Batman

Batman

### Relatives

Thomas Wayne(Father), Martha Wayne(Mother), Selina Kyle(Wife), Richard Grayson(Adopted son),Bruce Wayne Jr(Son), Jason Todd(Adopted Son), Tim Drake(adopted son).

## Physical description

### Eye color

Blue

The subject of this section does not have any "super" powers yet in many ways he is the most super hero of them all. Batman is perhaps the most extraordinary of the subjects in this survey in that he has fought and successfully defeated super powered villains and monsters without any special powers of his own.

## **Wayne Family History**

In the waning days of the Crusades, a man named **Harold** served as the first lord of Waynemoor Castle in Northern England until he died, childless and unmarried, at which point his brother **Lorin** took over the estate. Centuries later, it was discovered by Lorin's descendant - **Bruce Wayne,** the Batman - that Harold was actually murdered by Lorin.

In medieval times, **Lancelot Wayne** constructed a pair of wings and tried to emulate the flight of bats, risking death by gliding from a high cliff into a river.

At some point, **Contarf Wayne** emigrated from England to Scotland and built Castle Wayne, establishing the Scottish branch of the Wayne family.

In 1685, **Edmond Wayne** became the first Wayne to ever come to America. He battled and killed his rival Laffy Arkham on the grounds of what would become Wayne Manor. He would then be betrayed and killed by the assassin Bakkar, who took his name.

In the next century, many of Bakkar's descendants took part in the United States' war for independence. Bakkar´s son, **Silas Wayne**,was a Philadelphia silversmith and allegedly a highwayman though this was later discovered to be a false accusation and attempt by his rivals to frame him. This would never be acted on as Silas Wayne died at the young age of 30. His descendant, **Bruce Wayne** found a document written by Richard Saunders which exonerated Silas and cleared his name.

Silas's son and Keystone native **Anthony Wayne**(born 1745) joined the war in 1775 and became a brigadier general within two years, as part of George Washington's own army. In 1779 he helped recapture a British outpost in Stony Point, New Guersey. Eventually earning the nickname "Mad Anthony," he retired in 1783, dabbled in politics, returned to the military in 1791 and was involved in raids against Indians in 1794, then died in 1796 at the age of 51. At one point he also encountered a time-travelling Batman, Robin, and Superman. His resemblance to Bruce Wayne was so uncanny that Bruce surmised Anthony must have been one of his ancestors upon meeting him. A man named **Horatio Wayne**, possibly his brother, also served in the Revolution, as a general.

A General **Herkimer Wayne** fought in the War of 1812. He is believed to be the son General Horatio Wayne, having followed his father into the army.

At one point, **Caleb Wayne** led a wagon train through Native American territory.

**Charles Arwin Wayne** bought acres of land (including swampland) for pennies -- land that eventually became Gotham City. He turned his family's modest fortune into a thriving enterprise, which his sons **Solomon** and **Joshua** inherited after he died of tuberculosis at the age of fifty-two.

In 1822,Artemus Gordon was Born(*Wild Wild West*)

Prior to the American Civil War, Solomon and Joshua Wayne helped escaped Slaves flee through caves under Wayne Manor as part of the underground Railroad, though it cost Joshua his life as he was killed by Bounty Hunters. Before dying from his injury he returned to the Manor to avoid tarnishing the Wayne family name by being revealed as a criminal. Solomon Wayne survived and began to help build Gotham. His wife Dorothea, bore him a son: **Alan Wayne**.

After the death of his larger-than-life father, Alan Wayne lived in Gotham Town, since his family home was considered haunted by the spirit of Joshua Wayne. The state of his life left him depressed, and he planned to commit suicide by jumping into the river. However, on the night in question, he was passed by a melee - a masked cowboy dueling with a gang of "superior criminals" for ownership of a mysterious wooden box. Moved to act by his own conscience, he rushed into the fray, saving the life of a woman named Katie Van Derm from the ruckus. Later, he married Katie, and the two moved back into Wayne Manor. With his wife, he founded Wayne Shipping, the company which was to provide for his descendants. His wife gave him a son, Kenneth, but she died in childbirth.

**Kenneth Wayne** was the only son of Alan and Catherine "Katie" Wayne. He founded Wayne Chemical and continued the general growth of Wayne Enterprises by industrializing Gotham City. Kenneth married a woman named Laura Elizabeth and together they had two sons, **Silas II** and **Patrick Wayne**.

In 1862, Patrick Wayne was born.

In 1867, Silas Wayne II was born.

At some point, another brother, Edmond Wayne II was born but he would live in England, having inherited Waynemoor castle there.

In 1875, James Gordon (son of Artemus Gordon) is born.

Kenneth Wayne and Laura Elizabeth Wayne were murdered by a Highwayman. Patrick Wayne moved away from Gotham while Silas Wayne II chose to travel abroad training in the hopes of discovering their killer.

In the last two decades of the 19th century, Alan Wayne, along with representatives of three other prominent Gotham families - Theodore Cobblepot, Edward Elliot and Cameron Kane - hired two architect brothers to help them modernize the city. However, when one architect died in a construction accident and the other went mad, Wayne and his compatriots closed ranks. He died at the age of sixty-three.

In 1884,Thomas Wayne (son of Patrick Wayne) was born.(Date from *Superman & Batman: Generations II* issue 2).

In 1885, Martha Taylor Kane was born.

In 1889,Silas Wayne II returned to Gotham after completing his education with the likes of Harry Houdini and Sigmund Freud. He became Batman and formed a friendship with Police Inspector Artemus Gordon. Unfortunately his timing could not be worse as a suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders also began killing prostitutes at this time and the public at large could barely tell the difference between Batman and Jack the Ripper. The Police investigated Silas Wayne II due to his recent return from Europe and the discovery of bloody knives left by the Ripper, leading to Silas II being arrested and placed in Arkham Asylum. Gordon helped Silas II by giving him evidence and Silas II deduced the identity of the Ripper. Silas's brother Patrick switched places with him in his cell to allow Silas II to capture the criminal. Batman chased down the Ripper and discovered it to be Kenneth Wayne's old friend Jacob Parker, who was jealous of Laura Elizabeth's love for Kenneth and killed women that reminded him of her. Jacob attempted to attack Batman but was shot by Liar. Because of this, it is unknown if Jacob was truly Jack the Ripper or simply an imposter as he never claimed to be the Ripper.(*Batman: Gotham by Gaslight*).

Alfred Pennyworth was born in this year.

In 1892,Silas Wayne II planned to marry and abandon his life as Batman. Artemus Gordon was now Police Commissioner and the world was celebrating the Gotham World's Fair, which was then attacked by Robur the Conqueror. Silas Wayne II was forced to once more don his Batman persona and battle Robur, destroying his aircraft with Robur appearing to perish, though later revealed to have survived. Silas discovered Councilman Franklin Claypool formed his own plan with Robur to commit insurance Fraud by having Robur destroy his buildings, but Robur killed several people, which Claypool did not intend and he turned himself in.(*Batman: Master of the Future*).

Another Wayne, Winslow Wayne, fought alongside Heeza Liar.

**1900-** January 5: James Anthony Gordon / The Whisperer (son of James Gordon) is born. Dr. Leslie Thompkins is born

Stephen Wayne is another Wayne Cousin, he would serve as Secretary of Defense and even be elected President, serving from 1941 to 1945, when he passed away of a brain hemorrhage(*First Lady*).

## **Kane Family History**

The Kane family has its own heroic lineage. Solomon Kane is a part of this line though he was considered odd even within his own religious circle, making it unclear if he had any children or took an oath of celibacy. If he did then Reverend Henry Kane most likely followed his ancestor into Religion. Henry Kane became a Shaman and a zealot, often killing his followers to increase his own powers. He cast a curse on himself, allowing him to live for several lifetimes. He lived sometime in the early 19th century.

His relative was Will Kane, who became a sheriff of the small town of Hadleyville, New Mexico. Kane had just gotten married to his wife Amy when he was told bad news. Will Kane had imprisoned the criminal Frank Miller but he was released and returned for revenge. The town encouraged Kane to run and he was prepared, but he changed his mind, thinking it cowardly. When he asked for help, no one in the town would help him. Amy overcame her pacifist nature to kill one of the men and Will killed the others, including Frank Miller. The town appeared to congratulate Kane but he threw his sheriff badge to the ground, disgusted by their refusal to help. Will Kane and his Wife then left town.

Will Kane took up work as a bounty hunter and returned to Hadleyville, being forced to deal with his corrupt replacement as Sheriff, J.D.Ward. He took the position again, making sure to secure a worthy successor. Afterwards, he left with his family, settling in Little Salem, Ambarino, where his son Charles Foster Kane was born in 1868. A mine given to Will and Amy—to settle a bill for room and board—happened to be rich in gold, making the family suddenly wealthy. In 1871, Kane's mother put him under the guardianship of a New York City banker named Walter Parks Thatcher. He grew up to be extremely rich, but he only had two children: one was killed in a tragic car accident, another was a bastard son he didn't know about: Harry Lime. Kane did try to reconnect with his old family but they had also become extremely wealthy, becoming much like himself, rather than the idealistic viewpoint he grew to have of them.

The Kanes of Kane County, used their newfound wealth to settle in the lands just north of Gotham City. Around the turn of the century, their wealth grew even more when their land was connected to the city by the Robert H. Kane Memorial Bridge, masterminded by Cameron Kane in honor of his son, Robert Kane, who was killed when he protected his father from an attack by Nicholas Gate, who wanted revenge for the death of his brother in a bridge collapse. The new bridge was thus named after him. Robert had a son, Roderick, who married a woman named Elizabeth, They had four children: Nathan, Martha, Jacob and an unnknown son.

Martha Kane is now best remembered as Martha Wayne after her marriage to Doctor and Mayorial Candidate Thomas Wayne. Martha was her husband's campaign runner. She was murdered in Crime Alley along with her husband in 1920.

Nathan Kane married the daughter of Nazi War criminal Otto Netz, who went to England on a secret mission from Adenoid Hynkel but was captured. After the way he was hired by the United World Organization to be a part of U.N.C.L.E. He formed the secret organization spiral, which would include his granddaughter and Nathan Kane's daughter Katherine Kane. Katherine became the first Batwoman, alongside her niece Bette Kane as the first Batgirl in 1956. She would retire but be killed by Ra's Al Ghul's League of Assassins in 1979. Nathan Kane's other son, Jacob Kane, named his daughter in her memory.

Jacob Kane, became a high ranking Colonel in the army. His wife Gabi Kane was a Captain with the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade. They had two daughters, Katherine "Kate" Kane and Elizabeth Kane. Katherine "Kate" Kane became the new Batwoman in 2006. Elizabeth Kane became the Supervillain "Alice".

The unknown Fourth son is the line from which Bette Kane emerged as the daughter of. Bette Kane became Batgirl in 1961 to support Katherine Kane's Batwoman. After her retirement, her daughter Mary Elizabeth Kane attempted to become a superhero. Rather than taking up the mantle of Batgirl, she, learned that Dick Grayson, her favorite superhero, had been inspired by tales of a Kryptonian Superhero named Knightwing told to him by Superman. Learning, Knightwing had a Sidekick named Flamebird, she assumed that identity. It is from this unknown son that the branch of the Kane family residing in Pine Valley, Keystone, belongs to including filmmaker Eric Kane, his wife Mona, and their daughter Erica.

Lana Kane's connection to the family is currently classified. There seems to be a problem of unclear dates pertaining to her exploits let alone when she and her parents were born, some elements suggest a 60's and 70's setting while other details suggest the present. Her parents are Lemuel Kane (an algae researcher and biochemist) and Claudette Kane (a professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley who is focusing on feminist issues). Since all they are black, it is believed they may be the descendants of freed slaves with some connection to the Kane Family.

## **Biography**

### **Early Life: 1912-1925**

Bruce was born on February 19, 1912, as the son of Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martham  and as the sole heir to the Wayne Fortune. Both his parents belonged to wealthy families as discussed above. The Waynes had lived in Gotham since the 1860s and had practically founed the city while Martha Kane belonged to the same family the wealthy newspaper mogul Charles Foster Kane and later two American Presidents. However, unknown to Bruce at the time, he also had a heroic lineage in his family, from his grandfather having fought crime including a Jack the Ripper suspect and Robur the Conqueror, to his mother's connection to the Puritan warrior Solomon Kane. It may have even gone deeper as Martha Wayne was in a relationship with Kent Allard before breaking it off and falling instead for Thomas Wayne shortly before becoming pregnant.

By all accounts, Bruce had a blessed childhood where his natural intelligence and athleticism were praised by his parents, though his mother also insisted he use his skills to better the world.

When Bruce entered kindergarten in 1917, he met and befriended Harvey Dent. Through Dent, Bruce met Julie Madison, a witty and artistic girl who quickly became the apple of Bruce’s eye. Though many of the girls at his school developed crushes on him, he developed one on Julie.

The Wayne expected to give Bruce a sibling when Bruce was five, but just weeks before the child's due date, Thomas and Martha went on a social event at the Empire Hotel and left Bruce in the care of Alfred. Because of her intent to found a school for the underprivileged in Gotham, Martha was targeted by the manipulative Court of Owls. After eating something that did not agree with her at the banquet, Thomas urged Martha to go to the hospital. to ensure the child was fine. As they exited the hotel, a drunk driver struck the Waynes shortly after they entered their vehicle. Thomas Wayne, Jr. was delivered early but did not survive the night.

While on vacation to forget about these events, the Wayne Family butler, Jarvis Pennyworth was killed by one of the Court of Owls' "Talon" Assassins. A letter he'd written to his son Alfred, warning him away from the beleaguered Wayne family, was never delivered. As such, Alfred - who had been an actor at the Globe Theatre at the time and a military medic before that, travelled to Gotham City to take up his father's place, serving the Waynes as butler. Bruce would developed a close relationship with the butler of the Wayne Estate, Alfred Pennyworth.

To cope with the loss of Thomas, Jr. the Waynes dedicated themselves to spending more time with Bruce. 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 he was picked up by Officer Jim 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.

Among Bruce’s interests were a love for cinema and costumed heroes*.* Thomas and Martha would take him to the Monarch Theater every Thursday night. One such night on November 27th 1920, while Thomas Wayne was campaigning for Mayor of Gotham, the Waynes left a showing of the film *the Mark of Zorro.* Thomas, Martha and eight year old Bruce were walking back to their car after an evening showing. As they took a shortcut through an alleyway in Park Row(said Alleyway gaining the nickname Crime Alley after what was about to happen), the family was held at gunpoint by a petty criminal, believed to be Joseph Chilton (aka: ‘Joe Chill’). When the clasp of Martha’s pearl necklace got stuck and Thomas abruptly moved to help his wife, the mugger got spooked and shot Thomas. When a scream followed, Joe fired a second shot, killing Martha instantly. Horrified but what he had done, Chill then fled, leaving the orphaned Bruce spattered in blood and standing among the scattered pearls.

After the heinous act, Bruce was raised by Alfred. 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. He once brutally murdered a nest of baby owls he found in the attic with a rock in a fit of rage.

In his youth, Bruce attended Gotham Academy. At school, Bruce became isolated, only talking to Julie. Bruce began to learn self-defense alongside Julie, and was also taught several moves by Alfred and began to learn some things about forensics and medicine from Julie. Consumed by justice, Bruce found little comfort when his supposed parent’s killer was apprehended by Detective Jim Gordon in 1923 or when his cousin Katherine Webb was born in 1924. Bruce’s eyes had been opened to the level of crime in Gotham and was determined to do something about. He already been training his mind, body and various skills with several tutors, but Bruce would need to leave Gotham to do it. Bruce 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. Bruce said goodbye to Alfred and visited his parents grave one last time. Bruce left Gotham in 1925 to study abroad.

### **The Training: 1925-1931**

After graduating high school early, Bruce began a global sojourn. His also act in the states was to learn Boxing from Ted "Wildcat" Grant. He began taking classes at Cambridge, the Sorbonne and other European Universities where he expanded his knowledge in criminology and forensics. During this time, Bruce also moonlighted with less established mentors who would school Bruce in taverns, back-alleys and empty warehouses. However, Bruce never stayed long and often dropped out.

In 1926, Lucius Fox was born.

Bruce started learning his detective skills from a retired Sherlock Holmes, and many other skills from the likes of Doc Savage. Bruce later traveled to France in 1927 to study forensics under Willie Doggett, where he met Giovanni Zatara, a sorcerer moonlighting as a magician. Bruce stayed with Zatara and his daughter Zatanna, who developed a crush on the man. Zatara helped Bruce learn to escape several traps and other tricks and illusions, such as using smoke to disappear. Zatanna gathered up the courage to ask Bruce on a date and the two had a brief romantic encounter on top of the Eiffel Tower. The two had to part ways the next day, forcing their romance to remain brief.

Bruce confined to travel, even traveling to Shangri-La and possibly training alongside Victor Von Doom. Then he began training with Shihan Matsuda in the Himalayan Mountains. From Shihan Matsuda, Bruce wanted to learn to further his martial art skills but also to control his body with complete mastery and precision. Shihan would eventually send Bruce to Master Kirigi in Hun Chiu. Bruce would excel under Kirigi, would who eventually pass his name along to a man named Henri Ducard.

Richard Grayson was born in 1928.

In the Summer of 1929, Bruce stumbled upon his childhood love, Julie Madison in Vlatava during Julie’s art apprenticeship. The two reignited their romance and once again shared an intimate first before Julie returned to the United States. Bruce was away for the entirety of the Great Depression and was already living as a Homeless Man, and so was unaffected while his Uncle Phillip Wayne struggled to hold the company together. Bruce continued to train under other various mentors in South America and the Australian outback.

In 1931, While first trying out fighting crime on his own, using only a mask and his marital arts, Bruce realized criminals did not fear him. Bruce moved to Washington D.C., to prepare for his admittance to the FBI Academy at Quantico where he lasted exactly four weeks before he realized the Justice he sought would not be gained through official channels. Bruce once again departed the U.S. after meeting a man named Henri Ducard.

### **Khuffash: 1931-1935**

After leaving the U.S. with Henri Ducard in September of 1931, Ducard offered Bruce a position within his secret organization, known as the League of Assassins. He offered Bruce a chance at the Justice he sought, convincing him to join the League. It didn't take Bruce long to deduce that ‘Henri Ducard’ was merely an operational alias used by the immortal ‘mastermind’ of the League, Ra’s al Ghul. Bruce was recruited into the League in December of 1931.

Bruce began training alongside Oliver Queen, eventually rising above the rest of the recruits at the time. While Bruce could never beat Oliver’s natural affinity for archery, hunting and fencing, he was clearly the best of the recruits. The two eventually became close friends and often went on missions together. Bruce began tutoring under Ra’s himself. In November, Bruce was officially inducted into the League as Khuffash (Translation: The Bat). In a short time, Bruce became an elite member of the Inner Circle.

On March 18th, 1933, An arsonist fugitive John Malone was arrested after three years on the lam after an anonymous phone call tips the GCPD to his whereabouts. Malone was promptly sent back to Blackgate Prison. On the anniversary of the Wayne Murder, Joseph Chilton was found dead in his cell at Blackgate Prison, having seemingly hanged himself based off the testimony of an eyewitness, the inmate in the cell across from Chilton's, Inmate Malone. John Malone's sentence was vacated after the results from his appeals for and evidence proved him innocent of his original charges. After being immediately released, John Malone promptly left Gotham.

Ra’s eventually named Bruce his successor. Bruce would be forced to prove his loyalty by assassinating a man in a cage. Bruce refused and fought back, setting the temple he was in on fire, yet choosing to save the life of Ra's Al Ghul. Bruce fled the League and returned to Gotham four days later.

### **Year One: 1937**

Upon his return to Gotham in March 1935, Bruce quickly made himself available to the media, making it well known that he had returned to Gotham City and make it harder for the vengeful League to assassinate him in retaliation. Bruce reconnected with Alfred and his uncle, Philip Wayne, who had taken over the Wayne family company in his absence. Bruce quickly became the ‘billionaire playboy philanthropist’, spending his time surrounded by women, making club appearances and donating to various charities. Philip had one of his employees, Edward Nygma arrange a ‘welcome home’ party for Bruce where he hired the services of Silver St. Cloud. Nygma also hired the Red Hood Gang to bust up the party and kill Bruce, but they failed. Bruce Wayne then reclaimed his family company after the arrest of Edward Nygma and the stepping down of Bruce's uncle, Philip Wayne. After seizing his company back, Bruce began using his resources to establish a plan of attack to rid Gotham of its criminal element. Making use of his John "Matches" Malone identity he had assumed while with the League, Bruce began to infiltrate several gangs.

On one particularly bad night, Bruce was beaten by many people he had attempted to save. Police arrived and shot a surrendering Bruce, taking him in a police car. Bruce broke free and caused the Police car to crash. Bruce escaped, a broken and bloody, he sat in Wayne Manor's parlor and asked his parent's portrait for guidance. A Bat crashed through his Window.

Batman made his appearance and began to intimidate various crime lords and corrupt Police. Soon he realized he would need an ally in the most corrupt GCPD. Bruce turned to the only honest cop, the man who caught his parents killer, James Gordon. Gordon and the media began getting anonymous letters with tips about the operations of criminal enterprises signed by 'Insider'. But Bruce underestimated the influence that Vito Corleone and Sal Maroni had over them. So, Bruce returned to the persona he had begun to build during his time within the League. But first, he would need some help.

Bruce brought Alfred in on his plans. Going full-blown theatrics, Bruce created a suit based on Bruce’s childhood fear of Bats, hoping to inspire that same fear in criminals. Alfred provided assistance from Wayne Manor, the age of vigilantes began as whispers of the ‘Batman’ began to make criminals fear the night.

One of Batman's first major encounters was a battle with the Red Hood Gang at the ACE Chemical Lab where he pursued the Red Hood Himself(It is unknown if this was the true Red Hood or a failed Comedian forced by "One Bad Day" into taking the role) and the Hood fell into a vat of chemicals, permanently disfiguring him, turning his skin white and hair Green.

The so-called ‘Batman’ quickly became a name that criminals feared, while some just believed it to be a modern myth. That is, until he rescued reporter Vicki Vale from Tony Zucco, where she managed to get the first picture of Batman. With the help of Jim Gordon, Batman worked to take down Vito Corleone and Sal Maroni, exposing corruption within City Hall and GCPD and leaving a giant power vacuum that would be filled with the likes of the Bertinellis and Tony Zucco. Jim and Batman became partners and trusted allies, taking on corruption and crime in Gotham side by side with Gotham's white knight District Attorney Harvey Dent.

Batman inspired the vigilante movement, leading to the arrival of the likes of Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Black Canary and Oliver Queen as the Green Arrow. He even began to inspire the youths of America.

