Bruce Wayne (DCAU)

**Bruce Wayne** is **Batman**, a tireless vigilante striving to make Gotham City a better place after losing his parents to petty crime. After initially working alone, he gained allies like Robin and Batgirl and worked with other heroes like Superman. This lead him to being a founding member of the Justice League. After having to retire due to old age, he trained Terry McGinnis as his successor.

## History

Bestand:Quote1.png  *I am vengeance... I am the night... I am **Batman!***  Bestand:Quote2.png
— ****Batman**** src

### The Early Years

Bruce Wayne was orphaned as a child when he witnessed his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, brutally gunned down in a random mugging. He made a solemn vow at their grave that he would commit his life towards bringing wrongdoers to justice. After the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne, Bruce Wayne became the legal ward of the family butler Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred and he lived at the family estate in Gotham City known as Wayne Manor.

Bruce Wayne drew upon the influences of others in order to create what would one day become his dual identity as Batman. One of his earliest inspirations was taken from a character from old movie serials known as the Gray Ghost. Little did Bruce know that he would one day meet his childhood hero.

Bruce eventually left Gotham in order to train to fulfill his mission. He spent three months training with John Zatara and his daughter, Zatanna, in the art of escape. He also trained in martial arts under the tutelage of Master Yoru in Japan. Here he formed a rivalry with fellow student, Kyodai Ken, who after being banished for attempting to steal Yoru's prized sword, swore vengeance on Bruce.

As a young man, Bruce Wayne had already mastered several martial arts forms. He had discovered an immense cavern beneath Wayne Manor, and Alfred and he began furnishing it as a secret crime laboratory. In short order, Bruce began operating as a street-level vigilante, donning a black ski-mask and going out into the night to foil crimes. Though he was marginally successful, Bruce grew frustrated by the fact that his foes were not afraid of him. He realized that he would need something else in order to inspire terror into the hearts of Gotham's underworld.

Bestand:Batman Adventures Vol 2 17 Textless.jpg
The Dark Knight
During this time, Bruce met and fell in love with a woman named Andrea Beaumont. He even considered abandoning his crusade for justice to devote himself to her, but he was haunted by the memory of his slain parents. Bruce proposed to Andrea, who readily accepted. Unfortunately, as Bruce would later learn, her father, Carl Beaumont, had borrowed money from Sal Valestra and his mob gang (including a young Jack Napier) Andrea chose to flee with her father overseas, and sent the ring back to Bruce with a letter not telling the real reasons. Heartbroken, Bruce Wayne committed himself entirely towards fighting crime. However, he had yet to develop the means by which to intimidate his adversaries.

A few nights later, Bruce Wayne was in his father's study mourning the loss of his parents when a bat crashed through the study window. Inspired by this incident, Bruce realized that he would garb himself in the visage of a bat... and thus, the Batman was born.

### Partners

Bestand:Batman The Adventures Continue Vol 1 1 Textless Variant.jpg
Batman and the Bat-Family
Batman's first partner was Dick Grayson, a circus acrobat whose parents were murdered by gangster Tony Zucco, a protection racketeer. With training from Bruce Wayne in both fighting and criminal science, Dick became the first hero to bear the mantle of Robin. Later on, as a young adult, Dick abandoned his Robin identity and adopted that of Nightwing, mostly working solo in Bludhaven but assisting Batman and his new partner Tim Drake, who was the second Robin, from time to time. Tim's career came to an end when the Joker and Harley Quinn kidnapped him and tortured him into revealing secrets about Batman, and psychologically traumatized Tim into becoming J.J., a surrogate "son" for Joker and Harley. Tim had unknowingly at the time been implanted with a high-tech chip containing the Joker's genetic code and memories, thus also became the host for the second incarnation of the Joker years later. When the Joker had Batman on the ropes, he handed Tim one of his BANG! guns and told him to "Make Daddy proud...deliver the punchline!" Tim struggled with his conscience as he aimed the gun first at Bruce, then a split second later fired the flag projectile at the Joker, killing him. Though Tim was restored to sanity, Bruce forbade him from ever being his partner from that point on. When the Joker started manifesting himself in Tim, Terry McGinnis, Bruce's successor as Batman, ultimately defeated him and rescued Terry from the takeover.

