him to Gotham Cemetery where the mysterious man finally revealed himself to be Jason Todd, a grown adult and apparently back from the dead, furious that Bruce had let him die. After lengthy physical combat he realized he had been tricked by Clayface. Consultation with Oracle on surveillance equipment found in the Batcave revealed that he had been betrayed by his former employee, mechanical genius Harold Allnut. When he set up a meeting with Harold the man broke down in tears over his treachery, because he had been given happiness and expensive surgery that repaired his voice and freakish looks, making him finally normal. At that moment, two shots rang out and Harold was murdered.

The mysterious villain finally revealed himself as Hush, Bruce's friend Tommy who had faked his death using Clayface and masterminded this elaborate scheme to take revenge on the Wayne Family in a personal vendetta. Hush would have killed Batman if not for the intervention of Gordon at the behest of Dent, formerly a co-conspirator, who betrayed Hush now that he had gone sane again. Tommy Elliot fell into the harbor and escaped before they could capture him. Batman realized that there must have been another mind pulling the strings, and deduced that the Riddler had been working with Hush and manipulating the other villains the entire time. Riddler was the one who had broken into the Lazarus Pits to cure his cancer, and in the ensuing fit of madness he figured out that Batman was Bruce Wayne. However a riddle that everyone knows the answer to is worthless, so his psychosis would not allow him to tell anyone else about it. Afterwards Batman also ended his romantic affair with Catwoman, realizing that he couldn't allow anyone to get that close to him in his line of work, but hoped that someday in the future he would be able to.

War Games
Tim Drake was forced to give up his career as Robin when his father Jack Drake discovered his Identity. Stephanie Brown, formerly Spoiler, sought out the position and Batman agreed to take her on as his new Robin. She was fired shortly afterwards for disobeying his orders during a fight with Scarab.

Trying to impress Batman in the hopes of changing his mind, Spoiler activated one of his contingency plans to unite the entire Gotham underworld under Matches Malone, not realizing it was one of Bruce's other identities. The meeting between the big bosses turned bad and there was a shootout, creating a massive power vacuum in the city. Black Mask ended up taking control of organized crime throughout the entire city.

City of Crime
Batman had to deal with a new wave of old and new criminals in Gotham, all alone. One night, the death of a young girl named Haddie McNeil made Batman feel guilty and after capturing those responsible, a fire started at Crime Alley. After saving the most people he could at the fire, Batman tried to relieve his guilt over Haddie's death by taking the case of a missing girl by the name of Cassie Welles. On his quest to find this girl, Batman realized that there were many villains involved in the crime including the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, the Ventriloquist, and a new threat: an army of men made of dirt. After this discovery, Batman tracked Freeze down and rescued a kidnapped girl from the psychopathic villain. Shortly after, Batman investigated an attack on the Ventriloquist and later he learned of Cassie's death. In a quest to find the truth he investigated the body and discovered that it wasn't the real Cassie. The army of masked attackers struck again and they revealed themselves as The Body. Batman was saved by the Penguin, who told Batman vital information about this new enemy.

Batman reached Crown Point and disguised himself as Donnie Maloy, a worker at the Waterfront Construction in order to learn the truth about The Body. After a week of trying, Bruce managed to befriend the leader of Crown Point and head of workers. Investigating further, he discovered that something mysterious was happening at the nearest park. After this, Bruce witnessed a madman become the source of a contagious fear. After another unsuccessful attempt to enter the park, Bruce decided to act and took down the leader of Crown Point before calling Alfred and asking him to bring him the Batsuit. As Batman, Bruce was finally able to get inside the park. In the park Batman learned the secrets of The Body and when he left the place, he was ready for a final Battle. Batman attacked The Body and led them to their own base of operations and there, he destroyed the place with a giant explosion, eliminating The Body as well. Batman found the killer of Cassie Welles and everything was back to normal.

Under the Red Hood
Jason Todd was later resurrected in the Lazarus Pit by Talia al Ghul and trained by the League of Shadows. Distraught to find that Batman had not cared enough to avenge his death against the Joker, he took on the identity of Red Hood and vowed revenge.

Red Hood began terrorizing the Gotham underworld to enlist Black Mask's soldiers into his own organization, allowing the drug trade to continue under his control with stricter restrictions. Batman and Nightwing met him for the first time when he blew up a shipment of weapons on a boat they had taken down, chasing him until he released a stolen Amazo prototype to fight them. Together they improvised and destroyed the android by taking out his individual components, while Red Hood used the distraction to steal another shipment containing several hundred pounds of Kryptonite. Mr. Freeze was sent to reclaim the merchandise and all four of them fought it out until the Red Hood left, saying this had been a ploy to get his lay of the land. Batman began investigating the possibility that he was Jason in disguise, talking to his friends with knowledge of resurrection including Green Arrow, Jason Blood and Zatanna. Superman helped him confirm that it realistically could have happened. Red Hood teamed up with Onyx, although he betrayed her when she tried to stop the murder of several criminals. During a climactic fight between the two men, Jason revealed himself to Bruce and explained his intention to change the face of crime-fighting. To prevent hundreds of unnecessary tragedies, he would bring death to those who deserve it. Alfred asked if the old Robin costume should be removed from the Batcave, but Bruce insisted that this didn't change anything at all. Red Hood destroyed Black Mask's skyscraper headquarters with rockets, and Deathstroke appeared to offer his Secret Society of Super-Villains' services in killing Red Hood. Captain Nazi, Count Vertigo and Hyena were the hit squad sent to kill him, and Batman was deeply conflicted over whether or not he should save his former student. Bruce and Jason teamed up to defeat the three villains, but when they were done Jason murdered Captain Nazi and escaped.

Batman learned that Red Hood had captured the Joker and was holding him hostage, while Black Mask finally got into a massive fist-fight with the Hood over Territory. Bruce and Jason confronted each other in Crime Alley, where they witnessed another tragedy across the river. Chemo was dropped as a living bomb onto Bludhaven by the Brotherhood of Evil, completely eradicating it. They argued about the philosophy and morality behind the rule against killing, and Jason explained that he never blamed Bruce for failing to save him; he blamed him for letting the Joker live and continue to kill thousands of people. If their positions had been switched, Jason would not have hesitated to avenge him and put the madman down. Holding a final ultimatum, Jason gave Batman a gun and threatened to shoot the Joker unless he was lethally stopped. Having an emotional breakdown at this point, Batman ricocheted a batarang off the wall and hit his student in the neck non-fatally to save his enemy. Joker took this opportunity to grab the gun and shot the explosives inside the building, detonating a massive explosion.

Injustice
The Justice League is fighting an invasion of villains led by Lex Luthor. Batman goes to Arkham Asylum to make sure Luthor did not help the Joker escape. Batman sees a trap at the Joker's cell door, which he foils and sees that the Joker was indeed broken out. However, the real trap was behind Batman in the form of Deathstroke, whom Batman proceeds to defeat. Then, Batman teleports to the Watchtower, where Luthor forces him to fight one of his henchmen, Bane. After defeating Bane, Batman throws explosive Batarangs at Luthor to weaken him. Batman defeats Luthor and uses a special device to deactivate his armor.

Lex reveals that Joker and Harley Quinn have a nuclear bomb prepared in Metropolis. Batman sends out a warning and beams over to the Joker, who prepares to activate the bomb. Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkgirl and the Flash arrive to help Batman, but in that moment, they are all transported to a different Metropolis. An enraged Joker fights Batman, but loses. The Regime's troops surround Batman and the Joker, however Batman escapes using his sonar disruptor and smoke grenades. After watching a conversation between troops from a rooftop, Batman realizes he is in a different world.

The Two Dark Knights
Later, Batman tries to intercept the Joker, but the Joker defeats him. As the Joker escapes, Hawkgirl and Yellow Lantern arrive and arrest Batman, taking him to Stryker's Island, believing him to be the Batman native to their reality. There, Batman meets the alternate Superman and Wonder Woman. Superman, known in the alternate reality as the High Councilor, realizes Batman comes from a different universe and performs torture on him to find out why is he here.

The High Councilor announces that Batman will be executed in an attempt to draw the alternate Batman out. Although they know about the trap, the prime universe heroes, allied with the alternate Batman, manage to rescue the prime Batman and escape.

After a fight in the prison, the evil Superman kills the alternate Lex Luthor and his own lieutenant, Shazam, causing the alternate Flash to defect to the Insurgency and reveal the evil Superman's plan to destroy Gotham and Metropolis. Following their destruction, Superman also had plans to destroy the prime Earth. As the assembled group tries to plan a new way to defeat the High Councilor, the alternate Batman reveals his intentions to send the prime Batman and his allies home so that they can prepare to fight the evil Superman's invasion. However, the prime Batman proposes to bring the prime Superman to the alternate universe. The alternate Batman opposes this plan, but in that moment, the Regime's forces attack the Insurgency base.

