Batman (Nolanverse)

**Bruce Wayne** as known as the **Batman**, was a brave and short-tempered vigilante, and an emotionally unstable billionaire in his civilian identity. Prior to his retirement, he helped protect Gotham City from Ra's al Ghul, the Joker and Bane as Batman.

## Batman

### Relatives

Martha Wayne (mother, deceased)
Thomas Wayne (father, deceased)
Alfred Pennyworth (former legal guardian)

## Appearances

### Appears in

Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises

## History

### Origins

Bruce Wayne was born to Thomas and Martha Wayne, two generous socialites in Gotham City, and the heads of Wayne Enterprises. While playing with his friend Rachel Dawes, Bruce fell into a bat-infested cave on the grounds of his home of Wayne Manor and developed a fear of bats. Thomas taught Bruce to be noble and kind, and to help those in need of help, regardless of fear. When he was eight years old, however, Thomas and Martha were shot in front of Bruce by a mugger in an alley, traumatizing him for life, and causing him to grow up hurt and angry, determined to carry on the lessons of his father. He was placed in the care of family butler Alfred Pennyworth, who raised him like a son, but was unable to stop him from growing into an emotionally unstable and determined adult, dedicated to taking down the criminals that stalked Gotham's streets for years.

As an adult, Bruce attempted to kill the mugger who killed his parents, but an enforcer for mob boss Carmine Falcone killed him before he had the chance. Disillusioned, Bruce traveled the world to train to protect Gotham, before finally encountering Henri Ducard, who trained him in the League of Shadows, making him a master martial artist and tactician, as well as allowing him to overcome his fear of bats. When he learned that the League were murderers and planned to destroy Gotham, Bruce betrayed the League and destroyed their temple, saving and abandoning Ducard on a mountain.

Bruce returned to Gotham, transforming the cave into a base of operations for his crimefighting. With the aid of Alfred, and the equipment supplied by Wayne Enterprises engineer Lucius Fox, Bruce donned a bat-like suit of armor, amassed several gadgets and vehicles, and went out on the streets as the violent vigilante "Batman", a brave and mysterious warrior of justice determined to rid Gotham of crime once and for all. In his civilian identity, Bruce reclaimed Wayne Enterprises, establishing a snobby playboy persona for the public and tabloids to soak up while Batman remained in the shadows, and reconnected with Rachel, now employed at the District Attorney's office.

### Battling Ra's al Ghul

Batman started his crimefighting career by disrupting Carmine Falcone's drug shipment, and leaving him for the police with evidence for Rachel to use against him in court. While investigating the drugs, he encountered the Scarecrow, an Arkham Asylum psychiatrist on Falcone's payroll, who sprayed him with a powerful fear toxin he had been exposed to during his training with the League of Shadows. Batman returned to his headquarters, where Lucius developed an anti-toxin. Batman later saved Rachel from the Scarecrow, and while he revealed his identity to her, she revealed that he'd shown her that the toxin was being pumped into the city's water supply. He then gave her two vials of the anti-toxin to give to Jim Gordon, the police officer who comforted him on the night his parents were murdered, one for himself and one for mass production.

While at Wayne Manor, Bruce was confronted by Ducard, who revealed himself to be Ra's al Ghul, leader of the League of Shadows, and that he planned to destroy Gotham by using a stolen microwave-emitter to vaporize the city's water supply, now laced with the toxin, and driving everyone mad with its vapor. The two fought, resulting in Wayne Manor being burned to the ground, and Batman made his way to stop the train with the microwave emitter before it could make it to the water main. As Batman and Ra's fought on the train, Gordon took control of Batman's high-powered tank and shot out the elevated railing for the train, with Batman leaving Ra's to die in the explosion, saving the city.

### Gotham's Dark Knight

Following the battle with Ra's, Batman became a public hero and began working closely with newly-promoted Lieutenant Gordon, who would use a spotlight with a bat emblem called the Bat-Signal which could be used to summon him. Batman spent the next few months battling criminals like Deadshot and Killer Croc, and investigating the mysterious Joker, a sadistic, nihilistic terrorist bent on showing the world that the only way to live in an insane world is without rules. He also decided that his original costume wasn't durable or flexible enough, and so commissioned Lucius to design him a new one.

