Alternate versions of Batman

Alternate versions of Batman from all media, including DC Comics multiverse, Elseworlds, television and film.

Comics

Modern continuity

* Bruce Wayne is the original Batman. This is Batman's secret identity in almost all representations in other media.
* Azrael (Jean-Paul Valley) becomes Batman after Bane breaks Bruce's back during 1993's "" story.
* Dick Grayson assumes the Batman identity after Azrael is forced to relinquish the mantle, prior to Bruce Wayne's return.
* 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.
* Batman One Million is the Batman of the 853rd century, warden of the prison planet of Pluto and a member of Justice Legion A.
*Damian Wayne, the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul may assume the Batman mantle as an adult. ["Batman" #666]

Alternate universe depictions

*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 Earth-Three's supervillain counterpart to Batman. In his Antimatter universe incarnation, Owlman's secret identity is Thomas Wayne II, 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. ["Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists"' #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. ["Countdown to Adventure" #4]
*On Earth-11, which is inhabited gender-reversed superheroes, an alternate 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. ["Countdown" #21] The Batman (Bruce Wayne) of "" and "Justice League Unlimited" also resides in this universe.
*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 one shot depicts a Batman who started his crimefighting career in 1889. This alternate 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. This alternate Batman resides on Earth-22.
* depicts a Batman who is a Russian anarchist whose parents have been killed by the KGB. His actual name is not mentioned in the story. This alternate Batman resides on Earth-30.
* The Batman from Frank Miller's ' and its spin-offs, ' 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 alternate Batman resides on Earth-31.
*The limited series shows an alternate Bruce Wayne who assumes the mantle of Green Lantern instead of Batman. This alternate 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 limited series shows an alternate Batman who is a covert operative of the government known as the Bat during World War II. This alternate Batman resides on Earth-40. While fighting against the vampire Batman of Earth-43 in "" #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 limited series shows an alternate Batman who becomes a vampire after fighting Dracula. This alternate 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 of the DC supervillains.

Elseworlds and alternate versions

*Frank Miller's controversial interpretation of Batman splits off from normal continuity after , and includes:
** ""
** ""
** "All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder"
** "Holy Terror, Batman!"
* 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 ', 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, and Bruce Wayne is a district attorney who tries to stop Dent when his crimefighting methods start becoming more brutal.
* In ', 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 fighthers 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.
* 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 and after Crane is fully exposed as the manipulating monster he is, Batman confesses his crimes to the people of Gotham City, who then burn him alive inside Wayne Manor.
* In the "" 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.
* In the "Stan Lee's Just Imagine" continuity, Wayne Williams is framed for a crime he didn't commit who becomes Batman in a combination of Batman and Spider-Man's origin stories.
* In "", 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 , 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 Vincent St. Claire. 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. To protect his wife, he decides to use a disguise. Inspired by a painting of his ancestor, Sir Joshua of Wainewright, Bruce becomes the Batman. Eventually he tracks down Vandal, fighting him in space. The two plummet to Earth, burning up on reentry. Vandal, being immortal, is able to regenerate.

Film and television

* The "Batman" television series and 1966 film, starring Adam West, featured a campy version of Batman and associated characters.
* Tim Burton's Batman returned Batman to his gritty, pulp roots. After two films, Burton was replaced by Joel Schumacher and the franchise continued, but with less mature themes.
** "Batman" (1989), 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 Batman rebooted the film franchise. Starring Christian Bale in a new continuity based on , and . This incarnation of Batman seeks to fight crime from inside the criminal underworld before approached by Ra's al Ghul, from whom he receives the League of Shadows training which allows him to become the Batman. This version of Bruce Wayne does not seem to display the effortless, nearly unsurpassed genius of other incarnations of the character. However, as this is an origin story steeped in emotional torment for Bruce Wayne, his opportunity to use and demonstrate his intellectual abilities are yet to come. In this series, Batman is portrayed as a dark anti-hero at times. He is shown as being able to take the fall when others cannot; a dark knight as opposed to the white knight of Harvey Dent and the other heroes of Gotham.
**"Batman Begins"
**""
**"The Dark Knight"
* The DC animated universe, starting with "", featured a darker, more serious Batman voiced by Kevin Conroy.
** ""
** ""
** "The New Batman Adventures"
** "Batman Beyond" is set roughly 50 years in the future of the DCAU continuity, and features Bruce Wayne retiring and acting as mentor to Terry McGinnis, the new Batman.
** "Justice League", which in turn features two alternate animated 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.
*** 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 and 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.
* 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 his daughter Helena Kyle to defend the city.

References