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"When it's time for you and I to say goodbye, you'll know
"When it's time for you and I to say goodbye, you'll know." ―Kent Nelson, Black Adam
This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the most recent DC Extended Universe content. You have been warned.

"Men are still good: we fight, we kill, we betray one another... But we can rebuild. We can do better. We will. We have to!"
―Bruce Wayne to Diana Prince[src]

Bruce Wayne is the billionaire owner and CEO of Wayne Enterprises, and a costumed vigilante operating in Gotham City, New Jersey known as the Batman.

After witnessing the murder of his parents at the hands of a mugger as a child, Bruce ultimately became the fearsome vigilante Batman as an adult to stop anyone from suffering like him and to put an end to organised crime, beginning his crime fighting career 18 years before the Black Zero Event. Over those years, he became heavily seasoned as an expert crime fighter and detective, having fought and overpowered numerous criminal adversaries, most notably the extreme psychopath Joker. He also mentored his ward and partner vigilante Jason Todd (known as "Robin"), though the latter was eventually killed by the Joker and Harley Quinn. Batman would also apprehend future Suicide Squad members Deadshot and Harley Quinn, as well as chasing Killer Croc out of Gotham City.

Two years after witnessing the Black Zero Event, Batman grew increasingly wary of the alien hero Superman, and the two would initially fiercely battle one another (mainly due to manipulation). However, they would ultimately settle their differences and team up with Wonder Woman, together managing to take down Lex Luthor's unleashed bloodthirsty monster, Doomsday. While Superman was seemingly killed by the dying monster, Batman and Wonder Woman would be inspired by his noble sacrifice to begin establishing the valiant Justice League, in order to battle any future threats to the world, with Batman himself resolving to be their leader.

Biography

Early Life and Parents' Murder

"In the dream, they took me to the light. A beautiful lie..."
―Batman[src]
File:Thomasmarthawayne-170521.jpg

Bruce with his parents.

Bruce Wayne was born in 1972 in Gotham City, New Jersey, to Dr. Thomas Wayne, a billionaire advanced technology and military defense developer, and Martha Kane-Wayne, an Irish-Catholic debutante, and had an idyllic childhood due to his family's fortune. One day, Thomas would sit young Bruce down in Wayne Manor, next to where their family crest was engraved, and told him how despite the manor itself being built on railways, real estates and oil, the first generation of Waynes had made their fortune as hunters, trading pelts and skins with the French.

File:Batman v Superman 47.png

Bruce, bellowing in devastation while witnessing his parents' murder.

One night at age 9, he and his parents were walking home from a family night out at the theatre to see "The Mark of Zorro" when they are confronted by a mugger, Joe Chill, who shot both Thomas and Martha, killing them in cold blood right before Bruce's eyes. From then on, Bruce was raised by the Wayne family butler Alfred Pennyworth. His parents were buried on the grounds of Wayne Manor, but Bruce, overcome with grief, ran away from the funeral, falling into a cavern filled with numerous bats.

Becoming Batman

In the eventuating years, Bruce grew up inspired by those bats to make himself a symbol of fear within the heart of crime in Gotham City, Bruce did so by training himself beyond the heights of mental and physical perfection, mastering many martial arts, the art of deception, tactical skills, and stealth, among many other disciplines. Bruce used this newfound workout and knowledge to take up the the persona of a fearsome yet heroic vigilante known as "the Batman" by launching a one-man war on crime at age 23, while also swiftly reclaiming control over his family company Wayne Enterprises as its CEO. The cavern with bats that he had once fallen into as a child inspired him to create the Batcave, an expansive subterranean residence housing all of his high-tech Batman gadgets, and located under Wayne Manor.

Fighting crime in Gotham as Batman

"Twenty years in Gotham, Alfred. We've seen what promises are worth. How many good guys are left!? How many stayed that way!?"
―Bruce Wayne[src]

Bruce spent 18 years (up until the alien invasion of General Zod) fighting a one-man war on crime in Gotham City as the dark and fearsome vigilante "Batman", during which time he encountered numerous supervillains (such as his archenemy, an extreme psychopath known as the Joker), and had taken on at least one young sidekick, Jason Todd, better known as "Robin"[1], and captured many criminals and supervillains, locking them away in either prison or Arkham Asylum, including both the Falcone and Maroni crime families[2], the monstrous Killer Croc and Joker's partner Harley Quinn, in addition to the Penguin.[3] He would also form an alliance with GCPD officer James Gordon, and a Bat-Signal projector was used to summon Batman, if the latter were ever urgently needed. In addition, Batman later claims to have come across "a few" suspicious women during his long career, which likely included the aforementioned Harley Quinn. He was initially all about finesse, hardly appearing at all, as evidenced when he caught Sal and tied him up from a tall building, and broke Pete Doumanian's legs, forcing the latter to permanently retire from crime.

Losing Robin

Bruce stares up at the damaged Robin suit

Bruce at the display of his fallen ally.

However, the Joker and Harley Quinn manage to kill Robin together, and left a note for Batman, spray-painted on the damaged Robinsuit. A devastated Bruce hung Jason Todd's suit in the Batcave, as a monument to honor his comrade and to also remind himself of what he fights for. After the death of his protege, sidekick and friend, Bruce became much more hardened and angered, when out as Batman he was much more brutal and violent against his enemies.[4]

Gotham City rogues

Capturing Deadshot

"It's over, Deadshot! I don't want to do this in front of your daughter."
―Batman to Deadshot[src]
Batman confronts Deadshot

Batman confronts Deadshot.

At some point during this time, Batman begins tracking down the world's most wanted hitman Deadshot, and A.R.G.U.S. leader Amanda Waller proves herself a situational ally by anonymously giving Batman some crucial information on how to track the assassin down. Hence Batman finds Deadshot on the streets with his daughter Zoe Lawton. When the duo goes through an alley, Batman glides down and seizes Deadshot, telling the latter to surrender, not wanting to do anything in front of Deadshot's daughter. Deadshot attempts to fight off the vigilante, but Batman swiftly gets the better of him, beating Deadshot to the ground. Deadshot then promptly takes out his gun and attempts to shoot Batman, but Zoe stands in the way, crying that she did not want her father to kill anyone else. After a moment, Deadshot surrenders his gun and himself to Batman, who cuffs him to a gate and leaves him for the GCPD, who find him being hugged by a saddened Zoe.

Killer Croc on the run

Fierce metahuman Killer Croc, came to Gotham City and tried to form a criminal enterprise, however he was repeatedly confronted and defeated by Batman. Croc was so heavily on Batman's radar, that he was forced to flee the city, only to be later captured by Amanda Waller and her A.R.G.U.S. SWAT team.

Man of Steel

Black Zero Event

"That son of a bitch brought the war to us two years ago!"
―Bruce, regarding Superman[src]
Bruce sees the fight

Bruce Witnesses the battle between Superman and Zod.

 Bruce was in Metropolis in the midst of General Zod's attack on the city with the Black Zero. As Zod attempted to terraform the Earth into New Krypton, starting with Metropolis, Bruce took a helicopter to the outskirts of the city and witnessed the Black Zero destroying everything downtown. He took a vehicle and made his way towards the Wayne Financial Building, giving the order via phone for the people inside to evacuate. Bruce's friend and employee Jack O'Dwyer gave the order to evacuate, but he remained inside the building. Bruce dodged several pieces of debris and falling buildings and jets before finally reaching a stop in front of an entire crowd of citizens. Bruce exited the vehicle and watched along with the crowd as the Black Zero was destroyed and sent back to the Phantom Zone with Superman's infant starship. As buildings began to fall, Bruce made his way to the Wayne Financial Building on foot and called Jack again, but got no signal. While there, he bore witness to the vicious duel between Superman and Zod. As the mighty aliens fought high above the city, Zod's heat vision tore through the Wayne Financial Building, causing it to collapse into ruins. A horrified Bruce screamed for Jack and ran towards the collapsing building while everyone else fled. Bruce searched for survivors, passing a group of frightened children and finding his employee Wallace Keefe trapped underneath rubble. Bruce and a few other employees there helped rescue the now paralyzed Keefe. Bruce then noticed a little girl staring at the building's ruins and saved her from getting crushed by debris. He told her that she would be safe and asked where her mother was, but she could only point to the now destroyed building before breaking down in tears. Bruce embraced and consoled the girl as he watched Zod and Superman continue their fight in the sky, coming crashing back down to Earth, in a mortal embrace. 

Dawn of Justice - Batman

Defeating Firefly

"He was always tough. But over the years, he got harder. I mean, you figure he's seen some things."
Sal to his colleague[src]As a result of witnessing the incredible destruction and carnage unleashed by the Black Zero Event and subsequent duel of the mighty aliens, Bruce became more brutal as Batman, now resorting to breaking the legs of jewel thief Pete Doumanian, for instance, though he still refused to kill the thugs that he apprehended.[5]
Batman attacks Firefly and company

Batman intervening in Firefly's operation.

Months later, Batman intervened when Firefly was setting up charges to detonate a building. He used a batarang to knock the detonator from the villains grip, destroyed it with a mighty stomp, and proceeded to engage Firefly, who unsuccessfully attacked the Dark Knight with his flamethrower, as it proved ineffective against Batman's fireproof cape and oxygen mask. Batman thus subdued him rather quickly, leaving Firefly's two low-level criminal allies tied up on a sidewalk for the GCPD officers to find, though, unknown to him, Batman was being watched by Lex Luthor the entire time via a CCTV, in order to analyzing the Dark Knight's capabilities, which firmly established to Lex that the rumors of Batman being inhuman and supernatural are actually completely false.[5]

Field Trip

Wayne Enterprises Field Trip

While at Wayne Enterprises, Bruce followed a Metropolis Middle School student, Zoe, who was watching a group of criminals using Kryptonian armor and plasma rifles, in to a restricted section of the building. He urged her to return to her group, as he would seek the "proper authority", but they were caught by the gang. Suddenly, Superman showed up, causing the criminals to make a break for it. The Kryptonian plasma rifles briefly held Superman back (though he was also unwilling to hurt them). Bruce then took down the guard watching him and Zoe, before activating a Kryptonian signal jammer, which let out a high-frequency screeching noise that subdued everybody, briefly including Superman. Given the opportunity to take out the criminals, Superman handed them over to the Metropolis Police Department, as Bruce praised Zoe for her courage, before returning her to her school group.[6]

Picture Proof

Locating Emily for Evidence

As Batman, Bruce was later chasing a group through the Carytown Crossing, in the movie and shopping district. He landed his motorbike on top of their car, causing them to crash, before subduing and tying them up. He ran from the scene, disappearing down a manhole. The following night, he located Emily, who had taken a photo of him. He acknowledged that she would do the right thing and destroy the evidence, disappearing into the night.[7]

Capturing Harley Quinn

Also around this time, the Joker and Harley Quinn are driving down a Gotham City street in the Jokermobile, laughing maniacally on the journey. However, Batman pursues them in the Batmobile, and after putting his car on auto-pilot, leaps onto the Jokermobile's roof. Harley, annoyed that Batman was ruining "date night", began angrily shooting into the roof, though, due to Batman's bulletproof suit, this proves ineffective. Joker, attempting to shake Batman off, makes a sharp turn, that sends his car flying off the road and into the river, forcing Batman to grapple away. Batman then promptly puts on a breather and dives into the river, finding the crashed car and Harley, but no Joker. Batman then grabs Harley, who awakens and tries to stab him, but Batman quickly knocks her unconscious with a mighty punch, and carries her out of the river.

