As a billionaire, he uses his vast wealth and access to advanced technology in his everyday crime-fighting as well to serve justice, while he also plays a dual life of a spoiled, rich Playboy to the society. Though he started this mission on his own, he was always aided by the loyal butler of the Wayne Family, Alfred Pennyworth. As he entered to tear apart the world of organized crime and established himself as the top-dog, soon competition starts to present themselves.
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| Batman | Comics |
Year One
He went on a worldwide journey after disappearing from public eyes to acquire knowledge and training to develop various skills that would help him in his lifelong mission and trained in every known form of martial arts and escape art. With sheer dedication and will, Bruce continued his inner-journey to reshape his body and soul for the upcoming war hhe is about to wage on Gotham. His hometown is a wretched place filled with numerous criminals and new-age super-villains, becomes his primary base of operation when he returned.
Bruce created his Batman persona, filled with darkness, to strike terror into the cowardly criminals and became the creature of night to them, while taking the alias of Bruce Wayne as his second skin. Becoming a creature of darkness to strike fear in the minds of criminal underground worked very well and in his war on crime, he acquired friends like district attorney Harvey Dent and police lieutenant James Gordon. Although he is often viewed as a dangerous vigilante who takes law in his own hands by the most.
The Man Who Laughs
Among the lore of petty thieves and common criminals he faced for some time, there comes the nastiest breed of psychopaths. The one who is fearsome of them all is commonly referred to as The Joker and apparently, no one knew the real alias of the clown. This maniac has debuted in Gotham by killing a reporter on TV. Then he publicly starts announcing his victims and even contaminated the water supply system of the city. Though Batman managed to take him down, Joker would become one of the most recurring enemies he has over the oncoming years.
The Long Halloween
When Batman, Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon took a vow of taking down the crime syndicates of Gotham, they started with the Falcone Crime Family. At the same time, a serial killer starts picking out major crime figures on holidays, earning the nick-name of Holiday-Killer. The mobs get worried and Carmine "The Roman" Falcone hired costumed freaks into the game. It was the first time when Batman faced a rogue's gallery consists of The Joker, Mad Hatter, Penguin, Poison Ivy, The Riddler, Scarecrow and Solomon Grundy.
Bruce Wayne met the beautiful yet mysterious persona Selina Kyle in a date one night and then her alter ego Catwoman at the same night as Batman. Sal Maroni is brought to custody but during the prosecution, he hurled acid on Harvey Dent's face, horribly disfiguring him in the process. After a surgery, Dent would later return as a deranged psychopath who calls himself Two-Face. Both Batman and Gordon loose a good friend in their crusade but decided to continue anyway for the sake of their beloved city.
Worlds Finest
Though there are debates on whether it was the first time when they went up against the criminal Magpie or the time when Deathstroke took a contract for Bruce Wayne and the Crime Syndicate attempted on their alter ego, Batman eventually met the greatest among them all; Superman. This two had trouble getting along but became the best-friends over time with great mutual respect for each other. In one of their early mission to stop Bizarro and Ra's al Ghul, they were accompanied by the Amazonian warrior princess Wonder Woman.
Justice League: Year One
Together, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman; the three of the heroes worked together to thwart great catastrophe and became The Trinity of superheroes of the world to serve justice. Following an invasion on Earth by the alien Appellaxian race, superheroes like Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter were recruited to the fold and they formed the Justice League. Over time, many other superheroes joined their ranks and they became part of the greatest symbol of hope.
Dark Victory
In order to get on the good side of Sofia Gigante Falcone by killing Two-Face, Sal Maroni's sons Pino and Umberto Maroni staged a breakout at Arkham Asylum. Afterwards, police officers started to die on holidays and their corpses were found hanged, which stirred a rumor about a Hangman-Killer on Gotham and many thought it to be Two-Face. Dent survives the attempt on his life and to eradicate the rest of the Falcone Empire, he assembled the costumed freaks once again with addition of Mr. Freeze.
At one point, when attempt of taking Gordon's life was made, Two-Face actually saved him and proved that he is not the Hangman-Killer. Then young circus acrobat Dick Grayson of Haly's Circus lost his parents during the war when gangster Tony Zucco shot tem dead and is taken as a ward by Bruce Wayne. With his keen intelligence and impressive acrobatic prowess, the boy quickly became a protégé to The Dark Knight and debuted as Robin ; The Boy Wonder. The dynamic duo fought side by side against the combined forces of evil and end the reign of terror introduced by the psychotic madmen.
