Batman

""There was a time above... A time before... when there were perfect things... diamond absolutes. But things can fall... things here on Earth. What falls... remains fallen. And in my dream, it took me into the light. Into a beautiful lie.""

- ― Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne is the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and the main, intimidating vigilante operating in Gotham City, New Jersey known as the Batman. After witnessing the murder of his parents at the hands of a mugger as a child, Bruce waged a war on crime in Gotham City for over 20 years, dressed like a bat to intimidate the criminals, before the Black Zero Event. He also serves as the leader of the Justice League which he co-founded alongside Wonder Woman.

Over the years, Bruce encountered numerous foes, most notably his archenemy the Joker. Batman mentored the young Dick Grayson as his partner Robin, but he was tragically murdered by Joker and his doctor-turned-partner, Harley Quinn. Batman later apprehended Deadshot and Harley, and chased an up-and-coming Killer Croc out of Gotham during his attempt to form yet another criminal empire in the city. At some point he also came to blows with the mercenary Deathstroke, with the latter striving to destroy him. He also faced and defeated villains such as the Ratcatcher, Firefly, Oswald Cobblepot and the Riddler. After the death of Robin and the immense destruction and loss of life sustained during the Black Zero Event, Bruce became an increasingly ruthless guardian of Gotham City, as criminals grew wary of his now brutal reputation. He also shares a rivalry with Deathstroke and Deadshot.

Early life
"There was a time above, a time before. There were perfect things, diamond absolutes. How things fall. Things on Earth. And what falls... is fallen."

- - Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne was born on February 19, 1972, in Gotham City, New Jersey, to Thomas and Martha Wayne. Bruce had an idyllic childhood due to his family's fortune and the love supplied by his parents. Growing up, he would be sat down on the floor of Wayne Manor's entrance room by his father, who told him that despite the manor itself being built on railways, real estates, and oil, the first generation of Waynes made their fortune as hunters, trading pelts and skins with the French.

Assassination of Thomas and Martha Wayne
"In the dream, they took me to the light. A beautiful lie."

- Bruce Wayne

One day in 1981, when Bruce was 9, he and his parents were walking home from the Aragon Theatre after seeing The Mark of Zorro when they were confronted by mugger Joe Chill. While seemingly hesitant, Thomas Wayne threw the first punch, attempting to beat back the mugger, but he was quickly shot and mortally wounded. Stunned, his mother joined the fight, attempting to wrestle the gun away. Her attempt also failed, leading to a sad look of surrender come upon her eyes right before she was shot herself, Bruce screaming in horror. With his last dying breath, Bruce's father called out his mother's name in a loud whisper, reaching out for the final time. Watching her life pass away even as the mugger ran off into the night. From then on, Bruce was raised by the Wayne family's butler, Alfred Pennyworth.

During the funeral for his parents, Bruce, overcome with grief, broke away from the service. As he ran, he stumbled across a decrepit area of the estate and fell into a cavern filled with numerous bats. This would later inspire him to use that fear to battle the criminal elements that took his parents' lives.

Becoming the Batman
"I was your age when he showed up. All about finesse back then. Half the time you wouldn't even set eyes on him. One minute you're doing a job... next thing you know, it's over."

- - Sal

In the following years, Bruce grew up inspired to make himself a symbol of fear within the heart of crime in Gotham City. He did so by training himself beyond the heights of mental and physical perfection, mastering many martial arts, the art of deception, tactical skills, and stealth, among many other disciplines. In 1993, Bruce used his newfound discipline to take up the persona of a fearsome vigilante known as the "Batman" by launching a one-man war on crime at 21, while also swiftly reclaiming control over his family company Wayne Enterprises as its CEO. The cavern with bats that he had once fallen into as a child inspired him to create the Batcave, an expansive subterranean headquarters housing all of his high-tech Batman gadgets, located near Wayne Manor.

Crusade against crime
""Twenty years in Gotham, Alfred. We've seen what promises are worth. How many good guys are left? How many stayed that way?""

- - Bruce Wayne

Bruce spent 20 years (up until the alien invasion of General Zod) fighting his way through the streets of Gotham City as the Batman. Bruce also started using a car known as the Batmobile during his time as Batman.

Bruce's morals often prevented him from killing his foes, meaning that most of Gotham City's supervillains often ended up incarcerated in either Blackgate Penitentiary or Arkham Asylum. Examples of Batman's enemies include members of both the Falcone and Maroni crime families, the monstrous metahuman Killer Croc, his psychopathic nemesis the Joker, Joker's girlfriend and right-hand woman Harley Quinn, Riddler, and the Ratcatcher, Ultimately, the Joker would remain his greatest opponent. Although Batman once managed to defeat and capture Joker, sending him to Arkham Asylum, Joker would quickly be active again. Also, Batman would encounter several shady women during his career, as he would later compare to Diana Prince.

Bruce would also ally with GCPD officer James Gordon, and a Bat Signal projector was used to summon the Batman if the hero's vigilantism was ever urgently needed to defend the city. However, some of the GCPD's officers were adamantly against the idea of Batman, fearing and believing him to be a ruthless criminal, on whom they will often open fire, though these would eventually become the minority among the GCPD. Batman also adopted Dick Grayson, and trained him as his vigilante partner Robin, coming to see the younger man like a son.

Overall, Batman was initially about finesse, fully employing his immensely formidable skills of stealth and deception, hardly openly appearing at all, as evidenced when he caught Sal and tied him up from a tall building, and broke Pete Doumanian's legs, forcing the latter to permanently retire from crime. Indeed, Batman was so successful in his stealthily deceitful method, that even after his 18 years of protecting Gotham City, there was hardly any tangible evidence of his existence, with some (notably Victor Stone) even assuming that Batman did not actually exist, and was nothing but an urban legend.

At some point, he detained the Ratcatcher.

Death of Robin
At some point before the Black Zero Event, the Joker and Harley Quinn managed to capture and kill Robin, leaving a sadistic note spray-painted in yellow for Batman on the damaged Robin suit. A devastated Bruce hung Robin's suit in the Batcave as a monument to honor his legacy and to remind himself of what he fights for. After the death of his protege, sidekick, and friend, Bruce became much more hardened and angered, morphing into a more relentless and violent version of Batman. Batman, in his anger at Joker for killing Robin, broke his teeth and once again defeated and sent him back to Arkham Asylum.

Capturing Deadshot
"It's over, Deadshot! I don't want to do this in front of your daughter."

- Batman to Deadshot

At some point during Bruce's career as a vigilante, Batman began tracking down Deadshot, the world's most wanted hitman, with the assistance of ARGUS leader Amanda Waller. With Waller's anonymous help, Batman finds Deadshot on the streets with his daughter Zoe Lawton. When Deadshot and his daughter were walking through an alley together, Batman attempted to seize Deadshot and told him to surrender so that he didn't have to use force in front of Zoe. Deadshot still attempts to fight off the vigilante, but Batman swiftly gets the better of him, beating Deadshot to the ground. Deadshot then promptly takes out his gun and attempts to shoot Batman, but Zoe stands in the way and begs her father not to kill anyone else. After a moment of reflection, Deadshot surrenders his gun as well as himself to Batman, who cuffs him to a gate and leaves him for the GCPD, who find him being hugged by a saddened Zoe.

Killer Croc on the run
The fierce crocodilian metahuman Waylon Jones came to Gotham City and tried to form a criminal enterprise. However, he was repeatedly confronted and defeated by Batman multiple times. Croc was so heavily on Batman's radar, that he was forced to flee the city, only to be later captured by Amanda Waller and her ARGUS SWAT team.

Black Zero Event
"You're gonna go to war?!" That son of a bitch brought the war to us two years ago!"

- Bruce Wayne, to Alfred Pennyworth regarding Superman

Bruce was in Metropolis in the midst of General Dru-Zod's attack on the city with the Black Zero. As Zod attempted to terraform the Earth into a new Krypton, starting with Metropolis, Bruce took a helicopter to the outskirts of the city and witnessed the Black Zero destroying everything downtown. He took a Wayne Enterprises security vehicle and made his way towards the Wayne Financial building, giving the order via phone to the people inside to evacuate. Bruce's friend and employee Jack O'Dwyer relayed the order but failed to escape the building himself. Bruce dodged several falling pieces of debris from buildings and jets before finally reaching a stop in front of an entire crowd of citizens. Bruce exited the vehicle and watched along with the crowd as the Black Zero was destroyed and sent back to the Phantom Zone with Superman's infant starship. As buildings began to fall, Bruce made his way to Wayne Financial on foot and attempted to call Jack again, but got no signal. While there, he bore witness to the vicious duel between Superman and Zod.

As the mighty aliens fought high above the city, Zod's heat vision tore through the Wayne Financial building, causing it to collapse into ruins. A horrified Bruce screamed for Jack and ran towards the collapsing building while everyone else fled. Bruce searched for survivors, passing a group of frightened children and finding his employee Wallace Keefe trapped underneath the rubble. Bruce and a few other employees there helped rescue the now paralyzed Keefe. Bruce then noticed a little girl staring at the building's ruins and saved her from getting crushed by debris. He told her that she would be safe and asked where her mother was, but she could only point to the now-destroyed building before breaking down in tears. Bruce embraced and consoled the girl as he watched Zod and Superman continue their fight in the sky, coming crashing back down to Earth in a mortal embrace.

Defeating Firefly
"He was always tough. But over the years, he got harder. I mean, you figure he's seen some things."

- -Sal to his partner

Gradually, as a result of witnessing the incredible destruction and carnage unleashed by the Black Zero and subsequent duel of the mighty aliens, Bruce started becoming more brutal as Batman, now resorting to breaking the legs of jewel thief Pete Doumanian, for instance, though he still refused to kill the thugs that he apprehended.

Months later, Batman intervened when the pyromaniac criminal Firefly was setting up charges to detonate a building. He used a batarang to knock the detonator from the villain's grip, destroying it with a stomp and proceeded to engage Firefly, who unsuccessfully attacked the Dark Knight with his flamethrower, as it proved ineffective against Batman's fireproof cape and oxygen mask. Batman then subdued him, leaving Firefly's two low-level criminal allies tied up on a sidewalk for the GCPD officers to find, though, unknown to him, Batman was being watched by Lex Luthor the entire time via a CCTV camera in order to analyze the Dark Knight's capabilities, which firmly established to Lex that the rumors of Batman being inhuman and supernatural are actually completely false.

Wayne Enterprises field trip
While at Wayne Enterprises, Bruce followed a Metropolis Middle School student, Zoe, who was watching a group of criminals using Kryptonian armor and plasma rifles, into a restricted section of the building. He urged her to return to her group, as he would seek the "proper authority", but they were caught by the gang. Suddenly, Superman showed up, causing the criminals to make a break for it, using the Kryptonian plasma rifles briefly to hold Superman back. Bruce then took down the guard watching him and Zoe, before activating a Kryptonian signal jammer, which let out a high-frequency screeching noise that subdued everybody, briefly including Superman. Given the opportunity to take out the criminals, Superman handed them over to the Metropolis Police Department, as Bruce praised Zoe for her courage, before returning her to her school group.

