For those who care to keep track of these things, it's agreed that the decline of Gotham City began twenty years ago. To be precise, in the little alleyway where Martha Wayne was brutally gunned down by a mugger in front of her husband and ten-year-old son. Rumor has it that Thomas Wayne broke down and begged for his own life, one of Gotham's wealthiest and most powerful groveling before a petty thug. The mugger spared Thomas Wayne, but forever degraded the man in the eyes of his already traumatized son Bruce.
As time passed, young Bruce Wayne became ambitious, driven, and talented- but also cold, ruthless, and calculating. At the age of thirty, he is already head of the family company, the massive conglomerate known as Wayne Enterprises. Bruce is the de facto king of Gotham- the mayor, police, courts, press, and even organized crime answer to him in one capacity or another. Despite his affable and philanthropic public image, though, Bruce Wayne is a much more sinister figure than he lets on. He has a seething hatred for criminals and the impoverished. Their lives mean nothing at all to him, and he would like to see them all slowly tortured to death. Indeed, he has been using his influence to mold Gotham into an authoritarian society, all aimed at the tight control and eventual elimination of crime. He has gathered numerous allies- some just want money and power, but others share his fanaticism.
Arkham Asylum is now run by Wayne Enterprises and is used as Wayne's private jail- with his connections in the mental health board, he is able to have his enemies declared insane and delivered into the tender arms of the institution's head, Professor Hugo Strange. If they weren't mad on arrival, a few months of medication, electroshock therapy, and unnecessary experimental brain surgery will do the trick.
However, there is a small but growing number of people who recognize Wayne's malign influence on the city and seek to counter it. Some are altruistic, some are motivated purely by hatred. But they represent the best chance this benighted city has. However, some have reported being menaced or even attacked by a strange bat-like figure. . .
TL; DR: Bruce Wayne takes a different path, becoming a militant control freak who runs Gotham City and specifically wants to eliminate all crime through highly drastic measures. He is aided and opposed by the familiar figures of the Batman comics- the Rogues and supporting characters are on both sides of this conflict.
Anybody interested?
As time passed, young Bruce Wayne became ambitious, driven, and talented- but also cold, ruthless, and calculating. At the age of thirty, he is already head of the family company, the massive conglomerate known as Wayne Enterprises. Bruce is the de facto king of Gotham- the mayor, police, courts, press, and even organized crime answer to him in one capacity or another. Despite his affable and philanthropic public image, though, Bruce Wayne is a much more sinister figure than he lets on. He has a seething hatred for criminals and the impoverished. Their lives mean nothing at all to him, and he would like to see them all slowly tortured to death. Indeed, he has been using his influence to mold Gotham into an authoritarian society, all aimed at the tight control and eventual elimination of crime. He has gathered numerous allies- some just want money and power, but others share his fanaticism.
Arkham Asylum is now run by Wayne Enterprises and is used as Wayne's private jail- with his connections in the mental health board, he is able to have his enemies declared insane and delivered into the tender arms of the institution's head, Professor Hugo Strange. If they weren't mad on arrival, a few months of medication, electroshock therapy, and unnecessary experimental brain surgery will do the trick.
However, there is a small but growing number of people who recognize Wayne's malign influence on the city and seek to counter it. Some are altruistic, some are motivated purely by hatred. But they represent the best chance this benighted city has. However, some have reported being menaced or even attacked by a strange bat-like figure. . .
TL; DR: Bruce Wayne takes a different path, becoming a militant control freak who runs Gotham City and specifically wants to eliminate all crime through highly drastic measures. He is aided and opposed by the familiar figures of the Batman comics- the Rogues and supporting characters are on both sides of this conflict.
Anybody interested?
