Alternative versions of Batman

The character of Batman was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and has been continually published in a variety of DC Comics book titles since its premiere in 1939. There have been several versions of Batman over the years, both as the main hero in the stories as well as several alternative versions.

Batman/Bruce Wayne is featured in the Smallville Season 11 digital comic based on the TV series. As a young boy, Bruce Wayne saw his parents gunned down by Joe Chill. This incident changed Bruce's life forever. In 2001, Bruce donned the persona of "Batman", to fight the criminals of Gotham City. Bruce fought criminals on his own for the better part of the next ten years. However, by 2011, Bruce had begun working with the young Barbara Gordon who became known as Nightwing. This same year, Bruce learned that Chill was in Metropolis and went to confront him. His quest for Chill briefly led to Bruce getting into conflict with Superman. However, the two soon joined forces. When they found Chill, Bruce came close to killing him, but Prankster and Mr. Freeze beat him to it, on behalf of Intergang. Prankster also gunned down Superman with kryptonite bullets. Bruce managed to save his life, after which they apprehended Prankster and Freeze.

Bruce was reluctant to join the Watchtower Network but kept finding himself working alongside its agents. Eventually, Bruce gave in and joined, to help them with the Crisis. After the battle against the Monitors, Bruce became a founding member of the Justice League. Furthermore, as Barbara was leaving Earth, Bruce got a new partner in Dick Grayson.

The Batman from Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and its spin-offs, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again and All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder is a tired vigilante in a much darker, edgier setting home to Miller's own new interpretations of various DC characters.

In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Batman was originally close friends with Superman (with Superman even asking him to be godfather to his child with Lois Lane) but when Superman was tricked by the Joker into killing Lois and destroying Metropolis, their relationship slowly went from estranged to antagonistic to enemies. Superman begins a new world order where he and the Justice League use brute force and fear to coerce people into following the law, but Batman sees the tyranny in this and opposes Superman's Regime with his Insurgency.

In the reality of Batman: White Knight, Bruce has grown up believing he is a descendant of Edmond Wayne, the founder of Gotham City and Wayne Enterprises. In reality, though, he is actually a descendant of Bakkar, a disgraced former member of the Order of St. Dumas, who murdered Edmond Wayne and assumed his identity. Jean-Paul Valley, a.k.a. Azrael, is actually the real Wayne descendant, which Bruce only learns from Jack Napier right before Jack forces Harley Quinn to kill him as the Joker will not let him kill himself. After helping save the city from the plotting of Neo-Joker to destroy Gotham, Batman hands over the keys to his various Batmobiles to the GCPD Gotham Terrorism Oppression unit and unmasks himself in front of Gordon to earn back his trust after the ordeal.

Batman later turns himself in after incapacitating Azrael in combat for his many unintentional crimes while Batman.

During his trial, Bruce and Harleen Quinzel married on her suggestion to keep her from testifying against him, resulting in him becoming stepfather to hers and Jack's children. After 12 years in prison, Bruce helps stop a riot. Upon hearing that someone has stolen a prototype Batsuit and is going around as Batman, he escapes with Jason Todd's help and heads into the city, aided by a sentient AI program of Jack (from a chip placed in his head before). Aided by commissioner Barbara Gordon and Duke Thomas, Bruce encounters the new Batman and finds out more about the plans of Derek Powers who he reveals was responsible for building his Batman gear before taking over Wayne Enterprises. In the end, Bruce teams up with Terry, the GCPD, and the GTO unit led by Dick Grayson into attacking the company headquarters to stop Powers' plan to illegally sell Bat-mechas across the planet. After that succeeds, Bruce is approached by FBI agents Diana Prince and John Stewart, who offer to change his sentence to time served in exchange for his help in investigating reports of a flying teenager in Kansas.