Batman

* Current
* Proto-Suit

*"I am the shadows."*
―Batman
***The Dark Knight***

**Bruce Wayne** is a orphaned billionaire who swore to avenge his parents' death, using his vast resources to become the **Batman**. He is a founding member of the Justice League.

## Biography

### Origins

#### Early Childhood

Bruce was born to Thomas and Martha Wayne in 1982. A child prodigy, young Bruce excelled in his classes to the point that academics absolutely bored him. By the time he was only seven, he was a known troublemaker and had begun skipping classes, which led to him meeting his lifelong friend, Selina Kyle. Bruce spent much of his time with her, despite the disapproval of his father, who believed her to be a negative influence. Bruce was one day injured while exploring a cave Selina was showing him. Wanting to cheer him up and potentially reconnect with his son, Thomas made a deal with him to see a "Grey Ghost" movie that night, to which Bruce agreed.

#### Death of the Family

Following the viewing of the film, Bruce and his parents left the theater only to realize that their butler, Alfred Pennyworth, wasn't there to pick them up. Bruce, believing his experience with Selina granted him a better knowledge of the city, led his parents through, what he believed, to be a short cut through an alley. There, they were confronted by a mugger with a gun, who demands the pearls around Martha's neck. The mugger is startled and guns down Thomas Wayne and then guns down Martha Wayne to keep her quiet, all right in front of Bruce. As Alfred arrives to retrieve Bruce crumples in Alfred's arms.

The Funeral for the Waynes is held only days later. Bruce, overwhelmed by emotions of guilt, anger, and sadness, runs from the funeral and hides in the cave Selina showed him. There he is attacked by a swarm of bats, an event that traumatizes him further. However, he is found by Selina, who comforts him and stays with him until Alfred arrives.

#### Teenage Years

Like his childhood, Bruce spent most of his teenage years with Selina. Often, Selina would bring him along when she would visit a friend, a retired assassin by the name of David Cain, who would offer lessons to the two, which Bruce often used to vent out his frustrations. Though he spent considerably more time focused on his academics than he did at an earlier age, he would often spend his nights participating in street races or pick fights with other teens, often winning the former and often losing in the latter, despite what he had learned from Cain. When it came to both, however, it was clear that he was growing more reckless and more aggressive, something that seemed to reach its peak when Cain vanished from Gotham.

Due to this recklessness, Selina would often take him to her friends, Pamela Isley and Harleen Quinzel, to tend his wounds, both physical and mental. Outside of them dealing with his injuries, Bruce would often inquire them regarding their specific interests, namely chemistry and botany from Pamela and psychology from Harleen. During this time, Bruce and Selina grew very close, but Selina would often lament to him that she missed the troublemaking and fast-talking kid he used to be, rather than this rather silent and angry thug he was growing into.

#### Leaving Gotham

It was later in his teenage years that Bruce discovered that his parents' killer, Joe Chill, was to be released on parole if he agreed to share information that he had learned while in prison about notorious crime lord Carmine Falcone. Overwhelmed with anger at the thought of his parents being denied justice, Bruce vows to kill Chill. Bruce visits the courthouse the next day, accompanied by Selina, planning to shoot Chill point blank. However, his plan is thwarted when Chill is shot and killed by a hitman, Roman Sionis, who was hired by Falcone.

As the two leave the courthouse, Bruce confesses his desire to kill Chill to Selina, who tells him off regarding his inability to see past his own problems and grudge against Joe Chill, and that his parents would be ashamed of the monster he was becoming before tearfully declaring that she never wants to see him again. Ashamed, Bruce throws away the gun he had planned to use to kill Chill, vowing to never take the life of another, before leaving the city.

### Around the World

For the next several years, Bruce traveled the globe, understanding the desperation and fear that fueled the criminal underworld while also learning how to fight the actual menace that plagued his city. He studied the criminal mind and sought out the teachings of six legendary masters, learning nearly ninety-five different styles of martial arts in the process. However, before Bruce could find the sixth master, he was detained for assault and battery.

Bruce spent the next year in prison, spending his fighting the more horrific and notorious inmates out of some feeling of obligation and morality. However, he caught the attention of a woman visiting the prison. She visited him in his cell after witnessing him fight several men at once. Bruce tells her his journey and she concludes that he is lost and in need of a path. She offers him training and Bruce accepts. Bruce asks for her name, to which she only responds with: "Talia."

