Batman

39 years ago - Bruce Wayne is born in Gotham City, the son of Thomas & Martha Wayne.

33 years ago - 6-year-old Bruce Wayne meets Alfred Pennyworth, who has returned to Wayne Manor for his father's funeral. Alfred helps young Bruce outsmart a bully and chooses to stay on as the Wayne's butler. Carmine Falcone, after being shot by Sal Maroni's father, is brought to Wayne Manor where Thomas Wayne saves his life.

31 years ago - 8-year-old Bruce Wayne falls through an abandoned well into the cave systems beneath Wayne Manor. While taking him out to the movies to try to deal with his trauma from the event, Thomas & Martha Wayne are gunned down by a mugger. Bruce is found by Officer James Gordon, and cared for by Leslie Thompkins. At his parents funeral, Carmine Falcone promises him one favor. Alfred Pennyworth becomes his legal guardian.

25 years ago - 14-year-old Bruce Wayne leaves Gotham City to travel the world, training for his mission. Alfred Pennyworth maintains the illusion that he is away at a series of boarding schools.

22 years ago - 17-year-old Bruce saves Lucius Fox from muggers in Paris.

21 years ago - 18-year-old Bruce trains briefly under an assumed name with David Cain, who begins developing his theories about replacing language with movement.

20 years ago - 19-year-old Bruce Wayne studies under an assumed identity with Zatara and meets his daughter Zatanna.

15 years ago - 24-year-old Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City. He attends the college graduation of his childhood friend Julie Madison. & they begin dating. He begins regularly visiting the clinic of Leslie Thompkins. He retakes controlling interest in Wayne Enterprises, bringing in Lucius Fox as the CEO of the newly-formed Waynetech and head of the Wayne Enterprises board of directors. He attempts to fight crime on the streets but fails, leaving him nearly dead. After an epiphany in his study, he crafts his identity as Batman. Lieutenant Gordon is the only man on the police force he trusts, and soon they are working together along with Assistant DA Harvey Dent. He crashes Carmine Falcone's dinner party, announcing his presence as he begins disassembling his organization. The League of Assassins send Lady Shiva to test him. He confronts The Joker for the first time, stopping him from poisoning the Gotham Reservoir.

14 years ago - 25-year-old Bruce Wayne takes in Dick Grayson when his parents are killed, who becomes Robin. He proposes to Julie Madison, and first meets Selina Kyle, and soon also meets her new costumed alter-ego Catwoman. His work with Lieutenant Gordon & Harvey Dent leads to Gotham's DA being brought down on corruption charges. Victor Fries begins his rampage as Mister Freeze to try to build the facility necessary to save his wife. He is stopped, but permitted to continue his research in the controlled environment of Arkham. Bruce finally captures and imprisons serial killer Julian Gregory Day.

13 years ago - 26-year-old Bruce Wayne is invited to join the Justice League with Superman. Pamela Isley holds Gotham for ransom with her spore clouds and hybrid plants, demanding enough money to continue her research. He stops her when he manages to resist her. Jervis Tetch attempts to use Barbara Gordon as his Alice, but Bruce stops him. Jonathan Crane's murder spree as the Scarecrow holds the city hostage until he is captured.

12 years ago - 27-year-old Bruce Wayne first meets Barbara Gordon's Batgirl. He asks Zatanna for help on a case and works with Knight & Squire. When he burns Carmine Falcone's secret stores of cash Falcone puts a 50 million dollar bounty on Batman, bringing in some of the best assassins in the world, including Slade Wilson, Floyd Lawton, Thomas Blake, Nathan Prince, Lester Buchinski, Malcolm Merlyn, Crusher Crock, Lady Elaine Marsh-Morton & Drury Walker. He is injurred by Carmine's assassins and goes to Leslie Thompkins clinic for help, revealing his identity to her. Edward Nygma begins staging a grand ongoing crime spree as the Riddler, pitting him against Batman in a elaborate game. Eventually, he is caught and put in Arkham. Arthur Brown attempts a similar crimewave, but is almost immediately stopped. Kirk Langstrom mutates into the Man-Bat, and has to be caught so that he can be cured. Roland Desmond manipulates his mutated brother Mark Desmond into attacking Batman while he commits crimes until they are both captured. He first meets new Gotham Gazette reporter Vicki Vale.

