Alternative versions of Batman

The following is a list of alternative versions of Batman from all media, including DC Comics multiverse, Elseworlds, television and film.

Comics

Canon depictions

• Bruce Wayne is the original Batman. This is Batman's secret identity in almost all representations in other media.

• The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh was an uninhibited alter ego that Bruce Wayne had constructed to protect himself in the event that his base psyche was under attack. This Batman claimed "I'm what you get when you take Bruce out of the equation..."

• Azrael, Jean-Paul Valley, becomes Batman after Bane breaks Bruce's back during 1993's Knightfall story. This identity is held by numerous characters within continuity, and a time after Valley's death it was taken up by a man named Michael Washington Lane.

• Dick Grayson assumes the Batman identity after Azrael is forced to relinquish the mantle, prior to Bruce Wayne's return. He became the new Batman after Bruce's apparent death. With Bruce's return, Dick went back to being Nightwing.

• Allied with reporter Arturo Rodriguez, Black Mask begins a campaign to discredit Batman during War Crimes. While Rodriguez slams Batman in the press, Black Mask commits a series of murders disguised as Batman.

• Jason Todd reappeared in the Battle for the Cowl series. Dressed in a version of a Batman costume, he started to fight the expanding crime wave with little morality. Pinning a note to his criminal victims that he was the true and only Batman. He even built his own Batcave where he starved and tortured criminals to death.

• Tim Drake has been depicted as a possible future Batman on several occasions: in JLA #8 and #9; in Teen Titans (vol. 3) #17-19 and #51-54; and in Superman/Batman #22 and #23, as well as donning the costume in Sins of Youth: Robin & Batboy. In Battle for the Cowl series he is dressed in a version of a Batman costume.

• Damian Wayne has also been shown as Batman in a possible future in Batman #666. He is shown mentioning Bruce and Dick as previous holders of the title, and has a pet cat he affectionately named Alfred.

• Terry McGinnis is shown to be the successor of the mantle in Batman #700. Damian Wayne rescued him as Batman from Two-Face when he was held hostage as an infant. Two-Face-Two believed Terry McGinnis was one of a pair of twin boys who were the sons of billionaires rather than Warren and Mary McGinnis. Two-Face-Two transformed Terry into a miniature duplicate of the Joker with the deceased Clown Prince of Crime's toxin. Damian administers the antidote after he rescues Terry. Decades after the event, an elder Damian Wayne becomes the mentor of McGinnis, who became the new Dark Knight.

Flashpoint

The world of Flashpoint is an altered reality of the primary Earth in the DC Multiverse.

• Thomas Wayne is shown to have become Batman in the altered reality of the Flashpoint series, after his wife and young son were murdered in front of him.^[1] Brian Azzarello, writer of the Flashpoint: Batman - Knight of Vengeance mini-series, says of this version, "This Batman is older, and he's much more angry. He's not the brilliant detective. He's still a brilliant tactician. I think he's even called that in Flashpoint. But he's much more of a pragmatic individual. His motivations come from a different place, and how he acts on them. It's not what you'd expect from Batman."^[2]

Alternative universes in modern continuity

The DC Multiverse consists of worlds outside DC's main continuity allowing writers the creative freedom to explore alternative versions of characters and their histories without contradicting and/or permanently altering the official continuity.

• Batman (Earth-Two) is shown to be the Golden Age Batman, with a life that parallels the modern Batman but with some significant differences. Born in the 1910s, Bruce Wayne eventually retires as Batman and becomes Police Commissioner. He marries Selina Kyle and the two have a daughter, the original Huntress, Helena Wayne. Finally, goaded out of retirement by a villain demanding Bruce Wayne (whom he mistakenly believes has framed him), he confronts the villain as Batman and dies in the line of duty. The Earth-Two Bruce Wayne's father Thomas Wayne is shown to have worn something similar to the modern Batman costume while Bruce was young, to entertain trick-or-treaters at Halloween, ultimately influencing Bruce's choice of alter ego.

• Owlman is the Anti-Matter Universe Earth's supervillain counterpart to Batman. In this incarnation, Owlman's secret identity is Thomas Wayne Jr., the son of Gotham City Police Commissioner Thomas Wayne. Another version of Owlman resides on the new Earth-3 and is a member of the Crime Society of America. This Owlman and his team are analogues for the Earth-2 Batman and the Justice Society of America respectively.

