Bruce Wayne/Batman

Subject Facts

Full Name: Bruce Wayne
Codename: Batman
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Archetype: Vigilante
Aliases: Matches Malone, formerly Insider
Marital Status: Single
Affiliation: Batfamily, Justice League, Batman Incorporated

Subject Attributes

Meta-Human Abilities: None.

Standard Abilities: Bruce is a master of very many things. He is a master detective, able to unravel even the toughest of mysteries through whatever clues and details provided. This is probably in part due to his genius level intellect, being one of the keenest analytical minds in the world and having an eidetic memory. He is an expert interrogator, knowing how to use fear to his advantage. He is a master combatant, having trained in 127 different martial arts. His combat is aided by him being in peak physical condition for a human, able to hold his breath for over three minutes, go long periods without sleep, and even keeping moving through injuries that would be debilitating to others. He is proficient in a vast array of weapons, even having trained in fire arms despite his deep aversion to them. He is an expert at stealth, able to blend into the shadows and move without a sound. Others skills of his include escapology, disguise, leadership, driving, engineering, and business management.

Paraphernalia: Bruce has a large variety of weaponry on him at any given time. The most notable of his gear would be his utility belt, which holds majority of his gear. His most often used weapons are his batarangs and his preferred method of moving through the city is via grapple. When not using that, he has a variety of transportation to choose from, notably either the batmobile or batjet. His cowl is equipped with advanced technology as well: his lenses allow infrared vision and recording for further analysis and when unconscious, it emits an electric shock to prevent the cowl from being removed.

Subject Weaknesses: Physically, Bruce's only weakness would appear to be his lack of super powers or super endurance. His flesh is just as vulnerable as any other human's and his body can only take so much of a beating before it breaks. Mentally and emotionally is where Bruce tends to fall short. He is very single-minded in his devotion to fighting Gotham's crime. This can lead to him pushing everything else aside, from people to his own health. Bruce also has trouble expressing himself and dealing with his own emotions. This often leads to conflict between him and his allies. He also refuses to kill, knowing it would be too easy to never stop doing so. Whether this is a weakness or not, depends on who is asked.

Subject History

Bruce was born to Thomas and Martha Wayne, multibillionaires and central socialites to Gotham City, USA. When he was around the age of eight, while walking home from the Monarch Theater with his parents, Bruce witnessed their murder by the hand of Joe Chill. Bruce was put into the care of and raised by the family butler, Alfred Pennyworth, leading a largely antisocial childhood with relatively few friends.

The death of his parents traumatized Bruce and made him fixate on the idea of ridding Gotham City of the crime that plagued it. To that end as a young man he toured the world, training himself mentally and physically, mastering a whole host of abilities and subjects to arm him with, seeking educations from various prestigious schools and "practical" skills from masters in their respective fields internationally.

After twelve years of training, at the age of twenty-five, Bruce finally returned to Gotham and first created the persona of the Batman, and began a one-man vigilante war on the city's criminal underworld. He developed lieutenant James Gordon of the GCPD while in-costume, and developed a working relationship outside of the law with him that would last for years to come. Batman's appearance kickstarted a new host of costumed personas, starting with Catwoman. He clashed with Dr Hugo Strange and the Joker, whose first confrontation lead to the creation of the Bat-Signal.

More costumed super-criminals began to appear, including Scarecrow, the Riddler, Poison Ivy, Mister Freeze and the Penguin. Many of Batman's enemies were kept in Arkham Aslyum for the Criminally Insane after their defeat. During the events of the Long Halloween, Bruce first started dating socialite Selina Kyle, and the tragic events of that year transformed his long-time friend (in- and out-of-costume) Harvey Dent into Two-Face. Sometime after this, Batman first met Superman, and the two became lasting friends. With Clark and several other heroes Bruce helped fight the alien Appellaxian invaders, and with them formed the Justice League of America.

Batman was introduced to Wonder Woman by Superman in a conflict against Ra's al Ghul and Bizarro, and she became another of his close superhero allies. During a trip to Haly's Circus, Bruce witnessed the death of the parents of young acrobat Dick Grayson. Seeing potential and himself in the boy, Bruce adopted him. Eventually he revealed his identity as Batman to Dick and, following months of rigorous training, allowed him to take to the streets as his crime-fighting sidekick: Robin. Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara Gordon debuted shortly thereafter as a costume vigilante, too. Bruce originally disapproved but soon worked to support and help her as Batgirl.

Bruce fell in love with Talia al Ghul, daughter of Ra's al Ghul, leader of the League of Assassins. The romance ended tragically and Batman declared war on Ra's after seeing just how dangerous he was. When the Justice League refused to help Bruce save Lucius Fox for political reasons, Batman quit and created his own black-ops superhero team called the Outsider. Bruce also helped found Justice League International to oppose G Gordon Godfrey.