11 years ago - 28-year-old Bruce Wayne is confronted by Ra's Al Ghul, testing his worth as an heir. He has a night of passion with Talia Al Ghul, but ultimately rejects Ra's offer. Bruce & Julie Madison end their engagement, & she leaves for Los Angeles. He works for the first time with Jason Blood. He successfully brings in Sal Maroni, who attacks Harvey Dent during his trial, leading to a night of murders that shift the balance of power in Gotham's underworld. Hugo Strange's obsession deepens as he tries to sell Bruce's secret identity, frames Batman for kidnapping Mayor Rupert Thorne's daughter & tortures him with imagery of his parents before he is shot by police while wearing a replica Batsuit and presumed dead.

10 years ago - 29-year-old Bruce pursues an escaped Pamela Isley to a tropical island. When they work together to stop the local government from testing weapons on the locals, he agrees to allow her to remain. Oswald Cobblepot traps him in Gotham's undercity, where he has to fight Solomon Grundy. Jervis Tetch first becomes the Mad Hatter and has to be stopped. Waylon Jones first appears in the sewers of Gotham. Julian Gregory Day resurfaces in Gotham and is caught again. He is able to deduce that Clark Kent needs his help, and asks Diana Prince to help him and Dick Grayson access the Fortress of Solitude where they can save Clark from Mongul and his Black Mercy. He reveals his identity to Barbara Gordon when she saves him and Dick from Arthur Brown's Mystery Theater Network. He begins an affair with Vicki Vale, who is suspicious that he is Batman.

9 years ago - 30-year-old Bruce Wayne almost kills the Joker for paralyzing Barbara Gordon, but is talked down by James Gordon. When Bruce is caught by Two-Face, Dick Grayson ignores an order not to try to try to save him, and when he fails he is beaten mercilessly. Bruce fires him as a result, and when he finds Jason Todd stealing components off the Batmobile he takes him in and begins training him as the new Robin. Man-Bat begins to appear in Gotham again, but he and Kirk Langstrom are able to deduce that it is actually Langstrom's wife, Francine. Bruce is not present when the Justice League votes on what to do with Arthur Light. He begins his romance with Silver St. Cloud.

8 years ago - 31-year-old Bruce Wayne & Jason Todd track down the Joker, who kills Jason. He stops Talia Al Ghul from recovering Jason's body to bring him back in a Lazarus Pit. Without a Robin, he forms the Outsiders & joins the newly-formed Justice League. Garfield Lynns attacks his ex-girlfriend Cassidy's stage show as Firefly, starting a pyrotechnic rampage across Gotham before he is caught. Basil Karlo becomes Clayface and terrorizes Gotham and Sionis chemicals until he is stopped. He comes into conflict with Helena Bertinelli over her methods, choosing not to stop herbecause of her motivations, but keeps a close eye on her. Vicki Vale finally confronts him with her evidence that he is Batman. He is able to disprove it.

7 years ago - 32-year-old Bruce Wayne takes over leadership of the Justice League from Arthur Curry, leaving leadership of the Outsiders to Brian Markov. He approaches Zatanna for help binding the Silver Banshee within Siobhan McDougal's body again, helping her return to adventuring. He is nearly destroyed when Jonathan Crane uses his newest fear toxin, only saved by the timely arrival of the Outsiders.

6 years ago - 33-year-old Bruce Wayne quits the Justice League to become a reservist. Silver St. Cloud discovers his secret identity, ends their relationship & moves to Paris. Jervis Tech traps him within a dreamworld where his parents never died, but he rejects the illusion. When Kirk Langstrom's cure fails he has to be captured so Pieter Cross can consult on a new cure. Drury Walker attempts a comeback but is stopped with little effort. Hugo Strange poses as a psychiatrist doing routine tests of executives at Wayne Enterprises & tries to get Bruce Wayne to confess to being Batman. He is thwarted by Bruce's regiment of post hypnotic suggestion and by Nightwing.