• On Earth-8, a version of Batman called "Bat-Soldier" is shown working for Monarch.^[3]

• The Tangent Comics version of the Batman is a knight who once fought King Arthur and was forced to atone for his sins, seeking justice through an empty suit of armor for all eternity. This version currently resides on Earth-9.

• On Earth-10, Bruce Wayne is part of the "JL-Axis" and is a fervent Nazi enforcer.^[4] He is named Leatherwing, and is a part of Overman's Justice League.^[5]

• On Earth-11, which is inhabited gender-reversed superheroes, an alternative version of Batwoman exists in place of Batman.

• On Earth-12, a futuristic Batman resembles the Terry McGinnis Batman of the Batman Beyond television series.^[6]

• On Earth-15, it is shown that Bruce Wayne has died and that Jason Todd has replaced him as Batman. He was recently killed by Superboy-Prime in Countdown #24.

• The Batman: Gotham by Gaslight one shot depicts a Batman who started his crimefighting career in 1889. This alternative Batman resides on Earth-19.

• The Kingdom Come limited series depicts a Batman who, ravaged by years of fighting crime, uses an exoskeleton to keep himself together and keeps the peace on the streets of Gotham using remote-controlled robots. He is late middle-aged and wears an eerie grin. It is no longer a secret that he is Bruce Wayne and is referred to as the "Batman" even when he appears in civilian guise. This alternative Batman resides on Earth-22

• Superman: Red Son depicts a Russian anarchist Batman, whose parents were killed by the KGB. His actual name is not mentioned in the story. Penciller Dave Johnson jokingly refers to him as 'Batmankoff' in his character design sketches. This alternative Batman resides on Earth-30.

• The Batman from Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and its spin-offs, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again and All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder is a tired vigilante in a much darker, edgier setting home to Miller's own new interpretations of various DC characters. This alternative Batman resides on Earth-31.

• The Batman: In Darkest Knight limited series shows an alternative Bruce Wayne who assumes the mantle of Green Lantern instead of Batman. This alternative Batman resides on Earth-32.

• The Batmage of Earth-33 is from a world of magic. His parents were murdered by the sorcerer Cobblepot who cursed him into his world of darkness, from which he made himself a master of the dark arts and an avenger of justice.

• The JSA: The Liberty Files limited series shows an alternative Batman who is a covert operative of the government known as the Bat during World War II. This alternative Batman resides on Earth-40. While fighting against the vampire Batman of Earth-43 in Countdown: Arena #1, he is bitten and supposedly killed. Arena #2 reveals that he has turned into a vampire as well. He is killed in Arena #4 by Monarch.

• The Batman & Dracula: Red Rain limited series shows an alternative Batman who becomes a vampire after fighting Dracula. This alternative Batman resides on Earth-43.

• On Earth-51, after the death of Jason Todd, this version of Batman killed the Joker and then proceeded to kill the remaining DC supervillains and usher in a golden age of peace. This Batman was later killed by Ultraman.

• The 1980s series Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew presented the parallel Earth of Earth-C-Minus, a world populated by funny animal superheroes that paralleled the mainstream DC Universe. Earth-C-Minus is the home of the Batmouse, a mouse hero with a personality similar to the mainstream DC Universe's Batman.

Elseworlds and other versions

• In JLA/Avengers Batman takes an important role. He gives battle orders enabling the JLA to take down Terminus when the alien is accidentally transported to their world. When the JLA first visit the Marvel Universe he stops the Punisher killing drug dealers. He and Captain America fight in #2, and Batman says it is conceivable Cap could beat him, but asks if he wants to. They decide to find answers about the game. They enter the Bat-Cave and Cap comments on the fact Batman lost a partner. They use a dimensional-travelling vehicle sent by Mr Fantastic to get to the Grandmaster's headquarters and find out the Avengers are fighting for Krona. With the help of Cap, Batman gets the Cosmic Cube allowing the JLA to win the game. When Krona attacks the Grandmaster anyway, Batman and Cap convince the JLA and Avengers to fight together. In the merged Universe, Iron Man and Batman together try to find who is behind the events by researching their enemies in Avengers Mansion. When the Grandmaster shows reality as it really is, Batman sees Jason Todd's death and Bane breaking his back. Later Batman and Iron Man work on the power of the ship that will transport them to Krona's base, and when Iron Man says he is sorry they had to divert most of the cannon power, Batman says he isn't, he doesn't like guns. During the battle against Krona's forces Batman gets through the force field after Captain America, who is leading the two teams, orders him to scout ahead and uses explosive charges to take the field down. Batman decides to scout ahead, but is met by Batroc, who he defeats, and with the help of Black Panther, Black Widow, and the Huntress takes down another group of villains. Prometheus uploads Batman's fighting skills to fight Cap, but is beaten. Batman is among the heroes at the end when reality is restored.

