Scraps of story: The Mythical Batman

When I was 16, I had an idea for a multi-saga story, a retelling of Batman's origins that focuses on his training years - aka: ‘The Mythical Batman’, or ‘Battlefield Batman’, or ‘Batman: Home Is Where The Dark Is’. That’s only a few of the names it's gone through.

At the time of writing this it's about 11 years later, and I’m still holding this story in my mind without actually doing anything with it, and not for a lack of brainstorming. 

My current idea I’m leaning towards is that at some point I’m going to write this up into either a book or webcomic, and just change a lot of names to make it about an original character instead of Batman.

Volume 1 summary:

1. We start the story with a 17 yr old Bruce Wayne travelling the world. He’s been on his own for a year, going by a false name. It won’t come to light just yet, but the rest of the world thinks that he left Gotham to go on a series of business courses to prepare himself to inherit his parents company. Only a handful of people that he’s paid to turn a blind eye know that he’s disappeared, to try and figure out who he is without the pressure of expectations.

   
   

   He comes across a kindly village in the middle of nowhere, where the laws of the land are apparently upheld by shadows, creatures of urban legend. Tempted by curiosity, he investigates the existence of these shadows, and discovers that it's actually a secret order of ninja. He makes himself known to them, and asks to join their ranks.

   
   
   
   

2. The ninjas subject Bruce to a series of trials to prove his discipline and worthiness. It is unanimously agreed that “there is a darkness inside of him”, that he is too unstable to be worthy, and they vote to banish him. That is, until he lays his soul bare, telling them about his parents murder, that he left home because he was unsure of his purpose, and that he thinks he has found it here. After hearing this, one ninja steps forward to defend Bruce, saying that he understands him, that “a darkness of this nature can be harnessed, and transformed into discipline”. He agrees to take Bruce on as his pupil.

   
   
   
   

3. A few years later, 20 yr old Bruce has learned quickly in the fields of perception, stealth, combat, and survival, proving his work ethic and dedication, but he still has a reputation as an outcast and a wildcard due to his stubborn sense of individualism, contrasted with his peers who have all been raised to exist solely for the good of the order.

   
   

   Bruce learns that the order of ninja is actually just one faction of a worldwide organisation called The League Of Shadows, as he is selected as part of a unit to join a war The League is fighting.

   
   
   
   

4. Being a secret ninja war, it is fought less in trenches and battlefields, and more through stealth or disguise missions, like a secret agent.

   
   

   While fighting in the war, Bruce meets Talia Al Ghul, a far higher rank of ninja in the League, yet similar to him in age. She initially acts bratty and superior to him (and has the superior athletic/combat skills and experience to back it up), but as circumstances force them to work together, she becomes impressed with Bruce's tenacity, quick-thinking, and ability to improve his own skills in a very short time just by watching her.

   
   
   
   

5. Bruce and Talia head an infiltration mission to end the war once and for all. They succeed, but Bruce is heavily injured, saving Talia’s life by taking the brunt of an explosion.

   
   
   
   

6. When Bruce wakes up, he’s been in a coma for a few weeks, and his face and body is heavily scarred with burns. He finds himself in a beautiful palace that is apparently Talia’s home. Talia, having gone from looking down on him to thinking the world of him, informs him that when he is healed, she will take him on as an apprentice.

   
   

   In a scene between her and her father, Ra’s Al Ghul, the immortal leader of The League, we discover that she has been putting off taking on an apprentice for a while, and is defying a lot of tradition and pissing off a lot of other contenders by choosing a low-ranked outsider like Bruce.

   
   
   
   

7. A now 22 yr old Bruce finds himself catapulted into the inner circle at the top of The League due to his status as Talia’s apprentice, and now also her lover. He is treated like a prince, and given the resources to lead a group of his own creation, a faction of The League that renounces killing.

   
   
   
   

8. Bruce discovers Ra’s Al Ghul's plans of genocide for Gotham, and other places he deems lost causes. He confronts Ra’s, and in response Ra’s challenges him to a fight to the death, saying “if you want to stop me… you’ll have to dethrone me, and make The League your own.”

   
   

   Their fight takes place atop Ra's castle amidst a terrible storm. It starts on a balcony in the highest tower, and weaves its way across spires and rooftops, as they throw each other around and make weapons out of whatever they can get their hands on. Ra’s praises Bruce for being a tougher opponent than anticipated, but he eventually drives a blade through Bruce’s heart.