### **Claws of the Catwoman: 1938**

In 1938, Batman had first met Khefretari, a Coptic-African from the lost city of Menmon, one of surviving relics of Ancient Egypt in the world, when she had stolen several objects from the Gotham Museum of Natural Science and History. These were artifacts stolen from her city by a shady relic hunter named Finnigan Dent, Harvey Dent's father. Batman and a visiting Lord Greystoke returned with Khefretari to prevent Dent from looting her city. There had been undeniable attraction and the quick blossoming of romance between Batman and Khefretari but each had their own path to follow. When Batman had last seen Khefretari she was Regent of the city of Menmon and he had vowed never to marry. Yet remembering the relationship that existed between Jane and Tarzan had unconsciously influenced Bruce when he had started falling in love with Julie Madison.(*Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Catwoman*)

### **World's Finest: 1939**

In 1939, Superman and Batman met for the first time during the Metropolis World's Fair, where they thwarted the schemes of the Ultra Humanite. Batman also battled some supernatural adversaries such as the Mad Monk and Hugo Strange's Monster Men, which he had no qualms with killing. Taking his inspiration from the Zorro character Bruce kept the public Bruce Wayne a business savvy, flamboyant playboy. In carrying out this pretense, he fell in love with a young woman named Julie Madison and found himself engaged. Had Bruce Wayne not gotten seriously involved with a woman, it is possible that his driven dedication would have turned him into the obsessed vigilante he is portrayed in books and films of the present era.

### **The Dynamic Duo: 1940**

In 1940, Batman first encountered the Joker, who killed Billionaire Henry Claridge with his first recorded use of Laughing gas. Joker then attempted to poison the reservoir but was prevented by Batman. The Joker later escaped.

Batman tracked the theft of the Alien mineral Kryptonite by the Joker to Gotham. The Joker offered his services to Lex Luthor, wanting Billions of Dollars in exchange for killing Superman. The Heroes were able to work together to defeat Joker. Batman also gained the trust of Commissioner Gordon after saving the life of his newborn son.

While Batman was investigating the activities of a protection racket run by a mysterious Boss Zucco, his investigation lead him to the Haley's Circus. He discovered that John and Mary Grayson, the star high wire act, had been murdered when their trapeze rigs had been tampered with. This was an example of how far Boss Zucco was willing to go to make his point.

The circus owner caved into his demands after that. Dick Grayson overheard the conversation between the circus owner and the representative of Boss Zucco. Batman saw the young man hop onto the back of the car of the crooks carrying away the payoff. He followed discreetly. The men in the roadster made a couple of other stops and noticed their stowaway. They began to manhandle Dick Grayson and had finally decided to kill him when Batman interfered. Batman made the crooks flee the scene but lost them when he attended to the boy. Batman asked Grayson what he had planned to do. Grayson said was going to trail the crooks to Boss Zucco and tell the police where he was located.

This boy whose parents had been killed by criminals struck a resonate chord with Batman. He also had an idea of the boy's skills having seen his performances. Bruce was slightly acquainted with him, Dick Grayson having aided Bruce Wayne against some thugs at the World's Fair. He explained to the Grayson that unfortunately, Boss Zucco was one of those criminals who left very little solid evidence that could be traced to directly to him. He was regarded as a pillar of the community so there had to overwhelming evidence to get the police to investigate claims against him. Grayson's efforts would only make him a target for Boss Zucco's organization.

Batman agreed to train the boy to teach him the skills necessary to fight crime in general while he learned enough to gather evidence against Boss Zucco. Dick Grayson became more than a mere student, he became his partner and eventually his adopted son. Gotham’s Dynamic Duo was born with the first outing of Batman and Robin.

Boss Zucco was eventually exposed and incriminated and died in the electric chair.

Dick Grayson adopted the nom de guerre Robin. In accord with his circus tradition he chose a costume that was colorful and bright which made a perfect counterpoint to Batman's dark outfit.  The colorful costume made Robin's opponents underestimate his abilities. Robin battled crooks and their henchmen with a cheery brashness that was in part because he was a child and in part of his heritage.

Batman and Robin encountered The Catwoman:a shapely blond jewel thief infatuated with Batman. Selina Kyle was in fact Khefretari, a Coptic-African from the lost city of Menmon, one of surviving relics of Ancient Egypt in the world.

A lot had happened in years between when Bruce Wayne and Khefretari had parted company. He had acquired a wife and a partner and she was no longer Regent of Memnon, her brother having returned from being educated abroad and having achieved suitable age to assume the duties of Pharaoh. He had charged her to retrieve all of the artifacts stolen from Memnon. Since for the most part secret lost cities from Ancient Egypt do not usually have foreign embassies or diplomatic relations, Khefretari was forced to become a thief for most of these artifacts were held for by museums, private collectors and universities. If she could barter for one she would but she was not above stealing to get the artifacts back.

She adopted Selina Kyle, a name to better fit in with the western world but even so her ethnicity and skin color were still remained barriers. It was because she was African she was often denied access to the offices or boardrooms of the institutions that held the artifacts. She later learned to disguise herself using make-up to appear as a dark skinned Caucasian or Latin. It is because of her ethnicity that even while gathering together a "gang”, that is hiring professional thieves to partake in robberies, she would wear a full mask shaped like a cat's head and full gloves equipped with claws. She did often have pet cats which was not unusual given her Egyptian background. She also rescued big cats that were being abused when she heard about them, using funds to have them relocated to zoos or returned to their natural environments.

As long as she stole objects that had belonged to Memnon, Batman looked the other way but when she stole objects to be used as barter to acquire other pieces he felt compelled to stop her. He underestimated her willingness to fight back against him and was caught in a net. While he was entangled she kissed him. A powerful and undeniable attraction still existed between them.

Although nothing happened between Bruce and Selina, the rumors of a romance between Batman and The Catwoman did cause a strain on his marriage.

### **The War Years: 1941-1942**

Batman like many Heroes joined the War effort alongside Robin, Superman and Wonder Woman as a member of the Justice Society, which later along with other mystery men (now being called superheroes) groups combined briefly into the All-Star Squadron. Batman often organized military strategies and appeared in propaganda. For his own safety, he often kept Robin out of certain missions. Batman concentrated his attention on saboteurs or on home front war profiteers. A few times he was sent to  as a freelance operative working for the

Super Crime in Gotham did not disappear. Batman and Robin encountered the frightening Jonathan Crane, also known as The Scarecrow. He had developed a gas that would unleash a person's worst nightmares and used this to blackmail several prominent citizens. Jonathan Crane was a practicing Psychologist and a Professor of Psychology at Gotham University . He used his position to gain access to people's homes.

Then there was the Penguin. Oswald Cobblepot was a failed ornithologist. He had been kicked out of college because he had run a fencing operation out of his dormitory room. Although Oswald affected an English accent he was in fact from, near the environs of Innsmouth. Oswald was left an orphan after his father had disappeared in the Antarctic circa 1923 and had turned to crime to make ends meet. He was a short roly-poly man with flat broad feet almost flipper like, his hands were also malformed, his fingers flat and spatulate having a slight webbing between them. Because of his waddling walk, his flipper like fingers and his high pitched croaking voice children had called him the Penguin.

He turned the hated nickname into a named to be respected or at least feared in the criminal world. Oswald dressed as a man of substance wearing a tuxedo, top hat, cane or umbrella.  Although mainly a fence, Oswald did plan and execute some very elaborate heists. He was known for not using deadly force unless absolutely necessary to achieve the objective. He however did not refrain from using deadly force against those who tried to double deal or short shrift him.

### **1942: The Liberty File**

Harvey Dent, Gotham City's handsome young District Attorney was disfigured when mobster Sal Maroni threw acid in his face during his trial, scarring half his face. Driven insane by his reflection, he renamed himself Two-Face and went on a crime spree, deciding with a flip of his lucky coin whether to break the law or perform acts of charity. Batman and Robin eventually captured him, and he would eventually be rehabilitated thanks to plastic surgery.

In Egypt, 1942, Batman(referred to in the army as "the Bat") had been ordered to work with two new partners, the Clock (a.k.a. Hourman) and the Owl (a.k.a. Doctor Mid-Nite), as a group codenamed the Unholy Three. Their mission was to find the Joker, who was working as a smuggler who had stolen information about an unidentified German secret weapon. They were in a race with the Germans, who were also looking for Joker to recover the plans. They succeeded and discovered the German weapon was an "Übermensch".

The Owl, injured in the previous mission, was recovering in a hospital when he was killed by an enemy agent. "The Bat" and the Clock were sent to Switzerland to meet an agent who had information about the German Superman and to rendezvous with Terry Sloane, a former field agent and superhero codenamed Mister Terrific. Gotham Villian, the Scarecrow, now working as a German agent, pursued them and killed the agents' Swiss contact. In a struggle with Scarecrow, Sloane's fiancée was killed. Sloane resumed his Mister Terrific identity and helped the Bat and the Clock pursue and kill the Scarecrow. They found out that the Ubermensch, accompanied by Hynkel and other Nazi leaders, had traveled to Egypt to spearhead a German military offensive.

The Bat arrived in Egypt just as the attack was about to begin. He confronted the "Ubermensch", who was defeated when the Allies deployed their own super soldier: Superman.

In 1943, Batman and Robin returned to Gotham to battle a Sabotage ring, acting as agents of the Government. They tracked down the Japanese leader of the Ring, Dr.Tito Daka, who was killed by his own crocodile filled trap door(*1943 Batman Serial*). The Dynamic Duo were introduced to Alfred Beagle, originally a chubby and somewhat incompetent detective, who would often accidentally catch criminals. As he began working with Batman to destroy the crime ring, he would begin to slim himself down, and serve the Waynes, sometimes being confused with Alfred Pennyworth.

During the 1943-45 period, Batman was working with likes of Blackhawk, the Unknown Soldier and Sgt. Rock.

Towards the end of the war, Batman and Robin worked with Captain America and Bucky Barnes against the Joker and the Nazi, The Red Skull. Robin and Bucky formed a friendship. Their mission was to prevent the Nazis from discovering the Atom Bomb and destroying major US Cities. the mission was a success but Captain America was frozen in ice and Bucky presumably killed. The Joker was also seemingly killed in the Nuclear blast but in reality, he survived and was taken to a Russian Gulag(*Batman/Captain America*).

### **The Post War Years:1945-1949**

After the War, public perception turned against superheroes during the Thingmaker administration, which was the beginning of the Red Scare. Batman was one of the few Heroes who remained active, acting as a Vigilante.

Julie Madison's film career as Portia Storm was slowing down in the mid-forties it was this reason and the appearances of these costumed temptresses that caused her to put her film career on hold and become more of a homebody, playing the role of a socialite's wife.

In 1947, For the next two years Batman and Robin fought a variety of menaces to Gotham and Metropolis. Batman defeated a plan from Two Face and the minor villain called the Penny plunderer where they tried to kill him and Robin by strapping them to a giant Penny with the idea that the person on the side that falls will die but the person on the Side up will have their bones crushed, paralyzed forever. Fortunately Batman stole Two Face's quarter and used it to cut the ropes, freeing himself and Robin. They were allowed to keep the Penny.

The friendship between Bruce Wayne and Clark had solidified as the two married couples found it easier to relate to one another because of their shared secrets. Dick Grayson was also considered a part of this extended family. Julie Madison confided in Lois that she was less than enthralled that Bruce had continued his extracurricular activities. Julie found her home life a bit stultifying. Julie had thought that their life together would have been more exciting, with more travel to exotic locales. Lois urged Julie to discuss these problems with Bruce but Julie believed it would be too distracting for Bruce and in his line of work distraction could have meant death.

In 1948, with the war over, Batman was now fully fighting criminals in Gotham City. He had briefly worked with Hourman and Mister Terrific, but Sloane blamed him for his fiancée's death and said he couldn't work with him. Hourman also retired to his civilian identity of Rex Tyler and returned to running his company.

Batman and the Hourman were re-activated as government agents when former KGB agent and Russian Superhero Stalnoivolk, was working for an unknown employer. He was killing superheroes and seeking a plan called the Trigger. The Bat and Hourman met up with Superman, who was placed in charge of the group.The group pursued Stalnoivolk. They fought and defeated the Villain. However, Hourman discovered that the Kryptonain criminal Zod had replaced Superman while trapping the true hero in the Phantom Zone and a Battle ensued with Batman taking a serum to grant him Kryptonian powers, and defeating Zod then freeing Superman.

In 1949, Batman and Robin took down the criminal known as the Wizard(*1949 Serial Batman and Robin*). After helping Superman rescue Lois Lane from the Joker and Lex Luthor, The Batman returned to solo crimefighting as Dick Grayson left for College, and eventually law school. Kathy Webb married Nathan Kane.

With Dick out of the house, Julie Madison had hoped that Bruce and she would spend more time together. They did so at first. As if inspired by the birth of Lois Lane's child in late 1949, Julie Madison Wayne conceived.

### **1950s**

Bruce Wayne jr. was born in mid 1950. Although Julie was a devoted and loving mother she suffered from a severe case of post partum depression, which lead to larger problems in the marriage. She blamed Bruce for giving up her career as an actress. Julie felt stifled in her marriage. Julie was also quite jealous when Bruce became depressed at the news that Selina Kyle had voluntarily surrendered to the police. Because of her forthcoming confession and pleading of no contest to most of the charges arraigned against her, Selina Kyle was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

In 1951, Julie Madison feeling increasingly suffocated as a socialite wife and as a mother, began a career in modeling over Bruce Wayne's objections. After a year of this exposure, she once again began receiving film offers and she revived her career as Portia Storm. Despite her beauty and charm, Julie Madison was not a talented actress and most of her work was confined to b-movie roles. However she enjoyed her new freedom and filed for divorce from Bruce Wayne in 1952. Bruce retained primary custody of Bruce Jr. at the mother's request. As Batman, Bruce faced the problem of the government beginning to turn against Superheroes and Masked vigilantes, forcing Batman to operate in secret.

Bruce and Alfred Pennyworth raised Bruce with some input from Julie; there was however a female presence in Wayne Manor provided by Dick Grayson's elderly great-aunt Harriet who had fallen on bad times. Bruce invited her to stay at Wayne Manor until she could get on her feet, fully expecting her to live out the rest of her life there.

Attempting to take advantage of Bruce's emotional state upon the break up of his marriage, an international master criminal began a plan to recruit Batman into his organization, believing that his intellect, tenacity and physical prowess made him a prime candidate to perhaps even one day lead the organization.

The international criminal was from the East, a man who was said to possess the secrets of immortality, a man of corruption and honor, a master manipulator whose plans always seem to be undone by the lesser intelligent. A man bent on world conquest but was willing to achieve his goal slowly and methodically. He was a man who thought nothing of using a combination of drugs and hypnosis to make his daughter fall madly in love with a man she had never met. This master villain was Ra's Al Ghul, The Lord of the Demons. Ras Al Ghul had begun manipulating events shortly after the separation of Julie Madison and Bruce Wayne.

In 1952, the Joker obtained money form a dead mobster named King Barlowe. the money turned out to be fake and part of an elaborate plan for revenge from the late Barlowe, placing Joker in financial trouble when the money was revealed to be fake.

Bruce's adventures as Batman began to take him farther from Gotham city, albeit reluctantly. He visited Spain, the American Mid-West and Southwest,South America and Asia. All while combatting Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Assassins. From 1953 to 1955 Ras Al Ghul tried to bring Batman into his organization, wishing him become his heir and aid in Ras Al Ghul plans rather than attempting to thwart them.

Bruce began to drift towards his first love and perhaps his true love, Selina Kyle. He began to correspond with her during her prison stay. Selina told Bruce that the reason she had voluntarily surrendered to the police for her thefts was because she loved him. She knew that she would never be fully respected by Bruce Wayne unless she atoned for her crimes. Since she had finished retrieving the objects stolen from her homeland by the relic hunter Dent she needed to end her career. Even though at the time she had gone to prison it had seemed even less likely that she and Bruce would ever be together.

When Selina Kyle was released from prison in 1955, Bruce Wayne was there to greet her. He offered her a job as Chief of Security at Wayne Inc, feeling that her skills at breaking into buildings could be used to keep others out. Working in close proximity kindled a long burning passion and in a few months, Bruce Wayne shocked the world by marrying the ex-jewel thief Selina Kyle. The union was deemed even more shocking because of her ethnicity, which she no longer made any attempt to hide.

The marriage of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle caused a bit of a rift between Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne because in his eyes she was a convicted felon. Instead of returning to Wayne Manor, Dick Grayson stuck out on his own forming a law partnership with Horace Cranston, a relative of socialite Lamont Cranston. Still in 1955, Bruce married Selina Kyle.

In 1956, Batman helped Sergeant Rock track down what appeared to be a sighting of Hitler in South America(actually one of the many Hitler clones being created In Brazil, one which became possessed by the Devil himself).Batman crossed paths with Batwoman, a former circus performer and Heiress who flirted with Batman, who did not returned her affection due to being married.

After the death of Nathan Kane of a stroke, Kathy Kane was approached by an organization named Spyral to learn Batman´s identity, but he discovered her identity first. She tried to cut ties with Spyral, and thus became the superheroine Batwoman.

Bruce Wayne continued to fight crime as a solo act during this tumultuous time, although he was training Bruce Wayne jr. to become the second Robin when he became old enough. Bruce sustained quite a few injuries from 1955 to 1961, although he had curtailed some but not all of his activities after his daughter Helena Wayne was born in 1957.

In 1958, a dying Silas Wayne visited Bruce, expressing his disgust at Bruce having seemingly accomplished nothing in his life and content to act the part of a playboy. As he died, Bruce revealed his identity as Batman, Silas told Bruce Wayne he was proud of him. Silas had been a Batman like hero in his past as well. he had beleived it was a Wayne but was not sure which one. He hoped to goad Bruce into revealing if it was him.

In 1959, Batman first encountered Bat-Mite. A 5th dimensional imp that was a huge fan of his. That same year, a group of aliens would abduct Bat-Mite and another imp, Mxyzptlk, in order to save their homeworld. Bat-Mite would not be seen again. Batman also encountered Mr.Freeze, then know as Mr.Zero. The Villain's origins would not be discovered until the 1990's. He survived for decades by entering periods of cryogenic sleep. Unknown to batman at this time, the Penguin, Oswald Cobblepot had married and produced a child he named Tucker. The child proved monstrous, even eating a cat, forcing his parents to keep the child in a kennel. Oswald sent Tucker up the river, where he was discovered by a group of Penguins escaped from an abandoned Zoo.

### **1960s**

In 1960, Batman began investigating the presence of the Centre and cults attributed to it approaching earth. Batman would join the Justice League in fighting off the Centre and other threats to the planet. Batman was a founding member of the Justice League from 1960 to 1961 alongside Superman (Clark Kent), Batman (Bruce Wayne), Wonder Woman (Diana Prince), Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), and Martian Manhunter (John Johnzz).

In 1961, Bruce Wayne decided to end his career as Batman. He made an effort to reconcile with Dick, which turned out to be much easier than he thought it would be. Marriage, fatherhood and the birth of an adoptive sister had changed Dick's mind about Bruce's marriage to Selina Kyle. Bruce informed Dick that he was going to hang up the cowl, he was just too old and beat up to function as a costumed vigilante anymore. He wanted Dick to become the next Batman.

Bruce Wayne moved into the public arena, he had, despite knowing of the man's flaws, helped get John F. Kennedy elected. He believed that the other guy was an even worse choice for the country. While it was true that Kennedy had ties to the mafia of Michael Corleone, he was showing initiative to attack the Mafia once he was President and this won Wayne's support. Because of his business acumen and his wide knowledge on a variety on subjects, Bruce Wayne was asked to participate in several committees on civil rights, education, technological progress and finance. He became a good friend of the young politician from Boston. Being related and having served as a War time advisor to President Stephen Wayne, a fondly remembered Democratic president, also helped him.

Dick became the second Batman in late 1961. Kathy Kane, still acting as Batwoman, was joined by her niece Bette Kane as Batgirl I, whom Richard Grayson reluctantly accepted as a sidekick. Bruce Wayne Jr. also joined the action as the second Robin in 1962. From the beginning, Bruce Wayne Jr, showed an attraction to Bette Kane.

Batman II and Robin II fought several old foes such as the return of the Riddler and the Penguin. There were new villains as well, some like Egghead, King Tut, Shame and Bookworm did not last. Others used the moniker of former Villains but were new faces.

While it was unknown at the time, but the Joker had discovered a specialized Venom that caused insanity, one's hair to turn green, the skin to turn white and a smile like red blemish to appear over the mouth. Joker created this specialized "Joker Venom" when he deduced the new Batman was not the same as the older and wanted to continue to antagonize his old foe. He tested the first Joker Venom on a Spanish American man named Tony Rico. The resulting Joker was deemed a "Failure" as he, while a criminal mastermind, was a harmless prankster. There was also a new Catwoman, later discovered to be Soviet Journalist Kitayna Ireyna Tatanya Kerenska Alisoff, and two other women also using the identity in tandem. Another relatively new villain was Mr. Hyde also known as Blockbuster.

In 1963, Captain America was found and thawed out. He would reunite with both Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. When Kennedy was assassinated, Bruce Wayne attempted to get to Dallas to find the assassin. His investigation into the assassination was roadblocked at every turn. He became convinced that the all his years of going after the small time criminals had been a waste when there were much bigger and deadlier criminals still at large. A lone vigilante could not touch those crooks so ensconced in the web of power and prestige. Bruce Wayne resolved to find a way to go after those criminals who thought they were protected because of their position and rank in society. Bruce was going to fight crime in a different manner. He threw his hat in the ring and ran as an independent for Police Commissioner post. He withstood a smear campaign but realized two Batmen were needed and would devote himself to the Actions of the Justice League while Dick Grayson acted as Batman In Gotham. The role of Police Commissioner instead was taken by James Gordon once again in his second term. The first term being from 1937 to 1945.

In 1964, Bruce Wayne Jr as Robin joined forces with Kid Flash(Wally West), Aqualad(Garth), Wonder Girl(Donna Troy), and "Speedy"(Who, unknown to the others at the time, was a clone of Roy Harper created by Lex Luthor in order to infiltrate the Justice League). Donna Troy was not present at the first meeting, but the others came together to battle the Villain Mister Twister. Bruce Wayne Jr also began going out on missions with Supergirl(Lara Kent) with the two growing closer as time went on. While his own father was a large inspiration for his superhero career, Bruce Wayne Jr was also a huge fan of *The Gray Ghost* Television Series, which was based on the exploits of the Shadow.

In 1966, Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne Jr had many odd adventures, including stopping an International Crisis caused by Joker II, Penguin, Riddler and Catwoman II. The Same Villains hijacked a Space Station and briefly turned Batman evil before he was restored. One of these adventures led to the accidental return of Two Face when an experimental machine intended to split good and evil, built by Hugo Strange and funded by Dent, hit Harvey, in a manner restoring Two Face, who now held similar features to Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, often shifting between the two personas. He would once more be incarcerated.

Defying her parents wishes that she become involved in the family's secret business and having discovered the family secret when she was quite young, Helena Wayne wanted to practice and train with her older brother. Bruce and Selina hoped by allowing her to train with the incipient Robin, that Helena's desire to become a costumed vigilante would be tempered by the extreme amount of hard work and study that they insisted upon. She was her parents' child however and excelled at both. They finally agreed that she could become the new Bat-Girl when she became twelve.

