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"Men are still good. We break things, tear them down, but we can rebuild. We can be better. We can be better, we have to be."
―Bruce Wayne to Diana Prince[src]

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

After witnessing the murder of his parents at the hands of a mugger as a child, Bruce made it his life's goal to become the fearsome Batman and to stop anyone from suffering the same way he did. He waged a war on crime in Gotham City, beginning his long crime-fighting crusade 20 years before the Battle of Metropolis.

Over the years, Bruce became heavily seasoned as a crime fighter and detective, having fought and overpowered numerous criminal adversaries, most notably the extreme psychopath Joker. He also mentored his ward and partner vigilante Jason Todd as Robin, though he was eventually killed by Joker and Harley Quinn. Batman also apprehended Task Force X members Deadshot and Harley Quinn, as well as chased Killer Croc out of Gotham City during his attempt to form another criminal empire in the city.

Two years after the Battle of Metropolis, Bruce grew increasingly wary of the Kryptonian hero Superman, forming a rivalry further fueled by the Machiavellian manipulations of Lex Luthor. However, the two would ultimately settle their differences and team up with Wonder Woman to take down Luthor's unleashed and bloodthirsty monster, Doomsday. However, Superman was killed by the dying creature, leading Batman and Wonder Woman to begin establishing the Justice League in order to battle any future threats to the world, inspired by the his sacrifice.

In the year that followed, Bruce began investigating rumors of people being kidnapped by strange creatures, leading him to discover the existence of Parademons in Gotham. The arrival of the alien cretures led Bruce to correctly presume the kidnappings to be a precursor for an alien invasion. Meeting with Diana Prince, Bruce relayed his findings, explaining that he believed an impending threat was heading to Earth, but was informed by Diana that the threat had already arrived.

Following the formation of the League, and subsequent defeat at the hands of Steppenwolf, Bruce orchestrated a plan to revive Superman by utilizing the power of a Mother Box to jumpstart his regeneration process. With the team now fully established, Batman lead a successful offensive against Steppenwolf, forcing the New God's invasion into retreat. Afterwards, Batman resigned as leader of the League, instead focusing on making plans for the future of the team.

Biography

Early Life

"In the dream, they took me to the light. A beautiful lie..."
―Batman[src]
Bruce Wayne with his parents

Bruce with his parents.

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.[1]

Assassination of THomas and MArtha Wayne

Bruce witnessing his parents' murder

Bruce witnessing his parents' murder.

On June 26, 1981, at age 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. His parents were buried on the grounds of Wayne Manor, but Bruce, overcome with grief, ran away from the funeral, falling into a cavern filled with numerous bats. 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. 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 25, 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 Wayne[src]

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,[2] the monstrous metahuman Killer Croc, his psychopathic archnemesis the Joker, the Joker's girlfriend Harley Quinn, and the Penguin.[3] Indeed, there was a time when Penguin and his exploding gadgets were Batman's biggest concerns,[4] 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 stares up at the damaged Robin suit

Bruce at the display of his fallen ally.

However, at some point before the Battle of Metropolis, the Joker and Harley Quinn[5] 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."
―Batman to Deadshot[src]
Batman confronts Deadshot

Batman confronts Deadshot.

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 metahuman Waylan 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.[6]

Battle of Metropolis

"You're gonna go to war?!"
That son of a bitch brought the war to us two years ago!"
―Bruce to Alfred regarding Superman[src]
Bruce sees the fight

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.

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."
Sal to his partner[src]

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.[7]

Batman attacks Firefly and company

Batman intervening in Firefly's operation.

Months later, Batman intervened when Firefly was setting up charges to detonate a building. He used a batarang to knock the detonator from the 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.[7]

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.[8]

Locating Emily for Evidence

Batman confronts Emily

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.[9]

Capturing Harley Quinn

"Stupid bats, you're ruining date night!"
Harley Quinn to Batman[src]

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 quickliy 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

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.[6]

Bat Brand of Justice

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

An officer sees Batman for the first time.

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 and Alfred Pennyworth[src]
Alfred and Bruce at the computers

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?"
Clark Kent to Bruce[src]
Bruce tapping into Lex's mainframe

Bruce plugging his hacking device in.

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.

Bruce Wayne meets Clark Kent

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 drive is missing

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.

Metting 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."
―Bruce and Diana Prince[src]
Diana Prince and Bruce Wayne

Bruce speaks with Diana.

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!"
―The Flash to Bruce[src]
Batman overpowered by Superman's stormtroopers

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 chained up in Superman's bunker

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.

File:REB FUTURE FLASH.png

Future Flash appears to Bruce.

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 realizes that the White Portuguese is a ship

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 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.

First Encounter with Superman

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

Superman threatens Batman

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

The US Capitol Bombing

Bruce, angry after the 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

"You're not brave. Men are brave."
―Batman to Superman[src]
Bruce observing the Kryptonite spear

Bruce, observing his invented Kryptonite weapon.

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

Bruce lifting weights

Bruce's Batcave workout.

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

File:They were hunters1.png

Bruce, grimly musing about his father and ancestors.

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

Some time before heading out to face Superman, Bruce finally sends an e-mail to Diana Prince, letting her know that he has obtained the 1918 photograph of her and Steve Trevor'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 looks up from the Batsignal

Batman activates the Bat Signal.

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

Duel with Superman

Batman and Superman face each other

Batman and Superman meet face to face again.

A reluctant Superman (having just been forced to comply with Lex Luthor's ultimatum) traveled to Gotham City to face Batman, who was prepared for him in the yard. Superman attempted to reason with him also revealing that he is aware of Batman's identity, but set off one of his traps, causing sonic emitters to boom at him, halting Superman for a few seconds. However, he destroys them, and continued to reason with Batman, but it became clear he wasn't getting through to him (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.

Batman vs Superman

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. As Batman sees Superman ready to charge at him again, he, in desperation, fires another Kryptonite gas grenade at Superman, just as the latter was leaping into attack. With his suit now damaged from the final attack, Batman grabs a bathroom sink and smashes it on the once again weakened Superman's head, knocking the latter unconscious.

