Bruce Wayne is the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and the 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 waged a war on crime in Gotham City for over 20 years before the Battle of Metropolis. Over the years, Bruce encountered numerous foes, most notably the Penguin and the Joker. He also mentored Jason Todd to aid him as Robin, though Todd was eventually killed by the Joker and his doctor-turned-partner, Harley Quinn. Batman later apprehended Deadshot and Harley, as well as chased an up and coming Killer Croc out of Gotham during his attempt to form yet another criminal empire in the city. After the death of Robin, Bruce became an increasingly ruthless guardian of Gotham City, as criminals grew wary of his now brutal reputation.[1]
By 2015, a year and a half following the Battle of Metropolis, Bruce had become wary of the intentions of Superman, developing a hatred of the hero further fueled by the Machiavellian manipulations of Lex Luthor. However, Bruce ultimately allied himself with Superman to save Martha Kent, and the two were later joined by Wonder Woman to defeat the Kryptonian behemoth Doomsday, though the battle cost Superman his life. In the following year, Bruce began investigating rumors of scientists from S.T.A.R. Labs being kidnapped by strange creatures in Gotham, theorizing them as the precursor of an impending threat coming to Earth. Meeting with Diana Prince, Bruce relayed his findings but discovered that his suspicions had already been confirmed, as Steppenwolf had already arrived. Bruce then decided to recruit the candidates he and Diana had been observing, realizing that an attack was imminent.
Following the formation of the Justice League, Bruce orchestrated a plan with the help of two metahumans, Barry Allen and Victor Stone, to resurrect Superman by utilizing the power of a Mother Box to jump-start the hero's regeneration process and revive him. With the team now fully established, Batman led a successful offensive against Steppenwolf, forcing the latter's invasion into retreat. Afterward, Batman passed the role of leader of the Justice League to Superman, instead focusing on the team's future.
Bruce Wayne was born on February 19, 1972, in Gotham City, New Jersey, to Thomas and Martha Wayne. Bruce had an idyllic childhood due to his family's fortune and the love supplied by his parents. Growing up, he would be sat down on the floor of Wayne Manor's entrance room by his father, who told him that despite the manor itself being built on railways, real estates, and oil, the first generation of Waynes made their fortune as hunters, trading pelts and skins with the French.[2]
Assassination of Thomas and Martha Wayne
Bruce witnessing his parents' murder.
On June 26, 1981[citation needed], when he was 9, Bruce and his parents were walking home from the theater to see The Mask of Zorro when they are confronted by a mugger, who shot and killed Thomas and Martha before Bruce's eyes. From then on, Bruce was raised by the Wayne family's butler, Alfred Pennyworth.
Bruce falling into the Batcave
During the funeral for his parents, Bruce, overcome with grief, broke away from the service. As he ran, he stumbled across a decrepit area of the estate and fell into a cavern filled with numerous bats. This would later inspire him to use that fear to battle the criminal elements that took his parents' lives.
Becoming the Batman
In the following years, Bruce grew up inspired to make himself a symbol of fear within the heart of crime in Gotham City. He 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. In 1996, Bruce used his newfound discipline to take up the persona of a fearsome vigilante known as the "Batman" by launching a one-man war on crime at 24, 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 headquarters housing all of his high-tech Batman gadgets, located near Wayne Manor.
Crusade Against Crime
"Twenty years in Gotham, Alfred. We've seen what promises are worth. How many good guys are left? How many stayed that way?"
Bruce spent 20 years (up until the alien invasion of General Zod) fighting his way through the streets of Gotham City as the Batman.
Bruce's morals often prevented him from killing his foes, meaning that most of Gotham City's supervillains often ended up incarcerated in either Blackgate Penitentiary or Arkham Asylum. Examples of Batman's enemies include members of both the Falcone and Maroni crime families,[3] the monstrous metahuman Killer Croc, his psychopathic archnemesis the Joker, the Joker's girlfriend Harley Quinn, and the Penguin.[4] Indeed, there was a time when Penguin and his exploding gadgets were Batman's biggest concerns,[5] though ultimately the Joker would remain his greatest opponent. In addition, Batman would encounter a number of shady women during his career, as he would later compare to Diana Prince.
Bruce would also form an alliance with GCPD officer James Gordon, and a Bat-Signal projector was used to summon the Batman if the hero's vigilantism was ever urgently needed in order to defend the city. However, some of the GCPD's officers were adamantly against the idea of Batman, fearing and believing him to be a ruthless criminal, on whom they will often open fire, though these would eventually become the minority among the GCPD.
Overall, Batman was initially about finesse, fully employing his immensely formidable skills of stealth and deception, hardly openly 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. Indeed, Batman was so successful in his stealthily deceitful method, that even after his 18 years of protecting Gotham city, there was hardly any tangible evidence of his existence, with some (notably Victor Stone) even assuming that Batman did not actually exist, and was nothing but an urban legend.
Losing Robin
Bruce at the display of his fallen ally.
However, at some point before the Battle of Metropolis, the Joker and Harley Quinn[6] managed to kill Robin together and left a sadistic note for Batman, spray-painted in yellow on the damaged Robin suit. A devastated Bruce hung Jason'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, morphing into a more relentless and violent version of Batman.
Capturing Deadshot
"It's over, Deadshot! I don't want to do this in front of your daughter."
At some point during Bruce's career as a vigilante, Batman began tracking down the world's most wanted hitman, Deadshot, and ARGUS 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
The fierce crocodilian metahumanWaylan Jones 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 ARGUS SWAT team.[7]
Bruce witnesses the destruction caused by 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 a 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 Wayne Enterprises security vehicle and made his way towards the Wayne Financial building, giving the order via phone to the people inside to evacuate. Bruce's friend and employee Jack O'Dwyer relayed the order but failed to escape the building himself. Bruce dodged several falling pieces of debris from 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 Wayne Financial on foot and attempted to call Jack again, but got no signal. While there, he bore witness to the vicious duel between Superman and Zod.
Bruce watch Superman fighting 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.
Aftermath
Defeating Firefly
"He was always tough. But over the years, he got harder. I mean, you figure he's seen some things."
As a result of witnessing the incredible destruction and carnage unleashed by the Black Zero 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.[8]
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 villain's grip, destroying it with a 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 then subdued him, 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 camera 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.[8]
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, into 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, using the Kryptonian plasma rifles briefly to hold Superman back. 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.[9]
Locating Emily for Evidence
Batman confronts Emily.