In 1967, the teenage daughter of James Gordon Jr, Barbara Gordon, named after her late grandmother, was working as a Librarian. She was invited to a masquerade ball at Wayne Manor. When the Masquerade ball was robbed by the villain Killer Moth, Barbara, in a Batgirl costume, attacked and helped battle the Villain, forcing him to flee. Killer Moth joined forces with the arsonist Villain Firefly but both were defeated by Batman, Robin and the disguised Barbara. Inspired by Batman and Robin, Barbara took up the mantle of Batgirl II. The Dynamic Trio continued to fight crime. Sadly, just as Batman and Robin gained an ally, they would also lose one. Alfred Pennyworth passed away that year. Alfred Beagle took over the role of Butler to the Waynes. Bruce Wayne would begin to see Alfred Pennyworth as a ghost.

In 1969, Bruce Wayne Jr and Dick Grayson met Mystery Inc

The original Joker was in Prison, at least it seemed. While investigating a case that seemed to point to Joker II as the suspect, Bruce Wayne Jr was called to the Prison. The Joker was gone. Bruce Wayne Jr tracked him and discovered the Joker had purchased and rigged a building, spending most of his long absence establishing a complex trap to kill Batman. When Batman II entered the building, he found Joker II dead. His purpose fulfilled. The Original Joker had lured Batman II there and used Joker II to trick Batman into letting his guard down. He subjected him to a trap door filled with razor blades laced with a hallucinogenic drug and then fell into a large pie. Two machine gun turrets emerged and opened fire. The Joker was arrested by arriving police, madly claiming he had killed Batman. Batman seemingly emerged holding Robin in his arms and proclaiming somberly "No....He killed Robin".

From that moment on Bruce Wayne Jr acted as Batman III. Dick Grayson was buried in the original Robin costume. Grayson had only one living relative: Aunt Harriet, who passed away earlier that year. Bruce Jr cancelled his plans to fight in the Vietnam war alongside Joel Kent to become Batman.

Bruce Wayne Jr, and Joel Kent became a Superhero team, dubbed the Super Sons. Since Joel Kent was clearly a different Superman, many concluded the same might have been true of Batman as well. They media referred to Batman III as Batman Jr and Joel Kent as Superman Jr.

### **1970s**

In 1970, Batman III first battled the mutated scientist known as Man-Bat. Helena Wayne became the newest Bat-Girl that same year. Her parents made her wait a full year past their original date as a punishment for attempting to engage in solo crimefighting. Bruce Jr. put his activities as Batman III on hold to go to Harvard to get a degree in finance, although he found himself being involved in cases that took him all over the world. It fell on Bat-Girl III(Helena Wayne), Batwoman(Barbara Gordon) and other costumed vigilantes to take up the slack. In one celebrated case Batwoman and Bat-Girl defeated one of the Joker's nefarious schemes involving the circus which saw the death of the retired original Batwoman Kathy Kane, who was the Circus owner.

Ra's Al Ghul also made some appearances during the career of the second Batman, although he continued to try and recruit Bruce Wayne into his organization.

Bruce Wayne was asked by President Nixon to become the new Director of SHIELD. Nixon was impressed with Bruce's conviction rate and his tough stance on crime. Bruce Wayne accepted the assignment. This position also gave him a chance to work closely with his friend Steve Rogers again. It also allowed Bruce to help train and guide young talent. Mainly he took the position because this government post would allow him investigate and exact justice on those criminals that had been previously untouchable because of their power, prestige or ability to cover their tracks. Bruce Wayne acquired an ability of working behind the scenes and coordinating events so that justice would often come about in the most unusual ways.

In 1974, In the wake of the Watergate Scandal(Which Bruce Wayne may have helped expose or at least allowed to happen), Steve Rogers took a leave of absence as Captain America. It was Bruce who suggested that Joel Kent be tapped to fill in during Steve's absence.

In 1975, Batman III was called to Arkham Asylum, where the Joker has been acting strangely. Surveillance tapes revealed that the Joker was being haunted by the ghost of Dick Grayson. With the help of Doctor Occult, Deadman, and the ghost of Alfred Pennyworth, Grayson's spirit was convinced not to murder the Joker and went into the light with Alfred. Bruce Wayne, in his Batman costume, visited the dying Joker, whose last request was to know the Batman's identity. Batman replied that, with all the pain that the Joker had caused, he deserved nothing, and left. Unseen by Batman, the League of Assassins abducted Joker and exposed him to the Lazarus Pit. He would then be released back into the world with the intend that he would cause as much chaos as possible but he would strangely wait ten years to make his move, possibly coping with the insanity from the Lazarus Pit which took time to wear off, or perhaps the Joker wanted his comeback to be memorable and spent years planning it. Dick Grayson's spirit would return to replace Boston Brand as Deadman II.

Between 1977 and 1979, the Batman family was struck with series of tragedies that were orchestrated by Talia Al Ghul, the daughter of Ra's al Ghul as per her father's instructions. Ra's Al Ghul had tired of attempting to recruit Bruce Wayne and so decided to demonstrate his ability to inflict upon them wounds that would never heal.

In mid-1977 an old henchman of Talia's, now a minor crime boss in Gotham contacted Selina Wayne. He had photographic proof that several years past during her criminal career, Selina had killed a police officer using her claws. He would give her the evidence if she would steal a particular piece of jewelry for him. He wanted The Green Dragon. If she did not cooperate the picture would end up in the hands of the newspapers and the police. He had sent her a copy of the photo and it looked genuine although she knew it to be a fake. Still the scandal could have hurt the family.

Selina Wayne broke into the Asian Antiquities house where the Green Dragon was on display. She removed it from its case and climbed onto the roof where she met the criminal. She took the negatives and handed him the Green Dragon. Batman III arrived on the scene in time for him to see Selina Wayne running towards the edge of the roof. A man looked inside the bag and threw it down with a curse. He yanked out a gun and began firing at Selina. She was hit in the shoulder and leg just as she was reaching for her catapult line. The impact of the bullets threw her off balance and off of the room.

Bruce hurried to where Selina lay dying in the street. She gasped out the story to Bruce as her breath faded. The crook had gotten away.

Helena Wayne was currently attending college and was not patrolling as Bat-Girl as much as she had before. She however usually listened to emergency band broadcasts while doing her schoolwork. Hearing about the appearance of the Catwoman she decided to investigate. She arrived a few minutes just as Selina was about to die. When Helena returned to her home, she put away her Bat-Girl costume. She no longer felt like being the devil may care figure that Bat-Girl had been. She designed a new costume that was a blend of her parents and called herself The Huntress. Her first mission had been to track down and bring to justice to her mother's killer. The Huntress was not averse to causing those who resisted her arrests pain, especially when they were the type of criminals she considered insidious.

Helena continued with her career as the Huntress through college. She also attended law school but did not have time to adventure too much during that period. She resumed her career as the Huntress after law school when she joined the firm of Nelson and Murdock as a junior partner. Murdock revealed his identity as the vigilante Daredevil, knowing he could trust Helena as he could tell when someone was lying. Murdock's Catholic faith must have rubbed off on Helena as she modified her costume with religious imagery, including a Cross.

In 1978, one of the Joker's oddest cases occurred in which the Joker returned and attempted to patent "Jokerized fish". He would kill Lawyers who told him he could not patent fish.

In 1979, Batman III and Supergirl II(Lara Kent) planned to marry. Bruce and Lara's wedding is disrupted by Joel Kent, who was exposed to Black Kryptonite by the supervillain Ultra Humanite(Black Kryptonite is said to turn Kryptonians evil, but it actually appears to force them into a Murderous rampage, making them a threat to anyone they come into contact with) Joel killed Lara. This destroyed the friendship between Bruce Wayne Jr and Joel Kent. Who never forgave Joel event though he was under the effects of Black Kryptonite.

A 70-year-old Bruce Wayne, on the trail of Ra's al Ghul, was captured by agents of the criminal mastermind. Wayne entered a Lazarus Pit with Ra's al Ghul after Ra's discovered that, if two people entered the Pit, one would perish while the other would survive with permanent immortality and none of the accompanying madness. Wayne survived and discovered that Ra's was correct. He then began to take control of Ra's criminal Empire. Wayne began to turn al Ghul's criminal empire into a force for good, working so subtly that everyone assumed his actions were a front for a criminal scheme without realizing that the 'front' had become the real organization. He then attempted to revive Dick Grayson in the Lazarus Pit and succeeded, with the adverse side effect of restoring Dick Grayson's youth, allowing him to become Robin again. As a Consequence, Dick Grayson could not use the Lazarus Pit again. Bruce Wayne wished to return to Gotham and placed Bruce Wayne Jr as the organization's head while also placing an impressive engineer named Lucius Fox as the head of Wayne Industries. Fox would serve Wayne Industries and the Batman for decades to come, even designing new much more advanced technology.

### **1980:** **The New Teen Titans**

    The revived Dick Grayson, searching for purpose, became involved with a group of teenage superheroes that came together at first to battle the Alien Gordanians, rescuing the Tamaranian Princess Koriand'r, who became the team member Starfire and the restored Dick Grayson's love interest. Other members included Victor Stone(Cyborg), Raven(Rachel Roth) and Garfield Logan also known as Beast Boy. Logan was actually older than he looked, having made his Superhero debut in 1965, but his mutation seemed to have affected his mental and physical maturity and so he acted like a teenager. Wally West and Donna Tory declined membership or roles as mentors. Keeping the team as Teenagers. Wayne funded the creation of Titans Tower, a base of operations for the team built by Victor Stone's father Silas Stone.

As the Teen Titans were formed and operated in Jump City. In Gotham, a new Joker resurfaced in 1981, a mentally ill failed comedian named Arthur Fleck murdered talk show host Murray Franklin during a live broadcast and insighted a riot that led to the deaths of Willis and Catherine Todd, leaving their son Jason an orphan. Jason was not aware at the time that his true birth mother was Sheila Haywood.

The Teen Titans fought many foes including the Supervillain Organization H.I.V.E., who also hired the assassin Deathstroke to take down the Titans. Deathstroke took a slow approach to this, first attempting to force Dick Grayson into becoming his apprentice, and then enacting the infamous Judas Contract, in which the sadistic Teenage Earthbender Terra infiltrated the team with the intent to corrupt it from the inside, leading to a battle that ended in her death. During this case, Dick Grayson first wore his new identity of Knightwing. He had felt uncomfortable being Robin again and felt the costume of Knightwing suited him more. The identity was based on tales of a Kryptonain Superhero which Grayson had first become aware of while talking to Superman.

The Titans also fought the Cult of Brother Blood, and the Villain Organization known as the Brotherhood. By far the largest threat faced by the Team, was Raven's own father, the Demon Trigon, who briefly turned the world into a Hellscape. Raven protected the Titans, allowing them to help kill Trigon and restore the world.

Another tragedy of the Batman family came in 1982 when Bruce Wayne and the full force of the League of Assassins came into conflict with an old Villain, the Yellow Claw. The Chinese Government requested The League kill the Yellow Claw, dubbing him a racist caricature of an old ideal they wished to destroy. The destruction seemed to take out the League as well las the remnants of Yellow Claw's organization, an offshoot of the Si-Fan. Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham and being Batman to take his mind off the seeming death of Talia Al Ghul and the seeming end of the organization. Bruce Wayne Jr elected to resign and make way for the return of the original, he had by this point married Bette Kane and could retire.

In 1983, Batman returned from a patrol sweep to find a youth attempting to steal the hubcaps of the Batmobile with a crowbar. When caught he did not fling the crowbar at Batman but calmly continued with his attempted theft. When Batman asked what he was thought he was doing, the boy said that Batman could easily replace the hubcaps but these unique items would help him and his guardian to eat for a month or so. The hubcaps were however magnetically locked in place and it was virtually impossible for them to be removed. After a few more minutes of trying to get them off, the boy flung his crowbar down in disgust. Batman offered to give him a ride home. The youth said it was the least he could do. Batman subtly inquired as to the boy’s name and circumstances. Jason Todd lived with his guardian in an old broken down apartment. Although the boy was reticent, Batman made discreet inquiries about him. Jason Todd’s parents were killed in the Joker Riot of 1981. His grandfather had been Mark Todd. Jason defended his sickly guardian from various predatory gangs and often had to steal to get additional money for food or medicines. Todd would become the Third Robin. On another outing, Batman was injured in battle with the new Villain Killer Croc and would hav been killed if Harvey Bullock hadn't saved him, this spurred the thoughts he had at the time that he couldn't be Batman anymore and that he really should have retired. With this in mind, Bruce Wayne devoted himself to the formation of a team of young heroes called the Outsiders, consisting of Geo-Force, Katana, Halo, Looker, Black Lightning and Metamorpho.

### **1985: Death in the Family**

Bruce Wayne started to realize he was getting old, or rather the Lazarus Pit effects were wearing off. Instances such as a near death at the hands of new Villain Killer Croc almost killed him. Wayne feared Jason Todd's ruthlessness in combat, especially after a near fatal encounter with Poison Ivy, which convinced Ivy to retire, though she left a plant duplicate behind to continue her crime sprees. Wayne forbade Todd from active duty. Returning home, Todd went through his things and found a birth certificate where his mother's name was not the one he knew, but it had been water damaged and the name only had the first letter "C" shown. He set out to find his birth mothers and tracked her to Qumar.

Talia Al Ghul recruited the Joker III(Arthur Fleck) in a scheme against Batman. The plan was for the Joker to lure the dynamic duo into a trap and blow them to smithereens, no elaborate death traps, no possibility of escape. Simple effective elimination. The Joker had discovered the identity of Robin through sheer accident after following him, although the Joker refused to share that knowledge with anyone. The Joker used Robin’s mother to lure Robin into a death trap. This Robin was more violent and more impulsive than his predecessors and so fell for the trap. The Joker captured Robin and brutally beat him. This was all televised for the Joker had taken over a television studio in Ishmaelia and made it into a twisted parody of the Murray Franklin show.

He tied up Robin and his mother and had explosives set around them. The Joker then held a telethon whichever victim received the most contributions would not be blown up. When Batman arrived as the Joker knew he would, the Joker informed him that there were dead man switches on Robin and his mother so if Batman made an attempt to capture Joker or rescue Robin, they would be set off. He further informed Batman that his arrival had triggered a timer of one hour, which would set off Robin and his mother’s explosives. To make it more interesting, the Joker had set up four places where joker gas would released in fifteen minute intervals in sequential order. So that no one else could interfere in this game the joker gas would be triggered if anyone but Batman tried to disable the devices.

Robin won the telethon as more people called in to save the young hero rather than the unknown middle-aged woman, although the margin was not as great as the Joker had thought it would be. The Joker dramatically stopped the countdown on the explosives next to Robin but let the count down on Robin’s mother continue. Robin had regained consciousness and found a way to free himself of his bonds. He used all his remaining strength to leap across the stage and knock the explosives away from his mother. She was shielding from the brunt of the explosion by Robin’s body. Robin was savaged by the explosives and died of trauma shortly after his mother. The Joker had wanted Robin to see his mother die and then kill him when Batman returned. Then kill Batman. Batman eluded the Joker’s men and fought the Joker. This Joker was not a physical match for Batman. Batman threw the Joker down on the spot where Robin had been bound and began to savagely beat the Joker. Batman might have killed him if the Joker had not released the dead man’s switch in his hands. Batman had been close to the explosives when they went off. He was protected by his suit but still badly injured. The Joker escaped and Batman tracked him to the nation of Syraq where Ayotollah Khomeini granted him amnesty. Joker had been given an Atomic Bomb by the League of Assassins but had gone against their plan and intended to sell it. Khomeini was interested and also feared the presence of Batman in the area meant more American Superhero interference. He made the Joker an ambassador, granting him diplomatic immunity. It fell on Superman's shoulders to tell Batman. Batman lashed out at Superman in anger, breaking his knuckles. The Joker's diplomatic immunity lasted until he tried to unleash laughing gas on the United World Organization. Fortunately Superman was there and quickly removed the laughing gas, while he did so Joker ran and attempted to escape by plane. The plane crashed in battle with Batman. Fleck's body was not found .

Bruce Wayne decided to finally retire to Wayne Manor with Alfred Beagle. He decided to fake Batman's death as well. The original Joker, upon learning of Batman's "retirement", entered a catatonic state. Bruce Wayne Jr returned to active duty as Batman until the Crisis on Infinite Earths occurred from 1985 to 1986. Bruce Wayne Jr was directly involved in these events and was reported missing but survived and spent time being healed by Talia Al Ghul, learning of her survival in the process.

### **1986: The Dark Knight Returns**

With Gotham City in chaos in the absence of a Batman and the Crisis on Infinite Earths, several gangs began to rise including The Mutants. This spurned Bruce Wayne into returning to the role of Batman. He battled Harvey Dent when he relapsed into his old ways.The Mutant Leader challenged Batman to a fight.

Batman accepted the challenge probably because he believed that if he cut the head off the body would fall apart. a young girl in a Robin Costume named Carrie Kelly saw Batman arrive at the challenge site in the modified Batmobile, which looked more like a tank than an automobile. The mutant leader was freakish looking with overly bulked up muscles all over his body and mouth full of needle like fangs. Batman and the overly muscled Mutant leader fought man to man and the battle seemed evenly matched so far as strength was concerned however in terms of martial skill Batman scored much higher than the Mutant leader, but his age slowed him down and Batman went down under the large numbers and even his improved bat armor was soon broken and pierced.

Kelly ran to the Batmobile and tried to get inside. It was locked and she could not get inside. She jumped into the thick of the fight and uncovered Batman. She carried him to the Batmobile. Batman was conscious enough to give the vocal commands to unlock the Batmobile. Lana carried him inside. Batman gave the command and the Batmobile started up. Batman told Kelly to follow the onboard map all she had to do was to steer and brake.

Once at the Batcave, Alfred began immediate first aid.  Over the next few days the Mutant leader was boasting that he had defeated the Batman, even as he had been arrested. With Commissioner Gordon's help, Batman challenged the Mutant Leader to a fight and this time savagely beat him. The original Joker heard of the return of Batman on television and finally smiled.

By the end of 1986, Commissioner Gordon had been fired from his job by the Mayor and was replaced by Commissioner Ellen Yindel. This new Commissioner would focus on street crime that terrorized the citizenry and would tolerate no blatant outlawry such as vigilantism. The new Commissioner served noticed to all costumed vigilantes that if caught, they would be charged with all suitable crimes.

Having learned that the Joker would be the subject of Late Night with Dave Endochrine, the Police Commissioner had the building surrounded once the show had started. Batman and Robin had to fight through a cordon of heavily armed and armored police officers who seemed more intent on stopping and capturing Batman than the Joker. The police delayed Batman and Robin long enough for Dr. Wolper to introduce his special guest, the Joker whom he had been treating privately. Dr. Wolper was ready to stake his reputation that the Joker was ready to be returned to society as a useful citizen. The Joker told Dave Endochrine he was grateful to Dr. Wolper for having cured him. He then announced his intentions to kill everyone in the room and had robotic dolls enter spraying Laughing gas.

While the Joker escaped, Batman and Robin chased him to the Pier. With Batman pursuing him into the Tunnel of Love, while Robin fought Joker's henchman Abner on a roller coaster which ended in Abner's accidental death. Batman brutally broke the joker's neck in front of several witnesses before they fled. The Joker, realizing Batman would be blamed for it, broke his own neck to frame him. As a SWAT Team arrived, Batman was forced to cause a distraction by setting the Joker's corpse on fire. Commissioner Yindel subsequently charged Batman with murder.

World War III broke out with nukes flying. In the aftermath, the Reagan administration was no more and Superman had been nearly killed by an atomic explosion. Batman took control of the former Mutant gang and restored order to Gotham. Gotham City was now the safest city in the US. Enraged, the new President Ackerman sent Superman to apprehend Batman.

Batman recruited Oliver Queen and prepared a Kryptonite Arrow. The battle between the two heroes was intense. Batman was gaining the upper hand but then suffered a heart attack and seemingly died. Acting on a previously discussed plan, Alfred Beagle destroyed Wayne Manor and subsequently suffered a stroke and died.

At Bruce Wayne's funeral, Superman gave Bruce Wayne his silent approval to continue his crusade in secret. In December of 1986, Bruce Jr returned to the U.S. from his League of Assassins leadership to put his father's affairs in order. He was reunited with Andrea Beaumont, his childhood friend, when the two hit it off at a high society Christmas party. The two entered a whirlwind romance and Bruce Jr considered giving up his crusade in favor of his life with Andrea, even talking to his parent's grave thinking Bruce Wayne to be dead at that point. Unbeknownst to Bruce Jr, Andrea’s father was a high ranking member of the mob.

### **1987: Son of the Demon**

On the eve of Bruce Wayne Jr’s proposal in April of 1987, Andrea was forced to flee the country due to her father's scheming of the mob. Bruce Jr would vanish to resume League of Assassins activities. He went on a journey to confront the terrorist Qayin, the League's biggest enemy at the time. He found himself working with Talia Al Ghul frequently. The two worked together to defeat Qayin, who had connections to Khan Noonien Singh. During this time, Talia Al Ghul became pregnant. However, during the campaign against Qayin. Bruce Wayne Jr refused to endanger himself due to being motivated by the fact that he was now a father. Talia faked a miscarriage and Bruce Wayne Jr returned to the role of Batman a darker man, bringing down Qayin and returning to Gotham. Talia then proceeded to raise the child in secret, naming him Ibn al Xu'ffasch or Damian Wayne.

Bruce Wayne Jr returned to Gotham and the role of Batman proper. This new Batman came into conflict first with the US Government as they believed this was simply a Batman imposter. The League of Assassins had removed all evidence of Bruce Wayne Jr's identity, providing him a new one that was also a Gotham Billionaire. The new Commissioner after Yindel was replaced following her failure to apprehend Batman, Commisioner Gillian B.Loeb, was under the corrupt thumb of the new crime boss Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, a relative of the Corleones. Fortunately Loeb would in 1989 be replaced with Commissioner Barney Kale, who was more supportive of Batman. Falcone sent detective Sarah Essen Gordon after Batman III, though the two realized they were on the same side. Once it was clear this new Batman was indeed competent, the US government sent Flash II(Wally West), Wonder Woman II(Stephanie Trevor), and Green Lantern(Hal Jordan) after him while Batman III was pursuing a villain called the Hyena, the daughter of Priscilla Rich and Henry "Hyena" Mortonson. Flash II created a brick wall in front of the Batmobile, causing it to crash. Batman III was able to subdue Flash II when he let his guard down. He then pursued Hyena but was interrupted by Wonder Woman II and Green Lantern. In the resulting battle, Batman III nearly killed Green Lantern, causing him to have a breakdown. He would then attempt to change his ways and return to his old Batman costume.

An old man infected with Joker Venom attacked the Daily Planet. He was arrested and then killed by the Supervillain Magog. Magog was then acquitted for murder. This indirectly led to the original Superman retiring.

### **1988: The Killing Joke**

Batman was not prepared for the appearance of another Joker. The original was dead. It appeared the Clown Prince of Crime had sired a child, which was nicknamed Joker Jr. Batman III defeated Joker Jr and sent him to prison, but he began to contemplate the feud between their fathers and didn't want it to repeat. Batman III went to have a talk with Joker Jr, but found him gone, having switched places with an imposter. The Joker bought a carnival and then murdered the owner.

