The Batman-1986

History

Bruce Philip Wayne was born to Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha Menninger on January 21st, 1961. Despite the general unrest brought about by the Cold War, Bruce lived a privileged life in Wayne Manor, an exquisite manse on the outskirts of Gotham City.

However, young Bruce's idyllic childhood was brought to an abrupt end when he witnessed the murder of his parents as they left the Monarch Theatre on April 13th, 1971; unbeknownst to Bruce, his parents were assassinated for frustrating the efforts of a powerful Cocaine Cartel backed by the CIA. With Thomas and Martha dead, Bruce (and the Wayne estate) were placed in the care of Thomas' brother Phillip.

Traumatized by the incident, young Bruce became a troubled and occasionally violent child. To make matters worse, Phillip (who had gambled away his share of Wayne money long ago) only adopted Bruce in order to embezzle money from the child's estate; unable to handle his disturbed nephew, Phillip sent Bruce to a military boarding school in a desperate effort to pacify the boy.

Despite Phillip's less than noble aims, the school proved to be exactly what Bruce needed. The structure, lessons, and discipline of the setting provided the young Wayne heir with the stability he needed to overcome his trauma. Of course, the presence of retired soldier Alfred Pennyworth certainly helped sooth Bruce's troubled soul.

Initially confrontational and defiant in response to Pennyworth's instruction, Bruce came to respect, and even love, the man. Likewise, Alfred took a shining to Bruce the moment he encountered him; with time, Bruce confided in Alfred and the veteran nurtured Bruce into a capable and mature young man.

However, upon the discovery that Bruce's mental health had been restored, Phillip was quick to enroll Bruce in Gotham's public school system in order to avoid spending more money on the expensive boarding school. What Phillip didn't realize was that the Bruce who was returning to Gotham was very different from the one who had left it.

October 2nd, 1974, Bruce ran away from Gotham City. While under Alfred's tutelage, Bruce had taken a secret oath to stamp out the corruption that robbed him of his parents. Phillip, seeing this as his golden opportunity to claim Bruce's money, expended only a minimum amount of effort to locate his fugitive ward.

While Bruce initially struggled to survive alone and with little resources, he began to learn various survival skills; as he learned, Bruce was able to travel further and increase his skill-set even more. Though international travel was difficult following the Munich Massacre, Bruce managed to travel to each continent, spending his youth training himself to intellectual and physical perfection.

Bruce attended courses at Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and other European universities, though he never stayed long, used an alias, and would often drop out after one semester. Beyond academia, Wayne sought to acquire various "practical" skills. 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 the Japanese ninja, hunting under the African Bushman, traditional healing disciplines under Nepalese monks and even ventriloquism under skilled practitioners.

Finally, at age 20, Bruce returned to America. At first, he attempted to join the FBI, but after learning about its rigorous regulations and the influence of politics on its conduct, Wayne deduced that he would never be able to completely oppose crime while working within the confines of the legal system.

Discouraged, Bruce decided to return to Gotham City in search of some direction; despite having all the skills and methods to combat crime, he felt that there was still something missing in his arsenal. Suddenly appearing on the doorstep of Wayne Manor, Bruce learned that Phillip had managed to lose an overwhelming majority of the Wayne estate before mysteriously disappearing; rumors suggested that he had fallen into the ill graces of one of the local crime syndicates.

A burgeoning company known as Lexcorp had managed to acquire a controlling interest in Wayne Enterprises, Wayne Manor was at severe risk of foreclosure, and Bruce lacked any means of completing his self-appointed mission.

Severely depressed, Bruce sat brooding inside his abandoned home late one night. It was then, as if by divine intervention, a massive bat smashed through the window of his study. Recalling his childhood fear of bats, Bruce was struck with an epiphany; he would stand against crime from outside of the established system as a vigilante, one who struck fear into the heart of criminals everywhere. Bruce's intuitively understood that he must become a symbol, an urban legend, a predator to all those who preyed upon the innocent. Inspired by the animal that had struck terror into his heart as a youth, Bruce decided to become The Batman.

Appearing publicly for the first time in nearly a decade, Bruce marched into Wayne Enterprises and began to shrewdly maneuver into a position to regain control of his company. However, Alexander Luthor (recognized as a brilliant businessman) was in no hurry to relinquish his control over one of the oldest firms in the United States; Bruce had to learn an entirely new type of survival skills in order to battle for the resources his crusade would require.

As his fortune grew, Bruce began to collect the equipment that would allow him to lead criminals to view him as a supernatural avenger. Finally, on April 13th, 1983, The Batman debuted in a raid on the Falcone crime family. Though the mission was successful, Bruce quickly realized that he would require some sort of support team in order to maximize his capabilities in the field.

So it was that Bruce sought out the only man he knew he could trust with his secret, Alfred Pennyworth. In little time, Bruce found Alfred and explained his mission to his former mentor. Despite certain misgivings about his former pupil's fixation, Alfred pledged his loyalty to The Batman's cause. In order to keep Alfred close at hand, yet every possible connection to Batman secret, Bruce decided to ostensibly hire his former teacher as a butler.