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.[10]
Soon after, the Joker and Harley Quinn were joyriding down a Gotham City street in the Jokermobile, laughing maniacally on the journey. However, Batman pursued them in the Batmobile quickly mounting onto the Joker's roof. Harley, annoyed that Batman was ruining "date night", began angrily fire into the roof, though ineffective against Batman's bulletproof suit. Joker, attempting to shake Batman off, made a sharp turn that sent the vehicle flying off the road and into the river. Batman then promptly put on a rebreather and dove after the car, finding the crashed car and Harley, but no Joker. Batman then grabbed Harley, who awoke and tried to stab him, but Batman quickly knocks her unconscious with a mighty punch and carries her out of the river.
Batman carries Harley to the Batmobile.
Batman then laid her on the hood of the Batmobile and checked for a pulse but couldn't seem to find one. With extreme reluctance, Batman then attempts oral resuscitation to revive her. A pleased Harley then begins kissing him, but Batman restrains her and drove her to Arkham. ARGUS Director Amanda Waller then promptly had Harley transferred to Belle Reve supermax, where the female psychopath was eventually put inside a small electrified barbwire cage fit for her aerial acrobatic routines.[7]
Two years after the Battle of Metropolis, Batman rescued a group of young Asian women from sex trafficker Cesar Santos by subduing him and then brutally interrogating him. One of the GCPD's rookie police officers interrupts his interrogation, frightened by the sight of the Batman perched on a wall and tried to shoot him, but the Dark Knight swiftly fled, leaving Santos with a "bat-brand" on his chest. This would be only one of the many criminals branded by the Dark Knight (a total of 18 reports of similar occurrences in Gotham) within the past month. Soon, bearing a "bat-brand" is equivalent to a death sentence among Gotham City prison inmates, and later among Metropolis prisoners too, as orchestrated by Lex Luthor to make Batman feel responsible for the deaths, as if he were a murderer, thus furthering Batman's own grief.
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."
Bruce, discussing the "White Portuguese" with Alfred.
Bruce had been seemingly searching for a target known only as the "White Portuguese", which, as he tells Alfred Pennyworth, is bringing in a dirty bomb to Gotham. Bruce learned that a Russian mercenary named Anatoli Knyazev may have information regarding the "White Portuguese", but even after interrogating 6 people as the Batman, he learned nothing. Hence, Bruce Wayne later attended an underground fight club where he met Knyazev, engaging in a brief conversation which allowed Bruce to clone Knyazev's phone and discover that Knyazev was employed by Lex Luthor. Bruce then expressed his intention to break into Luthor's house as Batman, but Alfred is quick to point out that that wouldn't 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, he stood before the monument for Jason Todd's damaged Robin suit.
Meeting Clark Kent
"Mr. Wayne! Clark Kent, Daily Planet. What's your position on the Bat-vigilante in Gotham?"
Bruce attended Luthor's party with the intention of finding as much evidence against Lex as possible. While pretending to listen to Lex Luthor's greeting speech, Bruce was guided by Alfred via a hidden earpiece, and snuck away from the crowd, successfully plugging in his device into the LexCorp servers housed in Luthor's lower levels. Unbeknownst to Bruce, however, Alfred's voice was picked up by the Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, so, as soon as Bruce returns, a suspicious Clark is quick to interview him, asking Bruce about his position regarding Batman.
Clark and Bruce meet for the first time
Bruce initially attempts to brush the reporter off, condescendingly referring to the younger man as "son", and sarcastically asking if the Daily Planet belongs to him. Clark persists, claiming to have personally seen how Batman considers himself to be above the law and causing civilians to live in fear, despite having never seen Batman in action. Bruce is quick to point out the hypocrisy in Clark's words, noting that every time Superman carried out a trivial deed, journalists like Clark are quick to shower him with praise, and instead argues the godlike alien should instead be feared, as there would be seemingly no way of stopping him, if Superman were to suddenly decide to go rogue. Clark is angered by this unexpected and personal criticism, but calmly points out that most of the world doesn't share Bruce's opinion on the alien superhero, but Bruce responds by claiming that perhaps his view is based on the bad history that Gotham has with "freaks dressed like clowns."
Bruce discovers his device is missing.
At that moment, however, the two were interrupted by the timely arrival of Lex Luthor, who enthusiastically introduced himself to Clark and invited Bruce to visit LexCorp Industries' Research and Development facilities. However, Mercy Graves arrives, letting Lex know that a governor wanted to speak with 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 is stopped when he sees a news report of a girl stuck in a burning house in Mexico, choosing instead to depart. Bruce then broke from the crowd to retrieve his mole, only to find it had been stolen by a mysterious woman. Bruce quickly pursued her, but she is able to leave the party before he can confront her.
Meeting Diana Prince
"You don't know me, but I've known a few women like you." "Oh, I don't think you've ever known a woman like me."
Later, Bruce tracked down Diana Prince at the Gotham City Museum of Antiquities, where an exhibit of a fake replica of Alexander the Great's sword, where he confronted her about the information she stole. Bruce claimed to see right through her "babe in the woods" act, saying that while she doesn't know him, he'd met "a few women like [Diana]". Diana, however, calmly smiled and reassures Bruce that he's never met a woman like her. She then proceeded to tell Bruce that she was unable to obtain anything due to the data having military-grade encryption. Diana also explained that she stole the information because Lex Luthor had stolen something of hers. Before excusing herself, Diana informed Bruce know that she was only borrowing his device, and had already returned it to him shortly beforehand, placing it into his car.
Insurgency Knightmare
"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!"
Batman being overwhelmed by Superman's stormtroopers and Parademons.
Bruce returned to the Batcave later that evening and placed drive into the Batcomputer, utilizing the Oracle Network to decrypt it. While patiently waiting for the slow decryption process, Bruce eventually fell asleep at his desk.