The Joker knocked on the door of the Gordon home without any warning. Without preamble Barbara Gordon was shot through the abdomen severely damaging her spine. Telling vapid and unfunny jokes the Joker had her stripped and he took several pictures of her bleeding naked body with the intent of making it look like a rape which never took place. He then kidnapped the former Police Commissioner James Gordon Jr. As a parting gesture he tossed a grenade filled with joker gas through the front window.

A young boy named Tim Drake happened to catch the thrown grenade and tossed it back out the window, thinking it was a game. It landed on the front lawn and dissipated into the air. Fortunately the Joker was long gone, otherwise he would have returned to finish wiping out the Gordon family.

Batman tracked the down the Joker. After defeating his henchmen and engaging him in hand to hand combat Batman captured the Joker. Batman III offered Joker a chance to turn over a new leaf and for the two to help each other. Joker Jr refused and began to tells a joke about two inmates in a lunatic asylum who try to escape. One inmate jumped across a narrow gap between the asylum and the adjoining building, but the other was afraid he would fall. The first inmate offered to shine his flashlight across the gap so the other could walk across the beam of light, but the second inmate replied, "What do you think I am, crazy? You'd turn it off when I was halfway across!" Batman chuckled at the punchline, and the two foes laughed as the police arrived.

### **1989: A Lonely Place for Dying**

In need of a "Butler", Bruce Wayne Jr, put a coded ad in a newspaper. Former KGB spymaster Andrei "Nutski" Zorin answered the call. The job was simple for him. he would pretend to publicly be a Butler but in secret would aid Batman in his war on crime. He would also have to pretend to be British due to Cold War tensions.

Batman III briefly entered Arkham Asylum when the inmates took it over. He encountered Joker Jr, the third Clayface(Preston Payne), The Mad Hatter(Jervis Tetch), the second Scarecrow(Ebenezer Laughton), Maxie Zeus and Harvey Dent. the psychiatrists at Arkham had tried to cure Dent by giving him objects with more decisions such as Tarot Cards but this had broken him further. Batman was forced to make him flip the coin again to provide himself a chance to escape.

Batman III was on the trail of new crime lord Carl Grissom. Grissom discovered his mistress Alicia was having an affair with his second-in-command, Jack Napier. With the help of corrupt police lieutenant Eckhardt, Grissom engineered Napier's death in a raid at Ace Chemicals. However, Grissom's plan was foiled with the sudden arrival of Commissioner Barney Kale, who wanted Napier captured alive. In the ensuing shootout, Napier realized he was set up, and killed Eckhardt. Batman III arrived and, in a struggle, Napier was knocked into a vat of chemicals. Batman III escaped and Napier was presumed dead. Realizing his resemblance, he began to call himself the Joker and killed Grissom. Napier fell in love with reporter Summer Gleeson and frequently tormented her. He also unleashed a series of products drugged with Smilex, which caused people to laugh and then die with a rictus grin. Batman III discovered the products that had been tainted and delivered a list through Gleeson.

Joker lured a crowd to a parade where he intended to release Joker gas. Batman III severed the gas filled Balloons and they drifted harmlessly into the air. The Joker fired and shot don the Batmobile and then took Summer Gleeson hostage, taking her to the top of Gotham Cathedral. Batman III fought his way through Joker's henchman and then attack Joker himself. he attempted to escape via helicopter but Batman III used a rope to tie him to a stone gargoyle, causing the Joker to fall to his seeming death.

Jack Napier, perhaps due to his chemical exposure, suddenly snapped awake in the morgue. He then made his way to Arkham Asylum with the intent of killing Joker Jr, hoping to become the one true Joker. He likely intended to find and murder Arthur Fleck as well afterwards. Napier killed Joker, but the villain used an experimental chip to transfer his mind into Jack Napier. Creating one true Joker. In the aftermath, Commissioner Kale, reintroduced the Bat signal.

Batman III's next adventure was to track down Superman II, his old friend Joel Kent for the murder of the Ultra-Humanite, confronting him at the Fortress of Solitude at the behest of President Robert Kelly, who provided Batman III with a piece of Gold Kryptonite once given to President Nixon by Superman in case he himself went rogue. Joel Kent agreed to imprisonment in the Phantom Zone for five years.

Young Tim Drake used his intelligence to deduce the identities of the Batmen. Bruce Wayne's identity had been revealed following the battle with Superman in 1986. From that Tim, deduced the identities of the other Batmen and Robins quite easily, matching them up with Bruce Wayne's children. Tim approached Dick Grayson and wanted him to talk to Bruce Wayne Jr, noticing Batman was much more grim and needed someone to help him. Batman needed a Robin. Tim Drake unexpectedly proved himself perfect for the role and began training, though he had parents whom would worry about him. Helena Wayne infiltrated the Bertinelli crime family. As she infiltrated the group she fell in love with one of its members and even married, becoming Helen Bertinelli and remaining married even after the takedown. During a mission to take down the Penguin(Tucker Cobblepot), Batman recruited a mute Mechanic named Harold to work on the Batmobile.

### **1990: Under the Red Hood**

Bruce Wayne Jr and Dick Grayson tracked down and thwarted Black Mask from obtaining an Amazo android. The two encountered the vigilante Red Hood. Batman came to realize Red Hood was Jason Todd, and approached Bruce Wayne about this. An investigation led Batman to realize Jason Todd's submergence in the Lazarus Pit had worked and his body was gone. Todd then attempted to kill the Arthur Fleck Joker after tracking him down to Arkham Asylum and the criminal Black Mask but was thwarted by Bruce Wayne, before fleeing.

### **1992: The New Batman Adventures**

Tucker Cobblepot made his grand public appearance, organizing an event in which he saved the baby of Mayor Hamilton Hill. He then formed an alliance with Billionaire Max Shreck, whom had risen to effectively replace Bruce Wayne after his identity was made public in 1986. Shreck murdered his secretary, who was actually Elvira Hancock, former lover of mobster Tony Montana, living under an assumed identity after his death. A group of alley cats swarmed her lifeless body and she suddenly awoke, exhibiting strange behavior, possibly from a head injury and insanity. She donned the mantle of the third Catwoman and attempted to form an alliance with Tucker Cobblepot, who was running for Mayor. Cobblepot attempted to frame Batman, taking control of the Batmobile briefly. Batman III recorded Cobblepot insulting the people of Gotham and played it over public speakers during a Cobblepot rally, ruining his reputation. Cobblepot resorted to his next plan of abducting the children fo Gotham's elite. Batman III foiled this plan, then became involved in a confrontation between Hancock and Shreck. Hancock killed Shreck by setting off an explosion, seemingly killing herself as well.

After this several new Adventures began. Joker Jr escaped on Christmas while singing "Jingle Bells. Batman Smells". Batman and Robin were able to track him down and rescue his hostages: Harvey Bullock, Summer Gleeson and Commissioner Kale. Other foes included the Sewer King(also known as the Rat king, a Villain who plagued the City sewers and was a foe of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles),Temple Fugate AKA the new Clock King and the Supercomputer H.A.R.D.A.C. Batman III discovered Elvira Hancock's survival while facing off agains the villain Red Claw, By this time, Falcone had been dethroned, replaced by Crimelord Rupert Thorne.

Batman III also saved Mayor Hamilton Hill's son from the Joker. He also gained new allies such as Officer Renee Montoya, and Simon Trent, an aged actor who played the Gray Ghost, on television in the 1960's. A show which Bruce Wayne Jr had been a fan of. Trent became a true Gray Ghost, to investigate crimes which matched with the old Serials of the show he appeared on. This led to a resurgence in the Gray Ghost franchise, with the serials being released, the older films getting Blu Rays as part of the Criterion collection. Eventually the franchise was rebooted as "*The Silver Shroud*" when Radio serials became popular again following a nostalgia wave in the 2070s.

Batman III, during the theft of items from several divisions at Gothcorp, discovered video footage of Mr. Freeze and through it learned his origins. Prior to 1959, Victor Fries was working on a way to cure his wife, who was put into cryogenic stasis, but the CEO of the company, Ferris Boyle interrupted the procedure, resulting in an accident which granted Fries a condition in which he couldn't live outside the cold.

In one incident, Lucius Fox was framed by Basil Karlo, a former horror movie actor and longtime Batman Villain Clayface. He had a successor named Matt Hagen but he had been killed in the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986. Another Clayface(Preston Payne) was too insane to carry out a life of crime efficiently, being in love with a mannequin. Karlo was payed by Roland Daggett to impersonate Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne Jr. To keep his decaying powers under control and thus keep Clayface under control, they began to supply him with a substance that he needed to maintain human form, albeit a younger appearance. This was a not FDA approved face cream called "Renuyu". The substance was also addictive to ensure loyalty but when the gang decided to kill him, they knew killing Clayface would be near impossible but were told enough of the chemical would cause him to dissolve. Clayface was nearly destroyed but enough of him survived and he plotted revenge. He attacked a talk show where Daggett was speaking about his new Face cream. Batman subdued Clayface by showing him several of his film roles on the multiple screens, causing him to involuntarily try to shapeshift into all of them and overwhelming his abilties.

Joker Jr, in the body of Napier, seduced a psychologist at Arkham Asylum named Harley Quinn into releasing him. His first action after escaping was calling in a favor from Charles Collins, a man he let live and tracked down despite Collins moving and changing his name. He then crashed Commissioner Kale's birthday party but was stopped by Batman. Killer Croc attempted to frame Harvey Bullock, who was responsible for arresting him nine years ago when he saved Batman(Bruce Wayne). Batman III cleared his name.

Batman and Commissioner Kale realized Serial Killer Victor Zsasz was committing murders despite being in Arkham Asylum. To discover how, Batman was placed in Arkham Asylum but the Asylum head Jeremiah Arkham, was unaware of the plan and treated Batman as if he was insane. Batman however did indeed discover the passageways Zsasz was using to escape his cell and commit murders before returning.

Several of Batman's old enemies were now retired due to age. However, many of them decided to come together, perhaps one last time to make a wager. They began taking bets as to who in their long history came the closest to killing Batman. Napier Joker was there, as was the elderly Oswald Cobblepot, and Harvey Dent. The newest Villain present was Killer Croc, who had only two encounters with Batman to his name and bragged that "he threw a big Rock at Batman"(in all fairness Killer Croc would have killed him had it not been for Bullock's intervention). Poison Ivy also made an unexpected appearance as she had retired to pursue a normal life, motivated into doing so by Alec Holland, now the Swamp Thing. Holland had access to all of Nature through "The Green" and yet retained his human side by showing affection for his wife. This convinced Pamela Isley into retiring after her near death at Jason Todd's hands. However, she created a plant clone of herself that continued committing crimes. With the group mostly retired it came time to discuss. Two Face told a story of strapping Batman and Robin to a Giant Penny(which occurred in 1947).

Joker revealed he'd kidnapped Elvira Hancock and Batman was currently trying to save her. Killer Croc revealed himself to be Batman in disguise(the real Croc was still in prison) and quickly used the information to save Hancock.

Batman III discovered Jean Paul Valley, a teenager at Gotham University trained to be an assassin. He began training Valley. Another ally gained at this time was Stephanie Brown, who became the costumed vigilante known as the Spoiler to defeat her criminal father, the Clue Master.

### **1993-1994: Knightfall**

1993 began with Batman bringing down Rupert Thorne, after the crime boss was made to think that a minor Henchman named "Sid the Squid" had accidentally killed Batman III. Napier Joker found and captured the alive Jason Todd, torturing him in such a way that horrified Harley, and she called Batman. The two arrived to find the chair Jason Todd had been in covered in blood but no body. Harley Quinn broke up with the Joker as a result of this and went off to join Poison Ivy's plant clone in crime and later a relationship. The Joker would replace her with a woman he took hostage during a bank robbery named Marian Drews, who eventually fell for him, becoming the New Harley Quinn,

Batman III was on the onset of a personal psychological mid-life crisis, and was forced to deal, in rapid succession, with the returning villain Black Mask and his gang, who targeted Lucius Fox, a crazed killer called Metalhead, and a sharpshooter assassin hired by an imprisoned mobster to murder Commissioner Kale. Batman III began to feel that he had lost his edge, especially after his failure to capture Black Mask. He found himself unable to meditate or even focus. He contacted holistic therapist Shondra Kinsolving for treatment. He also assigned Robin (Tim Drake) to train Jean-Paul Valley in detective work to aid them as an ally, hoping to guide Valley's brainwashing away from making him a villainous threat. Despite the advice of everyone in his life, including Dr. Kinsolving, Bruce Jr refused to rest and continued to pursue his self-imposed duty despite his worsening condition. The recent death of Joel Kent, his old friend, also worsened his condition.

Having monitored Batman for some time, the Villain Bane, orchestrated a breakout at Arkham Asylum. Among the freed inmates were numerous high-profile villains, such as the Napier Joker(who trapped Arkham's administrator Jeremiah Arkham), Poison Ivy II(by this time, the original Poison Ivy had retired and married, becoming Pamela Williams and having a daughter named Layla born in 1991), aged Villains such as Scarecrow II(Ebenezer Laughton), the Riddler, the Mad Hatter, the Ventriloquist, the Firefly, the Cavalier, the Film Freak, Mr. Zsasz, Cornelius Stirk, Abattoir, and Amygdala.

Bane knew that Batman would feel compelled to hunt them down. Bane knew that this would physically and mentally wear Batman down. When he was nearly at his breaking point, Bane would break him.

The escaped Prisoners scattered far and wide and committing wide Scale murder and mayhem.

Batman III and Robin V, gained their first lead from a break in a haberdasher’s shop. Left at the scene was an invitation for a tea party at an abandoned mansion. Batman and Robin joined a tea party in progress orchestrated by the Mad Hatter, Jervis Tetch. The other members of the party were criminals hired for the occasion. Batman and Robin fought the criminals and captured Tetch.

Their next lead came when they spotted a toy store that had suffered a break-in. Inside the toy store were the Ventriloquist, a schizophrenic who believed that his dummy controlled him, and a super strong mentally deficient man named Amygdala. Robin was on back up once again. Batman engaged Amygdala and was nearly beaten to a pulp by the enraged super strong psychopath. During the fight between Amygdala and Batman the Ventriloquist made good his escape. Robin had noticed a falcon circling above them and had followed the falcon and discovered that someone was directing the falcon. Robin and the Falconer fought but the man overpowered Robin and left him stunned.

Batman received word over the radio that a hostage situation was taking place at the Bates School for Women. The escaped serial killer Zsasz had taken fifteen of the students hostage. Zsasz had cut the throat of an officer sent into the school to assess the situation. Zsasz claimed that this meant he would have to kill three of the victims to make up for this. One of Zsasz most noticeable features was that he was covered with has marks, each one a self inflicted scar that counted his victims. Negotiations went nowhere and Zsasz had sequestered himself and his victims to be in a section of the school were SWAT teams could not gain ready access. Female officer Renee Montoya went inside to try and get him to release at least one of the hostages in exchange for her. Zsasz instead decided that she would just be another victim.

Batman’s entry prevented Zsasz from slashing her throat. While Zsasz and Batman were engaged in dialogue, Renee Montoya stomped on Zsasz instep and elbowed his groin, getting away from him. This gave Batman the opportunity to fight Zsasz. As they were fighting Zsasz taunted Batman claiming that they were very much alike. This triggered a great rage in Batman and he quickly out fought Zsasz. Batman beat Zsasz severely, losing control to the point where Renee Montoya had to physically restrain him.

While Batman was confronting Zsasz, Robin tracked Bane to an outpost where Bane and his men were observing Batman. Robin was spotted and captured. Bane threatened to beat and then kill Robin unless Robin gave him information about Batman. Robin’s life was saved by the appearance of Killer Croc. Bane had fought with Croc shortly after arriving in Gotham, and had broken his arms. Croc remembered this and was out for revenge. As Bane and Croc fought, Croc disabled Bane’s venom dispenser, making the fight fairly even. Robin escaped during the fight.

Bane had however learned one vital clue from a piece of Robin’s equipment. Although it did not have any distinguishing manufacturing marks the exploding R shaped shuriken reminded Bane of something else he had seen. The font used for the R inside a ring made Bane think of Waynetech, which had a logo of a W inside a circle. Bane had intuitively solved a puzzle that dumbfounded many other villains. Where did Batman get all of his toys? Waynetech had been Batman’s backer.

Upon his escape from Arkham Asylum, the Napier Joker had made an alliance with the serial killer Cornelius Stirk. Stirk was convinced that he achieved power through the fear of his victims. Stirk had the ability to instantly hypnotize people into believing he was someone that they knew. The Napier Joker wanted to capture Commissioner Kale and hold him for ransom. Kale was on the rooftop of the main police building by the Bat Signal when Stirk walked up to him, having hypnotized Kale into thinking he was the Batman. Stirk however did not plan to capture Kale but kill him. Batman arrived in time to save Kale.

The Napier Joker was upset by this chain of events but soon discovered another partner who had also watched the little drama play out, The Scarecrow, the heir to the master of fear. They concocted a plan to terrorize the city by kidnapping the Mayor. Using fear gas the Joker and Scarecrow coerced the Mayor into calling off the National Guard units he had requested from the Governor. They also had him inform the fire department that he was making slashing cuts to their budget. This induced the fire department to strike immediately. The Napier Joker then contacted an Arkham alumnus, a pyromaniac who called himself the Firefly and told him that he had free reign to burn down the city.

Batman confronted the Firefly as he was torching a building but their encounter was indecisive as Batman had to choose between saving civilians or capturing the Firefly.

The Scarecrow and the Joker had the Mayor inform the police department that he had been taken hostage. He managed to blurt out his location before the phone was wrested from his hands. The police converged on the old abandoned amusement park. Unfortunately this was a trap and rigged explosions killed several police.

Although exhausted from his many battles, Bruce Wayne Jr forced himself to attend a charity ball. Watching some of the news footage, Bane immediately recognized Bruce Wayne’s body language as that of Batman’s. At the ball Lucius Fox tried to warn Bruce Wayne Jr that something was going on with the Wayne stocks but the charity ball was interrupted by another Arkham escapee, Poison Ivy II. She used spores from genetically altered nightshade plants to send all of the guests into a zombie like state. She had the guests enter an awaiting truck and took them to a greenhouse called Neo-Eden. She planned to rob the guests, ransom them and then kill them. Bruce Wayne Jr slipped away to return as Batman.

Batman arrived just in time to stop Poison Ivy II from kissing Lucius Fox by hitting her in the face with a batarang. This kiss would have killed Fox for like Rappacini’s Daugher, Ivy's lips were filled with poison. Batman then had to kill her zombies, these were men whose bodies were had become part of a symbiotic organism when a parasitic plant took root in them. These zombies were inured and very hard to disable. Batman defeated them but in his exhausted state this took a great toll on him. He barely managed to capture Poison Ivy.

While Batman was engaged with the charity ball, a person wearing a dark costume reminiscent of a Muslim warrior prowled the streets. He called himself Azrael.

Batman traced Firefly to the Gotham Zoo. While Batman was dealing with Firefly, putting out the fire that he started and recapturing zoo animals, Robin had to deal with the Riddler. The Riddler had also escaped from Arkham Asylum and he had an idea for a perfect score to net him a good deal of money. However due to his monomania, the Riddler could not enact a crime without leaving clever clues for the police. When no one would respond to the Riddler’s letters that he had sent to the police department his gang became tired of waiting and decided to pull the heist without him. Upset by this the Riddler decided to take his clues to a more public forum. He forced his way onto a talk show with a vest of dynamite. The police surrounded the television studio but were afraid to shoot Riddler because his dead man’s switch would explode. Robin eluded the police barricade and swung into the studio, shooting the Riddler’s hand with an epoxy that kept his hand closed. The Riddler was easily captured after that and the dynamite vest turned out to be a fake.

The Huntress thwarted the burglary that the Riddler’s men had carried out without him. After tying up the Firefly, Batman was heading back the Batcave for some much needed rest when he got a call that the Scarecrow and Joker had barricaded themselves and the Mayor inside the subway tunnel.

The Scarecrow and Joker had decided to use the Mayor to lure Batman into a death trap. They called in a bomb threat on the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel. When it was shut down they took the Mayor to the tunnel in an ice cream truck and used a rocket launcher to destroy several vehicles sealing off the entrance. The police were wary of entering the tunnel for fear of another trap and for fear of endangering the Mayor’s life. Batman slipped into the tunnel via access holes. Once he found the Scarecrow and Joker, he was subjected to a blast of fear gas which seemed to have no effect on him. He overpowered the Scarecrow and turned his attention to the Joker. Something snapped in him. He was beating the Joker to death when the Scarecrow used the rocket launcher to open a hole in the ceiling of the tunnel letting water cascade into the tunnel. Safety doors sealed off the tunnel section trapping the two criminals Batman and the Mayor. Batman had to make the choice to save the Mayor or letting the Joker escape.

After Batman rescued the Mayor from the flooded tunnel he was set upon by a large, heavily muscled man. He fought and defeated him. A man throwing knives then attacked him. After avoiding the deadly missiles Batman also defeated this foe. Finally a man who used trained falcons attacked him. Batman defeated the falcons and then had to fight the Falconer who was also a trained martial artist. Once these three were in police custody he began the journey home.

His trip home was interrupted by a police call about a body being found in the New York Museum of Natural History, inside the ribcage of a dinosaur skeleton. Batman stopped to investigate this call. The body was of Legs Lyman a gangster. The dinosaur used to be known as a brontosaurus but was now named Apatosaurus. It had been improperly named because of a wrong skull. Batman realized that the dinosaur with two names and two skulls was a calling card from Two-Face. He learned that Two Face had taken over the rackets of Legs Lyman. Batman investigated and in his debilitated condition was captured by Two Face and his men. Batman was put on trial and found guilty. Two-Face planned to hang Batman off of the girder of a building under construction. Robin was nearby and used a thrown R shuriken to cut Batman bonds. Batman and Two-Face fought and Two-Face was captured.

Batman and Robin returned to the Batcave to find it in a shambles. Andrei Zorin was hurriedly loading an ambulance with equipment. He explained what had happened. Bane had discovered Batman III was Bruce Wayne Jr and attacked Zorin. When Zorin would not divulge any information, Bane went on a destructive rampage looking for the Batcave entrance. Unable to find it he instead went to the ruins of Wayne Manor. He sat and waited. Although he was only half conscious when Batman emerged from the entrance behind the grandfather clock, Zorin knew something was wrong but was not certain as to what.

Bane boasted how he had planned to wear Batman down to nothing and then destroy him, to break him. The elderly Bruce Wayne emerged from the Grandfather clock and attacked Bane. They fought throughout the mansion and finally downstairs into the Batcave. Bane’s venom delivery system made him superstrong, tireless and extremely aggressive. He used props from the Batcave to batter and knock Batman around. Batman delivered blows that would have crippled lesser men but Bane did not fall. He wore Batman down and finally when Batman could not longer fight he threw him around the Batcave like a rag doll and finally broke his back over his knee. Bane walked out the mansion carrying Batman over his shoulder. He told Bruce Wayne he was going to show the people of Gotham who they really needed to fear.

