Batman

REAL NAME Bruce Wayne ALIAS(ES) Batman[1] Bats[2] Master Wayne[1] The Dark Knight[1] Bat of Gotham[1] Bat Vigilante[1] The Judge[1] One Man Reign of Terror[1] Gotham's Caped Crime-Fighter[1] Batsy[3] Guardian of Gotham Demon of Gotham The Night Caped Crusader[4] Dark Creature of the Night[5] SPECIES Human NATIONALITY USA GENDER Male BIRTHDATE February 19, 1974 TITLE(S) CEO of Wayne Enterprises AFFILIATION(S) Wayne Family Wayne Enterprises Justice League STATUS Alive

FILM(S) Man of Steel (logo) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Suicide Squad Wonder Woman (note) Justice League Shazam! (drawing, toy) Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (mentioned) Zack Snyder's Justice League Black Adam (poster and toy) Shazam! Fury of the Gods (toy) The Flash Blue Beetle (mentioned) TV SERIES Peacemaker (mentioned) COMIC(S) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Batman Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Superman (photo) Field Trip Picture Proof Lights Out Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Upstairs/Downstairs Suicide Blonde (mentioned) Secret Files of the Suicide Squad Joyride Fast Food Shifting Gears Superhero Hooky (mentioned) Black Adam - The Justice Society Files: Atom Smasher (mentioned) The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive 1 The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive 2 (memory) Shazam! Thundercrack (drawing) Shazam! Fury of the Gods Special: Shazamily Matters (packet, mentioned) Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Special (mentioned) BOOK(S) Guide to the Caped Crusader/Guide to the Man of Steel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Cross Fire Time Out Shortlist Gotham and Metropolis (mentioned) Suicide Squad: The Official Movie Novelization Wonder Woman: The Official Movie Novelization (mentioned) Wonder Woman: The Junior Novel (mentioned) Shazam! Freddy's Guide to Super Hero-ing GAME(S) Batman v Superman: Who Will Win Justice League VR: The Complete Experience

Bruce Wayne is the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and the main 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 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 other minor villains such as Firefly, Mad Hatter, and the Riddler. After the death of Robin and the immense destruction and loss of life he witnessed during the Black Zero Event, Bruce became an increasingly ruthless guardian of Gotham City, as criminals grew wary of his now brutal reputation.[6]

By 2015, a year and a half following the Black Zero Event, Bruce had become weary of the intentions of Superman, developing a hatred of the hero further fueled by the Machiavellian manipulations of LexCorp CEO and super genius Lex Luthor. His fear and rage would boil over when he exchanged blows with Superman, using his technology and resources to not only match Superman's strength but counter the powers and even weaken him with kryptonite he had obtained and formed into a weapon should he want to kill him. However, Bruce would ultimately realize the error of his ways and allied himself with Superman to save Martha Kent from Anatoli Knyazev. The two were later joined by Wonder Woman to defeat the Kryptonian behemoth Doomsday created by Lex Luthor, though the battle

cost Superman his life.

In the following year, Bruce learned of an impending threat coming to Earth. Meeting with Diana Prince, Bruce relayed his findings but discovered that his suspicions had already been confirmed, as the New God Steppenwolf had already arrived. Bruce then decided to recruit the metahuman candidates he and Diana had been observing from Luthor's files, realizing that an attack was imminent. With the formation of the Justice League, Bruce orchestrated a plan with the help of three superpowered beings, Arthur Curry, Barry Allen and Victor Stone, to resurrect Superman by utilizing the power of a Mother Box to jump-start the hero's regeneration process and revive him. With the team now fully established, Batman led a successful offensive against Steppenwolf, defeating the latter's invasion.

Afterward, Batman continued to fight crime in Gotham while focusing his efforts on the team's future. Sometime later, he came into contact with the Martian Manhunter, who warned him of a future potential counterattack by the forces of Darkseid following Steppenwolf's failure. Eventually, he began training the Flash. Later requesting his help when the upstart criminal, Al Falcone, stole a deadly virus, forcing the Justice League to assemble once more.

Bruce Wayne was born 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.[1] Murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne One day in 1981,[7] when Bruce was nine, 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 bodyguard, 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.[1]

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,[8] 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.