Bruce began to experience a vision of a post-apocalyptic Earth - the product of an ongoing Injustice War - in which a devastated Superman killed millions, driven by his despair over the loss of Lois Lane, becoming dark and malevolent. To aid in his totalitarian crusade, Clark founded the Regime Stormtroopers army, killing anybody who opposes him. An aged Batman exited a bunker and watches an Insurgency convoy approach. He met with them and asks for the rock they were tasked to retrieve, the last hope of defeating Superman. However, it turned out to be an ambush and Bruce was held at gunpoint by one of his lieutenants as the undercover Regime agents reveal themselves, executing his Insurgency agents as Batman watches helplessly. Roaring in despair, Bruce begins a one-man assault on the Stormtroopers. Although he managed to take down most of the troopers, Parademons invaded the area, abducting many of his resistance fighters, Batman is eventually overwhelmed as the remaining Regime troops finally began to restrain him. Relentless in his assault, Batman began dispatching the troopers, breaking limbs and even snapping one of their necks, but then was brutally beaten down and restrained by reinforcements. Seeing the Stormtroopers' inability to restrain him, a Parademon knocked him unconscious from behind.
Batman and his allies, chained up in Superman's bunker.
Bruce awoke chained up in a bunker with his remaining agents, eyeing them as Superman arrived, landing in the bunker as his Regime Stormtroopers reverently knelt before their leader. Approaching Batman, Superman swiftly murdered the last Insurgency agents with his heat vision. Superman then unmasked the vigilante, expressing his anger over Bruce letting Lois die, as she was his "world." Superman gave Batman one final sneer, placing his hand flat against the vigilante's chest, then brutally killed him by tearing out his heart.
Shocked awake, Bruce found a distorted and unstable blue portal of energy beside him. From it, the Flash appeared and gave Bruce an incoherent warning to fear Clark's power (whom Bruce had "always been right about") and that Lois Lane was "the key" to this. Flash then suddenly realized that he was too soon in the timestream, so he begged Bruce to find "them" and save "her". Bruce abruptly awoke again, though he wasn't sure if 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 Superman.
Motives Explained
Having awoken from his nightmare, Bruce examines the encrypted data and realizes that Lex Luthor 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's team in 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, explaining himself to Alfred.
Dismayed, Alfred insisted Bruce was misled, as Superman hadn't been either theirs or humanity's enemy. Cynically, Bruce responded, recognizing that while Superman may not be an enemy just yet, Bruce had, during his 20 years of being the Batman in Gotham, seen "what promises are worth"; having laid witness to many seemingly benevolent individuals become malevolently corrupted to the point that Bruce claimed that hardly any good guys are left. He further persists that if there was more than a one percent chance of Superman's corruption, it needed to be addressed immediately. In addition, Bruce personally witnessed the other Kryptonians who arrived on Earth attempt to wipe out all life on the planet. As a result, Batman adopted the perception of Kryptonians as having a natural predisposition towards evil, and he thus feared the possibility of General Zod's level of evil gradually developing in the only other member of the alien race still to be on Earth: Superman. Alfred, seeing how determined and set Bruce is, remained silent as the latter walked away.
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 shortly thereafter.
The US Capitol Bombing
Bruce, seething with renewed horror and rage after witnessing the Capitol explosion.
Mere days later, Bruce is at Wayne Enterprises Headquarters and sees on TV how his former employee Wallace Keefe publicly expresses disdain against Superman, in light of him being present for the upcoming congressional hearing regarding Superman's involvement in the Nairomi incident. Dismayed at Wallace's comments, Bruce requests that his personal assistant Grace summon his other employee, Greg, and when she does, Bruce inquires if Wallace had been receiving the victims' fund monthly checks that Wayne Enterprises had been paying out. Greg reveals that Wallace had actually been rejecting them all, and sending them back, leaving hateful messages written on them in red. Dismayed at having not been told them, Bruce inspects the messages, which read "Bruce Wayne - open your eyes", "Bruce Wayne - I am your ghost", "Bruce no truce", "Bruce Wayne I will haunt you", and "Bruce Wayne = Blind", in addition to an old newspaper that Wallace send back to Bruce - an article which detailed the deaths of dozens Wayne Enterprises employees in the Black Zero Event, having "You let your family die" written on it, in the same red ink. Bruce's immense dismay and rage were only further compounded a few moments later, when he witnessed the massive US Capitol explosion during Superman's congressional hearing, seemingly caused by Superman himself (actually malevolently orchestrated by Lex Luthor to frame him).
Later that evening, induced by the red notes and recent events to finally take offensive action against Superman, 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
Bruce, observing his invented Kryptonite weapon.
"You're not brave. Men are brave."
―Batman to Superman[src]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 spearhead (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).
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.
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."
Sometime 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's team, asking her with curiosity where else she has been during the last century (her status as an immortal metahuman clearly impressing Bruce), and also sharing with her the data that Lex Luthor had on the other metahumans - Aquaman, the Flash, and Cyborg. Diana however, while intrigued, does not answer the e-mail, and proceeds with her plans to depart Metropolis for Paris, via transitional flight to Turkey.
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 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 (due to Batman suspected a deceitful ruse, due to the future Flash's warning of Batman having "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 caught 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.
God vs Man
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.
The effects of the Kryptonite begin to wear off.
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 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."
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 enraged, 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 Superman's mother. Shocked, Batman came to his senses, finally realizing that Superman was, in fact, a selfless person pleading for the life of his mother instead of his own instead of a monstrous alien threat. Furthermore, Batman saw the hypocrisy of his own actions – that he has allowed Lex Luthor to twist his anger from the Black Zero Event and turn him into the very villain he swore to fight. Angered, ashamed and horrified at the monster that he had almost become, Batman hurled aside the spear in disgust and resolves to help Superman stop Lex Luthor, the true enemy.
Batman, shell-shocked after realizing the monster that he had nearly become.
Superman and Lois then explain the situation to Batman, concerning Martha Kent's kidnapping by Lex Luthor, and her currently running out of time. Putting his tactical genius back to use, Batman 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."
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.
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.
Afterward, Lex Luthor called Anatoli to kill Martha, only for Batman to intercept the call and tell him he defeated Anatoli and his men and he was coming for Lex next.
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 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 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 grimly 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.
Batman, having successfully shot Doomsday with Kryptonite.
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 Hestia 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.
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!"
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 due to 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 back, Batman disappears. He yells at the Dark Knight in defiance, that 'the bells have already been rung', and warns that "he" was coming to Earth, after that Lex began to mimicking the bell sounds, mockingly.
Dawn of Justice
"I failed him in life. I won't fail him in death."
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).
Uniting the League
Meeting Amanda Waller
"That's the difference between us, Mr. Wayne - you believe in friendship, I believe in leverage."