Locating Emily for evidence
As Batman, Bruce was later chasing a group through the Carytown Crossing, and shopping district. He landed his motorbike on top of their car, causing them to crash, before subduing and tying them up. He ran from the scene, disappearing down a manhole. The following night, he located Emily, who had taken a photo of him. He acknowledged that she would do the right thing and destroy the evidence, disappearing into the night.

Capturing Harley Quinn
"Stupid Bats, you're ruining date night!"

- Harley Quinn to Batman

Soon after, the Joker and Harley Quinn were joyriding down a Gotham City street in the Smiley Car, laughing maniacally. However, Batman pursued them in the Batmobile and quickly mounted onto the roof of the vehicle. Harley annoyed that Batman was ruining "date night", shoots her firearm through the roof, though ineffective against Batman's bulletproof suit. Joker, attempting to shake Batman off, made a sharp turn that sent the vehicle flying off the road and into the river. Batman then promptly put on a re-breather and dove after the car, finding the crashed car and Harley, but no Joker. Batman then grabbed Harley, who awoke and tried to stab him, but Batman quickly knocks her unconscious with a mighty punch and carries her out of the river.

Batman then laid her on the hood of the Batmobile and checked for a pulse but couldn't seem to find one. With extreme reluctance, Batman then attempts oral resuscitation to revive her. A pleased Harley then begins kissing him, but Batman restrains and drives her to Arkham. ARGUS Director Amanda Waller then promptly had Harley transferred to Belle Reve supermax, where the female psychopath was eventually put inside a small electrified barbwire cage fit for her aerial acrobatic routines.

Bat Brand of justice
"A Devil... It saved us... It's still here..."

- - Rescued sex trafficker hostage about Batman

Two years after the Black Zero Event, Batman rescued a group of young Asian women from sex trafficker Cesar Santos by subduing him and then brutally interrogating him. One of the GCPD's rookie police officers interrupted his interrogation, frightened by the sight of the Batman perched on a wall and attempted to shoot him, but the Dark Knight swiftly fled, leaving Santos with a "bat-brand" on his chest. This would be only one of the many criminals branded by the Dark Knight (a total of 18 reports of similar occurrences in Gotham) within the last month before the incident. Soon, bearing a "bat-brand" became the equivalent to a death sentence among Gotham City prison inmates, and later among Metropolis prisoners too, as orchestrated by Lex Luthor to make Batman feel responsible for the deaths, as if he were a murderer, thus furthering Batman's grief.

The White Portuguese
"Last night's escapade made the news not but a few hours ago. The culprit was found viciously injured and with a familiar mark branded into his collar. That's not the work of a hero, sir." "No, it's the work of a criminal, Alfred. That's what we are. We always have been. It's just I've stopped caring about the labels. But our lot in life hasn't changed." "Oh, yes, it has, Master Bruce. Make no mistake, the world has most definitely changed: demigods having come from space, the gods hurl thunderbolts, and innocent people are slaughtered in the crossfire. That's how it starts, sir. The fever, the rage, the fear of uncertainty. A feeling of powerlessness that turns good men...cruel."

- - Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne

Bruce had been seemingly searching for a target known only as of the White Portuguese, which, as he tells Alfred Pennyworth, is bringing in a dirty bomb to Gotham. Bruce learned that a Russian mercenary named Anatoli Knyazev may have information regarding the White Portuguese, but even after interrogating six people as the Batman, he learned nothing.

Hence, Bruce Wayne later attended an underground fight club where he met Knyazev, engaging in a brief conversation which allowed Bruce to clone Knyazev's phone and discover that Knyazev was employed by Lex Luthor. Bruce then expressed his intention to break into Luthor's house as Batman, but Alfred is quick to point out that that wouldn't be unnecessary as Luthor has already invited Bruce to attend a fundraiser event. On the evening of November 1, as Bruce prepares to depart the Batcave and attend the event, he stood before the monument for Robin's damaged Robin suit.

Meeting Clark Kent
"Mr. Wayne! Clark Kent, Daily Planet. What's your position on the Bat-vigilante in Gotham?"

- - Clark Kent to Bruce Wayne

Bruce attended Luthor's party intending to find as much evidence against Lex as possible. While pretending to listen to Lex Luthor's greeting speech, Bruce was guided by Alfred via a hidden earpiece, and snuck away from the crowd, successfully plugging in his device into the LexCorp servers housed in Luthor's lower levels. Unbeknownst to Bruce, however, Alfred's voice was picked up by the Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, so, as soon as Bruce returns, a suspicious Clark is quick to interview him, asking Bruce about his position regarding Batman.

Bruce initially attempts to brush the reporter off, condescendingly referring to the younger man as "son", and sarcastically asking if the Daily Planet belongs to him. Clark persists, claiming to have personally seen how Batman considers himself to be above the law and causing civilians to live in fear, despite having never seen Batman in action. Bruce is quick to point out the hypocrisy in Clark's words, noting that every time Superman carried out a trivial deed, journalists like Clark are quick to shower him with praise, and instead argues the godlike alien should instead be feared, as there would be seemingly no way of stopping him, if Superman were to suddenly decided to go bad. Clark is angered by this unexpected and personal criticism, but calmly points out that most of the world doesn't share Bruce's opinion on the alien superhero, but Bruce responds by claiming that perhaps his view is based on the bad history that Gotham has with "freaks dressed like clowns."

At that moment, however, the two were interrupted by the timely arrival of Lex Luthor, who enthusiastically introduced himself to Clark and invited Bruce to visit LexCorp Industries' Research and Development facilities. However, Mercy Graves arrives, letting Lex know that a governor wanted to speak with him. As Bruce politely excuses himself and walks off, a suspicious Clark attempts to follow him, having heard Alfred's voice in the earpiece again, but he is stopped when he sees a news report of a girl stuck in a burning house in Mexico, choosing instead to depart. Bruce then broke from the crowd to retrieve his mole, only to find it had been stolen by a mysterious woman. Bruce quickly pursued her, but she can leave the party before he can confront her.

Meeting Diana Prince
"You don't know me, but I've known a few women like you." "Oh, I don't think you've ever known a woman like me."

- -Bruce and Diana Prince

Later, Bruce tracked down Diana Prince at the Gotham City Museum of Antiquities, where an exhibit of a fake replica of 's sword, where he confronted her about the information she stole. Bruce claimed to see right through her "babe in the woods" act, saying that while she doesn't know him, he'd met "a few women like [Diana]". Diana, however, calmly smiled and reassures Bruce that he's never met a woman like her. She then proceeded to tell Bruce that she was unable to obtain anything due to the data having military-grade encryption. Diana also explained that she stole the information because Lex Luthor had stolen something of hers. Before excusing herself, Diana informed Bruce know that she was only borrowing his device, and had already returned it to him shortly beforehand, placing it into his car.

Insurgency nightmare
"Bruce, listen to me now! It's Lois, it's Lois Lane! She's the key! Am I too soon?! Aaaah, I'm too soon! You were right about him! You've always been right about him! Fear him! Find us, Bruce, you have to find us!"

- The Flash

Bruce returned to the Batcave later that evening and placed the drive into the Batcomputer, utilizing the Oracle Network to decrypt it. While patiently waiting for the slow decryption process, Bruce eventually fell asleep at his desk.

Bruce began to experience a vision of a post-apocalyptic 2022 - the product of an ongoing Knightmare - in which a devastated Superman killed millions, driven by his despair over the loss of Lois Lane, becoming dark and malevolent due to Darkseid. Bruce saw himself leading a revolution against Superman's regime, attempting to find kryptonite to kill him. He was then captured and confronted Superman a final time, before the Man of Steel brutally killed him by tearing out his heart.

Shocked awake, Bruce found a distorted and unstable blue portal of energy beside him. From it, the Flash appeared and gave Bruce an incoherent warning to fear Clark's power (whom Bruce had "always been right about") and that Lois Lane was "the key" to this. Flash then suddenly realized that he was too soon in the timestream, so he begged Bruce to find "them" and save "her." Bruce abruptly awoke again, though he wasn't sure if either experience was entirely a dream.

This terrifying vision of a potential future, along with Bruce choosing to interpret that the male individual whom Flash implored him to fear is Superman, ridded Bruce of any doubts he might have still had, giving more justification to his quest of bringing down Superman.

Motives explained
Having awoken from his nightmare, Bruce examines the encrypted data and realizes that Lex Luthor is not only experimenting with kryptonite, but also investigating metahumans. One of them is Diana Prince herself, who is revealed to be an immortal Amazon warrior Wonder Woman (as a photo of her together with Steve Trevor's team in World War I Belgium is seen). The others are the mysterious mighty Atlantean warrior Arthur Curry, the powerful speedster Barry Allen, and the cybernetically enhanced Victor Stone. In the process, Bruce also realizes that the "White Portuguese" is a ship, rather than a person. Bruce then promptly admits to Alfred that he plans to steal the kryptonite to weaponize it, should it become necessary to fight Superman.

Dismayed, Alfred insisted Bruce was misled, as Superman hadn't been either theirs or humanity's enemy. Cynically, Bruce responded, recognizing that while Superman may not be an enemy just yet, Bruce had, during his 20 years of being the Batman in Gotham, seen "what promises are worth"; having laid witness to many seemingly benevolent individuals become malevolently corrupted to the point that Bruce claimed that hardly any good guys are left. He further persists that if there was more than a one percent chance of Superman's corruption, it needed to be addressed immediately. Also, Bruce personally witnessed the other Kryptonians who arrived on Earth attempt to wipe out all life on the planet. As a result, Batman adopted the perception of Kryptonians as having a natural predisposition towards evil, and he thus feared the possibility of General Dru-Zod's level of evil gradually developing in the only other member of the alien race still to be on Earth: Superman. Alfred, seeing how determined and set Bruce is, remained silent as the latter walked away.

First encounter with Superman
"Tell me... Do you bleed? You will..."

- Batman to Superman

While intercepting Lex Luthor's men transporting kryptonite, Superman interrupted the chase, damaging the Batmobile after Batman tried running him down and again when Superman tore the doors off. Superman (enraged by the death of Cesar Santos and the helplessness of using words to stop Batman's vigilantism) threatened the Dark Knight, warning him to give up his crusade (to ignore the Bat-Signal the next time it is shined into the sky), and that he should consider Superman's warning mercy, meaning that disobedience will carry severe punishment. As he turned to leave, Batman countered with a threat of his own, expressing his determination to make the godlike alien "bleed". Not impressed with Batman's threat, Superman flew off, while Batman promptly drove back to the Batcave in the damaged Batmobile. Back home, Batman tracked the kryptonite to LexCorp Industries, intending to steal it from there shortly thereafter.