The Batmen defeat the alternate Bane and return to the Batcave, where they prepare the interdimensional teleporter. The alternate Batman still wants send the prime heroes home, but the prime Batman refuses to stop fighting. The two Dark Knights engage in a brief fight. The prime Batman wins and convinces his alternate self not to give up. With his renewed determination, the alternate Batman agrees and the two Batmen bring the prime Superman to the alternate Earth.

The prime Superman defeats the High Councilor and his top lieutenants, bring the war to an end. Afterwards, Batman arrested the Joker and took him back to the prime Earth with the help of Harley Quinn.

Gothtopia
Through unknown means, Batman and his allies found themselves in an alternate reality where Gotham City has become the safest city on Earth, where crime was non-existent. The city was under the protection of Batman and his partner/lover Catbird. Poison Ivy wreaked havoc across the city, saying that there was something wrong with the city, but Batman and Catbird stop her. Later, a man named Clayton Parker commits suicide despite Batman's efforts. At the Batcave, Bruce investigates Gotham's suicide rate, which is higher than any other place in America. Later, Bruce finds one of Ivy's thorns embedded on the back of his head. Then, he sees his parents' graves and returns to the cave. After analyzing his blood, Batman finds a drug in his system but he is ambushed by Catbird, who has brought his entire group of allies, Bluebelle and the Wings of Truth, Flying Fox, the Gothamite and, Brightbat. Batman attempts to reason with them, but they attack him. Not wanting to hurt his allies, Batman is forced to throw the fight. Later, Batman is outfitted with a straitjacked ant brought to a mental hospital headed by Jonathan Crane, who he believes is responsible for the mystery.

After spending some time in Arkham, Batman breaks out of his cell and help Ivy escape. Batman investigates Crane's lab and discovers Crane has created a new kind of toxin that creates the illusion of a perfect world, which he plans to release it into Gotham. Knowing Ivy is naturally immune to toxins, Batman uses a sample of her blood and some of her leaves to create an antidote. As soon as they are about to escape Arkham, however, Scarecrow ambushes them, having brainwashed Batman's allies.

Batman refuses to fight his friends and allows himself to be captured. Scarecrow infects him with a mind control toxin, but Batman had already taken an antidote, so he pretends to be under Scarecrow's control in order to foil his plan. Scarecrow reveals he will spread his new toxin across the Eastern Seaboard with blimps, so Batman slips the counteragent he developed into Scarecrow's toxin. Everyone infected is cured and Batman takes Scarecrow to prison. Batman later talks with Catwoman about the relationship they shared while they were in Gothtopia. Although Catwoman wants to have a relationship with Batman, he is not interested.

Trinity War
At the remains of the fallen Watchtower, Batman informs Superman and Wonder Woman that a new superhuman has entered Kahndaq. Assembling the Justice League with the help of Zatanna, Batman goes to Kahndaq and finds Superman fighting the new metahuman, Shazam. The Justice League of America also arrives at Kahndaq, causing animosity between the two groups. Doctor Light tries to stop the hostilities, but ends up absorbing Superman's solar energy and unintentionally attacks Wonder Woman. Overcome with rage, Superman vaporizes Doctor Light's head with his heat vision. This leads to the two Justice Leagues to begin fighting.

Superman stops the confrontation and asks to be arrested for Light's murder. Afterwards, Superman is taken to the A.R.G.U.S. complex and is placed in a cell. There, he asks Batman about the man he killed and Batman proceeds to tell him about Doctor Light and his family. Batman also tells Superman that Cyborg and Martian Manhunter are doing an autopsy to prove his death was not Superman's fault. Wonder Woman enters the cell and tells Batman about what happened with Pandora and her box. Batman believes the best help for Superman is through science to which Wonder Woman believes the answer is with the mythical box she believes is fact.

While examining Doctor Light's body, Zatanna states that there is no magical way of knowing if he triggered Superman's heat vision. The Phantom Stranger arrives and warns of Wonder Woman recruiting the Justice League Dark to help her locate Pandora, warning if they succeed, it will be the death of all. Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Shazam, Steve Trevor, the Justice League of America, Zatanna and the Phantom Stranger. Batman's group catches up to Wonder Woman and the Justice League Dark at the House of Mystery. Wonder Woman states that they need to find Pandora to find out what her box really is. Phantom Stranger reveals that the box has nothing to do with the way Superman is acting, angering Wonder Woman, who uses her lasso on him. He states that he does not know what caused Superman's condition, making Wonder Woman state that she is going after Pandora. She asks who wants to join her and the Justice League Dark, and recruits Hawkman, Aquaman, Stargirl, and Zatanna. As Wonder Woman and her group take their leave, Batman states that they should go after Wonder Woman, but the Phantom Stranger says they should talk to Doctor Light to get some answers.

Batman asks the Phantom Stranger to bring him to the afterlife so he can question Doctor Light about what really happened. The Phantom Stranger initially declines, but after hearing how Arthur Light was a family man, and left behind a wife and three daughters, he reconsiders. The Phantom Stranger takes Batman, Katana, and Deadman, who has left Wonder Woman, with him. Once through "Heaven's Basement", they arrive in a neighborhood of Heaven, that was created by the beliefs of a soul. However, Batman drifts off into a space of Heaven that he created. He creates a desired Christmas Eve setting he had as a young boy, imagining what it would be like with his dead parents. While the Phantom Stranger was rescuing them, Deadman was able to locate Doctor Light. Doctor Light had created a personal universe composed of light and is suspended in a globe-like "womb". Batman orders Katana to break the womb and frees Doctor Light, with the Phantom Stranger able to resuscitate him. When Batman questions him, the group learns that he doesn't remember anything about his death. The Phantom Stranger tells Doctor Light that he will try to free him from the afterlife, so he can be with his family. Weary of the end results, Doctor Light gives a piece of his soul to the Stranger in hopes that he can give it to his family as a final gift if he doesn't get out. As the group is ready to leave, Zauriel appears and dismisses Batman, Katan,a and Deadman.

Phantom Stranger is able to get Batman, Katana, and Deadman back to the House of Mystery, where they encounter Catwoman, Trevor, Vibe and the newest Green Lantern. Then, he disappears but not giving Batman and his allies one final message for them to find Madame Xanadu, as she knows the truth behind the box and who is after it, as he fades away.

A magical disturbance in the magical realms allows Deadman to locate Xanadu, so Batman and the assembled group travel to Xanadu's whereabouts: the Temple of Hephaestus. There, they find Constantine and Zatanna, who have taken the box from Pandora. The assembled heroes find both Madame Xanadu and her kidnapper, the leader of the Secret Society.

As the Justice Leagues converge on the Temple, the box infects everyone with evil thoughts, causing a fight. Batman obtains the box, but Superman attacks him. After a few moments, the box goes dormant. Atom reveals she is a traitor working for the Secret Society and that she infected Superman with Kryptonite, which caused him to attack Dr. Light. The Secret Society leader uses the box to open a portal to another universe. In that moment, the Crime Syndicate enters the Justice League's world.

Batwoman
On patrol with Robin, Batman was encountered by Catwoman who noted how happy he seemed. Soon after, Batman saved his cousin Kate Rebecca Kane from a mugger. Batman and Superman later teamed up to fight the Supremacists, with Batman having to save Jimmy Olsen. Batman and Robin then stopped the Joker and several other supervillains from killing genius Carter Nichols. The Family was then joined by Kathy Kane, who suited up to aid Batman as the Batwoman. After helping the Justice League easily defeat the Key, Batman apprehended the Ventriloquist and took up the identity of Matches Malone to infiltrate the Gotham underworld. Despite falling in love with Kathy, Bruce's heart was broken when Kathy decided to retire as Bat-Woman and leave the Family. Batman later learned that Kathy got involved with the League of Shadows and was killed by Bronze Tiger.

A Serious House on Serious Earth
Commissioner Gordon informs Batman that the patients of Arkham Asylum have taken over the building, and will murder the staff unless Batman agrees to meet with them. Among the hostages are a young woman named Pearl, who works in the kitchens; the current Administrator, Dr. Cavendish; and Dr. Ruth Adams, a therapist. The patients are led by Black Mask and the Joker, who kills a guard to spur Batman to obey his wishes. Two-Face, meanwhile, has degenerated even further into madness as a result of Adams' well-intentioned therapy; she replaced his trademark coin with a 6-sided die, and then with a tarot deck of cards rendering him incapable of making simple decisions such as going to the bathroom.

Batman is forced into a game of hide and seek, and told he has one hour to make his way through the maze-like corridors and find a way out before his old foes are sent to find him. Batman fights his way through Arkham and his own subconscious, fighting some of his most dreaded enemies until he reaches a secret room high in the towers of the asylum - a room left unchanged from the days when the property served as Amadeus Arkham's childhood home.