Batgirl: Year One
Inspired by Batman's heroic deeds, Jim Gordon's daughter, Barbara Gordon decides to take the path of vigilantism when she is turned down by every other law-enforcement agencies for many nonsensical prejudices. When she single handedly managed to take down Killer Moth and his henchmen in a Masquerade Ball as Batgirl, she caught Bruce Wayne's eye for certain talent. Though discouraged by Bruce at the beginning, she managed to prove her worth to the Dynamic Duo and became one of Batman's protégés.
The Killing Joke
Barbara Gordon's career of crime-fighting finally came to an end shortly when The Joker shot and crippled her upon breaking into their house to drive her father Jim Gordon insane. The maniac took pictures of her naked body and showed them to her captive father just to taunt him. Batman managed to rescue Gordon in time who didn't gave up his sanity after subduing the clown but Barbara was left paraplegic, unable to ever walk again. Assuming the new identity of Oracle, she later started to assist the Bat-Family by providing valuable information to them whenever they needed it on field.
After years of crime-fighting together, Batman fires Dick Grayson for his disobedience and the boy adapted a new persona of a solo hero Nightwing. At around the same time, Batman came to meet a young boy named Jason Todd at Crime Alley, who was trying to steal the tire of Batmobile. Seeing potential in him, he took the boy under his wing and Jason became the second Robin. These two have faced Cornelius Stirk, Crime Doctor, Deacon Blackfire, KGBeast, Ma Gunn, The Ratcatcher and The Ventriloquist together and Batman notices the aggressiveness in Jason's nature.
A Death in the Family
Unable to make the boy listen and change his reckless behavior, Batman stops taking his aid as Robin. In quest of his mother, Jason found a woman named Shelia Haywood, who was actually set up by Joker and led to the boy's capture. The clown mercilessly beat down Jason with a crowbar and then left him for dead in a warehouse rigged with explosives. Batman arrived at the last moment but before he could rescue Jason, the place blew up killing both Jason and Shelia. Jason's death made him a loner again and to cope with the loss, he became more violent.
Knightfall
Meanwhile, Tim Drake takes the mantle of third Robin and starts training new recruit Jean-Paul Valley, while Batman restlessly takes care of the criminal scum. A new mastermind criminal named Bane with extensive physical prowess entered Gotham City and decided to rule over the city upon destroying Batman by working in shadows. With help from his thug Bird, Trogg and Zombie, he caused a breakout at Arkham Asylum and Batman gets busy with putting the criminals back into the cells.
As Batman took down Amygdala, Cavalier, Firefly, The Joker, Mad Hatter, Mr. Zsasz, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow and The Ventriloquist, he got physically exhausted. In his weakened state, Bane confronts him at Wayne Manor, savagely beating him down before finally breaking his back. He takes control over Gotham and Bruce Wayne seeks medical attention. Bruce's therapist Dr. Shondra Kinsolving and Jack Drake was abducted. With help from Bronze Tiger, Gypsy and Green Arrow, they were rescued from Santa Prisca.
In Bruce's absence, Jean-Paul Valley became the new Batman and successfully defeated Bane using advanced tech and superior tactics. To get back to his former glory, Bruce seeks out the aid of Lady Shiva and after rigorous training session with her for a certain period, he finally was ready to don the cape and become Batman once again. With Nightwing and Robin at his side, he confronted Valley in a final showdown to establish his reign and ended his menace for good.
New World Order
A rogue group of White Martians comes to Earth named Hyperclan, who claimed that they are here to save humankind from extinction. In their first step of healing the world, they start terra-forming the Sahara Desert into a paradise but Superman remained skeptical. When the Justice League satellite headquarters was attacked, Batman deduces this as a planned invasion. Though, their initial confrontation left everyone thinking that Batman has died, he secretly worked on finding their weakness and took them down before they took over the world.
Following a massive earthquake that left Gotham City in ruins and causing many fatalities, U.S government have declared Gotham a "No Man's Land" and all the entry points were sealed. There is a breakout at Blackgate Prison that led to the escape of many criminals even after Batman reached there as soon as he could. Bruce Wayne goes to Washington to request the government about not shutting them down but he fails regardless of his best efforts to convince them. By the time he returned, many thought him to left Gotham behind and the situation worsens.