Bruce on occasion also worked with Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Commissioner Gordon, in her costumed identity of Batgirl. The two also briefly dated.

### Justice League

Bestand:Justice League Adventures TP Textless.jpg
Batman as a member of the Justice League
Bruce became one of the founding members of the Justice League, teaming up with six other powerful heroes to deal with an alien threat that had devastated the people of Mars, whom J'onn J'onnz was a part of, and was now threatening Earth. He chooses to mostly work part-time with the League due to Gotham City's need for him to be their protector. During his time in the Justice League, he met his Justice Lord counterpart in an alternate reality, who through his companions had made even his Gotham City a peaceful place to live in, though with the residents of Arkham Asylum lobotomized by Superman's heat vision and with armed police handling even the most minor transgressions such as a disgruntled restaurant customer complaining about a miscalculated check.

**Expand**
This section of the article does not provide a complete profile of the subject. You can help out by providing additional information, expanding on the subject matter in order to bring this article to a higher standard of quality.
*This template will categorize articles that include it into Category:Incomplete Articles.*

### Batman Beyond

As he got older, Bruce started being plagued by heart problems. After his heart started acting up during an attempt to rescue Bunny Vreeland, daughter of Bruce's socialite friend Veronica Vreeland, from kidnappers, he was forced to go break his personal rule of never using a gun, just to defend himself. Bruce decided to hang up the mantle of the Batman for good. Shortly after, he was bought out from Wayne Enterprises by Derek Powers in a hostile takeover. After all this, Bruce chose to retire to Wayne Manor, living a life of solitude with his dog Ace.

Bestand:Batman Beyond Universe Vol 1 7 Textless.jpg
Bruce and his successor
Eventually Terry McGinnis figured out that Bruce Wayne was Batman. Wanting revenge on Derek Powers for killing his father, Warren McGinnis, Terry stole Bruce's advanced Batman suit and went after him as he was about to strike a deal with a foreign weapons dealer about a shipment of chemical weapons. At first Bruce used a remote command to lock down the suit, but after Terry pointed out the parallels in their pasts, Bruce felt sympathy for him, and begrudgingly agreed to help him. After Terry managed to stop the deal, Bruce, impressed with his performance, offered Terry a chance to take up the mantle of Batman under his guidance, to which Terry agreed.

Years later, as one of Bruce's kidneys started to fail, Terry signed up as a donor. Finding out that their DNA was suspiciously similar, Terry started questioning his origins, which lead to a fallout between him and Bruce and him forsaking his identity as Batman. Terry sought out Bruce's enemy and later ally from his Justice League days, Amanda Waller, and learned that he was created as a biological son to Bruce Wayne through the use of Project Cadmus nanotechnology injected into his father, for the sake of creating a Batman to take over for Bruce Wayne, for it was apparent that Gotham will always need a Batman. After realizing Bruce was not behind the deception, Terry decided to reconcile with Bruce, and take up the Batman mantle again.

### Enemies

Gotham City is a place where some of the most iconic villains and criminals are created and Batman has faced all of them, from common street burglars to criminally insane super villains.

Bestand:Batman Adventures Dangerous Dames and Demons Textless.jpg
Rogues Gallery
#### Man-Bat

One of the first enemies Batman encountered was the fearsome Man-Bat, who was on a crime spree on Gotham, and Batman was being chased by the police as the main suspect. Batman managed to capture Man-Bat and reverted the mutation that caused Dr. Kirk Langstrom to transform into the monster. Batman would encounter another Human-Bat creature after Francine Langstrom was accidentally dosed with the Man-Bat Serum.

