Bruce Wayne funds Batman!

[Eric Tolle]

Damn, now I'm trying to remember the independent comic back in the 80s that had a similar concept. Oh yeah, the Verdict from Caliber Presents. The whole idea was that the violent vigilante known as the Verdict was actually several people in an identical costume, allowing for alibis, backup, and mobility.

[chiasaur11]

How's he going to recruit people? Also, isn't there already a group of people who try to keep the world safe? You know, the Justice League, that thing he's kind of a part of.

He won't go to them.

They'll come to him.

Ever heard of the Club of Heroes?

Knight and Squire and all them folks?

They were individuals so inspired by Bats they pulled local equivalent duties. This move ensures folks of that inclination can get funding, training, and official ties to move everything smooth. Batman inspires vigilantes wherever he goes. Might as well keep track of them

As for point 2?

Justice League protects the world. Batman protects Gotham.

This is all the difference in the world. Several very good but not entirely board appropriate essays by GK Chesterton on how the global and the local are very different, very important things cover what I'm thinking, but to sum up?

Justice League prevents the doomsday squid from killing everyone.

Mr. X, the Batman of Japan, saves some kid's parents in a Tokyo alleyway from muggers so that what happened to Bruce Wayne won't happen today. And he repeats it tomorrow, making a corner of the world that much better one day and one bit at a time.

As for Wayne?

He does both, and therein lies glory.

[horngeek]

Marvel by revealing Spiderman's true identity.

Except OMD sucked. The idea was an interesting one, and RIGHT UP until Peter went and acted completely OOC with that deal, it was played pretty well in my opinion.

[WitchSlayer]

I prefer the Batman who works alone; I really don't want to see a Justice League full of Batmen. But that's just me.

Yeah, I prefer Batman from...
His first year of comics?

Seriously, Batman hasn't worked alone for a LONG time.

[Fjolnir]

Franchising Batman has interesting implications in terms of giving him plausible deniability as to the original Batman's identity AND allows him to showcase waynetech items in real world scenarios.

In answer to a slightly unrelated question, in one of the batman/superman crossovers the one with the massive Kryptonite asteroid headed towards earth and Superman being hunted by President Luthor, Superman claims that Bruce Wayne is richer than Lex Luthor but Lex throws his money around harder.

[Evil DM Mark3]

How's he going to recruit people? Also, isn't there already a group of people who try to keep the world safe? You know, the Justice League, that thing he's kind of a part of.

The Justice League fights the big scale stuff, alien invasion, super villain teamups, that sort of thing. For average about-to-be-mugged-Joe, they are LESS help as members of the league because league duties remove them from ordinary street patrols. When did the JL last attend a woman's murder scene to follow the trail of drugs and money back to a gang boss? When did they last intervene in a mugging?

Look at it like this. The JL are like the Hero army, big guns, high power, deployed against high level evil. Batman Inc are like the Hero police, lower power level but dealing with the issues that the average person will actually come across.

That, and the fact that Wayne industries will have Batman as their corporate image. "Yeah I know Wayne industries is 5c a unit more expensive than Lex Corp, but Batman saved my daughter's life, what has Lex done for me lately?" Plus "Sir the US military deserves the very best, this is the exact same hardware that Batman Inc has been using for months now, that's nearly a man decade of active field time in total and only 2 malfunctions reported." Hells bells I bet he could even get Batman Inc declared a charity in many countries, it's goals meet the criteria for the 2006 Charities Act in the UK in multiple ways and I can't see how they would turn a profit.

JL keep the world safe, Batman Inc will do the same for the people.

IF DONE RIGHT.

(I freely admit it may not be done right.)

As for membership, I am willing to wager that there are a lot of vigilantes out there already who would join up for better support and medical treatment. They may even move a few underused/less popular characters of that ilk who already exist into the organisation. It would certainly be a sensible move for some of them.

[Avilan the Grey]

I am not thrilled by this idea, but maybe he got inspired by his and Oracle's work with the new Batgirl.

[Abies]

Just how big is Wayne Enterprises anyway?

I thought it was firmly in the territory of "mega-international corporation" but was still counted as fairly small-fry compared to, say, LexCorp. That could have changed since the No Man's Land arc that I remember seeing that expressly mentioned in, though.