Inside, Dr. Cavendish is dressed in a bridal gown and holding a straight razor to Dr. Adams' throat. He is revealed to have been the one to orchestrate the riot. When questioned by Batman, he prompts him to read a passage marked out in Amadeus Arkham's secret diary.

The hidden room turns out to have been Elizabeth Arkham's bedchamber. For many years she suffered delusions that she was being tormented by a supernatural creature, and would call to her son to protect her. However, Amadeus had suppressed a memory when one day, he finally saw the monster that tormented her - a great bat, a spectre of death. Subconsciously, he had chosen to block the truth of the events, but in the dairy, it is clearly explained how he used a pearl-handled straight razor from his pocket to cut his mother's throat and free her from her suffering. He then blocked out the memory and attributed her death to suicide. Years later, his wife and daughter were murdered by one of his former patients, a serial killer named Martin "Mad Dog" Hawkins. The tragedy brings back the memory of killing his mother and a traumatized Amadeus puts on his mother's wedding dress and takes out the pearl-handled razor. Kneeling in the blood of his family he vows to bind the evil spirit of "The Bat", which he believes inhabits the house, through ritual and sorcery. He continues his mission even after he is incarcerated in the Asylum himself; he scratches the words of the binding spell into the walls and floor of his cell with his fingernails until the day he dies.

Discovering Amadeus Arkham's journals, the razor and the dress, Cavendish begins to believe himself to be the one destined to continue Arkham's work. On April 1, the date Arkham's family was murdered, he lures Batman to the asylum. Believing Batman to be "The Bat" itself, Cavendish accuses him of feeding the evil of the house by bringing it more insane souls. Grappling with Batman, Cavendish drops the razor, and Adams picks it up. Reacting instinctively, she slashes it across Cavendish's throat, killing him.

Batman returns Two-Face's coin back from Dr. Adams, stating that it should be up to Two-Face to decide his fate. Two-Face then declares that if the coin lands scratched side up they kill Batman, otherwise they let him go. Two-Face flips the coin and declares Batman free. Batman leaves the Asylum and the inmates peacefully return to their cells, except for Two-Face, who looks at the moon and it is revealed that the coin landed scratched side up.

Infinite Crisis
Batman became paranoid about the super-hero community and developed a sentient satellite called Brother Eye to help monitor them, using a database of every secret identity he was aware of. This system was stolen by Maxwell Lord of Checkmate, who wanted to eliminate all super-humans by connecting it to the O.M.A.C. Project.

During the Infinite Crisis, Batman nearly broke his most sacred law. When it appeared that Alexander Luthor had killed longtime ally Dick Grayson, Batman knocked down Luthor and threatened to kill him with a gun. Fortunately, Dick was still alive, and Batman avoided making what would have been the worst decision of his life. Regardless, the incident shook Batman's reserve, and he realized that he had crossed the line. It was time to re-evaluate his identity and retrace the steps that forged him into the man he had become.

52
Batman, Nightwing and Robin went across the world together following the path of Bruce's original training as a family. Seeking to rid himself of the paranoia and fear that had corrupted him, he had his personal demons cut out in a desert ritual performed by the Ten-Eyed Men. This broke him down and forced him to rebuild himself from the start. Going through a spiritual purification ordeal called the 30 Days of Thögal in Nanda Parbat, he spent a month alone in the darkness and looked deeply into his own soul through induced hallucinations.

Face the Face
Batman returned to Gotham after his year of training, completely renewed and reinvigorated. Harvey Dent was trained to fight crime in his stead, and had become the city's resident vigilante protector. Commissioner Gordon turned on the Bat-Signal again and cheering broke out in the streets. Harvey Bullock began investigating a new serial killer taking out minor villains with two shots to the head, starting with KGBeast who was found dead in an alley. Poison Ivy was the first villain to appear again, holding new political motives that led her to attack corporate executives like Lucius Fox. Magpie was also found dead. Ventriloquist was the next victim, alongside his puppet Scarface. Batman decided that he needed someone working for him who could operate regulAt a charity function in London he met Jezebel Jet, an intelligent fashion model and ruler of an impoverished African nation whom he falls in love with immediately. The League of Assassins attacked Batman using a legion of ninjas transformed into Man-Bats by a serum stolen from Kirk Langstrom. Talia al Ghul took him prisoner and revealed that they had a son together she never told him about, introducing him to Damian Wayne.arly during the daytime, and hired detective Jason Bard permanently on retainer. Dent was the main suspect and grew enraged when he was accused, although Batman believed it was not really him. Orca was the next victim found dead in the sewers, where her corpse was mutilated by a hungry Killer Croc. The only connection was that all victims were former enforcers for the Penguin, who had recently fled town. Bard discovered the assassin was a new Tally Man when he was attacked. Driven back to insanity by internal conflict, Harvey Dent poured acid over one side of his face and reverted to his Two-Face persona. Bard defeated the new Tally Man, and had him sent to Arkham Asylum. Batman was forced to take down Two-Face, who now blamed him for turning evil again. Great White Shark was revealed to be the mastermind behind the shootings, having taken over the underworld and started running it for himself out of Arkham. Bruce also decided to adopt the recently orphaned Tim Drake legally as his son.

The Son of Batman
Having virtually eliminated all super-crime in Gotham with the energy from his recent vacation, Bruce went abroad. Alfred explained that he had become so consumed by Batman he forgot how to act as Bruce Wayne, and needed to relearn. At a charity function in London he met Jezebel Jet, an intelligent fashion model and ruler of an impoverished African nation whom he falls in love with immediately. The League of Shadows attacked Batman using a legion of ninjas transformed into Man-Bats by a serum stolen from Kirk Langstrom. Talia al Ghul took him prisoner and revealed that they had a son together she never told him about, introducing him to Damian Wayne. Bruce needed to take care of the child and teach him respect while he figured out Talia's plans, as Damian proved to be spoiled and petulant. Raised by the League, he was a master martial artist and proved extremely difficult to control, beating up Tim Drake and beheading the Spook to prove he could be Robin. Batman agreed to let Damian fight at his side rather than leave him alone, with the understanding that he would follow their no killing rules and obey orders. Batman agreed to let Damian fight at his side rather than leave him alone, with the understanding that he would follow their no killing rules and obey orders. Talia was in Gibraltar, and they took the Bat-Rocket to get there before she could follow through with her terrorist attack. This turned out to have been an elaborate ploy to bring them together as a family, in the hopes that Bruce would return to her so they could put an end to all crime by ruling the planet together. Batman refused, so she declared war on him and disappeared during an explosion. Damian later became the new Robin as Tim Drake takes on the identity of Red Robin.

Three Ghosts of Batman
Bat-Cop, a strange man dressed as Batman wielding guns, fought the Joker and shot him in the face before disappearing. Joker believed the real Batman had changed the rules of their game, and was taken to the hospital where he psychologically transformed. Reinventing himself in a much darker and more brutal persona, he became an uncompromisingly malevolent creature of hatred.

Jezebel Jet pursued a relationship with Bruce, sensing a deep connection between them. Looking into the mysterious disappearance of several prostitutes involving corrupt GCPD officers, Batman found they were trying to control and cover up a massive Bat-Bane on venom and monster men serum. Reminded of the other twisted impostor, he fought the huge foe and was pounded into the pavement. After a nightmare promising that a third ghost from his past would yet haunt him, he recalled the Black Casebook; a diary documenting all of the strange and bizarre adventures from his early career which couldn't be logically explained, including a similar situation. Beating the Bat-Bane in their next fight, Batman was stopped from finding further answers by the corrupt officers and left him to be taken into custody.

Bat-Devil made his appearance by storming into GCPD Headquarters demanding the Commissioner, when he was woken up as a sleeper agent. Shooting Batman in the chest, he sent him into cardiac arrest and a near-death Bruce began to hallucinate Bat-Mite. Strapped into an operating chair in Bat-Devil's sanctum, he deliriously dreamed of his encounters with Joe Chill and having tormented him into committing suicide. This began flashbacks to his prior experiences with hallucination, including the 30 Days of Thögal and the isolation chamber experiments conducted by Doctor Hurt. The three men were revealed to have been part of an experiment that tried and failed to create another Batman in case of his death; it was conducted by Doctor Hurt, who was said to be the devil himself trying simply to destroy good men and make slaves of others. Batman broke free of his restraints and attacked Bat-Devil, who escaped as police arrived, and Bat-Bane was shot dead. Bruce considered the extreme hypothetical of an ultimate villain targeting his weaknesses through vast conspiracy unseen until it's too late, and wondered if this adversary was showing itself to him.