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, Waller lets him know that she is aware that he is Batman. Unfazed, he immediately, sternly warns Waller 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.
Correspondence with Diana
Since Diana Prince has returned to her job at the Louvre Museum after Superman' funeral, Bruce stayed in touch with her, hoping that she would consider his offer. He eventually discovered the original physical photograph of Diana with Steve Trevor's team, and send it to her in a Wayne Enterprises package. A tearful Diana e-mails Bruce back, thanking him for returning Steve to her (as it was the only photograph of them together that was ever taken).
The world is in mourning following the death of Superman. Sensing humanity's fear, Steppenwolf and his Parademons succeed in returning to planet Earth to resume their hunt for the Mother Boxes through kidnapping several employees of S.T.A.R. Labs, which is in possession of one of the boxes. Having investigated the kidnappings and encountered a Parademon himself, Batman has decided to recruit his planned team of metahumans as he believes an invasion is coming.
Bruce learned from Amanda Waller's files that Arthur Curry visited a village in Newfoundland,[11]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, upon Bruce revealing his knowledge of Atlantis reacted hostilely, 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 told her that Aquaman had "more or less" agreed to join. When she pressed further, asking if that meant "more more, more or less", a somewhat uncomfortable Bruce admits to Arthur having declined.
With the help of Amanda Waller's file, Bruce tracks down and breaks 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 footage he found on the LexCorp Industries files. Barry instantly recognizes himself in the photo and tries, unsuccessfully, to dismiss the person 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 the latter has abilities but just needs to know what they are. Barry nervously rambles about his personal skills, including competitive ice dancing, when Bruce hurls a batarang at Barry as fast as he could, which the latter effortlessly dodged and caught. Barry, awed, deduces that Bruce is actually the Batman, and dismisses Bruce's assessment of his abilities as an oversimplification.
Bruce then continues, telling him about the 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 if he can keep it.
Barry and Bruce heading to the car
As Barry and Bruce headed to his car, Barry consumed an entire box of pizza and explained the concept of the Speed Force, and how it allows him to consume insane amounts of food. However, when Barry asked Bruce just how many there were on the team, Bruce's response prompted Barry to then ask what exactly Bruce's powers were, to which Bruce told him that his power was that he is rich.
Victor Stone is the last member that Bruce is trying to track down, but due to his abilities, Bruce is having trouble locating him. Diana arrives to find him working on the Flying Fox, a prototype troop carrier and wistfully mentions that she once knew a man who would have loved to have flown it. Taking a walk outside, Bruce and Diana talk, seemingly unaware they are being watched by Victor, who is aware of Bruce's interest in him. Bruce asks Diana to take over looking for Victor. She is successful, convincing him that she does not want to hurt him by pointing out that she knew he was at the lake watching her and Bruce. Victor eventually agrees to join the team when his father, Silas Stone, is kidnapped by Parademons.
"It's really cool you guys seem ready to do battle and stuff, but I've never done battle. I've just pushed some people and run away!" "Save one." "What?" "Save one person." "And then?" "Then you'll know."
The Justice League receives intel from Commissioner James Gordon that the Parademons are traveling underground, Which the team goes to find, the team climb up, to find Steppenwolf interrogating the S.T.A.R. Labs employees about the final Mother Box, which Barry get's nervous and tell's the team that he hasn't done battle before, which Batman says just save one person.
Steppenwolf then grabs Silas Stone, which Cyborg shots Steppenwolf and saves his father, which Wonder Woman helps out by attacking the Parademons and taking Steppenwolf to a different part of the factory, while Batman fights the Parademons, Barry goes and save one of the employees. Steppenwolf tells the Parademons that he will deal with Diana alone, meanwhile Batman is being attacked by one of the Parademons which he tells Alfred that he needs the Nightcrawler which he sents the machine to Bruce.
Batman jumping into the Nightcrawler.
Flash and Cyborg save all the hostage which Silas Stone tells Victor that Steppenwolf cannot get the final Mother Box. Batman then jumps down into the Nightcrawler and saves Wonder Woman after a Parademon takes her by surprise and knocks her unconscious. The Nightcrawler gets attacked by Steppenwolf, while Barry helps Wonder Woman get her Sword so she can help Batman.
Batman saving Wonder Woman from a Parademon.
Flash and Wonder Woman get attacked by Steppenwolf and the Parademons before Batman helps her by killing one of the Parademons. Cyborg then falls into the Nightcrawler and hacks it so it in his control, which he uses it against Steppenwolf but falls when Steppenwolf catches a missile and throw it against the wall, which causes the factory to flood which allows Steppenwolf to escape.
Before Diana could get hit with the flooding water, Arthur comes and saves the team by using the Trident of Poseidon to hold back the water while the League escaped.
Reviving Superman
"You won't let me live, you won't let me die." "The world needs you." "But does it need you? Tell me, do you bleed?"
After the fight with Steppenwolf, After Batman meets with Gordon before Arthur shows up and say that Steppenwolf took the Mother Box from Atlantis, then Victor reveals that he is possession of the final Mother Box, which he hid from his father. The team returns to the Batcave which Barry runs around the cave and sits in the Batmobile before Bruce calls for a meeting with the team. Bruce conclusion that they should use the Mother Box to bring Superman back to life. He believes that they need Superman to restore hope in humanity. Diana and Author are hesitant about the idea, but Bruce forms a secret contingency plan.
The team put Clark's body in the waters of the Kryptonian ship, using Allen's Speed Force to activate the Box, causing the resurrection of Superman. Which he flies out of the Kryptonian ship and lands in Heroes Park where Aquaman, Cyborg, Flash and Wonder Woman meet him, which they notice that something is wrong with him, which Clark uses his x-ray vision to scan the League which Stone accidentally launches a projectile at him as his cybernetic body registers a threat to him. Superman attacks Cyborg with his heat vision as the reason of the Justice League tries to calm him down by he overpowers them.
As the League all jump on top of Superman, Barry runs around him but Superman sees him and attacks him. Batman arrives and gets Superman to stop fighting the League, but he hits them and asks Bruce the same question that Bruce asked him "Tell me, do you Bleed?". Before Kal-El could kill Bruce, Lois, and Alfred to stop him.
