C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L
B A T M A N
BRUCE WAYNE ♦ PHILANTHROPIST ♦ GOTHAM CITY, NEW JERSEY, USA ♦ THE JUSTICE LEAGUE / THE GOTHAM KNIGHTS
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
"I'm not much of a 'people person'. But when you need a hand... and you will, call me."
Over a decade ago, billionaire industrialist and heir to one of the wealthiest fortunes in America, Bruce Wayne, launched a secret war against crime by creating a masked alter-ego designed to strike terror into the hearts of his enemies: The Batman. And as The Batman's status as an urban myth shifted and his reputation grew for getting results where the Gotham City Police Department couldn't, the self-styled 'Dark Knight' began to realize that he couldn't fight a war alone. The first, aside from his faithful butler Alfred, was Lieutenant - and eventually, Commissioner - James Gordon. Then came Richard "Dick" Grayson, similarly orphaned to Wayne by criminals and in need of guidance. Grayson would become the first Robin, The Boy Wonder, before maturing and taking up his own mantle as Nightwing. Barbara Gordon would become the first Batgirl, before a fateful tragedy would turn her into the wheelchair bound hacker known as Oracle. And so the list of Batman's closest allies grew, from the doomed Jason Todd to the damaged Cassandra Cain, the brilliant Timothy Drake and even his own son, Damian.
But Wayne's most heroic undertaking was undoubtedly his decision to embark on a mission of a much greater scope with The Man Of Steel, Superman, and the Amazonian warrior known as Wonder Woman. Their unequalled alliance forced the trinity to consider an idea: what if, by combining their forces with other 'super-humans', they could form a united defense against all enemies of peace and justice? What if they could build a team that stood an entire league above Earth's greatest champions? And thus, The Justice League of America - with it's founding seven, including Batman - were born.
Unlike the vast majority of his peers, Wayne is completely without superhuman powers and relies on decades of training, both physical and mental, to master his way through even the most gruelling battles. With nearly unlimited financial resources, Batman also brings an impressive arsenal of self-styled weapons, vehicles, and even the orbiting 'Watchtower' satellite that The League sometimes calls their base of operations.
While The Caped Crusader remains at The League's disposal for the right crisis, he can often be found terrorizing the criminal fraternity of Gotham City by the shadow of night, battling alongside Robin, Batgirl, and other members of The Gotham Knights against a collection of diabolical rogues such as The Joker, Two-Face, The Scarecrow, The Penguin, Ra's Al Ghul, and other denizens of Arkham Asylum.
It's a war he'll never win. But it's a battle he'll fight until his dying breath.
C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:
Maybe I'm taking the title of the game too literally, but an angle that's always interested me with Batman is the idea of putting him through a mid-life crisis. He's amassed all of this insanity that invades his life on a daily (and especially nightly) basis, whether it's trading blows with Bane or trying to prevent Poison Ivy from rendering the city her own personal garden of mindless drones, all while maintaining a double life that requires him to serve the city beneath a facade that only continues to make even his closest allies question his sanity. What if, in a moment of extreme personal crisis, he starts to doubt himself? Not only in his ability to be Batman, but in his ability to simply remain sane? And what would that look like in the face of a story that involves his direct workings with The Justice League, the seemingly infallible team of super-beings he's always tried to live up to despite his human frailties? I hope to take Bruce on a journey of self-discovery that, through his work alongside Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and the rest will lead him to a place of reassurance that he belongs alongside them - that it's not only Gotham that needs Batman, but the world.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
As I'm trying to go with the 'Crisis' motif in Batman's personal life, I'm portraying him as a little older than usual. I'm not going to go too specific with it, as that throws alot of unnecessary questions up in the air, but this is gonna be a Batman with a little gray in his hair and alot of scars, both on his body and in his mind, that have yet to fully heal - if they ever will.
S A M P L E P O S T:
P O S T C A T A L O G:
A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed arcs and stories.