#### Joker

Bestand:Batman Beyond - Return of the Joker - The Official Comics Adaptation Vol 1 1 Unused.jpg
The Joker's animosity towards Batman extends past Bruce.
Batman faced Joker on several occasions and on all of them, Batman always came up victorious. During one Christmas' Eve, Joker kidnapped Commissioner Gordon, Summer Gleeson and Harvey Bullock and his ultimate goal was to prank Batman. Later, Joker spread his laughing gas in Gotham City, creating chaos and allowing him to steal from every citizen. Some time after that, Joker assaulted Mayor Hill's house and kidnapped Hill's son. Joker attacked the police officers, paralyzing them momentarily and planting a bomb on the place. He achieved this by blackmailing a common citizen. Some time later, he attempted to claim copyright income from the fishes he infected with his venom, to resemble himself. When a casino themed after him was opened in Gotham, Joker escaped from Arkham Asylum and went to the place to sabotage the whole business. Joker was part of the group of criminals who wanted to buy Batman's secret identity from Hugo Strange. During a criminal meeting, Joker revealed that he managed to capture Batman and almost killed him if it was not for Catwoman's appearance. He then took Catwoman as a hostage and planned to eliminate her. When word came around that Batman was killed, Joker tried to eliminate the man responsible and Batman saved the man from his doom. Some time after that, Joker created a massive explosion on a chemical waste landfill. When Batman was captured and taken to Arkham Asylum for a trial among the inmates, Joker acted as the judge. Joker targeted Mayor Hill once again after stealing an atomic bomb which would be used to destroy Gotham. Joker tried to force his way into a comedy contest by mind controlling the jury of the contest.

#### Scarecrow

Batman faced professor Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. Scarecrow a couple of times. The first time they clashed was when Scarecrow started a campaign to attack the Gotham University. In the encounter, Batman was dosed with Scarecrow's Fear Toxin and it caused him to have hallucinations of his father, Thomas Wayne being ashamed of Bruce. Batman managed to overcome his fears and using Scarecrow's own fear gas, he captured the villain and delivered to the police. The second time they faced, Scarecrow planned to pollute Gotham's main water supply with his fear toxin and as previously, Batman was dosed with the toxin, causing him to lose control of the Batmobile in the middle of the road and being taken as an inmate in Arkham Asylum. Batman tried to warn everyone about Scarecrow's plans, but nobody would believe him. Using every bit of energy left in him, Batman managed to escape from his cell in Arkham and chased down Scarecrow. Batman struggled with the visions caused by the toxin but in the end he stopped Scarecrow from achieving his ultimate goal. A third time Scarecrow struck by attacking professional athletes and gaining profit from their losses on their matches. Batman and Robin investigated the case and Robin ended up infected by the fear toxin. In the end they figured how was Scarecrow able to reach the athletes and Batman captured the madman, while Robin prevented the toxin from infecting hundreds of people.

#### Poison Ivy

Bestand:Batman Gotham Adventures Vol 1 53 Textless.jpg
Battling Mother Nature
Pamela Isley adopted the moniker of Poison Ivy and struck against Harvey Dent for destroying a field of roses in order to build Stonegate Penitentiary. Dent was poisoned and Batman retrieved an antidote from Ivy, sending her to the same prison she hated. Some time later, Ivy created some sort of serum that would transform people into trees and conducted an illegal spa as bait to attract victims. Her targets were always wealthy people who damaged the environment. Once again, Batman stopped her by creating a gigantic tree that destroyed her base of operations. Some time later, Ivy partnered with Harley Quinn and became the new queens of crime in Gotham. Batman tried to stop them, but they were captured by Renee Montoya. Ivy tried to live a normal life and married a man with two kids. However, there were some mysterious attacks to wealthy people and Batman discovered that Ivy was behind it all. Batman and Robin tried to stop her, but when they capture Ivy, they realize that it was just a clone and the real Ivy had left Gotham.