#### Training

Bruce trained with "The League of Assassins" for two years and excelled at almost every challenge, but remained unsatisfied with the progress of his inner conflict, still feeling that he has yet to become a man that his parents could be proud of. One day during training, he is approached by a mysterious man, who offers him a "lesson." Through the lesson, Bruce is taught how to hide in the shadows and appear as something inhuman and worse than death in the minds of his enemies. Bruce also learned that sometimes intimidation and fear is required to get necessary information. The man then presents a final lesson to Bruce, in which Bruce must drink from a chalice. Bruce drinks from the chalice and experiences vivid hallucinations of his parents being gunned down once again and himself transforming into a horrific and monstrous Bat-Demon.

### Caped Crusade

#### Return to Gotham

Bruce awakens to find himself back at Wayne Manor. He is informed by Alfred that he had appeared at the front door the previous night. Bruce's return is announced to the city. Bruce then spends the next few days putting together his resources and listening to police scanners and conversations, in order to better learn which cops were dirty. Bruce makes contact with Lucius Fox, an old friend and partner of his father at WayneTech, there he recruits him as an armorer and begins to assemble a makeshift armor. It is during one night where he is listening in on a police scanner that Bruce is confronted by Alfred, who tells him that he while he sees a different person than the undisciplined boy that disappeared those years, he still feels the same intense anger within Bruce. Just then, the police scanner alerts Bruce to a break in at Ace Chemicals and Bruce leaves.

Donning a proto-armor suit, Bruce makes his way into Ace Chemicals, putting his skills to use by subduing members of the "Red Hood" Gang. However, while confronting the leader of the gang, Bruce is shot through the shoulder and the "leader" points a gun to his head. Realizing that the leader doesn't fear him, Bruce fights him off, resulting in the leader falling over the railings and into the vat of chemicals below, despite Bruce's attempts to help. Bruce checks the leader's gun and discovers that it is empty, much to his dismay. Bruce flees the building.

Bruce returns home, his shoulder still bleeding. He talks to a bust of his father, unsure of what to do. Though he still hopes to be a man that his parents would be proud of, he recognizes that in order to truly help Gotham, the criminals he faces must fear him. When he asks his father for answers, he is greeted by images of the night of his parents funeral and the images of winged demons surrounding him in a dark cave.

Bruce visits the cave once again and ventures inside. There he finds the cave is still infested with bats as they swarm around him. Bruce looks up as a lone bat, bigger than the rest, flies toward him. As Bruce watches it approach, he makes his decision of what to do next.

#### The Vigilante

Bruce, now taking the guise of "The Bat-Man" slowly begins to build a name for himself as a vengeful spectre of the night. Though he initially started with thwarting smaller scale petty crime, he very quickly began to target facets of Sionis's operations, including his drug and human trafficking. Striking at the docks, Bat-Man terrorized Sionis's men before leaving them incapacitated and strung up for the police to find.
With a noteworthy reputation now gained, Bat-Man to disrupts Sionis's dinner, where he threatens him and his subordinates. Using his connections in the GCPD, Sionis has Bat-Man branded as a fugitive and vigilante and is hunted by the police. Attempting to use this to his advantage, Bruce spies on the police, where he comes across Lieutenant Gordon, whom he views as one of the last honest cops in Gotham.

Bruce was later visited by Selina, who explained that she wouldn't be visiting him if it wasn't important. She tells himabout Pamela's current status and how she has become the leader of the Red Hood gang. She plead for help from him, either through legal or illegal means and Bruce promises to her that Pamela will be safe. Selina left and while she thanks him for his efforts, mentions that she still stands by what she said the last time she saw him.

Bruce consulted Lucius regarding a more lightweight armor. After receiving his notes as well as settling into the symbolism of the Bat, Lucius tells him that he can have one specially made for him, but it would take time.

After being alerted to another break in, Bat-Man infiltrated Ace Chemicals and was attacked by the Red Hood gang once again. Gordon and his men arrived on the scene and Bat-Man finds himself having to fight his way through the facility, engaging both cops and gang members, until he comes across Pamela trapped under debris. That's when Bat-Man is then confronted by Sionis who reveals that he's the one who brought in the police, explaining that even if Gordon is honest, there's no way he can touch him. He then tells Bat-Man that Gotham belongs to him before shooting a container of toxic materials above Pamela, covering her in chemicals. Bat-Man manages to place a tracking device on Sionis before he escapes. Bat-Man then escapes to the top of the Ace Chemicals building, where he is spotted by many of the civilians gathering outside, spreading the influence and fear of "the Bat-Man".