Victory over Superman

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

Batman triumphant over Superman.

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

Epiphany and promise

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

Superman, begging Batman to save "Martha".

Superman, unable to escape, urged him to save "Martha", telling him that he has her and to find him, which caused Batman to mentally flash back to the night his parents died. Confused and 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 an 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 reaches an epiphany and sees the man he is becoming

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

Superman and Lois then explain the situation to Batman, 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."
Anatoli Knyazev and Batman[src]
Batman battling Knyazev's men

Batman, battling Knyazev's men.

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

Batman shielding Martha

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.

Battle with Doomsday

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

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

Batman preparing to run from Doomsday

Batman in battle with Doomsday.

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

Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman stand strong

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

Shortly thereafter, a recovered Superman returns from space, tackles away Doomsday, and asks Batman if he'd found the Kryptonite spear, to which the Dark Knight 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 after firing grenade launcher at Doomsday

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

Batman, mourning Superman in guilt-ridden silence.

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

Visiting Lex Luthor

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

Batman threatens Luthor.

Sometime later, Batman visits the Belle Reve jail cell of the imprisoned and now shaven-headed Lex Luthor, expressing his extreme rage at Lex for his actions including how he deceived him. Batman pins him against the wall and threatens Lex with his branding ring, but Luthor boldly counters by sneering and revealing that he knows Batman's secret identity, but that nobody would believe him, as Lex is perceived to be insane. Batman then reveals to a dismayed Lex that he has arranged for the latter to be taken to Arkham Asylum and that some "friends" will be there for him. Lex, however, swiftly regains his composure, sneers again, and states that "God" is now dead, and 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.

Clark Kent's funeral - the Dawn of Justice

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

Bruce and Diana at Clark's funeral.

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

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

Meeting Amanda Waller

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

Bruce, speaking to Amanda Waller.

After her Suicide Squad successfully defeats the mystical duo of Enchantress and Incubus in Midway City and save her, Amanda Waller meets up with her situational ally Bruce Wayne, asking him to take care of the rumors following the aftermath of the calamitous events, and in exchange, she gives Bruce her files on multiple notable metahumans, including that of Enchantress, Aquaman, and the Flash. As Bruce turns to leave, 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 discoevered 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).

Encountering Parademons

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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.

Meeting Arthur Curry

BruceWayne-ArthurCurry-JL454121

Bruce meets Arthur Curry.

"You should get out."
"Can you at least point me to Atlantis?"
Arthur Curry and Bruce[src]

Bruce learned from Amanda Waller's files that Arthur Curry visited a village in Newfoundland,[10] 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.

Meeting Barry Allen

File:Justice League First.png

Bruce, after witnessing Barry's incredible speed.

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

With the help of Amanda Waller's file, Bruce tracks down and 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 he 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.

Tracking Cyborg

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.

First Fight against Parademons

Bruce, Diana, Barry, and Victor receives intel from Commissioner James Gordon that the Parademons are traveling underground, and conclude that Steppenwolf's army is based in an abandoned facility. The team find that Steppenwolf is interrogating the S.T.A.R. Labs personnel for the location of the Mother Box. Bruce, Diana, and Victor engage Steppenwolf and his Parademons in battle while Barry uses his superspeed to rescue the hostages. During the fight with Steppenwolf, the facility is flooded which traps the team until Curry rescues them, having decided to join them after Steppenwolf's second attack on Atlantis.

Reviving Superman

In the wake of their fight with Steppenwolf, Victor reveals that he is possession of the last Mother Box, haven hidden it from his father. Analyzing it, Bruce comes to the conclusion that the Mother Box can resurrect Superman. He believes that the need Superman not only to help them fight Steppenwolf's army, but also to restore hope in humanity. Diana and Curry are hesitant about the idea, but Wayne forms a secret contingency plan.

Clark Kent's body is exhumed and placed in the waters of the Kryptonian ship, and Allen provides a strong energy blast to activate the Box via his speed, causing the resurrection of Superman. Superman, however, possesses few memories, and he attacks the group after Stone accidentally launches a projectile at him as his cybernetic body registers a threat to him. Superman then goes on to brutally subdue the League before setting his eyes on Batman himself. Remembering Batman’s attempts to kill him he angrily states that Batman won’t let him live or let him stay dead peacefully. Batman claims that the world needs Superman before Superman sadistically states that it doesn’t need Bruce and ask him the same thing Bruce said to Clark the first time they met “if he bleeds”. On the verge of being killed by Superman, Wayne enacts his contingency plan: Lois Lane. Superman manages to calm down himself and leaves with Lois to his family home where he reflects and tries to recover his memories.With the last Mother Box unguarded, Steppenwolf retrieves it with ease.

Recuperating

Back at the Batcave, Cyborg works to figure out Steppenwolf's plan while Bruce awkwardly ask Arthur if he can use him powers to have aquatic life locate Steppenwolf. Arthur offened 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

Without Superman to aid them, the remaining five heroes travel to a village in Russia where Steppenwolf plans to unite the boxes once again and reshape the world for his uncle and superior Darkseid who is the ruler of planet Apokolips. Batman determined to bring the shield down so the team can get in crashes the Flying Fox against Steppenwolf's base bringing down the shield and having the Parademons come after him however he is saved by the team who are unwilling to let him sacrifice himself.The team then proceeds fight their way through the Parademons to reach Steppenwolf. During the ensuing, lengthy, destructive and harsh battle, the League are unable to distract Steppenwolf long enough for Stone to separate the boxes. Superman arrives and assists Allen in evacuating the city, as well as Stone in separating the Mother Boxes. The united heroes manage to defeat Steppenwolf after a fight, who, overcome with fear, is attacked by his own Parademons. They are all subsequently beamed back to Apokolips.

A New World

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 agrees that more heroes could join.

Personality

"I don't recognize this world anymore."
"We don't have to. We just have to save it."
Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne.[src]
File:410a1fb145881670abbee70b370753a1.jpg

Bruce's true, dark and serious personality.

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

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Bruce's arrogant womanizing playboy façade.

