Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne was a millionaire playboy and secretly the costumed crimefighter known as the Batman from approximately 1939 onwards.

Early life
Born to a life of wealth and leisure to Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha, young Bruce Wayne was walking home from an evening at the theater with his parents when the three found themselves confronted by a gun-wielding hoodlum named Joe Chill. The young thug demanded the diamond necklace Martha Wayne was wearing, and when Thomas Wayne refused to surrender it, Chill shot him to death in cold blood. The shock of seeing her husband was too much for Martha Wayne's weak heart and she suffered a fatal heart attack, leaving Bruce an orphan. Bruce was placed under the guardianship of his uncle Phillip, who raised the boy to adulthood.

Traumatized by his parents' death, Bruce swore at their graveside to avenge their murder by waging war on all criminals. To this end, Bruce devoted his formative years to developing his mind and body to unparalleled perfection.

Birth of the Batman
After coming into his inheritance, Wayne moved back into the family home, Wayne Manor, to decide how to fulfill his graveside vow. One evening, while pondering in the Manor study, Wayne witnessed a large black bat flying in through the open window. Taking the act as an omen, Wayne decided to become a creature of the night, black, terrible, a figure to strike fear in hearts of evildoers everywhere. Thus was born the Bat-Man.

Early career as the Batman
At first the Gotham City Police, led by Commissioner James W. Gordon, thought the Caped Crusader a criminal himself and sought to apprehend him, but the Batman ultimately came to terms with Gordon and received unique status with the police.

In April 1939, by striking up a friendship with Commisioner Gordon, Wayne learned of a mysterious murder case which the Batman solved with presumably deadly results for the culprit, Alfred Stryker. Stryker had set up the murders of his former business partners David Lambert, Steven Crane and Paul Rogers, all shareholders in the Apex Chemical Corporation. Batman found out that the three had made secret contracts to let Stryker take over the ownership of the corporation, but that Stryker had figured that killing his former partners would ensure he did not have to pay his debts. Saving the life of Rogers and confronting Stryker, Stryker attacked Batman in a fit of rage, whereupon Batman punched him through a railing into a tank of acid, killing him.

After seeing the need for easier traversal, Wayne added a tough silk rope to his equipment. Later, by impersonating Commissioner Gordon's voice, Batman learned the identity of Frenchy Blake, a notorious jewel thief with his own gang. By leading the police and the media to believe that Batman was the leader of the gang, Batman made Blake feel secure enough to continue his string of thefts, leading to Blake's capture and the death of one of his henchmen. By delivering Blake to the police with a forced confession, Batman tried to convince the police that they were on the same side.

Strange criminals
In June 1939 Batman encountered extorter Karl Hellfern, known as Doctor Death and his thugs.

Robin
In 1940 Wayne assumed the guardianship of a young acrobat, Dick Grayson, who had watched his parents, with whom he was a member of the acrobatic troupe Flying Graysons, plunge to their death from the high trapeze as a result of criminal activity. Wayne sensed a kindred spirit in the boy and, after an intense training period, took young Dick on as his partner. Designing a costume based on his childhood hero, Robin Hood, Dick Grayson became Robin, the Boy Wonder.

Abilities
An incomparable athlete, far superior to mere Olympic level, the Batman is also a master of all forms of physical combat, an unparalleled strategist and tactician, an expert in the art of disguise, and has been called by some the world's greatest escape artist. His reasoning and deductive abilities are second to none.

Equipment
The weapons in his arsenal against crime include the items in his utility belt, his Batmobile, his Batplane, and the one-man Whirly-Bat.