#### Showdown with Sionis

Bruce returned to his makeshift Batcave, where Alfred tends to his wounds. Alfred voices his concern for Bruce’s well being and the two argue, resulting in Alfred leaving Bruce. Alfred's departure reminds Bruce of Selina's words and he breaks down before attempting to rationalize to himself that the mission is all that should matter to him and that he alone is enough to save the city. Days later, Bruce is alerted to his tracking device on Sionis. He suits up and heads out.

Bat-Man infiltrated Sionis’s penthouse, where he fought his way through eight floors of Sionis’s men, sustaining heavy damage to his armor, before he reached the man himself. He fought against Sionis in a brutal showdown, where Sionis easily managed to slash through Bruce's already damaged suit and injure him. Their fight was then interrupted by a now super-empowered Pamela, now calling herself: "Poison Ivy." Ivy poisoned Bat-Man through a kiss and left him to die. Bat-Man struggled through the streets, attempting to reach the cave on his own, before collapsing. Convinced he was going to die alone in the streets, he called Alfred and apologizes for the things he had said and gave one final goodbye. Alfred quickly arrives on the scene and Bruce was brought back to the Batcave, where Lucius Fox synthesized a cure for him. Bruce awoke a day later, where he found Gotham completely covered in Ivy’s plants.

#### Batman

Bruce turned off the police scanner in his cave, believing that he isn’t enough to defeat Ivy and that his crusade had done nothing but destroy what little of a normal life he could've still had and had made him alone. Alfred manages to convince him, telling him that he shall never be alone in his crusade. With his new armor, courtesy of Lucius Fox, heads out to confront Ivy.

Batman fights his way through Ivy’s plants and frees Ivy's captives: Selina and Sionis, but fails to free Gordon as Ivy brings out a giant plant monster. With Selina’s help, Batman manages to defeat the plant monster and free Gordon. Then, in a desperate final move, Ivy attacks Batman, who is easily able to defeat her before he turns her over to the authorities. As the city begins to rebuild, Gordon sees hope in what this new Batman does. Batman watches over the city as the bat-signal illuminates the sky for the first time.

### The Day The Earth Stood Still

A year after he started his crusade, Bruce was one of many who witnessed the televised first appearance of Superman. However, unlike many who instantly became enamored and obsessed with Superman, Bruce's mind turned to paranoia and anxiety, automatically considering the worst outcome of a person wielding that much power. On the side, Bruce began researching Superman and slowly preparing for a potential encounter that he hoped would never occur.

## Personality

*"Deep down, Clark's a good man. Deep down, I'm not."*
―Batman
*to be added*

### Dislikes

* Others in Pain
* Guns
* Killing

## Powers & Abilities

### Abilities

* **Acrobatics**
* **Athletics**
* **Disguise**
* **Escapology**
* **Equestrianism**
* **Genius Intellect**
	+ **Business Management**
	+ **Computer Hacking**
	+ **Forensic Pathology**
	+ **Gadgetry**
	+ **Medical Science**
	+ **Multilingualism**
	+ **Tactical Analysis**
* **Interrogation**
* **Intimidation**
* **Investigation**
* **Lock Picking**
* **Martial Arts**
* **Occultism**: Batman is knowledgeable enough on magic to be able to identify its presence.
* **Peak Human Condition**
	+ **Peak Human Strength**
	+ **Peak Human Agility**
	+ **Peak Human Durability**
	+ **Peak Human Observation**
	+ **Peak Human Reflexes**
	+ **Peak Human Speed**: Batman's speed far surpasses that of an average person, able to move so fast that he can appear as a blur even to the trained eye.
	+ **Peak Human Stamina**
	+ **Toxic Immunity**
* **Prestidigitation**
* **Stealth**
* **Surveillance**
* **Tracking**
* **Weaponry**
	+ **Archery**
	+ **Demolitions**
	+ **Firearms**: Despite his distaste of guns, Batman is a skilled marksman and has studied the assembly of most guns to know how to disassemble any firearm in a speedy fashion.
	+ **Swordsmanship**
	+ **Throwing**
* **Vehicular Expertise**

## Paraphernalia

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

## Trivia

* The Batsuit adds a couple more inches to his height. While suited up, he stands at 6'6" (not including bat-ears). He stands as the tallest member of the Justice League.
* Batman's favorite dessert is the Devil's Food.