HenryJonesJr — Roleplayer Guild

| Identity |
Bruce Wayne/The Batman

| Origin & Backstory |

Bruce Wayne’s parents were killed by mugger Joe Chill when Bruce was but a boy, leaving him in the care of his bodyguard and caretaker Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred, seeing a great thirst for vengeance and love of justice in the boy, began to train him in self defense. After college, Bruce disappeared into the world in order to continue his training, traveling across the globe to find new ways to hone himself into the perfect crime fighting machine. He returned to Gotham ready to take up the mantle of Batman.

In his first year back in Gotham, Batman targeted the Falcone Crime Family, the organized crime power in Gotham. During the year long struggle to put Carime “The Roman” Falcone behind bars, Batman allied himself with Lieutenant Jim Gordon and Assistant DA Harvey Dent. The three of them worked tirelessly to bring down the Flacone family, and by year’s end they did just that.

Unfortunately, the Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins, a group that helped train Bruce and which he betrayed, appeared in Gotham to hold the city for ransom. Batman appeared and stopped the group. In the process, he was officially photographed for the first time saving the city, confirming his existence.

The year following the fall of The Roman brought chaos to Gotham. The power vacuum incited a mob war with three factions vying for control: the Zucco family, the Maroni Family, and the False Face Gang led by the mysterious Black Mask. Batman and his allies struggled to keep the city together, while in the shadows a new threat emerged.

A serial killer began striking in the city, carving grisly smiles into cops, gangsters, and civilians alike. Batman’s investigation led him to a villain that was only known as The Joker. Joker managed to evade Batman’s capture for most of the year, before Batman was able to stop him from poisoning Gotham with his Joker formula.

During this year, Batman also took young Dick Grayson as his ward after Tony Zucco murdered his parents. Seeing potential in the young man, Batman began to train him as he had once been trained.

At the end of the year, Batman teamed with other heroes to defend Metropolis and Earth from the entity known as BRAINIAC, afterwards becoming a founding member of the Justice League.

After the mob war, which Black Mask’s False Face Gang coming out on top, Gotham started to settled down. Taking that opportunity, Batman started to take Dick out on patrol under the alias Robin. The two quickly became a strong team fighting against Black Mask’s men.
Their greatest test as a team came when the Scarecrow emerged in Gotham, coating City Hall in Fear Gas. The two managed to subdue Crane and cure the effects of his weapon.

During the trial of The Joker, Harvey Dent is scarred by acid from a flower on the clown’s lapel. At the same time, the Clown Prince of Crime’s gang murder Dent’s fiance. This sends Dent over the edge, allowing underlying mental trauma to come to the forefront, shattering his psyche into two. Dent begins a murderous rampage through the criminal underworld of Gotham, setting Batman’s crusade back greatly.

A war breaks out between Joker and Two-Face’s gang in Gotham, and Batman fights alone after Dick decides to strike out on his own as Nightwing. Bruce recruits Jason Todd, an at risk Gotham youth, to be the next Robin, believing he needs a companion to even himself out. 

In an attempt to break the Dark Knight, Joker gets the better of the fledgeling team, killing Jason after paralyzing Commissioner Gordon’s daughter and Batman family member Barbara Gordon. 

In a fury, Bruce nearly beats Joker to death, but stops before breaking his cardinal rule. After being spared, Joker laughs hysterically, believing the Batman needs him just as much as the Joker needs the vigilante.

Batman and the Justice League come under fire from the Legion of Doom, a group of super villains when band together in order to finally defeat their foes. Legion members Ra’s al Ghul and Scarecrow team up and attempt to exploit Batman’s recent tragedies against him. With the help of Superman, Batman is able to gain his wits and defeat the villains.

This year Batman helps Barbara cope with her paralysis, and she becomes Oracle, his eyes in Gotham.

Against his best intentions, Batman takes on Tim Drake to be the next Robin after the boy deduced his secret identity. Batman saw a lot of himself in the boy, but worried after what happened to Jason and Barbara.

The year ends in tragedy when Superman is killed by Doomsday, leaving Batman at a loss.

| Attributes |
Batman has no superhuman abilities, but he has trained his body to be a living weapon. He is a master of hand-to-hand combat, acrobatics, strategy, stealth, criminology, and engineering. He has a genius level intellect, though he hides this from most of the world under a facade of a billionaire playboy.

As the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and the beneficiary of his parents’ trust fund, Wayne also has nearly unlimited resources at his disposal.

| Character Notes |
Alfred Pennyworth - Bruce’s oldest friend and confidant, Alfred raised Bruce after his parents were murdered, and was one of Bruce’s first instructors on his way to becoming Batman. Pennyworth was a former agent of MI6, who was hired by Bruce’s parents as their private security when Bruce was a baby.
Dick Grayson/Nightwing - The first Robin and Bruce’s protege. They currently have a rift in their relationship.
Tim Drake/Robin - Tim is Batman’s current sidekick and the current bearer of the Robin moniker. 
Commissioner Jim Gordon - 
Barbara Gordon/Oracle - Bab is Jim’s daughter, and was formerly the vigilante Batgirl, until she was shot through the spine by the Joker.
Selina Kyle/Catwoman - Lying somewhere between friend and foe, Catwoman is an accomplished thief.