• In Batman: Book of the Dead, Bruce Wayne's parents were archaeologists who were on the verge of cracking open a major conspiracy involving an Egyptian bat-god who was erased from history. They are murdered before Bruce's eyes due to their discovery, and Bruce becomes Batman when he is inspired by the bat cartouche that the assassin was really after.

• In Detective Comics #500: "To Kill a Legend!", the Phantom Stranger gives Batman a chance to save his parents by taking the mainstream Batman and Robin into a world where the Wayne Murders are about to happen again. Batman stops the murders of his parents in this world, but this act simply shifts the reasons this world's Bruce Wayne will become Batman; while before he began his training to avenge their murders, here he begins his training inspired by the example of his other self.

• In Batman: Castle of the Bat, scientist Bruce Wayne creates and brings to life a patchwork corpse containing bat DNA and the brain of his father, Thomas Wayne. This Bat-Man escapes from Wayne's castle and starts attacking highwaymen due to the vague memories of Thomas Wayne's death. Through the course of the story, the Bat-Man starts becoming more bat than man as the bat DNA starts to overcome the body.

• In Batman: Citizen Wayne, the role of Batman is taken on by Harvey Dent after his whole face has been destroyed by an enemy. Bruce Wayne is a newspaper publisher who is highly critical of Batman and his brutal methods (in a Charles Foster Kane meets J. Jonah Jameson set-up) and goes after him when he actually kills the enemy in question, both men dying in the final battle.

• In Batman: Digital Justice, set in a futuristic Gotham City, the persona of Batman is taken on by James Gordon, the grandson of Jim Gordon. Following the death of his partner, Officer Lena Schwartz, James became motivated by the old newspaper clippings about Batman that his grandfather kept, and finds a Batman suit that Bruce had given to Jim as a souvenir.

• In Batman: Golden Streets of Gotham, Batman is Bruno Vanekow, a railroad worker whose parents die in a fire similar to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. He dons a bat costume and becomes a self-styled Robin Hood, stealing from the city's rich and powerful and donating to charity.

• In Batman: Haunted Gotham, Gotham City is taken over by the Dark Lords of Hell centuries ago. Bruce Wayne is raised by his parents to strike against them, and is joined in his quest by a skeleton named Cal and a sorceress named Cat Majik.

• In Batman: I, Joker, the Gotham City of the future is ruled by a cult who worships Batman and his descendant, the Bruce. Once every year, there are challengers who try to usurp the rule of Batman, but even worse, this Bruce has people taken off the street and has them turned into Batman's old enemies complete with their memories. The newest Joker, Joe Collins, kept his original memories due to the efforts of the Bruce's surgeon, Doc Klibon, as a way of annoying him. Joe, along with his friend Marya, are freedom fighters trying to stop the Bruce until a friend of theirs turn on them. Joe finds the original Batcave, and taking a Batman outfit and the original Joker's gun, confronts the Bruce at his citadel. He spares the Bruce's life, but Marya, after being muted by the Bruce, kills him herself. Months later, the two are protecting Gotham City as the new Batman and Robin.

• In The Batman of Arkham, set in the year 1900, Bruce Wayne is a noted psychiatrist who runs Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Batman fills the Asylum's cells with criminals and as Bruce Wayne, he uses compassion in order to cure its residents.