Club of Heroes
Many years ago Batman had been part of a club involving super-heroes inspired by his legend from around the world. Knight and Squire from England were legacy heroes after the original Knight's death at the hands of his nemesis. The Musketeer from France accidentally killed an enemy and was sent to prison, then wrote a book about it. Sioux Indian hero Man-of-Bats was a doctor and had a strained relationship with his side-kick and son Raven Red. Wingman from Sweden refused to admit his origins and claimed that he was crime-fighting a year before everyone else. El Gaucho of Argentina had become a greatly-respected hero in his own right. The Ranger from Australia had developed a darker and more violent persona to keep up with the changing face of crime. Legionary from Rome had gotten way past his prime and lived in his glory days. They were all called together to a reunion at the island mansion of billionaire John Mayhew, although no one greeted them. A man appeared on video screen wearing Mayhew's severed face, challenging them to solve the mystery of his murder and save their own lives. They were fighting the Black Glove, an organization that placed bets on the struggle between good and evil. Legionary was stabbed to death twenty-three times like Caesar by an assailant. Everyone was a suspect as the house turned into a giant death-trap, using methods common to all of their respective villains. Wingman was the next body found burned to Death. Ranger was discovered to be Wingman in disguise, having faked his death by switching bodies. Mayhew was still alive and they were revealed to have worked together, taking revenge on Batman for ruining their chance at greatness by dismissing the team. After shooting Wingman in the head, Mayhew died when the Black Glove punished him for his failure and blew up the island as everyone else escaped in his plane.

Heart of Hush
Hush reappeared in Gotham to destroy his nemesis before the Black Glove could take his victory, establishing an abandoned hospital as his headquarters and filling it with loyal mental patients. Shooting Doctor Aesop unexpectedly during a fight, he promised Bruce that no other villain would be allowed to harm him. Batman cautioned his allies to become paranoid, and Hush set his plans in motion, teaming up with the Scarecrow. A young orphan named Colin Wilkes was pumped full of venom and set on a rampage to distract attention from Hush's main plot. Hush kidnapped Catwoman and surgically removed her heart, leaving her barely alive on life support. The two men fought at the hospital, and Hush explained that he would shut off Catwoman's heart if attacked again. Then he revealed that he had undergone plastic surgery to look exactly identical to Bruce Wayne. Their fight took them to the Batcave after Batman secured the heart with Doctor Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific. Hush escaped permanent defeat after an explosion crippled him, although Catwoman used her resources to hunt down his entire fortune and destroy it, leaving him bankrupt. Bruce told Selina in her hospital bed that he loved her.

Batman R.I.P.
During a dinner date where she considered breaking up with him, Jezebel Jet was captured by a terrorist named the Fiend with Nine Eyes and discovered that Bruce was Batman when he rescued her.

The Black Glove invited Batman and Jezebel Jet to a dance of death called the Danse Macabre, having clearly discovered his secret identity. Doctor Hurt had organized villains and madmen from across the world including the Joker, Le Bossu and the Club of Villains to finally put an end to Batman. Robin believed that Bruce was slowly starting to lose his grip on reality, although Alfred insisted that there was no stronger mind in the world. Hurt announced to his team that they would be creating a work of art in the complete and utter ruination of a noble human spirit; Thomas and Martha Wayne were discredited through slander published in the Gotham Gazette and the Club was sent out to attack his allies. Bruce finally collapsed into a mental break-down when he heard the trigger phrase Zur-En-Arrh spoken aloud, and villains stormed the Batcave. The attack completely destroyed his mind; he was injected with weapons grade crystal meth and street heroin and then woke up as an amnesiac derelict on the streets.

A homeless man named Honor Jackson took him in and gave him a small radio he believed to be the Bat-Radia, although this was a hallucination and Jackson had died of a drug overdose the previous day. Nightwing was captured by Scorpiana and taken to Arkham Asylum where Bossu planned to lobotomize him. Pierrot Lunaire and Swagman went after Robin. Bruce stitched a new costume called the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh with Bat-Mite as a spiritual guide. This was a contingency plan he had prepared in case there was ever a direct attack on his mind, a stream-lined back-up personality that existed as Batman without Bruce Wayne. Taking out criminals across the city at unheard-of speed, he defeated King Kraken and interrogated Charlie Caligula. Hurt began wearing Thomas Wayne's Batman Costume and claimed that he was the real Thomas Wayne, having faked his own death years ago. Jeremiah Arkham was beaten and the Black Gloves took over his asylum. Commissioner Gordon came to investigate Wayne Manor personally and found himself caught in one of El Sombrero's death traps.

The Black Glove prepared Arkham Asylum while its richest members gathered to gamble on whether good or evil would triumph. Batman fought his way inside through henchmen, although he had to make the final journey alone as Bat-Mite was his last voice of reason and could not enter the door. Damian and Talia al Ghul got involved and rescued Gordon. Batman brutally fought the enraged Joker and then unmasked in front of him when he finally saved Jezebel, although she was revealed to have been part of the conspiracy all along. Joker killed a member of the Glove and placed his bet on good triumphing over evil. Buried alive in his cowl to be raised from the grave after incurring brain damage, Batman woke up, broke out of his coffin and rose through the dirt. The Bat-Radia was activated and it had been converted to send signals instead of receive, putting the asylum into lock-down through the Batcomputer. Nightwing woke up in time to break his restraints and punch out Bossu seconds before his lobotomy. Robin brought the Club of Heroes in to help clean up the city. Hurt tried to escape in a helicopter driven by Bat-Devil after swearing to continue destroying Batman unless he submitted, but Bruce refused and took the chopper down with his bare hands. There was a massive explosion over the water, but Batman survived and continued his fight against evil.

Final Crisis
Batman had to solve the murder of a New God when Orion was killed in Metropolis by a Radion Bullet. This was part of a greater plot by Darkseid to control the Multiverse using the Anti-Life Equation during Final Crisis. Libra, prophet of the Religion of Crime, killed Martian Manhunter. At the funeral, Batman paid his respects by placing a Choco on his departed friend's grave. Investigating the killings, he was taken prisoner by another dark servant, Granny Goodness posing as Kraken of the Alpha Lantern Corps. They intended to use Bruce Wayne to create a clone army of Batmen, using his body and mind as the template for perfect soldiers.

Simyan and Mokkari held him in their Evil Factory where they sedated him and slowly drained his character. Recognizing what was happening to him, Batman broke his psyche out of telepathic restraints and fought back against the system. Making his own mind into a weapon, he used all of the pain and trauma he had experienced to destroy their machines. Every single memory that Batman had driving his motivations, all of the raw emotional energy, was more stress than anything else could tolerate and the entire complex destroyed itself and nearly everything inside.

Batman went to the Command D bunker and challenged Darkseid, the ultimate personification of evil, as the Anti-Life destroyed reality around them. Although he had made a very solemn vow about firearms, he said that he was making a once-in-a-lifetime exception and shot Darkseid in the chest with the Radion Bullet. This was a reversal of the moment when evil struck down his parents in the streets, and this time, Batman stood with his smoking gun pointed at evil himself. The last thing he said was "gotcha." Right before dying, Darkseid blasted Batman with an Omega Sanction that seemingly killed him. Arriving moments too late, Superman recovered Batman's skeletal burnt corpse. Bruce Wayne was shown to have survived the Omega Sanction, and his body had been flung backward thousands of years in time. He was trapped in the Prehistoric Era, where he was present for the death of the first man Anthro, and drew cave paintings of his own insignia.

Battle for the Cowl
Naturally, following the events of the Final Crisis that left the Batman Family without their leader, Batman's allies were in disarray, Gotham criminals took advantage of his absence, and the question stood, "Is Batman gone?" Feeling a combination of obligation and hesitation, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake-Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, and Damian Wayne debated as to what the future of the Dark Knight should be, until an estranged Jason Todd turned up, having taken a twisted cowl (reminiscent of Jean-Paul Valley's) for himself. Todd decommissioned an arrogant Damian, making Dick, Tim, and Alfred feel an even greater sense of urgency to send the Caped Crusader back on the streets. However, Dick still refused, prompting Tim to hijack an old Batsuit himself and seek out Jason and his twisted Batcave. Jason managed to defeat Tim and severely injure him, leaving only Dick and Jason as the heir to the cowl. As Alfred provided medical care for Damian and Tim was barely escaping with his life, Dick and Jason fought long and hard until Jason, vowing that he would see Dick "much sooner than you think," plummeted off of a moving train into the depths of the river below. The conclusion of this struggle found Dick accepting his role as the new Batman, with Damian, by his side. Tim, however, was far away from Gotham, believing that Bruce was not actually dead. He took the mantle of the Red Robin, and explored the globe for clues as to where his adoptive father was.

