Name: Bruce Thomas Wayne Affiliation: The Avengers, JLA, The Outsiders Aliases/Nicknames: Batman, Matches Malone, Sir Hemingford Grey, Mordecai Wayne, The Insider Age/Date of Birth: 40, 2/19/1973 Place of Birth: Gotham City, New Jersey Current Residence: Gotham City, New Jersey Occupation: C.E.O., Owner, Wayne Enterprises/Batman Email: b.wayne@wayneindustries.org Twitter: PrinceofGotham
Physicals
PB: Jon Hamm Appearance: Bruce is an extremely handsome man. At 6'2", 210 lbs., he is in the peak of physical condition for a man of his age. He has black hair and blue eyes and take excellent care that when he is seen in public, he is always seen to his best effect, even when drunkenly, artfully disheveled. His looks are as much a weapon as any other part of him and he uses them when the situation requires. Bruce spent years of his life training to become an expert acrobat, marksman, and has mastered all 214 martial arts disciplines. He not only continues to keep himself in top condition through training and exercise, his nightly activities as the vigilante crime-fighter Batman leave him as hard-toned as a slab of granite.
However, this has also taken a tole on his body that he has to hide from, or prevaricate about to those who do not know his secret. Constant and reoccurring injury causes him frequent pain, which he usually refuses to treat with anything more than meditation. This is only amplified with age. The most visible mark of his secret life are the grotesque number of scars which cover his torso and appear more lightly on his limbs - reminders of his battles with various foes. He lies about their origins to any lover he might have, but their growing number makes the credulity of his stories more difficult to swallow.
In his Bruce Wayne persona, he's usually dressed with as much style and flair as possible, and a classical bent reminiscent of the 1940s and 50s. He wears tuxedos to formal events, suits on a daily basis - mostly whether he's going into the office or not - and casual clothes consist of khakis, slacks, polo shirts, button ups, and pull-overs. He has workout clothes and he does swim (trunks, not speedos), but his wardrobe is always as crafted as the rest of him, to make him appear a certain way to anyone who might be watching.
When working in the Cave, his appearance is much less stylized. Bruce wears sweats, track pants, yoga pants, t-shirts, sweatshirts or even tanks. He doesn't care at all about his looks here, often letting grease and dirt smudge his clothes and skin. His costume, however, is well taken care of, though heavily marred by the signs of battle.
Suit: The Batsuit has many different designs, suitable for his many different needs and the weather. The simplest is a tight-fitting bodysuit with contrasting union briefs, cape, cowl, boots and gauntlets, and has a ballistics vest sewn into it. The more complex are crafted from a material called Nomex, which is bulletproof around the upper torso and back (though some are entirely bulletproof), resistant to tearing, insulated against electricity, and mildly fire resistant. It has advanced, flexible armor plating, and other versions bear heavier armor plating, depending on Batman's needs. The cowl and suit combine to provide him with neck and other preventative bracing, along with a spinal brace, and the armor is braced with material to dampen shock. There is also a magnetic signature harness, which allows him to attach his body to large metal objects. The standard color scheme is black on black, but there are variants of black on gray, or dark blue on gray. These depend on the need for stealth, the location Batman is working in, and the weather (the lighter colored costumes are mostly of lighter material). The bat insignia in the center of his chest is more than just decoration, is serves as distraction. It is heavily reinforced so that any attack aimed there will prove useless and give Batman the opening he needs to strike.
Cape: The cape is also constructed of Nomex, and is weighted, fire resistant, and containing a Kevlar-weave to slow the impact of bullets. It also utilizes shape-memory fibers and an electric current to allow it to form into a semi-rigid state resembling bats wings, enabling Batman to hang-glide over the streets and rooftops of Gotham.