5 years ago - 34-year-old Bruce Wayne takes on Tim Drake as the new Robin. Barbara Gordon resurfaces as Oracle, and Jean-Paul Valley is rescued from the Order of St. Dumas. He reconnects with Julie Madison when she returns to Gotham to film the movie remake of the Terror. He discovers Basil Karlo haunting the production, systematically killing cast and crew. Swamp Thing tries to stop him from fighting Solomon Grundy so he can become a new Earth elemental, but is unsuccessful. He saves Selina Kyle from certain death at the hands of Black Mask's men, and finally condones her work in the East End. He confronts and captures mass-murderer Victor Zsasz. He stops Victor Fries' final cure machine. He briefly rekindles his romance with Vicki Vale, despite them both knowing it's not going to last.

4 years ago - 35-year-old Bruce Wayne's back is broken by Bane. Jean-Paul Valley takes over as Batman, but has to be removed when he rebuilds it as a shadow of Azrael. Bruce finds O-Sensei with the help of Richard Dragon to heal his back, and retrains his body under the guidance of Sandra Wu. He reveals his identity to Selina Kyle, who helps him recover his suit. Dick Grayson takes over as Batman until Bruce is completely recovered. His relationship with Selina moves forward. He accepts Tim Drake's appraisal of Helena Bertinelli, accepting her into his circle of operatives.

3 years ago - 36-year-old Bruce Wayne is among the Justice League reservists that found the Watchtower after the White Martian Invasion. Gotham is stricken by the League of Assassins Contagion bio-plague. He is contacted by Talia Al Ghul, who informs him that this was done by Bane, who had been selected as a new heir but who had rejected the role. Bruce must defeat Ra's Al Ghul for the right to face Bane, who he ultimately defeats. Gotham is destroyed in an earthquake. Cassandra Cain appears in Gotham and after he battles David Cain, becomes the new Batgirl. Jonathan Crane briefly captures him during No Man's Land. He saves Pamela Isley from Basil Karlo during the great quake. He pays the full tuition for Selina Kyle's daughter Helena Kyle to attend Phantom Lady's Université Notre Dame Des Ombres.

2 years ago - 37-year-old Bruce is framed for murder. He discovers that Lex Luthor hired David Cain to frame him, but Cain is convinced to turn himself in when he is defeated by Cassandra Cain. Arthur Brown stages a massive ploy to take his revenge on Gotham and on Batman that almost succeeds before Stephanie Brown stops him. When Tim Drake quits he accepts Stephanie Brown's offer to become the new Robin, but she refuses to stay behind when open warfare breaks out in the streets of Gotham between the Penguin & Tobias Whale. He arrives in time to save her when she sacrifices herself to protect Leslie Thompkins from Lester Buchinski. He helps Clark Kent clear his name when Lex frames him for attacking the Earth with the help of the global-monitoring of Heino Okata, battling Lex in his battle armor, costing him the presidency. He saves Harvey Dent when he jumps off a roof in an attempt to finally break away from his Two-Face identity.

1 year ago - 38-year-old Bruce, dosed with Jonathan Crane's toxin, fears that the newly active Red Hood is a returned Jason Todd, but is able to learn his identity with the help of Talia Al Ghul. While fighting the Injustice Gang with the Watchtower he uses Curt Calhoun's tech to reprogram his nervous system. J'onn J'onzz's telepathy allows him to communicate with an imprisioned Clark Kent durring the battle of Mageddon. He reconnects with Silver St. Cloud when he saves the people held captive on her private island.

now - 39-year-old Bruce's Babel protocols are stolen by Nyssa Al Ghul, proving that he had contingency plans against the Watchtower, leading to his expulsion before he is defeated by the League of Assassins and presumed dead. He is imprisoned alongside Kate Kane.

Without a doubt, Batman is the central character of the entire DC universe. His storylines are the framework that the rest of the stories hang on. We started the entire timeline here. More than any other character we've worked on, the hardest part was trying to get the huge number of stories featuring Batman and his supporting cast to fit within a single human lifetime. The most effort went into getting all of his stories lined up in a way that feels natural. Hopefully there's a flow from event to event that feels like the progression of an actual person and not like the arbitrary machinations of a rotating cast of writers.