Blackest Night
Superman later returned the cowl from Bruce's remains to Nightwing and Robin, to be left in a memorial similar to the one Batman made for Jason. At Alfred's insistence, no public funeral was held for Batman, and Robin, refusing to believe he was dead, prevented them from declaring Bruce Wayne dead. Wayne's body was buried in an unmarked grave next to Thomas and Martha Wayne.

Some weeks later, as Gotham City was going through a rampant crime wave following Batman's disappearance, Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, the second Flash, who had returned during the Final Crisis, met each other at Wayne's grave for a private farewell to their friend. Although Hal was somber given the loss, coupled with the earlier losses of Arthur Curry and J'onn J'onzz, Barry reminded Hal that they, Superman, and Green Arrow all died and returned, and if anyone could beat the Reaper, it was the Dark Knight. Unfortunately, soon after they left, the criminal Black Hand, dug Wayne's skull out of the ground while reciting the Black Lantern Oath. Nekron later used a Black Lantern Ring to revive the skull and build it a form to tether an emotional connection to the heroes present, and had it spit out Black Lantern Rings that attached themselves to the resurrected heroes; Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Superboy, and Kid Flash, with two more failing to reach Barry Allen and Hal Jordan. Almost immediately after, much to Hal Jordan's surprise, Nekron released the skull from the ring and it returned to normal. After the Blackest Night, Hal and Barry returned to Bruce's grave to talk about what had transpired. After stating that "dead is dead from here on out," Hal said that Batman is the exception because the Black Lantern Batman they fought did not recognize any of them and was not really Bruce, proving that Tim Drake was right; Bruce was still alive, somewhere.

Sometime after the Blackest Night, at Jason Todd's behest, Dick (apparently unaware of Hal Jordan's post-Blackest Night conclusions) immersed Bruce's body in a Lazarus Pit. The body turned out to be one of Darkseid's Batman clones that he decided to keep as a perfect replica of Batman. However, its memories were warped and unstable and it went mad. After attacking Damian, the clone burned out and died. Dick finally accepted that Bruce was still alive somewhere.

Return of Bruce Wayne
Trapped in the past with no memory, Bruce was forced to fight his way through time back to the present day. Darkseid used the Hyper-Adapter monster to aim him like a doomsday weapon through history, picking up Omega Energy until he reached the modern era and exploded. Rip Hunter and his Time Masters, including Booster Gold, Green Lantern and Superman became a time traveling search party to stop him from ending the world. Starting in the Prehistoric Era, he was given the name Man-of-Bats and defeated Vandal Savage's Blood Tribe in combat. This inspiration drove Anthro's people to call themselves the Bat Tribe. Several hundred years later he became a colonial witch-hunter, using detective work to disprove supernatural explanations for local crimes using the identity of Mordecai Wayne. His name went down in legend as a mythical dragon-slayer when he disappeared while fighting the monster. Bruce was mistaken for the Black Pirate when he washed up on an unfamiliar shore next to the real Jack Valor, and was taken hostage by Blackbeard. They forced him to guide them through a cave system to reveal his treasure, but he fought them off with the Pirate's cowl and was assisted by the native Bat-people. Valor was entrusted to write down a mysterious message in a box, and gave it to the Wayne family for safe-keeping over the centuries. As a masked avenger in the old west he protected his future family from Monsieur Savage and another ancestor named Thomas Wayne, attempting to steal the box for themselves. This was supposed to bring about the end times through a dark god named Barbatos. Succeeding in his mission, Batman was shot off a bridge by the bounty hunter Jonah Hex. Returning to Gotham shortly after his parents' murder, a friend of his mother named Marsha Lamarr enlisted him as a private investigator looking into the shooting. There were accusations made that Thomas Wayne staged the killing to fake his own death. Marsha betrayed Bruce to Doctor Hurt's devil-worshiping Black Glove organization who had attempted to destroy his parents' souls through their reputations, and set him on fire as a human sacrifice. Carter Nichols' prototype time machine allowed him to escape into the future, to the end of time at Vanishing Point. Bruce regained his memory at the end of time, having worked out his plan to thwart Darkseid's revenge. Memory loss gave the monster nothing to go on, and the clues he planted for himself all along helped him work out how to get through everything. Merging with one of the great Archivists, he briefly gained omniscience and created a Time Sphere to travel back to his own time. Possessed by the Hyper-Adapter and overwhelmed with dangerous amounts of Omega Radiation, he allowed the Justice League to defeat him. They induced clinical death to separate Bruce from the beast and dissipate the radiation, then sent it back through time again using the sphere. Experiencing a hallucination in the Fifth World, Batman was confronted by a vision of Darkseid urging him to accept Anti-Life and Metron urging him to defeat the ultimate evil by accepting the first truth of Batman: he had never been alone. Bruce revived after two minutes of clinical death, Red Robin explained that Gotham was in terrible trouble and he suited up to go. However, before going out as Batman again, Bruce took over the identity of the vigilante Insider and started meeting his past friends and allies to learn how things had changed since his departure. His return called the attention of Ra's al Ghul and after a confrontation in Gotham, Bruce decided that it was time to reclaim the mantle of the Bat.

Doctor Hurt and Professor Pyg had taken Gotham by siege, fighting Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne. After defeating the 99 Fiends together, Bruce went after Hurt and the others went after Pyg. Trapping him in his own interrogation room to listen to Alfred's death, Hurt proclaimed that he was the devil and Batman would rot in purgatory. Bursting out of the prison, he delivered a final beat-down to Hurt and went to rescue Pennyworth. The Doctor escaped outside where he was defeated by the Joker and buried alive with a giant grin on his face. Having come to a new conclusion about the direction of his fight against crime, Bruce revealed in a press conference that he had been privately financing Batman for years and went public with Batman Incorporated.

Batman Incorporated
Batman gathered his closest associates Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown, and Damian Wayne in the Batcave and gave them all new assignments as the start of an army against crime. They would make their battle ideological, fighting the idea of crime with the idea of Batman and making sure there was nowhere for evil to hide. Lucius Fox was commissioned to make a private army of Batman Robots. Bruce tried Damian out and determined that they would not work well together on missions, insisting that he continue his position with Grayson as the Batman and Robin of Gotham City. These actions drew the attentions of the Leviathan Organization.

Batman traveled to Japan with Catwoman to recruit the crime-fighter Mister Unknown. They helped Mister Unknown defeat a Leviathan agent called Lord Death Man, and Mister Unknown became the new Batman of Japan. In France, Bruce Wayne recruited a Muslim called Nightrunner to become the Batman of Paris. Batman visited Argentina to recruit El Gaucho. They battled Leviathan agents El Papagayo, El Sombrero, and Scorpiana. This trail led them to an island prison, where Leviathan had released the aging Nazi super-criminal Doctor Dedalus. Bruce continued his expansion with Batwing in Africa, Black Bat in Hong Kong, Dark Ranger in Australia, Red Robin in charge of the Outsiders, and a mysterious new Wingman. During a visit to South Dakota, Bruce helped Man-of-Bats and Raven Red deal with the Leviathan agent Red Rippa. Bruce introduced Internet 3.0 to his investors, and Oracle defended it against Leviathan cyber-attacks. Batman and Batgirl went undercover to take down an evil finishing school. They stopped Son of Pyg, who was using the school to recruit for Leviathan. Doctor Dedalus trapped the entire team in a labyrinth to drive them insane, until Robin was forced to kill Dedalus. It was revealed that Dedalus was just a distraction, and the mastermind by Leviathan was Talia al Ghul.

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. 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 Shadows' 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 a Dream'
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. Dick would later be finished as a member of Spyral and become Nightwing again and rejoin Batman Incorporated.

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, because McKillen was a part of the transformation of his left face. 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.

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 Rupert Thorne 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, 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.

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 and began working with her at the Lucius Fox Center for Gotham Youth.

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 - James Gordon.

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.

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 bootcamp for young heroes that would become known as the Gotham Knights, consisting of Red Robin, Black Bat, Batgirl 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 Assassins, an offshoot of the League of Shadows 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.

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.

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.[129] Over the years, the Court of Owls, who were in fact worshippers 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 engagement, Batman and Catwoman traveled to Khadym, the nation Holly Robinson had fled to, where she was under the care of Talia al Ghul. Selina was able to fight off Talia and speak to Holly, and she convinced her to clear her name of the murder charges. While Bruce was away from Gotham, 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 instil 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. He theorized that due to Ivy's love and care for Harley Quinn, her control over her wasn't as deep as everyone else. Batman executed a plan to get to Harley while Catwoman incapacitated Ivy long enough for him to break her mind control. He successfully managed to get through to Harley and escorted her to Ivy. Harley comforted the distressed Ivy and was able to convince her to relinquish her control over humanity.