Batman carries Harley

Batman carries Harley to the Batmobile.

Batman then lays her down on the hood of the Batmobile and checks for a pulse, but does not find one. With extreme reluctance, Batman then does mouth-to-mouth to revive her. A pleased Harley then recovers and begins kissing him, but Batman resists and drives her to Belle Reve.[8]

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Bat Brand of Justice

"A Devil...It saved us...It's still here..."
―Rescued sex trafficker hostages about Batman[src]
The devil saved us

An officer sees Batman for the first time.

2 years after the Black Zero Event, Batman rescues a group of young Asian women from sex trafficker Cesar Santos by subduing him and then ruthlessly branding him. One of Gotham City Police Department's rookie police officers tried to shoot him but the Dark Knight escaped, leaving Santos with a "bat-brand" on his chest. This would be only one of the many criminals branded by the Dark Knight, as there had been 18 reports of it in Gotham within the past month. Bearing a "bat-brand" is equivalent to a death sentence among Gotham City prison inmates, and later among Metropolis prisoners too. These actions within the prisons were orchestrated by Lex Luthor as a way to make Batman feel responsible for those deaths, as if he were a murderer, thus making Batman's madness and cruelty grow stronger, all in the hopes that this would catch Superman's attention and induce him to fight the Dark Knight.

Knyazev and the White Portuguese

"We're criminals, Alfred, we've always been criminals. Nothing's changed."
"Oh, yes it has, sir. Everything's changed: men fall from the sky, the gods hurl thunderbolts, innocents die. That's how it starts, sir. The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men... cruel."
Alfred and Bruce[src]
File:Batman in the Batcave10.png

Bruce, discussing the "White Portuguese" with Alfred.

Bruce has been searching for someone known only as the "White Portuguese", which, as he tells Alfred, is bringing in a dirty bomb to Gotham City. Bruce learns that a Russian man named Anatoli Knyazev may have information regarding the "White Portuguese", but even after interrogating 6 people as Batman, he learns nothing. Hence, Bruce Wayne later attends an underground fight club where he meets Knyazev. He and Bruce had a brief conversation, which allowed Bruce to successfully clone Knyazev's phone and discover that Knyazev worked for Lex Luthor. Bruce then expressed his intention to break into Luthor's house as Batman, but Alfred is quick to point out that that would be unnecessary, as Luthor has already invited Bruce to attend a fundraiser event. That evening, as Bruce prepares to depart the Batcave and attend the event, throws a glance at Jason Todd's damaged Robinsuit.

Meeting Clark Kent and Lex Luthor

"Mr. Wayne! Clark Kent, Daily Planet. What's your position on the Bat Vigilante in Gotham?"
Clark Kent to Bruce[src]
File:Bruce in library 8.png

Bruce plugging his hacking device in.

Bruce attends a party, hoping to tap into the LexCorp Industries mainframe, by plugging a device into the servers. While pretending to listen to Lex Luthor's greeting speech, Bruce listens to Alfred's instructions (via a hidden earpiece), and sneaks away from the crowd, successfully plugging in his device into the LexCorp servers. Unbeknownst to Bruce, however, Alfred's voice was picked up by the super-hearing of Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent (who, unbeknownst to Bruce, is Superman in disguise), so as soon as Bruce returns, a suspicious Clark is quick to interview him, asking Bruce about his position regarding Batman.


Bruce Wayne meets Clark Kent

Clark and Bruce meet for the first time

Bruce initially attempts to brush the reporter off (as he notices the very beautiful Diana Prince out of the corner of his eye and intends to flirt with her), condescendingly referring to the younger man as "son", and sarcastically asking if the Daily Planet belongs to him. Clark, however, persists, claiming that Batman's actions are trampling on people's civil liberties in Gotham City (having seen it himself during his visit and interview of Kahina Ziri's neighbors). Bruce, however, is quick to point out the hypocrisy in Clark's words, noting that every time Superman, the hero of Metropolis, carried out a trivial deed, journalists like Clark are quick to shower him with praise in "puff-piece editorials", while in fact the godlike alien should instead be feared, as there would be seemingly no way of stopping him, if Superman were to suddenly decide to "burn the whole place down." Clark is angered by this criticism, but calmly points out that most of the world doesn't share Bruce's opinion of the alien superhero, but Bruce responds by claiming that perhaps his view is based on the bad history that Gotham City has with "freaks dressed like clowns" (clearly referencing his own rage following the Joker and Harley Quinn's murder of Robin a decade ago). They both have a staredown, with the air around them becoming tense.

At that precise moment, however, they are abruptly interrupted by Lex Luthor, who enthusiastically introduces himself and invites Bruce to visit the LexCorp Industries research and development facilities. However, Mercy Graves comes up and lets Lex know that a governor wants to speak to him. As Bruce politely excuses himself and walks off, a suspicious Clark attempts to follow him (having heard Alfred's voice in the earpiece again), but he suddenly sees a TV news report of a girl stuck in a burning house in Mexico, and is forced to switch his clothes and depart. Bruce then breaks from the crowd, and tries to unplug his device, only to find it has already been unplugged by a mysterious antiques dealer named Diana Prince. Bruce follows after her, but loses Diana in the nick of time.

Confronting Diana Prince

"You don't know me, but I've known a few women like you."
"No, I don't think you've ever known a woman like me."
―Bruce and Diana Prince[src]
Diana Prince and Bruce Wayne

Bruce speaks with Diana.

Later, Bruce finds Diana Prince at the Gotham City Museum of Antiquities' exhibit of a fake replica of Alexander the Great's sword, where he angrily confronts her by grabbing her arm and asking her about the information she stole. Bruce claims to see right through her "babe in the woods" act, saying that while she doesn't know him, he's met "a few women like [Diana]" (a possible reference to Harley Quinn among them). Diana, however, calmly smiles and claims to be sure that Bruce has never met a woman like her. She then proceeds to tell Bruce that she was unable to obtain anything due to the data having military-grade encryption. Diana explains that she stole the information because Lex Luthor had a picture that belonged to her. Before excusing herself, Diana then lets Bruce know that she only borrowed his device, and has already returned in to him shortly beforehand, placing it into his car.

File:White Portuguese ins a ship6.png

Bruce, explaining himself to Alfred.

Later, while viewing the decrypted data, Bruce realizes that Lex is not only experimenting with Kryptonite, but also investigating metahumans. One of them is Diana Prince herself, who is revealed to actually be an immortal Amazon warrior Wonder Woman (as a photo of her together with Steve Trevor in 1918 post-World War I Belgium in seen). The others are the mysterious mighty Atlantean warrior Arthur Curry, the powerful speedster Barry Allen, and the cybernetically enhanced Victor Stone. In the process, Bruce also realizes that the "White Portuguese" is actually a ship, rather than a person. Bruce then promptly admits to Alfred that he plans to steal the Kryptonite to weaponize it, should it become necessary to fight Superman.

Bruce's nightmare and the Flash's warning

"Bruce, listen to me now! It's Lois, it's Lois Lane! She's the key! Am I too soon?! Aaaah, I'm too soon! You were right about him! You've always been right about him! Fear him! Find us, Bruce, you have to find us!"
―The Flash to Bruce[src]
Knightmare

Batman being overwhelmed by Superman's stormtroopers and Parademons.

After falling asleep at his desk, Bruce began to experience a form of a nightmarish dream, seemingly a vision of a possible apocalyptic future. A devastated Superman kills thousands, and is driven by his incredible grief and despair to become dark and maniacal taking over the Earth as its iron-fistedruler, creating a stormtrooper army to aid him in his totalitarian regime of Earth, killing anybody who opposes him. A visibly more aged Batman, in desert clothing, exits a bunker, and watches his allies approach. He meets with them and asks for the Kryptonite rock. However, they open the box to reveal only green light bulbs. They apologize to him and hold him at gunpoint. He follows through with their commands as the stormtroopers reveal themselves to Batman and his allies. They execute them, as Batman watches helplessly. Angered, he begins a killing spree and guns down and killing also by brutally beating the multiple stormtroopers working for Superman. Although he manages to take down most of the stormtroopers while Parademons invade the area and abduct many of his resistance fighters, Batman is eventually overwhelmed by the remaining stormtroopers there who could barely restrain him. He snaps one of their necks but then is brutally (but barely) beaten down and restrained by the other stormtroopers. Seeing the damage that Batman was inflicting on the stormtroopers and their inability to restrain him, a Parademon knocks him unconscious.

File:Knightmare 43.png

Batman and his allies, chained up in Superman's bunker.

Batman recuperates chained up in the bunker with his remaining allies, eyeing them helplessly. Superman himself then lands in the bunker, and his stormtroopers reverently bow before their leader. He approaches Batman, swiftly murdering the latter's other allies with his heat vision. Superman then unmasks the infuriated vigilante. He expresses his anger at Bruce for letting "her" die, as she was "his world." Superman gives Batman one final sneer, and brutally kills him by tearing his heart from his chest.


The Flash appears in Bruce's dream

The Flash appears to Bruce.

At this point, Bruce awoke from this nightmare to find a distorted and unstable blue portal of electricity right in front of him. Inside it, the Flash appeared, and gave Bruce a distorted warning, to fear a person referred to as "him" (whom Bruce had "always been right about") and that Lois Lane was "the key" to this. Flash then suddenly realized that he is "too soon", so then, before the portal disappeared, he begged Bruce to find "them all" and save "her". Bruce abruptly awoke again, though he did not believe that either experience was entirely a dream.

This terrifying vision of a possible potential future, along with Bruce choosing to interpret that the male individual whom Flash implored him to fear, is Superman, rids Bruce of any doubts he might have still had, giving more justification to his quest of bringing down and killing Superman.