Superman calms down and leaves with Lois to the Kent Farm where he reflects and tries to recover his memories. during the battle, Steppenwolf retrieves the final Mother Box.
Back at the Batcave, Cyborg works to figure out Steppenwolf's plan while Bruce awkwardly asks Arthur if he can use his powers to have aquatic life locate Steppenwolf. Arthur offended tells Bruce that the water does the talking but says he’ll see what he can do. While bandaging his wounds he is assisted by Diana who observing the scars and bruises from Bruce's years of long fight against crime tells Bruce he can only do this for so long. Bruce agrees and the two apologize for their harsh words towards each other earlier before sharing a drink.
Fighting Steppenwolf
Justice League getting ready to battle Steppenwolf.
The Justice League uses Flying Fox to Russia to stop Steppenwolf from being the Mother Boxes together, the team plan how there going to stop Steppenwolf, Batman tells the team that he going to take out the tower while the reason of the League will separate the Mother Boxes, Batman destroys the tower but also the controls on the Flying Fox didn't reporting which cause it to crash, but Bruce get in the Batmobile and using a siren to get the attention of the Parademons, this allows the rest to get to the Mother Boxes without any problems.
Batman swing across.
The Parademons attack the Batmobile, ripping off one on the guns that it has an opening up the car before Wonder Woman and the reason the League saves Batman, Arthur jumps on the Batmobile before getting attacked by Parademons which leads Cyborg to save him and throwing him to the other Parademons. The Batmobile get's knocked which Bruce ejects from the vehicle and using his grapple to swings across and takes out some Parademons.
Diana confronts Steppenwolf, before Cyborg attacks him which leads to Wonder Woman fighting Steppenwolf, while Flash helps Victor get to the Mother Boxes, which Barry takes care of the Parademons while Cyborg tries to separate the Mother Boxes, Batman saves Barry by grappling his legs from stopping him falling, Bruce takes one of the Parademons guns and fires at them. Steppenwolf finds out the Victor is trying to separate the Mother Boxes, which he grabs him before Wonder Woman saves him.
Alfred informs Bruce that people are in danger which Batman tells Barry that he needs to save the civilians, Diana and Arthur tries to keep Steppenwolf away from Cyborg by using the Lasso of Truth to pull him down, Steppenwolf attacks them both before he knocks Arthur into a wall breaking the ceiling before Diana saves him, Cyborg tries to keep Steppenwolf away from him but failures which leads with Steppenwolf pulling off one of his legs.
Before Steppenwolf could kill Cyborg, Superman comes and saves him, Bruce tells Superman he needs to buy Cyborg some time to separate the Mother Boxes and to help civilians, Superman catches up with Barry saving he got the ones on the right. Victor calls for Superman help with the Mother Boxes, which Steppenwolf attack the Justice League which Superman freezes Steppenwolf's Axe and Diana breaks it with her Sword, which cause Steppenwolf to be attacked by the Parademons before he returns back to Apokolips.
In the aftermath of the battle, Wayne, now given up his leadership to Superman and become his second-in-command of the team while also helping Martha get her house back by buying the bank that had taken it as another way of making amends with Clark who thanks him. Days later Wayne decides to rebuild Wayne Manor as a base of operations for the team as he and Diana agree that more heroes could join.
Personality
"I don't recognize this world anymore." "We don't have to. We just have to save it."
Bruce Wayne is very determined and dedicated to his work of crime-fighting vigilantism (due to having been forced as a young child to watch his parents get murdered by Joe Chill), 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
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. Other than Alfred, however, the only other individual known to see through Bruce's genius deceptions is Lex Luthor.
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, as a tremendously skilled and well-rounded vigilante and polymath genius (in tactics, deception, criminology, science, engineering, hacking, business, exploitative networking, and martial arts, as well as both inductive and deductive analysis), has bettered himself both mentally and physically to his peak, without any superhuman assistance, thereby making him capable of pulling off terrific feats without actually being superhuman. Hence, Batman epitomizes many of the humanist beliefs of Lex Luthor, who somewhat admires him, despite being Batman's enemy and business rival, and Lex, therefore, selects Batman to be his (discreetly manipulated) champion against Superman and the metahumans. While his exceptional intellect and extensive experience make Batman wise, they also make him 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 his Bruce Wayne playboy façade. Despite being a polymath genius, however, Batman was still in many ways considerably intellectually surpassed by supergenius Lex Luthor, who easily manipulated Batman as a pawn in his grand scheme to destroy Superman.
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 view his former methods as too lenient (referring to his formerly held belief in their effectiveness as a "beautiful lie"), and 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, with him only using lethal force against them in response to them using it against him first. 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 (making it more than a mere one percent chance of Superman's corruption in his eyes), in addition to the fact that the only other Kryptonians (General Zod and his loyalists) who arrived on Earth had attempted to wipe out all life on the planet in a terraformation apocalypse. As a result, Batman perceives Kryptonians as having a natural predisposition towards evil, and he, therefore, fears the possibility of General Zod's level of evil gradually developing in the only other member of the latter's race still to be on Earth - Superman (whom Bruce disdainfully refers to as "an alien" in a conversation with Clark Kent). 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 easy to "push [Batman] over" and make him his pawn. When combining his own personal fear of and prejudice towards Superman due to the Black Zero Event, with Wallace Keefe sending him angry notes (actually from Lex Luthor), with Lex 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 (concluding that he must have misinterpreted future Flash's message, as it would be utterly impossible for this to be a ruse on Superman's part), 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 the thug Joe Chill had once orphaned Batman himself, the son of another Martha. In addition, Batman's prior belief of Kryptonians having a natural predisposition towards evil was invalidated when he learned of Lex Luthor's hand, as Batman realized that tremendous evil need not necessarily come from an alien, with him having been deceived this whole time by a supervillain considerably more evil than General Zod, one who was a fellow human of his. Angered, ashamed and horrified at the mislead monster that he had almost become, Batman hurled aside the 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 Lex Luthor's monster 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 self-sacrifice has 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). Indeed, Batman is now able to see that Superman was "a beacon to the world", one who didn't just save people, but also "made them see the best parts of themselves." This renewed hope in himself and humanity 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 Waller herself calling him out on this. This renewed hope also allows Batman to gain Aquaman's respect and inspire Wonder Woman to become a leader and a better superhero overall. Ultimately, Batman proves himself to be just as selfless and heroic as Superman when he (like Superman did with Doomsday) is willing to sacrifice himself to defeat Steppenwolf and save the world - by distracting an army of Parademons, thereby giving the Justice League a necessary opening to dismantle the Unity, but Wonder Woman decides to save Batman instead.