The US Capitol bombing
Mere days later, Bruce is at Wayne Enterprises Headquarters when sees on TV how his former employee Wallace Keefe publicly expresses disdain against Superman, in light of him being present for the upcoming congressional hearing regarding Superman's involvement in the Nairomi incident, during which Wallace went as far as to say that he has nothing, causing Bruce to realize that Wallace definitely hasn't received the fund monthly checks that his company has given out to any of the victims from his comment. Shocked and saddened to learn that his company had seemingly abandoned a victim of Superman, Bruce immediately requests that his assistant Grace summon his other employee, Greg, and when she does, Bruce demands to know why Wallace had clearly not been receiving the victims' fund monthly checks that Wayne Enterprises had been paying out. Greg reveals that Wallace had actually been rejecting them all, and sending them back, leaving hateful messages written on them in red, further horrifying Bruce.

As Bruce inspects the messages, getting more angry the more he reads, which read "Bruce Wayne - open your eyes", "Bruce Wayne - I am your ghost", "Bruce no truce", "Bruce Wayne I will haunt you", and "Bruce Wayne = Blind". Bruce's immense dismay and rage reached it's peak a few moments later, when he witnessed the massive US Capitol explosion during Superman's congressional hearing, seemingly caused by Superman himself (actually malevolently orchestrated by Lex Luthor to frame him, with Lex also having rejected the funds and send them back with the hate mail) as he reads an old newspaper that Wallace seemingly send back to Bruce - an article which detailed the deaths of dozens Wayne Enterprises employees in the Black Zero Event, having "You let your family die" written on it, in the same red ink.

Later that evening, induced by the red notes and recent events to finally take offensive action against Superman, Batman breaks into the well-guarded LexCorp Industries building, successfully steals the kryptonite from within, while seriously injuring all of the guards (swooping down on them from above, like an actual bat) despite their tireless attempts to shoot him (evidenced by the numerous cartridges lying on the floor in the aftermath), leaving a batarang in the empty kryptonite container (for Lex to see), as well as a considerable trail of destruction.

Preparation for fighting Superman
"You're not brave. Men are brave."

- - Batman to Superman

With his experienced engineering genius, Bruce is able to swiftly invent and construct two effective anti-Superman weapons with Lex's kryptonite - first using a laser to cut the xenomineral into a large spearhead (later constructing the thick shaft), and then gathering the leftover kryptonite dust into 3 gas grenades, all encased in lead (rendering the danger invisible to Superman).

In order to be at his absolute peak during the upcoming duel, Bruce also pushes his body to its physical limits with many intense workouts in his Batcave - dragging an extremely heavy truck tire from a considerable distance, hitting the aforementioned tire very hard with a huge sledgehammer numerous times, performing many pull-ups with extremely heavyweight plates chained to his dipping belt, bench-pressing a thousand pounds on a barbell, easily performing complex presses with extremely heavy dumbbells, and finally, pushing an already extremely heavy cart (loaded with dozens of large weight plates) for a large distance.

With his physical preparation complete, Bruce retreats to mentally prepare at the abandoned Wayne Manor, where he is found by Alfred, who once more attempts to implore Bruce to stop, claiming that Batman cannot win such a confrontation, with it being "suicide". Bruce grimly responds saying that he is now older than his father Thomas Wayne had ever been, and that this might be the only thing Bruce does that actually matters, since despite Batman having defeated numerous Gotham City criminals and supervillains over the last 20 years, "criminals are like weeds", in that if 1 is pulled up, another grows in its place, while Superman has the potential to become the most formidable supervillain in history, so taking him down before that happens is "about the future of the world", something Bruce sees as "Batman's legacy". Bruce then grimly muses at how his father had once told him that despite the Wayne Manor itself being built on railways, real estates and oil, the first generation of Waynes had made their fortune as hunters, trading pelts and skins with the French. Thus, Bruce not only hopes to live up to his father by taking Superman down but also feels a kinship with his ancestors, as a hunter of sorts. This grim reasoning, coupled with the future Flash's message, absolutely cements Bruce's resolve. As Bruce walked away, Alfred, understanding that trying to stop the former is hopeless, bitterly remarked that "So falls the House of Wayne."

Sometime before heading out to face Superman, Bruce finally sends an e-mail to Diana Prince, letting her know that he has obtained the 1918 photograph of her and Steve Trevor's team, asking her with curiosity where else she has been during the last century (her status as an immortal metahuman clearly impressing Bruce), and also sharing with her the data that Lex Luthor had on the other metahumans - Aquaman, the Flash, and Cyborg. Diana however, while intrigued, does not answer the e-mail, and proceeds with her plans to depart Metropolis for Paris, via a transitional flight to Turkey.

Now armed and fully prepared, Batman prepares his preemptive strike against Superman, building an extremely durable Armored Batsuit, and kryptonite powered arsenal. Batman then set up traps in the old Gotham City Police Department building, also placing a kryptonite spear in the ground for later use. Having prepared for the fight, Batman tore off the old cloth covering the Bat-Signal and turned it on, shining it into the thundery sky.

Duel with Superman
A reluctant Superman (having just been forced to comply with Lex Luthor's ultimatum) traveled to Gotham City to face Batman, who was prepared for him in the yard. Superman attempted to reason with him also revealing that he is aware of Batman's identity, but set off one of his traps, causing sonic emitters to boom at him, halting Superman for a few seconds.

However, he destroys them and continued to reason with Batman, but it became clear he wasn't getting through to him (due to Batman suspected a deceitful ruse, due to the future Flash's warning of Batman having "always being right" about Superman), as another trap (with automated turrets) is set off when Superman pushes Batman aside (sending the Dark Knight flying over 60 ft with just a light push), but Superman disposed of it quickly as well. An angered Superman then easily lifted Batman over his head with one arm, and sent him flying down the street again, after which he tackled Batman into the air, through a building, and onto its roof, hurling him right through the Bat-Signal.

Superman ordered the momentarily shocked and downed vigilante to stay down, letting Batman know that he has been holding back this whole time and that Batman would have already been dead, had Superman wanted to kill him. However, Batman promptly caught his breath, rises, and defiantly resumes the fight by throwing a smoke grenade between himself and Superman, momentarily vanishing out of sight. Using these few seconds to change his position, Batman gets behind Superman and fires a grenade at him, though the alien hero easily catches it. However, it then unexpectedly sprays kryptonite gas into Superman face, which severely weakens him, bringing Superman to his knees, finally leveling the vast difference in strength, allowing the armored Batman to physically engage Superman in a duel.

Batman taunts Superman as the latter grows weaker. Superman attempts to fight back, but Batman takes full advantage of Superman's now weakened state and his FAR superior fighting skills, easily countering Superman's attacks and crashing through the skylight to the lower floor by stomping hard on a downed Superman.

However, Superman begins to recover from the kryptonite poisoning at this point, as he powerfully countered Batman's increasingly ineffectual attacks, even knocking him to the lower floor with a mighty tackle. As more of his strength and powers continued returning, Superman easily hurls Batman through multiple walls to the ground and charges at him, with Batman grabbing Superman in mid-air and slamming him against a wall, proceeding to punch him hard. However, more and more of Superman's powers return, so Batman's armored punches begin to lose effectiveness quickly. Signs of fear start to show on Batman's face, and Superman promptly tackles him to the ground, hurling Batman through multiple walls, to the ground again.

As Batman sees Superman ready to charge at him again, he, in desperation, fires another kryptonite gas grenade at Superman, just as the latter was leaping into the attack. With his suit now damaged from the final attack, Batman grabs a bathroom porcelain sink and smashes it on the once again weakened Superman's head, knocking the latter unconscious.

Procuring victory
"You were never a god. You were never even a man!"

- - Batman to a defeated Superman

Batman lifted Superman by his head and placed him over his shoulder, proceeding to carry him to the missing floor, where he threw Superman several stories down. Batman then grappled to the bottom himself and wrapped the wire from the gun around Superman's ankle. Picking up the grapple gun, Batman dragged Superman to the open area in the building. He deduced that Superman's parents taught him that he meant something and that he was there for a reason. However, Batman's parents taught him a different lesson. Batman activates a button on the gun, which yanks Superman towards him. Batman tosses him around the building, through the pillars. A badly defeated and wounded Superman lands on a pile of rubble and debris as Batman finishes telling him what his parents taught him, that the world only made sense "if you force it to". With that, Batman grabbed the spear and kicked Superman onto his back. He placed his foot on his throat, choking him, telling him that he was never a god or even a man. Batman then used the spear to cut across Superman's face (making good on his promise to make Superman "bleed"), and raised it, preparing to deliver the killing blow.

Epiphany and promise
"WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME?! MARTHA?! WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME?! WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME?!" "It's his mother's name! It's his mother's name."

- Batman and Lois Lane

Superman, unable to escape, urged him to save "Martha", telling him that he has her and to find him, which caused Batman to mentally flashback to the night his parents died. He recalled how his his father had also called out the name "Martha" with his last dying breath. Confused and enraged, Batman demanded to know why Superman had said that name. At that precise moment, Lois Lane, having arrived by helicopter, rushed in and begged Batman to stop, telling him that Martha is the name of Superman's mother. Shocked, Batman came to his senses, finally realizing that Superman was a selfless person pleading for the life of his mother instead of his own instead of a monstrous alien threat. Furthermore, Batman saw the hypocrisy of his actions – that he has allowed Lex Luthor to twist his anger from the Black Zero Event and turn him into the very villain he swore to fight. Angered, ashamed and horrified at the monster that he had almost become, Batman hurled aside the spear in disgust and resolves to help Superman stop Lex Luthor, the true enemy.

Superman and Lois then explain the situation to Batman, concerning Martha Kent's kidnapping by Lex Luthor, and her currently running out of time. Putting his tactical genius back to use, Batman insists that Superman to go back to Metropolis, while he would go after Martha, promising him that she wouldn't "die tonight".

Saving Martha
"I'll kill her! Believe me, I'll do it!" "I believe you."

- - Anatoli Knyazev and Batman

Due to him having previously cloned Knyazev's phone, Alfred was able to help Batman track the Russian and his thugs down to an abandoned warehouse near the port of Gotham City by using the Batcomputer, which Batman promptly flies to in the Batwing. Very thankful for Alfred's help, Batman claims not to deserve him, to which Alfred responds affirmatively. After scanning the warehouse with the Batcomputer's thermal imaging, Alfred lets Batman know about two dozen armed thugs on the third floor, so he remote-pilots the Batwing, dropping Batman right underneath them, on the second floor. Catching the thugs off-guard by grappling upright through the wooden floor, Batman promptly disarms most of them and engages all but two in vicious hand-to-hand combat. Despite being quite tired from his recent battle with Superman, Batman incapacitates all of them swiftly and efficiently, brutally beating them to the ground and having two of them killed by a grenade.