Batman's Comic History

Batman first appeared in the pages of Detective Comics in 1939. He was the invention of writer Bob Kane, who fervently protected his legacy as the creator of Batman for the rest of his life. It was only years later that the contribution to the character by artist Bill Finger finally came to light, and he finally started to be recognized as the co-creator of one of the most recognized and successful fictional characters that's ever been imagined.

At his core, what makes Batman so long-lasting is that, whether intentional or not, Batman is not a child's power fantasy like so many other superheroes; he's an adolescent power fantasy. If Superman is what a small child imagines when they want to feel powerful, Batman is what a teenager imagines. By incorporating at least vague elements of rebellion and anti-establishment sentiment in the bones of the character, he promised to entertain people long after they came to terms with the fact that people can't fly. Batman was one of the very first comic titles where the character had an actual tragic backstory. It opens the character to be continually re-analyzed as we explore what kind of psychopath decides to spend billions of dollars to dress up as a bat and punch criminals, and it will never stop being fun.

Our Batman Story

There is so much Batman content! This character has starred in at least three monthly books for nearly 80 years, and a lot of it is actually really good. Like most of our timeline, we're ignoring pretty much everything after 2011, but that still leaves a huge number of stories. We cherry picked a lot of our favorites and tried to assemble something we liked, which came out looking fairly similar to the late 90's early 2000's version of the character. We had to make some tiny shifts to the order of events in a few places, but they tended to feed into each other and make the overall story feel more dynamic. For example, the end of the original satellite era Justice League, the death of Jason Todd, the crippling of Barbara Gordon, and the creation and end of the Outsiders all happen within a few years of each other, which all suggests a period of huge upheaval in Bruce's life.

There are a few story concessions we simply had to make to keep it all on track (Bruce heals awfully fast from that broken back), but one story element that we are REALLY proud of is that, as we continued to add in the stories of his various nemeses, a really interesting unfolding story about the criminal life of Gotham started to evolve. Bruce becomes part of the living organism that is Gotham, and we're excited that it grew seemingly on its own as we continued to craft the overall story.

The Batman Family

The original idea of having a kid sidekick actually originates from Batman when Robin debuted all the way back in 1940, a mere year after Batman himself made his first appearance. While writer Otto Binder really invented the idea of having a whole CAST of supporting characters in the pages of Captain Marvel, there's two elements that make the huge family of Batman supporting characters stand out.

First, each new addition to the family seems to truly bring something special and unique to the roll. No one has ever been brought in as a simple reflection of Batman, but instead manages to be a hero with their own motivations, their own style. It's pretty amazing that there has been five different Robins, and ALL of them are completely unique characters.

Second, there's something about the nature of Batman that seems to be so exposed and raw when you consider his tendency to surround himself with young, talented heroes. Bruce works SO hard to project an image of being an aloof loner, but he can't hide the fact that he clearly wants to surround himself with family. It can be read into so many ways, but my take on the character is always that he's really making most of his decisions based on the loss he experienced as a child. Yes, he wants to be an effective crimefighter. Yes, helping fund the Justice League and forming the Outsiders and constantly taking in new sidekicks is a tactically sound decision... but ultimately, I have to believe that what we're seeing is someone fighting his own loneliness.

Batman's Costume

While there's already a lot of ink spent over the nature of the dozens (hundreds?) of different variations we've seen on Batman's iconic costume over the decades, I'd actually like to come at it from an opposite direction.

A lot of people have had a lot of ideas about the levels of technology worked into his costume. While yes, he's a billionaire and can have all kinds of tech, and half of the fun of the concept is that you can imagine him using all sorts of different toys; he's not Iron Man. He's using a blend of martial arts and assassin techniques. The suit needs to move, to breath, and not weigh him down when he's zipping about on retractable lines.