The Retirement and Return of the Dark Knight
Bruce Wayne has been retired from crime fighting for three years. Despite Wayne's funding the rehabilitation of Harvey Dent, Dent returns to crime. Wayne puts on the Batman costume again at the age of 52 to apprehend Dent, but the populace debates whether Batman is a savior.

Carrie Kelly, a 13-year-old-girl whom Batman rescues, buys a Robin costume and searches for Batman to aid him. Kelly finds Batman at the city dump, where he is fighting the Mutants. The Mutants' leader defeats Batman in combat, but Kelly distracts him and pulls Batman into the tank-like Batmobile. Kelly attends to Batman's wounds as the vehicle drives toward the Batcave. Once home, Batman takes Carrie on as the new Robin against his butler Alfred's objections. With Gordon's cooperation, the leader is allowed to escape from jail, and Batman beats him in front of the assembled Mutants gang, which then disbands as a result of this humiliation.

The Joker convinces his psychiatrist that he is sane and regrets his misdeeds. Seeking to discredit Batman, the psychiatrist appears with the Joker on a late-night show. While the police attack Batman, the Joker murders everyone in the television studio and escapes. Batman and Robin find the Joker at a county fair, where Batman defeats Joker in a violent showdown. Batman stops short of killing the Joker, who twists his own broken neck, intending for the police to charge Batman with murder.

Passing the Mantle of Batman
Some years later, a middle-aged Batman began to finally suffer from the effects of a hard life of crime-fighting. To counteract these, Batman developed a powered suit that augmented his physical abilities and allowed him to continue the mission for longer periods of time. At this time, his corporate rivalry with Derek Powers began, and Wayne Enterprises resisted a bid for corporate takeover.

The long decades of physical punishment, emotional challenges, and an ailing heart finally took their toll, however, and even the suit couldn't compensate any longer. He developed an exosuit of armor in an attempt to adapt once again, but as it ended up straining his heart this branch of research came to a dead end. While attempting to rescue his old friend's daughter from kidnappers, Batman suffered from a mild heart attack and was forced to point a gun at a common thug to save himself. After being forced to rely on the very weapon of his parents' cowardly murderer, Batman was ashamed and vowed to never again wear the cowl.

When he hung up the mantle of Batman, Gotham City was left without a Dark Knight for twenty years. Bruce Wayne became a recluse, isolated in Wayne Manor after Alfred's death, and having to take up the use of a cane. During one of his yearly pilgrimages to the spot where his parents were murdered, he met a stray dog that saved him and helped take down a Jokerz gang member that tried to mug him, getting injured in the process. Bruce took the dog in and named the dog Ace after his former dog when he was still Batman.

Chance brought the teenager Terry McGinnis to the gates of Wayne Manor, where he learned of Bruce's past secret life. After Terry suffered a personal loss, Bruce reluctantly agreed to allow him to take up mantle of Batman. He then served as a mentor and informant for the successor to his legacy.

For years, Bruce coordinated with Terry, supplying advice and direction from the Batcave while Terry worked in the field. He also ran the labs and developed new gadgets for Terry to use in the new crusade against crime. During their adventures, Bruce would help Terry defeat modern adversaries and even some of his own revived rogues, such as Mr. Freeze, Ra's al Ghul, and a Joker reborn.

The elderly Bruce occasionally ventured into the field to support Terry. His sense of duty and self-sacrifice ever present, he once donned the experimental exosuit to rescue Terry from Inque, despite Inque's metahuman power and the strain on his already-damaged heart.

At some time after the arrest of Paxton Powers, Bruce took back control of Wayne Enterprises. After regaining control of the company he took the position of CEO and Chairman of the Board. Subsequently, he and Terry had to cope with the return of his greatest enemy, the Joker, and an attempt by Jordan Pryce to seize control of the company and kill Bruce. After the Joker's final death and Pryce's exposure, however, Bruce presumably resumed day-to-day business operations at Wayne Enterprises. Eventually, Bruce learned the truth about Terry's lineage as a result of Amanda Waller's Project Batman Beyond, but kept quiet out of respect for his legal father, wanting Terry to find his own way in life and become his own man.

As Bruce continued to age, he suffered a kidney failure. Unknown to Bruce, Terry discovered that he was not just a suitable donor but a perfect one; eventually learning the truth about his heritage, Terry returned to Wayne Manor with a new sense of purpose. Bruce wondered about the fate of Gotham, and Terry relaxed the worries. Their relationship seemed repaired, as Bruce had truly become the father Terry had lost long ago.

Personality
Batman, is a dark and grim hero with a personal vendetta against criminals. Traumatized by the death of his parents, Batman has sworn to rid Gotham from the criminal elements that took his parents from him. He is very paranoid and obsessive, which often makes it difficult for him to trust other people that aren't Alfred, the Robins, or the Batgirls.

Despite this, Batman has proved to have a great love for humanity, which was instilled by his parents. His father was a doctor, while his mother was a crusader against child abuse. Indeed, Batman's oath of vengeance is tempered with the greater ideal of justice. He refrains from killing, as he feels this would not make him any better than the criminals he fights. He is also a very prominent member of the Justice League and the founder of the Outsiders.

To protect his secret identity, Batman has constructed a fake persona he can use in his civilian identity. To the world at large, Bruce Wayne is a self-absorbed, superficial, irresponsible playboy and philanthropist. Only his closest allies know that this attitude is just an act.

Who is "The Real Man?"
The Bruce Wayne/playboy aspect of his character is a facade, while the masked and particularly dark, grim vigilante is marked as the "true" man. Usually, Batman is further separated from Bruce Wayne by the raspy and stony bass voice he usually assumes while costumed. However, although even Bruce considers Batman his 'real' identity, when he briefly contemplated abandoning Bruce Wayne to live only as Batman after the murder of Vesper Fairchild, his decision to act to protect a small-time thug from being caught in the crossfire helped him recognize that Bruce Wayne was equally important to him, as that action was based on what his father would have done. When Bruce and Batman were split into separate people by the wish-granting Id, Bruce retained the memory of Thomas and Martha Wayne's deaths, leaving him angry at the world with no way to channel that rage, while Batman began to gradually lose focus, lacking any actual drive to avenge deaths he no longer truly 'remembered' even if he still had his existing skills.

Another identity used by Batman is that of gangster "Matches Malone." Matches was a small-time arsonist who killed his brother and then committed suicide by burning himself to death. Becoming Matches allows Batman to operate within the criminal community as a respected member with pre-established credibility. Matches is often under suspicion of being a snitch to Batman however, and great lengths often have to be gone to maintain his "rep." Matches would later return to Gotham City, and reveal to Batman he had been innocent, and had faked his death. The real Matches was murdered by the Ventriloquist, for Batman's actions in his name, but Batman was able to preserve the identity and even avenge his death. He has since, when in the Malone persona, pursued it to the point of even being incarcerated as him in Blackgate Penitentiary.

Secret Identity
Wayne guards his secret identity well, but several individuals know of his superhero alter-ego, including Superman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Lois Lane, The Flash (Jay Garrick, Barry Allen and Wally West), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner and Alan Scott), Aquaman, The Martian Manhunter, Plastic Man, Starman, Vixen, Zatanna Zatara, Black Lightning, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Arsenal, Nightwing, Catwoman, Red Hood, Red Robin, Oracle, Black Bat, Robin IV, his butler Alfred Pennyworth, and the kindly doctor Leslie Thompkins.

Several villains have discovered his true identity over the years, most notably Ra's al Ghul, Hugo Strange, the Riddler, the Scarecrow, and Bane.

The villain Hush has attempted to take revenge on both sides of the Batman/Bruce Wayne persona, and he is noted throughout his run as a villain who has personal ties to Bruce Wayne and/or Batman; Hush is later revealed to be Thomas Elliot, a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne. Fortunately, most of Batman's enemies have dismissed the notion of Bruce Wayne as Batman because of Wayne's apparent dim-wittedness and self-absorption while the ones who do know prefer to keep the information to themselves for their own reasons. The Joker has had opportunities to learn himself, but he has always refused them, since it would personally rob the mystique of his enemy.

Relationships with allies
Batman is a normal human being who does not possess any superhuman abilities, but has character flaws that can be exploited by enemies.

As a young child, Bruce tended to be solitary and withdrawn, a condition only exacerbated by the murder of his parents. This led to his current state as a loner who would prefer to be on his own rather than rely on others. His difficulty in trusting others is a constant issue for him to overcome, and perhaps his only weakness.

His longest and closest relationship is with Alfred Pennyworth, who represents a father figure, confessor, and advisor. Alfred and he have clashed in the past, but share a deep and unbreakable bond. To the world at large, Bruce Wayne looks like a rich, good looking, dim-witted playboy. But there are times when Bruce has found love -- the beautiful Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Talia al Ghul, Vicki Vale, Sasha Bordeaux, Zatanna, and others, have all fallen in love with him. Bruce can love, it's just more difficult for him to after his parents' deaths.