Actually, in the recent past (after the president Luthor storyline) after Luthor was discredited and humiliated, Wayne Enterprises bought out LexCorp (easily). Wayne also owns Kord Industries, Mr. Terrific's old company and just about every other business ever started up by a "super". If they were same-universe he'd buy out Stark (also easily, though probably not unless Tony pissed him off somehow).

Wayne Enterprises is so big that I'm pretty sure it would require some very creative legalese to avoid being destroyed by antitrust law.

If one were to do the math I'd say Wayne Enterprises and all its constituent business units employ roughly half the DCU's population. Heck, ultimatlely Superman works for Bruce Wayne. (Wayne Entertainment owns the Daily Planet).

So basically when trying to imagine how big Wayne Enterprises is, imagine that Microsoft, Google, Disney, GSK, Lockheed/Martin, Exxon/Mobil, Halliburton and every other industry leader foreign and abroad were all ultimately owned by the same guy. Double that and you'd have Wayne Enterprises.

And tbh, I thought that the fact that Wayne sponsored Batman was how it was supposed to have been working ever since I started reading comics. The setting up of the Batman Corps is new (and foolish imo), but I'd thought the money connection between Wayne, Batman and the JLA had long since been established to the general public of the DCU.

[Morph Bark]

Will this be a side story or a part of the main DCU canon?

As a side story, I'm interested in seeing how it will work out. As part of the main DCU canon, it seems a bit OOC for Bruce - at least to publically announce it. Funding other crime fighters like Batman is a pretty fair idea though.

[Tirian]

Yeah, I prefer Batman from...
His first year of comics?

Seriously, Batman hasn't worked alone for a LONG time.

It depends on what you're reading. Legends of the Dark Knight, for instance, was a long series of quasi-canon stories from Batman's early years, and those were entirely (?) pre-Robin. (Very rarely, the comic would venture into the modern day storyline because of mega-crossovers.)

And Bruce works alone all the time, even when he is surrounded by teammates and associates.

[tomandtish]

But won't this have repercussions as he is funding a vigilante (Batman)? Can't he be sued now for anything Batman does?

As long as you don't kill anyone and hand over all the people you catch to the police vigilantism is actually legal in most parts of the US, though Gotham might have different rules. Citizen's arrest and all.

Actually, citizen’s arrest applies to crimes actually in progress and would not be considered vigilantism. A vigilante is one who takes the law into his/her own hands to apprehend and punish criminals. Since most states allow persons to defend themselves/others and their property when directly threatened, such action is not outside the law and therefore not taking the law into their own hands. Let’s use Batman/Bruce Wayne as an example.

Bruce is walking down the street on his way to the theater when he sees a woman being mugged. He intervenes, knocks the attacker out, and calls 911. This is not considered vigilantism, as the law allows him to intervene when he saw someone else directly threatened. He is therefore not acting outside the law.

Assume Bruce was not on the street that day. Batman, having heard about the mugging, goes to the alley. He finds clues, tracks the guy to his cheap apartment, kicks in the door, and subdues him after a very short struggle. Batman’s actions are vigilantism, as there was no direct threat to anyone. In fact, if the mugger gets very lucky and kills Batman it would be considered self-defense (since Batman broke in).

Obviously, whether or not this gets prosecuted depends on how people feel about vigilantes in general and Batman in particular, but it is illegal. Batman (in most incarnations) has gotten some slack because he tends to apprehend but not punish (although there have been exceptions).

As for law suits, that has nothing to do with whether the actions are legal or not (although since many of the Batman’s actions are illegal it would certainly help a suit). Law Enforcement is sued all the time for actions they took during the course of their job. The only reason no one has successfully sued Batman is because no one knew who he was. Now they have a target. Using the mugger above as an example, he sues Bruce Wayne for funding the Batman who broke his jaw during an illegal entry (remember, Batman is not law enforcement and the mugger has not yet been convicted of any crime). Bruce Wayne would be sued by every person any of the Batmen so much as touched, much less apprehended, especially since Batman usually tends to use violence to apprehend his suspects. How many of these suits would make it to trial, and how many he would win/lose would again depend on the mood towards vigilantes. But sooner or later you have to assume a real nut job will get a job as a Batman (Jean Paul Valley without the cuddly side) and really mess things up.