Upon making his way to the room Martha Kent was held in by Anatoli Knyazev and one of his thugs, Batman had a stand-off with Knyazev himself, who threatened to kill Martha. Batman said that he believed him, promptly shoots the Russian's flamethrower's tank, seemingly killing Knyazev. Batman, however, managed to shield Martha from the explosion with his fireproof cape, and attempted to calm her down, letting Martha know that he was a friend of her son. She, however, has already realized this, claiming that it was Batman's cape that let her know of his allegiance (due to it being somewhat similar to that of Superman). Batman flew off on his Batwing as soon as he saw the Gotham police approach, Martha, leaving her in safe hands.

Afterward, Lex Luthor called Anatoli to kill Martha, only for Batman to intercept the call and tell him he defeated Anatoli and his men and he was coming for Lex next.

Battling with Doomsday
The nuclear explosion that results in the missile hitting Superman and Doomsday is so gigantic, that Batman can see it from Earth's surface, just as he is flying toward the fight on his Batwing.

Doomsday's body lands on the abandoned Stryker's Island, but he is far from dead, as the tremendous explosion and extremely high fall seem to have only made the monster stronger, with its body once again mutating and regenerating. Batman then joins in the Battle against Doomsday with his Batwing, unleashing an immense amount of firepower, but Doomsday is presumably unscathed and brings the plane down with his heat vision and breath. Before Batman can escape his crashed vehicle, Doomsday corners him and fires a tremendous superheated torrent at him. Wonder Woman arrives, however, just in time to save Batman from certain death, deflecting the beams with her indestructible bracelets, which creates a massive wave of energy outwards.

Shortly thereafter, a recovered Superman returns from space, tackles away Doomsday, and asks Batman if he'd found the kryptonite spear, to which the Dark Knight grimly replied that he had been "a little busy." While initially somewhat confused over who Wonder Woman is (incorrectly assuming at first that she was an ally of Batman's, that the latter had brought along), Superman proceeds to jointly attack Doomsday in tandem with her, while Batman keeps his distance, and persistently tries to expose the monster to kryptonite, which would exploit its only known weakness. He successfully hides behind some stone rubble at one point, avoiding Doomsday's electric shock-wave.

Taking advantage of Doomsday's limited intelligence and tremendous bloodlust, Batman baits him into charging at him (managing to grapple away just in time), successfully dodges an ensuing huge thermal blast from the monster, and lures it closer to Wonder Woman, allowing her to get her unbreakable Lasso of Hestia around Doomsday's torso. As she strains to hold the mighty monster in place, Batman fires his last kryptonite gas grenade at Doomsday, temporarily weakening him, and giving Superman to crucial opening the latter needed to stab the monster with the kryptonite spear. Unfortunately, while the monster is mortally wounded, an enraged dying Doomsday manages to pierce Superman's chest with his huge arm-protrusion, mortally wounding him as well. Both combatants release one last thunderous bellow of agony before their lifeless and pierced bodies collapse.

Batman is visibly shell-shocked and saddened (by Superman's unexpectedly human move, which yet again proved Batman's image of Superman wrong) and promptly retrieves Superman's lifeless body, enveloping him in his own cape, and giving the body to Wonder Woman, who places it on the ground, seconds before the arrival of a devastated Lois Lane. Lois proceeds cradle and weeps over the body of her beloved, as Batman and Wonder Woman stand next to her in respectful lamenting silence, though Batman in particular, as he becomes guilt-ridden about being so devastatingly wrong about Superman, whom he had ironically wanted to kill less than 2 hours earlier.

Visiting Lex Luthor
"Whatever you do. wherever you go, I'll be watching you!"

- - Batman to Lex Luthor

Sometime later, Batman visits the Belle Reve jail cell of the imprisoned and now shaven-headed Lex Luthor, expressing his extreme rage at Lex for his actions including how he deceived him. Batman pins him against the wall and threatens Lex with his branding ring, but Luthor boldly counters by sneering and revealing that he knows Batman's secret identity, but that nobody would believe him, as Lex is perceived to be insane. Batman then reveals to a dismayed Lex that he has arranged for the latter to be taken to Arkham Asylum and that some "friends" will be there for him. Lex, however, swiftly regains his composure, sneers again, and states that "God" is now dead, and due to that, there is something else, something and someone bigger coming, from outer space. Batman then defiantly punches the wall with his branding-ring, leaving the mark of a bat symbol on the wall. When Luthor turns his head back, Batman disappears. He yells at the Dark Knight in defiance, that 'the bells have already been rung', and warns that "he" was coming to Earth, after that Lex began to mimicking the bell sounds, mockingly.

Dawn of justice
"I failed him in life. I won't fail him in death."

- - Bruce Wayne

Bruce, Diana, and Lois Lane attend the funeral of Clark Kent in Smallville (with Bruce himself paying for it, as an anonymous donor), along with Pete Ross, Lana Lang, and Father Daniel Leone, who presides over it.

Bruce and Diana remain at the cemetery afterward, and Bruce, guilt-ridden over having "failed [Superman] in life" (mainly due to Bruce's horrible actions against Superman, and due to Bruce having wasted 2 kryptonite gas grenades on him, while they might have instead been used to kill Doomsday without losing Superman), asks her to help him honor Superman's heroic sacrifice by helping him bring together the three metahumans from Lex Luthor's file (the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg), in case a threat of that scale ever should arise again. Diana inquires why Bruce is proposing it. He replies that it is simply due to a feeling he has that things will imminently get worse.

Meeting Amanda Waller
"That's the difference between us, Mr. Wayne - you believe in friendship, I believe in leverage."

- - Amanda Waller to Bruce Wayne

After her Suicide Squad successfully defeated the mystical duo of Enchantress and Incubus in Midway City and saved her, Amanda Waller met up with her situational ally Bruce Wayne, asking him to take care of the rumors following the aftermath of the calamitous events, and in exchange, she gave Wayne her files on multiple notable metahumans, including that of Enchantress, Aquaman, and the Flash. As Wayne turned to leave, Waller let him know that she is aware that he is Batman. Unfazed, he immediately, sternly warned Waller to shut down Task Force X, letting her know that if she doesn't, he and his new "friends" will shut it down for her.

Correspondence with Diana
Ever since Diana Prince had returned to her job at the Louvre Museum after Superman's funeral, Bruce stayed in touch with her, hoping that she would consider his offer. He eventually discovered the original physical photograph of Diana with Steve Trevor's team, and sent it to her packed within a Wayne Enterprises package. A tearful Diana e-mailed Bruce back, thanking him for returning Steve to her.

Recruiting Arthur Curry
"Arthur Curry. Also known as Protector of the Oceans. The Aquaman."

- - Bruce Wayne, to Arthur Curry

Wayne learned from Amanda Waller's files that Arthur Curry visited a village in Iceland (as a mysterious "stranger from the sea") during the winter, bringing fish to feed the hungry, always coming on the king tide. On the day right after the king tide, Wayne arrived at the village and asked to speak with Curry. When Curry revealed himself to be there, standing among the villagers, Wayne let the latter know that an impending enormous threat is coming to the world, and asked Curry to join the Justice League under his leadership.

Curry, however, upon Wayne revealing his ability to speak Icelandic, reacted hostilely, proceeding to angrily lift and pin Wayne against the wall, ultimately refusing to join.

Going over members for the team
""Master Wayne, you've been working as if there's no tomorrow to build this team of people you can't even find." "I found one. I found two, including Diana.""

- Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce about the formation of the Justice League

After Curry refused Wayne's offer, he and Pennyworth got back on the jet and headed back to Gotham City. While on the jet, Wayne finished up shaving his beard, they began to go over the other members for the team like Barry Allen and Diana

Learning of the Age of Heroes
""I think there's an attack coming." "Not coming, Bruce. It's already here.""

- Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince

When Wayne got back to Gotham, he began to work on the Flying Fox at a Wayne Aerospace Hangar when Diana paid him a visit. Diana informed Wayne about Darkseid and his Invasion of Earth.

All of a sudden, Bruce's phone buzzed and notified him to locate Barry Allen, so he took the plane to fly to Central City. Following Diana's history lesson, the two began to talk about Curry's background and Diana speculated he must be Atlantean with mixed blood. Bruce told her that he had refused Bruce's offer. While Bruce worked on tracking down and recruiting Barry Allen, she would work on locating Victor Stone aka the "Cyborg".

Meeting Barry Allen
""Barry Allen... Bruce Wayne." "You said that like it explains why a total stranger is sitting in the dark in my second favorite chair."

- - Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen

When Bruce arrived in Central City, he located and broke into Barry Allen's apartment shortly before the latter returns, and introduces himself to the young metahuman (whom he recognizes as the past version of the scarlet time-traveler that appeared in his "dream"), though the latter is still confused. Bruce then promptly hands Barry a printout of the security camera footage he found on the LexCorp Industries files. Barry instantly recognizes himself in the photo and tries, unsuccessfully, to dismiss the person as someone who looks like him, Jewish and someone who drinks milk, claiming that he does not do so himself.

Bruce surveys his apartment and tells Barry that he knows the latter has abilities but just needs to know what they are. Barry nervously rambles about his skills, including competitive ice dancing none convinced him so Bruce hurls a batarang at Barry as fast as he could, which the latter effortlessly dodged and caught. Barry, awed, deduces that Bruce is the Batman, and dismisses Bruce's assessment of his abilities as an oversimplification.

Bruce then continues, telling him about the team that he is putting together, and almost immediately, Barry wants in. Bruce is momentarily confused, but he gladly accepts his decision. Barry, admiring the batarang, asks if he can keep it.

As Barry and Bruce headed to his car, Barry consumed an entire box of pizza and explained the concept of the Speed Force, and how it allows him to consume insane amounts of food. However, when Barry asked Bruce just how many there were on the team, Bruce's response prompted Barry to then ask what exactly Bruce's powers were, to which Bruce told him that his "power" was that he is rich.

Notified by James Gordon
""How many of you are there?" "Not enough."

- - James Gordon and Batman

While the plane landed back in Gotham, Wayne and Barry Allen walked down the stairs and Bruce asked Diana if she found Victor Stone yet; her answer was that she and Stone spoke to each other and told Wayne to give the cyborg some time to come.

Noticing the Bat Signal in the sky, saw it and excitingly reminded Bruce that it meant they should get going, leading to Bruce and Diana sharing a look over the young vigilante's behavior. Batman and the Justice League received intel from Commissioner James Gordon that the Parademons are traveling underground. Cyborg, who came so fast to the Bat-Signal, appeared behind the League's backs, reminding them that his father, Silas Stone, is kidnapped by Parademons as well.

Gordon then showed the printed map that is between Gotham and Metropolis which they lead to Stryker's Island and where Gotham Harbor is at.

Batman, along with Wonder Woman and Cyborg, used their vanishing acts when Gordon turns around to ask another question, much to his and Flash's surprises until Flash sped off, too.

Skirmish under Gotham Harbor
Steppenwolf then grabs Silas Stone, which Cyborg shot Steppenwolf and saved his father, and Wonder Woman helps out by attacking the Parademons and taking Steppenwolf to a different part of the factory. While Batman fights the Parademons, Barry goes and save one of the employees. Steppenwolf tells the Parademons that he will deal with Diana alone; meanwhile, Batman is being attacked by one of the Parademons, which he struggles against but eventually defeats in hand-to-hand combat. He is then is forced to retreat by several more Parademons, telling Alfred to send theKnightcrawler to him via remote control.