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.[9] He even came to the attention of an interdimensional imp who took on the name Bat-Mite, as the imp grew to idolize the dark knight.[10]

Despite developing a coterie of enemies, Bruce's morals often prevented him from killing his foes,[5] meaning that most of Gotham City's supervillains often ended up incarcerated in either Blackgate Penitentiary or Arkham Asylum.[9] Many of his foes came to escape these locations to kill again, making some blame him for those subsequent deaths.[5] Examples of Batman's enemies include members of both the Falcone and Maroni crime families,[9] the monstrous metahuman Killer Croc, his psychopathic nemesis the Joker, Joker's girlfriend and right-hand woman Harley Quinn, Deadshot,[3] the Riddler, the Mad Hatter,[5] and Deathstroke.[11] Despite his efforts to end crime, people like Rudy Reyes considered him a fascist.[12] 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 before the Black Zero Event, the Joker and Harley Quinn[13] 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.[1] Batman, in his anger at Joker for killing Robin, broke his teeth and once again defeated and sent him back to Arkham Asylum.

Capture of 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 A.R.G.U.S. 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.[3]

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. A.R.G.U.S. 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.[3]

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 A.R.G.U.S. SWAT team.[3] Black Zero Event

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.[1] Recapture of Dr. Aesop

In the immediate aftermath of the event, crime was known to have quadrupled in Gotham City, forcing Bruce to spend even more effort patrolling Gotham's streets at night. Of immediate concern for Bruce was the extensive criminal element that had moved from Metropolis to Gotham in the wake of the invasion. Around two weeks after the invasion, Bruce was advised by Alfred to attend the Metropolis News Network telethon event for the benefit of the victims in Metropolis.

At the event, Bruce ran into Mercy Graves and her boss Lex Luthor, the latter of which would also be auctioning off their time for charity. During Bruce's brief conversation with the two, Lex seemingly taunted Bruce about the destruction of Wayne Tower. Supposedly, Lex had watched the destruction from the news and remarked upon the waste of all the cutting edge tech that had been lost in the building, seemingly overlooking the lives lost. Bruce became incensed by the encounter and hurriedly moved away.

Just as Bruce was about to be auctioned off, he received word from Alfred about a break-in at WayneTech. Bruce then promptly said his goodbyes but not before emphasizing to a news anchor that whatever Luthor would offer he would gladly double even if Bruce wouldn't be physically there when the auction took place. Bruce then snuck away on his sports car.

At WayneTech, Bruce, now dressed up as Batman, interrupted a young boy who was attempting to steal an AI processor chip from the facility. The boy's accomplice managed to activate a WayneTech drone remotely in an attempt to rescue the boy, who Batman heard his accomplice refer to as Rory. Batman neutralized the drone with a Batarang and seemingly missed hitting Rory who escaped via a vent and made off from the facility on his dirt bike.

In truth, however, things were going according to Batman's plan, who had always planned for Rory to escape after placing a tracer on the boy's shirt. Or at least they seemed to be before Batman quickly realized that Rory had thrown the tracer away soon after. Upon cross-referencing Batman's database for Rory, they discovered information linking back to Amelia Greeley and Babrius Aesop, two former WayneTech employees. Batman became especially concerned about Babrius Aesop's potential involvement, given his criminal past. Batman then snuck his way into Arkham Asylum, where he discovered Aesop's cell to be empty despite current records indicating Aesop's residency in the facility. He quickly realized that the Asylum staff were likely covering up for Aesop's escape, prompting him to visit Aesop's known associate in the facility, Jackalope.

Jackalope was especially incensed at Aesop's betrayal of his promise to help Jackalope escape and take vengeance on Bruce Wayne. Batman, to his surprise, learned that Jackalope's grudge on Bruce was based around Jackalope's previous employment at WayneTech, where he was fired for refusing to remove the antler heads on his head. Batman then left Jackalope to his ramblings, having learned a possible location where Aesop could be found. Batman headed off to the nearby parked Batmobile.

Arriving outside the Gotham Gimbals factory, Batman prepared his various tools including a Rebreather, Smoke Capsule, Infrared Goggles and lockpicks. Entering the factory, Batman quickly hurled two Batarangs to disable two of Aesop's drones. He then broke down the bay door, as Dr. Aesop turned his forces to address him. In their following verbal exchange, Aesop ranted against the unfair treatment he blamed upon Bruce Wayne. In the process, Aesop revealed that he had been building another army of drones to fulfill his earlier plans: Conquering the world and making Bruce Wayne pay.