Thankfully, since Batman is featured in a wider variety of media than any character EVER, it's very easy to find an exact version of him that we think fits perfectly. We've all come to a very quick agreement that the best version of Batman's costume can be found in the Arkham video game series. It's a perfect blend of stealth and technology. In the last game in the series, Arkham Knight, he exchanges his costume for an armored tech suit. Even then, it actually does feel like something he might have available for emergencies... but that would be the HEAVIEST version of Batman's costume technology. The ridiculous power suit of Dark Knight Returns or Batman V Superman might look cool, but that's just not how Batman works. That's Tony Stark, not Bruce Wayne.

Batman's Inherent Mortality

There's always an understanding in comic books that this is an ongoing story, and that even though decades are passing, the character isn't aging in real time. Even with that understood, however, Batman has long carried an element of fatalism in his story. As we watch him work, we all can't help but be aware of the fact that he's not superhuman, that he's been doing this job for a long time (fifteen years in our continuity, which actually matches with the pre-2011 comic timeline pretty well), and that this simply can't continue indefinitely. This was a bit of a tightrope. In fact, one of the very first thoughts that inspired the entire DC Continuity Project was; how old IS Batman? How old are his sidekicks? Where are we in his story? We made him JUST under 40. We wanted to give him a long enough career to allow his sidekicks to grow into adults, and to fit all the pieces of his storied career, but still give him some time before the inevitable questions of his ultimate fate become relevant.

40 isn't old... but it also isn't young anymore. As I write this, I'm 38. I understand what that looming milestone feels like. Batman should have that too, that awareness that he's not a young man anymore. He is constantly working against the clock, pushing against his own aging, feeling his body not quite moving the way it once did, having to rely more and more on his tactical brilliance. Not every character gets to have that fatalism in their story, and it's just another reason Batman's story is so great.

Batman's Future

As we leave the timeline, Bruce is currently a prisoner of Ra's Al Ghul as part of their larger plans of the Light. Tim Drake is looking for him, and he's bonding with fellow prisoner Kate Kane. What we're planning to happen is a rescue mission by Tim, where Bruce insists that he save Kate instead, who then joins the extended Batman family as they assault the League of Assassins castle and free him. The intention is that this leads to a larger conflict with the Light.

And then, Bruce is back. Dick Grayson has taken over a lot of the operations of Gotham, but obviously when Bruce returns, he'll be Batman again. This is more of a group operation now, freeing Bruce to dedicate himself more to his personal mission, but what does that look like now? The answer, I think, is in the fact that Damian is now the new Robin.

Bruce can dedicate himself to training his son. He would even have a moral push to do so, as Damian was trained by the League of Assassins and could be very dangerous if he doesn't receive the proper training. Perhaps this is what the near future holds for Bruce: a greater and more deliberate focus on his legacy. When you also consider that Selena Kyle is currently raising her daughter Helena (and won't say exactly who the father is) perhaps this new chapter in Bruce's life is bigger than even he realizes.

Batman's (Further) Future

While there are a lot of proposals for Bruce's final destiny, this one is mine. Whether this happens or not shouldn't be set in stone, it's just how I imagine his future happening.

Bruce's connection to the League of Assassins has always had an element of tragedy, because he would absolutely be able to make the League his own and turn it into a force for good that will long outlive him if he was to become its new leader. Talia wants him to rule, Ra's wants him to rule, and even he sees what it could mean if he ruled. The only thing stopping him, unfortunately, is that Ra's will only give over control if Bruce kills him, Bruce will never kill him, and no one but Bruce COULD kill him. So they're left in a perpetual limbo as enemies.
Meanwhile, Bane is somehow connected to Bruce, but he doesn't understand how. He's had visions of bats, he's actually been chosen and rejected as a new heir to the League, but as of yet, no one really understands how they're all connected.

So my proposal is that Bane ultimately kills Ra's Al Ghul in battle, dying himself, clearing the way so that Bruce can assume his mantle as the new head of the League, turning it into the League of Bats. There would be loyalists following Nyssa who fight him, and converts who would follow him and aid in his new mission to use the League, not as assassins, but as extensions of his war on crime. This would be a new era of stories, watching the League evolve under his direction and his bond with Talia; all of which would be challenged in grand shakespearean fashion by his persistent bond with Selena.

That's my idea... who knows if it would ever happen or not, but where else am I going to share it?