Flash and Cyborg save all the hostage, which Silas Stone tells Victor that Steppenwolf can not get the final Mother Box. Batman then jumps down into the Knightcrawler and saves Wonder Woman after a Parademon manages to briefly knock her out. The Knightcrawler gets attacked by Steppenwolf, and Barry helps Wonder Woman get her sword so she can help Batman.

Flash and Wonder Woman gets attacked by Steppenwolf and the Parademons before Batman helps her by killing one of the Parademons. Cyborg then lands into the Knightcrawler and hacks it in his control, which he uses it against Steppenwolf. But the Knightcrawler fails when Steppenwolf caught a missile and threw it against the wall, which then causes the harbor to flood and allows Steppenwolf to escape.

Before Diana could get hit with the flooding water, Arthur comes and saves the team by using the Atlanna's Quindent to hold back the water while the League escaped.

Reviving Superman
After the fight with Steppenwolf, Batman met with Gordon before Arthur showed up and said that Steppenwolf took the Mother Box from Atlantis, then Victor revealed that he already has the final Mother Box, which he hid from his father. During a team meeting, Bruce concludes that they should use the Mother Box to bring Superman back to life. He believes that they need Superman to restore hope in humanity. Diana and Arthur are hesitant about the idea, but Bruce forms a secret contingency plan.

The team put Clark's body in the waters of the Kryptonian ship, using Allen's Speed Force to activate the Box, causing the resurrection of Superman; Though he has loss of his memory. As the League all jump on top of Superman, Barry runs around him, but Superman sees him and attacks him. Batman arrives and gets Clark's attention to stop fighting the League. Superman recognized his former foe, took out Wonder Woman, and attempts to incinerate him with his heat vision, Batman's energy dissipating gauntlets only barely managing to save his life. Before Kal-El could kill Bruce, Lois came to stop him.

Superman calmed down, took Lois with him, and flew away to the Kent farm, where he reflected and tried to recover his memories. In the aftermath of the skirmish, Steppenwolf retrieved the final Mother Box at the cost of Silas Stone's life.

Battle of Pozharnov
"I'm gonna take out that tower and knock down that shield dome. Whatever you see...stick to the plan. It's why I brought you together."

- Batman to the rest of the League

The Justice League take the Flying Fox to Russia to stop Steppenwolf from being the Mother Boxes together, the team plan how they're going to stop Steppenwolf, Batman tells the team that he going to take out the tower while the rest of the League will separate the Mother Boxes. Batman destroyed the tower, but the controls on the Flying Fox also failed, causing it to crash. Bruce got in the Batmobile and fought off the Parademons sent to stop him. The Parademons eventually overwhelm the Batmobile, ripping off one of the guns that it has an opening up the car before Wonder Woman and the rest of the League save Batman. Arthur jumps on the Batmobile, approvingly telling Bruce that he is out of his mind before leaping at several Parademons. Shortly afterwards, the Batmobile is destroyed, forcing Batman to eject from the vehicle, using his grapple gun to swing across, and taking out several Parademons.

While Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Cyborg enter the reactor to battle Steppenwolf, Batman used the Parademons' own weaponry against them, cutting them down in droves to protect Barry Allen as he worked to build up a charge strong enough for Cyborg to stop the Unity.

However, a Parademon is able to injure the Flash, delaying him long enough for the Unity to complete, killing the heroes, Batman included. However, by using the Speed Force to reverse time to before the Unity was completed, Barry Allen saves the Justice League and gives Cyborg the sufficient charge needed to destroy the Mother Boxes from within, finally separating them with Superman's help.

Following the death of Steppenwolf through the combined efforts of Aquaman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, the battle is over.

A new world
In the aftermath of the battle, Wayne decides to rebuild Wayne Manor as a base of operations for the team as he and Diana agree that more heroes could join.

He also helped Martha Kent get her house back by buying the bank that had taken it as another way of making amends with Clark, who thanked him. As the two were walking away, Bruce congratulated Clark.

Meeting the Martian Manhunter
One morning, sometime after the Justice League defeated Steppenwolf, Bruce would encounter a green-skinned individual who was impressed by their victory. He warned Bruce that the fight was not over yet, and Darkseid would eventually make his way to Earth. Bruce inquired as to who he was, and he notes that he was known by many names, one of which was the Martian Manhunter. He also mentioned was ready to step out and start fighting, now that there were more heroes in the world. Following their little talk, he flew off into the distance.

Darkseid's ultimate victory
In a dark potential future, Lois Lane was killed at the hands of Darkseid. Superman, in his grief, succumbed to the Anti-Life Equation and under Darkseid's orders took over Earth and founded the organization known as the regime to act as a sort of government. The Justice League was effectively destroyed, forcing Batman, the Flash, and a mortally wounded Cyborg into hiding and leading to the apparent demises of Aquaman and Wonder Woman. To aid in Darkseid's totalitarian crusade, Superman founded the regime stormtroopers army, killing anyone who opposed him.

Now in hiding, Batman and his allies formed the insurgency, a rebellion against the totalitarian regime. They traveled the world searching for allies to join their cause, and while they fought valiantly, their numbers slowly dwindled over the years, and Earth was transformed into an apocalyptic wasteland.

The kryptonite trap
After years of fighting, with only a few contacts left across the globe, an aging Batman, now living an underground bunker, received news that the remaining insurgents found a piece of Kryptonite, a possible last hope of defeating Superman. Filled with newfound hope and strength, Batman ordered the rock be brought to him. Days later, an insurgency convoy approached, which Batman watched from above his bunker.

Batman met with them and asked for the rock they were tasked to retrieve. However, it turned out to be an ambush and Bruce was held at gunpoint by one of his lieutenants as the undercover regime agents revealed themselves. The remorseful stormtrooper holding Batman at gunpoint apologized, but did not let down his guard as the other Stormtroopers mercilessly executed Batman's insurgents agents as he watched helplessly. Roaring in despair, Batman began a one-man assault on the Stormtroopers. Although he managed to take down most of the troopers, a swarm of parademons invaded the area, abducting many of his resistance fighters. Batman was eventually overwhelmed as the remaining regime troops finally began to restrain him. Relentless in his assault, Batman began dispatching the troopers, breaking limbs and even snapping one of their necks, but then was brutally beaten down and restrained by reinforcements. Seeing the Stormtroopers' inability to restrain him, a parademon knocked him unconscious from behind.

Knightfall
Batman awoke chained up in a bunker with his remaining agents, eyeing them helplessly just before Superman arrived, landing in the bunker as his regime stormtroopers reverently knelt before their general. Approaching Batman, Superman swiftly murdered the last insurgents with his heat vision. Superman then unmasked the vigilante, expressing his anger over Bruce for letting Lois die, as she was his "world." Superman gave him one final sneer, placing his hand flat against his chest, then brutally ended the life of Bruce Wayne by tearing out his heart. Sometime after his death, Superman could be seen floating above the wreckage of the Justice League's headquarters, holding the mask that he had pulled off Batman moments before his death.

Abilities
"I pity anyone that guy sets his sights on. The way he is now... who could possibly have a chance of taking him down?"