Huntress took the mantle of Batgirl for a temporary period and secured a small territory under her protection to retain order but then lost hold of it to Two-Face. Batman and Jim Gordon worked separately to restore law and order in the city. In course of the event, assassin David Cain's daughter Cassandra Cain joins the good fight by saving Gordon's life and later became the third Batgirl. Lex Luthor came to the city with a scheme of acquiring properties but Batman foils his plan and sends him back with a warning. In the aftermath of the crisis, Jim Gordon's wife Sarah Essen was killed by The Joker.
Tower of Babel
Because of his paranoid nature, Batman made a file of contingency plans on how to take down each of his Justice League allies if ever the occasion arises, when they cross the line. Unfortunately, his former mentor Ra's al Ghul gets his hands on the file and sends his League of Assassins with these plans to take down the League. Already busy with his parents' missing graves, Bruce Wayne figures this out way too late to warn his friends. They got over the situation by working as a team once again but Batman's membership in the team became questioned.
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive
Bruce Wayne's girlfriend Vesper Fairchild is found dead in Wayne Manor and he is framed for the murder along with and his bodyguard Sasha Bordeaux. This pitted Bruce into a situation where he couldn't defend himself without revealing his secret identity. The Bat-Family came into his aid to prove his innocence as he was taken into custody. He broke out and decided to abandon his Bruce Wayne persona and remain as Batman forever but in the end, the killer was discovered to be the assassin David Cain and Bruce was cleared of his charges.
Hush
It all started when Batman was chasing Catwoman for stealing, after apprehending Killer Croc for a kidnapping case. He suddenly fell from mid-air during the chase as someone had cut his batline. Huntress came to rescue a gravely injured Batman and he eventually survives the fall after his childhood friend Tommy Elliot performed a successful neurosurgery on him later. A new villain has entered the underworld food-chain and started manipulating various villains from Batman's rogue's gallery to go against him and acting out of their nature.
He soon returned to patrol by chasing an escaped Croc following an interrogation, then he saved Catwoman's life from the raging Croc, together they went up against a mind-controlled Man of Steel in Metropolis to apprehend Poison Ivy. Then in an opera, Catwoman was shot by Harley Quinn when the former has vexed the latter by interrupting in her robbery and Tommy Elliot was then shot outsode by The Joker. Nightwing tries to comfort Bruce and he began a relationship with Selina after revealing his secret identity to her, much to Robin's dismay.
Batman kidnapped Talia al Ghul upon suspecting her father Ra's al Ghul's involvement in the conspiracy, leading a confrontation between Catwoman and Lady Shiva, where the former is beaten with an inch of her life. Afterwards, Scarecrow made Catwoman and Huntress go against each other until Batman finally stopped him. A grown-up Jason Todd showed up to confront Bruce about his own death but then it turned out to be Clayface. All the deception is foiled when the mastermind revealed himself as the mysterious persona Hush but is shot down by a reformed Harvey Dent.
Under the Hood
Even though Jason Todd's appearance previously was a mere trick, he returns for real this time, revived by Talia al Ghul using a Lazarus Pit. Amnesiac and confused, he takes the alias of Red Hood and started terrorizing the Gotham City criminal underworld. Going up against crime-boss like Black Mask while keeping an eye on The Joker, who killed the boy in the first place, he ultimately confronted his mentor. The revelation of his return surprises Batman but in the end, he decided to take Red Hood down when he threatens to cross the line by killing The Joker.
Batman and Son
After returning from a spiritual journey of personal-rediscovery, Batman cleared out Gotham of major criminals and then went abroad. Bruce goes to London in a charity function, where he met ruler of an African nation and a beautiful fashion model Jezebel Jet, with whom he felt a spark. He is attacked there by League of Assassins members turning into a legion of Man-Bats, led by his former love Talia al Ghul. Bruce is taken prisoner by Talia, who reveals to him that he has a son with her named Damian Wayne. He took the boy under his wing to teach him in his ways whereas Talia wants to use the boy to bring Bruce to her.
Batman (Comics) Wikipedia
Batman (Comics) DC Wikia
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| Rogues Gallery of Gotham |
Here is your links to buy "Batman" comics from DC Comics on Amazon.