#### Two-Face

Harvey Dent's face was scarred in half and he transformed into the criminal Two-Face. With this new identity, Two-Face attacked the man responsible for his accident, Rupert Thorne, but he was stopped by Batman. Afterwards, Bruce Wayne paid the plastic surgery to mend Dent's face, but Two-Face sabotaged the effort and avoided been cured from his madness. Batman was forced to capture the villain and deliver him back to Arkham Asylum.

#### Rupert Thorne

Batman would face crime lord Rupert Thorne on several occasions. He tried to stop Thorne from blackmailing Harvey Dent, but failed to save the DA from a terrible accident that scarred his face. Thorne was also involved in a gang war with Arnold Stromwell and Batman was forced to intervene. While working on a case against Thorne, Batman met Thorne's brother Matt, who was Thomas Wayne's friend and Bruce asked him kindly to tell him more about his father. Batman was able to capture Thorne with he unsuspected help from Sidney Debris, who led Batman to Thorne's illicit activities. In order to eliminate Batman, Thorne hired the assassin Bane, but Batman defeated him and informed Thorne of treason among his own people.

#### Penguin

Batman first faced Penguin when he tried to steal a valuable piece of art at the museum. After a brief encounter with the criminal and getting some help from a couple of kids, Batman captured the Penguin and sent him to jail. After his release from jail, Penguin tried to join Gotham's elite, but his good intentions were thwarted by an evil plan from Veronica Vreeland. As a result, Penguin kidnapped her and Batman was forced to stop him and sent him back to jail again. Some time later, Penguin's gang located Batman's mechanic and set up a trap for Batman, but the plan backfired and Batman captured them once again. When Penguin attacked again, he left Batman blind and he almost managed to eliminate him, but the Dark Knight came up victorious one last time.

#### Minor Villains

Batman faced various lesser known criminals during his crime fighting career. One of them was the Sewer King, who kidnapped street urchins and forced them to steal from people while living in the sewers with him and his alligator pets. Batman found one of the kids and with his help, he was able to defeat the Sewer King and stop his crime spree.

When a police bust to capture a gang went wrong, Batman was forced to intervene. He saved the three officers from the gang and allowed the villains to kidnap him. Later on, along with Officer Montoya, Batman captured the entire gang and recovered the stolen money.

Batman went undercover to investigate the disappearance of homeless men, but was abducted by Boss Biggis. Losing his memory, Bruce was forced to work as a slave until he remembered everything and took the whole gang down.

**Incomplete**
There's something missing here. This section of the article is incomplete, and contains information, but requires more before it can be considered *complete*. You can help DC Database by editing this page, providing additional information to bring this article to a higher standard of quality.

## Powers and Abilities

### Abilities

* **Acrobatics**
	+ **Gymnastics**
* **Aviation**
	+ **Aerial Combat**
* **Charisma**
	+ **Leadership**
* **Deception**
	+ **Disguise**: Batman used various aliases, including Gaff Morgan and Matches Malone, to infiltrate Gotham's underworld.
* **Driving**
* **Escapology**: Batman was taught the arts of escapism by **Zatara**.
* **Equestrianism**
* **Peak Human Condition**
* **Genius Level Intellect**
	+ **Multilingualism**: He has proficiency in French, German, Kaznian, Spanish, and Japanese, and Latin.
	+ **Investigation**
	+ **Tactical Analysis**
	+ **Electrical Engineering**
	+ **Medicine**: Bruce went to medical school for sometime before dropping out.
	+ **Eidetic Memory**
* **Indomitable Will**
* **Interrogation**
* **Intimidation**
* **Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)**
	+ **Martial Arts** Trained by Yoru-sensei in Japan and the Master in Nanda Parbat, Batman is a master of at least four disciplines.
		- **Jujutsu**
		- **Kung Fu**
		- **Capoeira**
* **Singing**
* **Stealth**
* **Weaponry**
	+ **Swordsmanship**
		- **Fencing**
	+ **Gadgetry**
	+ **Throwing**
* **Ventriloquism**: Learned the basics from Zatara.