- - Sal


 * Peak Human Condition: Bruce Wayne went through intense training and specialized dieting, that represents the pinnacle of human physical prowess all of which have naturally heightened his abilities to the highest levels of human potential. While biologically human, his physical capabilities are all at peak physical perfection resulting in nigh-superhuman physical prowess, far exceeding that of even Olympic-level athletes, making him immensely physically powerful by normal human standards. Even despite his admission that he has somewhat gotten weaker with age, as of now his physical capabilities still far surpassed even those of other exceptionally fit humans such as Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and in an alternate timeline where he was somewhat further weaker from being even older, the Regime Stormtroopers, with only Deathstroke being on par. Indeed, by bettering himself to his physical peak, Batman epitomizes many of the humanist beliefs of Lex Luthor, inducing the latter to admire Batman, despite being his enemy.
 * Peak Human Strength: Batman's peak human strength allows him to physically overpower combatants, including elite-trained humans and even some extraterrestrial troops. As he prepared to face Superman, Bruce underwent an extremely intense exercise regimen to increase his strength to an almost superhuman level. Some of his regular workout feats are bench pressing, squatting, performing weighted pull-ups, as well as pulling and dragging heavy plates of an excess of a couple thousand pounds, to name a few. Hence, Batman is capable of effortlessly lifting and hurling humans like ragdolls over his head over more than 25 feet across a warehouse, knock out Harley Quinn with a single punch while underwater, send enemies flying several meters with a single punch or kick, kick an assault rifle in half, slam through solid walls and reinforced glass, throw people into walls hard enough to break through them, and effortlessly dislocating limbs with a single twist. He's been shown capable of punching people hard enough to send them headfirst into the floorboards and even smashing through plastered wood and brick walls and floors. His strength also extends to his legs, easily allowing him to jump several meters into the air, over a large crate, while slamming a man into it after lifting them with him, and easily jump an into the air from his Batwing, smashing a steel-framed window with little resistance (many of these feats were achieved when he hadn't even recovered from his fierce duel with Superman which had heavily exhausted him). He could also easily tear apart Firefly's armored suit with his bare hands and destroy the latter's detonator with a single stomp. In his vision of an apocalyptic future (where Batman is somewhat older and weaker), mere swings from his gun launched the Regime Stormtroopers in the air and his kick broke one's leg and knocked him out. Notably, he could still break the neck of a Regime Stormtrooper] with his bare hands in mere seconds, while being restrained, and he could still overpower many Regime Stormtroopers] before being ultimately defeated by their sheer numbers. However, even when Batman was being restrained and forced down simultaneously, he was still able to rise up, only being neutralized by a superhumanly strong blow of a Parademon troop. Even when captured, Batman had to be restrained with very thick and heavy chains. Moreover, when wearing his Armored Batsuit, his peak human strength is augmented by 28 times, reaching considerable superhuman levels, effectively allowing him to exert about 29 tons of force. Indeed, he could easily swing Superman when he was weakened by kryptonite around by the cable of his grapple gun through several stone columns and deliver punishing blows that visibly hurt the weakened Superman, although as Superman recovered his powers, Batman's punches quickly proved to have less effect, as after Superman had partially recovered, though he still managed to temporarily pin him down and land blows that did have sufficient force to turn the superhero's head over and cause him some pain, albeit at that point his blows only irritated Superman, he soon only barely staggered him and was swiftly unable to even faze Superman at all, resulting in him being completely overpowered by the alien and forced to use Kryptonite to weaken him once more.
 * Peak Human Durability: Batman is also exceptionally durable by human standards due to his intense training. His muscles and bones are vastly denser and far more resilient than an average human. Hence, Batman could not be slowed down or fazed by falling from the rafters of a warehouse, allowing him to quickly land on his feet and begin his assault. This also allowed Batman to be unfazed when smashing through a steel-framed window, feet first, being shot at multiple times, getting kicked and hit by guns in the face, and accidentally colliding with a thick wall head-on at full speed with his grapple gun while trying to evade Doomsday. In his nightmarish vision of a possible future, Batman also remained unfazed after an immense beating at the hands of the Regime Stormtroopers and only gritted his teeth in frustration, with it taking a superhumanly strong blow from a Parademon to knock Batman out. When using his Armored Batsuit, his durability is dramatically enhanced to the point where he was able to survive both light blows and being viciously thrown around by a holding-back Superman without any injuries, although Superman noted even with the armor, killing Batman would still only take minor effort had he actually wanted to kill him. Even without the armored suit, however, he has shown himself to be able to only grunt in discomfort when lifted and roughly pinned against a wall by the superhumanly strong Aquaman and even when thrown several yards by Superman after the latter's revival, he only suffered moderate bruises.
 * Peak Human Agility: Batman's athletic prowess grants him exceptional agility, coordination, and balance while fighting and evading others. Batman is incredibly nimble and agile, and has demonstrated high levels of agility and dexterity. He was able to perch on a wall to avoid arriving police officers, followed by quickly moving across ceilings and walls with almost ape-like acrobatics, dodging the point-blank gunfire from a GCPD police officer's shotgun effortlessly, with the officer unable to get a glimpse of Batman, as the Dark Knight's speed and agility made him appear as blurs of motion. His mobility allows him to move away from the sight of others and stalk enemies from the shadows or higher vantage points. Hence, Batman was able to swiftly somersault over a cornered crook with almost inhuman agility. He also managed to remain unscathed while breaking into LexCorp's Metropolis facility, despite the guards trying to shoot him and himself leaving a considerable path of destruction. He also effortlessly brought down Knyazev's 24 men at once using his combat skills and strength, appearing as blurs due to his incredible speed. Also, Batman could jump several meters into the air over a large crate while slamming a man into it (after lifting him into the air with him while he was jumping), easily balance himself while standing on the back of a stone gargoyle, and dodge many Parademon plasma bolts while grappling into their midst. Even while wearing his Armored Batsuit, the heaviest of his suits, Batman was still able to move at considerable speeds, even being able to intercept an attack from the partially recovered and flying Superman and outmaneuver him to pin him to a wall, though against a full-power Superman, he couldn't react to even a single one of the many blows Superman landed on him. He was even able to dodge Doomsday's superhumanly fast charge and his blasts.
 * Peak Human Stamina: Batman's highly trained and developed body generates far fewer fatigue toxins than an ordinary human, superior in that regard to the finest Olympian athlete, able to exert himself at his peak capacity for several hours without tiring or slowing down. Hence, Batman was able to easily dispatch 24 armed thugs with intense speed (despite being fatigued from his recent duel with Superman), followed by actively participating in the final battle against Doomsday. He was able to run through the cloud of falling debris during the Black Zero Event, and to routinely perform extremely intense workouts in the Batcave without tiring much. Batman can also recover extremely fast from injuries and fatigue due to his training and indomitable will. However, when pitted against beings of far superior strength (like Superman) in hand-to-hand combat, Batman will increasingly show signs of exertion and fatigue even while wearing his Armored Batsuit.
 * Peak Human Metabolism: Batman's metabolism runs several times faster than an average human's due to his strict diet and incredible workout regimen, this allows him to have a near inhuman metabolism, healing, immune system, and longevity. Thus, binge drinking has no effect whatsoever on him, as Bruce's body burns it off several times faster than an average human's, despite him drinking several bottles at a time, to which Alfred dryly remarked that the next generation of the Wayne family will inherit an empty wine cellar.
 * Master Martial Artist: Batman is an extraordinarily skilled hand-to-hand combatant, an infamously formidable master in multiple forms of martial arts (including boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, Karate, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Savate, Eskrima, Krav Maga, Jeet Kune Do, Ninjutsu, Kung Fu, Judo, and Aikido), with 20 years of experience battling and overpowering numerous criminals and supervillains in Gotham City. His fighting style also incorporates and takes full advantage of his proper use of physical forces, momentum, and leverage, as well as his knowledge of anatomical weaknesses and pressure-points, combined with his nigh-superhuman strength, executing it all at very high speeds. Hence, while attending an underground fight club, Bruce easily analyzes the fighting style of one of the fighters for him to give an advice to his opponent, which allowed said fighter to easily defeat his foe. With his tremendous combat skills, aided by his strength, Batman effortlessly brought down Anatoli Knyazev's 24 armed henchmen in an impressive amount of time (despite being very tired after his fierce duel with Superman right before), has easily brought down the Joker multiple times along with at one point effortlessly thwarting Harley Quinn's attempt to stab him and then defeating her with a single punch, can outmaneuver even physically stronger opponents, like Parademons, and brought down numerous Regime Stormtroopers, until ultimately succumbing to their sheer numbers (though this occurred in a vision of a possible future where he was somewhat older and weaker). When Superman's powers were temporarily weakened to human levels from kryptonite gas, Batman was able to quickly overwhelm him in hand-to-hand combat with superior fighting skills, easily countering his attacks and landing punishing blows on the also considerably skilled superhero, even outmaneuvering a partially recovered Superman to temporarily restrain and pummel him. Batman is the one who defeated most of the future Suicide Squad members (even the infamously lethal assassin Deadshot, whom Batman swiftly outclassed in close quarters), having them placed behind bars in Belle Reve. His incredible combat skill, combined with his agility, was sufficient enough to easily overpower several inhumanly strong Parademons, swiftly disarming and incapacitating them in close quarters. Batman's skills would also allow him to successfully mentor his protégé vigilante Robin into becoming extremely skilled combatants in their own rights.
 * Batarang Mastery: Batman is a master of throwing projectile weaponry with great accuracy and pinpoint precision, such as his signature batarangs. He notably uses them to disarm his opponents, such as when he knocked a detonator out of Firefly's hand. He can also use them with lethal force, such as during the Rescue of Martha Kent, when he quickly threw one into the chest of an assailant. When Batman recruited the Flash to the Justice League, he skillfully threw one past him to alert the latter to his presence. His proficiency in wielding his batarangs is reminiscient of, befitting his status as a ninja. He is on par with (and may even surpass) Captain Boomerang.
 * Expert Marksman: Batman is skilled with conventional firearms like pistols, rifles, sniper rifle, grenade launcher, and grapple guns, using them with a high degree of accuracy and precision (almost on par with that of Deadshot), notably shooting a tracker onto Knyazev's truck from a great distance. In his nightmarish vision of a possible future, Batman was highly proficient with conventional firearms in close quarters, wielding both a handgun and a G36C carbine, as well as repeatedly disarming Regime Stormtroopers of their assault rifles, using them as his own. When Wonder Woman restrained Doomsday, Batman was able to shoot a kryptonite gas grenade at the monster from an immense distance away, further demonstrating his exceptional accuracy. Batman possesses the same accuracy when utilizing the guns of his vehicles, notably neutralizing a number of Anatoli Knyazev's criminal convoy with his Batmobile, and later his Batwing, as well as shooting down many attacking Parademons with his Knightcrawler and Flying Fox.
 * Master Spy: In addition to being an incredible detective and a world-class fighter, Batman is extremely skilled in espionage, intelligence gathering, stealth, infiltration, and sabotage, capable of breaching high security facilities without being detected. Batman's stealth is so effective in fact, that some criminals would claim that you wouldn't even know he was there until it was already too late. Batman's remarkable speed and almost ape-like agility allow him to move away from the sight of others and stalk enemies from the shadows and higher vantage points, while letting them catch glimpses or hear his cape (having a penchant for gliding down upon his enemies from above, like an actual bat), thus giving them the illusion of Batman being a supernatural, wraith-like creature instead of a human. Hence, Batman was easily able to sneak up from behind even on the extremely experienced assassin Deadshot (catching the latter off-guard), to infiltrate a LexCorp Industries building and obtain the well-guarded kryptonite within (swooping down upon and seriously injuring most of the guards, leaving behind a considerable path of destruction), to sneak into Barry Allen's apartment, and to even sneak into the Belle Reve supermax jail cell of Lex Luthor, and disappear from it just as suddenly when Lex briefly turned away. Batman used the flickering red lights and caused the cell doors to open, making himself to appear to be a demon or wraith. When utilizing a specially designed gaseous lead grenade, Batman's amazing stealth is further augmented to the point that he was able to temporarily evade Superman himself. Later, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg were able to swiftly slip away when Commissioner Gordon turned away for a moment, and even Flash was left incredulous at how he didn't notice his teammates leave, despite having superhuman reflexes and standing right beside them.
 * Master Intimidator: Batman commands an extremely fearsome presence, able to instill fear into the hearts of Gotham City's criminals and supervillains, with some of them not even daring to shoot him after Batman fiercely gazes them in the eye. After Batman rescues several female hostages from a sex trafficker, they are so terrified of the dark vigilante, that they refer to him as a "Devil", and fearfully refuse to leave their cage even after the police arrive on the scene. Hence, Superman would initially go as far as to call Batman "a one-man reign of terror". Among the extremely few individuals who do not fear Batman, are the pathologically fearless psychopath Joker, bold supergenius Lex Luthor (only showing momentary uneasiness when Batman first confronted him and when he told him that he had arranged for the latter to be incarcerated in Arkham Asylum), his long-time ally Commissioner Gordon, and beings of superior godlike power, such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, though his profound experience in intimidation tactics allowed him to remain unintimidated even in the proximity of their fearsome presence, as shown by how he remained calm when both Superman and Aquaman tried to frighten him (even countering Superman's threat with his own) and defiant even after Wonder Woman harshly shoved Batman back to remind him she could easily kill him if she wanted to after he insulted her beloved Steve Trevor's memory. He even managed to apparently intimidate Superman as he was about to kill the weakened superhero, as Superman thought he was going to die at the hands of the armored vigilante, though this might have instead been Superman fearing that Martha Kent would be impossible to save if Batman killed him, as the time that Lex had given her was running out. However, even Batman was notably less intimidating than the evil version of Superman (first in his nightmare vision of a possible future, and then right after his resurrection, with post-mortem amnesia), who was so fearsome that Batman himself showed visible signs of fear when Superman confronted the vigilante, holding the latter at his mercy. Batman also showed signs of fear when his armored punches began to lose effectiveness against Superman (due to the kryptonite weakening wearing off), and later when an enraged, amnesiac Superman ruthlessly held him by the neck and mockingly repeated the same threat Batman once made to him.
 * Genius-Level Intellect: Batman is an extremely intelligent and eclectic polymath genius, to the point that he has successfully gone toe-to-toe with the extremely dangerous, inventive and completely unpredictable psychopath Joker for years. Hence, Batman's brilliant intellect is arguably his greatest and most formidable ability of all, as it extends itself to his nearly unparalleled tactical, deceptive, detective, criminology, scientific, engineering, hacking, combat, exploitative networking, and business skills, which (coupled with his extensive experience utilizing them all) therefore makes Batman the most eclectically intelligent member of the Justice League. However, Batman is notably not quite as intelligent as supergenius Lex Luthor, with the latter thereby successfully outsmarting and manipulating Batman into obtaining kryptonite and genuinely attempting to kill Superman, with Batman never suspecting that he was in fact Lex's pawn, and figuring it out only after his duel with the alien superhero had ended. It should, however, also be noted that it was his cynical and pessimistic side and extremely distrusting nature (due to 18 years of pain, losses and exhaustion) which finally took over Batman's moral psychology and sense by the time of the Black Zero Event, which contributed to Lex easily outsmarting him.