Cowl: The cowl fits over Bruce's face and head leaving only his mouth and chin visible. It has pointed bat ears and it separate from the cape. Constructed from Nomex, it incorporates an electric shock system that prevents anyone from attempting to remove it without his consent. It has been lined with a layer of lead to prevent Kryptonian's, or those with similar powers, from discerning his identity. It further has shifting lenses in the eyes which may allow him to see through others disguises, discern their weaknesses, and prevent them from seeing his eyes. The lenses may also allow him to see in different wavelengths, such as ultraviolet, infrared, and night vision. There is a HUD display, and digital camera embedded in the lenses, tool. A sonar system in one of the ears gives Batman echolocation, and a high-gain antenna implanted in the left one gives him an internal comm-link that lets him stay in contact with his allies, scan police radios, and other frequencies. It also carries an inertial navigation unit to keep him balanced while fighting certain enemies where that might become necessary. Kevlar panels line the cowl to protect his skull, and make it yet another effective weapon.
Gauntlets: The gauntlets are actually two parts - the actual glove, and the bracer worn beneath it, bearing the familiar three fined scallop pattern, resembling bat wings. The scallops are defensive, hard enough to catch and shatter any blade, but they may also be released via a button in the glove and launched or thrown like throwing stars. The gauntlets have been treated to be both shock-proof and radiation resistant. Some versions incorporate blades in the fingertips, and these also have joint armor reinforcement in the gloves. Electric shockers in the fingers control the shape-memory fibers in the cape. Additionally, there are pieces of his arsenal hidden within the gauntlets, such as his lock pick kit. The knuckles are also weighted with lead shot. On the back on the left glove is a palmtop computer with full Internet access.
Boots: Batman's black steel-toed boots are modeled on Tactical boots, but are much more lightweight. They have a unique slingshot ankle design that acts both as armor and reinforces the ankle joint. The sole is split, and textured. They are yet another hiding place for pieces of his arsenal, such as the blow gun and fast-acting anesthetic darts. The left heel contains an ultrasonic device, and there are underwater propellers in the heels.
Utility Belt et. al.: Batman's utility belt is filled with an ever-changing array of gadgets, weaponry, and random paraphernalia to meet his needs in the field. The various cylinders, military-style pouches, and compartments on the belt are kept locked, with only Batman knowing the way to open it, although this has been bypassed on a few occasions. He has incorporated an electro-shock component to prevent tampering. The belt is yellow, with a bat-insigna buckle. Some of the items found on or in the belt include a compressed-air powered grapple-gun; a re-breather device; flash, gas, explosive pellets; a signaling device for the Batmobile, electronic surveillance equipment; a forensics, medical, and tool kits; a homing device; a finger light; money; a marble; and many other items. There's a special lead-lined case in back of the belt buckle that holds a Kryptonite ring, given to him by Superman, "just in case."
Abilities
Strengths: Starting at age thirteen, Bruce left home to travel the world in an effort to study and learn, becoming the best in every discipline which would eventually help him return to Gotham and find justice for his parents' murder. In doing so, Bruce gained a genius-level intellect, attending courses at M.I.T., Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and other Universities, although he never stayed more that a few semesters and never earned a degree. He trained to become the peak in physical conditioning, mastering all 214 forms of martial arts, gymnastics, and acrobatics. He studied the use of high-tech equipment, weapons, and gadgets; computer hacking; strategy; escapology; marksmanship; manhunting with Frenchman Henri Ducard; stealth and reconaissance under Japanese ninja Kirigi and other certified shinobi; hunting with the African Bushman tribes, such as the Ghost Tribes of the Ten-Eyed Brotherhood; traditional healing disciplines with Nepalese monks, and even ventriloquism with skill practitioners. Among other things, Bruce is considered to be the world's greatest detective, a master of stealth, disguise, tactician, strategist, escapologist; an expert marksman; a brilliant business man; a generous philanthropist, and a genius scientific mind. He is also incredibly driven, loyal, compassionate, passionate, and loving.