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

Batman, while usually very serious, prim, and even somewhat gloomy, is a charismatic mentor and leader, having led his protégé Robin 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 Barry Allen remarks on his inexperience and questions his value to the team, Bruce simply told him to save a single person without needing to worry about engaging in combat, telling Barry he'll know what to do then, entrusting and believing in the young speedster's judgment in their battle.

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." 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[11], and the latter's dry remarks about his Batsuit.

Abilities

"What are your superpowers again?"
"I'm rich."
Flash and Batman[src]

  • Peak Human Conditioning: Bruce Wayne, as a tremendously skilled and experienced vigilante, is in peak physical condition from frequent intense workouts in the Batcave, numerous vigilante escapades in the city, and the training he did before becoming Batman; all of which have heightened his abilities to the highest levels of peak human potential, pushing him to the early levels of superhuman condition. While not fully superhuman (making him the physically weakest member of the Justice League), Batman's extremely muscular and athletic physique (and resulting nigh-superhuman physical prowess) makes him immensely physically powerful by normal human standards, with his physical capabilities far surpassing even those of other exceptionally fit humans (like Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and the Regime Stormtroopers) Indeed, by bettering himself to his physical peak, Batman epitomizes many of the humanist beliefs of Lex Luthor, inducing the latter to admire Batman, despite being his enemy.
    • Peak Human Strength: Batman has and can, by properly utilizing physical forces, momentum, and leverage (as well as his knowledge of anatomical weaknesses and undergoing frequent extremely intense strength-and-endurance-based exercises), easily generate low-level superhuman strength. Bruce undergoes extremely intense exercises to strengthen the maximum number of muscles beyond the limits of human potential and vastly increase his endurance. Some of his regular workout feats are bench pressing, squatting, performing weighted pull-ups, as well as pulling and dragging heavy plates of an excess of a couple thousand pounds, to name a few. His workouts and dietary plans, combined with his vigilante escapades, have granted him his peak human conditioning (and also allowed him to maintain this physical condition). Hence, Batman is capable of effortlessly lifting and hurling humans like ragdolls over his head over more than 25 feet across a warehouse, knocking them out with a single blow (notably doing so to Harley Quinn), sending a thug flying several meters with a single kick, throwing people into walls hard enough to break through them, and effortlessly dislocating limbs with a single twist. He's been shown capable of punching people hard enough to send them headfirst into the floorboards and even smashing through plastered wood and brick walls and floors. His strength also extends to his legs, easily allowing him to jump several meters into the air, over a large crate, while slamming a man into it after lifting them with him, and easily jump a into the air from his Batwing, smashing a steel-framed window with little resistance (many of these feats were achieved when he hadn't even recovered from his fierce duel with Superman which had heavily exhausted him). He could also easily tear apart Firefly's armored suit with his bare hands and destroy the latter's detonator with a single stomp[12]. The lead knuckles on Batman's gauntlets allow him to hit even harder, inflicting more damage with his strikes. In his vision of an apocalyptic future (where Batman is somewhat older and weaker), mere swings from his gun launched the Regime Stormtroopers in the air and his kick broke one's leg and knocked him out. Notably, he could still break the neck of a Stormtrooper with his bare hands in mere seconds (despite Batman being restrained by multiple others), and he could still overpower many Stormtroopers before being ultimately defeated by their sheer numbers. However, even when Batman was being restrained and forced down simultaneously, he was still able to rise up, only being neutralized by a superhumanly strong blow of a Parademon troop. Even when captured, Batman had to be restrained with very thick and heavy chains. Moreover, when wearing his Armored Batsuit, his peak human strength is augmented by 28 times, effectively allowing him to exert about 29 tons of force.
    • Peak Human Durability: Batman is also exceptionally durable by human standards (further enhanced by his bulletproof Batsuit), due to his intense training in the Batcave and in the years before becoming Batman having made his skin, bones, and muscles far denser than an average human. Hence, Batman could not be slowed down or fazed by falling from the rafters of a warehouse, allowing him to quickly land on his feet and begin his assault. This also allowed Batman to be unfazed when smashing through a steel-framed window feet first, being shot at multiple times, getting kicked and hit by guns in the face, and accidentally colliding with a thick wall head-on at full speed with his grapple gun while trying to evade Doomsday. In his nightmarish vision of a possible future, Batman also remained unfazed after an immense beating at the hands of the Regime Stormtroopers and only gritted his teeth in frustration, with it taking a superhumanly strong blow from a Parademon to knock Batman out. However, when lifted and roughly pinned against a wall by the superhumanly strong Aquaman, Bruce grunted in discomfort.
    • Peak Human Speed and Agility: Batman is incredibly fast and agile, and has demonstrated an almost superhuman nimbleness and agility (second only to his acrobatic protegé Nightwing), being able to reach the Ground Zero in Metropolis during the Battle of Metropolis on foot, and reach the Wayne Enterprises financial building in a very short time by running. He was able to perch on a wall to avoid arriving police officers, followed by quickly moving across ceilings and walls with almost ape-like acrobatics (furthering the illusion of Batman as inhuman and supernatural), dodging the point blank gunfire from a GCPD police officer's shotgun effortlessly, with the officer unable to get a glimpse of Batman, as the Dark Knight's speed and agility made him appear as blurs of motion.
      File:Batman dodging Parademon fire.png