 * Master Tactician: Batman is an extremely formidable tactical and strategic genius, often using cunning and planning to effectively assess combat situations and come up with effective strategies, and successfully outwit stronger and more powerful foes, rather than simply out-fighting them, using any of their exploitable weaknesses to his advantage. Hence, Batman is by far the best tactician among the Justice League, with only supergenius Lex Luthor being known to surpass him and while the completely unpredictable Joker, an extremely skilled tactician in his own right, was capable of at times staying one step ahead of him, Bruce has successfully managed to go toe-to-toe with him nevertheless for years and had even managed to capture Joker twice, even when Joker had managed to kill Robin along with Harley Quinn. He was able to swiftly make a mental breakdown of the fighting style and weaknesses of one of the fighters in an underground Gotham City fight club (helping his opponent swiftly beat him by whispering some combat advice), was able to swiftly defeat the notorious Deadshot by ambushing the latter in his daughter Zoe's presence (exploiting his unwillingness to kill in front of her), was able to chase the stronger Killer Croc out of Gotham City (exploiting the latter's limited intellect), was able to formulate a plan to break into the well-guarded LexCorp Industries building and steal the kryptonite within (overpowering the many guards by swooping down upon them with his incredible stealth skills, seriously injuring them all, and leaving behind a considerable path of destruction), was able to quickly improvise a plan to take down Anatoli Knyazev's 24 heavily armed men in a warehouse while saving Martha Kent (swiftly avoiding and disabling their weapons, and proceeding to use his own weapons and tremendous combat skills to overpower them, while also using their own knives and guns against them), was ultimately able to defeat the far more powerful Superman in their fierce duel (exploiting his weakness to kryptonite, lead, and sonic overload, as well as his unwillingness to kill Batman), managed to render the far more powerful Doomsday vulnerable to attack (exploiting the monster's limited intellect and tremendous bloodlust, baiting him into getting restrained by the Lasso of Hestia, and thus giving Superman an opening to exploit the monster's weakness to kryptonite), held out with his Insurgency for a lengthy time in the war against the more powerful Regime (in a vision of a possible future), lured a Parademon out into the open (exploiting their ability to sense fear by dangling a crook off a roof nearby), concocted a complex plan to infiltrate Scout Ship 0344 and resurrect Superman, had a feasible contingency when Superman returned from the dead as an amnesiac monster (by having Lois Lane come to the scene and spark his memory), came up with the plan to separate the Apokaliptan Unity once more and defeat Steppenwolf (by personally distracting the Parademon army while Cyborg and Superman pried the Mother Boxes apart), and was confident in his ability to protect Amanda Waller from the US intelligence community finding out about her catastrophic error concerning Enchantress in Midway City.
 * Master Detective: Batman is an immensely formidable detective genius, capable of observation, forensic investigation, and psychological assessments, as well as both inductive and deductive reasoning of the highest caliber and has been claimed by many to be the "world's greatest detective". Hence, Bruce was able to deduce that Superman's parents (Jor-El and Jonathan Kent) had told him that the latter was on Earth for a reason (despite knowing little about the alien superhero's past), and Bruce knew that the Gotham City Museum of Antiquities' sword of Alexander the Great was in fact a fake replica, and he was quickly able to see through the "babe in the woods act" of Diana Prince, discerning something suspicious about the mysterious foreign antiques dealer right away, refusing to allow Diana's remarkable beauty to cloud his judgement and free her of his suspicion, unlike what a vast majority of men would have done. Bruce also effectively utilized his detective skills, using Amanda Waller's metahuman files to track down and recruit the speedster Flash, to learn of Anatoli Knyazev's connection to the "White Portuguese", Lex Luthor and kryptonite, as well as the latter's secret research on metahumans. When encountering Parademons, despite knowing little of them, Batman was able to deduce their ability to sense fear, and used that to lure one out into the open. When visiting a village frequented by Aquaman, Batman was able to correctly deduce that the former was among the crowd of villagers before him, due to it being the day right after the King tide (the time of year when Aquaman arrived, as Waller's files stated). In addition, when learning of the Mother Box's abilities, Batman was able to swiftly deduce that one of them would be able to resurrect Superman from the dead.
 * Master Deceiver: Bruce Wayne is an immensely formidable deceptive genius, a wunderkind prodigy, with Alfred even going so far as claiming that Batman's skills in the art of deception, ever since the age of 7, have been equivalent to Mozart's in music, with only Lex Luthor being known to surpass Batman in deceptive skills. Hence, as Batman, he has been effectively able to fool the people of Gotham City (especially the criminal underworld) into thinking that he is inhuman and supernatural (with female sex trafficked victims notably mistaking him for a "Devil", and Cyborg initially doubting that Batman is even real), while as Bruce Wayne, he had been able to take on the façade of a somewhat irresponsible fun-seeking and womanizing playboy, in order to avoid anyone from suspecting that he could possibly be Batman. Bruce also successfully deceived Anatoli Knyazev (distracting the Russian with a polite conversation, while discreetly cloning the contents of his phone), Mercy Graves (tricking her into thinking that he was drunk, managing to thus avoid suspicion during his attendance of Lex's fundraiser party), and Superman (whom he ambushed with the unexpectedly potent kryptonite weapons). However, Batman had notably never been particularly skilled at deceiving Alfred Pennyworth (the one person who knew Bruce best, having raised the latter from his childhood), and was unable to deceive supergenius Lex Luthor, who was quick to see through the Dark Knight's inhuman and supernatural façade, thereby deducing (via CCTV) that Batman is actually only a mere man without any metahuman powers.
 * Expert Social Intuit: Batman, both as Bruce Wayne and a vigilante, has a great degree of social confidence, making him highly skilled in intuitively determining how to interact with others, gain their respect and get his point across with a calmness, eloquence, and charisma that sometimes belie his actual, usually gloomy, emotional state. Hence, Bruce diplomatically greeted Lex Luthor (who he had suspicions of, given the latter's shady alliance with Anatoli Knyazev), calmly confronted Diana Prince (despite his rage at being thwarted in his attempt to gain data on kryptonite), verbally leveled with Diana when she showed her comparable intellect, and even remained fairly calm when meeting Clark Kent and discussing his brutality as a vigilante in contrast to the more heroic Superman, (keeping his composure even in the face of Clark's somewhat unjustified belief of him being a brutally unforgiving vigilante, retaliating with a calm but distasteful remark regarding Daily Planet's tendency to speak good about Superman and his belief that Superman could very well be a threat after a brief moment of cold anger, which successfully caused Clark dismay, and responding to Clark's statement that the world doesn't share his opinion with a non-aggressive, albeit cold, mention of the psycopathic Joker and Harley Quinn). As Batman, he had successfully maintained a working diplomatic relationship with the Gotham authorities, getting them to trust him to be Gotham's protector, and despite the extreme temptation to brand Lex, he was just able to resist and instead resorted to coldly gloat to Lex that he will be imprisoned in Arkham Asylum, along with lashing out not at Lex but at the wall with his branding ring even when the latter gloated about Superman being dead. Indeed, Alfred Pennyworth is one of the extreme few individuals with whom Bruce doesn't hold himself back in conversation, notably when he passionately expressed his motives for within to destroy Superman. As a result, Bruce remains extremely well-respected at Wayne Enterprises by Greg, Grace, Jack O'Dwyer, and even his embittered former employee Wallace Keefe, who proudly proclaimed his loyalty to Bruce Wayne after his arrest.
 * Master Engineer: Batman is an immensely formidable genius in vehicles' operations and general engineering, since his company, Wayne Enterprises is the world's 6th leading company (after LexCorp Industries, Kord Industries, Stagg Industries, Queen Industries, and Geschäft-Krieg) in high-technology defense innovation, with Batman and Alfred having personally built and over time improved upon his various sophisticated gadgets, most notably, the Batmobile, Standard Batsuit, and Batcomputer. Bruce later personally designed the Armored Batsuit, as well as the innovative kryptonite gas grenades and a kryptonite-tipped spear, all of which proved enough for Batman to ultimately defeat Superman. When recruiting Barry Allen, he successfully identified the composition of the Flash suit and knew it was material used on the space shuttle to prevent it from burning upon reentry. After establishing the Justice League, Batman constructs the highly sophisticated Knightcrawler and Flying Fox, as well as creating a new and updated Flash suit for Barry Allen, and even deducing from Wonder Woman's story that a Mother Box would be able to resurrect Superman from the dead.
 * Master Hacker: Batman is an extremely skilled genius hacker, notable for his exceptional skills of intelligence gathering, and data interpretation, as well as his superb pattern recognition and analysis skills, with only supergenius Lex Luthor known to surpass him. Hence, Batman was notably able to utilize his sophisticated Batcomputer to hack into both GCPD police radios and Gotham City news stations (being constantly hooked up to both, so as to be up to date with all the goings on in his city), and into Lex Luthor's military-grade encrypted data on kryptonite and metahumans (while Lex actually intended to have Batman hack into it, the encryption was genuine, so as not to make Batman suspicious of being Lex's pawn). Batman also eventually learned of Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad pitch to the Pentagon, discovered the original photograph of Steve Trevor's team (promptly sending it to Diana Prince at the Louvre Museum), and even promised to protect Waller from the US intelligence community learning of her error in Midway City. Batman usually utilizes the Oracle Network, in order to most effectively hack and gather data from the Batcomputer.
 * Master Leader: Batman (although not on the level of Lex Luthor in brilliance and as he admits, Superman in terms of charisma) is an extremely skilled leader, able to successfully lead and spearhead Wayne Enterprises very successfully for decades, making it become among the world's most prominent companies, notably being the 6th leading company in high-technology defense innovation, to masterfully lead his vigilante protégé Robin in numerous successful vigilante escapades and missions, only losing Robin in all the years he spent fighting crime along with his proteges, to lead the Insurgency against Superman's Regime for a lengthy amount of time despite the superior military power of Superman's organization (in a vision of a possible future), and to later successfully lead the Justice League's original roster against Steppenwolf's Parademon invasion. Indeed, despite Aquaman's initial gruff refusal, the initial insecurity of both Flash and Cyborg, and Batman's own doubts (as he knew that Superman would have been a better leader for them), they all ultimately came to look up to Batman as the team leader, and developed a healthy team dynamic. When Flash remarks on his inexperience, many fears, and questions his value to the team, Batman helped him gain confidence with some simple advice. In addition, despite Wonder Woman initially not being receptive, Batman ultimately inspires her to become a better leader and a better superhero overall.
 * Master Businessman: Gotham City Skyline.jpg Wayne is an immensely formidable brilliant genius businessman (though not quite on par with oligarch Lex Luthor and the CEO of Kord Industries, Stagg Industries, Queen Industries, and Geschäft-Krieg), successfully running his father's company, Wayne Enterprises, for decades with tremendous efficiency, helping the company grow and gain more business partners (notably quickly absorbing Van Criss Laboratories, and purchasing the bank that intended to gain the Kent farm), as the CEO and amassing a tremendous amount of wealth (over $97 million), despite his refusal of military contacts. As a result, Bruce is extremely well-respected in the business world, being known for having his employees' loyalty as well as his impeccable business ethics, with Wayne Enterprises becoming the world's 6th leading company (after LexCorp Industries, Kord Industries, Stagg Industries, Queen Industries, and Geschäft-Krieg) in the field of high-technology defense innovation under his leadership.
 * Master Criminologist: Batman is an extremely skilled and experienced criminologist, at least equal with Commissioner Gordon, having great insight into and understanding of Gotham City's criminals and their mindsets, which allows him to consistently overpower and undermine their operations with extreme effectiveness. Batman's skills, however, are not on par with Lex Luthor, as even with him being aware of the latter's shady alliance with Anatoli Knyazev, he was still unable to fully deduce that Lex was in fact a covert supercriminal.
 * Expert Interrogator: Batman is infamously adept in interrogation techniques, often using law enforcement methods, as well as torture (notably branding a Gotham City sex trafficker, Cesar Santos, along with 18 known other criminals) as an effective means of punishment or information extraction.
 * Expert Networker: Batman, as an influential businessman, experienced vigilante, and interrogator, superbly uses a dense network of professional and social contacts to further both his business and superhero ambitions. This is notable through his influence of the police (like the GCPD, through Commissioner Gordon and the Batcomputer), other companies (like Van Criss Laboratories, through Wayne Enterprises), powerful intelligence agencies (like ARGUS, through Amanda Waller), and certain prisons (like Arkham Asylum, through his "friends" there). Hence, Batman is able to discreetly keep tabs on numerous people and things that interest him, was able to gain the GCPD's trust, to swiftly uncover Dr. Van Criss' nano-bomb usage against the Suicide Squad for Waller, to get Barry Allen a forensics job in Central City, to help Clark and Martha Kent keep their Kent farm, to arrange that Lex Luthor gets transferred from Belle Reve supermax to Arkham Asylum (also promising Lex that he would be watching him "whatever he does, wherever he goes"), to threaten Amanda Waller into shutting down her Squad (unless she wishes for Batman's Justice League friends to "shut it down for [her]"), and was even able to promise Waller protection against the US intelligence community (so as to avoid them finding out about her catastrophic error in judgement concerning Enchantress in Midway City).
 * Multilingualism: Bruce, apart from his native English, also speaks fluent Russian (albeit with a slight accent), as seen in his conversation with Anatoli Knyazev, and Icelandic as well, as seen in his visit to Aquaman.
 * Expert Driver: Batman is a highly skilled and evasive patrol driver, able to successfully pursue his enemies (most notably the Joker and Harley Quinn in the Smiley Car, as well as Anatoli Knyazev and his men) through the streets of Gotham City on his Batmobile, and also managed to navigate the extremely dangerous streets of Metropolis during the Black Zero Event in his civilian car, successfully avoiding falling debris.
 * Expert Pilot: Batman is also very proficient at combat piloting, able to effectively fight Doomsday himself from within his Batwing, albeit only temporarily, and to later break down Steppenwolf's Apokalyptan dome with his Flying Fox.
 * Expert Rider: Batman is a highly skilled horseback rider, shown when he travels across the tundra terrain of Iceland, in an effort to reach the village frequented by Aquaman.
 * Indomitable Will: Batman has tremendous determination and strength of will, which make him an extremely formidable opponent, one who absolutely refuses to hunker down and give up, even when placed against seemingly insurmountable odds. Although his years of fighting crime in Gotham non-stop seemed endless, even after losing Robin and seeing many good men become corrupt, Batman never gave up in his crusade, if only becoming much more relentless and darker but still having sufficient will to stop himself from killing criminals who survived. Hence, during the Black Zero Event, Bruce fearlessly ran through the extremely dangerous clouds of debris in order to save any survivors within the wreckage of the collapsed Wayne Financial building. Months later, even when Superman himself personally warned Batman to back off, Batman showed no signs of fear, boldly countering Superman's threat with one of his own. Indeed, in a vision of a possible future, when a malevolent Superman enforces totalitarian rule upon Earth with his Regime, Batman promptly establishes and lead the Insurgency against him, refusing to submit to the alien tyrant even when his Insurgent forces are eventually defeated by the Regime Stormtroopers, leaving Batman helpless and at Superman's mercy. Batman later refused to stay down when Superman knocked him to the ground repeatedly during their duel, persisting until he finally won and had the weakened Kryptonian at his mercy. Even when Lex Luthor warned Batman of the inevitable threat posed by Steppenwolf's impending invasion, Batman, despite Earth now being vulnerable after Superman's death and his feelings of great remorse for allowing Superman to die, displays his strength of will by never once succumbing to despair, and instead dedicates himself to honoring Superman in death - enlisting Wonder Woman's help in founding and uniting the Justice League, to fight against this new threat. Batman later decides to resurrect Superman with a Mother Box despite Wonder Woman and Aquaman's protests, as he was confident in his contingency, which ultimately proved to be correct. Shortly thereafter, Batman is willing to sacrifice himself to defeat Steppenwolf and save the world - by distracting an army of Parademons, thereby giving the Justice League a necessary opening to dismantle the Unity but Wonder Woman decides to save Batman instead.