With Alfred at his side, Bruce gained valuable tactical advice and a skilled assistant, and The Batman grew more formidable. As Bruce expected, The Batman's vigilante tactics earned him the ire of the Gotham City Police Department, not least because of the department's corruption. However, The Batman soon gained a powerful ally when he met police officer James Gordon, one of the few honest cops on the force; through Gordon, The Batman also began to coordinate with assistant district attorney Harvey Dent.

Personality

In his mind, Bruce Wayne died alongside Thomas and Martha. The resurgent business mogul that the world sees now is a false persona presented to the world in order to protect his true identity. The present Bruce Wayne appears to be a self-absorbed and shrewd businessman and philanthropist.

Haunted by the loss of his parents, Bruce manifests The Batman as a dark and grim persona with a vendetta against all criminals, swearing to rid Gotham of its corruption. While his parents were alive Bruce was a typical child, even spoiled, however his time as The Batman has led Bruce to become increasingly paranoid and obsessive.

Despite the darkness in his heart, Thomas and Martha's humanitarianism still serves as Bruce's moral compass, tempering his oath of vengeance with a greater commitment to the ideal of justice. Thus, The Batman refrains from murdering the foes that he encounters, as doing so would elevate Bruce to a level of moral authority that isn't his to claim. Still, Bruce has no compunctions about bending the truth or breaking the law on behalf of his mission when he deems it morally justifiable.

Still young, Bruce has an ego that at times borders on arrogant, albeit with justification; sometimes he even seems to draw pleasure from baffling police with superior detective work. The Batman does not seek fame, however, and is usually content to allow the police to take public credit for his work. Additionally, The Batman does not consider himself a hero, and often rejects any praise or admiration from others.

Wayne is a loner and does not often strive to make friends, although he tends to tremendously value those that he has, and none higher than Alfred. Often displaying a cold and dispassionate demeanor, Bruce rarely allows himself to show any signs of fear. In his public life, Bruce is occasionally forced to express interest in companionship, Bruce does not like getting involved in other people's lives. However, Bruce does display an uncharacteristic concern for those who have found themselves orphans as a result of mankind's depravity.

However, another identity used by The Batman is that of criminal Malcolm "Matches" Malone. Becoming Malone allows Bruce to operate within the criminal underworld as an enforcer with increasing credibility. Bruce has occasionally pursued the Malone persona to the point of being incarcerated in Blackgate Penitentiary.

Abilities

Although possessed of no true metahuman powers, Bruce's years of intense training have sharpened his natural determination into an extremely formidable strength of will. Through this intense training, specialized diet, and cutting-edge research, Bruce has begun to approach the pinnacle of physical prowess; his athletic prowess is easily comparable to the best Olympic athletes of the time. The Batman continues to sharpen and hone his abilities through an intensive regular regimen of rigorous exercise, and spends great portions of his free time in pursuit of physical perfection.

Bruce also incorporates the martial arts training he learned while abroad into his daily exercise regimen, and he has become an expert on a wide variety of combatitives. Preferring functional techniques to showmanship in most conflicts, The Batman has begun to develop a unique fighting style that compliments his gear and allows him to engage and incapacitate several attackers at once.

In addition to his physical perfection, The Batman is a virtually peerless detective, strategist, and researcher. Ever since his youth Bruce was marked as a brilliant mind, and his studies in biology, technology, mathematics, physics, geography, history, criminal science, forensic science, chemistry, engineering, material sciences, business management, and military operations have allowed Bruce to develop a formidable array of information and applicable knowledge. However, Bruce's greatest weapon is his intuition; The Batman is able to draw brilliant inferences based on practical principles resulting form careful observation. However, Bruce is not infallible and he is capable of reaching the wrong conclusion on very rare occasions.

Although capable of brilliant observation, inductive, and deductive reasoning, The Batman is also adept in interrogation techniques, often using torture as a means of quickly extracting information from criminals. Bruce's travels have also allowed him to learn several dialects of English, Spanish, French, Latin, German, Japanese, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Greek, Portugese, Arabic, Sanskirt, Hindi, and Thai.

Equipment

Through the aggressive management of his shares of Wayne Enterprise, Bruce has managed to gain access to synthetic materials not commercially available. Combining these materials with the best military equipment that he could access, Bruce managed to create a fearsome suit that granted him increased capacity during The Batman's field operations.

The Batsuit is created from a strong, heat-resistant fibers known as aramid fibers. Developed in the 1960s after the creation of nylon, aromatic polyamide is durable enough that it was used for reinforcing aircraft material and helping structures resist seismic disturbances, yet it handles like textile apparel fibers. These fibers can compete with others, such as Dyneema, in application as ballistic armor due to their extremely high strength-to-weight ratios. Thus, the Batsuit is bullet-resistant, provides effective heat and moisture insulation, is resistant to abrasion and weather, and reduces injury to the wearer.

In addition, the Batsuit allows The Batman to keep a variety of personal field equipment closely available, though he must carefully choose what to bring with him before each mission due to limited space.

Bruce plans on expanding his field functionality with an enhanced version of the Batsuit in the future, based on research the United States Army is doing on a program meant to equip future infantryman.