      Batman dodging Parademon plasma bolts

      His seemingly inhuman mobility allows him to move away from the sight of others and stalk enemies from the shadows or from higher vantage points. Hence, Batman was able to swiftly somersault over a cornered crook with almost inhuman agility. He also managed to remain unscathed while breaking into LexCorp's Metropolis facility, despite the guards trying to shoot him (as evidenced by the numerous cartridges lying on the floor in the aftermath), and himself leaving a considerable path of destruction. He also effortlessly brought down Knyazev's 24 men at once using his combat skills and strength, appearing as blurs due to his incredible speed. Also, Batman could jump several meters into the air over a large crate while slamming a man into it (after lifting him into the air with him while he was jumping), easily balance himself while standing on the back of a stone gargoyle, and dodge many Parademon plasma bolts while grappling into their midst. Batman even managed to grapple away from a superhumanly fast charge from Doomsday, as well as several of the monster's huge thermal blasts, all despite being greatly tired from his fierce duel with Superman.
    • Peak Human Stamina: Batman is immensely endurant, superior in that regard to the finest Olympian athlete, able to exert himself at his peak capacity for several hours without tiring or slowing down. Also Batman can recover extremely fast from injuries and fatigue due to his training and indominable will. Hence, Batman was able to easily fight 24 armed thugs with intense speed (despite being fatigued from his recent duel with Superman), followed by actively participating in the final battle against Doomsday. He was able to run through the cloud of falling debris during the Battle of Metropolis, and to routinely perform extremely intense workouts in the Batcave without tiring much (despite his extremely muscular build). However, when pitted against beings of far superior strength (like Superman) in hand-to-hand combat, Batman will increasingly show signs of exertion and fatigue even while wearing his Armored Batsuit.
    • Peak Human Metabolism: Batman's metabolism runs several times faster than an average human's, due to his strict diet and incredible workout regimen. Thus, binge drinking has no effect whatsoever on him, as Bruce's body burns it off several times faster than an average human's, despite him drinking several bottles at a time, to which Alfred dryly remarked that the next generation of the Wayne family will inherit an empty wine cellar.
  • Master Martial Artist: Batman is a tremendously skilled hand-to-hand combatant, an infamously formidable master of a vast array of martial arts (including, but not limited to, Boxing, Kickboxing, Karate, Professional Wrestling, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Savate, Eskrima, Krav Maga, Jeet Kune Do, Ninjutsu, Shurikenjutsu, Kung Fu, Judo, and Aikido)[13], with 20 years of experience battling and overpowering numerous criminals and supervillains in Gotham City. His fighting also incorporates and takes full advantage of his proper use of physical forces, momentum, and leverage, as well as his knowledge of anatomical weaknesses and pressure-points, combined with his nigh-superhuman strength, executing it all at very high speeds. Hence, while attending an underground fight club, Bruce whispers some words of combat advice to one of the fighters, which allowed the latter to swiftly defeat his opponent. With his tremendous combat skills, aided by his strength, Batman effortlessly brought down Anatoli Knyazev's 24 armed henchmen in an impressive amount of time (despite being very tired after his fierce duel with Superman right before), has brought down the Joker multiple times, can outmanuever even physically stronger opponents, like Parademons, and brought down numerous Regime Stormtroopers (being the last Insurgency member left standing), until ultimately succumbing to their sheer numbers (though this occurred in a vision of a possible future where he was somewhat older and weaker). When Superman's powers were temporarily weakened to almost human levels (from Kryptonite gas), Batman was able to easily block his attacks, and eventually defeat the latter. In fact, Batman is the one who defeated most of the future Task Force X members (even the infamously lethal assassin Deadshot, whom Batman swiftly outclassed in closed quarters), having them placed behind bars in Belle Reve. His incredible combat skill, combined with his agility, was sufficient enough to easily overpower a several inhumanly strong 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.
  • Expert Marksman: Batman is a highly skilled marksman, utilizing his batarangs, sniper rifle, grenade launcher, and grapple gun with a high degree of accuracy and precision (almost on par with that of Deadshot), notably using a batarang to knock a detonator out of Firefly's hand, and shooting a tracker onto Knyazev's truck from a great distance. In his nightmarish vision of a possible future, Batman was highly proficient with conventional firearms in closed quarters, wielding both a handgun and an assault rifle, as well as repeatedly disarming Regime Stormtroopers of their assault rifles, using them as his own. When Wonder Woman restrained Doomsday, Batman was able to shoot a Kryptonite gas grenade at the monster from a immense distance away, further demonstrating his exceptional accuracy. Batman possesses the same accuracy when utilizing the guns of his vehicles, notably neutralizing a number of Anatoli Knyazev's criminal convoy with his Batmobile, and later his Batwing, as well as shooting down many attacking Parademons with his Nightcrawler and Flying Fox.
File:Batman fires on thugs in a warehouse.jpg

Batman, stealthily battling opponents.

  • Master of Stealth: Batman is an immensely formidable master of stealth and infiltration, capable of breaching high-security facilities without being detected, which is all the more remarkable and impressive, given his large muscular frame. Batman's stealth is so effective in fact, that some criminals would claim that you wouldn't even know he was there until it was already too late.[14] Batman's remarkable speed and almost ape-like 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 (having a penchant for gliding down upon his enemies from above, like an actual bat), thus giving them the illusion of Batman being a supernatural, wraith-like creature instead of a human. Hence, Batman was easily able to sneak up from behind even on the extremely experienced assassin Deadshot (catching the latter off-guard), to infiltrate a LexCorp Industries building and obtain the well-guarded Kryptonite within (swooping down upon and seriously injuring most of the guards, leaving behind a considerable path of destruction), to sneak into Barry Allen's apartment, and to even sneak into the Belle Reve supermax jail cell of Lex Luthor, and disappear from it just as suddenly when Lex briefly turned away. Batman used the flickering red lights and caused the cell doors to open, making himself to appear to be a demon or wraith. When utilizing a specially designed gaseous lead grenade, Batman's amazing stealth is further augmented to the point that he was able to temporarily evade Superman himself. Later, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg were able to swiftly slip away when Commissioner Gordon turned away for a moment, and even Flash was left incredulous at how he didn't notice his teammates leave, despite having superhuman reflexes and standing right beside them.
  • Intimidation:
    File:REBUTTAL 565.png

    Batman's intimidating demonic appearance.