First encounter with Superman

"Tell me...Do you bleed? You will..."
―Batman to Superman[src]
Superman and Batman stand on the Batmobile

Superman threatens Batman

While intercepting Lex Luthor's men transporting Kryptonite, Superman interrupted the chase, damaging the Batmobile after Batman tried running him down and again when Superman tore the doors off. Superman (enraged by the death of Cesar Santos and the helplessness of using words to stop Batman's vigilantism) threatened the Dark Knight, warning him to give up his crusade (to ignore the Bat-Signal the next time it is shined into the sky), and that he should consider Superman's warning mercy, meaning that disobedience will carry severe punishment. As he turned to leave, Batman countered with a threat of his own, expressing his determination to make the godlike alien "bleed". Not impressed with Batman's threat, Superman flew off, while Batman promptly drove back to the Batcave in the damaged Batmobile. Back home, Batman tracked the Kryptonite to LexCorp Industries, with the intention of stealing it from there the next night.

Witnessing US Capitol Bombing and Obtaining Lex's Kryptonite

File:Bruceprofile.png

Bruce, seething with renewed horror and rage after witnessing the Capitol explosion.

After witnessing the massive US Capitol explosion during Superman's congressional hearing, seemingly caused by Superman himself (actually malevolently orchestrated by Lex Luthor to frame him), Batman breaks into the well-guarded LexCorp Industries building, successfully steals the Kryptonite from within, while seriously injuring all of the guards (swooping down on them from above, like an actual bat) despite their tireless attempts to shoot him (evidenced by the numerous cartridges lying on the floor in the aftermath), leaving a batarang in the empty Kryptonite container (for Lex to see), as well as a considerable trail of destruction.

Preparation for Fighting Superman

"You're not brave. Men are brave."
―Batman to Superman[src]
File:Batman-v-superman-ul.jpg

Bruce, observing his invented Kryptonite weapon.

With his experienced engineering genius, Bruce is able to swiftly invent and construct two effective anti-Superman weapons with Lex's Kryptonite - first using a laser to cut the xenomineral into a large spear head (later constructing the thick shaft), and then gathering the leftover Kryptonite dust into 3 gas grenades, all encased in lead (rendering the danger invisible to Superman).


File:Batman preparation6.png

Bruce's Batcave workout.

In order to be at his absolute peak during the upcoming duel, Bruce also pushes his body to its physical limits with many intense workouts in his Batcave - dragging an extremely heavy truck tire from a considerable distance, hitting the aforementioned tire very hard with a huge sledgehammer numerous times, performing many pull-ups with extremely heavy weight plates chained to his dipping belt, bench-pressing more than a thousand pounds on a barbell, easily performing complex presses with extremely heavy dumbbells, and finally, pushing an already extremely heavy cart (loaded with dozens of large weight plates) for a large distance.


File:They were hunters1.png

Bruce, grimly musing about his father and ancestors.

With his physical preparation complete, Bruce retreats to mentally prepare at the abandoned Wayne Manor, where he is found by Alfred, who once more attempts to implore Bruce to stop, claiming that Batman cannot win such a confrontation, with it being "suicide". Bruce grimly responds saying that he is now older than his father Thomas Wayne had ever been, and that this might be the only thing Bruce does that actually matters, since despite Batman having defeated numerous Gotham City criminals and supervillains over the last 20 years, "criminals are like weeds", in that if 1 is pulled up, another grows in its place, while Superman has the potential to become the most formidable supervillain in history, so taking him down before that happens is "about the future of the world", something Bruce sees as "[Batman's] legacy". Bruce then grimly muses at how his father had once told him that despite the Wayne Manor itself being built on railways, real estates and oil, the first generation of Waynes had made their fortune as hunters, trading pelts and skins with the French. Thus, Bruce not only hopes to live up to his father by taking Superman down, but also feels kinship with his ancestors, as a hunter of sorts. This grim reasoning, coupled with the future Flash's message, absolutely cements Bruce's resolve. As Bruce walked away, Alfred, understanding that trying to stop the former is hopeless, bitterly remarked that "So falls the House of Wayne."


Some time before heading out to face Superman, Bruce finally sends an e-mail to Diana Prince, letting her know that he has obtained the 1918 photograph of her and Steve Trevor, asking her with curiosity where else she has been during the last century (her status as an immortal Amazon clearly impressing Bruce), and also sharing with her the data that Lex Luthor had on the metahumans Aquaman, the Flash, and Cyborg. Diana however, while intrigued, does not answer the e-mail, and proceeds with her plans to depart Metropolis on a flight to Turkey.


Batman looks up from the Batsignal

Batman activates the Bat Signal.

Now armed and fully prepared, Batman prepares his preemptive strike against Superman, building an extremely durable Armored Batsuit, and Kryptonite powered arsenal. Batman then set up traps in the old Gotham City Police Department building, also placing a Kryptonite spear in the ground for later use. Having prepared for the fight, Batman tore off the old cloth covering the Bat-Signal and turned it on, shining it into the thundery sky.

Duel with Superman

Batman and Superman face each other

Batman and Superman meet face to face again.

A reluctant Superman (having just been forced to comply with Lex Luthor's ultimatum) traveled to Gotham City to face Batman, who was prepared for him in the yard. Superman attempted to reason with him also revealing that he is aware of Batman's identity, but set off one of his traps, causing sonic emitters to boom at him, halting Superman for a few seconds. However, he destroys them, and continued to reason with Batman, but it became clear he wasn't getting through to him (most likely because Batman suspected a trick, due to the future Flash's warning of "always being right" about Superman), as another trap (with automated machine guns) is set off when Superman pushes Batman aside (sending the Dark Knight flying over 60 ft with just a light push), but Superman disposed of it quickly as well. An angered Superman then easily lifted Batman over his head with one arm, and sent him flying down the street again, after which he tackled Batman into the air, through a building and onto its roof, hurling him right through the Bat-Signal. Superman ordered the momentarily shocked and downed vigilante to stay down, letting Batman know that he has been holding back this whole time, and that Batman would have already been dead, had Superman actually wanted to kill him. However, Batman promptly catched his breath, rises, and defiantly resumes the fight by throwing a smoke grenade between himself and Superman, momentarily vanishing out of sight. Using these few seconds to change his position, Batman gets behind Superman and fires a grenade at him, though the alien hero easily catches it. However, it then unexpectedly sprays Kryptonite gas into Superman face, which severely weakens him, bringing Superman to his knees, finally leveling the vast difference in strength, allowing the armored Batman to physically engage Superman in a duel.


Batman vs Superman

Batman battles Superman.

Batman taunts Superman as the latter grows weaker. Superman attempts to fight back, but Batman takes full advantage of Superman's now weakened state and his own superior fighting skills, easily countering Superman's attacks and crashing through the skylight to the lower floor by stomping hard on a downed Superman. However, Superman begins to recover from the Kryptonite poisoning at this point, as he powerfully countered Batman's increasingly ineffectual attacks, even knocking him to the lower floor with a mighty tackle. As more of his strength and powers continued returning, Superman easily hurls Batman through multiple walls to the ground and charges at him, with Batman grabbing Superman in mid-air and slamming him against a wall, proceeding to punch him hard. However, more and more of Superman's powers return, so Batman's armored punches begin to lose effectiveness quickly. Signs of fear start to show on Batman's face, and Superman promptly tackles him to the ground, hurling Batman through multiple walls, to the ground again. As Batman sees Superman ready to charge at him again, he, in desperation, fires another Kryptonite gas grenade at Superman, just as the latter was leaping into attack. With his suit now damaged from the final attack, Batman grabs a bathroom sink and smashes it on the once again weakened Superman's head, knocking the latter unconscious.

Victory over Superman

"You were never a god. You were never even a man!"
―Batman to a defeated Superman[src]
Batman over Superman

Batman triumphant over Superman.

Batman lifted Superman up by his hair and placed him over his shoulder, proceeding to carry him to the missing floor, where he threw Superman several stories down. Batman then grappled to the bottom himself, and wrapped the wire from the gun around Superman's ankle. Picking up the grapple gun, Batman dragged Superman to the open area in the building. He deduced that Superman's parents taught him that he meant something and that he was there for a reason. However, Batman's parents taught him a different lesson. Batman activates a button on the gun, which yanks Superman towards him. Batman tosses him around the building, through the pillars. A badly defeated and wounded Superman lands on a pile of rubble and debris as Batman finishes telling him what his parents taught him, that the world only made sense "if you force it to". With that, Batman grabbed the spear and kicked Superman onto his back. He placed his foot on his throat, choking him, telling him that he was never a god, or even a man. Batman then used the spear to cut across Superman's face (making good on his promise to make Superman "bleed"), and raised it, preparing to deliver the killing blow.

Epiphany and Promise

"Why did you say that name? Martha? Why did you say that name!? WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME!?"
"It's his mother's name! It's his mother's name."
―Batman and Lois Lane[src]
Getting through to Batman

Superman, begging Batman to save "Martha".

Superman, unable to escape, urged him to save "Martha", telling him that he has her and to find him, which caused Batman to mentally flash back to the night his parents died. Confused and angry, Batman demanded to know why Superman had said that name. At that precise moment, Lois Lane, having arrived by helicopter, rushed in and begged Batman to stop, telling him that Martha is the name of Clark's mother. Shocked, Batman came to his senses, finally realizing that Superman was in fact a selfless person instead of an monstrous alien threat (as he had pleaded to save his mother, rather than his own life), with the fact that their mothers share the same name enabling Batman to see Superman as being fundamentally just as human as himself, despite his alien heritage. Furthermore, Batman saw the hypocrisy of his own actions, since while he had formerly claimed that Superman needed to be destroyed due to the possibility of him becoming malevolently corrupted, Batman had ultimately become malevolently corrupted himself (just as Alfred had previously pointed out to him), become the thing he swore to stop, which had made it easier for Lex Luthor to manipulate him into egregiously killing the son of Martha, much like how a thug had once orphaned Batman himself, the son of another MarthaAngered, ashamed and horrified at the monster that he had almost become, Batman hurled aside the spear in disgust.


Batman reaches an epiphany and sees the man he is becoming

Batman, shell-shocked after realizing the monster that he had nearly become.

Superman and Lois then explain the situation to Batman, stating that Martha was kidnapped by Luthor, and that Luthor used her to manipulate Superman stating that she was going to be killed by him unless Superman kills Batman and that she is running out of time until Luthor's lackey Knyazev kills her. Batman, however, insists that Superman to go back to Metropolis, while he would go after Martha, promising him that she wouldn't "die tonight".


Saving Martha

"I'll kill her! Believe me, I'll do it!"
"I believe you."
Anatoli Knyazev and Batman[src]
File:1Bn7yP9.jpg

Batman, battling Knyazev's men.