Batman, while usually very serious, prim, and even somewhat gloomy, is a charismatic mentor and leader, having led his proteges Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl in numerous vigilante escapades and missions, and even being mentally prepared to gather together the Justice League's first roster and lead them against the impending Parademon invasion. When Flash remarks on his inexperience, many fears, and questions his value to the team, Batman helped him gain confidence with some simple advice, deducing the young speedster's potentially good judgment in their battle. Batman even gains the respect and friendship of the usually gruff lone superhero Aquaman. However, Batman is willing to be a strict and blunt leader on occasion, but this is shown to be equally effective in the end - notably when he angers Wonder Woman by using her memory of Steve Trevor to motivate her, but she is ultimately inspired by Batman's words to become a better leader and a better superhero overall. Batman's serious nature also leads to him initially getting annoyed with new Justice League recruits Flash and Aquaman, due to the former's quick-witted humor[12], and the latter's dry remarks about his Batsuit.
On rare occasions, Batman even demonstrates a dry, dark 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", when he claims to Flash that being rich is his superpower, and when remarking Cyborg (who initially doubted his existence) that "[he's] real when it's useful."
Peak Human Condition: Bruce Wayne is a tremendously skilled and experienced vigilante, having over 20 years worth of crime fighting under his belt. While not superhuman, Batman's remarkably muscular and athletic build makes him immensely powerful by normal standards, with his physical capabilities allowing him to face off against other highly trained enemies such as Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and the Regime Stormtroopers. Due to his rigorous training and experiences as a vigilante, Bruce’s body and mind are at the peak condition of a man of his age, weight, and height through intense training and strict diet from his many years as the Batman. He's been able to overpower criminals and thugs with relative ease and has defeated foes with greater strength.
Peak Human Strength: Batman's immense strength allows him to physically overpower combatants, including elite-trained humans, extraterrestrial troops, as well as metahumans. As he prepared to face Superman, Bruce underwent an extremely intense exercise regimen to vastly increase his endurance. He can effortlessly slam through solid walls and reinforced glass, tear apart Firefly's armored suit with his bare hands, and break limbs with a single strike. In combat, his strength allows him to send enemies flying several meters in the air from mere kicks, hurl people hard enough to break through walls, and dislocate limbs. He can even generate enough force to send enemies headfirst into the floorboards. However, his strength is no match against the likes of Wonder Woman and beings from other planets, such as Superman and Doomsday, who possesses god-like strength, even when he was able to briefly hold Superman at bay when the latter was only trying to get him to cooperate. Nonetheless, his combination of strength, extremely effective muscle control and highly refined combat skills makes him an incredibly formidable opponent to those that would try to attack him.
Peak Human Durability: Bruce's body is also vastly more durable than most due to having become accustomed to the intense physical punishment sustained over two decades as the Batman. Hence, Batman was unfazed by dropping from the rafters of a warehouse, quickly landing and begin his assault on Luthor’s mercenaries. Batman is also able to smash through a steel-framed window foot first without injury, endure gunfire with the aid of his Batsuit, and withstand attacks from numerous enemies and a collision with a wall at full speed with his grapple gun while trying to evade Doomsday. In his vision of the future, Batman was able to fight while withstanding attacks from the Regime Stormtroopers, requiring a strike from a Parademon to stop him. When pinned by Arthur Curry, Bruce grunted from the Atlantean’s strength, but was otherwise unharmed. However, Bruce remarked that “something’s bleeding” when thrown several yards by Clark after his revival.
Peak Human Agility: Batman is incredibly agile, demonstrating an incredible nimbleness and agility while fighting and evading others. He was able to perch on a wall to avoid arriving GCPD officers, followed by quickly moving across the ceiling and walls with almost ape-like acrobatics, dodging the gunfire from one of the officer's shotgun. 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. He managed to remain unscathed while breaking into LexCorp Research Park, evading gunfire from the guards while picking them off from above, leaving a path of destruction. During the rescue of Martha Kent, Bruce was able to take down twenty-four armed mercenaries at once, appearing as a blur of motion as he traversed the warehouse. He can balance himself while standing on the back of a stone gargoyle, and dodge the Plasma Carbine rifle fire from Parademons while grappling into their midst, and even managed to dodge a superhumanly fast charge from Doomsday, as well as several of the behemoth's heat vision blasts.
Peak Human Stamina: Batman is immensely endurant, able to exert himself at his peak capacity for several hours without tiring or slowing down. He was able to easily fight 24 armed thugs despite having come from his recent duel with Superman, followed by assisting in the final battle against Doomsday. 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.
Enhanced Metabolism: Batman's metabolism runs several times faster than an average human's, due to his strict diet and incredible workout regimen. Thus, alcohol has no effect on him as his body burns it off several times faster than average, requiring him to drink several bottles at a time to feel its effects, to which Alfred dryly remarked that the next generation of the Wayne family will inherit an empty wine cellar.
Master Martial Artist: Batman is a very dangerous, fierce, and lethal armed and hand-to-hand combatant. He has an extensive knowledge of a variety of martial arts, developing a technique composed of a mixture of American Boxing, Judo, Jiu-jitsu, Taekwondo and Aikido. In addition, Batman also showed refined fighting techniques, applying characteristics of Muay Thai, Karate, Savate, Krav Maga, and Wing Chun.[13]. Batman’s combat skills are considered legendary, making him one of the greatest fighters in the world. While attending an underground fight club, Bruce was able to give some advice to one of the fighters after briefly observing the match, allowing him to easily defeat his opponent. During the rescue of Matha Kent, Batman brought down 24 armed henchmen in a short amount of time despite having previously engaged with Superman shortly before. In his nightmare vision from the Flash, Bruce was able to bring down squads of Regime Stormtroopers until ultimately succumbing to their numbers. Batman is even able to use his combat skills to hold his own against considerably stronger opponents, with him defeating a depowered Superman in a one on one fight, nearly killing him in the process, battling numerous Parademons during Steppenwolf’s campaign, and driving Killer Croc from Gotham years ago. Notably, Batman defeated most of the members of Task Force X, having them placed behind bars in Belle Reve. His skill allowed him to overpower several Parademons, swiftly disarming and incapacitating them in close quarters. Under Batman's tutelage, his protégé vigilante Robin would become an extremely skilled combatant in his own right.
