Batman (Pre-New 52)

Golden Age
During the Golden Age of Comics, when he was first introduced, Bruce Wayne was already the vigilante known as Batman. Batman's first appearance was in Detective Comics #27. In Detective Comics #33, the origin of the character was told. Bruce Wayne was the son of Thomas Wayne and his wife, Martha Wayne. His parents were wealthy philanthropists in the high society of Gotham City. Bruce grew up in Wayne Manor and experienced a privileged life until one fateful night. Bruce and his parents went to the movies and were walking home when suddenly they were confronted by a gun-toting small-time crook called Joe Chill. At first, Chill demanded Martha's jewellery, but instead, he ended up shooting and killing both of Bruce’s parents. After the deaths of his parents, Bruce swore to rid Gotham City of evil forever. He began an intense mental and physical training and mastered many skills including martial arts, criminology, and escape artistry.Upon completing his training Bruce realized that his skills alone were not enough to do the job; he needed the criminals to fear him. That was when a bat flew through the window, scaring Bruce. He was inspired by the symbolism of the bat and used this to become Batman. Batman witnessed the death of the Flying Graysons, high-flying acrobats that were killed by mobsters after the owner of the circus refused to pay "protection money" for the crooks to be their bodyguards. Bruce takes in young Dick Grayson as his ward and trains him as his protege, Robin. Bruce and Dick first hunt down and defeat Tony Zucco, the crime boss who had been responsible for the deaths of John and Mary Grayson. It is never stated why Bruce took in Dick, but it could be due to how Dick lost his parents at a young age, and to crime, just like Bruce. Together the "Dynamic Duo" face off against many enemies such as the Riddler, the Scarecrow, the Penguin, and the Joker, the last of whom was to become Batman's greatest enemy.Batman eventually becomes one of the founding members of the Justice Society of America. Batman continued working with the Gotham City Police Department in fighting crime and is later legally deputized as a civilian police agent. Later Alfred Pennyworth is introduced and serves as his butler. Alfred eventually learns the identities of the Dynamic Duo and aids them in keeping their identity safe. Love interest Vicki Vale debuted during the 1940's as one of the numerous "flavours of the month" for Bruce Wayne. (Other heroes were shown to have a girlfriend. But this could not be so with Bruce Wayne; to say that he was a playboy was to mean it. In his various incarnations, he has had a number of girlfriends, but none have lasted long, and his Batman incarnation was too obsessed and too angst-consumed to be able to commit to anyone; besides, Batman had been specifically created to be more of a fighter than any true lover.) Vicki was created as a mirror of Lois Lane of Metropolis, and she often spent her time trying to figure out the identity of Batman. Whenever she got close to figuring out that Batman was Bruce Wayne, Batman would often trick her into believing he was not Bruce Wayne. (Secret identities nearly being found out was a common occurrence in the Golden Age.) Batman was first shown as a cold-blooded vigilante who was willing to use a gun and kill his enemies to rid the city of crime. But this revolted some readers, who made it clear that they hated the idea of their hero going around killing people. At the same time, DC Comic's new editor, Whitney Ellsworth, was already drafting, and eventually implemented, a moral code for Batman that prevented him from ever killing or using a gun. One in-comics rationale for this was that having witnessed his parents being killed with guns was enough to turn him against their usage.

Silver Age
During the Silver Age, DC Comics introduced the Multiverse continuity to its characters. It established the fact that all the Batman stories told during the Golden Age actually took place on Earth-Two. The Earth-Two Batman marries Catwoman and fathered a daughter named Helena Wayne who grows up to be the Huntress. Earth-Two Batman retires to take the job as Commissioner of the GCPD. Dick Grayson of Earth-Two became a lawyer with his own practice and continued his career as the Earth-Two Robin. Eventually, he dies during his final adventure against a criminal named Bill Jensen, who had acquired super-human powers. Batman's backstory was expanded upon to include his uncle, Philip Wayne, who raised Bruce for a while after his parent's deaths. He also had an older brother named Thomas Wayne Jr., who had had to be institutionalized after the death of Thomas and Martha. In addition, it was revealed that his parents' killings had not been chance, but instead an assassination ordered by gangster Lew Moxon.As a child, Bruce's father had worn a bat costume (similar to Batman's future costume) to a masquerade party, where he encountered and stopped the mobster. Moxon swore revenge against Dr. Wayne and hired Joe Chill to orchestrate the "mugging" that would result in their deaths. At some point in Bruce's training, he wore a costume similar to the future Robin's, and he was trained by Harvey Harris, a Gotham City Police detective. During this time Batman would regularly team up with other heroes to fight evil (these adventures were published in World’s Finest Comics from the 1950's through the 1980's), and many of the team-ups featured Batman, Superman and, occasionally, Robin and led to the formation of the Justice League of America.After Robin (Dick Grayson) sustained an injury, Batman insisted on going without a field partner. Dick left to attend college and moved out of Wayne Manor. Batman primarily worked solo, but occasionally he would team up with Robin and Batgirl. It was during this period where Batman started becoming a bit darker; this was partly due to the loss of Robin's presence, but mainly because times were changing in the real world. Violent crimes increased in Gotham, and the Joker returned with a darker, more sadistic nature; this was shown in the fact that he was again commencing to kill his victims, as he had been doing when first introduced.The Batman also comes face to face with Ra's al Ghul, the Demon's Head. Ra's has lived for over 600 years and is one of the few people who deduces that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Ra's saw their ideas as being the same, but the two became rivals quickly when Batman realized that Ra's did not value the lives of others as he did. During this time Bruce's older brother, Thomas Wayne, Jr., reappears. Thomas becomes an assassin, but his body was taken over by the anti-hero Deadman. Batman was able to remove Deadman from his brother's body, but Thomas soon dies trying to save his younger brother's life. Batman later quit the Justice League to form his new group called the Outsiders. Batman leads the group for a while, but he eventually quit the Outsiders as well.

Modern Age
After the story called Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Batman of Earth-Two was erased from history. DC Comics attempted to reboot many major characters' origins including Batman. The re-tooled history was recounted in Frank Miller’s run on the Batman: Year One story arc, or, at least the more serious, less campy sides of The Dark Knight. This made Batman darker and more believable and showed how much Batman dominates Bruce Wayne's psychology, so much so that Bruce has fully transformed into the Dark Knight, both physically and mentally. The character of Jim Gordon was portrayed in greater detail, and the corruption of the Gotham City Police Department was more pronounced, giving more of a reason for Gotham City to need Batman. Dick's backstory remains the same, but Jason Todd's origin was changed, turning the boy into the orphan son of a petty crook, who tries to steal the tires from the Batmobile. Philip Wayne and Thomas, Jr. were removed from continuity (up until the New 52 Relaunch where different versions of both characters returned) and Bruce was raised by his father's trusted friend and butler, Alfred Pennyworth.

