Bruce Wayne

Alfred Pennyworth (Former Legal Guardian)

## **`watchtower-network.origins.batman`**

1980 - Bruce Wayne was born to Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne née Kane on April 17th, 1980. Thomas has recently inherited the Wayne fortune from his own father some few months prior to Bruce’s birth. Martha came from the similarly illustrious Kane family, while Martha didn’t inherit her own family fortune after her parents’ deaths, the eldest sister Adeline, inheriting it instead, Martha was never big on material gains. So when Thomas and Martha did inherit the Wayne fortune shortly before the birth of their son, they immediately got to work not only founding the Wayne Foundation, but also organizing outreach and charity events for other similar groups throughout Gotham and neighboring cities, via connections with Wayne Industries.

1981 - 1992 - Growing up Bruce was taught by both his parents and the family butler, Alfred Pennyworth, to help those less fortunate than himself. When Bruce was old enough his parents began bringing him with them to many of the charity events they organized so that Bruce could see the lessons he was being instilled with in action. After decades of rising crime, unemployment, and homelessness, Gotham finally seemed to be entering a time of peace and prosperity. (edited)

1993 - But all good things must come to an end, and so it did on Sunday, April 18th, 1993. After a special Sunday viewing of the Mark of Zorro at a family owned cinema, that had been rented out for Bruce’s birthday. Unfortunately on their walk to a nearby park they took a wrong turn into an alleyway and were cornered by a man with a gun. As the Wayne’s were gunned down, Thomas tried to defuse the situation but the man wasn’t having any of it. The Waynes’ lives were almost saved by someone passing by who happened to recognize them, but they were scared off by the mugger. Luckily the passerby called the police, but they were too late. By the time police arrived on the scene, Thomas and Martha were dead and Bruce was bleeding out, with the culprit was in the wind. Fortunately after a quick surgery Bruce was fine, but his parents and, for the time being, their dream, were dead. 1994 - 1996 - Throughout the next couple years the loss of the Waynes was felt throughout the city. While a select few did their best to revitalize what had been lost, nothing stuck, and Gotham quickly reverted to what it was before the Waynes began their work. And Bruce became a much different person himself, entering a depressive spiral and closing himself off from even his few close friends. However Gotham still saw Bruce as their golden boy, despite his best efforts. Such efforts ended up with Bruce spending a lot of time in local precinct, and developing something akin to a friendship with Jim Gordon, who happened to have been the first cop on the scene of the Wayne Murder.

1997 - Eventually Bruce cleaned up his act, and even graduated a year early. After this early graduation he went through the process to get himself declared a legal independent. Now with the entirety of the Wayne Fortune at his disposal and the ownership of Wayne Industries transferred to him, Bruce appointed Lucius Fox as Wayne Industries new CEO, and left the majority of his money and estate in Alfred’s hands and set out on a road trip of sorts. During the first several months of his trip he traveled to a number of locations throughout America, many of them still kept secret to those closest to Bruce in the present. However near the end of the year Bruce took his trip international, disappearing for another good while.

1998 - 1999 - Bruce resurfaced, now in Japan, having tracked down Tatsu Toro, a highly proficient swordswomen, who’s even something of a celebrity in certain circles. While Toro isn’t exactly known for her teaching prowess Bruce seemed to have his mind set on learning under her. After a few weeks of convincing she caved in, training him over the next few months, until Bruce managed to get her to give him some information on a group known as the League of Assassins. After learning whatever it was about them, Bruce set out to find them. And find them he did. He tracked down their base of operations and introduced himself. While not much is known about what down here, Bruce apparently made something of a good impression, and was inducted as a trainee. Over the year or so after that Bruce trained as part of the League, becoming a fully fledged member, and later rising higher quite high in the rankings at record pace after that. But something seemingly changed, as Bruce abruptly left toward the end of ‘99, just disappearing without a trace.

2000 - Only a few months into the new year Bruce made his big return to Gotham City. But only after the slow emergence of new urban legend of sorts. The Batman. Described as a shadowy man dressed as a Bat by the few criminals who actually saw him. But over the course of the few months between Bruce leaving the League and returning to Gotham, Batman had begun taking out all manner of criminals throughout Gotham, but only under the cover of darkness and leaving almost no evidence of his existence behind. Gotham ended up ushering more than just the new year, it seems that thanks to Batman the crime ridden city was now at the head of the Reemergence of Super Heroes.