Batman

Batman
Adventure Comics #462. Art by Joe Staton.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Justice League of America #82 (1970) (retroactively stated to have originally appeared in Detective Comics #27, 1939)
Created by	Dennis O'Neil and Dick Dillin Based on Batman, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
In-story information
Alter ego	Bruce Wayne
Team affiliations	Batman Family Justice Society of America All-Star Squadron Gotham City Police Department
Abilities	Genius-level intelligence, master detective, peak human physical condition, martial arts master, escapologist, expert ventriloquist, access to high tech equipment.

The Batman of Earth-Two is a parallel version of the DC Comics superhero, who was introduced after DC Comics created Earth-Two, a parallel world that was retroactively established as the home of characters which had been published in the Golden Age of comic books. This allowed creators to publish Batman comic books while being able to disregard Golden Age stories, solving an incongruity, as Batman had been published as a single ongoing incarnation since inception.

The character history of the Earth-Two Batman accordingly adopts all of the earliest stories featuring the character from the 1930s and 1940s, while the adventures of the then-mainstream Silver Age Batman (who lived on "Earth-One") begin later in time and with certain elements of his origin retold. Each were depicted as separate, though parallel, individuals living in their respective universes, with the "older" Earth-Two character eventually reaching his retirement and death.

A parallel to this character is introduced in Justice Society of America Annual #1 (2008) entitled "Earth-2" where the Post Crisis Earth-2 is fully introduced. The most notable difference between Pre-Crisis Earth-Two Wayne and his newer Post-Crisis Earth-2 incarnation is that the Post-Crisis Earth-2 Joker is suggested to have killed Wayne which led the Joker to learn the real identities of Robin and the Huntress.

Fictional character biography

Childhood and early history

Batman's origin and history is essentially similar to the Earth-One version of the character, but events unfold in more of a real-time fashion. For example, the Batman makes his debut in 1939, meets Robin, the Joker, Catwoman and Clayface at various points in 1940, the Penguin in 1941, Two-Face in 1942, etc. These dates reflect the publishing dates of the original stories, rather than taking the Earth-One approach of keeping the characters eternally youthful.

• Bruce Wayne was born in Gotham City circa 1915-1916.^[1]
• Bruce's parents were killed when he was eight years old by Joe Chill, in 1924.^[1] Alfred Pennyworth, as on Earth-One, did not raise him. They meet for the first time in 1943, after Batman has already met Robin (and in fact, this version of Alfred is Alfred Beagle (his originally published name which was kept for the Earth-Two distinction).
• After a period of training, a young Bruce Wayne becomes Batman. His first printed story is "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate",^[2] although story content implies that this was not his first mission.
• Bruce Wayne meets eight-year-old Dick Grayson, following the murder of his parents. Grayson eventually takes the identity of Robin.^[3]
• Superman and Batman become lifelong friends. Unlike the antagonistic friendship of their Post-Crisis incarnations, they get along right away and often team up. Along with Kal-L, Batman participates in the Justice Society and the war-time only All Star Squadron.
• Batman dies in 1979.^[4]

Divergence with Earth-One

At the dawn of the Silver Age of comics, DC Comics decided to reimagine several of their greatest superheroes. The Flash and Green Lantern were reimagined as Barry Allen^[5] and Hal Jordan.^[6] Superman and Batman were different and remained untouched. It was later revealed that the current heroes live on a parallel world to the Golden Age heroes. When Barry Allen met Jay Garrick,^[7] it meant there were two Flashes, two Green Lanterns, two Supermen, and two Batmen. As Batman and Superman were originally written to be basically the same, the divergence between the Earth-Two and Earth-One versions was their age and powers and attitudes. Later stories fleshed out the differences to excessive levels as Earth-Two Bruce Wayne eventually accepts that law enforcement can be effective in crime fighting as he becomes Police Commissioner of Gotham City whereas the mainstream Batman never accepts that the police and law enforcement can ever be truly effective in fighting crime.

The Earth-Two Wayne made several different character evolutions from the mainstream Batman, as the Earth-Two Wayne accepts his one-time adversary Catwoman as his real love and share his secret identity with her. The Earth-Two Wayne and Catwoman, Selina Kyle later marry. They have a daughter, Helena Wayne, the Huntress.^[8] The Earth-Two Wayne is publicly revealed to have been the original Batman. Wayne is eventually coaxed out of retirement for one last mission as Batman which reflects his formation as a thief magically empowered by Felix Faust attacks his city. Like before when he was eight, Earth-Two Wayne is facing an overpowering thief with a weapon that is greater than himself, though this time is magical bolts rather than a handgun. Already dying of cancer from his years of pipe smoking (as stated in Brave and the Bold #197), Wayne decides to fight to the death against the thief stopping his threat at the cost of his own life.^[4] The Earth-Two Dr. Fate later removes that reveal from the general public of Earth-Two effecting that Wayne died of cancer at home while Batman perished in that battle.

In the limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Anti-Monitor destroys most universes, reducing the universe to the anti-matter universe and a single positive matter universe. Earth-Two "never existed" in this new universe's history, which retroactively removes the Earth-Two Batman from history, blending elements of his past with that the Earth-One Batman's, effectively creating a Batman with a new modern continuity.^[9][10]

As a tribute to this version of the character, his final formal 'appearance' was in Secret Origins vol. 2, #6 (Sept. 1986) in the story "Secret Origins Starring the Golden Age Batman" by writer Roy Thomas and artists Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin, a retelling of the Earth-Two Batman's origin.

One year later

During Infinite Crisis, senior members of the Justice Society regain some memories of Earth-Two's previous existence. One year later, when the Gentleman Ghost attacks the JSA using powers of limited control over the spirits of the dead, Jakeem Thunder and the Thunderbolt are assisted in battle by the spirits of various deceased JSA members and allies, including the Batman of Earth-Two. Although Jakeem is confused by his presence, noting that Batman is not dead, the Thunderbolt tells him not to worry about it.^[11]

References

External links

• Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics: Earth-Two Batman Index
• The Golden Age Batman Chronology
• JSA Fact File: Batman

See also

• All-Star Squadron
• America vs. The Justice Society -- miniseries in which Batman (through his diary, discovered post-mortem) accuses the JSA of committing treason during World War II
• Batman
• Golden Age Robin
• Golden Age Catwoman
• Huntress (Helena Wayne)
• Justice Society of America
• Multiverse (DC Comics)
• Superman (Kal-L)