• In Batman: Scar of the Bat, Bruce Wayne does not exist. Instead, Eliot Ness, inspired by the film characters Zorro and the Bat, dons a Batman-esque outfit and begins shaking down gangsters for information on the locations of illegal stills run by Al Capone. He is called Batman not only for his appearance, but for his use of a baseball bat in his first appearance, a nod to how Capone once beat one of his unfaithful underlings with a bat.

• "The Tyrant" Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual 2 (1994)

In "The Tyrant", a corrupt Batman, under the influence of Jonathan Crane, takes control of Gotham City and turns it into a police state. He then drugs Gotham's water supply as a means to decrease criminal activity. However, Anarky forms a secret resistance against Batman and Crane with an army composed of most of Batman's villains. When Anarky uncovers a secret plan to pump tranquilizer gas into the city water supply, drugging the populace to prevent crime, he unites the city's remaining villains to storm the centers of Batman's power and overthrow his tyranny. After Crane's manipulations are exposed, Batman confesses his crimes to the people of Gotham City, who then burn him alive inside Wayne Manor.^[7] The story ends with a quote by Mikhail Bakunin: "(For reasons of the state) black becomes white and white becomes black, the horrible becomes humane and the most dastardly felonies and atrocious crimes become meritorious acts."^[8]

• In the Batman: Year 100 limited series , a story which takes place in the Gotham City of 2039, there is a mysterious Bat-Man running around Gotham. This Batman has been around since 1939, and it is never revealed who it is behind the mask.

• In the Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham limited series, the roles of Catwoman and Batman are reversed, with Selena Kyle as a rich businesswoman who is really the superheroine Catwoman, and Bruce Wayne as the psychopathic murderer, Batman, who kills the rest of Catwoman's rogues' gallery just to eliminate the competition.

• In the Stan Lee's Just Imagine continuity, Wayne Williams is framed for a crime he did not commit who becomes Batman in a combination of Batman and Spider-Man's origin stories.

• In Superman: Speeding Bullets, Thomas and Martha Wayne discover baby Kal-El's rocket ship and adopt him as Bruce Wayne. When he witnesses their death, he becomes Batman when he grows up. He gains an adversary in Lex Luthor, who becomes the Joker when he is disfigured in an accident.

• In Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty, Bruce Wayne grows up with his parents, doing much of the training because he is uncertain what he wants to do with his life. His parents were saved from the robber by Vandal Savage, currently going by the name Valentin St. Claire, who has developed a fondness for the Waynes ever since the Wayne ancestor Sir Joshua of Wainewright successfully defeated him, impressed by their courage even as their defiance angers him. Vandal has a minion of his called Scarecrone to use fear to kill Thomas and Martha Wayne by scaring them into jumping off from their apartment. Bruce Wayne tries to find out who's responsible and why, but in order to protect his wife, Julie Madison, he decides to use a disguise, becoming Batman based on the bat-like armor worn by Joshua of Wainewright. Eventually he tracks down Vandal, fighting him in space. The two plummet to Earth, burning up on reentry, although Vandal, being immortal, is able to regenerate. This confrontation marks one of many confrontations between Vandal and the Wayne family, all of the confrontations ending with the Waynes dying young and violently after spending their last few days wearing a bat-themed costume, culminating in the twenty-fifth century when Brenda Wayne is able to leave Vandal drifting on the meteor that gave him his powers, which Vandal has been searching for ever since.

• In Justice League of America (Vol. 2) #25, the trickster god Anansi creates an alternative timeline. On the fateful night, the movie Bruce had intended to see, "Zorro", was sold out, so they had seen a violent western. This had enthralled him. When the mugging occurs, the killer gets a glimpse of Bruce's enraged face and is stunned. Bruce grabs the gun and kills the man with it. The boy then grew up to become Paladin, a gunman who uses deadly force against criminals, and is hounded by the authorities because of it. Anansi later brings Paladin into the actual timeline, having him assist Vixen and the Justice League against Starbreaker.^[9]

• Multiple versions of Batman appeared in Superman/Batman issue #25 "Supermen/Batmen", whom come to aid the mainstream Batman. Among them are Man-Bat; the vampiric Batman; a shadowy, grim Batman; the 50's/Adam West Batman; the Dark Knight Returns Batman; the Golden Age Batman; the O'Neil/Adams Batman; the Zebra Batman; and one resembling Batman from Batman Beyond (though he's not fully shown).