Due to him having previously cloned Knyazev's phone, Alfred was able to help Batman track the Russian and his thugs down to an abandoned warehouse near the port of Gotham City by using the Batcomputer, which Batman promptly flies to in the Batwing. Very thankful for Alfred's help, Batman claims not to deserve him, to which Alfred responds affirmatively. After scanning the warehouse with the Batcomputer's thermal imaging, Alfred lets Batman know about two dozen armed thugs on the third floor, so he remote-pilots the Batwing, dropping Batman right underneath them, on the second floor. Catching the thugs off-guard by grappling up right through the wooden floor, Batman promptly disarms most of them, and engages all but two in vicious hand-to-hand combat. Despite being quite tired from his recent battle with Superman, Batman incapacitates all of them swiftly and efficiently, brutally beating them to the ground and having two of them killed by a grenade.


File:Save Martha 8.png

Batman shielding Martha from the explosion.

Upon making his way to the room Martha Kent was held in by Anatoli Knyazev and one of his thugs, Batman had a stand-off with Knyazev himself, who threatened to kill Martha. Batman said that he believed him, promptly shoots the Russian's flamethrower's tank, seemingly killing Knyazev. Batman, however managed to shield Martha from the explosion with his fireproof cape, and attempted to calm her down, letting Martha know that he was a friend of her son. She, however, has already realized this, claiming that Batman's cape let her know of his allegiance (due to it being somewhat similar to that of Superman). Batman flew off on his Batwing as soon as he saw the Gotham police approach Martha, leaving her in safe hands.

Battle with Doomsday and formation of the Trinity

"Did you find the spear?"
"I've been a little busy."
Superman and Batman[src]

The nuclear explosion that results in the missile hitting Superman and Doomsday is so gigantic, that Batman can clearly see it from Earth's surface, just as he is flying toward the fight on his Batwing.

Batman preparing to run from Doomsday

Batman in battle with Doomsday.

Doomsday's body lands on the abandoned Stryker's Island, but he is far from dead, as the tremendous explosion and extremely high fall seem to have only made the monster stronger, with its body once again regenerating. Batman then joins in the Battle against Doomsday with his Batwing, unleashing an immense amount of firepower, but Doomsday is unscathed, and brings the plane down with his heat vision and breath. Before Batman can escape his crashed vehicle, Doomsday corners him, and fires a tremendous superheated torrent at him. Wonder Woman arrives, however, just in time to save Batman from certain death, deflecting the beams with her indestructible bracelets, which creates a massive wave of energy outwards.

Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman stand strong

Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, stand ready to face Doomsday

Shortly thereafter, a recovered Superman returns from space, tackles away Doomsday, and asks Batman if he'd found the Kryptonite spear, to which the Dark Knight humorously replied that he had been "a little busy." While initially somewhat confused over who Wonder Woman is (incorrectly assuming at first that she was an ally of Batman's, that the latter had brought along), Superman proceeds to jointly attack Doomsday in tandem with her, while Batman keeps his distance, and persistently tries to expose the monster to Kryptonite, which would exploit its only known weakness. He successfully hides behind some stone rubble at one point, avoiding Doomsday's electric shock-wave.

File:Batman v Doomsday 34.png

Batman, having successfully shot Doomsday with Kryptonite.

Taking advantage of Doomsday's limited intelligence and tremendous bloodlust, Batman baits him into charging at him (managing to grapple away just in time), successfully dodges an ensuing huge thermal blast from the monster, and lures it closer to Wonder Woman, allowing her to get her unbreakable Lasso of Truth around Doomsday's torso. As she strains to hold the mighty monster in place, Batman fires his last Kryptonite gas grenade at Doomsday, temporarily weakening him, and giving Superman to crucial opening the latter needed to stab the monster with the Kryptonite Spear. Unfortunately, while the monster is mortally wounded, an enraged dying Doomsday manages to pierce Superman's chest with his huge arm-protrusion, mortally wounding him as well. Both combatants release one last thunderous bellow of agony, before their lifeless and pierced bodies collapse.


File:Batman v Doomsday 38.png

Batman, mourning Superman in guilt-ridden silence.

Batman is visibly shell-shocked and saddened (by Superman's unexpectedly human move, which yet again proved Batman's image of Superman wrong) and promptly retrieves Superman's lifeless body, enveloping him in his own cape, and giving the body to Wonder Woman, who places it on the ground, seconds before the arrival of a devastated Lois Lane. Lois proceeds cradle and weep over the body of her beloved, as Batman and Wonder Woman stand next to her in respectful lamenting silence, though Batman in particular, as he becomes guilt-ridden about being so devastatingly wrong about Superman, whom he had ironically wanted to kill less than 2 hours earlier.

Visiting Lex Luthor

"Whatever you do. wherever you go, I'll be watching you!"
―Batman to Lex Luthor[src]
Batman threatening Luthor

Batman threatens Luthor.

Sometime later, Batman visits the Belle Reve jail cell of the imprisoned and now shaven-headed Lex Luthor, expressing his extreme rage at Lex for his actions including how he deceived him. Batman pins him against the wall and threatens Lex with his branding ring, but Luthor boldly counters by sneering and revealing that he knows Batman's secret identity, but that nobody would believe him, as Lex is perceived to be insane. Batman then reveals to a dismayed Lex that he has arranged for the latter to be taken to Arkham Asylum and that some "friends" will be there for him. Lex, however, swiftly regains his composure, sneers again, and states that "God" is now dead, and that there is something else, something and someone bigger coming, from outer space. Batman then defiantly punches the wall with his branding-ring, leaving the mark of a bat symbol on the wall. When Luthor turns his head, Batman disappears. He yells at the Dark Knight, that the bells are ringing and warns that "he's" coming to earth, after that he began to mimicking the bell sounds, mockingly.

Clark Kent's funeral - the Dawn of Justice

"I failed him in life. I won't fail him in death."
―Batman about Superman[src]
Bruce and Diana at Clark's funeral

Bruce and Diana at Clark's funeral.

Bruce, Diana, and Lois Lane attend the funeral of Clark Kent in Smallville (with Bruce himself paying for it, as an anonymous donor), along with Pete Ross, Lana Lang, and Father Daniel Leone, who presides over it.

Bruce and Diana remain at the cemetery afterwards, and Bruce, guilt-ridden over having "failed [Superman] in life" (mainly due to Bruce's horrible actions against Superman, and due to Bruce having wasted 2 Kryptonite gas grenades on him, while they might have instead been used to kill Doomsday without losing Superman), asks her to help him honor Superman's heroic sacrifice by helping him bring together the three metahumans from Lex Luthor's file (the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg), in case a threat of that scale ever should arise again. Diana inquires why Bruce is proposing it. He replies that it is simply due to a feeling he has that things will imminently get worse (in reality, he was following the instructions given to him by the future Flash that appeared in one of his "dreams", as well as heeding Lex Luthor's enigmatic warning).

Suicide Squad

Meeting Amanda Waller

"That's the difference between us, Mr. Wayne - you believe in friendship, I believe in leverage."
―Amanda Waller to Bruce Wayne[src]
Batman

Bruce, speaking to Amanda Waller.

After her Suicide Squad successfully defeats the mystical duo of Enchantress and Incubus in Midway City and save her, Amanda Waller meets up with her situational ally Bruce Wayne, asking him to take care of the rumors following the aftermath of the calamitous events, and in exchange, she gives Bruce her files on multiple notable metahumans, including that of Enchantress, Aquaman, and the Flash. As Bruce turns to leave, Amanda lets him know that she is aware that he is Batman, and he, though somewhat surprised, sternly warns Amanda to shut down Task Force X, letting her know that if she doesn't, he and his new "friends" will shut it down for her.

Justice League

Meeting and Recruiting Arthur Curry

Arthur Curry meeting Bruce Wayne

Bruce meets Arthur Curry.

"Arthur Curry... I hear you can talk to fish."
―Bruce Wayne to Arthur Curry[src]

Bruce learns from Amanda Waller's files that Arthur Curry visits a village in Newfoundland,[9] Canada, (as a mysterious "stranger from the sea") during the winter, bringing fish to feed the hungry, always coming on the King tide. On the day right after the King tide, Bruce arrives at the village and asks to speak with Arthur. When Arthur reveals himself to be there, standing among the villagers, Bruce lets the latter know that an impending enormous threat is coming to the world, and asks Arthur to join the Justice League under his leadership. Arthur, however, is hostile, proceeding to angrily lift and pin Bruce against the wall, ultimately refusing to join. After Bruce returns to Diana following the unsuccessful recruitment, he merely tells her that Aquaman had "more or less" agreed to join. When she presses him further, asking if that means "more more, or more less", a somewhat saddened Bruce admits to Arthur having declined.

Meeting and Recruiting Barry Allen

File:Justice League First.png

Bruce, after witnessing Barry's incredible speed.

"Barry Allen... Bruce Wayne."
"You said that like it explains why there's a total stranger sitting in the dark in my second favorite chair..."
―Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen[src]

With the help of Amanda Waller's file, Bruce tracks down and sneaks into the apartment of Barry Allen shortly before the latter returns, and introduces himself to the young metahuman (whom he recognizes as the past version of the scarlet time-traveler that appeared in his "dream"), though the latter is still confused. Bruce then promptly hands Barry a printout of the security camera tape he found on the LexCorp Industries files. Barry instantly recognizes himself in the photo and tries, unsuccessfully, to dismiss the person (him) as someone who looks like him, Jewish and someone who drinks milk, claiming that he does not do so himself. Bruce surveys his apartment and tells Barry that he knows he latter has abilities, but just needs to know what they are. Barry nervously rambles about his personal skills, including competitive ice dancing. A bit frustrated, Bruce hurls a batarang at Barry as hard as he can, which the latter effortlessly dodged and catches. Barry is awed after realizing that Bruce is actually Batman, and dismisses Bruce's claim of him being fast as an "oversimplification." Bruce then continues, telling him about the Justice League team that he is putting together, and almost immediately, Barry wants in. Bruce is momentarily confused, but he gladly accepts his decision. Barry, admiring the batarang, asks Bruce if he can keep it.

Personality

"I bet your parents taught you that you mean something - that you're here for a reason... My parents taught me a different lesson - dying in the gutter, for no reason at all! They taught me the world only makes sense if you force it to."
―Batman to Superman[src]
File:410a1fb145881670abbee70b370753a1.jpg

Bruce's true, dark and serious personality.

Bruce Wayne is very dedicated and determined to his work of crime-fighting vigilantism, sometimes employing illegal and morally dubious tactics (like torture, much to the chagrin of Superman, causing him to initially view the former as a brutal and unforgiving criminal) while fighting crime as Batman, but ultimately for the good of Gotham City. Being skilled in the art of deception, Bruce often hides his

File:Picture2.png

Bruce's arrogant womanizing playboy façade.

true dark (almost sociopathic) personality by maintaining a façade in public - while still serious and intelligent, he purposefully comes off as a somewhat arrogant womanizing playboy (notably trying to brush off reporter Clark Kent in order to flirt with Diana Prince), so as to avoid anyone from suspecting that he could possibly be the fearsome Batman. Bruce's deception also extends itself to his alter ego, since as Batman he strives to fool the criminal underworld of Gotham City into thinking that he is an inhuman and supernatural being, akin to a wraith. Hence, several female sex trafficker victims of Cesar Santos notably mistook Batman for a "Devil", and Cyborg initially even doubted Batman's existence. Alfred Pennyworth, however, notes that Bruce has never been skilled at deceiving him, as he has known Bruce since the latter was a child.