    Batman commands an extremely fearsome presence, able to instill fear into the hearts of Gotham City's criminals and supervillains, with some of them not even daring to shoot him after Batman fiercely gazes them in the eye.[15] After Batman rescues several female hostages from a sex trafficker, they are so terrified of the dark vigilante, that they refer to him as a "Devil", and fearfully refuse to leave their cage even after the police arrive on the scene. Hence, Superman would initially go as far as to call Batman "a one-man reign of terror". Among the extremely few individuals who do not fear Batman, are the pathologically fearless psychopath Joker, bold supergenius Lex Luthor (only showing momentary uneasiness when Batman first confronted him and when he told him that he had arranged for the latter to be incarcerated in Arkham Asylum), his
    File:REB BATFLECK2.png

    Batman, fearsomely lurking in the shadows.

    long-time ally Commissioner Gordon, and beings of superior godlike power, such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. However, even Batman was notably less intimidating than the evil version of Superman (first in his nightmare vision of a possible future, and then right after his resurrection, with post-mortem amnesia), who was so fearsome that Batman himself showed visible signs of fear when Superman confronted the vigilante, holding the latter at his mercy. Also, when Batman's armored punches began to lose effectiveness against Superman (due to the Kryptonite weakening wearing off), he showed signs of fear again. However, when Batman was about to kill the once again weakened Superman, the alien hero was starting to show signs of fear, as he thought that he was going to die at the hands of the armored vigilante, though this might have instead been Superman fearing that Martha Kent would be impossible to save if Batman killed him, as the time that Lex had given her was running out. Indeed, Batman's profound experience in intimidation tactics allowed him to remain unfazed by the fearsome Aquaman when the latter tried to frighten him.
  • Interrogation: Batman is infamously adept in interrogation techniques, often using law enforcement methods, as well as torture (notably branding a Gotham City sex trafficker, Cesar Santos, along with 18 known other criminals) as an effective means of punishment or information extraction.
  • Indomitable Will: Batman has tremendous determination and strength of will, which make him an extremely formidable opponent, one who absolutely refuses to hunker down and give up, even when placed against seemingly insurmountable odds. Hence, during the Battle of Metropolis, Bruce fearlessly ran through the extremely dangerous clouds of debris in order to save any survivors within the wreckage of the collapsed Wayne Financial building. Months later, even when Superman himself personally warned Batman to back off, Batman showed no signs of fear, boldly countering Superman's threat with one of his own. Indeed, in a vision of a possible future, when a malevolent Superman enforces totalitarian rule upon Earth with his Regime, Batman promptly establishes and lead the Insurgency against him, refusing to submit to the alien tyrant even when his Insurgent forces are eventually defeated by the Regime Stormtroopers, leaving Batman helpless and at Superman's mercy. Batman later refused to stay down when Superman knocked him to the ground repeatedly during their duel, persisting until he finally won and had the weakened Kryptonian at his mercy. Even when Lex Luthor warned Batman of the inevitable threat posed by Steppenwolf's impending invasion, Batman, despite Earth now being vulnerable after Superman's death, despite feeling devastated and personally responsible for allowing Superman to die, ultimately refuses to despair, and instead dedicates himself to honoring Superman in death - enlisting Wonder Woman's help in founding and uniting the Justice League, to fight against this new threat. Batman later decides to resurrect Superman with a Mother Box despite Wonder Woman and Aquaman's protests, as he was confident in his contingency, which ultimately proved to be correct.
  • Genius-level Intellect: Batman 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, as it extends itself to his nearly unparalleled tactical, deceptive, detective, criminology, scientific, engineering, hacking, combat, exploitative networking, and business skills, which (coupled with his extensive experience utilizing them all) therefore makes Batman the most eclectically intelligent member of the Justice League. However, Batman is notably not quite as intelligent as supergenius Lex Luthor, with the latter thereby successfully outsmarting and manipulating Batman into obtaining Kryptonite and genuinely attempting to kill Superman, with Batman never suspecting that he was in fact Lex's pawn, and figuring it out only after his duel with the alien superhero had ended. It should, however, also be noted that it was his cynical and pessimistic side and extremely distrusting nature (due to 18 years of pain, losses and exhaustion) which finally took over Batman's moral psychology and sense by the time of the Black Zero Event.
  • Master Tactician & Strategist: Batman, given his lack of superpowers, is an immensely formidable tactical and strategic genius, often using cunning and planning to effectively assess combat situations and come up with effective strategies, and successfully outwit stronger and more powerful foes, rather than simply out-fighting them, using any of their exploitable weaknesses to his advantage. Hence, Batman is by far the best tactician among the Justice Leaguers, with only supergenius Lex Luthor known to surpass him. Due to this, Bruce was able to swiftly make a mental breakdown of the fighting style and weaknesses of one of the fighters in an underground Gotham City fight club (helping his opponent swiftly beat him by whispering some combat advice), was able to swiftly defeat the notorious Deadshot by ambushing the latter in his daughter Zoe's presence (exploiting his unwillingness to kill in front of her), was able to chase the stronger Killer Croc out of Gotham City (exploiting the latter's limited intellect), was able to formulate a plan to break into the well-guarded LexCorp Industries building and steal the Kryptonite within (overpowering the many guards by swooping down upon them with his incredible stealth skills, seriously injuring them all, and leaving behind a considerable path of destruction), was able to quickly improvise a plan to take down Anatoli Knyazev's 24 heavily armed men in a warehouse while saving Martha Kent (swiftly avoiding and disabling their weapons, and proceeding to use his own weapons and tremendous combat skills to overpower them, while also using their own knives and guns against them), was ultimately able to defeat the far more powerful Superman in their fierce duel (exploiting his weakness to Kryptonite, lead, and sonic overload, as well as his unwillingness to kill Batman), managed to render the far more powerful Doomsday vulnerable to attack (exploiting the monster's limited intellect and tremendous bloodlust, baiting him into getting restrained by the Lasso of Hestia, and thus giving Superman an opening to exploit the monster's weakness to Kryptonite), held out with his Insurgency for a lengthy time in the war against the more powerful Regime (in a vision of a possible future), lured a Parademon out into the open (exploiting their ability to sense fear by dangling a crook off a roof nearby), concocted a complex plan to infiltrate Scout Ship 0344 and resurrect Superman, had a feasible contingency when Superman returned from the dead as an amnesiac monster (by having Lois Lane come to the scene and spark his memory), came up with the plan to separate the Apokaliptan Unity once more and defeat Steppenwolf (by personally distracting the Parademon army while Cyborg and Superman pried the Mother Boxes apart), and was confident in his ability to protect Amanda Waller from the US intelligence community finding out about her catastrophic error concerning Enchantress in Midway City.