• In the 1980's limited series Hex, where Jonah Hex was propelled into a post-apocalyptic future, there is a Batman operating in New York City, enforcing a strict "no guns" policy throughout the entire city.

Film and television

• The Batman television series and 1966 film, starring Adam West, featured a campy version of Batman and associated characters, similar to the style of DC comics at the time of production.

• Tim Burton's Batman was a combination of Burton's own unique film stylings and the gritty, darker interpretation presented in DC continuity at the time. After two films, Burton continued to produce the films, but was replaced as Director by Joel Schumacher. The films became known for their over-the-top production design and their dependence on star-power casting to draw audiences. Batman was characterised as incrementally more sardonic and frivolous throughout the series.^[10]
  • Batman, played by Michael Keaton
  • Batman Returns, role reprised by Keaton
  • Batman Forever, played by Val Kilmer
  • Batman and Robin, played by George Clooney

• Christopher Nolan's films are a reboot in the Warner Brothers franchise. Starring Christian Bale in a new continuity allegedly based on Batman: The Man Who Falls, Batman: Year One and Batman: The Long Halloween. This depicts Bruce Wayne as a confused and frustrated young man, incapable of dealing with the murders of his parents or the injustices of Gotham City, and spends seven years in self-imposed exile from Gotham during which time he lives on the streets and even commits theft (albeit from his own company), until incarcerated in a Chinese prison camp and then approached by Ra's al Ghul, from whom he receives the League of Shadows training which allows him to become the Batman. Batman is merely an idea used by Wayne to "spread fear amongst those who would prey on the fearful" (i.e. the criminals); he is not entirely able to separate the Batman persona from his own personality. Accordingly, Bale is only listed as "Bruce Wayne" in the credits of The Dark Knight. Wayne is dependent on Lucius Fox for supplying him with the fundamental tools, armor, weapons and vehicles needed to be "Batman" (this is in sharp contrast to the comics continuity, in which Lucius Fox is merely the CEO of Bruce Wayne's corporate holdings and Wayne himself has mastered the skills required to design and build his own equipment, armor, weapons and vehicles). The continuity includes:
  • Batman Begins
  • Batman: Gotham Knight
  • The Dark Knight
  • The Dark Knight Rises

• The DC animated universe, starting with Batman: The Animated Series, featured a newly dark and more serious Batman voiced by Kevin Conroy. In-story information indicates Bruce Wayne's birth as being circa 1960.
  • Batman: The Animated Series
  • Superman: The Animated Series
  • The New Batman Adventures
  • Batman Beyond is set roughly 50 years after Batman: The Animated Series, and features an 80 year old Bruce Wayne acting as mentor to Terry McGinnis, the new Batman.
  • Justice League, which in turn features two animated, alternative Batmen:
    • In "The Savage Time", Bruce Wayne's parents stand up to Vandal Savage's totalitarian regime and are killed, prompting Bruce to become a freedom fighter also named Batman.
    • In "A Better World", Batman is a member of the Justice Lords, who themselves have near-totalitarian rulership of Earth.
  • Justice League Unlimited

• Teen Titans/Teen Titans Go - Batman himself would not directly appear in the series, but there are a few references to him:
  • "Apprentice Part 2": After Robin tells Slade that he has a father, a swarm of bats fly across the screen. One particular building that Robin steals from is Wayne Enterprises (revealed after a fight scene).
  • "Go": Upon arriving in Jump City, a bank robber whom Robin pursues says "Hey, this isn't your town. Aren't you supposed to be with...", but is cutoff before saying Batman.

Batman and the Justice League make a cameo in the tie in comic Teen Titans Go #45. He narrates Robin's origin in #47 and views Titans Tower at the end of the story.

• The Batman features a new animated Batman set outside DCAU continuity. This series features very different versions of most characters and antagonists previously unseen in or outside of comics.

• Batman: The Brave and the Bold features a lighter Batman, teaming up with other heroes. This show even has various references to 1960s TV series, including a flashback of Thomas Wayne voiced by Adam West.

• In the Birds of Prey television series, Batman is viewed as a myth or urban legend, having mysteriously disappeared from New Gotham, leaving Barbara Gordon and batmans' daughter Helena Kyle to defend the city.

References