Long Halloween
Batman and his trusted allies James Gordon and Harvey Dent met up on the rooftop of police headquarters one night, and they swore that they would bring down the organized crime syndicates led by Carmine "The Roman" Falcone and Sal Maroni that were completely controlling their town. Although it was necessary to bend the rules in their efforts, they agreed that they would never break them, and become as bad as the evil they fought against.Meanwhile a serial killer named Holiday began stalking prominent Mafiosos and shooting them dead. There was suspicion immediately cast on the three men in the triumvirate, and the possibility that it might be someone trying to remove their competition.Gotham's new breed of criminals was replacing the traditional gangsters, and the underground was slowly being taken over by costumed freaks with no respect for the old ways. Batman's presence was arguably the cause of this.Amongst the killings Falcone's son Alberto was murdered.Bruce Wayne went on his first date with Selina Kyle around this time, who flirted with him as Catwoman by night unaware of his alter-ego.In his desperation, the Roman changed the game by employing super-villains in his activities. Falcone and Maroni each believed the other was responsible for Holiday, and their gang wars tore Gotham apart.Harvey Dent became a leading suspect because of his vindictive attitude towards criminals.Bruce Wayne was also suspected of involvement with the Roman's organization and arrested.His father Thomas Wayne had reluctantly performed emergency surgery on a young Carmine Falcone for bullet wounds and indebted him, making him indirectly responsible for the Roman's empire. Bruce's trial proved his innocence thanks to the testimony of Alfred Pennyworth.ent later admitted this was a mistake, and Maroni brought himself into custody with the intention of spilling his secrets before he was killed.At the trial, Maroni smuggled in a bottle of acid and threw it at Dent's face during the prosecution, leaving him horribly disfigured. This also drove him insane, and he killed a doctor escaping from the hospital.They arrived at the conclusion that Harvey Dent was Holiday, and Batman attempted to find him after he escaped. While Gordon was transporting the gangster to a different cell, Holiday appeared and shot Sal Maroni in the head, finally revealing his real identity... Alberto Falcone, having faked his own death.Batman was disguised as the guard accompanying them, and he beat Holiday down before taking him into custody. Harvey Dent reappeared calling himself Two-Face after the nature of his personal tragedy, taking a team of villains into the Roman's private office. As the two leaders battled, Batman arrived and put most of the criminals down, but he was unable to stop Two-Face from shooting Carmine Falcone twice in the head. The three men, Batman, Gordon and Dent, had a final meeting on the rooftop of police headquarters. Dent was accused of betraying the things he believed in, but he insisted that his methods were the only ones that actually got rid of the Roman and he did what he needed to. He was then arrested, and although Batman and Gordon had seen one of the best men they knew completely broken, they still maintained that Gotham City could be saved and ridden of evil. Neither of them was willing to give up.

Silver Age
In the first version during the Silver Age, in a story told in flashback in 1962's Justice League of America #9, Earth was infiltrated by the Appellaxians. Competing alien warriors were sent to see who could conquer Earth first to determine who will become the new ruler of their home planet. The aliens' attacks drew the attentions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan),Aquaman and Martian Manhunter. While the superheroes individually defeated most of the invaders, the heroes fell prey to a single competitor's attack; only by working together were they able to defeat the competitor. For many years, the heroes heralded this adventure as the event that prompted them to agree to pool resources when confronted with similar menaces.

Bronze Age
The story was completely changed during the Bronze Age, years later, however (as revealed in Justice League of America #144), Green Arrow uncovered inconsistencies in League records and extracted admissions from his colleagues that the seven founders had actually formed the League after the Martain Manhunter was rescued from Martian forces by the other six founders, along with several other heroes (Blackhawk Squadron, Robin I, Challengers of the Unknown, Plastic Man, Robotman (Robert Crane), Roy Raymond, Vigilante, Congo Bill/Congorilla, Rex the Wonder Dog, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. Green Lantern participated in this first adventure solely as Hal Jordan, due to the fact that he had yet to become the costumed hero at that time (the biggest inconsistency Arrow found, as they celebrated the earlier incident's date, while recounting only the later one's events). When the group formalized their agreement, they suppressed news of it because of anti-Martian hysteria (mirroring the real-world backdrop of Martian scares and anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s). Because the League members had not revealed their identities to each other at the time, they did not realize that Jordan and Green Lantern were one and the same when he turned up in costume during the event described in #9. While most subsequent accounts of the League have made little mention of this first adventure, the animated Justice League series adapted this tale as the origin of the League as well.

Dick Grayson
Bruce Wayne was on an excursion to the circus when he witnessed another tragedy that would shape his life. The parents of a young acrobat named Dick Grayson were murdered by the gangster Tony Zucco.He saw both great potential and something of himself in the boy that night. Although Bruce knew he could never replace Dick's father, he adopted Grayson as his legal ward to help him and provide guidance where he didn't have any when he was that age.He eventually revealed his secret identity as Batman.Dick wanted justice for his parents, and he agreed to a regiment of rigorous physical and mental training so that he could become Batman's partner.After several months Dick was finally ready to take to the streets as Robin, fighting crime alongside his mentor.They swore an oath late one night that they would fight together against crime and corruption, never swerving from the path of righteousness. Batman had realized for the first time that he did not have to be alone in his crusade.Before he could go into action regularly, Robin had to pass a final exam and he proved himself by taking down the gangster Joe Minette.Their first adventures as a dynamic duo were a remarkable change in tone, with Robin's lightheartedness alleviating the grim seriousness. Dick's first solo mission was stopping Mad Hatter in a sex trafficking ring while Bruce was indisposed.