  • Expert leader: Batman is an extremely skilled leader (though not quite on par with Lex Luthor), able to successfully lead Wayne Enterprises for decades (with it becoming the world's 6th leading company in high-technology defense innovation under him), to mentor and lead his vigilante protégé in numerous vigilante escapades and missions, to lead the Insurgency in the lengthy war against Superman's Regime (in a vision of a possible future), and to later successfully lead the Justice League's original roster against Steppenwolf's Parademon invasion. Indeed, despite Aquaman's initial gruff refusal, the initial insecurity of both Flash and Cyborg, and Batman's own doubts (as he knew that Superman would have been a better leader for them), they all ultimately came to look up to Batman as the team leader, and developed a healthy team dynamic.
  • Expert Social Intuit: Batman, as Bruce Wayne, has a high degree of social confidence, allowing him to intuitively determine how to interact with others, gain their respect and get his point across with a calmness, eloquence, and charisma that sometimes belie his actual, usually gloomy, emotional state. Hence, Bruce diplomatically greeted Lex Luthor (whom he did not completely trust, given the latter's shady alliance with Anatoli Knyazev), calmly confronted Diana Prince (despite his rage at being thwarted in his attempt to gain data on Kryptonite), verbally leveled with Diana when she showed her comparable intellect, and even remained fairly calm when meeting Clark Kent and discussing Superman (despite the mere idea of the alien superhero enraging Bruce). Indeed, Alfred Pennyworth is one of the extreme few individuals with whom Bruce doesn't hold himself back in conversation, notably when he passionately expressed his motives for withing to destroy Superman. As a result, Bruce remains extremely well-respected at Wayne Enterprises by Greg, Grace, Jack O'Dwyer, and even his embittered former employee Wallace Keefe, who proudly proclaimed his loyalty to Bruce Wayne after his arrest.
  • Expert Deceiver: Batman is a deceptive genius, a wunderkind prodigy, with Alfred even going so far as claiming that Batman's skills in the art of deception, ever since the age of 7, have been equivalent to Mozart's in music, with only Lex Luthor being known to surpass Batman in deceptive skills. Hence, as Batman, he has been effectively able to fool the people of Gotham City (especially the criminal underworld) into thinking that he is inhuman and supernatural (with female sex trafficker victims notably mistaking him for a "Devil", and Cyborg initially doubting that Batman is even real), while as Bruce Wayne, he had been able to take on the façade of a somewhat irresponsible fun-seeking and womanizing playboy, in order to avoid anyone from suspecting that he could possibly be Batman. Bruce also successfully deceived Anatoli Knyazev (distracting the Russian with a polite conversation, while discreetly cloning the contents of his phone), Mercy Graves (tricking her into thinking that he was drunk, managing to thus avoid suspicion during his attendance of Lex's fundraiser party), and Superman (whom he ambushed with the unexpectedly potent Kryptonite weapons). However, Batman had notably never been particularly skilled at deceiving Alfred Pennyworth (the one person who knew Bruce best, having raised the latter from his childhood), and was unable to deceive supergenius Lex Luthor, who was quick to see through the Dark Knight's inhuman and supernatural façade, thereby deducing (via CCTV) that Batman is actually only a mere man without any metahuman powers.
  • Expert Detective: Batman is a formidable detective genius, capable of observation, forensic investigation, and psychological assessments, as well as both inductive and deductive reasoning of the highest caliber and has been claimed by many to be the "world's greatest detective". Hence, Bruce was able to deduce that Superman's parents (Jor-El and Jonathan Kent) had told him that the latter was on Earth for a reason (despite knowing little about the alien superhero's past), and Bruce knew that the Gotham City Museum of Antiquities' sword of Alexander the Great was in fact a fake replica, and he was quickly able to see through the "babe in the woods act" of Diana Prince, discerning something suspicious about the mysterious foreign antiques dealer right away, refusing to allow Diana's remarkable beauty to cloud his judgement and free her of his suspicion, unlike what a vast majority of men would have done. Bruce also effectively utilized his detective skills, using Amanda Waller's metahuman files to track down and recruit the speedster Flash, to learn of Anatoli Knyazev's connection to the "White Portuguese", Lex Luthor and Kryptonite, as well as the latter's secret research on metahumans. When encountering Parademons, despite knowing little of them, Batman was able to deduce their ability to sense fear, and used that to lure one out into the open. When visiting a village frequented by Aquaman, Batman was able to correctly deduce that the former was among the crowd of villagers before him, due to it being the day right after the King tide (the time of year when Aquaman arrived, as Waller's files stated). In addition, when learning of the Mother Box's abilities, Batman was able to swiftly deduce that one of them would be able to resurrect Superman from the dead.
  • Expert Criminologist: Batman is an extremely skilled and experienced criminologist, at least on par with Commissioner Gordon, having great insight into and understanding of Gotham City's criminals and their mindsets, which allows him to consistently overpower and undermine their operations with extreme effectiveness. Batman, however, was initially unable to discern that Lex Luthor was in fact a covert supercriminal.
  • Expert Engineer: Batman is a genius in vehicles' operations and general engineering, since his company, Wayne Enterprises is the world's 6th leading company (after LexCorp Industries) in high-technology defense innovation, with Batman and Alfred having personally built and over time improved upon his various sophisticated gadgets, most notably, the Batmobile, Standard Batsuit, and Batcomputer. Bruce later personally designed the Armored Batsuit, as well as the innovative Kryptonite gas grenades and a Kryptonite-tipped spear, all of which proved very effective against Superman. After establishing the Justice League, Batman constructs the highly sophisticated Nightcrawler and Flying Fox, as well as creating a new and updated Flash suit for Barry Allen, and even deducing that a Mother Box would be able to resurrect Superman from the dead.
  • Expert Hacker: Batman is an immensely formidable genius hacker, notable for his exceptional skills of intelligence gathering, and data interpretation, as well as his superb pattern recognition and analysis skills, with only supergenius Lex Luthor known to surpass him. Hence, Batman was notably able to utilize his sophisticated Batcomputer to hack into both GCPD police radios and Gotham City news stations (being constantly hooked up to both, so as to be up to date with all the goings on in his city), and into Lex Luthor's military-grade encrypted data on Kryptonite and metahumans (while Lex actually intended to have Batman hack into it, the encryption was genuine, so as not to make Batman suspicious of being Lex's pawn). Batman also eventually learned of Amanda Waller's Task Force X pitch to the Pentagon, discovered the original photograph of Steve Trevor's team (promptly sending it to Diana Prince at the Louvre Museum), and even promised to protect Waller from the US intelligence community learning of her error in Midway City. Batman usually utilizes the Oracle Network, in order to most effectively hack and gather data from the Batcomputer.
  • Expert Businessman:
    Gotham City Skyline

