Batman: Origins

Novel's Cover

**Batman: Origins** is a 2021 American superhero novel set in the DC Universe (DCU). It serves a prequel to Batman: The Long Halloween, beginning approximately 18 months prior to the start of the film. The novel takes place over a fourteen-moth period, ending shortly before the start of the film. The novel follows Bruce Wayne in his first year as the masked vigilante Batman.

## Novel Info

### Synopsis

Young billionaire Bruce Wayne returns home to Gotham City after spending almost a decade studying abroad. Now a changed man, Bruce seeks to eliminate Gotham's rampant criminals and purge the city of the same people that murdered his parents. Simultaneously, honest Detective Jim Gordon moves his family to Gotham and finds himself assigned to a deeply corrupted police department, sending the two men on a collision path as they fight against injustices.

### Plot

Twenty-three year old Bruce Wayne has spent the last nine years traveling the world, training his body and mind in every form of martial arts, forensic science, criminal psychology and more. He awakens in the Himalayan Mountains in a compound he has been training at for the past eighteen months. Upon realizing that the day marked the fifteenth anniversary of his parents' deaths, Bruce comes to the decision that the time has come for him to return home to Gotham City.

Bruce goes to his master and expresses his intent to leave the compound and return home, to use what has been taught to him to fight against the same criminals that murdered his parents. The Master expresses disdain for Bruce's choices, as he has come to view Bruce as a worthy successor for his crusade. It becomes clear the two have different ideologies when it comes to dealing with the evils of the Earth, with the Master believing they must be expunged - permanently. He reminds Bruce that swore an oath of fealty to him when he arrived and by leaving he would be breaking his oath - and a reckoning would follow. Bruce simply turns around and leaves. He returns to his room and backs up his belongings, leaving behind a note for a woman he had fallen in love with at the compound - a woman named Talia.

A plane lands in Gotham City and off steps Jim Gordon, a detective who has relocated to Gotham along with his wife and their two young children. A commotion arises at the airport, as paparazzi swarm the private jet of Bruce Wayne, Gotham's favorite son who has returned after almost a decade. Both are swiftly acquainted with the corruption and violent atmosphere of the city. Accompanied by his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce travels to Wayne Enterprises, his family company which has been overseen by his maternal uncle, Philip Kane, in his absence. Bruce informs his uncle that he has zero intention of taking over Wayne Enterprises, stating that his attention lies elsewhere. Once he departs, Edward Nygma, Philip's strategist, tries to get Philip to arrange Bruce's murder, in order to gain public sympathy and avoid a power struggle. After Philip refuses, Edward hires the Red Hood Gang to murder Bruce.

Meanwhile, Gordon is partnered with Arnold Flass. He witnesses his partner's cruel methods in stopping a crime and assaulting a teen for fun. Gordon tries to focus on purging corruption from the Gotham City Police Department, but several officers led by Flass beat him on the orders from his corrupt superior, Commissioner Gillian Loeb, with Flass personally threatening Gordon's wife. In revenge, the recovering Gordon tracks Flass down, beats him, and leaves him naked and handcuffed in the snow.

After Bruce has an argument with Alfred , the latter leaves and Bruce meets with Philip, who against Bruce's will, debuts him to the public. After Bruce retreats from the media, he meets with Nygma. Dismissing Nygma and his 'riddles', Bruce departs and is attacked by the Red Hood Gang, managing to fight them off. Landing in Crime Alley, the spot where his parents were murdered years earlier, he is found by Leslie Thompkins, a friend of his father's from medical school who runs a free clinic nearby. She treats Bruce's injuries despite his dismissal of her worries. He goes in disguise to look for the Red Hood Gang in Gotham's red-light district, but his plan goes awry after refusing a proposition from teenage prostitute Holly Robinson. He is reluctantly drawn into a brawl with her pimp, which is observed by Selina Kyle. Two police officers shoot him and take him away in their squad car, but a dazed and bleeding Bruce breaks his handcuffs and causes a crash, dragging the officers to a safe distance before fleeing. He reaches Wayne Manor barely alive and sits before his father's bust, requesting guidance in his war against crime. A bat suddenly crashes through a window and settles on the bust, giving him the inspiration to become the Batman. Bruce quickly rings up his butler Alfred Pennyworth to patch up his injuries and proposes the idea of saving Gotham as Batman. Selina, meanwhile, attacks Holly's pimp and offers the girl the chance at a better life.