Skilled Marksman: Batman can throw most projectile weaponry with great aim and is well-versed in the use of conventional firearms such as sniper rifles, grenade launchers, and assault rifles, picking them up and using with ease. Over time in training and experience with his notorious batarangs, Bruce has learned to use them for various purposes throughout his career, notably using one to knock a detonator out of Firefly's hand. Bruce can utilize his grapple gun with a high degree of accuracy and precision, firing a line across a warehouse to pierce the shoulder of a mercenary, pulling him closer to deliver a devastating strike. In his nightmarish vision of a possible future, Batman was capable of repeatedly disarming Regime Stormtroopers of their assault rifles and using them as his own. When Wonder Woman restrained Doomsday, Batman was able to shoot a Kryptonite gas grenade at the monster from several meters away. Batman can also utilize the various weapons of his vehicles with near-perfect accuracy, notably neutralizing Anatoli Knyazev's convoy with his Batmobile, and later his Batwing, as well as shooting down many attacking Parademons with the Knightcrawler and Flying Fox.
Master Spy: In addition to being an incredible detective and a world-class fighter, Batman is highly skilled in espionage, intelligence gathering, infiltration, and sabotage. He’s evaded capture from authorities throughout his career as a vigilante, and has successfully raided high-security facilities such as LexCorp Research Park, and managed to sneak around Lex Luthor’s Mansion during the latter’s fundraiser party to breach his servers. Over the years, Batman has become highly formidable at stealth tactics, so much so that criminals would claim that you wouldn't even know he was there until it was already too late. His speed and agility allow him to move away from the sight of others and stalk enemies from the shadows and higher vantage points, while letting them catch glimpses or hear his cape, thus giving them the illusion of being a wraith-like creature. Batman was able to sneak up on the experienced assassin Deadshot and later break into Barry Allen’s apartment. When utilizing a specially designed lead gas grenade, he’s able to temporarily evade Superman himself. However, Wayne’s most impressive feat was breaking into Lex Luthor’s supermax jail cell within Belle Reve, appearing before Luthor in the moments it took for the lights to flicker, and disappear from it just as suddenly when Lex briefly turned away. Later, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg were able to swiftly slip away when Commissioner James Gordon turned away for a moment, leaving even Flash stunned at how he didn't notice his teammates leave, despite having superhuman reflexes and having been standing right beside them.
Genius-level Intellect: Bruce Wayne is an extremely intelligent and eclectic polymath 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. However, Wayne is notably not quite as intelligent as supergenius Lex Luthor, with the latter thereby successfully manipulating the Batman into attempting to kill Superman for him.
Skilled Interrogator: Batman is infamously adept in interrogation techniques, often using law enforcement methods, as well as torture as an effective means of punishment or information extraction, notably branding at least nineteen known criminals with a bat symbol to mark them as repeat offenders.
Master Tactician: Wayne is a masterful strategist. He is able to formulate battle strategies and his brilliant tactical sense allows him to alter any strategy to fit the changing need of the situation. He was able to make a mental assessment of the weaknesses of a fighter in an underground fight club, helping his opponent beat him by offering combat advice. He was also able to take down Deadshot by ambushing him with his daughter Zoe's presence and chased Killer Croc out of Gotham City before the latter could establish a criminal following. A prime example was when Bruce was able to break into the well-guarded LexCorp Research Park facility and steal the Kryptonite within, overpowering the many guards and leaving behind a considerable path of destruction. Later, Bruce was able to quickly improvise a plan to take down Anatoli Knyazev's twenty-four heavily armed mercenaries in a warehouse while saving Martha Kent, defeat the more powerful Superman in their fierce duel, and managed to render the Kryptonian behemoth Doomsday vulnerable, thus giving Superman an opening to deliver the finishing blow.
Skilled Leader: Batman, despite preferring to work on his own and not being as skilled a leader as Superman, has proven to be a fairly capable leader when the situation calls for it, with Bruce notably leading the members of the newly formed Justice League against Steppenwolf, defeating the latter and his forces. When Flash remarks on his flaws and questions his value to the team, Bruce offered the young metahuman advice that proved to reveal the speedster's true potential. Furthermore, despite Wonder Woman initially not being receptive, Bruce ultimately inspired her to become a better person.
Expert Engineer: Wayne is an extremely skilled and prolific engineer and technician, having been able to develop various sophisticated inventions for use throughout his career as the Batman, as well as leading Wayne Enterprises to become the sixth largest tech conglomerate in the world. Moreover, Wayne was able to construct the Knightcrawler and Flying Fox, which he later put to use after establishing the Justice League.
Expert Hacker: Wayne is an extremely skilled hacker, as he had managed to crack firewall on Lex Luthor’s database after accessing the encrypted files on his servers. As Batman, Bruce is able to utilize his highly advanced supercomputer to access feeds from Gotham City police frequencies and news stations in real-time. Bruce’s sophisticated Oracle Network operating system allows him to access and gather data.
Expert Businessman:
Bruce at Wayne Enterprises.
Bruce Wayne is an extremely skilled businessman, having successfully lead Wayne Enterprises into becoming the sixth largest tech conglomerate in the world under his leadership. He is known for having his employees' loyalty, as well as his impeccable business ethics.
Multilingualism: Bruce speaks his native English, is fluent in Russian (albeit with a slight accent), and can understand Icelandic.
Skilled Driver: Batman is a highly skilled driver, able to successfully pursue his enemies (most notably the Joker and Harley Quinn in the Jokermobile, 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.
Skilled Pilot: Batman was able to temporarily distract Doomsday from within his Batwing, and to later break down the shield to Steppenwolf's base with his Flying Fox.
Equipment
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. Indeed, when questioned by Flash, Batman claims that being rich is his superpower[14]. Bruce notably used his company resources to mail the original photograph of Steve Trevor's team across the Atlantic, to Diana Prince at the Louvre Museum. 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, and to help Clark and Martha keep the Kent Farm by purchasing a bank.