Zorin wondered who the Batman imitator was. Bruce Wayne Jr told him it was not an imitator, it was the original Batman. Zorin finished loading the supplies, Bruce Wayne jr. ,Dick Grayson and Zorin took the ambulance into the city, listening for the dispatch. Bruce reasoned that Bane would take Batman to City Hall to make a message. They arrived shortly after Bane had tossed Batman’s body into the street like a sack of garbage. The ambulance driven by Bruce Wayne Jr and attended by Zorin and Dick Grayson picked Batman up and took him to a safe location before Bane could kill him. They had to find an adequate cover story not only for Bruce Wayne senior’s return after being missing for several years but also to account for his injuries. They took Bruce Wayne out of the country, but as a consequence of the attack he would never walk again unassisted by technology.

The Police found the Scarecrow unconscious and strapped to a pole in a vacant lot. Of the Arkham escapees only Joker remained at large.

After his defeat, Bruce Wayne Jr enlisted the aid of Dr. Shondra Kinsolving to rehabilitate his father. He also forbade Jean-Paul Valley from going out to fight Bane, wanting to defeat Bane himself. Bruce Wayne Jr confronted Bane. Only his modified gloves saved Bruce Wayne Jr from being thrown to his death. Tim Drake argued with Bruce Jr to allow Dick Grayson (the former Robin and then-current Nightwing) to become Batman, as he was more experienced and mentally competent and had more of a chance of beating Bane. Bruce Jr replied that Grayson has his own responsibilities and would only take up the mantle of the Bat reluctantly (Dick later expressed resentment at not being asked to stand in as Batman). Bruce Jr's rationale was that he did not want Dick to have to face Bane, as he knew Dick's character would compel him to try. Indeed, Bruce Jr gave Jean-Paul strict orders never to engage Bane in combat.

Kinsolving and Tim's father Jack Drake were kidnapped. Bruce Wayne Jr, Time Drake and Zorin left the country to find them. This left Jean Paul to assume the mantle of Batman. Jean-Paul was a different, but not dangerous, Batman until an encounter with the Scarecrow resulted in Jean-Paul being infected by Scarecrow's fear gas and "The System"—his programming as Azrael—taking over, in order to combat Jean-Paul's fear. Jean Paul Valley's term as Batman was actually quite short, but he was now unable to shake the influence of the System, giving in to it completely after his first defeat and being increasingly influenced by it during the rest of his tenure as Batman.

In his new mechanical Batsuit (which was an amalgam of Azrael's costume with the Batman's), Valley confronted Bane in an arduous battle and prevailed, although many bystanders were put at risk. Jean-Paul left Bane broken mentally and physically, though he struggled with the choice of whether to simply kill Bane or hand him over to the police. He decided that he would let Bane go to Blackgate Prison. Jean-Paul continued to watch over Gotham after the fight, but grew increasingly unstable, going rogue.

Jean-Paul Valley during his tenure as Batman, became increasingly violent and mentally unbalanced. He believed Gotham to be so tough that only violence could answer its criminals. Jean-Paul ferociously attacked common criminals, often with a weapon and sometimes nearly to death. This surge of violence from Gotham's defender puts pressure on Batman's relationship with Police Commissioner Kale, who began to distrust and even fear the new Batman and eventually came to realize he was not the same man he had known.

All of Jean-Paul's actions were compelled by "the System"; on numerous occasions, he experienced the ghosts of his father and the patriarch Saint Dumas giving him guidance and he was driven to near-insanity. He repeatedly redesigned his Batman costume, adding more gadgets and lethal weapons, including metal claws, a laser, razor-sharp batarangs and a flamethrower. Eventually, he also added a Bat-symbol. Valley became compelled by a desire to be a better Batman than Bruce Wayne, especially when he discovered his lack of interest in detective work caused him to make false assumptions about Catwoman III (he thought that she would sell a powerful nerve gas to terrorists, when she merely wanted to dispose of it so that it could not be used to hurt anyone).

Valley encountered the serial killer Abattoir, who was keeping an innocent prisoner in a secret torture chamber: Jean-Paul purposely let Abattoir die, thereby condemning the prisoner to death as well. Other villains Jean-Paul faced include Mr. Freeze, the Trigger Twins, Gunhawk and Gunbunny, the Tally Man and Clayface III and IV; the most notable encounters were with Catwoman and the Napier Joker, both of whom could tell that Valley was not the same Batman.

Meanwhile, Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne Jr and Zorin's investigation led them to the Caribbean and then Great Britain, which was then under the thrall of the Fascist Norsefire Party. Kinsolving's brother-by-adoption Benedict Asp kidnapped her to use her to force her into poisoning important people she was entrusted with assisting. Bruce Jr defeated Asp, but the torture inflicted on Shondra, resulted in Bruce Jr reluctantly placing her in a mental institution. Bruce Jr and Tim Drake left England to return home to a civilian life in Gotham, but Zorin remained in England to help overthrow Norsefire.

Bruce Jr Returned to Gotham. Even though Jean-Paul disobeyed Bruce Jr's order to refrain from attacking Bane, Bruce Jr was sufficiently impressed with Jean-Paul's results. Bruce Jr decided to retire and allow Jean-Paul to continue as Batman. But when Robin told Bruce of the circumstances surrounding Abattoir's death, Bruce Jr sneaked into the Batcave and demanded that Jean-Paul step down. Jean-Paul refused, resulting in a fight which Bruce Wayne Jr lost. Jean-Paul told Bruce Jr to leave the cave and never come back.

Bruce Wayne Jr reentered training with the League of Assassins in order to counter Jean Paul's training. He trained under Sandra Woosan AKA Lady Shiva. As a price, Shiva made Bruce Jr promise to take her young daughter with fellow Assassin David Cain, Cassandra Cain, back to Gotham with him. Cassandra was mute but well versed in combat. Shiva hoped The Waynes would give her daughter some semblance of a normal life.

Now back in fighting shape, Bruce Jr returned to the Batcave and resumed his role as Batman. Along with Robin(Tim Drake) and Nightwing(Dick Grayson), he tracked Valley down to Selkirk's penthouse. Coincidentally, Catwoman III was chasing the same man because he owned a neural enabler which would allow her paraplegic friend to walk again. Selkirk already wanted to kill Jean-Paul for destroying a valuable weapons cache in Gotham Harbor.

When they eventually all met, mass fighting and gunfire ensued. The battle ended with Selkirk's helicopter crashing into the Gotham Narrows Bridge while Bruce and Jean-Paul fought on the attached Batrope; Jean-Paul fell aflame into the Gotham River. Bruce Jr and Catwoman III saved Selkirk and his aides just before the helicopter exploded from the leaking fuel, his decision to protect criminals affirming to Catwoman III that the true Batman had returned. When Bruce Jr tried to find Jean-Paul using the Batmobile, it exploded due to a planted booby-trap. Nightwing feared Bruce Jr dead and took his vengeance out on Jean-Paul on a party boat. The police arrived in time to prevent Nightwing from committing murder, but Jean-Paul escaped. However, to his shock, Jean-Paul found Bruce Jr waiting at the ruins of Wayne Manor; Bruce Jr had managed to escape the Batmobile before Jean-Paul's trap destroyed it, reasoning that he would have done the same thing with a less dangerous trap.

Jean-Paul Valley and Bruce Wayne Jr fought in the caverns surrounding the Batcave below Wayne Manor: rather than beating Jean-Paul at hand-to-hand combat, Bruce Jr outwitted him by escaping into a passage too narrow for Jean-Paul to go through in his armor, thus forcing Jean-Paul to remove most of it. Bruce Jr then opened a hatch to the outside, which covered the very hole he fell into as a child, allowing sunlight to enter the night lenses in Jean-Paul's helmet. After being momentarily blinded, Jean-Paul removed his cowl, sees Bruce Jr standing over him in the original Batman costume and conceded defeat, saying "*You are the Batman... You've always been the Batman... and I am nothing...*" Bruce Jr comforted Jean-Paul, who wished to leave to wander the streets of Gotham, homeless and destitute, but Bruce Jr had other plans for him and revealed to Jean Paul, the sons of Batman, a group being trained by the original Batman to one day succeed him. Jean Paul began training alongside the likes of Cassandra Cain, with the two slowly developing a relationship. Bruce Jr decided not to take Jean-Paul to the police because it was his decision to make Jean-Paul the Batman, leading to his subsequent breakdown.

Batman Jr now had a decision to make. He had realized it was perhaps time to retire. He realized a more lighthearted Batman would help ease the tensions caused by the more violent Jean Paul. Bruce Jr then did something he never thought he would: hand the Batsuit back to Dick Grayson. Grayson however, refused, believing Bruce Jr was the one to regain the people's trust. Grayson instead took up the mantle of Red Robin. Bruce Jr would remain Batman for the time.

### **1994: Prodigal Son**

Bruce Jr tracked down and defeated several of the remaining villains, returning them to prison. Bruce Wayne Jr also spent this time setting up a contingency plan for if Batman were to be killed or his identity revealed, inspired by his confrontation with Bane. It was called the Knightfall Protocol. Zorin, while in England, hunted down several rogue criminals aiding Norsefire including Colonel Vega of Shadaloo, and the augmented Soviet Superhuman nicknamed the KGBeast.

Bruce Wayne Jr, upon returning the Napier Joker to Gotham, found the Asylum taken over and he was captured and put in a mock trial that attempted to settle the argument that Batman had created the Villains he fought, be it directly or indirectly, by inspiring them subconsciously to assume colorful personas of their own. Gotham's New DA Janet Van Dorn, who was anti-Batman, especially after Jean Paul's violent actions was forced to defend Batman. The Kangaroo court consisted of the Napier Joker (the judge), Two-Face (the prosecutor), the Ventriloquist (the bailiff), and Poison Ivy II, Harley Quinn II, the Mad Hatter, Killer Croc, the Scarecrow ll, and the Riddler (the jury), in front of other criminals held at Arkham. Notably, the Scarecrow did not speak as he was recovering from throat surgery at the time.

Bruce Jr was joined by Tim Drake during these adventures. One involved a washed-up actress named Mary Dahl, who became bitter and insane after falling into obscurity and suffering from a disorder that prevented her body from growing to adulthood, thus biologically cursed with literal eternal youth. She kidnapped her TV family co-stars from the show "Baby Doll", who all led much happier lives and more successful careers than her, and held them prisoner on the abandoned soundstage of her old show. While Robin worked fast to free the actors from Baby-Doll's explosive death-trap, Batman pursued Dahl into a carnival hall of mirrors, where she broke down after seeing herself as if she was normal in a funhouse mirror.

After the recent incidents at Arkham, Bruce Wayne Jr assigned Lyle Bolton, a security expert at Wayne Industries, to security at the Asylum. Bolton ended up being so brutal to the prisoners, some like Scarecrow tried to escape just to get away from him. Bolton even assumed the mantle of "Lock-Up" to intimidate the Villains and compete with their own gimmicks. While Bolton was placed in the Asylum himself, he actually proved more effective there and breakouts became virtually non existent, most of the elderly patients would never escape again.

### **1995: Batman Forever**

While both Two Face and Riddler were elderly. Both devised ways to mentally warp other people with technology so they could become the new versions of the Villains. Harvey Dent used a similar technology as that used to transform him back into Two Face in the 1960s. He used the device on a District Attorney like he once was named "Reverend"Roy Foltrigg. Riddle himself used a device to warp the mind of Wayne Industries employee Walter Getz into believing he was the Riddler. These two began committing crimes, even joining forces. Dick Grayson at a public event was tricked into using a device invented by Riddler II, leading to the two seeing a Bat(symbolic of Bruce Wayne Jr's fear of not living up to the Batman mantle). Bruce Wayne Jr and Tim Drake then attempted to bring the two villains to justice, resulting in Two Face II falling to his death(though, unlike in the film, Batman was not responsible for this, he walked out to shoot Batman out of an obsession but slipped on a wet portion of the steel beam). Riddler II was apprehended and placed in Arkham after the device had destroyed his mind.

Sometime later, the Antihero Magog and his followers blew up Arkham Asylum killing everyone inside.

### **1996: Kingdom Come**

In 1996, Azrael sent a report to Batman III that a plague connected to The Sacred Order of Saint Dumas was on its way to Gotham City. Robin found that a private plane has just landed in Gotham from Africa. The passenger, Peter Maris, entered his exclusive condominium complex, Babylon Towers. Believing that the plague was about to infect Gotham, he proposed to the other homeowners that they dismiss their servants and seal the building, which is entirely self-sufficient, and they agreed. What Maris did not know is that he was already infected, and had passed the infection to his pilot, who joined the servants entering the city. Batman III infiltrated a military facility where the Ebola Gulf-A virus, also known as "the Clench", was being studied. The military's head of research, General Derwent, had been accidentally infected and was slowly dying.

Batman III and Robin V(Tim Drake) traced the original source of the outbreak to Babylon Towers, eavesdropping while Peter Maris, now realizing that he was infected, told the other residents about a survivor from a previous outbreak in Greenland. The residents posted an enormous reward for his live capture. As a result, when Robin V and Alfred arrived in Canada to find him, Catwoman(Elvira Hancock) and a bounty hunter named Tracker were already there. The two pairs' initial clash was halted by Azrael, who Batman III asked to join Robin V. While they were trying to get the survivor to safety, they were ambushed by gunmen. The survivor died, but gave Robin V a sample of his blood, along with the names of two other possible survivors.

Azrael joined forces with Tracker and Catwoman, while Robin V returned to Gotham City with the blood. They tracked the second survivor, a Chinese gangster, to a yacht and overpowered his guards. Unfortunately for them, the gangster had just been stabbed in the throat with a knife.

Gotham City had been quarantined. Robin and Azrael delivered blood samples from the two survivors to Batman and several hospitals, who attempted to create an antidote. Believing he had succeeded, Batman III had Poison Ivy II deliver the cure to Babylon Towers, since she was immune to all toxins and diseases. Red Robin and Huntress joined forces to try and quell riots outside Babylon Towers, while the Gotham Police Department, completely disgusted with the ineffective leadership of Mayor Krol and his toady, Commissioner Andy Howe, asked for a change in leadership. Sarah Essen Gordon was chosen.

Inside Babylon Towers, Poison Ivy II amused herself by soliciting bids for the antidote from the richest and most desperate residents. Batman III entered the complex to re-capture her and quell the unrest inside, learning that the antidote did not work. Outside, Robin's contact with one of the rioters leads to him being infected.

Batman III rushed Robin V to the Batcave and convinced Zorin to return to take care of the injured Tim Drake. The state governor, fed up with Krol's inaction, declared martial law and sent in the National Guard. Batman rescued Ivy and escaped Babylon Towers with her, before the mob burned it to the ground. Gotham was quarantined along with a portion of New York, which became a large City wide Prison.

Batman learned of a secret government entity that would be able to provide a cure for the plague, but a Hitman killed its agent first. Huntress tried to find one of her students who lost his entire family to the plague, and found him already dying of it. Delirious from fever, Tim Drake dreamed of a life in which his mother was still alive, and his parents and girlfriend knew about him being Robin.

Catwoman picked up the trail of the third and last survivor from the Greenland outbreak, finding her in Florida and took her back to Gotham City. She was disappointed to find Babylon Towers had burned to the ground, meaning that there was no one left alive to pay the bounty - and even more disappointed when Batman informed her that no cure could be synthesized from any of the survivors' blood.

Seeing the plague virus through the microscope, Azrael realized that he had seen it before, meaning it was engineered and unleashed by the Order of St. Dumas. Searching through the texts Brian took from the Order, Lilhy was able to translate the formula for the antidote. Azrael rushed it to Gotham City, evading assassins sent by the Order to stop him, and delivered the formula to a hospital.

Red Robin returned to the Batcave and found Tim cured. Batman reminded them that they still had to restore order in the city, even after Marion Grange replaced Armand Krol and reinstated Gordon as Police Commissioner. Despite almost dying from the plague, Robin joined Batman and Red Robin in aiding the police against a local gang, trying to hold an infected family for ransom by blocking off the medical authorities. This display of resolve pierced Catwoman's normal cynicism, and she lended a hand as well, after which Tim returned home. His experiences led to him revealing his Robin identity to his parents and girlfriend. Zorin grew sick soon after from the Clench, with the Virus cure being strangely unable to work on him. Bruce Wayne began to grow distant while attempting to treat Zorin and built several "Bat Bots" to protect the city without his leadership.

Catwoman traveled to Rhelasia to steal back a microchip before it could be copied and pirated. She got the chip easily, but was attacked and abducted by a group led by a Supervillain called Hellhound. "The Collector" had uncovered an ancient journal describing an underground wheel. It was heavily booby-trapped and Catwoman was to be the front line going in. A former member of the Order of St. Dumas, who had translated much of the journal, accompanied them. He and Catwoman entered the labyrinth as Hellhound's men were attacked. They made it through the traps and to the wheel. Hellhound, Catwoman, and the translator were attacked by a large, unknown man. Catwoman woke up in a cell.

Bruce Wayne Jr told Tim about the new mutation of the Clench which Zorin was infected with and had no known cure. He called Azrael for more info. Batman, Red Robin, and Robin prepared to leave for Sudan. D.A. Voder reported to Tucker Cobbelpot on the city's affairs. Huntress continued taking down looters raiding the homes of Clench victims; Robin informed her that she would be in charge of Gotham City while they were gone. Batman brought the Police Commissioner up to speed on the situation.

Batman, Red Robin, and Robin landed in the desert and found the entrance point Azrael described. After taking out the guards, Batman found what appeared to be a map, and guided through the maze. At the end of the tunnel, they were met by three shadows.

Talia, and Ubu(Ra's and then Talia's servant) stood above Batman, Red Robin, and Robin. Talia revealed the third figure was Bruce Wayne Jr's own son Damian Wayne. Talia ordered them killed. Running for cover, Red Robin took a bullet. The ancient wheel beneath the desert was a recipe for plagues. Ubu again planned to cleanse the world of 90% of humanity. His technicians finished digitally rendering the wheel; Ubu ordered the entire underground facility, including the wheel, destroyed. Ubu flooded the caves. Batman was able to get himself and Robin to safety, as Red Robin faced off against Ubu. His two partners arrived soon after. Red Robin was able to remove Ubu's mask to reveal Bane.

Catwoman broke free from her cell and freed Umberto (the translator) and Hellhound (who vowed only a temporary truce). Outside the compound, she defeated Hellhound and tied him up. Catwoman and Umberto set out toward civilization. Batman got word from Oracle of the three destinations that Ubu had taken; Red Robin and Robin left for Paris, Batman for Edinburgh, and they planned to meet in Gotham.

Dick and Tim split up in Paris to cover more ground. Robin met up with Henri DuCard and told him what was going on before meeting back up with Red Robin They found the spot - Red Robin went into the sewers below the Louvre, while Robin went into the tourist attraction. Red Robin took out the plague spreaders below, while Robin and DuCard took care of Bane's agents inside. Dick and Tim headed back to Gotham City. Batman III was able to stop the dispersion in Edinburgh. Robin informed him that they were successful in Paris, but Oracle said that Calcutta would be the next target. Batman III headed to his new destination.

Oracle contacted Batman III in Calcutta and directed him to meet with a contact. While waiting he met a young boy who offered to help Batman in his "admirable enterprise". Batman told to him to keep his distance because there could be danger. The contact then arrived and turned out to be Lady Shiva. The duo was attacked by Bane's men shortly after and a brief fight broke out. After the scuffle, Batman took a ring from one of the assailants, which he gave to a merchant and told him to feed the boy well. The pair located Bane's agents at the festival of Durga attempting to release the virus into the water supply. Batman and Lady Shiva chased down the men responsible. During the fight, one of the culprits pulled out a gun, and having followed Batman III, the boy he met earlier jumped on the back of the man with the gun ruining his aim. The boy was knocked to the ground and shot. Batman disabled the shooter and asked him where the virus was. Before killing himself with a poison capsule hidden in a tooth, the man told Batman that the virus was in a soluble wax container hidden in a statue that was already thrown into the river. Batman jumped from the bridge and managed to reach the container and get back to the surface while it was still intact. He then found the boy still alive and told Lady Shiva that, because the boy almost died but killed no one, he chose the path of a hero.

Back in Gotham City, Batman found Bane's agents at the site of an upcoming grand opening of a casino. Bane was there and attacked him. Batman sabotaged the building and it exploded. His rage helped him defeat Bane, but the current from the river below the casino dragged him away. Red Robin, Robin, and Huntress pursued Bane by boat.

Robin, Red Robin, and Huntress made it aboard a League of Assassins yacht as Batman continued to search for Bane. Robin found the computers with the plague information and uplinked it to Oracle. Red Robin and Huntress put up a fight against Bane's agents, but he and Talia captured them. Robin was attacked, leading to an explosion. He got Huntress and Red Robin off the ship before it exploded; Oracle got the entire program in time. Police Officers Montoya and Bullock discovered dozens of mobsters that washed ashore from Blüdhaven.

Wayne Pharmaceuticals began disbursing the cure. Bane's remaining Gotham agents attacked police headquarters with a suicide bombings, but the Police force, drove them away. After suffering defeat from Batman, Bane hijacked a mobile nuclear power plant, intending to irradiate Gotham City into a wasteland. With the combined effort of Batman III, Robin, Red Robin and the plant's captain, Bane's plan was thwarted but he evaded capture.

The original Superman returned and reformed the Justice League. He offered Bruce Wayne a position on the Justice League but he refused to join Superman and formed his own team, the Outsiders. This team consisted of Batman, Ted Kord, Oliver Queen, Dinah Queen, J'onn J'onzz, Green Lantern Jennie-Lynn Hayden, Alan Scott's son Obsidian who was acting as the current form of "The Shadow", Kid Flash(Iris West, daughter in law of Wally West), Tula(daughter of Garth and Aquagirl), Fate(the wizard Nabu), Nightstar(Mar'i Grayson, daughter in law of Dick Grayson and Koriand'r "Starfire"),Ralph Dibny, The Creeper, Menagerie(the former Beast Boy), Lightning(Daughter of Black Lightning), Wildcat(Tom Bronson, son of Ted Grant), Steel(now switched costumes to resemble Batman instead of Superman), Mr.Scarlet, Spy Smasher, Phantom Lady(now a ghost), Zatara( son of Zatanna and John Constantine, grandson of Giovanni Zatara), Darkstar(daughter of Donna Troy and Terry Long), Huntress, Red Hood(not Jason Todd, but Lian Harper, daughter of Roy Harper), a Batwoman(a Batman admirer from Fourth World with an alien Bat Hound called Ace), Black Mongul(possible offspring of Vandal Savage from Mongolia), and the Batmen of many Nations including Condor(Native American), Cossack(Russia), Dragon(China) and Samurai(Japan). Dick Grayson had assumed the mantle of Red Robin, while Clark Wayne, who was going to become the next Batman before Bruce Wayne returned to the role. Clark Wayne instead became Nightwing II. Bruce Wayne Jr chose to infiltrate a group of Villains, the Mankind Liberation Front which included Vandal Savage, Edward Nigma, Lord Naga, and the King of the Royal Flush Gang. This group was infiltrated and brought down from the inside when Batman discovered the villains had mind controlled Captain Marvel.