The Batman Chronicles Vol 01
Batman – The Dark Knight Archives Vol 01
The Batman Chronicles Vol 02
Batman Archives Vol 01
The Batman Chronicles Vol 03
The Batman Chronicles Vol 04
Batman – The Dark Knight Archives Vol 02
The Batman Chronicles Vol 05
The Batman Chronicles Vol 06
Batman – The Dark Knight Archives Vol 03
Batman Archives Vol 02
The Batman Chronicles Vol 07
The Batman Chronicles Vol 08
Batman – The Dark Knight Archives Vol 04
The Batman Chronicles Vol 09
The Batman Chronicles Vol 10
Batman – The Dark Knight Archives Vol 05
Batman Archives Vol 03
Batman – The Dark Knight Archives Vol 06
Batman Archives Vol 04
Batman – The Dark Knight Archives Vol 07
Batman Archives Vol 05
Batman – Year One (Softcover)
Batman – Year One (Hardcover)
Batman and The Monster Men
Batman and The Mad Monk
Batman – Lovers and Madmen
Batman – The Man Who Laughs (Softcover)
Batman – The Man Who Laughs (Hardcover)
Batman – Going Sane
Batman – Venom
Batman – Rules of Engagement
Batman – Gothic
Batman – Terror
Batman – The Long Halloween (Softcover)
Batman – The Long Halloween (Hardcover)
Absolute Batman – The Long Halloween
Batman – Haunted Knight
Batman – Year Two
Batman – Dark Victory (Softcover)
Batman – Dark Victory (Hardcover)
Absolute Batman – Dark Victory
Batman – The Gauntlet
Robin – Year One
Batman – Scarecrow/Two-Face – Year One
JLA – Year One
Teen Titans – Year One
Showcase Presents – Batman Vol 01
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol 01
Showcase Presents – Batman Vol 02
Batgirl – Year One (Softcover)
Batgirl – Year One (Hardcover)
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Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol 01
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol 02
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Batman Illustrated By Neal Adams Vol 03
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol 03
Batman – Tales of the Demon
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol 04
Batman – Strange Apparitions
The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told
Nightwing – Year One
Batman – The Wrath
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths
Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman – Trinity (Softcover)
Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman – Trinity (Hardcover)
Legends – The Collected Edition
Batman – Faces
Batman – The Killing Joke (Softcover)
Batman – The Killing Joke (Hardcover)
Batman – The Cult
Batman – A Death in the Family (Softcover)
Batman – A Death in the Family (Hardcover)
Batman – The Many Deaths of Batman
Batman – Arkham Asylum
Batman – A Lonely Place of Dying
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Zero Hour – Crises In Time
Underworld Unleashed
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Batman – Contagion
Batman/Grendel
Batman/Deadman – Death and Glory
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Batman – No Man’s Land Vol 02
Batman – No Man’s Land Vol 03
Batman – No Man’s Land Vol 04
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Batman – Reign of Terror
Justice League of America – The Nail
Batman/Tarzan – Claws of The Cat-Woman
Batman/Huntress – A Cry For Blood
Batman – Haunted Gotham
Batman – Jekyll & Hyde
Batman – The Strange Deaths of Batman
Batman – Harley & Ivy
Batman – Joker’s Last Laugh
Batman – Scarecrow Tales
Batman – False Faces
Batman – Bruce Wayne – Murderer?
Batman – Bruce Wayne – Fugitive Vol 01
Batman – Bruce Wayne – Fugitive Vol 02
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Batman/Aliens II
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Superman/Batman Vol 01 – Public Enemies (Hardcover)
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Superman/Batman Vol 02 – Supergirl from Krypton (Hardcover)
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Batman – War Games Act Two – Tides
Batman – War Games Act Three – Endgame
Batman – Hush Returns
Identity Crisis
Superman/Batman Vol 03 – Absolute Power (Softcover)
Superman/Batman Vol 03 – Absolute Power (Hardcover)
Batman – Year One – Ra’s al Ghul
All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder (Softcover)
All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder (Hardcover)
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Batman – War Crimes
Batman – Year 100
Superman/Batman Vol 04 – With a Vengeance (Softcover)
Superman/Batman Vol 04 – With a Vengeance (Hardcover)
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Batman – Battle for the Cowl Companion
Batman and Robin Vol 01 – Batman Reborn
Batman – Unseen
Batman – Arkham Reborn
Batman and Robin – Vol 02 – Batman Vs. Robin
Batman and Robin – Vol 03 – Batman & Robin Must Die
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| The Bat-Family |
The popularity of Batman led to the portrayal of the character on Batman – The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated shows, many live-action movies in the 80's-90's by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher and there is Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), portrayed by actor Christian Bale. After the formation of DC Extended Universe, actor Ben Affleck took the mantle to himself and appeared as Batman in 2016's blockbuster superhero flick Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, will also reprise his role in Suicide Squad (2016) and Justice League (2017).
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