Batsuit: Batman's highly durable Kevlar-Nomax-titanium tri-weave protective suit and combat armor (later inspiring the Robinsuit of both Dick Grayson and Jason Todd), used to compensate for his lack of invulnerability. It consists of three thin highly durable Titanium-kevlar bodysuit layers and an outer and thinner layer of durable and fireproof spandex. It is invulnerable to knives, and small caliber bullets and is also fireproof[8]. The Batsuit's cowl also digitally alters Batman's voice, making it unrecognizable to those that know him as Bruce Wayne. The cowl, neck, gauntlets, and boots are able to effortlessly deflect small arms rounds and blades, though the rest of the suit is not impact proof nor impregnable, as a blade could partially pierce the shoulder region (though it only had pierced the spandex layer and poked Batman without breaking the armor or his skin) and cause Batman a small amount of pain. 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 were in. During his fight with Superman, Bruce wore a more heavily armored variant of the Batsuit to withstand the Kryptonian's attacks. In preparation for Steppenwolf's invasion, Bruce wore a variant that was lighter and facilitated more mobility, but without sacrificing the protection gained from its armored plates.
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, via Batcomputer.
Batman's other vehicle, used to access rough terrain that cannot be reached via a car or plane. It is a four-threaded tank with each tread on a separate leg so it can walk. It’s special function is that at can pierce into surfaces with each leg to climb up walls or hang from a roof.
Flying Fox: Batman's large multi-deck airplane purpose-built in order to transport the Justice League around, as well as equipped to store the Batmobile.
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. When thrown by someone as strong as Batman, they're capable of cutting through even gun barrels and heavily damage them. Batman also leaves batarangs near crime scenes after he's finished as a calling card, with a dual purpose using them as a psychological weapon against other potential wrongdoers.[15]
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.
Bruce and Alfred observing data on the Batcomputer.
Batman's giant and powerful multi-purpose supercomputer console, located in the Batcave, with several monitor screens. Among other things, one of its monitors is equipped with thermal imaging, allowing Batman to easily deduce the number of Anatoli 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 Batcomputer to help the Dark Knight with a specific task, notably when Batman saved Martha Kent from Knyazev.
Batman's line launching, multi-purpose, highly versatile, and handgun-like device that fires a retractable, 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. It can also shoot bullets that open up as a net, to contain enemies, as Bruce did with a Parademon.
Batman's small mask that 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.
Remington 700:
Batman, preparing to track Lex's Kryptonite.
Batman utilized this rifle, equipped with a suppressor, to fire a tracking device onto Anatoli Knyazev's transport to track the Kryptonite nugget to a LexCorp facility.
Assault Rifles: Batman armed himself with an AK-47 assault rifle when leading his Insurgency against Superman and the Regime Stormtroopers in a war shown in a vision of an alternate future, in which he wielded the assault rifles of his fallen Insurgents when disarmed of his initial one.
Parademon Plasma Rifle: During one of his earlier battles with Parademons, Batman managed to disarm one of its rifle and temporarily used it until it ran out of ammunition.
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 firearms), and later at Parademons[14].
FN MK 13 Grenade Launcher:
Batman, using a gas grenade in combat.
Batman used this to launch lead smoke grenades to temporarily evade Superman himself during their confrontation in Gotham.
CTS Model 7290M Mini Bang: Modified smoke grenades used during Batman's duel with Superman.
Kryptonite Gas Grenades: Grenades developed by Batman after stealing the Kryptonite from Lex Luthor. These grenades emit a gaseous form of Kryptonite, used against Superman to severely weaken him for roughly a minute.
Kryptonite Spear:
Batman, brandishing the Kryptonite spear.
Batman utilized this weapon in his duel with Superman (almost succeeding in killing the latter with it), 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:
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, preparing to brand Lex.
Batman also has knuckle duster type device with a bat symbol on the knuckles, which superheats to the point where it can burn through flesh and even 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. 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:
Bruce, plugging the hacking device into the LexCorp mainframe.
Bruce 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 Bruce by Wonder Woman, though she eventually returned it.
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 rendered using CGI.
This version of Batman was mainly 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. There are also some elements from the Golden Age, Arkham-verse and mainstream versions in the Batman of this continuity.
Michael Wilkinson, the costume designer of BvS and Justice League declared that Bruce studied Asian martial arts in Japan.
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 with this universe, mere rumors and news of which caused a huge and positive online and offline excitement in fans.
In promoting the film, this version of Batman alongside Superman and Wonder Woman in the film was added to the mobile version of DC's video game Injustice: Gods Among Us; while the movie's version of Superman and Wonder Woman can be obtained through the game's challenge mode, Batman cannot, making him incredibly rare in-game.
According to Richard Cetrone (Ben Affleck's stunt double in BvS), Batman also used Kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do, Kali and Professional Wrestling in the warehouse fight scene.
This version of Batman's birthday is on February 19, which might be a reference to the DC comics version, in which Batman's birthday is also February 19, however, it is possible that their birth years are different.
Batman is usually 8-years-old when he witnesses the death of his parents, however in this incarnation, Batman was 9-years-old instead of 8-years-old when he witnessed the death of his parents.
Batman and Aquaman both have fathers named Thomas.
Batman and Superman both have mothers named Martha.
This version of Batman has a kill count of 21 people (30 if you include the 9 people Batman killed in his nightmare).[19]
Unlike his comic book counterpart, this version of Batman doesn't seem to have a hatred towards guns and he also seems to be fine with drinking alcohol.
Behind the Scenes
On August 23, 2013, Warner Bros. announced that Affleck had been cast as Batman. Beforehand numerous actors such as Jeffrey Dean Morgan,Jensen Ackles, Josh Brolin, Joe Manganiello, Tyler Hoechlin, Richard Armitage, Wes Bentley, Jake Gyllenhaal, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, Tyler Hoechlin, Jon Hamm and Gerard Butler 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 worked out every day at 5:00 AM in several gyms in order to become a muscular Batman. He even asked Christian Bale, who played Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, how to get into shape for the role. He also joked that Bale's advice was to get the costume makers to put a zipper on it to make going to the bathroom easier.
In the original cut of Justice League, Batman was disgraced by the killing he'd done during the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and was ready to sacrifice himself to make up for the lives he'd taken. However, Wonder Woman and Aquaman saved him from doing so, stating that "dying in battle won't change anything, and he must live to keep the fight going."[20]
Batman in the DC Extended Universe is the seventh live-action incarnation of the character, following incarnations portrayed by Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale and David Mazouz.
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