### Weaknesses

* **Heart Condition**: In the future, Bruce has an illness that prevents him from doing any serious exercise. He requires rest and his medicine after doing anything tiring.
* **Restricted Mobility**: In his elderly age, Bruce requires a cane to walk around, unable to on his own anymore.

## Paraphernalia

### Equipment

* **Utility Belt**
* **Batsuit**: While his first batsuits were low-tech, as he grew older, he designed a batsuit with neuromuscular amplification and flight capabilities.
* **Batcomputer**: A computer capable of analyzing every sort of evidence from crime scenes. It contains a massive information database on criminal records and general iformation. The batcomputer was always upgraded to the latest technology developments and even much more capable that most of the computers on the year 2040.

### Transportation

* **Batmobile**
	+ **First Batmobile**: Batman's first Batmobile was an adapted car of his own design.
	+ **Second Batmobile**: After the first car broke down, Batman acquired the services of Earl Cooper, a car designer who had been fired for whistle-blowing, to design him a new one.
	+ **Third Batmobile**: An upgraded version of the second one after its destruction at the hands of the Penguin.
	+ **Fourth Batmobile**: Also known as the KnightStriker, the fourth Batmobile served Batman during his years in the Justice League.
	+ **Fifth Batmobile**: A flying Batmobile, primarily used by his successor to the mantle, Terry McGinnis.
* **Batboat**
* **Bat-Sub**
* **Batwing**
	+ **First Batwing**: A sleek experimental flying wing.
	+ **Second Batwing**: A more conventionally shaped fighter jet. He made spares; several of them were destroyed in battle.
	+ **Third Batwing**: During his later years in the Justice League, Batman designed a more futuristic jet that was up-to-date with the latest aeronautical innovations.
* **Javelin**: During his years in the Justice League, Batman would occasionally travel in one of the League's Javelins rather than his own vehicles.

### Weapons

* **Batarang**: Batman wielded a wide array of bat-shaped boomerangs. There are many variations of the batarang, including the following:
	+ Conventional: Designed to incapacitate, disarm foes
	+ Exploding: Demolish obstacles/walls, handle opponents with greater durability than normal humans
	+ Electric: Electrocute/stun opponents, disable electrically sensitive beings.
* **Batrope**: Batman utilized a firing grapple launcher allowing him to ascend, descend and swing through Gotham.
* Bolas: Weighted cables designed to restrain foes

## Notes

* This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the DC Animated Universe 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 voiced by four different actors:
	+ Kevin Conroy was the primary voice of the character.
	+ Aron Kincaid for the *Batman* episode "Almost Got 'Im" where Batman was disguised as Killer Croc.
	+ Josh Hutcherson voiced Bruce Wayne as a young boy in the *Justice League Unlimited* episode "For the Man Who Has Everything"
	+ Kyle Alcazar voiced Batman as a magically rejuvenated child in *Justice League Unlimited* episode "Kid Stuff".
* Bruce's identity and costume were inspired by the character of the Gray Ghost. In *Batman: The Animated Series*, the Gray Ghost was voiced by actor Adam West, who also played the role of Batman in the 1966 *Batman* live-action television series.

## Trivia

* Bruce's favorite meal is French onion soup.
* Bruce's age when his parents were killed varies, in Batman Adventures Vol 2 17, a newspaper lists his age as 7. In A Better World and Kids Stuff, his age is given as 8. In a deleted scene from Return of the Joker, his age is given as 9. In Batman: The Animated Series Guide, his age is given as 10.