The Joker - Batman’s archenemy, The Joker’s madness has plagued Gotham for years. The Joker has hurt Batman and his “family” deeply, paralyzing Barbara and killing the second Robin, Jason Todd.
The League of Assassins and Ra’s al Ghul - Ra’s helped train the Batman, and the vigilante was once a member of the League. They are always plotting to cause trouble for the Batman.
Harvey Dent/Two-Face - A former DA of Gotham and ally in the fight against crime, Harvey Dent is now the psychotic mobster knowns as Two-Face.
Scarecrow - The master of fear
Black Mask - The mysterious leader of the remnants of the traditional Gotham mafias.

| Character Goals |
Batman is a fascinating character. He went from pulp hero, to a bit of a farce, to the “Dark Knight”, and everything in between. I really enjoy some interpretations of him, and I really can’t stand others. With this one, I want to write Batman as I’d love to see him depicted. Yes, he will be the “Dark Knight”, but he won’t be an uncaring, single-minded individual. He’s a person, and Bruce Wayne is just as important to his character as Batman, and Bruce Wayne has just lost his best friend and best ally in his quest to save the world. How does that affect him? How does that affect the way he fights evil? That’s what I want to look at.

Also some good, old fashioned detective work that will send Batman down the rabbit hole.

| Sample Post |

The Batcave
Gotham City, NJ
December 25, 2015
6 AM

The large screen of the central computer in the Batcave shone in the darkness like a supernova in the inky blackness of space. On it, scenes of Metropolis and Superman’s death played out on loop, as they would for weeks. The Batman sat in front of the screen, his cowl discarded carelessly on the damp cave floor. The hair that would normally be seen as immaculately displayed in Bruce Wayne’s public appearances was caked with sweat and dried blood. Scrapes and cuts adorned his face, but his eyes were locked on the screen. They could do nothing else but watch the frantic reports about his best friend’s death. And they needed to watch, because there were clues here. He knew there had to be.

“Perhaps you should get some rest, Master Bruce,” Alfred Pennyworth said from the shadows. The old, English gentleman stepped into the glow of the monitor, a worried look on his face. “There is the Wayne Foundation charity event later in the day. You were scheduled to be there.”

Bruce was silent for agonizing moments. He knew Alfred was merely looking out for him. The butler wanted to get his mind off the events of the night before. Pennyworth had done it numerous times throughout Wayne’s career as Batman, and it nearly always worked. But it wouldn’t this time. This time it was different.

“Let them know I won’t be going,” he finally said with a gruff tone. “Make something up. You’re good at that.”

Alfred shifted uneasily at the edge of the computer’s light. He fought against saying anything more, but he was unable to hold his tongue. He had watched Bruce tear himself apart far too often for that. He approached the vigilante and put his hand on his shoulder, “Bruce, I know how much he meant to you. How much he meant to all of us. But staring at this is not going to bring him back. All it will do is eat at you.”

Batman breathed deep, patting his friend’s hand with understanding, “I know it won’t bring Clark back, Alfred. But it will lead me to whoever killed him.”

The butler recoiled, clearly unsure of where Wayne’s head was at, “Master Bruce...that thing killed him.”

“No,” Bruce said firmly. “That thing was just a weapon. I want who ever fired it.”

A few keystrokes on the computer ceased the news broadcasts and replaced them with a map of Doomsday’s rampage. Bruce scoffed at the name “Doomsday”, but that’s what the media had settled on, the fatalist bunch that they were. The origin point was a comet strike in western Pennsylvania, and the line ended in Metropolis.

“Look,” Bruce started a timelapse, “it crash lands outside Pittsburgh, and makes a direct route to Metropolis. A straight line. The only time it even slowed down was when the JLI tried to get in its way. Other than that, it was going to one place. Once it was at Metropolis, it just started killing. It was sent to draw us out, and it was sent to get to Superman specifically.”

“My word,” Alfred gasped, “do you think it was alien in origin?”

“I’m not ruling out anything,” Bruce shook his head. “But I am going to find where it came from.”

The footsteps behind him told Bruce that Alfred had retreated back to the manor defeated in his attempt to break the hold his grief had over him. Many would cry on this Christmas morning. That Bruce Wayne knew. He would not be one of them, however. Sadness was not the emotion that overcame him in the wee hours of that holiday morning. No, his heart was instead filled with defeat. Bruce had never told Clark, but the Dark Knight knew Superman was the true key to changing the world. Now that key was taken away from them, and they’d all have to work to stand a chance in this war.

“Computer,” Batman commanded the machine, “track Doomsday’s approach to Earth. Might tell us something.”

“Affirmative, Batman,” the computer responded.

Bruce sighed, waited for the result, and put his head in his hands.
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