Batgirl
When Bruce was invited to the Million Dollar Masquerade Ball, Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara crashed the party in a female version of Batman's costume to surprise her father, who was also attending the event. At the party, before she revealed herself to Gordon, Killer Moth and his henchmen crashed the party, gunning for Bruce Wayne. James Gordon was taken out quickly so Barbara decided to step in. Bruce Wayne was previously shoved out of the way by Barbara so that she could protect him and her unconscious adoptive father, thinking that Bruce was but a helpless bystander. She defeated Killer Moth, breaking a heel in the process. She was later named Batgirl by Killer Moth, which stuck, even though she stated that she would have preferred Batwoman. Directly after the confrontation with Killer Moth, Batgirl met Batman and Robin. Batgirl's first encounter with Batman and Robin proved to be unpleasant. While she was angry with Batman's automatic dismissal of her capabilities, she was repulsed by Robin having a romantic interest in her. Soon after that, Batgirl attempted to swing from rooftops, being saved by Robin, who told her that regular rope is not good for diving from forty feet in the air. Later, Robin sent Batgirl equipment, pretending that he believed in her and Batman didn't. In reality, Robin was sending them on the orders of Batman. She was later captured by Batman and Robin to be tested, an examination she failed in Batman's eyes, not being able to save the innocents in a holographic containment chamber. Batgirl later teamed up with Black Canary, her idol, and she finally gained some respect from Batman, while Robin still harbored a crush on her. She was introduced to James Gordon as Batgirl, one of Batman's protégés.Batgirl's career came to an end after a few years, when the Joker shot and crippled her in an attempt to drive Commissioner Gordon insane. Although Batman eventually rescued Gordon and stopped the Joker, Barbara could never walk again.

Ra's al Ghul
Struggling against the League of Assassins, Batman met the beautiful Talia al Ghul when he rescued her from Doctor Darrk.Ra's al Ghul determined his secret identity through logical deduction and confronted him after Talia had been kidnapped again alongside Robin. Realizing that Ra's was behind this as a personal test, Batman confronted him and fought his bodyguard Ubu. Ra's explained that he was making sure he had found a worthy successor in the detective, as Talia had fallen in love with him.Batman eventually came to the conclusion that Ra's is a dangerous criminal who must be stopped at all costs, and declared war on him

Outsiders
Batman quit the League when they refused to help him rescue Lucius Fox from Baron Bedlam in Markovia for political reasons. Determining that he needed a new team more concerned with justice than the way they were viewed by the world, he created the Outsiders as a black ops super-team to go where the League couldn't. This team involved Black Lightning, Geo-Force, Halo, Katana and Metamorpho.

Justice Leauge International
Legends saw a new group of heroes form to fight against G. Gordon Godfrey after Justice League Detroit was disbanded, and they decided to form a new League together.Batman gathered Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel, Doctor Fate, Doctor Light, Guy Gardner, Martian Manhunter and Mister Miracle in the Secret Sanctuary to take leadership of them as a team

Jason Todd
When Dick Grayson reached maturity, Bruce forced him to retire from the Robin persona. Shortly after this decision, Batman came across a young boy called Jason Todd, who had turned to crime out of necessity.Batman tried to help him by placing him at Ma Gunn's school, which was in fact a criminal hideout. Investigating Jason's background, Batman learned that the boy was an orphan. When Batman checked upon Jason, he realized the truth about the school and stopped the criminals with help from Jason, after which Batman took him under his wing and allowed him to become his new Robin.

Death of the Family
Over time, Batman realized Jason was behaving more aggressive towards criminals and this violence wound up being the cause of the death of a criminal.When Jason became an inconvenience while fighting crime, Batman restricted him from going out as Robin. In the meantime, Joker had escaped from Arkham and Batman followed the trail of the madman to the Middle East, where he also found Jason. Batman learned that Jason was looking for his real mother and when their missions crossed, they worked together to foil Joker's plans. Although they couldn't capture the Joker, Jason was reunited with his mother, Sheila Haywood. Unfortunately, she was being blackmailed by the Joker and the Dynamic Duo had to separate to deal with a double threat by the madman. While Batman went on to stop a deadly cargo of Joker Venom, Robin tried to save his mother, but he was captured and beaten by the Joker.By the time Batman arrived at the crime scene, the warehouse where Jason and his mother were locked exploded and Batman couldn't save either of them. After dealing with the funeral arrangements for them, Bruce returned to Gotham, where he tracked down the Joker to the United Nations Building and learned the madman had become an Ambassador, which granted him diplomatic immunity.Batman was soon confronted by Superman, who was asked to prevent Batman from starting an international incident by attacking the Joker. Despite this, Batman continued his investigation and he confirmed Joker's involvement in Jason's death. Finally, when the Joker attempted to murder the people at the UN Building, he was stopped by Batman and Superman, but on his escape attempt, he fell to his apparent demise, but his body was not found.

Tim Drake
After the death of Jason, Batman mourned his loss and became a loner for quite a while; stopping threats like the alien invasion, Mr. Freeze,the League of Assassins,[100] the Bonecrusher,Two-Face,and solving other minor cases.Batman also faced other strange incidents like the mysterious “Batman Killings”,the mystery of Tulpa, an ancient, dark and mystic ritual with help from the Demon, Etrigan, the threat of the Mud Pack, which resulted in the creation of the Ultimate Clayface,and finally he stopped the misguided vigilante Anarky.Following the death of Jason Todd, Batman became much more violent and aggressive while coping with the tragedy without someone to balance him out. A young man named Tim Drake figured out his secret identity using detective work, and determined that he needed a Robin to keep his darkness in check, just as Two-Face reappeared with new plans to kill the Dark Knight.