[Evil DM Mark3]

And Bruce works alone all the time, even when he is surrounded by teammates and associates.

Poor Bruce. The world could get hit by an empath virus and he would still be alone. Alone with everyone's thoughts.

I know people like that. The alone part, not the empath part.

[Morph Bark]

Poor Bruce. The world could get hit by an empath virus and he would still be alone. Alone with everyone's thoughts.

...he's a Highlander?

[Anteros]

I'm not going to weigh in on the merit of this plot, but I have to say...the art in the link provided is not up to par at all. I'm not really an avid follower of comics, and honestly I don't usually notice the art at all...but this stuff looks like my little sister drew it.

[Tirian]

Poor Bruce. The world could get hit by an empath virus and he would still be alone. Alone with everyone's thoughts.

I know people like that. The alone part, not the empath part.

Heh. I meant that in the sense that he would conduct investigations and battle villains without backup, not that he's a whiny little emo boy.

Although for half the writers over the past 15 years he has been a competent detective and crimefighter AND a whiny little emo boy.

[Evil DM Mark3]

I don't think it's emo, some of the great heroes of legend have had that feeling of isolation. He is just something of a loaner, that does not equate to emo.

Now crying about it all the time and whining, that would be emo.

[Sophistemon]

Forget the word 'Batman' for a second and look at what we're dealing with.

A vigilante that uses a variety of technological gadgets to fight crime realizes that he should expand his operation to a global scale by equipping other vigilantes with his technology. He offers them support and guidance in their activities and in so doing hopes to make the world a better place for all.

That sounds a lot like DC's 2009 revival of The Web, to me.

Am I the only one that sees this?

[Hawriel]

That sounds a lot like DC's 2009 revival of The Web, to me.

The Web actualy was apart of Impact comics that existed in the mid to late 90s. The fly, Comet, Black Hood, and The Shield (wich also is being remade now) where titles under that name. It was owned by DC as Wild Storm and Virtigo are.

[Mando Knight]

Will this be a side story or a part of the main DCU canon?

As a side story, I'm interested in seeing how it will work out. As part of the main DCU canon, it seems a bit OOC for Bruce - at least to publically announce it. Funding other crime fighters like Batman is a pretty fair idea though.

Yes, it'll be main-DCU-canon. Also, in case you hadn't heard, Bruce Wayne spent the better part of the last in-canon year "dead" while time-hopping courtesy of the Omega Sanction. Wanting to have enough Batman to go around after that would probably be natural.

[Sophistemon]

The Web actualy was apart of Impact comics that existed in the mid to late 90s. The fly, Comet, Black Hood, and The Shield (wich also is being remade now) where titles under that name. It was owned by DC as Wild Storm and Virtigo are.

In any case, the similarities between the two, Batman and the Web, expanding their operations to a global scale, still exist. I just thought it interesting that DC could be cribbing ideas from itself.

[Morph Bark]

Yes, it'll be main-DCU-canon. Also, in case you hadn't heard, Bruce Wayne spent the better part of the last in-canon year "dead" while time-hopping courtesy of the Omega Sanction. Wanting to have enough Batman to go around after that would probably be natural.

I've heard about that. Then the big storyline with all the Lanterns and all and Bruce coming back.

Here's to hoping they don't screw it up.

[Mando Knight]

I've heard about that. Then the big storyline with all the Lanterns and all and Bruce coming back.

Here's to hoping they don't screw it up.

Actually, the Blackest Night and Brightest Day storylines were almost completely separate from The Return Of Bruce Wayne, which is almost exclusively about the Caped Crusader, with some interaction with the Justice League as they figure out what happened to him and try to avoid allowing Darkseid's plan involving Wayne's indomitable survival instinct to come to fruition.

[Tirian]

Yes, it'll be main-DCU-canon.

My question is not so much whether this exists in the DC universe but whether most DC comic books will get their own Batman character and will have to deal with integrating their storyline with Grant Morrison's vision. This is something that is traditionally awkward, like when every superhero needed a close ally turn out to be a Manhunter sleeper agent or everyone had to face Neron or Eclipso in more or less large ways, but this seems like it would turn out to be more than a one-issue story quite often.

[Mando Knight]

I'm not a DC comics writer, so I can't say how well it'll be integrated into the rest of the comics, just that it's supposed to be.