Dick and Bruce's relationship began to strain as he got older, particularly after Robin began leading the Teen Titans and Titans consecutively. They even became completely estranged for a time, but mended fences when Dick remade himself as Nightwing. It was after this that Bruce ran into Jason Todd, taking the young criminal under his wing and making him the second Robin. Together, they continued their campaign against crime successfully for a while.

Tragedy struck in quick succession. The Joker attacked and paralyzed Barbara Gordon in one of his heinous schemes, and shortly thereafter engaged in another conflict that included the death of Jason Todd. Driven bitter by guilt, Bruce became a lone vigilante figure again and tackled a long series of criminals and threats by himself, spurning any assistance or kinship. Batman became more violent and aggressive in this period as a coping mechanism as well.

During a clash with a resurgent Two-Face, the young Tim Drake debuted as the new Robin. After helping defeat Dent, and proving himself intellectually by having deduced Bruce and Dick's secret identities with investigative research, Bruce begrudgingly began training him as his new sidekick. Later, Bruce began struggling physically and psychologically, compounded by a rapid succession of threats to Gotham that he felt he didn't handle as well as he should. He even assigned Tim Drake to train Jean-Paul Valley in detective work as a possible future ally as a way to shut out his ward emotionally.

This unsteady ground finally gave way with the appearance of the criminal named Bane, who defeated him on every level, even breaking his back to demonstrate his superiority. Bruce's body was spirited away to the Batcave. When he awoke, he assigned Jean-Paul Valley to take his place as Batman while he recuperated, furthering an already deep rift with Tim. Following his doctor, Shondra Kinsolving and Jack Drake's abduction, Bruce tracked them down to Santa Prisca with Oracle's help (the new info-broker persona Barbara Gordon had created for herself). Though he managed to save them both, it wasn't without great difficulty and time spent.

Bruce returned with a fully-healed back to Gotham to find the disastrous effects of Jean-Paul's actions as Batman, he began training under Lady Shiva to return to his physical zenith to confront Valley and reclaim his mantle. Together with Nightwing and Robin, he clashed with Jean-Paul and managed to break through to him psychologically, convincing him to start a new life somewhere else, while Bruce returned to his place as Batman. After the events of Zero Hour altered the timestream, Bruce mended his relationship with Tim and temporarily made Dick Batman while he reevaluated what it would take to restore his reputation.

Once Bruce finally returned as Batman for good, he did so with upgraded arsenal and armaments. He next helped Azrael seemingly find the cure for a deadly virus that contaminated Gotham City. Unfortunately, this "cure" only mutated into something more deadly to those treated with it. His quest for a real cure lead him into conflict with Ra's al Ghul and Bane, who had joined forces to spread the virus internationally. Batman, Nightwing and Robin traveled the globe to thwart the League of Assassins from doing just that, and ultimately with Oracle's help a true cure was discovered.

In a fight against Doctor Destiny that brought him together with other superheroes, Batman agreed to join a reformed JLA. Unfortunately Gotham was decimated by a tremendous earth quake and, despite his actions in Washington, DC as Bruce Wayne striving for the opposite, Gotham was labeled a "no man's land" and completely isolated from the rest of the world. Together with other vigilantes, Batman worked tirelessly to defend the innocent and thwart rampant crime until the US government reversed the sentence several months later.

Batman secretly began developing contingency plans to counter his allies in the JLA if they were forced to do evil. After Talia broke into the Batcave and stole these plans, Ra's al Ghul began using them to incapacitate every member of the League. With the help of a defected Talia, the League managed to stop Ra's schemes, and afterwards Batman was voted out of the team on grounds of distrust. After being counseled by Clark, he returned to the League, revealing his secret identity to begin rebuilding trust with them.

Bruce found himself the target of a vast, shadowy conspiracy, kicked off when he was terribly injured during a fall after his batline was cut in midair. His childhood friend, Tommy Elliot, used his surgical genius to save Bruce's life. The conspiracy continued to unfold and Batman began a romantic relationship with semi-reformed Catwoman after saving her from Killer Croc. Together the pair fought Poison Ivy, despite her having enthralled Superman. Tommy was seemingly murdered by the Joker during an attack on an opera house, nearly pushing Bruce to the edge. Following counsel given by Nightwing, Bruce decided to reveal his secret identity to Catwoman.

Ultimately the culprit behind the conspiracy was none other than Tommy Elliot, going by "Hush," as a personal, vengeful vendetta against the Wayne Family. Following the climactic clash with Tommy, who got away, Bruce confronted the Riddler (who had deduced his secret identity), then ended his romantic relationship with Selina, not being able to let someone get that close to him, and unsure if their romance had been part of Tommy's scheme all along.

When Tim Drake's father discovered his identity as Robin, he was forced to hang up the cowl. Stephanie Brown, formerly Spoiler, sought the position and Batman took her on as the new Robin, but fired her shortly thereafter for disobedience. Unfortunately in her desperation to prove herself, Stephanie enacted a stolen plan from the Batcave that was contingent on one of Bruce Wayne's alter egos (who he hadn't told Stephanie about), which, with his absence, culminated in Black Mask taking control of organized crime throughout Gotham.