Knightfall
The plot of Knightfall began with the master criminal Bane freeing all of the maximum-security inmates of Arkham Asylum. Bane's plan consisted of weakening Batman by forcing him to deal with the deadly villains one at a time. Among the freed inmates, there were numerous high profile villains, such as the Joker, who trapped Arkham's administrator Jeremiah Arkham, and Scarecrow, as well as many less known villains, such as the Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, Firefly, Cavalier, and Victor Zsasz. The storyline of Knightfall drove a large rift in the relationship between Robin and Batman, as Batman sought to face the outbreak alone. Indeed, in later issues, Tim Drake, the current Robin, asks Batman if he is even needed as his sidekick anymore.Over the next few issues, Batman became weaker and weaker as each criminal was put away. The combination of the Joker and Scarecrow took Batman to his mental and physical limits. After this encounter, Bane made his move and attacked Batman (by this time, Bane had deduced the identity of Batman to be Bruce Wayne) at Wayne Manor, where he was most vulnerable as his alter-ego. The fight between Bruce Wayne and Bane was detailed in Batman #497, and ended in Bane breaking Wayne's back over his knee. With Batman supposedly out of the way, Bane assumes control of Gotham City and begins to take over a number of illegal operations within it. After his defeat, Bruce Wayne enlists the aid of Dr. Shondra Kinsolving to rehabilitate him and asks Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael) to take up the mantle of Batman so that Gotham has a protector. Tim Drake argues with Bruce to allow Dick Grayson (the former Robin) to become Batman, as he is more experienced and mentally competent. However, Bruce says that Dick is his own man now, with his own responsibilities and would only do so reluctantly; Dick later expressed resentment at not being asked to stand in as Batman. Bruce's rationale for this decision is revealed in later issues -- secretly, he doesn't want Dick to have to face Bane, as he knows Dick's character will compel him to try. Bruce gives Jean-Paul strict orders never to engage Bane in combat; indeed, when Jean-Paul faces Bane, only his modified gloves save him from being thrown to his death.Soon after, Kinsolving and Tim's father Jack Drake are kidnapped and Bruce with Alfred leave the country to find them - their story is continued in Knightquest: The Search, whilst the happenings in Gotham are recorded in Knightquest: The Crusade. Jean-Paul is shown as a different but not dangerous Batman until an encounter with the Scarecrow, which culminates in Jean-Paul being infected by Scarecrow's fear gas and the "System" - his programming as Azrael - taking over, in order to combat Jean-Paul's fear. Following this, Jean-Paul was unable to shake the influence of the System, giving into it completely after his first defeat at Bane's hands, and being increasingly influenced by it during the rest of his tenure as Batman. Over the next few issues he is portrayed in, Jean-Paul alienates Robin and becomes paranoid and arrogant, the opposite of what Bruce had chosen him for. In Batman #500, Jean-Paul in his new mechanical Batsuit confronts Bane in a vicious battle and eventually prevails. Jean-Paul leaves Bane broken mentally and physically, although he struggles with the choice of whether to simply kill Bane or hand him over to the police. Stating that he will let Bane go to Blackgate Prison, Jean-Paul continues to watch over Gotham after the fight but grows increasingly unstable.The massive story was quickly collected into two volumes of trade paperbacks. Volume one was subtitled Broken Bat and the second was Who Rules the Night. In late 2011, the story was recollected in one massive volume together with The Vengeance of Bane as Knightfall Vol. 1: Knightfall.

Knightquest
"Knightfall" was immediately followed by "Knightquest" in the monthly serials. "Knightquest" is divided into two storylines, one following Bruce Wayne (Knightquest: The Search) and the other on the new Batman (Knightquest: The Crusade). The stories were not treated as crossovers and the Batman titles continued as they had before Knightfall where the creative teams each pursued their own storylines. This, however, leads to some contradictions within the story between the different comic titles.The issues that make up the Knightquest saga were highly sought after by comic completists as they were never collected into trade paperback format; "KnightsEnd" was released as a trade paperback directly after the two "Knightfall" collections. However, in 2012, DC released the books that made up "The Crusade" as part of their Knightfall re-releases, titled Knightfall Vol 2: Knightquest. It is said that Danny O'Neil never liked "The Search" and is most likely instrumental for that part of the storyline not being released in a trade.

The Crusade
Knightquest: The Crusade follows the story of Jean-Paul Valley as he became increasingly violent and mentally unbalanced as he replaced Bruce Wayne as Batman in Gotham. During this time, he drives Robin away because he believed Gotham post-Bane to be so tough that only violence could answer its criminals. Indeed, in several issues, Robin is left horrified as Jean-Paul ferociously attacks common criminals, often with a weapon and sometimes nearly to death. This surge of violence from Gotham's defender put pressure on Batman's relationship with Police Commissioner Gordon, who begins to distrust and even fear the new Batman and eventually comes to realize he is not the original. All of Jean-Paul's actions are compelled by "The System"; on numerous occasions, he sees the ghosts of his ancestors giving him advice on how to run Gotham and he is driven to near insanity by the time the saga ends. He repeatedly redesigns his Batman costume, adding more gadgets and lethal weapons, including laser, razor-sharp Batarangs and a flame-thrower. Eventually, he also adds a Bat-symbol, matching the one used for the series' logo. Valley expresses desire, through narrative, to be a better Batman than Bruce Wayne, especially when he discovers his lack of interest in detective work caused him to make false assumptions about Catwoman (he thought she would sell a powerful nerve gas to terrorists when she merely wanted to dispose of it so it couldn't be used to hurt anyone). His questionable actions culminate when he encounters the serial killer Abattoir, who is keeping an innocent prisoner in a secret torture chamber. Jean-Paul purposely lets Abattoir die, thereby condemning the prisoner to death as well. Other notable villains Jean-Paul faces include Mister Freeze, Joker, and Clayface. Of these villains, the most notable encounters are with Catwoman and the Joker, both of whom could tell Valley wasn't the original Batman (Catwoman because he didn't give out the pheromones that Bruce did and Joker mainly because of his psychotic bond with Batman but also by judging his movements and seeing that they weren't as graceful as Bruce's).

The Search
Knightquest: The Search follows Bruce Wayne and Alfred's search for Jack Drake and Shondra Kinsolving, with whom Bruce Wayne falls in love in the midst of his rehabilitation sessions. Kinsolving's brother-by-adoption Benedict Asp kidnapped her to use her special powers to kill people at a distance. Asp demonstrates this new form of mass murder on a small English village. When Bruce Wayne finds Kinsolving, he finds himself caught in the middle of a telekinetic tug-of-war between Asp and Kinsolving. The battle climaxes with her refocusing her energy to defeat Asp, with a side effect of the battle is that Bruce's broken spine becomes healed. However, the drugs forced onto her by Asp, not to mention the effects of the fight with Asp, reduce her mind to that of a child, and Wayne reluctantly puts her into a mental institution.

Bruce eventually leaves England to return home to a civilian life in Gotham, but Alfred remains in England, not wanting to see Bruce Wayne damage his body further. He does not return to Gotham until a while later when Dick Grayson persuades him to do so in later issues.