Although possessing great disgust and anger towards criminals and supervillains (most notably the Joker and Harley Quinn after they murdered Jason Todd), Batman, like the other Justice Leaguers, has proven himself a very caring and selfless person, in addition to being incredibly brave, constantly putting his life on the line to save innocent lives (notably when he fearlessly ran straight into the clouds of falling debris in Metropolis, managing to save a little girl) and bringing the most dangerous criminals to justice for society's protection. He also risked his own life to rescue Martha Kent, and did nothing to Zoe Lawton, despite the latter being the daughter of the notorious Deadshot. However, despite being a situational ally to Amanda Waller and promising to protect her from any compromising rumors about Midway City, Batman is adamantly against her Suicide Squad idea, and threatens to have his Justice League friends shut it down for her unless she does it first.

Batman's strongest characteristic had originally been his strong moral code to never kill (notably not even killing the Joker and Harley Quinn after their murder of Robin), until he became considerably more hardcore in his approach to fighting crime in Gotham City, after witnessing the Black Zero Event first hand. It is believed that a combination of emotional and physical pain, loss, exhaustion, and potential disillusionment he’s experienced during his time protecting the streets of Gotham, as well as his growing cynical, pessimistic, and world-weary personality, caused Batman to decide that he was better off letting his enemies die than allowing them to return and cause more harm.

Hence, after the Black Zero Event, Batman seemingly has no regard for the safety of his enemies, as he has repeatedly crashed and wrecked vehicles with enemies still inside using the Batmobile, as well as using both its guns and the Batwing's to cause explosions near enemies, usually by blowing up nearby vehicles. He has also caused explosions in which enemies were caught in, such as by knocking grenades near enemies, or using a stolen machine gun to ignite Anatoli Knyazev's flamethrower when he was about to kill Martha Kent, causing it to explode and seemingly engulf everyone in the room, though he shielded Martha Kent from the blast with his cape and saved her, as promised. It should be noted, however, that Batman's involvements with the deaths of criminals are more like manslaughter, which are obviously caused by his enemies themselves while trying to hurt him. Therefore, Batman never has actually killed anyone in the eyes of the law.

In addition to having abandoned his no-kill rule, Bruce tends to be extremely suspicious of others, especially those in possession of great power, since he notably claimed that even if there is only a one percent chance of the alien Superman being a potential enemy of humanity, that it has to be taken "as an absolute certainty", due to the incredible destruction and carnage that the tremendously powerful alien could potentially unleash if he were to become corrupted by evil. This very cynical point of view on Bruce's part comes from him having seen "what promises are worth" many times during his two decades as Batman, having seen many seemingly benevolent individuals become malevolently corrupted, to the point that Bruce claims that hardly any "good guys" are left anymore. Hence, despite his brilliant intellect and extensive experience, Batman, after 20 years of relentlessly fighting crime in Gotham City, is shown to have become a damaged, fearsome, and almost sociopathic individual. Alfred Pennyworth explained it as fear and rage being able to gradually render a good man like Batman into a cruel one, due to the paradigm shift that the revelation of Superman's existence had brought about. This newly darkened aspect of his personality ultimately allowed Batman to be outsmarted and manipulated, though supergenius Lex Luthor is notably the only one known to have ever successfully done so, due to him being one of the extreme few individuals to surpass Batman in intellect. Lex did so by using Batman's inner rage and demons against him, secretly finding ways to provoke Batman past the point of rational thinking, with Lex claiming that it had been relatively easy to "push [Batman] over." When combining his own personal fear of and prejudice towards Superman due to the Black Zero Event, with Wallace Keefe sending him angry notes, with Lex Luthor making it seem that Superman had blown up the DC Capitol, with Bruce feeling both the need to live up to his father Thomas Wayne (to do something that would actually matter to the whole world) and kinship with his ancestors (the first generation of Waynes, who were hunters, somewhat like him now), along with a horrifying message from a possible potential future (sent by that future's version of the Flash) where Superman ruled Earth as a ruthless tyrannical overlord (along with Flash warning Batman to fear "him", someone Batman had "always been right about", interpreted by Batman to mean Superman), Batman ultimately resolved to take matters into his own hands by pitting himself against Superman in battle, intending to kill the latter before he could potentially become an incredible threat.

In the ensuing ferocious battle, Batman uses every tool in his ungraded arsenal against Superman, from a fierce Armored Batsuit, automated machine guns, sonic emitters and lead smoke grenades, to a spear and gas grenades containing Kryptonite, and even a re-purposed kitchen sink. After finally managing to weaken Superman and having him at his mercy, Batman proceeded to brutally (even somewhat sadistically) beat the alien hero, pummeling him with his armored fists, hurling him through concrete pillars, and cutting Superman's cheek with the Kryptonite spear, making good on his promise to make Superman "bleed." As he placed his armored foot onto the fallen Superman's throat and prepared to kill him, Batman taunted his enemy, claiming that the alien had never been a God or even a man. However, when Superman uses (what he thinks will be) his dying breath to beg Batman to save his mother Martha Kent rather than beg for his own life, Batman is shocked and able to come back to his senses in the nick of time, finally realizing that Superman is in fact a selfless person instead of an monstrous alien threat, with the fact that their mothers share the same name ("Martha") enabling Batman to see Superman as being fundamentally just as human as himself, despite his alien heritage. Furthermore, Batman saw the hypocrisy of his own actions, since while he had formerly claimed that Superman needed to be destroyed due to the possibility of him becoming malevolently corrupted, Batman had ultimately become malevolently corrupted himself (just as Alfred had previously pointed out to him), become the thing he swore to stop, which had made it easier for Lex Luthor to manipulate him into egregiously killing the son of Martha, much like how a thug had once orphaned Batman himself, the son of another Martha.

Angered, ashamed and horrified at the monster that he had almost become, Batman hurls aside the Kryptonite spear in disgust, apologizes to Alfred, and atones for his mistake by first rescuing Superman's mother, and then teaming up with Superman (and Wonder Woman) to save the world from the monstrous Doomsday. After witnessing Superman's selfless self-sacrificing death at the hands of Doomsday (whom Superman managed to kill with his dying breath as well), Batman is visibly shell-shocked and saddened, guilt-ridden about being so devastatingly wrong about Superman (whom he had ironically wanted to kill less than 2 hours earlier), whom he acquires a great deal of posthumous respect for.

Feeling guilty about failing Superman in life (having wasted 2 Kryptonite gas grenades during his duel with Superman, while they could have instead been used to help kill Doomsday without Superman's death being necessary), Batman becomes determined not to fail him in death, by bringing together and leading Aquaman, Cyborg, and the Flash, together with Wonder Woman, thus forming the Justice League, which posthumously honors Earth's greatest hero by protecting the now vulnerable world against any formidable threats. In addition, Superman's noble sacrifice seems to have inspired and given Batman a more optimistic and hopeful outlook, since he says to Wonder Woman that despite their many flaws, men are still good, and that they do in fact have the potential in them to rebuild and improve (the motto of Superman's House of El). This renewed hope in humanity of his induces Batman to turn away from his former murderous methods, accepting his no-kill rule once again, and resolving to base the Justice League on friendship when founding it, unlike Amanda Waller's leverage-based Suicide Squad, with Amanda herself calling him out on this.

Batman, while usually very serious, prim, and even somewhat gloomy, occasionally demonstrates a dry and sarcastic sense of humor, notably when alone with Alfred, when Lex Luthor (believing himself to be speaking with Anatoli Knyazev) asked him to "break the bad news", Batman responded by saying that "[he]'d rather do the breaking in person", and when Batman tells Cyborg (who initially doubted his existence) that "[he]'s real when its useful." Batman's serious nature also leads to him initially getting annoyed with new Justice League recruit Flash, due to the latter's humor[10].