   
   
   
   

9. Bruce wakes up in the Lazarus Pit, the source of Ra’s immortality. Talia has gone behind her father’s back, using the Pit to resurrect Bruce. She urges him to adopt a false name and go somewhere safe, but he refuses. He can’t just disappear to safety when he knows what Ra’s has planned.

   
   

   Having already used a false name this whole time, and with the Lazarus Pit completely healing his scarred face and body, Bruce is free of The League, and has the perfect opportunity to return to Gotham and try and fix things his way.

Volume 2 summary:

1. When a 23 yr old Bruce first arrives in Gotham, he gets to work as an armoured vigilante calling himself ‘Vengeance’.

   
   

   He has no intention of returning to the identity of ‘Bruce Wayne, heir of the Wayne family’, but Alfred makes him promise that he will give up the vigilantism and give it a try once he’s completed his current mission - dismantling the operations of the main villain that is currently in control of the city.

   
   

   It’s the newspapers that start calling him ‘The Bat-Man’, with blurry photographs of his bat-like silhouette hang-gliding between skyscrapers. Remembering the power of urban legends, Bruce decides to lean into it.

   
   

2. The main villains in control of the city are a crime family whose henchmen patrol the lower class city at night, making sure they can do and take whatever they want without repercussions. Batman shuts down the services that make the crime family influential one by one.

   
   

3. Batman succeeds in exposing the main villains in control of the city and their operations. Bruce Wayne returns as a public figure, pledging to fill the power vacuum with a positive influence who will support the city’s working and lower class citizens.

Volume 3 summary:

1. Volume 3 begins with a classic retelling of Robin's origin story - When a travelling circus comes to Gotham, they refuse to pay the mafia a protection fee, so the mafia sabotage the tightrope of an acrobat act called The Flying Graysons, and Dick Grayson's parents fall to their deaths in front of him. A 26 yr old Bruce Wayne in the audience, who has not been Batman for three years, empathises with and gives Dick Grayson a home.

   
   

2. Dick finds Bruce to be more awkward, more standoffish and mysterious than his public persona. Bruce enrols Dick in a local school, where he becomes friends with Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake.

   
   

   The city is still talking about the urban legend known as the Batman, praising him as a mythical guardian, until - The Joker appears, alongside a group of other villains he’s collected, committing a string of crimes, terrorising the city, all while openly calling for a meeting with the real Batman.

   
   

   Bruce can’t stand by any longer, and finally dons the cowl again. He takes the bait, and ends up captured by The Joker.

   
   

3. Batman wakes up in a battle royale or obstacle course style tournament, in which he is forced to fight or compete against Gothams other monsters and villains. The Joker has a hunch that Batman is an ordinary man pretending to be a monster, and he intends to prove it by pitting him against the real things live on television.

   
   

   Meanwhile, the city outside the games falls into chaos, as the gangs, emboldened by Batman's absence, overpower the police and take control.

   
   

4. Grayson and his friends work out that Bruce Wayne is Batman, and inspired by him, they put together their own armoured vigilante personas (their ‘Batsonas’ if you will) and try to do what Batman would do. Dick becomes Robin, Barbara becomes Batgirl, Jason becomes Red Hood, and Tim becomes the team's man-in-the-chair.

   
   

5. Batman takes an evasive approach to the games, watching and learning his opponents weaknesses, and learning where the cameras are.

   
   

   The Robin squad are able to locate the facility where the games are taking place, and infiltrate it. They shut down power to some of the game areas, giving Batman a window to escape.

   
   

   However, they are captured in the process. They discover that Joker is setting up multiple gas bombs to infect the city with the same chemicals that made him, that made Clayface, that made other supervillains. His whole agenda is wanting the world to belong to the freaks and outcasts.

   
   

6. A battered and bloody Batman attempts to confront Joker in the control room, but he finds a decoy instead, and the Robin squad in a cell. Cameras turn on this scene, as the Joker tries to frame this as another trial - win a duel against one of his strongest fighters, and the Robin squad goes free.

   
   

   It begins as a duel, with Batman seemingly on the back foot due to his injuries - but he finds a way to multitask, breaking the Robin squad out in the mid-fight, and they split up to find and disarm the bombs.

   
   

7. Batman finds the Joker and prevents him from escaping. The Joker concedes that even without powers, Batman IS a monster. Through sheer will, resourcefulness and training, he might as well be superhuman.

   
   

   The Robin squad hijack the Jokers broadcast to send a message that sends the gangs that have taken over the city into hiding. The city is saved, and Batman has to hand it to the Robin squad, he couldn’t have done it without them. The Bat family is born.