Knightsend
Although previous parts of KnightSaga had taken considerable time to run their course, the entirety of KnightsEnd was published within two months, as the Batman books had to prepare themselves for the impending Zero Hour, which would immediately follow the KnightSaga (the Zero issues focusing on aspects of Batman and Robin's origins). As a result, nothing was truncated and the Batman series made use of all of the Batman related titles at their disposal, such as Catwoman, Robin and the usual set in Year One Legends of the Dark Knight that led the story to its conclusion.Jean-Paul Valley sees visions of his dead father, who had programmed him at birth to be a deadly weapon. These visions tell Jean-Paul to avenge his father's death, while at the same time trying to stop a gun running organization that used to be run by Carlton LeHah, who had killed his father. He eventually comes to believe that Penn Selkirk, a Gotham mobster who has taken over the remnants of LeHah's organization, is a puppet for LeHah, running things behind the scenes.Returning to Gotham, Bruce meets Robin. He is impressed enough with Jean-Paul to let him remain as Batman but when Robin tells him of Abattoir's death, Bruce sneaks into the Batcave and demands that Jean-Paul step down. Jean-Paul refuses and threatens to kill Bruce if he ever returns. In response, Bruce asks the deadly assassin Lady Shiva to retrain him. Since Bruce had once been the only person capable of surviving a fight with her, he figures that nobody could better prepare him to fight Jean-Paul. Shiva pits Bruce against several expert martial artists after killing their master in what would become Bruce's disguise, the Mask of Tengu (a bat spirit).Shiva's caveat is that these attacks will continue indefinitely until Bruce Wayne breaks his solemn vow to never take a life. Finally, in the midst of another attack, Bruce uses the deadly Leopard Blow Shiva had taught him, leaving his would-be assailant dead and Shiva finally declaring him worthy of fighting her (at some point in the future). Without Bruce noticing, Robin and Nightwing had tailed him and saw the whole thing. As Shiva departed and Wayne was left to hear Nightwing chastise him over how everything Batman had ever taught was a lie, the man struck by the Leopard Blow came back around, as Bruce had merely struck him hard enough that Shiva would believe for the time being that Wayne had killed the man. Bruce had figured out that Shiva put a radio transmitter in his mask, and decided that he was back to peak physical condition and thus did not need any more from Shiva.Bruce returns to the Batcave and dons the original Batman costume. Along with Robin and Nightwing, he tracks Valley down to Selkirk's penthouse, as the other heroes had been watching Jean-Paul for a while and knew he sought his father's killer, as LeHah's body was never recovered. Coincidentally, Catwoman is chasing the same man because he owns a neural enabler that might allow a paraplegic to walk again. Selkirk already wants to kill Jean-Paul for destroying a valuable weapons cache in Gotham Harbor.When they eventually all meet, mass fighting and gunfire ensue. The battle ends in the mobster's helicopter as Jean-Paul's grapnel gun locks one of the rotors and Catwoman knocks away a gun intended to kill Bruce and Jean-Paul. Selkirk's helicopter crashes into the Gotham Narrows Bridge; coupled with fuel from the chopper mixing with Jean-Paul's flame-thrower, Jean-Paul falls into the Gotham River. Bruce and Catwoman save Selkirk and his aides just before the helicopter explodes from the leaking gasoline. When Bruce tries to find Jean-Paul using the Batmobile, it explodes. Having realized that Jean-Paul would have booby-trapped the car, Bruce escapes just in time. After the explosion, Nightwing fears Bruce dead and takes his vengeance out on Jean-Paul on a party boat. The police arrive in time to prevent Nightwing's murder, but Jean-Paul escapes. However, to his shock, Jean-Paul finds Bruce waiting at Wayne Manor.The final battle of the Knightfall saga takes place in the caverns surrounding the Batcave between Jean-Paul and Bruce Wayne: rather than beating Jean-Paul at hand-to-hand combat, Bruce escapes into a passage too narrow for Jean-Paul to go through in his armor, forcing him to remove most of it. Bruce then opens a hatch to the outside, which covered the very hole he fell into as a child, allowing sunlight to stab at the night lenses in Jean-Paul's helmet. After being momentarily blinded, Jean-Paul sees Bruce staring down at him in the original Batman costume and concedes defeat, saying "You are Batman... and I am nothing." Bruce comforts Jean-Paul, who leaves Gotham to travel the world and find his purpose as had Bruce. Bruce decides not to take Jean-Paul to the police because it was his decision to make Jean-Paul the Batman.KnightsEnd was collected into a trade paperback about a year later. Originally released as Batman: KnightsEnd, recent editions retitled it as volume three of the Knightfall saga. A new version of the trade not only does that but also fully completes it by inserting the last two epilogue stories and the Batman: Prodigal storyline.

Zero Hour
The Timestream was damaged by Extant and Parallax working together, causing time to deteriorate and reality to break down throughout history during the Zero Hour crisis.A new Batgirl appeared from an alternate timeline where she had never been crippled, and went on to get romantically involved with Bruce.There was another timeline he saw in which his parents were never killed by Joe Chill, and he wasted the time he could've spent with them tracking the mugger down anyway.

Prodigal
Bruce reaffirmed his partnership with Tim, resolving the tension caused by Bruce's unwillingness to accept help during the Arkham prison break. Bruce passed the mantle of Batman to Dick Grayson so he could re-evaluate what it would take to restore his perceived aura of invincibility.Because of previous events, considerable time passed before Commissioner Gordon restored his trust in the idea of a Batman working for good. Gordon could tell that he was not looking at the original Batman (based on Jean-Paul's costume and Dick's height, and the fact that Jean-Paul was more than ready to kill people), and he refused to place blind trust in a costume after spending so long learning to trust the man. Numerous loose ends were tied up during this time, with Killer Croc, the Ventriloquist, Ratcatcher and Two-Face, along with many other, less notorious released inmates being returned to prison. During his time as Batman, Dick avenged his worst mistake from his days as Robin, when a mistake in a confrontation with Two-Face caused a man to die and nearly killed Bruce. He also came to appreciate the incredible physical and mental burden Bruce placed on himself in donning the Batsuit. During this time, a firm bond arose between Dick and Tim as they shared Wayne Manor together in Bruce and Alfred's absence.

Troika
When Bruce finally returned for good, he wore a sturdier (made of Kevlar), darker Batsuit and drove a new, state-of-the-art Batmobile. He again fought Colonel Vega, KGBeast and Dark Rider, in order to foil a plot to nuke Gotham City with a device the size and shape of a baseball. Batman made changes to his life as Bruce Wayne, his relationships with his 'family', planned to live without Alfred, and coped with the decision of making Jean-Paul his replacement.