The brainwashed Captain Marvel caused a breakout a the Supervillian prison known as the Gulag. The NWO launched a nuclear missile hoping to destroy a majority of the world's superhuman which Captain Marvel failed in stopping,dying in the process. Many of the heroes on Batman's Side were killed including Oliver and Dinah Queen, Jennie-Lynn Hayden, Kid Flash(Iris West),Tula, The Creeper, Menagerie, and many others. Of the survivors: Bruce Wayne was out of the bomb range. Ted Kord's Scarab teleported him away. Obsidian was only a shadow. Fate teleported away. Nightstar had taken an injured Dick Grayson away from the battle beforehand, leading to both surviving. Ralph Dibny did not compete in the battle due to being ill at the time. In the aftermath, Superman decided to change his approach and the remaining Heroes worked closer with Humanity. Batman opened Wayne Manor as a Hospital. Superman and Wonder Woman approached him. Batman revealed that he knew Wonder Woman was pregnant and the couple surprised him by asking him to be The Godfather. Batman agreed, looking forward to training the child.

Batman III began investigating murders committed on the family and allies of mobster Carmine Falcone on Holidays. The killer left behind trinkets that alluded to the Holiday the victim was murdered on. First was Falcone's nephew Johnny Viti on Halloween, a gang known as the Irish on thanksgiving, Falcone's bodyguard on Christmas. On New Year's Eve, Batman III stopped the Napier Joker from using deadly laughing gas to kill everyone in Gotham Square, as the Joker believed Holiday would be among them, and asserted that there was not enough room for two homicidal maniacs. That day, Alberto Falcone was shot and pushed overboard on a Yacht, presumably by Holiday.

### **1997: Mask of the Phantasm**

The Holiday murders continued but switched to targeting the Maronis. Falcone brought in the elderly Riddler and Poison Ivy II to catch Holiday. The Riddler was unable to get results and was fired only to be attacked by Holiday, who left an outline of bullets around him on April Fool's Day. The only day in which no one was murdered. While police were able to track down Holiday's gunmaker to Chinatown, he was found murdered on Mother's Day. There was a short scandal concerning the Waynes when it became known that Falcone's father had brought a young Carmine Falcone to Doctor Thomas Wayne. This led some to believe that Falcone and the Waynes were connected but it was revealed that Thomas Wayne had reported the incident but it did not receive further investigation due to Police corruption at the time. Batman consulted with the imprisoned Julian Day, the aged Calendar Man, Day correctly suggested Holiday would strike on Labor Day towards Carmine Falcone, his last target. Falcone was killed but Holiday was revealed as Alberto Falcone, who faked his death. Alberto was arrested. The mobster Chuckie Sol attempted to take over.

Batman began investigating the murders of several mobsters led by Chuckie Sol by the Phantasm, who indirectly framed Batman. In his personal life, Bruce Wayne Jr was faced with the return of his love Andrea Beaumont. Desperate, the mobsters recruited Napier Joker, who had been a former remember of the gang. Batman discovered the Phantasm was Andrea Beaumont, who was killing members of the Valestra mob that killed her father, including attempting to kill the Joker. Batman and Joker discovered Andrea Beaumont was the Phantasm and a battle ensued where an explosion seemingly killed Joker and Beaumont, though Beaumont survived and left the country. Batman III, now a criminal, opted to retire. He passed the mantle back to his son Clark Wayne.

Clark Wayne's first mission was a failure. He attempted to stop Mr.Freeze from stealing diamonds with the intent to resume his Ice Cannon. His incompetence led to Tim Drake jumping in the way to protect Clark Wayne and being frozen, forcing Clark Wayne to flee to get Drake medical attention. Meanwhile, a Villain, Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man, attempted to conquer Gotham with Antonio Diego, a Brazilian Superhuman supplied with Bane's Venom formula. Woodrue had attempted a plant invasion before and required the Justice League to defeat, really only being defeated by Swamp Thing. Pamela Isley returned to Gotham to capture Woodrue, who was also responsible for turning her into Poison Ivy through experimentation. Isley used her pheromones to mind control Antonio Diego to become her henchman and, upon hearing of Mr.Freeze's theft, approached him, hoping to use his Ice Cannon to thwart Woodrue's scheme. Clark Wayne and Tim Drake were joined by Barbara Wilson, a niece of Slade Wilson. Clark Wayne approached Mr. Freeze and convinced him to let Wayne Industries help his wife. He agreed and even froze Zorin to prevent his disease from spreading. Isley also conceited in working with Batman and Tim Drake.

Woodrue attacked the Ice Cannon and took back control of Antonio Diego, who attacked Barbara Wilson and Tim Drake before they severed his Venom tubes and he was reduced to a normal man. Woodrue hoped to distract Freeze by killing Nora. Isley attempted to stop him. Isley killed Woodrue, by calling for the "Green" they both commanded to destroy him, and using Ice to freeze his plant body before shattering it. Isley's recklessness nearly destroyed Nora's tank, fortunately not killing her. Isley was sent to prison. Freeze then devoted himself towards helping his wife and Zorin at Wayne Industries.

Victor Fries was allowed to carry out Wayne Industries funded research in the Arctic, there he built a surrogate family with his still frozen wife Nora, his adopted Inuit son Koonak, and two pet polar bears, Hotchka and Shaka. Nora's condition began to rapidly deteriorate due to a submarine accidentally emerging from underwater directly underneath them, shattering her containment vessel. After punishing the submarine crew by freezing them with his trusted freeze gun, Freeze returned to Wayne industries and was told Nora needed a donor. Still vengeful, Fries confronted Isley in her cell and abducted her to an oil rig, where he had kidnapped a surgeon named Dr.Belson to perform the operation. Batman stopped the operation but Freeze appeared to be lost. A donor was found and Nora Fries awoke from her stasis.

Talia had a plan which involved kidnapping Dr.Kirk Langstrom and using his Bat Serum to create Mutated assassins, however the aged Deathstroke attempted to usurp control of the League of Assassins and defeated Bane by throwing him down a giant hole within the ruins of the greek city of Sparta, while he hoped this would kill him within the Hole was a prison which Bane was trapped in. This attack warranted Talia to take Damian Wayne to Bruce Wayne Jr. Damian Wayne, and Clark Wayne thwarted both Deathstroke's scheme, as well as Talia's. Damian proved difficult to train, stealing Jason Todd's old costume and beating up Tim Drake, who was supposed to be mentoring him.

Bruce Wayne Jr re encountered the Napier Joker, when her performed a theft of a Pharmaceutical company, claiming the pills would fix him. Bruce Wayne Jr as Batman responded by shoving the pills down his throat. The Joker changed, becoming Jack Napier once more. Upon release from prison, he fired Drews as Harley Quinn and reunited with the reformed Harleen Quinnzel. The two ran a political campaign against Batman, while Drews, became the Neo Joker using Mad Hatter's technology to mind control Clayface and other Villains. This forced the Joker to return to battle his replacement, though not before revealing Jason Todd was still alive and had not been killed twice. Before he lost control permanently, Jack Napier married Harleen Quinzel. Zorin also passed away at this time and Mr.Freeze reunited with his wife, intending for them to grow old together, he unplugged himself allowing him to age normally.

Not long after Bruce Wayne Jr revealed his identity to the police Commissioner Grogan.

### **1998-1999: No Man's Land**

In 1998, Sofia Gigante had taken over the rule of Falcone's criminal Empire. Janice Porter had become District Attorney and was willing to help Batman so long as he didn't cross the line. A new killer began murdering Policemen, following the passing of former Chief Clancy O'Hara. This included corrupt ex-commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, Sarah Essen Gordon's former partner Detective Flass, and Officer Merkel. The Calendar Man attempted to frame Alberto Falcone for the murders by rigging Alberto's home, but Alberto himself discovered what Calendar Man was doing, and that he was secretly living in the same house. The hangman killer was revealed to be Sofia Gigante, feigning a wheelchair injury sustained in a battle with Catwoman. Damian Wayne took the oath to become Robin. The sole remaining member of the Falcone Family, hated the criminal legacy and burned down all their power, creating a vacuum which allowed the crime family the Sopranos to take over.

Tim Drake briefly fell in love with a girl named Annie which was sadly revealed to be part of the Villain Clayface who had gained sentience and was forcibly reassimilated into him.

Seismologist Dr. Jolene Relazzo believed the Gotham area was due for a major earthquake as her gear began registering hits nearing the city. Oracle(Barbara Gordon) lost connection with the Batcave at 7:03 p.m. while giving a report when a 7.6 earthquake hit Gotham City. Clark Wayne was swept up by the rising currents from an underground stream and the elderly Bruce Wayne was nearly killed when he fell into the cave from the crumbling Wayne Manor above. Oracle headed to Gotham City Police Department HQ to help rally the troops.

Shortly after the quake, it appeared Wayne-owned buildings were the only ones left without major structural damage. Bruce Wayne had seen to it that all of his buildings were quake-proof up to 8.5. However, unable to quake-proof his own home without exposing his secrets as Batman, Wayne Manor and the Batcave were destroyed. With all the exits blocked, Carrie Kelly strapped on scuba gear and promised Bruce Wayne that he'd be back soon. Barbara Gordon rallied the police force, and Detective Harvey Bullock found Commissioner Grogan. At 8:52 p.m., the first aftershock hit.

Dick Grayson (Red Robin) learned of the earthquake from TV while at work. He bolted, grabbed a boat, and headed to his former home. Taken aback by the sheer destruction in Gotham City, he began helping victims trapped under a collapsed highway as soon as he got ashore. Azrael was with Cassandra Cain when the quake hit and learned that Bane had escaped. Helena Wayne was on the subway when the quake hit. She quickly changed into her Huntress garb and began getting survivors to safety. Bruce Wayne finally surfaced in Gotham Harbor withheld from Carrie Kelly and was horrified by seeing the city he loved in flames.

Catwoman(Elvira Hancock) was stealing night-vision binoculars for an up-coming job when the department store was destroyed by the earthquake. After having a young girl die in her arms, she began getting the survivors to safety. Tim Drake's flight home was diverted to Blüdhaven. He saw Gotham City on fire from the plane. He stole a motorcycle and headed toward his home.

The quake and the ensuing tidal waves hit Blackgate Prison hard. The island and many cells were flooded, and prisoners escaped. A land-bridge forms from the island all the way to mainland Gotham City. Batman, just surfacing in Gotham Harbor, realized what's going on and made his way to the prison. He quieted the rioting prisoners, though many had been killed and others escaped via the land-bridge. The aftershocks removed the land-bridge as S.W.A.T. helicopters arrived. Batman reached the mainland and began helping victims. Later, he spoke with Tucker Cobblepot about his "enterprises".

An odd band of small-time crooks hired by WayneCorp saved a group of people trapped in a building. A young boy was convinced that Batman sent them. Penguin, walking through the rubble, decided which people to help based on how they can repay the favor. Robin arrived and helped out in the excavation while thinking of his own family and friends.

Red Robin and Robin met at the clocktower to see if Oracle was okay — it was the first time Barbara and Tim met face-to-face. No one had seen Batman because he was saving victims from rubble. Red Robin and Robin then checked out the destruction at the Cave. Tim rushed off to check on his father, while Dick located Victor Fries and Harold.

Batman searched for Dr. Rellazzo, who was abducted earlier. GCPD reviewed a videotape delivered to them claiming responsibility for the earthquake: the "Quakemaster" wanted $100 million. Barbara Gordon readied a fake ransom payment and Batman stowed away on the pick-up helicopter with it. He gathered the henchmen who picked up the ransom, but their boss got away. Later, he met with Robin and Red Robin to discuss the situation.

Stephanie Brown, caught in a mall during the earthquake, quickly changed into her Spoiler outfit. She slipped after rescuing a small child, but Huntress swooped down and caught her. Cluemaster, Ratcatcher, Firefly, and others made their way to Gotham City after crossing the land-bridge from Blackgate. They arrived at the mall and began looting. Huntress and Spoiler battled them, capturing all but Cluemaster (Stephanie's father).

Robin continued to investigate the Quakemaster's tape while Red Robin and Batman headed out. Quakemaster's people kidnapped Detective "Hardback" Bock and held Commissioner Sarah Essen Gordon and Mayor Grange hostage in the Mayor's office. Believing he had a lead on the Quakemaster, Robin headed out and met up with Bullock and Renee Montoya. Robin rescued Bock, and together they took down Quakemaster, who was Arnold Wesker's newest puppet. Quakemaster had only claimed credit for the Earthquake. Red Robin saved Commissioner Gordon and Mayor Grange, while Batman continued helping survivors.

Following Gotham's earthquake, Bane attempted a conquest of the city and destroyed all bridges leading to the island. The US government evacuated most of the civilian population, then declared Gotham a "no man's land". A military blockade was set up to prevent people from entering or exiting.

Gangs and various supervillains Batman had battled over the years swiftly carved up the city. The city's police's commissioner, Sarah Essen Gordon, and several members of her department, who dubbed their gang the Blue Boys stayed behind to protect civilians. Oracle and Huntress also ended up on the inside. Bruce Wayne Jr left the city to lobby the government to continue aid to Gotham, but failed. Gordon and her men interacted with Bruce Wayne Jr as Batman.

Huntress attempted to keep order, fashioning a Batwoman costume. She soon discovered that criminals feared her more as Batwoman than they did as Huntress and succeeded in holding territory of her own. Bruce Wayne Jr returned

Batman and the police work separately to reclaim Gotham, piece by piece, by battling and subduing the gang leaders and then marking the reclaimed territory with graffiti. However, a schism erupted between Gordon and SWAT Lieutenant William "Billy" Pettit, whose militaristic, take-no-prisoners methods shocked and outraged Gordon; the Blue Boys subsequently broke into two separate factions, with most of Petit's officers siding with him to form the Strong Men.

Poison Ivy took up residence in Robinson Park, and Batman— after helping her defeat Clayface's attempts to control the park and thus Gotham's fresh fruit supply — allowed her to remain there as long as she cared for various orphans who had retreated to the park, as well as distributing food to the rest of the city. In addition, Victor Zsasz claimed a territory in Gotham City while Mr. Freeze did the same thing where he even competed against Gearhead whose armless and legless body was being carried around by the thuggish Tommy Mangles. Superman briefly visited the city to restore some degree of order, but quickly realized that the city's current state of anarchy and 'might-makes-right' required a greater effort than the 'quick-fix' he had been expecting and departed. He later returned as Clark Kent to visit Batman and advise locals on how to improve their burgeoning agriculture.

The Justice League kept an eye on Gotham during this time by preventing various villains from claiming the territory for themselves. Robin's father, Jack, discovered that his son was in Gotham, and, creating the lie that Tim entered the city for some sort of dare, petitioned the government for a search and rescue for Tim which inadvertently attracted media attention and further public support for the city's revival.

Gordon briefly allied himself with Harvey Dent to reclaim vital territory, but Harvey Dent betrayed the alliance to claim a greater amount of land for himself. Dent also hired David Cain to kill Gordon, but his mute daughter Cassandra, who had become one of Oracle’s agents, thwarted Cain. Cassandra later became the second Batgirl to help clean up No Man's Land. Later, Dent kidnapped Gordon and put him on trial for breaking the alliance. Police officer Renee Montoya reached out to Two Face's Harvey Dent's persona, whose defense lead to Gordon's acquittal. While cross-examining himself, Dent concluded that Two-Face had essentially blackmailed Gordon into the alliance; hence, any agreement between them is null and void.

Through the efforts of Lucius Fox, Batman succeeds in getting the attention of Lionel Luthor, who arrived in Gotham with plans to completely rebuild the city. Attempts by the Joker to disrupt construction were thwarted by Bane, who had been hired by Luthor in exchange for his own private country. Bruce Wayne Jr left the city, hoping to release Joel Kent from the Phantom Zone projector and recruit him to save the city but this took too long.

Bowing to intense pressure from the people and the media, the government reversed the No Man's Land order and allows Gotham to rejoin the United States. Gordon and his surviving officers were promoted. On Christmas Day, the Joker attacked Pettit's compound. Pettit was killed and the Batwoman barely surviving a battle with the Joker's men. The Joker later kidnapped all of Gotham's babies, hiding them in the police station. When Sarah Essen Gordon stepped upon the scene, the Joker shot her in the head as she scrambled to catch a baby he dropped. Incredibly, the Joker found no humor in Sarah's death.

Napier Joker escaped and with the Drews Harley Quinn kidnapped Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne Jr and Stephanie Brown tracked Napier down to the ruins of Arkham Asylum to find the Joker had brainwashed Damian Wayne into "Joker Jr". Stephanie Brown engaged the Drews Quinn, who seemingly fell to her death. Joker Forced Damian Wayne to attempt to kill his father but Damian Wayne instead shot and killed the Napier Joker.

Luthor's philanthropy was revealed to be a cover for his true intentions: to destroy the deeds to much of the property in Gotham and claim it for himself under false names. Lucius Fox, acting on a tip, discovered copies of the original documents and notified Luthor. Luthor, feigning ignorance, attempted to kill Fox, but Batman intervened and revealed that he was the one who anonymously tipped the Wayne Enterprises' CEO. He told Luthor that Gotham was not for sale and warned him to leave while he still could.

The citizens of Gotham ran in the New Millennium and fireworks exploded, while Barbara Gordon said her last goodbye to her daughter.

### **2000-2001: The Dark Knight Strikes Again**

In the Year 2000, Bruce Wayne became aware of Lionel Luthor's schemes, and that he was a clone of Lex Luthor. Luthor was infiltrating the US Government at a level even President Bartlett was unaware of. Bruce Wayne, in a perfect position to investigate, began infiltrating and taking down "President Luthor" and his organizations, along with Carrie Kelly, now going by Catwoman. Batman also led his "Batboys" many former members of the Mutant gang, in a series of raids on government facilities, Batman's soldiers released other superheroes discreetly captured by Luthor—including Atom(Ray Palmer), Flash(Wally West) and Plastic Man—from captivity. Elongated Man was also recruited.

Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Justice League wished to maintain good relations with President Bartlet. Superman was sent after Batman but the two intentionally faked a fight that led to Superman's defeat. Batman's raids had been noticed by the media. The superheroes had recaptured the public imagination and have become a fad among the youth, including a pop band called by "The Superchix".

During this time, rogue vigilante Question spied on Luthor's plans and types a journal to record the misdeeds of those in power. Question tried to convince the Martian Manhunter, still in a broken mental state since prior to 1996. Question and Martian Manhunter were attacked by a mysterious man resembling the Joker, who was seemingly invulnerable to injury.

Bruce Wayne allowed himself to be captured to be taken to Luthor. He learned of Luthor's plan to use Weapon Satellites to bombard several places. This was prevented by Green Lantern John Stewart, though he seemingly perished along with his wife Hawkgirl. In revenge, their son Rex Stewart attacked Luthor. Luthor then revealed himself to be Brainiac, having hidden within Luthor. The Justice LEague were able to defeat him.

Returning to the Batcave, Batman was contacted by Carrie, who was being attacked by the Joker-like man now wearing a Robin costume. Batman arrived and recognized the man as Dick Grayson, now under Brainwashing by Luthor. Grayson had been genetically altered to have a powerful healing factor and shape-shifting ability, but was now criminally insane. As Batman and Grayson fought they recalled their history together with Batman trying to save his former Protégé, the cave began to collapse. Elongated Man rescued Carrie. Grayson clinged onto a ledge, climbed out of the chasm and faced Batman. When Grayson remained virtually unharmed by everything Batman threw at him, Batman hurled himself and Grayson into the chasm. Superman rescued Batman at the last minute as the Batcave exploded, and took him to Carrie in the Batmobile. Bruce Wayne told Superman part of him wished to die with his first son because he wanted a fitting end to his story one day.

### **2002-2003: Hush**

Catwoman(Eliva Hancock) was taken over by Poison ivy II, forcing Bruce Wayne Jr to battle her and then a mind controlled Superman. After an injury in which Bruce Wayne Jr needed surgery, he called upon his old friend and brain surgeon Thomas Elliot. Elliot's mother had been saved from an accident by Thomas Wayne and he had befriended Bruce Wayne as a child, though quite old he was still a competent surgeon. Elliot passed away soon after.Wayne Jr meanwhile tracked down a new criminal named Hush. He discovered that Elliot and The Riddler, Edward Nigma had discovered and used a Lazarus Pit, restoring their youth. Elliot had become "Hush" as he wanted his parents to die and inherit their fortune but Thomas Wayne had saved his mother. During a battle between Hush and Bruce Wayne Jr, the aged Harvey Dent arrived to help and shot Hush, causing him to fall into the Gotham river. Restored youth gave the Riddler a new perspective. He now knew the identities of the Bat family but chose to keep it a secret. Riddler chose to reform, working for the police.

Luthor organized a meeting with Superman(Samuel Kent) which led to the Man of Steel being framed for Metallo's murder, claiming an approaching Kryptonite Meteor was driving him insane. Batman(Bruce Wayne Jr) helped clear his name and destroy the Meteorite, leading to Luthor's removal from power.

Bruce Wayne Jr, while contending with Rupert Thorne, encountered a trio of three women: Kathleen "Kathy" Duquesne, Dr. Roxanne "Rocky" Ballantine and Detective Sonia Alcana, who all acted as Batwoman. Wayne Jr chose to train to accept them into the Bat family and give them formal training.

### **2004-2005: Jason Todd**

In 2004, the criminal Black Mask would be hounded by Red Hood. Black Mask would recruit several members of the Secret Society of Supervillains (Deathstroke, Captain Nazi, Hyena, Count Vertigo). Batman (Bruce Wayne Jr) and Jason Todd fought these Villains, with Todd motivated into taking the Batman mantle after killing Black Mask.

The Entire Batfamily became involved in a battle with a Kryptonian cult, which escaped from the Bottled City of Kandor after Ray Palmer accidentally returned them to normal. Bruce Wayne used a special weapon to depower the Kryptonians mid flight, killing many, but was injured. This forced Bruce Wayne to restore his youth in a Lazarus pit. Todd became Batman in 2005, thwarting a scheme by a new Scarecrow(who is believed to have been a man named Jim, a survivor of the British outbreak of the Rage Virus in 2002) and the New Ra's Al Ghul: Henri Ducard to gas Gotham. Todd had trained with Ducard during his time after his resurrection. While Todd did not kill Ducard, he refused to save his life, allowing him to die in a Train crash. Bruce Wayne Jr retired to train the Batwomen and others.