## Related

* Appearances of Bruce Wayne (DCAU)
* Images featuring Bruce Wayne (DCAU)
* 1 Quotations by or about Bruce Wayne (DCAU)
* Character Gallery: Bruce Wayne (DCAU)

## External Links

* Batman at the DC Animated Universe Wiki

### Footnotes

1. ↑ *Batman: The Adventures Continue* #16
2. ↑ *Batman (1992 TV Series) Episode: Zatanna*
3. ↑ *Batman (1992 TV Series) Episode: Night of the Ninja*
4. ↑ "On Leather Wings"
5. ↑ "Terror in the Sky"
6. ↑ "Christmas with the Joker"
7. ↑ "The Last Laugh"
8. ↑ "Be a Clown"
9. ↑ "Joker's Favor"
10. ↑ "The Laughing Fish"
11. ↑ "Joker's Wild"
12. ↑ "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne"
13. ↑ 13,0 13,1 "Almost Got 'Im"
14. ↑ 14,0 14,1 "The Man Who Killed Batman"
15. ↑ 15,0 15,1 'Harley and Ivy"
16. ↑ "Trial"
17. ↑ "Harlequinade"
18. ↑ "Make 'Em Laugh"
19. ↑ "Nothing to Fear"
20. ↑ "Dreams in Darkness"
21. ↑ "Fear of Victory"
22. ↑ "Pretty Poison"
23. ↑ "Eternal Youth"
24. ↑ "House and Garden"
25. ↑ 25,0 25,1 Two-Face, Part 1
26. ↑ Two-Face, Part 2
27. ↑ Second Chance
28. ↑ It's Never Too Late
29. ↑ Paging the Crime Doctor
30. ↑ Bane
31. ↑ I've Got Batman in My Basement
32. ↑ Birds of a Feather
33. ↑ The Mechanic
34. ↑ Blind as a Bat
35. ↑ The Underdwellers
36. ↑ P.O.V.
37. ↑ 37,0 37,1 The Forgotten
38. ↑ 38,0 38,1 "Ultimatum"
39. ↑ "Dark Heart"
40. ↑ "Robin's Reckoning, Part I"
41. ↑ "Shadow of the Bat, Part I"
42. ↑ "Zatanna"
43. ↑ "The Once and Future Thing, Part I: Weird Western Tales"
44. ↑ *Justice League (TV Series) Episode: Maid of Honor, Part I*
45. ↑ *Justice League (TV Series) Episode: Secret Society, Part I*
46. ↑ *Batman (1992 TV Series) Episode: Day of the Samurai*
47. ↑ Justice League Unlimited (TV Series) Episode: Divided We Fall
48. ↑ 48,0 48,1 48,2 *Adventures in the DC Universe* #17
49. ↑ *Adventures in the DC Universe* #12
50. ↑ *Batman and Harley Quinn (Movie)*
51. ↑ 51,0 51,1 *Batman Adventures* #34
52. ↑ *Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero*
53. ↑ *The Batman and Robin Adventures* #25
54. ↑ "Perchance to Dream"
55. ↑ 55,0 55,1 *Adventures in the DC Universe* #1
56. ↑ "Night of the Ninja"
57. ↑ "Dead Reckoning"
58. ↑ *Batman: Gotham Adventures* #9
59. ↑ *Batman: Mask of the Phantasm*
60. ↑ "Future Shock"
61. ↑ *The Batman Adventures: The Lost Years*  (Volume 1)
62. ↑ "This Little Piggy"
63. ↑ "The Demon's Quest, Part II"
64. ↑ "A Knight of Shadows, Part I"
65. ↑ *Batman: Gotham Adventures* #23
66. ↑ "Robin's Reckoning, Part II"
67. ↑ "The Once and Future Thing, Part I: Weird Western Tales"
68. ↑ "Read My Lips"
69. ↑ *DC's Very Merry Multiverse* #1
70. ↑ *Batman (1992 TV Series) Episode: Vendetta*

This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the *Batman Family*. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "*Batman Family members*" category.

This character is or was a member of the *Justice League of America*, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from both interstellar and domestic threats.This template will categorize articles that include it into the "*Justice League of America members*" category.