Contaigian
Shortly after Batman's comeback, Azrael sent him a video tape showing the effects of a deadly and highly contagious virus named Ebola Gulf-A.Azrael told Batman that there would be an outbreak of the virus if he didn't stop it on time. The virus spread too fast among the citizens of Gotham and it was impossible for Batman and his allies to find a cure or develop a serum from the survivors' blood. The "clench", as the virus was known, decimated the population of Gotham and even Tim Drake was infected. The city was quarantined and the national guard was sent to control all of Gotham's access. It was later revealed that the Order of St. Dumas was responsible for creating the virus and for setting it free into the world.

New World Order
Brought together through a fight against Doctor Destiny, Aquaman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Superman and Wonder Woman realized that Earth needed its greatest heroes working together and reformed the Justice League of America.

Cataylsm
Gotham City was completely destroyed by an earthquake that reached magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale. Batman was trapped inside of his cave at the time and was nearly killed by falling rocks.The only properties that were not affected by the quake were those owned by Wayne Enterprises, not including Wayne Manor for geographic reasons.With his car crushed, Bruce was forced to scuba through underground streams before getting to the harbor and seeing his city in flames.Blackgate Prison had a break-out in the chaos, and Batman was able to put a stop to the rioting although many villains escaped in the process.He enlisted the Penguin's influence on organized crime to incorporate local gangsters into the rescue efforts for survivors in the wreckage.Teaming up with the GCPD he adopted the guise of Detective Hawke so he could drag people to safety in the daylight.A new villain named Quakemaster claimed to have generated the disaster, and held the city hostage for several million dollars, threatening to hit them again if they did not comply.In reality he had kidnapped seismologist Jolene Relazzo and was using her knowledge to plausibly take credit.Robin figured out that Quakemaster was a fraud; in reality it had been the Ventriloquist, and he was swiftly defeated. After the situation was stabilized, the body count had reached over one hundred thousand people. There were mass graves dug to burn the corpses and prevent spread of disease

No Mans Land
In response, the U.S government declared Gotham a "no man's land," destroyed all bridges leading to Gotham and forbade people from entering or exiting. The city was swiftly carved up by gangs and various supervillains Batman had battled over the years. Jim Gordon and several members of the Gotham police department stayed behind to protect civilians. Oracle and Huntress also ended up on the inside. Bruce Wayne left the city to lobby the government not to cut Gotham off, but failed. Gordon and his men waited for Batman's return, but by the time he returned more than three months later, they believed he had abandoned Gotham.Huntress attempted to keep order, fashioning a Batgirl costume. She soon discovered that criminals feared her more as Batgirl than they did Huntress and succeeded in holding territory of her own. When Batman returned, he allowed her to continue to use the costume. However, when she failed to hold off Two-Face and his army of men and lost Batman's territory, she abandoned the costume.Batman and James Gordon's officers worked separately to reclaim Gotham, piece by piece, by beating and subduing the gang leaders and then marking the reclaimed territory with graffiti. Poison Ivy took up residence in Robinson Park and Batman allowed her to remain there as long as she cared for the local orphans and distributed food.Gordon allied with Two-Face, but Two-Face betrayed their alliance. Two-Face also hired David Cain to kill Gordon, but Cain was thwarted by his daughter Cassandra. Cassandra later took up the mantle as the third Batgirl to help clean up No Man's Land. Later, Two-Face kidnapped Gordon and put him on trial for breaking the alliance. Police officer Renee Montoya reached out to Two-Face's Harvey Dent persona, whose defense led to Gordon's acquittal. Dent's questioning concluded that Two-Face had essentially blackmailed Gordon into the alliance, hence making any alliance between them void.The turning point for No Man's Land came when Lex Luthor arrived with helicopters to rebuild Gotham. However, Luthor's covert plan was to take the deeds and much of the property in Gotham, since the original deeds had been destroyed, and many of the owners had died in the earthquake. Lucius Fox discovered the original documents and notified Luthor. Luthor then attempted to kill Fox, but Batman intervened and told Luthor that Gotham was not for sale, warning him to leave.The United States government reversed the No Man's Land order and allowed Gotham to rejoin the United States. Gordon and his surviving police officers were promoted. The Joker attacked police sergeant William Pettit's compound, killing Pettit and leaving the Huntress badly injured. The Joker later kidnapped all of Gotham's babies. When Sarah Essen-Gordon discovered the babies, the Joker murdered her. Batman later convinced a grief-stricken Commissioner Gordon not to kill the Joker, who gloated at Gordon about murdering his wife. Gordon shot Joker through one of his kneecaps instead and let Batman take him away to be incarcerated.

Batman RIP
During a dinner date where she considered breaking up with him, Jezebel Jet was captured by a terrorist named the Fiend with Nine Eyes and discovered that Bruce was Batman when he rescued her.The Black Glove invited Batman and Jezebel Jet to a dance of death called the Danse Macabre, having clearly discovered his secret identity. Doctor Hurt had organized villains and madmen from across the world including the Joker, Le Bossu and the Club of Villains to finally put an end to Batman. Robin believed that Bruce was slowly starting to lose his grip on reality, although Alfred insisted that there was no stronger mind in the world.Hurt announced to his team that they would be creating a work of art in the complete and utter ruination of a noble human spirit; Thomas and Martha Wayne were discredited through slander published in the Gotham Gazette and the Club was sent out to attack his allies. Bruce finally collapsed into a mental break-down when he heard the trigger phrase Zur-En-Arrh spoken aloud, and villains stormed the Batcave The attack completely destroyed his mind; he was injected with weapons grade crystal meth and street heroin and then woke up as an amnesiac derelict on the streets.A homeless man named Honor Jackson took him in and gave him a small radio he believed to be the Bat-Radia, although this was a hallucination and Jackson had died of a drug overdose the previous day. Nightwing was captured by Scorpiana and taken to Arkham Asylum where Bossu planned to lobotomize him. Pierrot Lunaire and Swagman went after Robin. Bruce stitched a new costume called the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh with Bat-Mite as a spiritual guide.This was a contingency plan he had prepared in case there was ever a direct attack on his mind, a stream-lined back-up personality that existed as Batman without Bruce Wayne. Taking out criminals across the city at unheard-of speed, he defeated King Kraken and interrogated Charlie Caligula. Hurt began wearing Thomas Wayne's Batman Costume and claimed that he was the real Thomas Wayne, having faked his own death years ago. Jeremiah Arkham was beaten and the Black Gloves took over his asylum. Commissioner Gordon came to investigate Wayne Manor personally and found himself caught in one of El Sombrero's death traps.The Black Glove prepared Arkham Asylum while its richest members gathered to gamble on whether good or evil would triumph. Batman fought his way inside through henchmen, although he had to make the final journey alone as Bat-Mite was his last voice of reason and could not enter the door. Damian and Talia al Ghul got involved and rescued Gordon. Batman brutally fought the enraged Joker and then unmasked in front of him when he finally saved Jezebel, although she was revealed to have been part of the conspiracy all along.Joker killed a member of the Glove and placed his bet on good triumphing over evil. Buried alive in his cowl to be raised from the grave after incurring brain damage, Batman woke up, broke out of his coffin and rose through the dirt. The Bat-Radia was activated and it had been converted to send signals instead of receive, putting the asylum into lock-down through the Batcomputer. Nightwing woke up in time to break his restraints and punch out Bossu seconds before his lobotomy. Robin brought the Club of Heroes in to help clean up the city. Hurt tried to escape in a helicopter driven by Bat-Devil after swearing to continue destroying Batman unless he submitted, but Bruce refused and took the chopper down with his bare hands. There was a massive explosion over the water, but Batman survived and continued his fight against evil.