In his civilian identity, Bruce made Lucius the new Wayne Enterprises CEO, while he stayed on as the owner. He found a new home and headquarters in Wayne Tower with Alfred, but was unable to properly connect with Rachel, who was unable to reconcile her love for Bruce with his dual identity as the Batman.

### The Joker's Attacks

Several months after the battle with Ra's al Ghul, the Joker's crimes of terror began increasing in severity and frequency. Bruce was sure he could find a motive behind the Joker, and use that to stop him, but Alfred assured Bruce that he may have no motive other than causing chaos. At the same time, Batman and Gordon began contemplate including new district attorney Harvey Dent on their plan to take down mob boss Sal Maroni, seeing how he could be a public hero while Batman remained in the shadows. Bruce attempted to get to know Harvey, who was dating Rachel at the time, and found him so sincere he endorsed him with a fundraiser, as well as bringing him onto the plan with Gordon as Batman.

Meanwhile, Maroni and other Gotham mobsters hired the Joker for half of all their money to kill the Batman and Lau, a Chinese mafia accountant who had hidden the mob's money and fled to Hong Kong to prevent Gordon's plan to steal their funds. Batman captured Lau in Hong Kong and returned him to Gotham, where he agreed to testify against Maroni and his men. This pushed the Joker to deliver an ultimatum to the city, stating that if Batman didn't reveal his identity to the public, people would die every day. When prominent figures like Commissioner Loeb and Judge Surillo were murdered, Batman and Gordon faked Gordon's death at the Joker's hands, and Bruce decided to reveal his identity to protect other innocents from the Joker's wrath. Before he could, however, Harvey announced at a press conference that he was Batman, and was arrested. As Batman expected, the Joker attempted to intercept Harvey's convoy, but Batman and Gordon intervened and captured him.

On the way back to police headquarters, Harvey was abducted by Maroni's men and taken to a warehouse rigged with explosives. Batman interrogated the Joker at the police station, trying to get him to reveal where he'd sent Harvey, but despite everything, the Joker was merely amused by Batman's attempts to get information out of him, reiterating his philosophy that life is meaningless and the only way to live is to be lawless. When he revealed that he'd also captured Rachel and that she and Harvey were in warehouses on the opposite sides of the city, a furious Batman ran out to save Rachel, while the police went to save Harvey. The Joker, however, gave Batman the opposite addresses, and Batman arrived to find Harvey instead. Batman saved him just before the explosives went off, but they were too close to the blast and Harvey's face was permanently disfigured, while Gordon was unable to save Rachel at all, and the Joker escaped custody with Lau, whom he later killed.

Feeling broken and defeated, Bruce realized he didn't understand the Joker like he thought, and had no proper way of defeating him, but Alfred reassured him that he would never give up on Batman or what he represented. Filled with a new hope, but still full of anger and sorrow, Batman used sonar technology developed by Lucius to locate the Joker. The Joker, meanwhile, had placed bombs on two ferries, one with civilians and one with conflicts, and detonators to the other boat's bomb on each, and ordered them to destroy the other boat or he'd destroy both at midnight. Batman located the Joker and stopped him from destroying the ferries after both refused to destroy each other, proving the Joker wrong in his ideals of anarchy. Joker accepted that Batman was truly incorruptible, but that Harvey wasn't, and so Batman left Joker for the S.W.A.T. team and went after Harvey.

At the remains of the building where Rachel died, he found Harvey, who had been driven mad by his scarring and the Joker's taunting, poised to kill Gordon's family. Batman and Harvey fought, and Harvey fell over the side of the building, landing on the asphalt and dying from the impact. Batman decided that Gotham needed a hero in its darkest hour, and took it upon himself to have Gordon hold Batman responsible for Harvey's crimes so that his life could be a beacon of hope for Gotham's people. Gordon reluctantly agreed, and Batman hung up his costume, seemingly for good. As Bruce Wayne, he became a recluse, and holed himself up in the now-rebuilt Wayne Manor as the police took down all organized crime in the city with the "Dent Act".