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.[6] 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.[15]

Assault on Wayne Enterprises 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.[16] Evidence at Play

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.[17]

Conspiracy agaisnt Superman

Attack on Cesar Santos 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 frame Batman as though Batman were responsible for the deaths, catching the eye of Clark Kent.[1]

Investigating the White Portuguese 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.[1]

Lexcorp Celebration 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.[1]

Later, Bruce tracked down Diana Prince at the Gotham City Museum of Antiquities, where an exhibit of a fake replica of

Alexander the Great '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.[1] Insurgency Nightmare 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. 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.[1]

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 the Wonder Men 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.[1]

Chase for the Kryptonite 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.[1]

Bombing of the United States Capitol 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 angrier 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 its 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.[1]

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 more than 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 the Wonder Men, 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.[1]

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 machine guns) 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 man to his kne 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 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 sink and smashes it on the once again weakened Superman's head, knocking the latter unconscious.

Batman lifted Superman by his hair 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.

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 screamed at Superman, demanding to know why he 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. Enraged, ashamed, and horrified at the monster that he had almost become, Batman threw away the spear in rage 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".[1] 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.[1]

Showdown in Wayne Station 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 regenerating. Batman then joins in the Battle against Doomsday with his Batwing, unleashing an immense amount of firepower, but Doomsday is 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 shockwave.

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 impale the monster with the Kryptonite Spear. Unfortunately, while the monster is mortally wounded, an enraged dying Doomsday manages to impale 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.[1]

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 punches the wall with his branding-ring in rage, 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, Luthor began to mockingly mimic the bell sounds.[1]

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.[1]

Searching for the Metahumans

Meeting with Amanda Waller

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.[3]

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 the Wonder Men 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.[18]

Searching for Arthur Curry

Wayne learned from Amanda Waller's files that Arthur Curry visited a village in Iceland[19] (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.

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 face, they began to go over the other members for the team like Barry Allen and Diana.[11]

War for Earth

Learning of the Invasion

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.[11]

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.[11]

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".[11]

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.[11] 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, when 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.[11] 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.[11] 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.[11]

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.

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 forced to retreat by several more Parademons, telling Alfred to send the Knightcrawler to him via remote control. Flash and Cyborg save all the hostage, which Silas Stone tells Victor that Steppenwolf cannot 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 falls 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 Trident of Atlanna to hold back the water while the League escaped.[11]

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. 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.[11]

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. But at the same time, 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.

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. Bruce Wayne eventually returned to Gotham City to take it upon himself to catch criminals again but starting to do it in a less violent way. At some point, Batman used the War Machine to capture a group of criminals known as the Mutants. Once stopped, Batman watched as the Bat Signal was ignited by James Gordon as he climbed into the vehicle. 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.[11]

Returning to his duty as a vigilante in Gotham City, Batman caused several criminals to become afraid of him, deciding to attack other cities such as Central City. Eventually, the group of criminals known as the Jacks began to wreak havoc around the city, blowing up several buildings with grenades, so Batman went to stop them after seeing the Bat Signal and began chasing them on his Batcycle, demanding that they leave him his bombs, being attacked by them. Batman was able to survive the explosions, knocking down two of the Jacks, but the gang leader was able to escape before he was stopped by Flash. Thanks to his friend, Batman was able to arrest the leader of the Jacks, asking Flash the reason for his visit to Gotham, hearing how he had been defeated by the metallic criminal known as Girder, but Batman realized that he was asking for help to train and he accepted, warning Flash that his training methods were difficult, although Flash was thrilled when Batman agreed. Back at the Batcave, Bruce stopped Barry from advancing his training, thinking about starting with basic punches, asking how good he was at throwing a punch.[2]

Supporting Barry Allen

Advising Barry Allen

When the truck exploded, Batman was able to survive, using his cape for cover and firing his Grapple Gun to hold on to the gang's truck, dodging several vehicles when Falcone ordered the vigilante to be lost, resulting in failure as Batman was able to reach the vehicle, ambushing the mercenaries and immobilizing two of them, entering the car, severely hitting Falcone in front of the driver, who jumped off the vehicle out of fear, causing the car to leave the bridge, and with the help of the grapple gun's grip, Batman tried to hold on to prevent the virus from falling into the river, although the gun could no longer resist. Before falling, Batman and Falcone were saved by Wonder Woman's Lasso of Hestia, who apologized for her tardiness and helped her friend back to the bridge, greeting Diana friendly. After Diana spoke to Batman, he confessed that his ego did not allow him to thank others, realizing that he was still tied to the lasso, which caused him to continue confessing truths, as did Flash, and they were embarrassed after removing the lasso, making Diana laugh. After she left, Batman said goodbye to Flash after his embarrassing moment, being congratulated by Alfred, who asked if he would come to breakfast, discovering that Falcone tried to escape, knocking him down with a Batarang, and agreed to the invitation.[20]