Next a new criminal called the Red Hood began seizing control of Gotham's criminal society from Black Mask. The Red Hood eventually revealed himself to be a resurrected Jason Todd. When Bruce and Jason ultimately confronted each other in Crime Alley, together they witnessed Chemo dropped as a living bomb on neighboring Blüdhaven by the Brotherhood of Evil, completely eradicating it.

Following growing suspicions about the superhero community, Bruce developed a sentient satellite, Brother Eye, to help monitor them, building a database of secret identities and abilities. The system was stolen by Maxwell Lord, who connected it to the OMAC Project. During the Infinite Crisis, Bruce nearly killed Alexander Luthor following Nightwing's severe injuries and Superboy's death. Though dissuaded by Wonder Woman, he realized he need to retrace the steps that forged him into Batman originally.

With Nightwing and Robin, Bruce went on a year-long international pilgrimage echoing the one from his youth. Batman returned to Gotham after this refreshed and reinvigorated. His first sprawling case was against a new Tally Man and ended, unfortunately, with Harvey Dent's regression into his Two-Face persona. Near the end of the crisis, Bruce formally adopted Tim Drake, who had been tragically orphaned. While abroad as Bruce Wayne, he was attacked and captured by Talia al Ghul, who revealed that they'd had a son together she'd never told him about: Damian.

Bruce took Damian under his care and, eventually, allowed him to become the new Robin. When they tracked down Talia, it was revealed to all have been a ploy to convince Bruce to rule the planet together as a family - which he refused. Later, Hush resurfaced and attacked Selina, surgically removing her heart and leaving her on life support, near-death. Bruce, with help from his allies, managed to retrieve it and thwart Hush, and Bruce confessed his love for Selina while she lay in her hospital bed. Then began an indescribably convoluted plot by the Black Glove that left Bruce temporarily amnesiac before, after a climactic battle at Arkham Aslyum, he was restored.

During the Final Crisis, Batman was captured by Granny Goodness. He managed to escape, however, and challenged Darkseid directly. Though he managed to destroy Darkseid, it wasn't before one last Omega Beam seemingly killed Bruce. In reality, Batman had survived the Omega Sanction, and had merely been flung backwards thousands of years to the Prehistoric Era. Amnesiac, Bruce began fighting his way through history, tearing through it with Omega Energy Darkseid trained on him as an act of revenge that ultimately, through countless turns and twists, ended in Bruce's formal return to the present. He reclaimed the mantle of the Bat, but soon after in a press conference as Bruce Wayne revealed he had been financing the Batman for years and went public with "Batman Incorporated."

In earnest, he began setting up Batman, Inc.. He traveled to Japan with Catwoman to recruit Mister Unknown, making him into that country's Batman. Nightrunner of Paris became its Batman, and so on and so forth. Most recently, it was revealed following a confrontation with Doctor Dedalus that the mastermind behind the Leviathan Organization plaguing the world was none other than Talia al Ghul.

Subject Interview

The world was always changing.

A creak echoed through the air. The men shifting through the boxes of illegal weaponry paused. “What was that?”

“D’unno. Old building.”

“You don’t think Batman would come here, do ya?”

“Don't know. Which is why we can't waste no more time.”

“We've been quiet. Ain't no way he knows abou- aaah!” A line had shot out and the man was suddenly flying into the air and disappearing into the darkness of the rafters. Curses left the mouths of the remaining four men, before silence overtook them as they turned their rifles upward.

There were several moments of tense silence, before another creak was heard and one of the men lost his nerve, unloading his rifle into the rafters. He descended at that moment—the Batman. Landing atop a crate, he released two batarangs that flew through the air and sliced into the men’s hands, causing them to drop their rifles. He then grabbed the nearest man—who was also the largest—and did four quick jabs to pressure points in his back that would cause nearly his entire body to go numb. He shoved that man at another, causing both to collapse onto the floor as the smaller one struggled under the dead weight of the other.

Two left. He could hear the GCPD sirens approaching in the distance, reacting to his anonymous tip exactly when he expected. He dodged to the side as one pulled a handgun out of his pants and fired. Leaping off the crate, he sent his fist straight into that man’s face. His nose cracked, spurting out blood and the man fell back to the ground. He turned to the last man, hitting him with a gut punch and then uppercut. It was enough to send that one to the floor as well.

Batman stood there for just a moment as the lights of the police vehicles shined through the warehouse windows, surrounded by illegal weapons and groaning thugs.

The world was always changing. Gotham remained the same.

Author's Notes

Player Alias: Jay

Other Characters: Jason Todd, Lois Lane, & Jessica Cruz

How did you find ARFD?: Been here forever