Mother.. Father... your lives were sacred, your murders profane. Your fate shaped my destiny... as your end charted my beginning. Your deaths were violent. Your resting place must remain inviolable... so long as I shall live, you will be safe in death.

Batman was created by two bullets - the two bullets that killed his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, when Bruce was only six. Bruce Wayne decided that no one should ever have to undergo the loss of those they love to crime. As he grew up, he spent his time learning criminology. After finishing school at the age of twelve, Bruce travelled the world for twelve years, visiting the best universities and auditing courses related to crime-fighting. At one point he worked for the FBI.

He also travelled the world to learn the various martial arts from the masters. Eighteen years after his parents were killed, Bruce Wayne tried to start fighting crime. His first foray was a disaster: he got in a fight with a pimp and a prostitute, he was stabbed by the prostitute, shot by the police, escaped from the police to barely make it home. As he was sitting home, contemplating his failure, and his upcoming death, a bat flew in his window, giving him the idea of... a bat. After this, he began fighting crime in the city of Gotham as Batman.

Batman never uses a gun (except for in Year Two and The Dark Knight Returns), and never kills (except to save his life). Yes, there have been exceptions to this, but whether they are part of continuity is questionable. He feels that all life is precious, and thus he preserves lives, and brings criminals to justice. In order to do this, he has to instill fear in his opponents. This is why he uses the identity of a bat - people are afraid of bats. Batman does not appear during the day - he appears only at night. His combination of the various martial arts allows him to defeat his enemies without killing them. Occasionally Batman gets hurt, and then his butler and life-long friend Alfred patches him up.

Batman is considered, in the DC Universe, to be "the most dangerous man on Earth," according to Superman. Many of the other members of the Justice League could probably be dangerous, but they don't want too - unlike Batman. Bruce Wayne is driven to be Batman by a very different reason than most heroes (or superheroes) - he was driven by something that happened to him, not by what he was born with.

Perhaps the best explanation for Batman can be found in this quote from Alan Grant, one of the Batman writers:

He (Batman) is perhaps the only genuine hero amongst them. People say Batman is this dark, vengeance-driven, obsessed character but that's not Batman to my eyes. That's just the fuel which drives Batman. The trauma of his parents' death is what motivates him and forces him to go on, but what makes him Batman is a decision. He took a decision to be a good guy, which is a decision in life not too many people make. He is a self made character. He didn't get superpowers, he's not a cyborg, he made a choice to be what he is. He is motivated by the terrible thing that happened to him when he was a kid, but that's not the thing that defines his character. What defines his character is the decision to do something.

There are a few people who have played the role of Batman. Of course, Bruce Wayne is the most obvious one. Bruce developed the character of the Batman. During the Knightfall, KnightQuest: The Crusade, and KnightsEnd series, Jean Paul Valley played the part of Batman. He is often referred to as "AzBat," to differentiate him from the Bruce Wayne Batman. Dick Grayson, Robin #1, also filled in for Bruce during the period called Prodigal.

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This file was last modified on January 28, 1998

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