Weaknesses
"Why did you say that name?!"

- - Batman to Superman


 * Post-traumatic stress disorder: Bruce was deeply traumatized by the murder of his parents at a young age. He experienced a PTSD episode when Superman mentioned his mother's name, who shared the name as his mother as well as being his father's last word, triggering him to relive the horrific events. Shortly after Bruce lost his parents, he fell into a well and was surrounded by bats, causing him to develop a fear of them (chiroptophobia). Hence, he suffers from nightmares of a Bat Creature haunting him. Bruce has also lost other people close to him, such as Robin at the hands of Joker (after he sent his ward on a mission, prompting him to blame himself for the former's death and break the latter's teeth, while the Joker tattooed the word "damaged" on his forehead to remind batman of when he lost control) and Jack O'Dwyer during the Black Zero Event. His experiences have hardened him, as noted by Sal, with Alfred stating him feeling powerless has led him to become cruel in his crusade against crime. Bruce also went on about how many good men were left, and how many turned bad, causing him to assign less worth to promises and grow cynical. His attitude brought him into conflict with Superman, and almost killed the latter with the Kryptonite spear until he realized the Man of Steel was, in a way, human. Having used his kryptonite gas on him and leaving less for Doomsday, Bruce partially blamed himself for Superman's death, declaring that he had failed him. During the Knightmare, Bruce also stated to Joker that he has "been dead inside" for a long time.

General

 * A reference to Batman was shown during the final battle between Superman and General Dru-Zod in Man of Steel. A poster can be seen that says "Keep Calm and Call Batman" in a Metropolis building, which was later revealed to be the Wayne Financial Building in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, whose destruction proved to be a big plot point for Batman's involvement in the latter film. A Wayne Enterprise satellite also appeared during Superman and Zod's fight in Man of Steel.
 * According to producer Charles Roven, Batman is an extremely rough, physical person. Ben Affleck said that he identified with Batman's character in that they are both very angry people.
 * Batman is about 41–42 years old at the start of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as Alfred states that he's been training in the art of deception since the age of 7 despite being unable to deceive him.
 * While this version of Batman is largely thought to be the most lethal, other film versions of Batman have killed or at least indirectly caused death at least once.
 * Batman's voice is digitally altered by a vocoder in his cowl.
 * In certain scenes, particularly action scenes, Batman's cape is rendered using CGI.
 * This version of Batman was mainly inspired by the incarnation from The Dark Knight Returns written by Frank Miller, depicting him as being older, more brutal in his fight against crime, and utilizing a durable battle armor, along with tear gas bombs filled with gaseous kryptonite and other weakening methods to combat Superman on equal footing. His main costume is also based on the costume worn by that particular incarnation. There are also some elements from the Golden Age, Arkham-verse and mainstream versions in the Batman of this continuity.
 * Michael Wilkinson, the costume designer of BvS and Justice League declared that Bruce studied Asian martial arts in Japan.
 * This version of Batman is the first and only live-action incarnation to ever show him to be near to his comics' counterpart in terms of physical prowess (despite Michael Keaton's Batman demonstrating nearly superhuman strength at some points) while accurately portraying him in terms of personality.
 * While the casting of Ben Affleck initially caused a controversy including the filing of an online petition, his performance was ultimately met with an extremely positive reception with most fans calling him "the best Batman ever", and other fans adoringly dubbing him "Batfleck". This eventually caused Affleck to start writing a solo Batman movie affiliated with this universe, mere rumors and news of which caused a huge and positive online and offline excitement in fans.
 * In promoting Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, its version of Batman (alongside Superman and Wonder Woman) in the film was added to the mobile version of DC's video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, as "Dawn of Justice Batman".
 * In the Injustice 2 Mobile game, his appearances in that film and Justice League are playable as "Knightmare Batman" and "Justice League Batman".
 * According to Richard Cetrone (Ben Affleck's stunt double in BvS), Batman also used Kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do, Kali and Professional Wrestling in the warehouse fight scene.
 * This version of Batman's birthday is on February 19, which might be a reference to the DC comics version, in which Batman's birthday is also February 19, however, it is possible that their birth years are different.
 * Batman is usually 8-years-old when he witnesses the death of his parents: However, in this incarnation, Batman was 9-years-old instead of 8-years-old when he witnessed the death of his parents.
 * Batman and Aquaman both have fathers named Thomas.
 * Batman and Superman both have mothers named Martha.
 * The only people who know that Bruce is Batman are the members of the Justice League, Robin, Lex Luthor, Amanda Waller, Lois Lane and Alfred Pennyworth.
 * Bruce is right-handed.
 * This version of Batman has an onscreen kill count of 21 people.
 * Unlike his comic book counterpart, this version of Batman doesn't seem to have a hatred towards guns and he also seems to be fine with drinking alcohol.
 * Batman makes a cameo appearance in the hand-drawn "imaginary" adventures in the credits of Shazam!, where he attempts to stop Billy Batson from stealing the Batmobile.
 * In Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), Harley Quinn has a pet hyena named Bruce, which she named after Bruce Wayne.