Hero Profile: Batman

He is Vengance. He is the Night (Knight?)
He is BATMAN! (Thunderclap)

You’ve probably all seen this one coming for a bit. We’re finally here, the Batman Hero Profile. I’m finally going to cover everyone’s favorite superhero. And by everyone’s favorite, I mean the one that everybody remembers. Bruce Wayne and his crew are the most prolific members of the DC universe, they’ve had more exposure in all forms of media than every other character combined. Let's take a look at the brooding billionaire, Batman.

Like Sups I’m not going too much into his backstory. It can be summed up in an eight word sentence. His parents were murdered in front of him. That’s how it all got started. The richest folks in Gotham City were murdered, and Bruce took it…well. If you consider spending the next thirty odd years (in universe, in ours it’s been 75) becoming a human weapon and devoting his brilliant mind to criminology with an intensity not seen since Sherlock Holmes before donning a bat costume and beating the heck out of people taking it well... Most psychiatrists would say No, but DC says Heck yes. Wayne Enterprises secretly bankrolls all of Batman’s fancy toys. It's good to be rich. Batman quickly developed from fighting street crime to becoming the most well-known superhero of the DC-verse. Which is kind of weird when you consider how many Batman related stories start with a character claiming Batman is just an urban legend. You can’t deny the bruises he gives. Or the broken bones. Or the scary speeches he gives while dangling a goon over the side of a building... He has issues, in case that isn't clear.

He really could use a shrink.
But I'm not telling him.

Bruce has not superhuman powers. Unless billions of dollars count. It doesn't, but they do help to make up for the lack of them. While he is 100% human, he has the body of an Olympic athlete with a brilliant mind. He’s trained around the world in many forms of martial arts. He mixes them together to making him a formidable hand to hand combatant. His utility belt, or as I like to call it his deus ex belt, is filled with a million little gadgets that help Batman scare the snot out of people and save his hide. His grapple gun, smoke bombs, gas mask, tracking devices, spy gear, a chunk of Kryptonite (for when good Sups go bad), and (sigh) Bat Credit card are just a few things that can be found in the belt. The last one was only in the horrendous Batman and Robin, but it was just so bad it needed to be mentioned. He also uses his cape to glide short distances. It also just looks pretty cool. "What the comic book guy thinks caps are cool?" I hear you exclaiming. I bet you're all just stunned.
Wow, that was so sarcastic it hurt.

As I said, Batman is the most prolific character in the DC-verse. He’s been in the most movies, television shows, and video games; It’s almost to the point where I think that DC and Warner Bros. are scared to make a product without Batman involved and given top billing. Think about it, where Marvel has Lego Marvel, DC has Lego Batman. It has been expanded into a DC-verse game in the 3^rd game, but that’s a long time to be almost 100% about Batman.

He is not amused. Can you tell?

In the animated field you won’t find a BAD Batman product. Some are obviously better than others, but each ones brings out different qualities of the character. In the Young Justice TV series we see Batman mostly as a mentor and strategist. And while some could find fault with the way Batman trains his adoptive son Dick Grayson, the results aren’t all that bad.
Batman: The Animated series is Batman’s longest running stint on TV and it is by far his best. We get to see him in all aspects of his character, as a crime fighter, detective, mentor, CEO, and so on. If you count the entire DC-animated universe, which includes the Justice League, JL Unlimited, and Batman Beyond, we even get to see Batman at the end of his career. The Batman Beyond series shows him as a bitter old man that is the more or less forced to mentor a young man named Terry McGinnis into becoming the new Batman. It's an interesting sort of "what could be," look into Bruce's life. What happens when you put your whole being into crime fighting, pushing aside every other thing that could give life meaning? It's not a happy answer.

Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are the two best live action movies about Batman made thus far. Even though Christian Bale’s Batman voice was like listening to someone with Strep Throat reading lines. Seriously, did no one have the guts to say, "Christian, try a different voice!" Why Morgan Freeman? Why Michael Cane? Why Gary Oldman? Were you all afraid of him or something? Sigh, I guess we'll never know.
It was as bad as most of my jokes, Ah hahahahaha!
I'm actually going to agree with him on that. Anything you'd like to add Joker?
You should tell them to watch Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, so they can see how I triumphed over the Dark Knight, breaking apart his 'family' and forcing him into a life of seclusion. Well...more extreme seclusion.

The Batfamily: from left to right: Batgirl (Barbara), Red Hood (Jason)
Red Robin (Tim) Nightwing (Dick) Robin (Damian), and Big daddy Bruce

That is a really good one. A dark story that reveals why Bruce of the future cut ties with his friends and loved ones, did Batman solo until his body couldn't take it anymore, then just retired and waited to die. Until a punk kid stumbles across his door. Sounds familiar... Eh, Terry works out better than Jason Todd. Oh, and he still beat you. Rather brutally as I recall.
Not without a serious price. Some would say the MOST serious price. You've seen it, Michael, did he really win?
 I'm inclined to say, No, not really. Won the battle, but lost the war.
Right, because in the end, I always get the last laugh. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!
Click one of the links from the Joker Villain profile after that. So creepy. Back on task. I’m excited to see how Ben Affleck will do as an established Batman in the DC movie Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. He’s come a long way from botching Daredevil, so here’s hoping he eclipses Bale’s version. 

I like Batman. He’s not my favorite but I can understand why he’s so well liked. Despite everything he’s just a man trying to honor the memory of his parents. Sure, he may suffer from a serious psychological disorder, and sure, he creates about as much chaos as he stops, but he’ll never give up trying to help the world. He can go toe to toe with just about any character given enough prep time and information. The Screw Attack web series Death Battle, goes into detail about his combat stats. While he ultimately loses in the matchup against Spider-man the hosts point out that if they’d given him prep time Batman probably would have found a way to overcome Spider-man’s superior strength, speed, and Spider-sense. I'll include a link at the end if you're curious.
He’s strong but brilliant. Kind but violent. Broken but wanting so desperately to fix things. He’s Batman. And he’s going to be around for a long, long time.

Batmen Unite!

http://www.screwattack.com/shows/originals/death-battle/death-battle-batman-vs-spider-man

 http://www.toonbarn.com/batman/btas-secrets-6-untold-stories-of-batman-the-animated-series/
 http://youngjustice.wikia.com/wiki/Batman
http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/4/5469724/batman-arkham-knight-announcement-ps4-xbox-one-windows-pc
http://thefwoosh.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=89671&start=165
http://artsandsciences.colorado.edu/ctp/2014/07/batman-is-75-today/