As Batman, Jason Todd had allies such as Lieutenant Dreyfus of the GCPD, Wayne industries tech specialist Lucius Fox, his butler and retired royal Marine Harry Brown, and Nick Naylor, a former tobacco lobbyist who realized his knack for Politics and began campaigning successfully for Gotham's District Attorney. Todd's main enemy was not only the newest Scarecrow but also a new Joker, who's identity is unknown but he is believed to be Arthur Fleck. The Joker initiated a plan to turn Nick Naylor into the New Two Face, though Naylor died soon after. Todd became a criminal once again for the murder. The Joker was arrested and placed in Arkham Asylum where he would manage to have a man on the inside upload a blog to the Internet, referred to as *The Joker Blogs* which showcased his attempts to turn his therapist into a new Harley Quinn. Sadly, these attempts were successful. Joker would eventually briefly escape, forming a friendship with and then killing his henchman Jonny Frost during this time.

### 2006-**2008: Final Crisis**

Jason Todd acted as Batman during the 2005 Infinite Crisis, and the 2006 Darkseid invasion, during which Darkseid obtained the Anti Life Equation and then mysteriously disappeared along with Lex Luthor. However, the next invasion would leave most of the family scarred. Darkseid unleashed the Antilife equation on Earth and brainwashed most of the population. Bruce Wayne was captured but broke free, in desperation and in his old age, he was forced to use a special Gun to shoot Darkseid, weakening him, though he was vaporized immediately afterwards by the villain. Darkseid would finally be destroyed by Superman. This year also marked the passing of Julie Madison, who revealed a secret to Bruce Wayne Jr before her death. She claimed that Bruce Wayne was not his father, leading him on a search that forced him to use the Lazarus pit so that he could restore his youth. As it happens this was a trick to get him to use the Lazarus Pit in the first place.

### **2009: Battle for the Cowl**

After his murder of Nick Naylor, several members of the Batman family tracked down and defeated Todd, stripping him of the mantle. Now restored to his youth, Bruce Wayne Jr assumed the role again and fought the new Joker, who had altered his appearance to resemble that of the previous Joker, and now had his own Harley Quinn. Bruce Wayne Jr captured the Joker and brought him to Arkham Asylum, where he activated a trap, the Asylum itself. Batman fought his way out, defeating Antonio Diego, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and Poison ivy II before reaching Joker. The Joker injected himself with an experimental serum based on Bane's venom called Titan but was defeated by Batman. At this time, Bruce Wayne Jr, defeated a resurrected Ra's Al Ghul's attempt to destroy the world, an event which came dangerously close to succeeding. It became known as "the Near Apocalypse of 2009".

### **2010: Batman Inc**

Batman Inc was an attempt by the Batfamily by the restored Bruce Wayne to create a team of Batmen from all around the world. This was presumably done as a response to the Near Apocalypse the Previous year, as that event led Batman to be widely and publicly known to have prevented it.

### **2011: Arkham City**

Warden Quincy Sharp campaigned for Mayor with the promise of recreating the "Arkham City" project, from the era in the 1990's in which the city had been walled off to provide an area for criminals. Bruce Wayne Jr protested and was thrown into Arkham City as a result. The Joker was dying as he had infected himself with the Titan Virus. Batman recruited Mr.Freeze's help and also searched for a Lazarus Pit within Arkham City, finding Ra's Al Ghul had been restored and had been planning the creation of Arkham City with Hugo Strange. Both masterminds were killed and a showdown between Batman and the dying Joker resulted in the deaths of both Basil Karlo and the this incarnation of the Joker.

### **2012: Night of the Owls**

Bruce Wayne Jr became aware of the existence of the Court of Owls, a cult which not even Bruce Wayne had believed existed. The court captured him and attempted to drive him insane before he escaped. They then sent their assassins across Gotham. Bruce Wayne Jr tracked the Court down only to find that they had all been murdered by a man who fought Bruce Wayne Jr while claiming to be Bruce Wayne's brother, Thomas Wayne Jr. Though he had no way of proving this.

Bruce Wayne Jr revealed his survival, which corresponded with an attack on Gotham by the Scarecrow and the Mysterious Arkham Knight, who was discovered to be Jason Todd under the influence of Fear Toxin. Scarecrow infected Bruce Wayne Jr with his fear gas, causing him to hallucinate the Joker as well as the death of Barbara Gordon. Scarecrow released his fear gas, which Pamela Isley gave her life to save the city. Batman also prevented the spread of a Joker Virus into the public. Scarecrow was defeated but Bruce Wayne Jr's identity was exposed. He consequently faked his own death. Tim Drake was married months later.

### **2013: The Dark Knight Rises**

Jason Todd would survive being in Metropolis when Kalel Zod and Lor Zod did battle, destroying a large portion of the city. This left Todd with a limp, though he would be forced to return to the role of Batman when Bane threatened the city. Harry Brown departed his service and Todd grew close to the current Catwoman, who was searching for a clean slate, which could would help conceal and prevent the revelation of her true identity as Princess Mia Thermopolis of Genevia. Todd would battle both Bane and Talia, a battle which ended in the deaths of Bane and Talia. Todd appeared to be killed, transporting an atomic bomb out of the City where it exploded a safe distance away. Todd would spend two years in Europe, dating Thermopolis.

### **2014: Gotham**

The News spread of a wealthy child who's parents were murdered and many drew parallels to the Wayne case. At this time Gotham was under the grip of the Tarasov Crime Family until they were murdered by former Assassin John Wick, this left a vacuum to be filled by the likes of Fish Mooney. Several criminals pattering themselves on old Gotham Supervillains, possibly being their offspring or relatives began to appear, the only exception is Edward Nigma, who now had his youth restored but began to revert to his old habits. The Joker seemingly reappeared as a being claiming to be immortal, evidently as a result of exposure to the Lazarus Pit. Bruce Wayne Jr fought Joker and seemingly perished alongside him in an underground cave that collapsed around them. A new Joker was seemingly in the process of being created in the form of the twins Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska.

### **2015-2017: Batman vs Superman**

Todd was tricked by Alexander Luthor Jr into battling Kalel Zod when he was exposed to Scarecrow Fear Gas that played on planted evidence that implied Kalel Zod was a rogue Kryptonian like Superhuman like Homelander. Kalel Zod was able to get through to Todd by revealing his mother had been taken hostage and the arrival of Louise Banks on the Scene caused him to snap out of it. The two then fought a genetically created Doomsday, which Kalel Zod would sacrifice himself to destroy. An interrogation with Luthor Jr led to Todd reassembling the Justice League with Diana, later combatting the invasion of Steppenwolf in 2017.

### **2017-2019: Dark Knight's Metal**

Batman along with the Justice League would battle an invasion from the "Dark Multiverse" consisting of Evil Batmen that had joined together after their world's were destroyed. Worshipping the Dark God Barbatos, this group consisted of the Batman Who Laughs, a Batman version of Batman that was infected by Joker Venom after murdering the Clown prince of Crime, proceeding to murder his world's heroes and infect children to turn them into his demented Robins, the Drowned, a female Batwoman from Earth 11's counterpart that became a long lived Aquatic creature hybrid to combat that world's Aquawoman during her invasion, going insane as a result, The Dark Counterpart of Earth 32, in which Bruce Wayne became the bearer of Parallax, The Merciless, in which a War of the Gods the Justice League was involved in killed many with Bruce Wayne witnessing Wonder Woman's death. After killing Ares with enchanted weapons, Bruce Wayne was awarded with the title of the New God of War by Zeus, The Devastator, from a world where Superman went insane and murdered countless, leading to Batman transforming himself into a Doomsday like monster to fight and kill him, The Murder Machine, not from the Dark Multiverse but rather a Bruce Wayne who had been Roboticized in the timeline in which machines rose up and conquered before their defeat by John Connor, and the Red Death, a Bruce Wayne who went made when many of his loved ones died and so he attempted the same experiment that turned Barry Allen into the Flash, so that he could time travel. The Justice League was able to temporarily repel the Dark Multiverse and most of the evil Batmen were defeated by the Justice League. Bruce Wayne Jr briefly returned to the mantle while Todd went undercover as the Red Hood, when most of the Bat family and their enemies were transported to Feudal Japan.

Sometime after this, a Batman mission went wrong due to Bruce Wayne Jr's age from the Pit being undone, but he no longer being able to use it. During a mission he nearly died and only survived by using a Gun. He decided to retire for good.

### **The Future**

Damian became Batman, he believed that he had to kill in order to take a more definitive stance on crime than others in the Batman Family, in spite of the attempts of Father Gordon and his "Butler" Vladimir A. Korchnoi, a Russian double agent who had helped Jason Todd in his war on crime.

After an argument with his father over his newly returned lethal methods left Damian grievously injuring him with a stab wound extremely close to his main artery, he was exiled from the Batcave. Crestfallen, Damian went to the church to confess, where his worries were soothed by the priest, who suggested that the best way to atone for his guilt was to bring peace to the people by adopting the righteous and forgiving path of the Batman, one that did not include choosing death as a permissible tool for fighting evil, but rather letting the law decide the fate of the accused. Damian had to learn to forgive himself and earn forgiveness from his father in order to be admired by others for his fighting skills, at which point he would truly become Batman. Taking the priest's words to heart, Damian made some modifications to the traditional Batsuit to fight The Joker as he was sighted around that time, becoming the Batman at last as his grandfather Ra's had demanded of him.

Traveling to the dilapidated Arkham Asylum where the latest Joker supposedly was sighted, Damian found a lock of red hair and a teddy bear in the Joker's cell, causing him to realize that Professor Pyg had been there. Tracking Pyg to his hideout, Damian found him planning to inject children with a serum that would turn them into Dollotrons. Disgusted that Pyg would use children in his schemes, Damian attacked, forcing himself to be careful with the children who had already been turned, hoping that they could be changed back. Unfortunately, they overcame him and threw him through the window toward the river below.

Though he was successfully rescued from the Gotham River by Korchnoi, the man died of exertion soon after helping with his injuries. Damian was wakened from his sleep by Alfred the Cat, who leaped onto his gurney, rousing the young man with warnings spoken in Korchnoi's voice. The cat warned that Pyg and his henchmen were at work again, meaning it was time for him to get back into action as Batman.

Across town, Jackanapes and a cadre of intelligent animals piloted a school bus full of kidnapped children to Professor Pyg's hideout. Before they could arrive, Batman crashed through the windshield, quickly and brutally taking the thugs down with non-lethal techniques, despite its challenge. Though the children were shaken by the experience, Damian hoped that it would not stunt their emotional growth, and left the police to handle the rest.

Damian decided to return to the church and demonstrate that he followed the priest's advice. In the confessional box, Father Gordon warned that while Professor Pyg was apprehended, the Joker remained at large. Damian realized suddenly that he'd never mentioned the Joker to the priest, and demanded to know how he knew about it. Rushing to open the opposite door, he found the booth empty.

Korchnoi's body was interred in a quiet ceremony, given that so much of his life had been consumed by his service to the Wayne family, so he had few friends to mourn him. Afterward, Damian confided in the cat that his father Bruce Jr was doing better following the injury he sustained during a fight with Damian. He hoped that after what he did, and what happened, Bruce Jr would forgive him. Though he was uncomfortable speaking to a talking cat, Damian turned his mind to the Joker, noting that he needed help to track him, and, with the cat's agreement, decided to go to Bruce for help. However, upon arriving in Bruce's room, they found his gurney empty, and only a Joker themed playing card in his place. The card led Damian to the docks, and in a nearby warehouse, he discovered his father, bloodied and tied to a post. As he attempted to approach, the lights flicked on, and he was faced with the Joker and his followers - not the real Joker, but a follower of his legacy.

Despite successfully and non-lethally taking down all of the Joker's followers, Damian had left the Joker untouched. The Joker commented that he and this Batman had something in common: trying to live up to a predecessor's legacy by dressing up like them - but the new Joker intended to gain recognition in the criminal community by killing both Bruce Wayne Jr and the Batman. Unwilling to let it end like that, Damian unleashed a brutal attack on the Joker, beating him to a pulp. Crumpled and weak, the Joker wheezed that regardless, he would only serve time, and then he would be back, as the Joker always comes back. Angry at this, and not willing to do as expected, Damian cut the jester's laughter short by tearing open his gut before gathering Bruce Jr in his arms and limping away.

As news of the another Joker's return reached the public, the pressure was on Damian to prove himself as the Batman who succeeded, even with a no kill policy. Gotham City was in a grim state, and it would fall to Damian to set things right, for the sake of Gotham's good citizens, a task to which Damian dedicated himself as well as finding out who the killer of Dick Grayson truly was.

In 2022, 2 years into his career as Batman. Damian was assisted by a new Commissioner, one of many Androids modeled after Westworld founder Arnold Weber meant to test if Androids could be used in a police capacity. His first major opponent was the Riddler.

Unlike with the Android commissioner. The next Commissioner was less receptive. Damian developed a rivalry with Commissioner Stephanie Brown (who strongly condemned his actions, claiming he killed someone close to her). When asked why she hated him so much, she said, "That monster was responsible for the death of...of a good friend. He can't be trusted". Damian as Batman was cruel and darker than his father, more willing to injure and kill opponents if he judged it to be necessary to do so and possessed some form of supernatural ability (most visibly, the ability to heal catastrophic wounds in moments). It was believed that Damian made a literal deal with the Devil: his soul in exchange for the immortality and healing abilities he felt he needed to protect Gotham.

Sometime during his tenure as Batman, Michael Lane, the former Second Azrael, returned to Gotham insanely obsessed with destroying Batman at the behest of his master, the spirit of the deceased Simon Hurt. Dressed in his old Simon Hurt "substitute Batman" costume, Lane killed five of the top Gotham mob bosses, including Phosphorus Rex, Professor Pyg, Loveless, and Candyman. Commissioner Brown thought Batman was responsible for their murders, but quickly saw the light as the Dark Knight publicly confronted Lane. After defeating Nikolai, the Weasel, Jackanapes, Max Roboto, and Eduardo Flamingo, the Dark Knight not only defeated Lane, but executed him.

In 2023, one of Damian's current enemies, 2-Face-2, along with his hired goon Max Roboto, stole the Joker's old joke-book and took over Gotham's new artificial climate control system, causing it to rain Monster Serum and Joker Venom all over the city. The majority of Gotham's citizens were morphed into crazed Joker-ized zombies. The double-faced villain also kidnapped an infant named Terry McGinnis and shot him up with Joker Venom. Batman took out Roboto and confronted his boss in Carter Nichols' old lab. After defeating 2-Face-2, Batman watched with surprise as Nichols from the year 2010 appears and killed Nichols from this time. In a twisted form of suicide, Nichols murdered his older self to "spare him" from the horror of the current era, sent the corpse back to 2010 where it was discovered by police and ruled as a suicide in that time. Meanwhile, Nichols was free to travel the timestream as he pleased, since the world believed that he died fifteen years ago. Batman then gave an antidote to the Joker Venom/Monster Serum to baby McGinnis, who would become Batman in the future, being partly mentored by none other than Damian himself.

Damian had a strong dislike for Superman Connor Kent II. A Clone of Superman who acted in the role, but the two eventually became friends.

In the year 2028, all-out war between heroes and villains had broken out in the streets of Metropolis. For days, good and evil raged in the city, with countless deaths and destruction caused by the conflict.

Damian Wayne was present at the Battle of Metropolis that practically destroyed the city and caused the deaths of thousands of people. Wayne had considered using an Apokoliptian world-conquering device he had gotten to eradicate 90% of the world's superpowers and, in effect, end the war but was talked out of it by Nightwing, the clone of Dick Grayson. However, Damian was later seemingly killed in the fight when the Connor Kent clone, exposed to Black Kryptonite, was driven insane and murdered Damian. If the myth of Damian selling his soul was not true, it was now, as Damian returned to life. Damian's death and his indirect causation of it caused Nightwing to react drastically and use the Apokoliptian device himself to end the war.

The Cloned Dick Grayson activated a device in the war-torn streets of Metropolis that nullified the super-human powers of most of the world, believing it was the best cause of action to save humanity from the dangers of those with powers.

Sometime afterwards, Dick began a relationship with his former Teen Titans member Starfire and, even though Starfire's powers had been nullified by Nightwing's device, they once again fell in love and had a son named Jake. As time went on and Grayson was thrust more into the public eye as humanity's savior from superpowers, Starfire progressively fell out of love with Dick and resented his cause. One day, after Dick had been chosen to lead the new Crusaders division to hunt metahumans, Starfire left Dick without saying a word. Dick raised their son alone.

In 2039, Grayson's Fascist police State was overthrown thanks to the efforts of the mysterious Batman(Damian Wayne) and the resignation of Captain Gordon. An Elderly and now retired Bruce Wayne Jr encountered a teenager named Terry McGinnis, who stole the Bat Suit to combat criminals. After he defeated a Villain, Bruce Wayne Jr was convinced to pass the role of Batman onto Terry. Bruce Jr and Damian Wayne both trained Terry McGinnis. Unknown to Bruce at the time, McGinnis was actually his artificial son created under the orders of Amanda Waller, who became convinced the world needed a Batman. The two eventually came to terms with this after the discovery. Terry McGinnis also fought Joker, who returned through a chip he had implanted into Tim Drake when he was taken hostage.

Tensions were rising between Terry and Bruce Jr when they started investigating a serial killer nicknamed by the media as Hush. He used the M.O. of Batman Villains to murder other member of their rogues' gallery and their families. During this time, Batman also encountered a new Catwoman, who easily evaded capture numerous times. Bruce had Terry check up on the new Calendar Man, whom Hush had coincidently chosen as his next target. Before killing him; however, Hush revealed to Terry he had extensive knowledge on Batman and his allies as well as his villains. Returning to the Batcave, Terry stumbled upon the Bat-Wraiths, the Batman robots. He realized Bruce Jr didn't see him as a worthy successor and Terry lashed out by continuing the investigation by himself.  He was confronted by Hush and was almost killed in the confrontation. Luckily, he was found by Catwoman and Bruce was able to walk her through closing his wounds. Terry returned to the Batcave and he and his mentor made up and Bruce continued his medical care. Suddenly, Hush sent them a message to gloat about his plan to destroy Neo-Gotham. Batman teamed-up with Damian Wayne, Hush's genetic template, and Catwoman and the three were able to stop his plans. The clone seemingly died in an explosion, but Terry wasn't convinced he was gone for good.

In 2040, Dick Grayson came out publicly as Nightwing, and now worked as the leader of the Crusaders division in Gotham City, a police force that specialized in taking down rogue super-humans using a power-dampening serum. His status as the former hero who saved the world from super-powers made Dick a sort of celebrity and icon to the public.

However, Dick's world became complicated again when his son Jake, now in junior high, began to develop powers of his own. Attempting to control the situation before his division knew what was going on, Grayson and his son were prematurely arrested by Kate Kane, formerly the hero Batwoman, who held a grudge against Nightwing for becoming the head of the Crusaders over her. Escaping captivity, Grayson returned to the Batcave and suited up one last time as Nightwing in order to track down and free his son from the Crusaders who wanted to cryogenically freeze him.

Now a wanted man, Grayson was hunted by Green Lantern, an agent of the government, but was successfully saved by the Titans, a rebel operation of some of Grayson's former Teen Titans comrades that had been opposing Grayson's Crusaders for years. Reconnecting with some of his old friends, despite their huge political differences, Grayson begrudgingly agreed to work with the Titans in order to better find and save his son. He eventually reversed what he did and granted multiple people across the world superpowers across the world.

After the world started going into chaos with global warming and the exhaustion of energy resources, Lex Luthor challenged Superman to a debate of good versus evil, the stakes being that the loser would be impaled by Kryptonite shards. Superman won the debate in Luthor's mind but the people instead chose Luthor's side and Superman was killed. Luthor's words were able to convince the people to take everything for themselves. The world turned on both the superheroes and supervillains. As the League met at the Hall of Justice to figure out a final option on how to deal with the situation, an angry mob gathered outside the Hall. When the heroes sealed themselves inside, Bruce Wayne Jr, now restored to life via cloning and memories, decided to open the doors and let the people choose for themselves what to do. However, all they did was to tear everything and everyone apart with Damian and many of the heroes being killed. Bruce himself was brutally attacked, being mutilated and set on fire by a little girl and having his tongue cut out by a father and son. It took him years to recover and stand on his own. While he was presumed by nearly everyone to be dead, he had actually survived and had grown hateful of the world after what they did to him, his family and his friends. He then decided to conquer the world and control or kill everyone. Omega was born on that day. Only Terry McGinnis was aware of his survival and worked with him.

Damian survived being torn to pieces due to his deal with the Devil, but his body was slow in reassembling itself. Tim Drake became Batman, something he'd sworn he'd never be. He was a more violent Batman due to several murders and was a member of that era's Titans, made up mostly of adult heroes who had become more violent. Drake began killing several criminals.

In 2045, A new Joker virus was released. In a government-quarantined Gotham, Batman and Commissioner Brown fought off the remaining populace, that were Joker-ized. Per Damian's mother, Talia al Ghul's orders(actually Ra's at the time, which Damian agreed to keep secret), "Simon Hurt "(presumed to be Satan) was became the President of the United States, and authorized a nuclear strike on Gotham, wiping the city clean off the face of the planet, this soon led to Hurt's impeachment but he simply vanished on that day). Tim Drake saw that Damian Wayne put Gotham in danger and tried to kill him but he survived. Drake's last act as Batman was to put Wonder Woman in suspended animation in the hopes she could help in the future. Tim Drake then died of radiation on the Wayne Manor couch, after drinking for the first time in his life.

Damian was able to survive the destruction of Gotham due to his deal with Doctor Hurt. One Christmas, he was attacked by his maternal grandfather(or at least his ghost or hallucination), who blamed him for turning the world into a nuclear wasteland. Damian considered killing him, but he didn't want to kill the last of his family and tarnish the legacy started by his father. He allowed Ra's to lethally assault him, and once he calmed down, the two spent the holiday together.

Prior to the nuclear apocalypse of 2045, Cohen was a world-class gymnast pursuing a doctorate in criminology and writing his thesis on the original Batman, Bruce Wayne. His mother was a rabbi and his father a politician, both having dedicated their lives to gun control. Cohen deduced Batman's secret identity, and survived the apocalypse while investigating the Batcave underneath Wayne Manor, finding but failing to awaken Wonder Woman. Shortly afterward his parents were targeted by an anti-Jewish group called the National Reconstruction Alliance, and murdered in an alleyway. Swearing to make their deaths meaningful, he designed his own modern Batman costume and took to the streets to fight crime. He vowed that as long as he lived there would never be firearms allowed in Metropolis.

Batman's vigilante actions made enemies on both sides of the law, and he was targeted by a crime syndicate known as the Combine. They framed him for the murder of the time displaced Jonah Hex's girlfriend Stiletta, and sent the bounty hunter to kill him for them. They fought immediately, and nearly killed each other. Batman saved Hex's life, and the two began to work together on solving the mystery. The Combine unleashed giant destructive robots on the city, and both men fought successfully to destroy them but the Batplane was plunged directly into the harbor. His body was not found in the wreckage, and Hex believed him to be dead mentioning that he "kinda liked him."