Abilities

  • Peak Human Condition: Batman, as a tremendously skilled and experienced vigilante, is in beyond peak physical condition and from frequent intense workouts in the Batcave and his numerous vigilante escapades in the city and the training he did before becoming Batman have heightened his abilities beyond the levels of peak human potential, and pushed him to the early levels of superhuman condition, and while not fully superhuman (making him the physically weakest member of the Justice League), Batman's extremely muscular and athletic physique (and resulting nigh-superhuman physical prowess) makes Batman immensely physically powerful by normal human standards, with his physical attributes far surpassing even those of other exceptionally fit humans (like Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and Superman's stormtroopers), with only Deathstroke being on par.
    • Enhanced Strength: Batman has and can, by properly using physical forces, momentum and leverage, as well as his knowledge of anatomical weaknesses and undergoing frequent extremely intense strength-and-endurance-based exercises, easily generate low-level superhuman strength. Bruce undergoes extremely intense exercises to strengthen the maximum number of muscles beyond the limits of human potential and vastly increase his endurance. Some of his workout regimes exercises are pulling or dragging an extremely heavy truck tire from a considerable distance in his Batcave, hitting the aforementioned tire very hard with a huge sledgehammer numerous times, performing many pull-ups with extremely heavy weight plates chained to his dipping belt, bench-pressing more than a thousand pounds on a barbell, easily performing complex presses with extremely heavy dumbbells, pushing an already extremely heavy cart (loaded with dozens of large weight plates) for a large distance, which, combined with his vigilante escapades have granted him his above peak human or low-level superhuman conditioning (and also allowed him to maintain this physical condition). Hence, Batman is capable of effortlessly lifting and hurling human opponents like ragdolls over his head to more than 25 feet across a warehouse, knocking them out with a single blow (notably doing so to Harley Quinn), sending a thug flying with a single kick, throwing people into walls hard enough to break through them, easily breaking their limbs with a single twist, punching people hard enough to send them headfirst into the floor and their head through the floorboards, and effortlessly smashing right through plastered wooden walls and floors. His nigh-superhuman strength also extends to his legs, easily allowing him to jump several feet into the air over a large box while slamming a man into it after lifting him in the air with him while he was jumping and then slam the box on another man by throwing it at him and easily jump many feet into the air from his Batwing and smash a steel framed window with ease (many of the above-mentioned feats have been achieved by him when he hadn't even recovered from his fierce duel with Superman which had visibly and heavily exhausted him). He could also easily tear apart Firefly's armored suit with his bare hands, and destroy the latter's detonator with a single stomp[11]. The lead knuckles on Batman's gauntlets allow him to hit even harder, inflicting more damage with his punches. In his nightmare of an apocalyptic future (where Batman is somewhat older and much weaker), Batman's mere swings from his gun launched the storm troopers in the air and his kick broke one's leg and knocked him out, and he could still break the neck of one of Superman's stormtroopers with his bare hands in mere seconds (despite Batman being restrained by multiple others, making them shake in the process), and he could still overpower many stormtroopers before being ultimately defeated by their sheer numbers. However, even when Batman was being restrained and forced down by multiple stormtroopers simultaneously, he was still able to rise up, only being defeated by a superhumanly strong knock-out blow of a Parademon. Even when he was captured, Batman had to be restrained with very thick and heavy chains.
    • Enhanced Durability: Batman is also exceptionally durable by human standards (further enhanced by his bulletproof Batsuit), due to his intense training in the Batcave, as well as the continuous physical trauma that he has sustained in the 20 years of his vigilante career which, in turn, vastly increased Batman's durability to nigh-superhuman levels. Hence, Batman could not be slowed down or fazed by falling from a ceiling, allowing him to land on his feet and quickly attack opponents. This also allowed Batman to be unfazed when crashing through a glass window feet first, being shot at multiple times in the head and body, getting kicked and hit by guns in the face, accidentally colliding with a thick wall head on at full speed from his grapple gun while trying to evade Doomsday. In his nightmarish vision of a possible future, Batman also remained unfazed after an immense beating at the hands of Superman's stormtroopers and only gritted his teeth in annoyance, with it taking a superhumanly strong blow from a Parademon to knock Batman out. When lifted and roughly pinned against a wall by the superhumanly strong Aquaman, Batman only grunts in slight discomfort, and quickly recovers.
    • Enhanced Speed and Agility: Batman has demonstrated superb nimbleness and agility, he can much run faster than the finest Olympian athlete, being able to reach the ground zero in Metropolis (during the Black Zero Event) on foot, reach the Wayne Financial building in a very short time by running, perching on a wall to avoid arriving police officers, quickly moving across ceilings and walls with almost ape-like acrobatics and gymnastics (which further's the suspicions of others that Batman is inhuman and supernatural), and even dodging short-range gunfire from a GCPD police officer's shotgun, with the officer barely getting a glimpse of Batman, as the Dark Knight's speed and agility made him appear as blurs of motion, enhancing the inhuman and supernatural illusion further. His seemingly inhuman mobility allows him to move away from the sight of others and stalk enemies from the shadows or from higher vantage points. Hence, Batman was able to remain unscathed while breaking into LexCorp Industries, despite the guards tirelessly trying to shoot him (evidenced by the numerous cartridges lying on the floor in the aftermath), and himself leaving a considerable path of destruction. He also effortlessly brought down Knyazev's 24 men at once using his combat skills and strength, appearing as slight blurs due to him executing it all at very high speeds. Also, Batman could jump several feet into the air over a large box while slamming a man into it, after lifting it into the air with him while he was jumping. Batman even managed to grapple away from a superhumanly fast charge from Doomsday, as well as several of the monster's huge thermal blasts, all despite being visibly greatly tired from his fierce duel with Superman.
    • Enhanced Stamina: Batman is immensely endurant, superior in that regard to the finest Olympian athlete, able to exert himself at his peak capacity for hours without tiring or slowing down. Also Batman can recover extremely fast from injuries and fatigue due to his training and will. Hence, Batman was able to easily fight 24 armed thugs with intense speed (despite being very tired from his recent fierce duel with Superman) then also actively participate in the final battle against Doomsday, to easily run through the cloud of falling debris in the Black Zero Event, to do extremely intense workouts in the Batcave without tiring much (despite his extremely muscular build). However, when pitted against beings of far superior strength (like Superman) in hand-to-hand combat, Batman will increasingly show signs of exertion and fatigue even while wearing his Armored Batsuit.
    • Enhanced Metabolism: Batman's metabolism runs several times faster (due to his strict diet and workouts) than an average human. Thus, drinking and taking pain-killers had no effect whatsoever on him, as his body burns it off several times faster than an average human's, despite him drinking several bottles at a time, to which Alfred dryly remarked that the next generation of the Wayne family will stare at an empty wine cellar.
  • Master Martial Artist: Batman is an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant (on par with Deathstroke and even Wonder Woman herself), an infamously formidable master of a vast array of martial arts (including, but not limited to, Boxing, Karate, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Savate, Krav Maga, Ninjutsu, Kung Fu, Judo, and Aikido[12]), with 20 years of experience battling and overpowering numerous criminals and supervillains in Gotham City. His fighting also incorporates and takes full advantage of his proper use of physical forces, momentum and leverage, as well as his knowledge of anatomical weaknesses and pressure-points and his nigh superhuman strength, executing it all at very high speeds. Hence, while attending an underground fight club, Bruce whispers some words of combat advice to one of the fighters, which allowed the latter to swiftly defeat his opponent. With his tremendous combat skills aided by his nigh-superhuman strength, Batman effortlessly brought down Knyazev's 24 men almost at once (despite being very tired after his fierce duel with Superman right before), has brought down the Joker multiple times, can overpower even physically stronger opponents, like Killer Croc (whom he managed to chase out of Gotham City), and brought down numerous Superman storm troopers, until ultimately succumbing to their sheer numbers (in his nightmare vision of a possible future where he was somewhat older and weaker). When Superman's powers were temporarily weakened to human levels (from Kryptonite gas), Batman was able to easily block his attacks, and eventually defeat the latter. In fact, Batman is the one who defeated most of the future Suicide Squad members (even the stronger Killer Croc, and the infamously lethal assassin Deadshot, the latter of whom Batman swiftly defeated and beat to the ground), having them placed behind bars in Belle Reve. Under Batman's tutelage, his ward Robin would become a highly skilled combatant in his own right.
  • Expert Marksman: Batman is a highly skilled marksman, utilizing his batarangs, sniper rifle, grenade launcher and grapple gun with a high degree of accuracy and precision (almost on par with that of Deadshot), notably using a batarang to knock a detonator out of Firefly's hand, and shooting a tracker onto Knyazev's truck from a great distance. In his nightmarish vision of a possible future, Batman was highly proficient with firearms, using a handgun in a holster on his side, as well as repeatedly disarming Superman's storm troopers of their assault rifles, using them as his own. When Wonder Woman restrained Doomsday, Batman was able to shoot a Kryptonite gas grenade at the monster from a immense distance away, further showing his exceptional accuracy.
  • Stealth:
    File:1Bn7yP9.jpg

    Batman, stealthily battling opponents.