Bruce is also fluent in over 30 languages, including: Spanish, French, Mandarin, Japanese, German, Russian, Arabic, Latin, Italian, Swahili, Hindu, Bengali, Portuguese, Punjabi, Thai, Tagalog, Nepali, Kamba, Ewe, Bemba, Efik, Hmong, American Sign Language, and Kryptonese.
Weaknesses Bruce's weaknesses are as numerous as his strengths. The tragedy of his childhood has caused him many emotional problems which he has never appropriately dealt with, and which he insists on dealing with in his own way. His solution for taking the law into his own hands in response to his parents murder, while cathartic, may hardly be called healthy. Especially since Bruce may, generously, be called obsessive compulsive. He could, at any time, walk away from being Batman, but while he dons the suit, it is his whole life. Nothing else matters, not even Bruce Wayne. In fact, Bruce Wayne does not exist for him, he sees him as just a mask - necessary only to distract the world from what he's really doing. Bruce has few friends in his public persona, and in his Batman life, he is a difficult person to get to know because he tends to keep people at a difference on purpose. Those he has let in are either trauma victims like himself, or those who have been persistent enough to force their way in, despite his attempts to keep them at arms length. It isn't that he wants to be alone, quite the contrary. Nothing would make him happier than to have a family and the life his parents would have wanted for him. But his life is too dangerous to allow him to have that, and he fears that letting anyone get too close will result in either them leaving or worse - dying. Bruce is stubborn, grumpy, occasionally arrogant, and often accused of being paranoid. He'd argue that point, but not the rest. Last but not least, Bruce's greatest weakness is that he is human. He has no powers, and is, at the end of the day, just a man in a suit.
Personality:
Bruce often says that there is no such person as Bruce Wayne, that there is only Batman. The person he is when he is not performing for the public, and not in the suit, is a third persona who is about as close to the real 'Bruce' as we are likely to get. This Bruce is quiet and introspective. He is driven and completely focused on making Gotham a better, safer place. This usually means as Batman, though not solely. Occasionally, he finds his life as Wayne useful, as his status, money, and role in the community as as head of Wayne Enterprises allow him to improve the community in other ways. Bruce is not an easy person to get to know; he does not trust easily, or completely, and makes no secret of it. This tends to alienate people, and makes him come across as cold, unfeeling, and like a complete asshole
Those who do manage to get to know him discover that there is a heart lurking beneath the hard exterior - one that has been so badly wounded that it is extremely well-guarded. When Bruce does let someone into his life, he is loyal, protective (some might say over-protective), and loves deeply. He may have trouble showing and expressing it, but those who love him and know him well are usually good enough to know it. Bruce does tend to obsess over his work though, and suffers from a great deal of depression related to the death of his parents. While he does not ultimately want to be alone - he would love to move on from being Batman and have the kind of life his parents would have wanted for him - he feels, out of a sense of nobility (and perhaps superstitious fear) that he cannot have those things until his duty to Gotham is done, for the danger he would bring anyone he loved would be too great. He puts this rule aside from time to time and tries anyway, but so far, it has always ended badly.
Background:
Bruce Thomas Wayne is the son of Thomas and Martha Wayne, heir to a long legacy of Waynes who were instrumental in building the city of Gotham from it's earliest days. Bruce had an excellent childhood. His parents were loving, if maybe overly-involved in their work. But how could he complain when his father saved lives as a surgeon and philanthropist and his mother's charitable work gave homes, clothing, food, education, and more to so many? They always made what time they could for him, and Bruce was loved. The family butler, Alfred, picked up the slack, seeing to his early education, and with the exception of a fall into an old, sub-terranian cavern on the family property, which instilled in him a fear of bats, Bruce never had a days worry.
Until he was eight years old, that is, when after leaving a late showing of the movie 'The Mask of Zorro' with his parents, the family was mugged in an alley, and Bruce witness the murder and death of his parents, before his eyes. In many ways, this was the death of Bruce, too, for he would never be the same again. For a year after that night, he didn't speak, or smile. He vowed that he wouldn't rest until he saw justice for his parents murder. Bruce spent the next five years studying, on his own and with Alfred's help, learning everything that he could on his own until he'd passed his high school equivalencies, and decided it was time to learn from others what he couldn't learn for himself.
