Bruce Wayne

"*For years, you knew Bruce Wayne as Gotham's most prominent businessman, and now you know him as the city's savior, Batman. But to me... he was just my dad. He had an entire city to save. And yet, he insisted on saving one more. Me. When my parents were killed, he gave me a home. He took a scared, broken kid from the worst part of Gotham and raised me as his own. An orphan himself, he was no stranger to how dangerous and cruel the city can be. But instead of retreating into despair, he became a force for justice. A beacon of hope... for all to look to when hope seems lost. What he stood for will always live on. It was my father's belief that each of us could become a light strong enough to defy the darkness.*"
—Turner Hayes[src]
**Bruce Thomas Wayne** was a billionaire businessman and Gotham City's vigilante protector known as **Batman**, nicknamed the **Dark Knight** and known as the **World's Greatest Detective**.

## Biography

### Early life

At age eight, Bruce's parents were gunned down in front of him by Joe Chill. After this, Bruce was raised in Wayne Manor under the care of his butler Alfred. After the death of his parents, Bruce became convinced that the Court of Owls was secretly responsible for hiring Chill to kill them, as well as several of his ancestors. However, he later gave up this theory after failing to find any evidence that the Court existed.

At some point Bruce was trained by Henri Ducard.

### Career as Batman

Years later, after reaching adulthood, Bruce decided he would rid Gotham City of crime. After years of training, he became the vigilante known as Batman and struck fear into the hearts of criminals. In his time as Gotham's protector, Batman fought many criminals, including The Joker and the Mutant Gang, with him having supposedly killed the former. Bruce also kept journal entries about every case he worked.

At some point, Bruce became close friends with District Attorney Harvey Dent. So close in fact that Harvey views Bruce as a brother.

In his crusade, Bruce also managed to obtain the gun that Joe Chill used to killed his parents, which he locked away in safe in his office at Wayne Tower.

### Raising Turner

Bruce adopted Turner Hayes, a child from Burnside, after his parents were murdered too, though Turner's parents were asassins who were hired to eliminate Batman, who acted in self-defense, ultimately resulting in their deaths..

Bruce came to love Turner as if he were his own son and cared for him deeply. Bruce encouraged Turner to take up martial arts and fencing as extracurricular activities. Bruce also hired Cressida Clarke as his attache to help raise Turner after Alfred's departure.

### Meeting Carrie Kelley

One night, Batman was thrown off a roof by Mutant Gang leader Vernon Wagner and landed near the apartment of Carrie Kelley. After saving his life, Carrie discovered the Batman's identity. After this incident, Bruce came to trust Carrie and use her as his eyes and ears on the streets. Carrie later asked Bruce to train her and let her help him combat crime. Though Bruce said no multiple times, he eventually gave in and trained Carrie to aid her in his mission. He also gave Carrie a pair of goggles and took to calling her his "Little Robin".

### Joker's end

According to Duela, Batman killed the Joker in one of their battles, but the details remain unknown.

### Death

Eventually, years of fighting crime made Bruce realize that Gotham would never truly change or be free of crime if he continued at the rate he was going. Because of this, Bruce decided to donate his entire fortunate to those in need, hoping that doing so would decrease poverty and lead to less crime in the city. Bruce later met with his lawyer to adjust his will in order to follow through with his plan. His lawyer told him that what he was doing would change Gotham forever. But this put Bruce in the crosshairs of the Court of Owls, who got their funds from Gotham crime and wouldn't stand for such a thing.

One night, Bruce was inspecting a coin that he believed belonged to the Court of Owls at his office in Wayne Tower. He later died after being shot with the gun that killed his parents and thrown out the window of his office wearing his Batsuit mask. Following his death, his identity as Batman was revealed to the public and his equipment in the Batcave was confiscated by the Gotham City Police Department.

## Powers and abilities

### Abilities

* **Hand-to-Hand Combat:** Bruce was a skilled fighter, who used his abilities to protect Gotham City.
* **Peak physical conditioning:** As a vigilante, Bruce was in top physical condition from years of training and fighting crime in Gotham City. Bruce's physical durability allowed him to survive being thrown off a roof by members of the Mutant Gang. Bruce's reflexes were so advanced that the only way that the Talon could kill him was via poisoning by Cressida.
* **Genius-level intellect:** Bruce was a highly intelligent individual and skilled detective who fought crime in Gotham for several years. His detective skills were so great that the public dubbed him "The World's Greatest Detective." Bruce was also skilled at deception and manipulation, as he was able to hide his identity as Batman to the point that not even Turner was aware.
	+ **Master Detective**: Bruce was a highly skilled detective, capable of meticulous investigative work. He skills were so great that most people considered him "The World's Greatest Detective". He kept records of all of his cases in journals, and the murder of his parents was his first case. Despite his young age, he knew the Court of Owls orchestrated the crime. He discreetly taught situational awareness to Turner through a game to find what did not belong.
	+ **Master of Deception/Manipulation**: Bruce was a master of deception and manipulation, as he successfully managed to keep his identity as Batman a secret from the public for many years, including from the people he was closest with, such as Turner Hayes or Harvey Dent. He would put on a façade of being a wealthy businessman in order to allay any suspicion that he might be Batman.
	+ **Master Businessman:** As the billionaire CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce was the richest man in Gotham City and its most prominent businessman.
* **Escapology**

## Equipment

* **Batsuit**: While fighting crime as Batman, Bruce wore a protective black suit stylized like a bat in order to hide his identity and strike fear into the hearts of his enemies.
* **Batarangs**: Bruce used a non-lethal bat-shaped throwing projectile as means to disarm and distract criminals.
* **Grappling Hook**: Bruce used a zip-line based grappling hook in order to descend from rooftops and high vantage points.
* **Explosives**: Bruce used sticky-bomb explosives.
* **Crossbow**: Bruce used a crossbow as part of his weapons arsenal.
* **Line Launcher**: Bruce used a Line Launcher.

### Vehicles

* **Batmobile**: Bruce used a vehicle designed after that of a bat whenever he was on patrol as Batman.

## Appearances

### Season 1

* Pilot
* Scene of the Crime (mentioned)
* Under Pressure (mentioned)
* Of Butchers and Betrayals (mentioned)
* More Money, More Problems (mentioned)
* A Chill in Gotham (mentioned)
* Belly of the Beast (mentioned)
* Dark Knight of the Soul (mentioned)
* Poison Pill (mentioned)
* Daddy Issues (mentioned)
* City of Owls (mentioned)
* Night of the Owls (mentioned)

## Behind the scenes

* Bruce Wayne was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, and made his DC Comics debut in *Detective Comics #27* as the superhero Batman.
* Misha Collins's former *Supernatural* co-star Jensen Ackles (who voices Bruce Wayne in the Tomorrowverse animated movies) was originally planned to make a brief appearance in *Gotham Knights* as Wayne but was unable to do so due to commitments to other projects.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Season 1, Episode 2: ***Scene of the Crime***
3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 Season 1, Episode 1: ***Pilot***
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Season 1, Episode 3: ***Under Pressure***
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Season 1, Episode 8: ***Belly of the Beast***
6. ↑ Season 1, Episode 4: ***Of Butchers and Betrayals***
7. ↑ Jensen Ackles Almost Played Batman in Gotham Knights - Movieweb