    Batman is an immensely formidable master of stealth and infiltration, capable of breaching high security facilities without being detected, which is all the more remarkable and impressive, given his large muscular frame. Batman's stealth is so effective in fact, that some criminals would claim that you wouldn't even know he was there until it was already too late. Batman's remarkable speed and almost ape-like agility allow him to move away from the sight of others and stalk enemies from either the shadows or higher vantage points, while letting them catch glimpses or hear his cape (having a penchant for gliding down upon his enemies from above, like an actual bat), giving them the illusion of Batman being a supernatural wraith-like creature instead of a human. Hence, Batman was easily able to sneak up from behind even on the extremely experienced assassin Deadshot (catching the latter off-guard), to infiltrate a LexCorp Industries building and obtain the well-guarded Kryptonite within (swooping down upon and seriously injuring most of the guards, leaving behind a considerable path of destruction), to sneak into Barry Allen's apartment, and to even sneak into the Belle Reve supermax jail cell of Lex Luthor, and disappear from it just as suddenly, as soon as Luthor briefly looks away. Batman used the flickering red lights and caused the cell doors to open, making himself to appear to be a demon or wraith. When utilizing a gas grenade, Batman's amazing stealth is further augmented, to the point that he was able to temporarily evade Superman himself while using one.
  • Intimidation: Batman commands an extremely intimidating presence, able to instill fear into the hearts of Gotham City's criminals and supervillains, with some of them not even daring to shoot him after Batman fiercely gazes them in the eye.[13] After Batman rescues several female hostages from a sex trafficker, they are so terrified of the dark vigilante, that they refer to him as a "Devil", and fearfully refuse to leave their cage even after the police arrive on the scene. Hence, Superman would initially go as far as to call Batman "a one-man reign of terror." Among the extremely few individuals who do not fear Batman, are the pathologically fearless psychopath Joker, bold supergenius Lex Luthor (although when Batman told him that he had arranged for the latter to be incarcerated in Arkham Asylum, Lex showed brief signs of unease), his long-time ally Commissioner Gordon, and beings of superior godlike power, such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. However, even Batman was notably less intimidating than the evil version of Superman (in his nightmare vision of a possible future), who was so fearsome that Batman himself showed visible signs of fear when Superman confronted the imprisoned vigilante, holding the latter at his mercy. Also, when Batman's armored punches began to lose effectiveness against Superman (due to the Kryptonite weakening wearing off), he showed signs of fear again. However, when Batman was about to kill the once again weakened Superman, the alien hero was starting to show signs of fear, as he thought that he was going to die at the hands of the armored vigilante, though this might have instead been Superman fearing that Martha Kent would be impossible to save if Batman killed him, as the time that Lex had given her was running out.
  • Interrogation: Batman is infamously adept in interrogation techniques, often using law enforcement methods, as well as torture (notably branding a Gotham City sex trafficker Cesar Santos with a batarang, along with 18 known other criminals) as an effective means of punishment or information extraction.
  • Indomitable Willpower: Batman, although he has no metahuman powers, he (much like Superman) has tremendous determination and strength of will, which make him an extremely formidable opponent, one who absolutely refuses to hunker down and give up, even when placed against seemingly insurmountable odds. Hence, during the Black Zero Event, Bruce fearlessly ran through the extremely dangerous clouds of debris in order to save any survivors within the wreckage of the collapsed Wayne Finanical building. Months later, even when Superman himself personally warned Batman to back off, and demonstrated his incredible alien might (by effortlessly damaging the Batmobile), Batman showed no signs of fear, and was as determined as ever to fight the mighty godlike alien, boldly countering Superman's threat with one of his own (promising to make the seemingly invincible alien "bleed"). Batman later refused to stay down when Superman knocked him to the ground repeatedly during their duel, persisting until he finally won and had the weakened Man of Steel at his mercy. Later, while helping Superman and Wonder Woman battle Doomsday, Batman refused to back down from the seemingly hopeless battle with the unkillable juggernaut, and attacked the monster, persistently attempting to expose it to Kryptonite, ultimately succeeding, thereby greatly contributing to Doomsday's defeat. Even when Lex Luthor warns Batman of the inevitable threat posed by invading extraterrestrial forces, Batman, despite Earth now being vulnerable after Superman's death, refuses to despair, and instead has Wonder Woman help him bring together a team of powerful metahumans consisting of (Aquaman, the Flash, and Cyborg) into the Justice League, to fight against this new threat.
  • Genius-level Intellect: Bruce is an extremely intelligent eclectic genius, to the point that he has successfully gone toe-to-toe with the extremely dangerous, inventive and completely unpredictable psychopath Joker for years. Hence, Batman's brilliant intellect is arguably his greatest and most formidable ability of all, as it extends itself to his nearly unparalleled tactical, deceptive, detective, engineering, and business skills, which (coupled with his extensive experience utilizing them all) therefore makes Batman the most eclectically intelligent member of the Justice League. While his exceptional intellect and extensive experience make Batman wise, they also make his slightly vain, as he notably condescendingly calls the younger Clark Kent "son" upon first meeting the latter, though this might have also been part of Bruce's playboy façade. However, Batman is notably not quite as intelligent as supergenius Lex Luthor, with the latter thereby successfully outsmarting and manipulating Batman into obtaining Kryptonite and genuinely attempting to kill Superman, with Batman never suspecting it, and figuring it out only after his duel with the alien superhero had ended. It should, however, also be noted that it was his cynical and pessimistic side and the extremely distrusting nature (due to 18 years of pain, losses and exhaustion) which finally took over Batman's moral psychology and sense by the time of the Black Zero Event.
    • Master Tactician: Batman, given his lack of superpowers, is a tactical genius, often using cunning and planning to successfully outwit stronger and more powerful foes, rather than simply out-fighting them, using any of their exploitable weaknesses to his advantage. Hence, Batman is by far the best tactician among the Justice Leaguers, with only Lex Luthor known to surpass him. Due to this, Bruce was able to swiftly make a mental breakdown of the fighting style and weaknesses of one of the fighters in an underground fight club (helping his opponent swiftly beat him by whispering some combat advice), was able to swiftly defeat the notorious Deadshot by ambushing the latter in his daughter Zoe's presence (exploiting his unwillingness to kill in front of her), was able to chase the stronger Killer Croc out of Gotham City (exploiting the latter's limited intellect), was able to formulate a plan to break into the well-guarded LexCorp Industries building and steal the Kryptonite within (overpowering the many guards by swooping down upon them with his incredible stealth skills, seriously injuring them all, and leaving behind a considerable path of destruction), was able to quickly improvise a plan to take down Anatoli Knyazev's 24 heavily armed men in a warehouse while saving Martha Kent (swiftly avoiding and disabling their weapons, and proceeding to use his own weapons and tremendous combat skills to overpower them, while also using their own knives and guns against them), was ultimately able to defeat the far more powerful Superman in their fierce duel (exploiting his weakness to Kryptonite, lead, and sonic overload, as well as his unwillingness to kill Batman), managed to render the far more powerful Doomsday vulnerable to attack (exploiting the monster's limited intellect and tremendous bloodlust, baiting him into getting restrained by the Lasso of Truth, and thus giving Superman an opening to exploit the monster's weakness to Kryptonite), and was confident in his ability to help Amanda Waller take care of the rumors following the aftermath of the calamitous mystical events in Midway City. Batman later puts his tactical brilliance to use again when he leads the newly formed Justice League against Steppenwolf and the latter's Parademon army.
    • Expert Deceiver: Batman is extremely skilled in the art of deception, with Alfred even going so far as claiming that Batman's skills in that regard ever since the age of seven have been equivalent to Mozart's in music. Hence, as Batman, he has been effectively able to fool the people of Gotham City (especially the criminal underworld) into thinking that he is inhuman and supernatural (with female sex trafficker victims notably mistaking him for a "Devil", and Cyborg initially doubting that Batman is even real), while as Bruce Wayne, he had been able to take on the façade of a somewhat irresponsible fun-seeking and womanizing playboy, in order to avoid anyone from suspecting that he could possibly be Batman. Bruce also successfully deceived Mercy Graves into thinking that he was drunk, managing to thus avoid suspicion during his attendance of Lex's fundraiser party. However, Batman had notably never been particularly skilled at deceiving Alfred Pennyworth (the one person who knew Bruce best, having raised the latter from his childhood), and was unable to deceive Lex Luthor, who was quick to see through the Dark Knight's inhuman and supernatural façade, thereby deducing (via CCTV) that Batman is actually only a mere man without any metahuman powers.
    • Expert Detective: Batman is a highly skilled detective, capable of observation, forensic investigation, and psychological assessments, as well as both inductive and deductive reasoning of the highest caliber. Hence, Bruce was able to deduce that Superman's parents (Jor-El and Jonathan Kent) had told him that the latter was on Earth for a reason (despite knowing little about the alien superhero's past), and Bruce knew that the Gotham City Museum of Antiquities' sword of Alexander the Great was in fact a fake replica, and he was was quickly able to see through the "babe in the woods act" of Diana Prince, discerning something suspicious about the antiques dealer right away, refusing to allow Diana's remarkable beauty to cloud his judgement and free her of his suspicion, unlike what a vast majority of men would have done. Bruce also effectively utilized his detective skills, using Amanda Waller's metahuman files to track down and recruit the speedster Flash, and to learn of Anatoli Knyazev's connection to the "White Portuguese", Lex Luthor and Kryptonite, as well as the latter's secret research on metahumans. When visiting a village frequented by Aquaman, Batman was able to correctly deduce that the former was among the crowd of villagers before him, due to it being the day right after the King tide (the time of year when Aquaman arrived, as Amanda Waller's files stated).
    • Expert Engineer: Batman is highly skilled in vehicles' operations and general engineering, with him and Alfred having personally built and over time improved upon his various sophisticated gadgets, most notably, the Batmobile, Standard Batsuit, and Batcomputer. Bruce later personally designed the Armored Batsuit, Kryptonite gas grenades and a Kryptonite-tipped spear, all of which proved very effective against Superman. After establishing the Justice League, Batman constructs the highly sophisticated Nightcrawler and Flying Fox, as well as creating a new and updated Flash Suit for Barry Allen.
  • Expert Driver: Batman is a highly skilled driver, able to successfully pursue his enemies (most notably the Joker and Harley Quinn, as well as Anatoli Knyazev and his men) through the streets of Gotham City on his Batmobile, and also managed to navigate the extremely dangerous streets of Metropolis during the Black Zero Event in his civilian car, successfully avoiding falling debris.
  • Expert Pilot: Batman is a highly skilled pilot, able to effectively fight Doomsday himself from within his Batwing, albeit only temporarily.
  • Expert Diver: Batman is a highly skilled swimmer and diver, managing to swiftly rescue Harley Quinn from the submerged Jokermobile after it falls deep into a river.
  • Expert Businessman: Bruce Wayne is a highly skilled businessman (though not quite on par with Lex Luthor), helping his father's company, Wayne Enterprises, grow and gain more business partners, as the CEO. As a result, Bruce is very well-respected in the business world.
  • Bilingualism: Bruce, apart from his native English, also speaks fluent Russian (albeit with a slight accent), as seen in his conversation with Anatoli Knyazev.

  • Human Vulnerabilities:
    File:Knightmare 45.png

    Batman, at Superman's mercy.

    Batman's greatest weakness is that he is a human with no enhanced strength, speed, durability, or metahuman powers, therefore making him quite vulnerable to the physical attacks of stronger and more powerful opponents, more so than any other Justice League member. Batman, however, usually compensates for this quite well with his highly durable fire- and bulletproof batsuits, tremendous combat skills, his self-achieved nigh-superhuman physical condition, highly sophisticated technological gadgets, and brilliant tactical intellect. However, despite all of his strength, combat skills and weapons, Batman was ultimately overwhelmed and defeated by the sheer number of Superman stormtroopers, was knocked unconscious from behind by the blow of a strong Parademon, was restrained by heavy chains, and was effortlessly killed when the extremely strong Superman ruthlessly tears Batman's heart from his chest (all in his nightmare vision of a possible future). Later, when fighting against Superman, Batman notably had trouble keeping up, as even in his extremely durable Armored Batsuit, Superman, while holding back (otherwise having the power to quickly and effortlessly kill Batman), still managed to swiftly beat the Dark Knight to the ground, with Batman heavily panting, requiring a few seconds to recover, and only avoiding being overwhelmed by resorting to Kryptonite gas grenades just in time. Despite winning the duel against Superman, the extreme exertion required to achieve it visibly and heavily tired Batman, with him initially panting heavily in the subsequent brawl against the 24 thugs. Despite dominating the fight without much effort (and nearly killing most of the thugs with his immense strength, speed, and combat skills), the extreme effort and exertion from his recent duel with Superman resulted in Batman being noticeably slower (by his own high standards) and visibly less agile, getting punched and shot twice (although without any effect and thus, in vain) by Knyazev's thugs, who had caught him off-guard once (due to him having not yet fully recovered from the duel). Batman was also in mortal danger when Doomsday took down the Batwing, and was about to unleash his massive thermal blast upon the former, with only Wonder Woman's timely intervention saving him. Later, Batman also narrowly escaped death from Doomsday's massive electrical shock-wave by taking cover behind some rubble just in time.
  • Subtle Psychological Manipulation: Batman, despite his brilliant intellect and extensive experience, can ultimately still be outsmarted and manipulated himself, though supergenius Lex Luthor is notably the only one known to have ever successfully done so, due to him being one of the extreme few individuals to surpass Batman in intellect and tactical skills. Lex did so by using Batman's inner rage and demons against him, secretly finding ways to provoke him past the point of rational thinking. Hence, Lex succeeds in learning Batman's secret identity and psychological profile, which allows him to subtly enrage Bruce Wayne (having Wallace Keefe send him angry notes, and later blowing up the DC Capitol), and to subsequently manipulate Batman into first stealing the Kryptonite from LexCorp Industries, and then effectively utilizing it against Superman in a fierce duel. Batman never suspects this, and is tricked into carrying out Lex Luthor's dirty work for him by personally murdering Superman, with only Superman's mention of Martha Kent's name stopping the Dark Knight's killing blow just in time. This was because doing so triggered memory flashes of his parents murder, which made Batman come to his senses, realizing both his own hypocrisy, and that Alfred had been right about Superman not being a threat.

  • As the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne has an immense fortune, making him one of the wealthiest people in the world, rivaled only by extreme few, like his business rival Lex Luthor. His wealth allows Bruce access to some of the most sophisticated technology in the world (most of it located in his hidden Batcave under the Wayne Manor), allowing him to create the equipment that is crucial to him as Batman, with it effectively compensating for his lack of superpowers. After establishing the Justice League, Batman once again utilizes his technology to aid their mutual cause, notably constructing the Flying Fox. In addition, Bruce was more than willing to use his wealth to anonymously pay for all of the expenses of Clark Kent's funeral.