As Gordon becomes a minor celebrity for a brave act of saving a group of orphans from a man who has the record of insanity, Bruce strikes as Batman for the first time. He attacks a group of small-time criminals and then spends months working his way up the ladder, resulting in the decline of crime and corruption. He even goes after Flass, who's in the middle of accepting a bribe from Jefferson Skeevers, a drug dealer of Carmine Falcone. A dinner party is held in a mansion with Loeb, a few Gotham's corrupt politicians and mobsters, and Falcone attending. Batman interrupts the party and announces that they all shall be brought to justice for their crimes someday. Loeb is infuriated by Batman's threatening message, ordering Gordon to arrest him by any means necessary. While Gordon tries in vain to catch Batman, assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent immediately becomes Batman's first ally and Dent conceals this secret from Gordon.

Meanwhile, Nygma has become obsessed with keeping control over Wayne Enterprises, with Philip having become nothing more than his puppet. Batman manages to find the Red Hood Gang, chasing them into the Ace Chemicals building. Philip, who was blackmailed into joining the gang, tries to shoot the gang's leader, but misses. Red Hood shoots and kills Philip. Gordon raids Ace Chemicals with SWAT officers, intent on arresting both Batman and Red Hood One, but the building catches on fire. Red Hood then tries to escape on a helicopter, but Batman pulls him back into the building. Batman tries to capture Red Hood One, but the masked criminal escapes by jumping into a vat of chemicals.

Bruce and Alfred study data on the gang when Edward Nygma, as the Riddler, shuts off the power in Gotham, challenging Batman to turn it back on. Teaming up with Lucius Fox, head of Wayne Enterprises R&D division, the two navigate Riddler's challenges, defeating the villain and restoring power to the city. Lucius then begins to develop tech for the Batman to use. After witnessing Batman in action, Selina is inspired to begin a life of crime by donning a costume of her own.

Gordon begins working his wife (who is also a fellow detective), to investigate the Batman's true identity. Sarah believes that Bruce Wayne is the Batman's true identity, and the two travel to Wayne Manor. Bruce predicts Gordon's eventual questioning about him being Batman, so he uses his playboy charms as alibi to dismiss Gordon.

Batman then intimidates Skeevers for information after recovering from the injuries he got during the building explosion. Skeevers panics, he reluctantly contacts Gordon and agrees to testify against Flass. Skeevers is then hospitalized when his meal is drugged with rat poison, so that he remains silent about the ties between Loeb and Falcone. Batman sneaks into Falcone's manor and overhears him and his nephew, Johnny Viti, discussing a plan to deal with Gordon. Selina suddenly attacks Falcone and his bodyguards in her cat costume in order to steal his valuables.

Bruce plays the audio device he used to record Falcone's conversation and confirms Falcone wants to target Gordon's family. In his mission to help Gordon, Bruce dresses as a motorcyclist over wearing his Batman costume since the attack is on daytime. While leaving home on Loeb's orders, Gordon spots Bruce entering his home garage at high speed. Suspicious, he turns back only to discover Viti and his men already holding his family hostage. Viti flees the scene with Gordon's infant son. Gordon shoots Bruce and takes his motorcycle to chase after Viti, Bruce quickly gets back on his feet and chases after them. The car chase ends up on a bridge when Gordon blows out Viti's car tire. While still holding Gordon's son with his own hands, Viti attacks Gordon in a surprise with a pocket knife and Gordon loses his own eyeglasses. The pair struggle until the boy eventually falls, Gordon tries to rescue his own son from falling as he jumps off the bridge with Viti together. Bruce catches up on time and leaps over the bridge's railing to save the boy. Gordon's eyesight is blurry without his eyeglasses, he is unable to recognize the unmasked Batman who is standing in front of him, but chooses to let him go for saving his son's life.

Flass turns on Loeb by supplying Dent with the evidence and testimony needed to implicate him, and Loeb resigns in disgrace. Gordon is promoted to captain; he stands on the rooftop waiting to meet Batman to investigate the threat of poisoning Gotham's reservoir, a potential plot orchestrated by a criminal calling himself the Joker.

### Featured Characters

* Bruce Wayne / Batman
* Detective Jim Gordon
* Harvey Dent
* Carmine Falcone
* Selina Kyle / Catwoman
* Edward Nygma / The Riddler
* Alfred Pennyworth
* Philip Kane
* Detective Arnold Flass
* Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb
* Johnny Viti
* Sarah Essen-Gordon
* Leslie Thompkinson
* Lucius Fox
* Holly Robinson
* The Master
* The Joker
* Talia (Mentioned)