    Bruce Wayne at Wayne Enterprises

    Bruce Wayne is a genius businessman (though not quite on par with oligarch Lex Luthor), helping his father's company, Wayne Enterprises, grow and gain more business partners (notably quickly absorbing Van Criss Laboratories, and purchasing the bank that intended to gain the Kent Farm), as the CEO. As a result, Bruce is extremely well-respected in the business world, with Wayne Enterprises becoming the world's 6th leading company (after LexCorp Industries) in the field of high-technology defense innovation.
  • Expert Networker: Batman, as an influential businessman, experienced vigilante, and interrogator, superbly uses a dense network of professional and social contacts to further both his business and superhero ambitions. This is notable through his influence of the police (like the GCPD, through Commissioner Gordon and the Batcomputer), other companies (like Van Criss Laboratories, through Wayne Enterprises), powerful intelligence agencies (like ARGUS, through Amanda Waller), and certain prisons (like Arkham Asylum, through his "friends" there). Hence, Batman is able to discreetly keep tabs on numerous people and things that interest him, was able to gain the GCPD's trust, to swiftly uncover Dr. Van Criss' nano-bomb usage against the Task Force X for Waller, to get Barry Allen a forensics job in Central City, to help Clark and Martha Kent keep their Kent Farm, to arrange that Lex Luthor gets transferred from Belle Reve supermax to Arkham Asylum (also promising Lex that he would be watching him "whatever he does, wherever he goes"), to threaten Amanda Waller into shutting down her Squad (unless she wishes for Batman's Justice League friends to "shut it down for [her]"), and was even able to promise Waller protection against the US intelligence community (so as to avoid them finding out about her catastrophic error in judgement concerning Enchantress in Midway City).
  • Expert 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.
  • Expert Pilot: Batman is a highly skilled pilot, able to effectively fight Doomsday himself from within his Batwing, albeit only temporarily, and to later break down Steppenwolf's Apokalyptan dome with his Flying Fox.
  • Expert Diver: Batman is a highly skilled swimmer and diver, managing to swiftly rescue Harley Quinn from the submerged Jokermobile after it falls deep into a river.
  • Expert Rider: Batman is a highly skilled horseback rider, shown when he travels across the tundra terrain of Iceland, in an effort to reach the village frequented by Aquaman[16].
  • Multilingualism: Bruce, apart from his native English, also speaks fluent Russian (albeit with a slight accent), as seen in his conversation with Anatoli Knyazev, and appears to understand Icelandic as well.

File:Bruce at Superman's mercy in his Knightmare.png

Batman, at Superman's mercy.

  • Human Vulnerabilities: Batman's greatest weakness is that he is a human with no enhanced strength, speed, durability, or metahuman powers, therefore making him quite vulnerable to the physical attacks of stronger and more powerful opponents, more so than any other Justice League member. Batman, however, usually compensates for this quite well with his highly durable fire- and bulletproof batsuits, tremendous combat skills, his self-achieved nigh-superhuman physical condition, highly sophisticated technological gadgets, and brilliant tactical intellect. However, despite all of his strength, combat skills and weapons, Batman was ultimately overwhelmed and defeated by the sheer number of Regime Stormtroopers (though he was the last Insurgency member left standing), was
    Batman beaten down

    Batman, beaten down by the Regime Stormtroopers.

    knocked unconscious from behind by the blow of a strong Parademon, was restrained by heavy chains, and was effortlessly killed when the extremely strong Superman ruthlessly tears Batman's heart from his chest (all in his nightmare vision of a possible future). Later, when fighting against Superman, Batman notably had trouble keeping up, as even in his superhumanly strong and durable Armored Batsuit (which rendered the wearer roughly 28 times stronger[17]), Superman, while holding back (otherwise having the power to quickly and effortlessly kill Batman), still managed to swiftly beat the Dark Knight to the ground, with Batman heavily panting, requiring a few seconds to recover, and only avoiding being overwhelmed by resorting to Kryptonite gas grenades just in time. Despite winning the duel against Superman, the extreme exertion required to achieve it visibly and heavily tired Batman, with him initially panting heavily in the subsequent brawl against the 24 thugs. Despite dominating the fight without much effort (and nearly killing most of the thugs with his immense strength, speed, and combat skills), the extreme effort and exertion from his recent duel with Superman resulted in Batman being noticeably slower (by his own high standards) and visibly less agile, getting punched and shot twice (although without any effect and thus, in vain) by Knyazev's thugs, who had caught him off-guard once (due to him having not yet fully recovered from the duel). Batman was also in mortal danger when Doomsday took down the Batwing, and was about to unleash his massive thermal blast upon the former, with only Wonder Woman's timely intervention saving him. Later, Batman also narrowly escaped death from Doomsday's massive electrical shock-wave by taking cover behind some rubble just in time. After Superman comes back from the dead as an amnesiac monster, he effortlessly overpowers Batman, almost killing him, with only Lois Lane's timely intervention saving him.
  • Subtle Psychological Manipulation: Batman, despite his brilliant intellect and extensive experience, can ultimately still be outsmarted and manipulated himself, though supergenius Lex Luthor is notably the only one known to have ever successfully done so, due to him being one of the extreme few individuals to surpass Batman in intellect and tactical skills. Lex did so by using Batman's inner rage and demons against him, secretly finding ways to provoke him past the point of rational thinking. Hence, Lex succeeds in learning Batman's secret identity and psychological profile, which allows him to subtly enrage Bruce Wayne (having Wallace Keefe send him angry notes, and later blowing up the DC Capitol), and to subsequently manipulate Batman into first stealing the Kryptonite from LexCorp Industries, and then effectively utilizing it against Superman in a fierce duel. Batman never suspects this, and is tricked into carrying out Lex Luthor's dirty work for him by personally murdering Superman, with only Superman's mention of Martha Kent's name stopping the Dark Knight's killing blow just in time. This was because doing so triggered memory flashes of his parents murder, which made Batman come to his senses, realizing both his own hypocrisy, and that Alfred had been right about Superman not being a threat.