    Batman without a cowl

    Bruce Wayne, wearing the standard Batsuit.

    • Standard Batsuit: Batman's highly durable Kevlar-titanium weave protective suit and combat armor (later inspiring the Robinsuit of Jason Todd), used to compensate for his lack of invulnerability. It is invulnerable to knives, and small caliber bullets and is also fireproof[14]. The Batsuit's cowl also digitally alters Batman's voice, making it unrecognizable to those that know him as Bruce Wayne[15]. The cowl, neck, gauntlets, and boots are able to effortlessly deflect small arms rounds and blades, though the rest of the suit seems to be somewhat more vulnerable, as a blade could partially pierce the shoulder (though it looked more like it had gotten stuck in the suit's weave). Even so, it is not enough to truly harm or even slow down the wearer, as Batman seemed to only feel a small amount of pain after getting stabbed. In addition, the suit and cape can protect the wearer from explosions, which allowed Batman to shield Martha Kent from Knyazev's exploding flamethrower tank that engulfed the entire room they where in.
    • Armored Batsuit:
      File:Batman superman ironman bat sui.jpg

      Bruce, in his Armored Batsuit.

      Batman's much more heavily armored and mechanized version of the Standard Batsuit, which he wore when confronting Superman. It is extremely durable and also grants him a higher level of superhuman strength, enough for Batman to survive relatively unscathed after being tackled right through a building by Superman, though Batman was still left heavily panting on the ground and required a few seconds to recover, and Superman was notably holding back quite a bit, not wanting to hurt the Dark Knight. The Armored Batsuit also allowed Batman to evenly match and slightly overpower a Superman weakened (to almost human levels) by Kryptonite, but as Superman got his his powers back completely, Batman's strikes quickly became completely ineffective. Also, Superman was initially holding back in their confrontation, and claimed that had he actually wanted to kill Batman, the armor would not have saved him at all.
    • Batmobile:
      ZBatmobile Chase12

      Interior of the Batmobile.

      Batman's imposing and heavily armed custom combat vehicle used by him for transportation, pursuit and capture and one of his most powerful tools to aid in his war against crime in Gotham City.
    • Batwing: Batman's aerial combat prototype vehicle with an immense amount of firepower, used by him against Doomsday. It is sometimes remotely piloted by Alfred from within the Batcave.
    • Nightcrawler: Batman's other vehicle, used to access rough terrain that cannot be reached via a car or plane.
    • Flying Fox: Batman's large three-story airplane, built in order to transport around the Justice League, as well as his Batmobile.
    Batarang

    A batarang.

    • Batarangs: Batman's extremely sharp (capable of piercing concrete walls), but non-lethal throwing gadgets in the shape of his symbol, wielded by Batman when carrying out various different tasks, from incapacitating criminals to breaking through windows.
    • Utility belt: Batman's specially designed belt, with its many pouches filled with an arsenal of numerous gadgets, weapons and tools at all times, to aid Batman in his mission.
    • Batcomputer: Batman's giant and powerful multi-purpose supercomputer console, located in the Batcave, with several monitor screens. Among other things,
      File:UDWxmNrFGIM-1-.jpg

      Bruce and Alfred observing data on the Batcomputer.

      one of its monitors is equipped with thermal imaging, allowing Batman to easily deduce the number of Knyazev's people within a building from a distance. It is also constantly hooked up to police radio's from the Gotham City Police Department, as well as news stations, allowing Batman to be up to date with all the goings on in his city. When Batman is on one of his vigilante escapades, Alfred sometimes utilizes the Batcomuter to help the Dark Knight with a specific task, notably when Batman saved Martha Kent from Knyazev.
    • Grapple Gun:
      File:Warehouse fight 3.png

      Batman wielding his grapple gun.

      Batman's line launching, multi-purpose, highly versatile, and handgun-like device that fires a retractible, detachable line with a mechanized, magnetic, or clawed end, which Batman utilizes to traverse Gotham City, escape danger and remain hidden from foes, all while allowing him to scale rappel, swing, catapult, or slingshot himself along structures or across gaps. It allows him to ascend and descend, much like an elevator or pulley system, at a harmless rate. It consists of a spool of cable, a winding device, and reloading feature. Once, it is shot a surface, it pulls the user at great speed towards their target and quickly retracts into the device once it is reached. This can be done in rapid succession, with the device being able to fire against instantly after retracting, with the speed of the device retracting being similar to flight. The line can pull great amounts of weight, as Batman can use it to slowly descend several stories while wearing his Armored Batsuit. It can also be used to pull on an enemy with great force, enough to stun and daze them or to injure them, with the end of the line also acting like a harpoon, as it can pierce into the flesh of a target and pull them. The line could even send people flying through the air towards the user due to the force it exerted when retracting, which allowed Batman to strike his airborne target unopposed. The protrusion at the base of the gun's grip also makes it ideal to be used as a blunt weapon in close-quarters combat. As the line can be detachable, it can be used as a lasso, with Batman tying the line to Superman's leg and, with the strength of his Armored Batsuit, slung him around a large corridor and into several pillars. Batman even managed to grapple away from a superhumanly fast charge from Doomsday, as well as several of the monster's huge heat blasts.
    • Respirator mask:
      File:Capture.png

      Batman wearing the respirator mask

      Batman's small mask than allows him to successfully breathe in locations with limited oxygen, such as when he was attacked by Firefly's flamethrower, and when he dived underwater to save Harley Quinn from the submerged Jokermobile.
    • Sticky bombs: Batman's small, custom-built hand-held explosives that can stick to surfaces before detonating. Batman hurled these onto the guns of Knyazev's men, thus instantly disabling their weapons.
    • Gas grenades:
      File:Bvs fumigene.jpg

      Batman, using a gas grenade in combat.

      Batman's canister-type grenades that emit a great amount of smoke, augmenting his already amazing stealth, to the point that Batman was able to temporarily evade Superman himself while using one.
    • Kryptonite gas grenades: Batman's innovative grenades developed by him after stealing the Kryptonite from Lex Luthor. These grenades, when shot at an opponent, emit a great amount of gaseous Kryptonite, which makes then an extremely effective weapon against Superman, which, while unable to kill him, will extremely weaken Superman to almost human levels for roughly a minute after he breathes in the gas.
    • Kryptonite spear: Batman utilized this weapon in his duel with Superman (almost succeeding in killing the latter with it),
      File:MARTHA!2.png

      Batman, brandishing the Kryptonite spear.

      with it later (ironically) being used by Superman, this time against Doomsday. Due to its nature, it is one of the extremely few weapons capable of mortally wounding both Kryptonians and Doomsday.




    • Cell phone cloner:
      File:Bruce&Anatoli10.png

      Bruce's cloning device.

      Batman, as Bruce Wayne, can use a phone capable of cloning the software and contacts of another, allowing him to both listen to the cloned phone's messages and track it. He used this on Anatoli Knyazev's phone while briefly standing close to him.
    • Branding ring: Batman also has knuckle duster type device with a bat symbol on the knuckles, which superheats to the point where it can burn though flesh and
      File:Batman visit lex 6.png

      Batman, preparing to brand Lex.

      stone with ease, burning the bat-brand into the surface it is pressed or punched into. Its mechanisms are similar to that of a stapler. Batman uses it to mark the worst of criminals with his symbol for effective intimidation (notably doing so to both sex trafficker Cesar Santos, and a child predator, and at least 18 confirmed others), and as a warning to others.
      File:Picture8.png

      Bruce, plugging the hacking device into the LexCorp mainframe.

      Batman came close to branding Lex Luthor when he visited the latter in prison, but instead ended up punching a symbol into the wall behind Lex.
    • Hacking device: Batman plugged this device into the LexCorp servers, thus managing to tap into the mainframe and extract Lex Luthor's files on Kryptonite and metahumans. This device is, however, temporarily borrowed from Batman by Wonder Woman, though the latter returns it promptly.

    Relationships

    Family

    Allies


    Enemies

    Trivia

    • A reference to Batman was shown during the final battle between Superman and General Zod. A poster can be seen that says "Keep Calm and Call Batman" in the central train station in Metropolis' CBD. A Wayne Enterprise satellite also appeared during Superman and Zod's fight.
    • According to producer Charles Roven, Batman is an extremely rough, physical person. Ben Affleck said that he identified with Batman's character in that they are both very angry people.
    • Batman is about 41-42 years old at the start of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as Alfred states that he's been training in the art of deception since the age of 7 despite being unable to deceive him. Since Bruce started training when his parents died, his calculated age becomes 41-42 years.
    • While this version of Batman is largely thought to be the most lethal, other film versions of Batman have killed or at least indirectly caused death at least once.
    • Batman's voice is digitally altered by a vocoder in his cowl[18].
    • In certain scenes, particularly action scenes, Batman's cape is digital rendered.
    • This version of Batman was partially inspired by the incarnation from The Dark Knight Returns written by Frank Miller, depicting him as being older, more brutal in his fight against crime, and utilizing a durable battle armor, along with tear gas bombs filled with gaseous Kryptonite and other weakening methods to combat Superman on equal footing. His main costume is also based on the costume worn by that particular incarnation.
    • This version of Batman is the first and only live-action incarnation to ever show him to be near to his comics' counterpart in terms of physical prowess (despite Michael Keaton's Batman demonstrating nearly superhuman strength at some points) while accurately portraying him in terms of personality.
    • While the casting of Ben Affleck initially caused a controversy including the filing of an online petition, his performance was ultimately met with an extremely positive reception with most fans calling him "the best Batman ever", and other fans adoringly dubbing him "Batfleck". This eventually caused Affleck to start writing a solo Batman movie affiliated to this universe, mere rumors and news of which caused a huge and positive online and offline excitement in fans.

    Behind the scenes

    • On August 23, 2013, Warner Bros. announced that Affleck had been cast as Batman. Beforehand numerous actors such as Josh Brolin, Joe Manganiello, Tyler Hoechlin, Richard Armitage, Wes Bentley, Jake Gyllenhaal and Orlando Bloom were considered for the part.
    • Ben Affleck's casting initially caused somewhat of a controversy and intense fan backlash including the filing of an online petition to remove him. However, upon the movie's release, his performance was met with an extremely positive reception with many fans calling Affleck the best Batman of all time.
    • Ben Affleck portrayed the actor George Reeves in the biopic 'Hollywoodland'. Reeves played Superman in Superman serials, making Affleck the only actor to portray both Superman and Batman.
    • Affleck played the Marvel superhero Daredevil in the film Daredevil and also in deleted scenes in the spin-off film Elektra.

    Gallery

    Promotional images

    Concept art

    References

    Preceded by:
    Thomas Wayne
    CEO of Wayne Enterprises
    c.
    Succeeded by:
    incumbent
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