Next to Alfred, his closest relationships are with his partners and students, the Robins and the Batgirls. Although they have not always been harmonious due to his nature as an often harsh, strict and emotionally withdrawn mentor, it is clear that he views the Robins as his sons, although he views Jason Todd as the son he failed.

James Gordon remains a close friend and staunch ally, although their relationship has also been challenged by Batman's secretive nature. Still, Gordon remains arguably Batman's best friend.

His relationship with other superheroes and metahumans has been complex. Though a long time member of both the Justice League and the Outsiders, and a close associate of the Justice Society and the Teen Titans, he also does not fully trust them. This (warranted or not) has led to his keeping files on how to defeat allies and friends in case they ever cross the line. This stems from events revealed in the Identity Crisis incident where his memory was erased by other members of the Justice League to cover up their roles in the mindwiping of Doctor Light, who had raped Elongated Man's wife Sue. In the past, this information has been used against him and his allies, first by Ra's al Ghul, and then later by the OMAC Project.

Among the superhero community outside the Robins and Batgirls, he is closest to Superman and Wonder Woman, having a long established partnership with both heroes, as well as a romantic relationship with Wonder Woman. These relationships have never been smooth. Superman and Batman have often disagreed with each other over methods and trust. A particularly sour point was the arrival of Kara Zor-El; Superman believed Batman was being unnecessarily cautious about a potentially dangerous Kara, and Batman was shocked at Superman's willingness to reveal his secret identity to a girl with little actual memory of Krypton. Despite their disagreements, the two hold a deep respect for each other, to the extent that Superman has trusted Batman with a Kryptonite Ring to use against him in the event that the Man of Steel should fall under another's control, or simply turn against the world on his own.

Among all of the detectives in the super hero community, Batman appreciated Barry Allen's optimistic outlook; a man who saw his work as protecting the innocent, instead of damning the guilty.

Batman has occasionally been arrogant, treating many of his allies with various degrees of disrespect. He often imposes his exacting standards on others as he does himself. He also sometimes overestimates his own abilities, allowing foes to take advantage of that.

Romances
For the most part, Bruce does not engage in serious romance, preferring to focus in his superhero duties instead. However, Bruce occasionally softens his heart and has been romantically involved with the following women:
 * Catwoman: Quite possibly Batman's best-known romance, the master thief Catwoman has been Batman's lover at several points of his life. Selina Kyle was inspired to don the costume of the Cat after seeing Batman in action, and later proved herself as both an adversary and ally to Batman. The two regularly flirted in costume and also dated in their civilian identities as socialites on occasion, though Selina was then unaware of Bruce's identity as Batman. After years of attraction, Bruce confided in Selina by telling her of his identity, and the two pursued a relationship. This was short-lived as Bruce determined that his commitment to justice could not allow him to get so close with anyone else. Despite this, they remain close friends and reliable allies. Catwoman's morally ambiguous nature represents a gray area in Batman's otherwise black and white life.
 * Jezebel Jet: The supermodel and leader of a small nation in Africa, Jezebel Jet dated Bruce Wayne and eventually discovered his identity as Batman. She was later revealed to be an agent of the criminal organization Black Glove, who were plotting Batman's demise. She was killed at the hands of another of Wayne's lovers, Talia al Ghul.
 * Julie Madison: Julie is the daughter of Norman Madison, a wealthy entrepreneur. She began a relationship with Bruce Wayne, but after discovering her lover's true identity, she left Gotham and joined the Peace Corps, relocating to Africa to help the needy as a missionary.
 * Sasha Bordeaux: Officially hired as Bruce Wayne's bodyguard due to the demands of Wayne Enterprises, Sasha eventually learned the truth about his identity as Batman and assisted him on patrols until the two were accused of the murder of Vesper Fairchild. Although she kept Bruce's secret and never implicated him in the murder, the conclusion that she had been used prompted her to part company with him. The two later shared a kiss, but their relationship never progressed further than that.
 * Shondra Kinsolving: Shondra was a doctor who helped Bruce Wayne to recover from his back injuries inflicted by Bane. Bruce started to develop feelings towards her and was ready to tell her about his secret identity as Batman, but she was kidnapped by her brother Benjamin Asplin. Bruce traveled around the world in his crippled state to find her and confess his feelings for her. When he finally found her, Bruce asked Shondra to marry him. After a struggle with her brother, Shondra was left mentally unable and Bruce took her to a care center, ensuring that she could have everything she needs.
 * Silver St. Cloud: A wealthy Gotham socialite, Silver St. Cloud first met Bruce Wayne at a private party. They entered a romantic relationship and Silver later deduced Bruce's secret identity, causing her to break off the relationship as she couldn't bare the thought of losing him as a result of his crusade. Years later, the two met again and rekindled their romance, with Silver becoming accepting of his role as Batman. Her life was cut short, however, when the villain Onomatopoeia slit her throat.
 * Talia al Ghul: Talia al Ghul is the daughter of the immortal terrorist and leader of the League of Assassins, Ra's al Ghul. Talia first met the Dark Knight when he rescued her from a usurper within the League of Assassins. She fell in love with the Batman, and Ra's al Ghul considered him the only man worthy of marrying his daughter and producing an heir to the League. This began a tumultuous relationship between Bruce and Talia, with her being as often an enemy to Batman as she is a lover. Talia later assumed control of the League of Assassins and introduced Bruce to his only biological child, a son she bore and raised in secret named Damian. After her plan to unite Bruce to her cause and rule the world at her side failed, Talia declared war on Batman. She led the Leviathan Organization and became a fierce foe in her own right.
 * Vesper Fairchild: A popular radio talk show host in Gotham, Bruce and Vesper went on several dates, with Bruce acknowledging that he had deep feelings for her even if he tried to repress them. They were separated when Vesper left Gotham during No Man's Land, and her life was subsequently cut tragically short when she was killed by David Cain as part of a plan to frame Bruce Wayne for her murder.
 * Vicki Vale: A reporter, photographer and television personality, Vicki Vale has been romantically involved with Bruce Wayne on multiple occasions. After his disappearance at the same time as Batman's, Vicki theorized that Bruce and Batman were one and the same. After presenting her findings to Bruce and proving her theory correct, she destroyed all evidence of his secret and offered to help him in his efforts.
 * Wonder Woman: Diana spent a lot of time combat training against Batman alone together in the JLA, and this eventually developed into a flirtatious relationship. They were trapped in the past together during the Obsidian Age, and Diana nursed him back to health from the brink of death. They also shared a kiss together before what they believed was their final battle. The two set up their first date at Wayne Manor, but Bruce couldn't make it because he was crime-fighting. Eventually when they discussed their relationship together, they came to the conclusion that although they both loved each other, it would be best for them to remain friends. The events of the Blackest Night showed that Diana still has strong feelings for Bruce, as the strength of her love towards him allowed her to become a member of the Star Sapphire Corps.


 * Zatanna Zatara: Bruce met Zatanna when he began training alongside her father, the powerful magician Giovanni Zatara. They maintained a close friendship as superheroes and partners, but had a major falling out after Bruce's discovery that Zatanna had mindwiped him at the request of the JLA. They eventually reconciled, and after Zatanna asked him why their relationship had never progressed further into romance, Bruce responded by telling Zatanna he hadn't wanted to bring her into his dark world.