In the wasteland, many individuals took up the mantle of Batman to battle tyrants. This was echoed out in space as well. Among those to emerge was an Azrael, Bat King, Bryce Gawain, War-Bat, Robert Kane, a Batwoman and others. The Nuclear war caused the Return of Brother Eye as a powerful force, motivated by Skynet into a hostile takeover of Earth. Bruce Wayne Jr and Terry McGinnis operated in secret to prepare a time machine. McGinnis was sent back in time, eventually returning, Brother Eye would instead be defeated in the native time rather than the past, though tragically, Terry McGinnis would not survive the final battle.

In the wasteland, a tyrant calling himself the Bruce took over, His citizens were allowed to challenge him in combat during an annual event referred to only as a Hunt: remade so that his very skin resembled the batsuit of Bruce Wayne, who the Church of Batman insisted was a god, "The Bruce" would ride through the city, hunting down and murdering innocents who had their appearances altered to resemble Batman's greatest enemies, having been brainwashed into a semblance of their personalities so they would attempt to attack the innocent people of Gotham before "Batman" killed them. At the time of his final battle against the Joker, he was 92 years old and had been Batman since age 60, kept alive by the ingenious Doc Klibon. In his final attempt at The Hunt, Doc Klibon, who enjoyed doing things just to "tick (The Bruce) off", intentionally did a poor job wiping Joseph Collins' memories while he was being transformed into the Joker, so that after his initial activation, "the Joker" remembered who he was. Dressed up in one of Bruce Wayne's original Batsuits, Collins engaged The Bruce in battle, ultimately managing to defeat him before Collins' girlfriend, Marya, executed The Bruce with the weapon dropped by a suicidal Doc Klibon. This lead the cheering mob to transfer their loyalty to Collins, who had replaced The Bruce as "the Bat", the man-god of Gotham City. Marya now acted as his Robin

However a new tyrant arose, Omega, having beheaded Darkseid after a battle, used his head to emit the Anti-Life Equation as a broadcasting signal to control others. He killed Damian Wayne by vaporizing him, leaving him no way to return from the dead. He then proceeded to lay waste to the entire world as "Omega" and anyone who stood before him, conquering the eastern seaboard of the United States.

No one knew however, who Omega really was except for an AI of his butler Alfred and possibly the new Catwoman, with many presuming Omega was someone connected to the original Batman as he utilized Gotham City as his base. Some of those inside the city knew he was using Wayne Enterprises for his war and assumed he might have been a clone. The surviving heroes and villains banded together to fight him but were defeated. Omega also acquired the Mobius Chair. The Joker, Joseph Collins, fought back only to beheaded. The AI Alfred, intentionally left his still alive head hidden to be found again at a later date. Insanity caused the dormant Joker's personality to reassert itself.

Under Omega's rule, Gotham was expanded into a much larger city while he turned most of the population into his minions. Only a few inside Gotham resisted him. He also made Catwoman work with him against the resistance, though she would eventually grow tired of his constant scheming. Tim Drake went on to free many members of the Batman Family and 100 more people from his control, using a jammer to block his Anti-Life control signal. Due to Omega's actions, every hero gave up ever donning the symbol of the Bat. Outside Gotham, Diana led the largest band of survivors not under his thrall. He also re-created the Wayne Manor atop the Wayne Tower. Joseph Collinz

Bruce went on to track down the Martian Manhunter in order to use him as an amplifier for the Anti-Life signal, so he could acquire control of everyone in the world.

A clone of Bruce Wayne, modeled on Terry McGinnis's DNA was created from a machine that Bruce Wayne intended for cloning himself, so his war on crime could be waged by another Bruce long after his death. The clone however only achieved consciousness after most of the Earth had been laid waste by Omega and had missing memories. He recalled one memory of the original Batman. Bruce Wayne had discovered the corpse of a child. An investigation by Batman had revealed evidence that Thomas Wayne had performed surgery on the child while drunk and had killed the kid. The incident was then covered up. The child was the son of Joe Chill, making it seem that Joe Chill had killed the Waynes out of revenge, not in a botched mugging. Bruce Wayne concealed this information.

The Clone awoke, the AI Alfred first tried to make him believe that he was just a mental patient in Arkham Asylum. He also tried to claim to him that he was locked there after murdering his parents and was hallucinating his adventures as Batman while casting the asylum staff and inmates as his villains. He however retained memories and skills of the original Bruce. In his padded cell he found a small penny and toy Dinosaur.

He later visited Bruce again and gave him a "batsuit" made out of padded jacket and leather. Just a few minutes later, Bruce tried to make his escape but was finally cornered by some of the staff. Alfred called them off and finally told him the truth that he was a clone, the world had been destroyed and he wanted to spend time with him now that no war on crime needed to be waged. Bruce realized Alfred was older and using a hologram mask to look younger, making him shed his disguise. He decided to see for himself what had happened and hugged him before venturing out as the Last Knight on Earth.

Walking through a desert, he barely survived after being buried in sand while sleeping and found the head of the Joker, who could still talk, in a jar. Arriving at Coast City two days later, he saw first-hand the devastation that had been wrought. Joker informed him how Mogo had been leeched to death by Brainiac and destroyed with a bomb in its core and people grabbed the Green Lantern Rings that fell to the Earth. He was then attacked by giant babies created by the ring-wearers, who had no will to properly handle it, before being rescued by Vixen and Poison Ivy. When Joker told them that he's Batman, Ivy knocked him out.

When he woke up in Gemworld, he found himself bound and was questioned by the New Amazons about who he really was. They were called off by Diana of Themyscira, the former Wonder Woman. She informed him of how Lex Luthor had convinced the people to turn against the superheroes and take everything for himself. They turned on both the heroes and villains. Meanwhile, a mysterious being named Omega attacked and laid waste to most of the world, having obtained the Anti-Life Equation.

The clone asked her about Superman, having learnt about rumors of him being still alive in the Plains of Solitude from Alfred, though she stated she saw him die and it was just a fabrication, while Omega himself was believed to be from Gotham City. Having informed him of the plan to take the survivors to the Underworld, she gave him the original Batman's batsuit and asked him to come with them though he tried to convince her to fight back. He later left without informing them in order to find out the whole truth.

Whilst travelling, he escaped a Speed Force storm and was torn up about being unable to help the various Flashes trapped inside it. Arriving at Fort Waller, he witnessed the Animal Men and surviving soldiers fight over power still left in Red Tornado's corpse. Being unable to decide who to help, he had to flee after Swamp Thing started attacking everyone. After arriving at the Plains of Solitude, he was knocked out by Kryptonian Rockets, the same in which Superman had landed in, but was rescued by a bearded Superman clone whom he thought was the real one.

While he chastised the clone for hiding there and not helping the survivors, he took him to a replica of the Kent Farm. There, he met Luthor who was still alive and he revealed the Superman he met was a clone created by the original Superman, as were many of the others he had created himself from organic tissue, though all of them were much weaker. He also stated he had created a wormhole through space-time which would allow him to bring an infant Kal-El to his timeline.

When asked about how the world fell apart, Luthor told him that he had invited Superman to a debate of good versus evil and convince the people, in order to end their rivalry once and for all. The stakes being the loser would be impaled by Kryptonian shards emerging from underneath them. Superman lost and things quickly fell apart afterwards. They even made a Batman clone to bring the chaos under control but failed. However, Kal-El always died in every Kryptonian rocket he was bringing into his timeline in the attempt to replace the dead Superman.

The two were however unexpectedly attacked by the Superman clone. Bane and Scarecrow then arrived and told the clone to kill Bruce, but he was rescued by Diana who killed the clone. Scarecrow then had all the other clones attack them. Luthor allowed them to escape through a portal while making all of the Superman clones attack him instead as he still shared a connection with them. Diana and Bruce landed on the cloak of Spectre, who fell on Earth in the past after a destructive war between heaven and hell.

The two entered it and travelled through the Limbo, where Bruce used the Lasso of Truth to be able to see and was struck by visions of those whose deaths he felt he was responsible for. After seeing Alfred, he entered an identity crisis and thought of throwing away his penny, but she told him to keep it. Asking her about why she followed him, she stated it was because he had chosen to empower the people earlier.

They first arrived at Metropolis to search the Daily Planet building but had to leave due to parasite dogs. They later witnessed the much larger Gotham controlled by Omega. There, they were confronted by the Talons of the Court of Owls, now a resistance group against Omega. However, they realized to their astonishment that their leader was the clone of Dick Grayson who was himself shocked to find Bruce there.

The two were then taken to the Batcave where their allies were hiding, staying out of Omega's signal due to the late Tim Drake's blocker. He initially thought that Omega may be another Bruce clone like him as only his DNA could open the Wayne Tower, Omega's base. Learning that Omega planned to make the signal stronger and unblockable using an amplifier on Arkham Island, Bruce convinced them to fight back. They travelled to a black-market warehouse of a cloned Selina Kyle who decided to help them, being tired of Omega's constant scheming against others.

Batman went with Joker, who had been placed in a Robin robot suit developed for Tim that responded to the user's thoughts, to Wayne Tower. Diana, Duke Thomas, Dick, Barbara and Bryce Grayson were meanwhile sent to deal with the amplifier at Arkham Island. He fought Omega's security forces and was almost killed, before being rescued by the Joker.

Inside the Wayne tower, he was restrained by Omega and placed on the repurposed Mobius Chair to be brain-washed into becoming his soldier. To his shock, Omega revealed to him that he was not Bruce Wayne Jr, but the real Bruce Wayne Jr, who had turned on the world after barely surviving the mob at the Hall of Justice. As the Mobius Chair brainwashed the Clone, the Joke revealed that the incident the clone remembered involving Joe Chill's child was a plot created by the Joker to break Batman which failed. The Joker state the he was the real Batman now, not the Original Bruce, who abandoned his ideals. The clone broke free of his restraints using Alfred's penny, after being inspired by Joker who stated that he was the real Batman now, not the original Bruce, who abandoned his ideals. He then was able to use Alfred's penny to escape.

He clashed with Omega on top of the Wayne Tower and succeeded in impaling him, while also preventing him from using Darkseid's head to gain control of everyone's mind. He then formed a new team of heroes along with the surviving Batman Family, Diana and the New Amazons. Utilizing Luthor's machine, he brought a Kryptonian rocket with baby Kal-El into their world, raising him as his own to be a hero in the future.

In a future Gotham City at the end of the 21st Century, dominated by high technology, particularly computer networks and their human controllers, long after the original Batman had died. James Gordon, Gotham City Police Department detective and descendant of Commissioner James Gordon, took on the identity of the Batman to free the city from a sentient computer virus crafted by the Joker, also now long dead, and to avenge the death of his partner Lena Schwartz. He was aided by a self-aware computer called the Batcomp, programmed by the late Bruce Wayne, and a robot called Alfred (after Wayne's also deceased butler Alfred Pennyworth), both residing in the Batcave under a now long-abandoned Wayne Manor. Joining Gordon in his new crusade against crime and the city's corrupt government were a teenage street-punk informant, who became the new Robin; and a female pop music superstar named Sheila Romero (stage name Gata), who became the new Catwoman and, while being his adversary at first, eventually became Gordon's lover and ally.

In 2125, the Batman Clone and his descendants led Human Civilization from an underground complex. The surface was left to mutant animals and a few humans, including a man named Kamandi. Batman managed to revive the Brother Eye satellite as a force for good. He had been keeping tabs on Kamandi, who was a descendant of Buddy Blank, a.k.a. OMAC, and planned to revive the One-Man Army Corps as a weapon against the Parademons. He eventually succeeded.

In 2325, After prolonging his life for entire centuries, the Bruce Wayne Clone finally died.

In the year 2500, man now lived side-by-side with intelligent apes, and a vast floating city - New Gotham - floated over the ruins of the original. Wayne Enterprises Vice-President Brenna Wayne, having discovered evidence of an elaborate conspiracy against her family on a disk recorded by Alfred - thirteen generations of Waynes have all died young in a violent manner dressed in a bat-like costume - took up the mantle of Batwoman and faced off against Vandal Savage. Discovering that her brother James has betrayed her, Brenna and Savage faced off on the meteor as Savage tried to draw it down to Earth, unconcerned about the destruction that this would cause. The battle culminated in Savage being left drifting through space on the meteor, determined to learn the purpose of his life. Brenna survived the ordeal and returns safely to Earth.

Between 2500, and 2525, A revived Lex Luthor began a large Empire, forcing most of Mankind into space. The Current Batman was convinced by the current Supergirl to take a serum to grant himself superpowers. It rendered both of them immune to Kryptonite and they defeated Luthor. Kalel Zod returned to Earth after centuries of absence and revealed that a Parademon invasion had taken place in 1925 but the memories of the event where erased.

As humanity began to head into the stars. A man eventually came to know that the ship they were on was not going anywhere due to a malfunction in the navigation system. He then took on the identity of a character from Old Earth folklore, the Batman. He tried to find a way into the ship's main computer, and eventually happened upon Tris Plover. He took Tris to his hideout and told her of the universe beyond the ship, and of the birth and death cycle on the ship. He eventually made Tris the new Robin and allowed her to aid him on his quest to find the main computer. They broke into the police headquarters, and they began to fight the swarms of police that were inside. Batman fought them and sent Tris to the computer. Batman was shot and killed by policemen. Tris set a course for a new planet, but found that it would take 300 years to get there. She would turn herself in and was executed.

In 2725, On Earth, the current Batman and Supergirl Blue buried their son, Thomas. At least one version of Batman used a Missile as the Batmobile of the Future.

Lana Lang and Lois Lane arrive via time bubble in the Superman Museum in Smallville in the year 2825. They discovered that Clark Kent was Superman and Lois would one day marry him. Outside, they stumbled across Superman fighting a troop of Parademons. They were almost attacked, but were saved by Supergirl Blue. Batman realized that they could use the time bubble to reach the final Parademon attack in 2925. The heroes first returned the two girls to 1925 and rescued Saturn Girl. Superman has Saturn Girl wipe the memories of everyone for 1,000 miles before taking the time machine to the future. They landed in 2925 as energy beams strike all around them.

In 2915, Batman, now immortal through Lazarus Pit and cloning, visited the original Superman in the Sun itself.

In 2925, With Darkseid's forces attacking the Earth, the heroes fanned out. Supergirl Blue destroyed a weapon called the Sky Scorcher, but was fatally injured. Dying, Supergirl Blue told Batman that the only way to stop Darkseid was to destroy him just after his resurrection, changing the timeline. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern Jordan Kelley went back in time to Darkseid's space station. Green Lantern and Wonder Woman were killed, but Batman caused Granny Goodness to overload the station's power supplies. The space station exploded.

In the 31st Century, in 3000, Ariel Masters and the Wonder Twins (Teri and Terry) cloned the original Justice League members Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Green Lantern.

The original intent for this being, to combat against the *five*, a ruthless group, who were seemingly unstoppable.

Using the bodies of various volunteers, they used the DNA to override the volunteer's body. This resulted in imperfect versions of the league, with incorrect physical characteristics, shortage of certain powers, as well as memory loss for the entire team.

In the 31st Century on Takron-Galtos, 15-year old Tina Sung adopted the moniker of Batman and fought crime with a particularly violent attitude. In the beginning, Tina made her costume with her best friend Harriet Shankar who adopted the moniker of Harley Quinn and the two play-fought and practiced until one day Tina decided she wanted to be more serious leaving Harriet behind who believed Tina to have betrayed her for her "other friends".

Batman of the Justice League 3000 and Supergirl first encountered her and brought her to Sheriff Tariq where he revealed that her parents were "lifers" and she was born on the planet, choosing to stay to hunt down criminals as a voluntary prisoner.

Recognizing her as a fellow orphan, Bruce elected to bring her back to Camelot Nine and she agreed, as long as she could bring her best friend, Harriet.

Saturnian warlord Fura's robotic forces conquered Earth on April 19, 3000. killing the Justice League 3000. Brane Taylor (the newly-enslaved descendant of Bruce Wayne) and his nephew Ricky found a time capsule containing an audio-visual recording of the original Batman and Robin in action. The duo were inspired to strike back at their alien overlord in the guise of the Dynamic Duo, becoming the new Batman and Robin in 3051. Eventually, the new Batman and Robin succeed in leading Earth's people to victory against the tyrant from space.

The new Robin broke his leg while fighting one of the henchmen of the evil Yerxa. Brane Taylor decided to travel back in time to recruit the assistance of the original Robin--Dick Grayson. Some time after the successful completion of that case, Taylor again travelled to the past to aid the original Batman while he recovered from a broken arm. Reporter Vicki Vale suspected Taylor of being an impostor, but she changed her mind after a successful ruse involving the original Batman.

Brane was summoned by Batman and Robin from 1955, in order to help them prevent Vicki Vale from learning Batman's secret identity. During his time in the present, Brane posed as the Batman of 1955 and he captured some wanted criminals. However, his physique almost gave away his real identity, but before Vicki could expose him, Brane switched places with the real Batman and her plan was stopped. Afterwards, Brane returned to the future he came from.

Taylor and his nephew also help their era's Superwoman to defeat Epoch.

When his parents, including Brane Taylor were murdered by the Joker XIX, a descendant of the original Joker, Bron decided to avenge them and he adopted the identity of Batman XX. He trained his body to physical perfection and armed himself with the latest items in scientific technology.

He eventually learned of the crimes performed by the super-villains Muto and the Joker XX, who had also managed to outmatch Superman XX. Batman followed Superman to his Fortress of Solitude and introduced himself to the Man of Steel and they decided to team-up to defeat the criminals. While Superman fought Muto, Batman tried to capture the Joker in order to learn the wherabouts of his father. Unfortunately, Joker was killed during the fight as a lightning struck at him and Batman did not learn what happened to the Joker that killed his father

In the 31st century, Bruce Wayne XX was the Batman until he was killed by a conquering alien race known as the Skulps. He was the son of the genius inventor Bruce Wayne XIX. His nephew, Tom Wayne, carried on the fight as the super-hero Robin.

There was at one point a Bruce Wayne XXIII

In the distant 853rd Century(year 85,300), With the aid of the Laughing Virus, the criminal Xauron instigated a rebellion, seizing control of the world. Seeking retribution and a demonstration of power, Xauron had thousands of guards, as well as their spouses, herded into an arena, with their children forced to watch as their parents were massacred over the course of days. When the 15,000 children of those families were forced to watch the massacre of their parents, many committed suicide or went insane. One swore never to let such a tragedy occur again, and vowed to become The Batman.

Already aware about the Batman Legacy and the many Batmen that had already existed, he chose the symbol of the bat because he thought that it stood for more than simply fear; it stood as an ideal, it stood for justice. Knowing what was necessary to succeed in his mission, he began training, honing his abilities just as hundreds of others who had taken the mantle of the bat had done before him. He furthered his knowledge in millions of physical and mental techniques, various subjects, and even more in searching for the technology he would need to combat evil.

After years of patience, training, studying, and preparing, Batman One Million took to the dangerous Asylum Planet, Pluto, along with his sidekick, Robin One Million. Soon after, he was invited to join a new incarnation of the Justice League, Justice Legion Alpha, where he met Superman One Million, Flash One Million, among others. After years of working together, they went back in time to invite the Justice League of the 20th century to see the rebirth of the first Superman, Superman Prime. Unexpectedly, their companion Starman betrayed them and unleashed a plague onto Earth, with the real Justice League being unable to stop it, Justice Legion Alpha was there to help them. Batman One Million worked with the 20th century Batman to find a way to stop Starman's plan, along with Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, using the technology of the Batcave. Batman One Million stopped his plans, ending with Starman returning to the light once more and committing suicide to stop what he had done. Batman One Million and his companions returned to their era, along with the 20th century Justice League, to watch the rebirth of Superman Prime.

## Legacy

Robin VI: Tim Drake(1989-1993)(Retired)-4 years,

Batgirl III: Stephanie Brown(1992-1993)(Retired)-2 years

Batman V: Jason Todd(1993-2012)(Faked Death, Retired)-19 years

Batgirl IV: Cassandra Cain(1999-2004)(changed alias)-5 years

Batman VI: Terry McGinnis(2039-)

## Birthdates & Portrayals

### **The** **Gordons**

Artemus Gordon-1822(Played by Ross Martin)

James Gordon (son of Artemus Gordon)-1875(Resembled Theodore Roosevelt)

James Anthony Gordon / The Whisperer (son of James Gordon) is born-1900

September 23: Barbara Gordon (daughter of James Anthony Gordon)-September 23,1944(Played by Yvonne Craig)

### **The** **Kanes**

Martha Taylor Kane-1885

Katherine ‘Kathy’ Webb-1924

Betty Kane-1950

### **The** **Waynes**

Patrick Wayne-1862

Silas Wayne-1867-1958(91 years old).

Thomas Wayne (son of Patrick Wayne)-1884

Bruce Wayne - February 19, 1912({Played by Lewis Wilson, the first actor to play Batman in the 1943 film serial)

Bruce Wayne Jr.- 1950 (Portrayed by Burt Ward as Robin and Michael Keaton as Batman)

### **The Batmen**

Silas Wayne-1867-1958(91 years old).

Batman I:Bruce Wayne(1937-1961,1981-1985,1986-1996, 2001-2008)(retired, Returned)-29 years total(Portrayed by Lewis Wilson)

Batman II: Richard Grayson(1961-1969)(Portrayed by Adam West)-9 years

Batman III: Bruce Wayne Jr(1969-1979,1985-1986,1987-1995,)-12 years(Portrayed by Burt Ward as Robin and Michael Keaton as Batman).

Batman IV: Damian Wayne(1989-1993)(Crippled, retired, )-4,3 years, 7 years total

### **The Robins**

Robin I: Richard "Dick" Grayson(1940-1949)(Became Batman)-9 years(Portrayed by Douglas Croft as Robin and Adam West as Batman).

Robin II: Bruce Wayne Jr(1964-1969)(Became Batman)-5 years

Robin III: Damian Wayne(1981-1984)(Became Nightwing)-3 years

Robin IV: Jason Todd(1983-1985)(Deceased, later Resurrected)-2 years

Robin V: Carrie Kelly(1986-1989)(Willingly Stepped Down, changed alias)-3 years

### **Catwomen**

Khefrerati/Selina Kyle-1920

Kitayna Ireyna Tatanya Kerenska Alisoff-1933

### **Batgirls**

Batgirl I: Mary Elizabeth Kane (1961-1964) (retired) - 3 years

Batgirl II: Barbara Gordon(1966-1969)(Crippled, retired)-3 years

### **Batwomen**

Batwoman I: Katherine Webb-Kane(1956-1964, 1977)(retired, died) - 8,1 year, 9 years total

### **Butlers**

Alfred Beagle

Alfred Pennyworth-1889

### **Other Superheroes**

Kent Nelson-January 17,1908

Kal-el/Clark Kent-1917

Giovanni “Mandrake” Zatara-March 10, 1919

Matt Murdock-1931

### **Government Agents**

Rick Flagg Jr-1951

Nicholas Fury Jr.- December 21,1951

## **Portrayals**

Batman I:Bruce Wayne-Lewis Wilson

Robin I and Batman II: Richard Grayson-Douglas Croft(as Robin)Adam West(as Batman)

Robin II and Batman III: Bruce Wayne Jr- Burt Ward(as Robin)Michael Keaton(as Batman).Also animated Series Batman,

Robin III and Batman IV: Jason Todd-Christian Bale.