FInal Crisis
Batman had to solve the murder of a New God when Orion was killed in Metropolis by a Radion Bullet. This was part of a greater plot by Darkseid to control the Multiverse using the Anti-Life Equation during Final Crisis.Libra, prophet of the Religion of Crime, killed Martian Manhunter. At the funeral, Batman paid his respects by placing a Choco on his departed friend's grave.Investigating the killings, he was taken prisoner by another dark servant, Granny Goodness posing as Kraken of the Alpha Lantern Corps.They intended to use Bruce Wayne to create a clone army of Batmen, using his body and mind as the template for perfect soldiers.Simyan and Mokkari held him in their Evil Factory where they sedated him and slowly drained his character. Recognizing what was happening to him, Batman broke his psyche out of telepathic restraints and fought back against the system. Making his own mind into a weapon, he used all of the pain and trauma he had experienced to destroy their machines. Every single memory that Batman had driving his motivations, all of the raw emotional energy, was more stress than anything else could tolerate and the entire complex destroyed itself and nearly everything inside.Batman went to the Command D bunker and challenged Darkseid, the ultimate personification of evil, as the Anti-Life destroyed reality around them. Although he had made a very solemn vow about firearms, he said that he was making a once-in-a-lifetime exception and shot Darkseid in the chest with the Radion Bullet. This was a reversal of the moment when evil struck down his parents in the streets, and this time, Batman stood with his smoking gun pointed at evil himself. The last thing he said was "gotcha." Right before dying, Darkseid blasted Batman with an Omega Sanction that seemingly killed him. Arriving moments too late, Superman recovered Batman's skeletal burnt corpse.Bruce Wayne was shown to have survived the Omega Sanction, and his body had been flung backward thousands of years in time. He was trapped in the Prehistoric Era, where he was present for the death of the first man Anthro, and drew cave paintings of his own insignia.

Battle for the Cowl
Naturally, following the events of the Final Crisis that left the Batman Family without their leader, Batman's allies were in disarray, Gotham criminals took advantage of his absence, and the question stood, "Is Batman gone?" Feeling a combination of obligation and hesitation, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake-Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, and Damian Wayne debated as to what the future of the Dark Knight should be, until an estranged Jason Todd turned up, having taken a twisted cowl (reminiscent of Jean-Paul Valley's) for himself. Todd decommissioned an arrogant Damian, making Dick, Tim, and Alfred feel an even greater sense of urgency to send the Caped Crusader back on the streets. However, Dick still refused, prompting Tim to hijack an old Batsuit himself and seek out Jason and his twisted Batcave. Jason managed to defeat Tim and severely injure him, leaving only Dick and Jason as the heir to the cowl. As Alfred provided medical care for Damian and Tim was barely escaping with his life, Dick and Jason fought long and hard until Jason, vowing that he would see Dick "much sooner than you think," plummeted off of a moving train into the depths of the river below. The conclusion of this struggle found Dick accepting his role as the new Batman, with the darkest Robin yet, Damian, by his side. Tim, however, was far away from Gotham, believing that Bruce was not actually dead. He took the mantle of the Red Robin, and explored the globe for clues as to where his adoptive father was.

Blackest Night
Superman later returned the cowl from Bruce's remains to Nightwing and Robin, to be left in a memorial similar to the one Batman made for Jason. At Alfred's insistence, no public funeral was held for Batman, and Robin, refusing to believe he was dead, prevented them from declaring Bruce Wayne dead. Wayne's body was buried in an unmarked grave next to Thomas and Martha Wayne. Some weeks later, as Gotham City was going through a rampant crime wave following Batman's disappearance, Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, the second Flash, who had returned during the Final Crisis, met each other at Wayne's grave for a private farewell to their friend. Although Hal was somber given the loss, coupled with the earlier losses of Arthur Curry and J'onn J'onzz, Barry reminded Hal that they, Superman, and Green Arrow all died and returned, and if anyone could beat the Reaper, it was the Dark Knight. Unfortunately, soon after they left, the criminal Black Hand, dug Wayne's skull out of the ground while reciting the Black Lantern Oath. Nekron later used a Black Lantern Ring to revive the skull and build it a form to tether an emotional connection to the heroes present, and had it spit out Black Lantern Rings that attached themselves to the resurrected heroes; Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Superboy, and Kid Flash, with two more failing to reach Barry Allen and Hal Jordan. Almost immediately after, much to Hal Jordan's surprise, Nekron released the skull from the ring and it returned to normal. After the Blackest Night, Hal and Barry returned to Bruce's grave to talk about what had transpired. After stating that "dead is dead from here on out," Hal said that Batman is the exception because the Black Lantern Batman they fought did not recognize any of them and was not really Bruce, proving that Tim Drake was right; Bruce was still alive, somewhere.Sometime after the Blackest Night, at Jason Todd's behest, Dick (apparently unaware of Hal Jordan's post-Blackest Night conclusions) immersed Bruce's body in a Lazarus Pit. The body turned out to be one of Darkseid's Batman clones that he decided to keep as a perfect replica of Batman. However, its memories were warped and unstable and it went mad. After attacking Damian, the clone burned out and died. Dick finally accepted that Bruce was still alive somewhere.