Abilities

 * Indomitable Will: Batman's unstoppable determination and strength of will makes him an extremely formidable opponent. This makes him able to function while tolerating massive amounts of physical pain, and also allows him to resist telepathy or mind Control. His willpower is strong enough to operate a Green Lantern Ring when necessary.
 * Intimidation: It is widely known that Batman has the ability to instill fear in others, to the extent that even the people that know him best are intimidated by him. Batman regularly forces common criminals to flee in terror despite there being no evidence that he would actually kill anyone. Even those who aren't afraid of the likes of Superman fear Batman. His ability to inspire great fear made him eligible for induction into the Sinestro Corps, although he was able to fight off the power ring's Control. He can use 463 different ways to intimidate someone without harming them.
 * Interrogation: Batman is adept in interrogation techniques, often using law enforcement methods as well as torture. Several methods include hanging a person over the edge of a building by one leg or chaining a person upside down and beating them. He usually just uses his frightening appearance to get answers. Bruce summarized his methods with the statement: "Fear is an excellent motivator."
 * Peak Human Condition: Batman has dedicated his life to be as close to human perfection both physically and mentally. Through intense training, a specialized diet, and biofeedback treatments, Batman represents the natural pinnacle of human physical prowess. A doctor once commented that he is in the "perfect physical health." His physical attributes exceeded that of almost any Olympic level athlete. His strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, endurance, balance and coordination are in peak human perfection. Ever since he was 11, Batman began his physical and mental conditioning, and followed by intense physical training and weight lifting at age 12. He had mastered full body control by the time he was 18. Bruce Wayne, since his childhood, has followed a strict diet to enable his body to develop and operate at its most proficient, along with biofeedback treatments (using portable/non portable machines to stimulate muscles to contraction). Batman has performed amazing physical feats due to his pinnacle physique. He engages in an intensive regular regimen of rigorous exercise (including aerobics, weight lifting, gymnastics, and simulated combat) to keep himself in peak condition, and has often defeated opponents whose size, strength, or other powers greatly exceeded his own as for example, he defeated the Bat-Bane in armed combat.
 * Peak Human Strength: Batman regularly bench-presses at least 1,000 lbs. during his exercise routine, and even leg-press up to 2,500 lbs. This allows him to be capable of doing amazing feats such as punching a SWAT officer through a brick wall. He's able to break steel handcuffs, and bend prison bars with his bare hands. He once pulled the maximum weight of 300 lbs scale bar behind him with all his effort, using one arm.
 * Peak Human Reflexes: Bruce's reflexes were honed to such a degree that he has caught one of Green Arrow's arrows in mid flight when he tried to shoot him. He is able to dodge gunfires at close range.
 * Peak Human Speed: He can run and move at speeds comparable to the finest competing athletes. He has shown enough speed to catch up a speeding car while running.
 * Peak Human Endurance: His endurance is comparable to that of the finest Olympic Decathlon participant. His lung capacity is so great that he could hold his breath underwater for 3 minutes and 15 Seconds. He can survive in the airless vacuum of space for exactly 27 Seconds. He continued to function after a gunshot that injured one of his legs without feeling any pain. He can go up to 80 hours without sleep.
 * Peak Human Stamina: At peak capacity, Batman can physically exert himself for approximately an hour before the build up of fatigue toxins began to impair him.
 * Peak Human Agility: His agility exceeded than that of a Chinese acrobat and an Olympic gymnast. His main phase of movement was Parkour which he learned in France and used to scale the city's rooftops or on widow buildings in an acrobatic manner.
 * Peak Human Balance: His balance and dexterity is at the peak of human perfection. He has been shown to perform feats greater than those of skilled athletes.
 * Acrobatics: Bruce is known as one of the most finest human athlete in Earth as well as proficient in gymnastics and acrobatics.
 * Martial Arts: Bruce was trained in 127 styles of martial arts. He uses a fighting style that merges many of these styles, including Aikido, Boxing, Savate, Silat, Tan Tui, Wushu, Tae Kwon Do, Judo, Muay Thai, Jujitsu, Kung Fu, Karate, Capoeira, Krav Maga, Yaw-Yan, and many others
 * Weaponry: Through his martial arts training, he has become an expert on all melee weaponry. Wayne has displayed exceptional sword fighting capability and proficiency with knives, sticks and various other weapons. He practices during his combat sessions to keep his skills intact, but he prefers unarmed combat.
 * Stealth: His Ninjutsu training has made him a master at stealth and capable of breaching high security facilities without being detected.
 * Marksmanship: Wayne is an expert marksman. He is skilled with throwing projectile weapons, archery and firearms. He has been practicing such skills since the early days of his training and is almost on par with the Green Arrow in terms of accuracy.
 * Genius Level Intellect: Batman is a brilliant, virtually peerless, detective, strategist, scientist, tactician, and commander. He is widely regarded as one of the keenest analytical minds on the planet. Given his lack of superpowers, he often uses cunning and planning to outwit his foes, rather than simply "out-fighting" them.
 * Polymath: He has studied Biology, Technology, Mathematics, Physics, Mythology, Geography and History. Bruce gained degrees in Criminal Science, Forensic Sciences, Computer Sciences, Chemistry and Engineering by the time he was 21. He had mastered Diverse Environmental Training, Security Systems, and illusion/sleight of hand by the time he was 23. He gained even more degrees in Biology, Physics, Advanced Chemistry, and Technology by the time he was 23. He has also learned Medical Sciences and Expanded Computer and Engineering Sciences.
 * Forensic Science
 * Eidetic Memory: Batman has total recall and can remember anything in great detail.
 * Investigation: He is widely considered the World's Greatest Detective, 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.
 * Multilingualism: He is able to speak Spanish, French, Latin, German, Japanese, English, Russian, Greek, Portuguese, Arabic, Sanskrit, Hindi, Thai, Farsi, Kryptonian, Chinese, Eskimo, Tibetan, and possibly more. He knows Morse code, and can also use it by tapping his fingers as well. He can also understand American Sign Language.
 * Tactical Analysis: He commonly utilizes cunning tactics to outwit his foes, relying on his plans and experience to outmanoeuvre many of his superhuman friends and adversaries. Batman is known as one of the greatest strategists and tacticians in the universe.
 * Leadership: He is known for having great leadership. He is leader of the Outsiders, the Batman Family and Batman Incorporated. He is also in charge of his company, Wayne Enterprises.
 * Escapology: He has been described as second only to Mister Miracle as an escape artist. He has been seen escaping from a Posey straitjacket in less than 52 seconds, and remarked afterwards that the time was way too slow for his usual standards.
 * Driving: Bruce is proficient at driving many vehicles like cars, motor bikes and trucks, and he is also skillful at driving jets, helicopters, auto boats and small ships.
 * Tracking: Trained in hunting techniques by African Bushmen (the Ghost Tribes of the Ten-eyed Brotherhood, among others).
 * Disguise: Had mastered the art of disguise by the time he was 23. Had further learned expanded disguise techniques by the time he was 26, through various instructions from Alfred. Batman has many aliases he uses to infiltrate the underworld or just to go undercover in public situations. Among his various aliases are: Matches Malone, Thomas Quigley, Ragman, Detective Hawke, Sir Hemingford Grey, Frank Dixon, Gordon Selkirk, and Mr. Fledermaus.
 * Mechanical Aptitude: Proficient at combat driving. Has learned improved vehicle designs. Was trained and proficient in basic vehicles operations.
 * Mechanical Engineering: Capable of designing and creating suits of armor capable of outracing missiles and protecting the wearer from its detonation at point blank range. Also, designed and created a highly powerful suit of armor known as the Hellbat armor, the latest version of which was used by Lois Lane to gain the upper hand in a fight against a powered-up Eradicator, who had just defeated Superman.
 * Business Management: Bruce Wayne has extensive skills and experience in business management, has thorough understanding of financial marketing and management and is often seen as a example of a successful industrialist and businessman on a par with Lex Luthor.
 * REM Sleep: Bruce has mastered the skill of compressing a full night's sleep into a little more than three hours.

Weaknesses
Single-Mindedness: Batman's drive to protect Gotham has been used against him on several occasions, most notably when Bane decided to confront Batman only after wearing him down by destroying Arkham Asylum, knowing that his foe would try and capture all the escaped inmates himself and thus push himself to the brink of exhaustion.

Equipment

 * Batsuit: The costume Batman wears is composed of reinforced Kevlar and a small percentage of titanium; it's bullet-proof and resistant to various types of attack (explosions, impacts, falls, etc). It's also flame-retardant and insulated. The gloves and the boots are reinforced to rebound the impact of punches and kicks. The gloves also have some metallic blades on their sides. The cape is designed to provide the wearer with controlled gliding functionality with the ability to change directions and heights while in mid-air. 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 visor, auditory sensors and a sonar. The mask is accessorized with some security systems (aggravating gas, electric blasts, etc.), like the utility belt, and integrates a transmitter receiver device for voice and video.


 * 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. 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, a "re-breather" breathing device, and lockpicks. 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. The belt also has its own automatic security systems.

Transportation

 * Batboat
 * Batcycle
 * Batmobile
 * Batplane

Weapons

 * Batarang

Trivia

 * Bruce Wayne rarely drinks alcohol. Dick Grayson has mentioned that he's seen Bruce drink less times than he can count on one hand. When Stephanie Brown died, he drank Purcell's 12-year-old bourbon.
 * Batman's online screenname is JonDoe297.
 * Bruce Wayne's favorite meal is Mulligatawny soup.
 * The book The Batman Files, list Bruce's parents death date as June 27th.
 * Notable nicknames for Batman include: The Dark Knight, The Caped Crusader, The World's Greatest Detective, The Masked Manhunter, The Cowled Crimefighter, and simply The Bat.
 * Batman is the one who gave Bart Allen the heroic moniker of Impulse.
 * Atmahn is the name given Batman when he acquired the powers of a god and oversaw the proto Earth-1with Superman and Wonder Woman.
 * Amanda Waller considers Batman a metahuman, though he does not fit the traditional or the expanded definition of the term.
 * Bruce is an atheist. He was raised a Christian, but stopped believing in God after his parents were killed.