### City of Bane

Eight years after the Joker's rampage and the death of Harvey Dent, Bruce was holed up in his manor as Wayne Enterprises was financially crumbling around him. When a mysterious thief named Selina Kyle, also called "The Cat", stole his fingerprints and his mother's pearl necklace, Bruce came out of hiding to get them back. While using his rusty detective skills to search for Selina, he was approached by John Blake, a righteous orphaned police officer, who revealed that he'd worked out that Bruce was Batman, and insisted that he needed to take back control of his company to help those in need and return as the Batman for the city. Later, Bruce met Selina at a party and took back the pearls, but Selina revealed that she'd given his fingerprints to John Daggett, a rival businessman of Bruce's. He also met Miranda Tate, a kind socialite who urged Bruce to restart Wayne Enterprises' nuclear reactor project.

When the enigmatic and ruthless terrorist Bane attacked the Gotham Stock Exchange and bankrupted Wayne Enterprises, Bruce finally decided to return as the Batman to investigate and take him down with the aide of Lucius Fox's new invention, an aerial device called "The Bat", much to Alfred's dismay. In an effort to dissuade him, Alfred resigned as Bruce's butler, but Bruce continued his crusade nonetheless. He handed control of Wayne Enterprises over to Miranda, concerned that Daggett would take over the company and its new reactor with him in charge.

Soon after, Batman located Selina and made her a deal to wipe her criminal records if she took him to Bane. Selina agreed, but led him into a trap, alerting Bane that they were coming. Bane then fought a rather rusty Batman, and easily outmatched him, breaking his back and taking him to an ancient prison. Bane revealed that he was a member of the League of Shadows, and that he planned to bring Gotham to its knees while Bruce watched helplessly from his prison. He then returned to Gotham and held it hostage with the nuclear reactor, turning it into a lawless wasteland for five long months as Bruce watched in horror on television, unable to do anything to stop him.

As the months passed, the inmates of the prison helped Bruce heal and escape. Returning to Gotham as Batman, Bruce enlisted the help of Selina, Lucius Fox, Jim Gordon, John Blake, and Miranda Tate to stop the nuclear reactor from detonating. Freeing the police forces trapped underground by Bane, Batman then led them to Gotham center where they faced off against Bane and his army. This time, Batman was able to beat Bane and nearly take him down, but he was betrayed by Miranda, who revealed herself to be Talia al Ghul, the daughter of Ra's al Ghul, and her plan to finish her father's work and destroy the city. After a long battle over the reactor, Talia and Bane were killed by Batman and Selina respectively, and the reactor had minutes before exploding. With no time to spare, Batman used the Bat to take the reactor out over the bay, and jettisoned just in time to clear the blast, saving Gotham City one last time.

### Retirement and Legacy

With Bane behind him, Bruce moved away with Selina to Florence, and the two became lovers, Bruce having finally moved on from Batman and the tragedy that defined him for so many years, proving once and for all Rachel and Alfred were wrong. Meanwhile, back in Gotham City, Bruce Wayne and Batman were presumed dead, and Batman was honored as the greatest hero Gotham ever knew, inspiring the people of the city to hope for a better tomorrow. Wayne Manor was converted into an orphanage, Lucius regained control of Wayne Enterprises, and John Blake was left the materials and equipment of Bruce's cave to continue his legacy of fighting crime, leaving Batman gone, but far from forgotten.