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[16]. 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-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[7]. The
    File:Mad batman.png

    Bruce, wearing the standard Batsuit.

    Batsuit's cowl also digitally alters Batman's voice, making it unrecognizable to those that know him as Bruce Wayne[18]. 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
    Batman without a cowl

    Bruce, without the cowl.

    it only had pireced 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 where in.
Armored Batsuit

Bruce, in his armored Batsuit.

    • Armored Batsuit: Batman's much more heavily armored and mechanized version of the Standard Batsuit, which he wore when confronting Superman. It is extremely durable and also grants him considerable superhuman strength (making him roughly 28 times stronger[17]), enough for Batman to press about 29 tons and survive relatively unscathed after being tackled right through a building by Superman, though Batman was still left heavily panting on the ground and required a few seconds to recover, and Superman was notably holding back quite a bit, not wanting to hurt the Dark Knight. The Armored Batsuit also allowed Batman to evenly match and slightly overpower a Superman weakened (to almost human levels) by Kryptonite, but as Superman got his his powers back completely, Batman's strikes quickly became completely ineffective. Also, Superman was initially holding back in their confrontation, and claimed that had he actually wanted to kill Batman, the armor would not have saved him at all.
ZBatmobile Chase12

Interior of the Batmobile.

  • Batmobile: Batman's imposing and heavily armed custom combat vehicle used by him for transportation, pursuit and capture and one of his most powerful tools to aid in his war against crime in Gotham City.
  • Batwing: Batman's aerial combat prototype vehicle with an immense amount of firepower, used by him against Doomsday. It is sometimes remotely piloted by Alfred from within the Batcave, via Batcomputer.
Nightcrawler 1

Interior of the Nightcrawler.

  • Nightcrawler: 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.
Batarang

A batarang.

  • Batarangs: Batman's extremely sharp (capable of piercing concrete walls), but non-lethal throwing gadgets in the shape of his symbol, wielded by Batman when carrying out various different tasks, from incapacitating criminals to breaking through windows. 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.[19]
  • 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 Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth at the computers

Bruce and Alfred observing data on the Batcomputer.

  • 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 fires a shot at a thug with his Grapple Gun

Batman wielding his Grapple Gun.

  • Grapple Gun: 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.
File:Batman using a respirator mask.png

Batman wearing a respirator mask.

  • Respirator Mask: Batman's small mask than allows him to successfully breathe in locations with limited oxygen, such as when he was attacked by Firefly's flamethrower, and when he dived underwater to save Harley Quinn from the submerged Jokermobile.
  • Remington 700:
    REB BATMAN TRACKER RIFLE

    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 (Alternate Future): 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[16].
Batman uses a gas grenade

Batman, using a gas grenade in combat.

  • FN MK 13 Grenade Launcer: Batman used this to launch lead smoke grenades to temporarily evade Superman himself during thier 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.
Batman looks down on Superman with the Kryptonite spear

Batman, brandishing the Kryptonite spear.

  • 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.
Bruce clones Anatoli Knyazev's phone

Bruce's cloning device.

  • Cell Phone Cloner: Batman, as Bruce Wayne, can use a phone capable of cloning the software and contacts of another, allowing him to both listen to the cloned phone's messages and track it. He used this on Anatoli Knyazev's phone while briefly standing close to him.
  • Branding Ring: Batman also has knuckle duster type device with a bat symbol on the knuckles, which superheats to the point where it can burn through
    Batman prepares to brand Lex

    Batman, preparing to brand Lex.

    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.
Bruce plugs a hacking device into the LexCorp mainframe

Bruce, plugging the hacking device into the LexCorp mainframe.

  • Hacking Device: 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.

Relationships

Family

Allies


Enemies

Trivia

  • A reference to Batman was shown during the final battle between Superman and General Zod. A poster can be seen that says "Keep Calm and Call Batman" in the central train station in Metropolis' CBD. A Wayne Enterprise satellite also appeared during Superman and Zod's fight.
  • According to producer Charles Roven, Batman is an extremely rough, physical person. Ben Affleck said that he identified with Batman's character in that they are both very angry people.
  • Batman is about 41-42 years old at the start of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as Alfred states that he's been training in the art of deception since the age of 7 despite being unable to deceive him. Since Bruce started training when his parents died, his calculated age becomes 41-42 years.
  • While this version of Batman is largely thought to be the most lethal, other film versions of Batman have killed or at least indirectly caused death at least once.
  • Batman's voice is digitally altered by a vocoder in his cowl[23].
  • 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.
  • The only people who know that Bruce is Batman are the members of the Justice League, the Batman Family, Lex Luthor, Amanda Waller, and Alfred Pennyworth.
  • Bruce is right-handed.
  • This version of Batman has a kill count of 21 people (30 if you include the 9 people Batman killed in his nightmare).[24]
  • 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 Josh Brolin, Joe Manganiello, Tyler Hoechlin, Richard Armitage, Wes Bentley, Jake Gyllenhaal and Orlando Bloom were considered for the part.
  • Ben Affleck's casting initially caused somewhat of a controversy and intense fan backlash including the filing of an online petition to remove him. However, upon the movie's release, his performance was met with an extremely positive reception with many fans calling Affleck the best Batman of all time.
  • Ben Affleck portrayed the actor George Reeves in the biopic 'Hollywoodland'. Reeves played Superman in Superman serials, making Affleck the only actor to portray both Superman and Batman.
  • Affleck played the Marvel superhero Daredevil in the film Daredevil and also in deleted scenes in the spin-off film Elektra.
  • 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.

Gallery

Promotional images

Concept art

References

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