At age thirteen, Bruce left home on a twelve year odyssey to become the ultimate in human knowledge and conditioning. He started by attending various universities around the country, and around the world, such as Stanford, Berkeley, M.I.T., Cambridge, and the Sorbonne. He went wherever he heard there was a professor or a discipline worth studying, and stayed only as long as it took him to master the art, then moved on, never earning a degree.
Then Bruce dropped off the map for awhile, gave up his name, his money, and living by his wits, traveled the world learning a different set of skills. Bruce travelled to Africa, where he studied hunting with the various Bushman tribes. He travelled to Japan, where he studied the art of the ninja. He lived with monks in Nepal, studying methods of self-healing, he travelled the world studying martial arts with various masters, as well as stealth, escapology, strategy, marksmanship, manhunting, acrobatics, gymnastics, weaponry, and anything else anyone would teach him.
At the age of twenty-five, Bruce returned to Gotham to reclaim his name and his position as heir to the Wayne dynasty. He didn't know what he was going to do with all the knowledge he had gained, except that he had a promise to fulfill and a duty to perform - to clean up Gotham and make it once again a safe place for people to live and raise a family. When a bat flew thew the window of the library one night, Bruce had his inspiration: he would become a symbol of fear itself and use that symbol to chill the hearts of those who would feast on the innocent of Gotham. He would become a bat.
Bruce then crafted two identities: One, his public persona, Bruce Wayne. A lazy, shiftless, drunken playboy who was known for having a good time, caring about his company and having a good head for business when he chose to apply himself to it, but mostly leaving things in the hands of his business manager Lucius Fox while he dealt with things like women, the paparazzi, and charity. His other persona was the Batman - the avatar of fear, an urban legend to most, a figure of mystery who went after all the predators of Gotham with impunity and delivered his own brand of justice. At first, the police were against him, and the corrupt among them were eventually weeded from their ranks, too. Lieutenant Gordon eventually worked his way up to Commissioner, and the two became a close team.
Two years into his career, a young boy whose parents were murdered in a circus accident became Bruce's ward and Batman's partner, Robin. Dick Grayson would be an much needed panacea in Bruce's life, alleviating some of the darkness that had always plagued him and reminding him how to laugh. When Dick eventually went off to college, Bruce grew angry and sullen again, and when he found another young man trying to steal the wheels off his car, he took him in as well. The boy was troubled, and Bruce thought that the same thing that had helped Dick would help Jason, but instead, it backfired. Instead of healing Jason's pain, it made him more aggressive and impulsive - two things which would contribute to the circumstances leading to his murder by the Joker.
Bruce never forgave himself for Jason's murder, nor for his failure to get there in time to save him. He vowed never again to take on a partner, and as he continued to work alone, began to get darker, and more violent. When another young man appeared, volunteering for the role of Robin this time, Bruce turned him down. But the boy was insistent, claiming that Batman "needed" a Robin to balance his darkness with light.
Eventually realizing he had a point, and impressed that he had discovered both his and Dick's identity, Bruce took Tim on as a partner only after he agreed to undergo a rigorous training process and pass the Gauntlet - an incredibly thorough final exam. The two have worked together ever since, and Bruce still focuses on making Gotham a safer place to live, any way he can.
What's the character limit? 5, 6 if you pick up a bad guy.
What would you like to do with the character? I'd really like to see him on the Avengers, see how he gets on with SHIELD, hang out with the other rich people, beat up bad guys, angst, etc.
How do you think the character can be integrated with the other universe? There are a lot of smart techies, and wealthy people in the Marvel-verse and he could have connections galore with them. I'd really like to have certain characters to have connections with, but really, it'll be awesome to just see what comes it.