## Powers and Abilities

### Abilities

* **Aviation**: Batman can fly the Bat with ease.
	+ **Aerial Combat**
* **Driving**: Proficient at combat driving. Has learned improved vehicle designs. Was trained and proficient in basic vehicles operations.
* **Genius Level Intellect**: Bruce is highly intelligent in multiple fields. He was able to reprogram and fix the autopilot switch. He changed the concept of Fox sonar, and scattered like a virus to all phones in town, as well as using the microphones, which were connecting them to a generator of high frequency receiver, thus creating a sonar capable of mapping the entire Gotham.
* **Indomitable Will**: He has no known superhuman powers, but he does have an extreme, almost superhuman "Force of Will". He has also been described as "truly incorruptible." After his first fight against Bane, Bruce needed all concentration to recover himself and try to save Gotham City again, in special to escape of The Pitch.
* **Interrogation**: Using his intimidating appearance and voice he is able to get information out of people as well as tactics such as hanging people upside down from a building or even pushing them off a building.
* **Intimidation**: Batman has the ability to instill fear in others, even the people that know him best are intimidated by him. He also uses theatrics such as smoke and the Batsuit to strike fear following his training from the League of Shadows.
* **Investigation**: Bruce is a brilliant detective and highly skilled at gathering evidence, such as the ballistics and fingerprints from a Joker crime scene.
* **Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)**
	+ **Martial Arts**: Trained by Henri Ducard and the League of Shadows, Batman is a living weapon, having mastered Western forms of both armed and unarmed martial combat.
		- **Jujutsu**
		- **Kung Fu**: Trained in Tiger style and Panther style kung fu.
* **Weaponry**: Through his martial arts training, he has become an expert on many types of weaponry.
	+ **Swordsmanship**: As part of his League training, Bruce also received training in sword fighting with Ra's himself.
	+ **Throwing** Through his training, the Batman has become skilled in throwing projectiles weapons, archery as well as a gun that shoots out bombs.
	+ **Archery**
	+ **Firearms**: Although Bruce never used a live ammunition he was fluent with guns that used other kind of projectiles such as a gun that shoots out bombs.
	+ **Demolitions**
	+ **Gadgetry**
* **Stealth**: His training has made him a master at stealth capable of disappearing into the shadows and sneaking up on unsuspecting prey.
* **Peak Human Condition**: Bruce was able to defeat Bane on their final fight.

## Paraphernalia

### Equipment

* **Batsuit**
* **Utility Belt**

### Transportation

* **Tumbler**
* **Batpod**
* **Bat-Glider**
* **The Bat**

## Notes

* This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the Dark Knight Trilogy and is an adaptation of Batman. The original character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane and first appeared in *Detective Comics* #27.
* **Batman** was primarily portrayed by Christian Bale. Gus Lewis portrayed the young Bruce Wayne in *Batman Begins*. For the related animated film *Batman: Gotham Knight*, Kevin Conroy voiced the adult Batman and Hynden Walch voiced Bruce as a child.
* Although Bale performed many of his own stunts, he wasn't allowed anywhere near the Tumbler for *Batman Begins*.[*citation needed*]
* Bale's active dislike of his uncomfortable Batman outfit helped his performance as the Dark Knight as he was perpetually in a foul mood when wearing it.[*citation needed*]
* All of Batman's equipment and technology is based on experimental and suspended military technology.

## Trivia

* As Batman, Bruce spoke with a gruff, scratchy voice to better hide his true identity.
* The only people confirmed to know that Bruce is still alive are Selina Kyle, Alfred Pennyworth, and Lucius Fox. It is possible John Blake knows as well, but this has not been confirmed.

## Recommended Reading

* *Batman Begins*
* *The Dark Knight*
* *The Dark Knight Rises*

## Related

* 9 Appearances of Bruce Wayne (Nolanverse)
* 56 Images featuring Bruce Wayne (Nolanverse)
* 3 Quotations by or about Bruce Wayne (Nolanverse)
* Character Gallery: Bruce Wayne (Nolanverse)

### Footnotes

1. ↑ Jump up to:1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 *Batman Begins (Movie)*
2. ↑ *Batman: Gotham Knight (Movie)*
3. ↑ *The Dark Knight (Movie)*
4. ↑ Jump up to:4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 *The Dark Knight Rises*