Return of Bruce Wayne
Trapped in the past with no memory, Bruce was forced to fight his way through time back to the present day. Darkseid used the Hyper-Adapter monster to aim him like a doomsday weapon through history, picking up Omega Energy until he reached the modern era and exploded. Rip Hunter and his Time Masters, including Booster Gold, Green Lantern and Superman became a time traveling search party to stop him from ending the world. Starting in the Prehistoric Era, he was given the name Man-of-Bats and defeated Vandal Savage's Blood Tribe in combat. This inspiration drove Anthro's people to call themselves the Bat Tribe.Several hundred years later he became a colonial witch-hunter, using detective work to disprove supernatural explanations for local crimes using the identity of Mordecai Wayne. His name went down in legend as a mythical dragon-slayer when he disappeared while fighting the monster.ruce was mistaken for the Black Pirate when he washed up on an unfamiliar shore next to the real Jack Valor, and was taken hostage by Blackbeard. They forced him to guide them through a cave system to reveal his treasure, but he fought them off with the Pirate's cowl and was assisted by the native Bat-people. Valor was entrusted to write down a mysterious message in a box, and gave it to the Wayne family for safe-keeping over the centuries. As a masked avenger in the old west he protected his future family from Monsieur Savage and another ancestor named Thomas Wayne, attempting to steal the box for themselves. This was supposed to bring about the end times through a dark god named Barbatos. Succeeding in his mission, Batman was shot off a bridge by the bounty hunter Jonah Hex.Returning to Gotham shortly after his parents' murder, a friend of his mother named Marsha Lamarr enlisted him as a private investigator looking into the shooting. There were accusations made that Thomas Wayne staged the killing to fake his own death. Marsha betrayed Bruce to Doctor Hurt's devil-worshiping Black Glove organization who had attempted to destroy his parents' souls through their reputations, and set him on fire as a human sacrifice. Carter Nichols' prototype time machine allowed him to escape into the future, to the end of time at Vanishing Point.Bruce regained his memory at the end of time, having worked out his plan to thwart Darkseid's revenge. Memory loss gave the monster nothing to go on, and the clues he planted for himself all along helped him work out how to get through everything. Merging with one of the great Archivists, he briefly gained omniscience and created a Time Sphere to travel back to his own time. Possessed by the Hyper-Adapter and overwhelmed with dangerous amounts of Omega Radiation, he allowed the Justice League to defeat him. They induced clinical death to separate Bruce from the beast and dissipate the radiation, then sent it back through time again using the sphere. Experiencing a hallucination in the Fifth World, Batman was confronted by a vision of Darkseid urging him to accept Anti-Life and Metron urging him to defeat the ultimate evil by accepting the first truth of Batman: he had never been alone. Bruce revived after two minutes of clinical death, Red Robin explained that Gotham was in terrible trouble and he suited up to go.owever, before going out as Batman again, Bruce took over the identity of the vigilante Insider and started meeting his past friends and allies to learn how things had changed since his departure. His return called the attention of Ra's al Ghul and after a confrontation in Gotham, Bruce decided that it was time to reclaim the mantle of the Bat.Doctor Hurt and Professor Pyg had taken Gotham by siege, fighting Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne. After defeating the 99 Fiends together, Bruce went after Hurt and the others went after Pyg. Trapping him in his own interrogation room to listen to Alfred's death, Hurt proclaimed that he was the devil and Batman would rot in purgatory. Bursting out of the prison, he delivered a final beat-down to Hurt and went to rescue Pennyworth. The Doctor escaped outside where he was defeated by the Joker and buried alive with a giant grin on his face. Having come to a new conclusion about the direction of his fight against crime, Bruce revealed in a press conference that he had been privately financing Batman for years and went public with Batman Incorporated.

Armageddon 2001
Armageddon 2001 refers to a gigantic battle between all of Earth's heroes and a villain known only as Monarch, in which the superheroes were slain and the all-powerful Monarch plunged the world into a totalitarian government underneath his rule. This Possible Future took place in the then-future year of 2001, hence the title. In the year 2030, Matthew Ryder, a scientist sent into the Timestream as a part of one of Monarch's experiments, becomes imbued with temporal superpowers and journeys into the past as Waverider to attempt to learn more about Monarch and determine who he is so he can be thwarted. On his journeys, Waverider investigates the possible futures of almost every superhero in the DCU, some even multiple times. As the tale reaches its conclusion, the identity of Monarch is revealed as he appears in the present time to destroy all superheroes in order to make his future reign be certain.

Batman in Bethalam
The world has been plunged into a series of constant war and terror set against the backdrop of a climate of nearly unlivable temperatures. And in this dark and all too possible future, Damian Wayne - who has sold his soul to Satan in exchange for Gotham's protection in the night of Batman's death - now wears the mantle of the Bat. Bearing a personal vendetta against the Dark Knight of the future, Commissioner Barbara Gordon continues to hunt him down out of revenge for a loved one's death she blames Damian for.The Third Batman, claiming to be the Anti-Christ returning to bring about Armageddon, has killed five major Gotham crime bosses. Each murder scene, when connected together makes a five pointed star across the face of Gotham. Damian wonders if the Third Batman is aware of his own arrangement with the Dark Prince.Armed with a flame thrower and accompanied by some of the worst of Arkham Asylum's offenders, the so-called Anti-Christ crashes a climate change summit and holds the diplomats hostage. His plan to draw out Damian works like a charm as the son of Batman arrives mutilating anything that gets in his way as he heads towards the face-off.Aside from obviously being unaware of Damian's satanic past. The Third Batman is also unaware of Damian's mind boggling level of preparation for his fight. "The victory is in the preparation," Bruce used to say. And Damian, knowing he could never fill the boots of his predecessors, has gone about booby trapping every inch of Gotham.Damian detonates one of the bombs sending the "son of Satan" flying through a plate glass window and into a pool outside. He recovers and returns that Damian bow to him and claiming that Bruce Wayne should have killed this third impostor when he had a chance.Damian promised his father he would never kill, but like so many other things, Damian fails to follow his father's wishes. He slashes the impostor's innards before snapping his neck saying, "What happened to my dad paved the way for a Batman like me. Too bad for you... Tell your big, bad daddy to bring it on anytime. If he wants what I owe him... Batman is waiting."Damian tells the diplomats in attendance that they are free to go but Barbara arrives on the scene and shoots him. Unfortunately for her, bullets don't appear to kill Damian. Shocked at this revelation, Barbara demands to know who Batman is."The best friend you've got. The apocalypse is canceled... until I say so." is all he replies.