Just Imagine J.A. Phillips Creating Batman + ‘I Am The Night’ by Miracle of Sound

Hey guys! It’s my 601st blog post!!!… … …Yeah, okay, so I kinda loaned out my 600th to my proofreader. lol But hey, now that we’re back to our regularly scheduled Jyger’s Rant, let’s talk more about how I’d create certain DC characters. So, once again, I ask you to read along and Just Imagine J.A. Phillips Creating Batman.

---

History

The son of a brilliant American physician, Thomas Wayne, and his wife, Chinese immigrant Ming, Bruce Wayne lived life in Chinatown, Gotham City, with few friends at a young age. This was due to being born with a condition that granted him hypersensitivity to sound and projected images in his mind based off said sounds, similar to echolocation, and eyesight resembling night vision. However, after being picked from his class in 4th grade for a play to portray a bat, his mother told him of how, in China, bats are often seen as symbols of good luck, and that he should embrace that. As such, he seemingly began to maintain control of his unique ability…until the play’s opening night, wherein after the show was over, the Waynes took a shortcut to their home through Park Avenue, which ended in the deaths of Thomas and Ming by a mugger. In a rage, Bruce beat the mugger into unconsciousness, but the shock of nearly killing him and the deaths of his parents caused him to repress most of his memories, only knowing of his parents and what happened to them through what his extended family told him, and lacking control of his senses once again.

Growing up with a desire to solve the mystery of his parents’ murder, as well as a need to keep such events from happening to any other child, Bruce secretly began working with a private investigator named John Jones, all the while under the guise of a masked vigilante called Robin. However, shortly after graduation from high school, Jones and Robin found themselves on a case that set them against a man named Arthur Brown, a former game show host that had been driven mad after his show was cancelled due to the death of one of the contestants. Brown, now known as the Cluemaster, held the network executives hostage on the set of his show, which he converted into an elaborate death trap. While Jones and Robin freed the hostages, Brown completely snapped and tried to kill Robin, only for John to take the shot.

With his mentor dead, Bruce’s memories finally returned to him. Remembering his mother’s words, he regained control of his echolocation and night vision, and from the tattered remains of his costume, he created a new, more terrifying garb, playing off of the superstitious fears of men by having it resemble a bat. As the Batman, he avenged his mentor’s murder, but knew that he wasn’t ready to be Gotham City’s protector. As such, he traveled overseas to learn all he could about criminology, psychology, and the fears of men, before returning to Gotham at age 25. While the city has grown darker in his 7 year absence, though, he is now fully prepared to retake it from criminals with the assistance of his uncle, Jin, and his father’s old friend, billionaire scientist Lucius Fox. Thieves, thugs, crime lords, and super villains shall all be united in fear of the shadow of the Batman.

Powers

Echolocation: Batman’s mind projects mental images of his surroundings by way of sound waves vibrating around him. As such, he essentially has omnipresent detection of the area around him, stretching out as far as he can hear.

Night Vision: The Dark Knight’s eyesight, while being a bit sensitive in daylight, works exceedingly well in the dark. No one can evade or escape his sight in the darkness.

Abilities

Martial Artist: Having been trained in kung fu, judo, ninjutsu, and Muay Thai kickboxing, Bruce has combined all of his skills with his unique senses and equipment into his own combat style, the Shadow of the Bat, which focuses on quickly taking down opponents with precision strikes and utilizing darkness and other methods of obscuring himself.

Above-Average Conditioning: Through his travels, Bruce Wayne has trained his body into that of a near-Olympic-level athlete. He can run faster, lift heavier, and push himself harder than the average human being.

Investigation: Having been trained by John Jones, one of the absolute finest detectives in the world, and later majoring in criminology with a minor in psychology, Batman has taken up his mentor’s mantle. He understands the criminal mind better than most, and can reason and deduce his way out of nearly any situation presented to him.

Interrogation: While the bat is seen in China as a symbol of good luck, many of European decent look upon it with superstitious fear. Knowing this, Batman has utilized his skills and knowledge of the criminal mind to make himself appear supernatural to some, and can easily bring the truth out of thugs by appealing to their fear.

Equipment

Utility Belt: While he initially wore a smaller belt filled with smoke pellets and shurikens, meeting the Cluemaster and watching his gadgetry in action inspired Batman to make a somewhat bigger belt with more multi-purpose tools. Among these tools are the Batclaw magnetic grapple gun, a taser, a mask that seals over his cowl to provide oxygen underwater or in gas, and the Batarangs, which can be used as short range melee weapons or can be thrown with enough precision that they return to the thrower.

Sonic Emitters: Batman’s cowl is equipped with specialized sonic wave emitters that create a high-pitched sound only few can hear, which further complements his echolocation. He also keeps a special emitter hidden in his boot that is designed to summon bats hiding in the caves under his uncle’s home.

Batsuit: While his original costume used as both Batman and Robin provided only light armour, specifically via a bullet-proof vest around his chest, Batman later upgraded to a more durable costume, providing improved protection over his whole body (though still best at the chest), and a memory-cloth para-cape used for gliding.

Weaknesses

Hypersensitivity to Sound and Light: Although Bruce has mostly mastered his unique senses, it is nonetheless possible to catch him off-guard with particularly high-pitched sounds or blinding lights. While he does have emergency shut-outs set up in his cowl to protect him if such happens, it still can leave him vulnerable to attack.

Basic Human Weaknesses: For all of his abilities, inhuman senses, and uncanny tools, Bruce Wayne is still a human being. As such, he bleeds just like any other human being, and can be killed the same as well.

---

What’s Different About Him?

Quite a lot, actually. First off, Bruce isn’t a billionaire playboy, Lucius is the one with the money, but would be the one secretly funding him as Batman (kinda like what Bruce ‘admitted’ to doing with Batman Incorporated). Second, while he’s still human, he nonetheless has abilities uncommon to the average human that make him more like a literal bat-man. And I know that tosses a wrench in the idea of him being an ordinary human pushing himself to be able to stand alongside superhumans, but he still has his human weaknesses. And, frankly, while this gives him special abilities, it also gives him hindrances he has to overcome. Though, beyond that, he’s pretty much the same Batman we’ve known and loved throughout the years, only now he’s half-Chinese.

Regarding the idea of him starting off as Robin and working for a detective, I actually got the idea from the first Batman books I ever got: The Untold Legend of the Batman. It’s not the first time I’ve fallen back on ideas presented there, either. What can I say? It left an impact on me. Of course, the detective in that story wasn’t named John Jones, though that name should sound familiar to DC Comics fans. Do I have an idea beyond that? Well… … …let’s just leave it alone for now. lol His uncle, Jin, would more or less take the place of Alfred, being his sort of surrogate father and keeping him grounded.

Finally, I decided to go with a brown bat for the costume as opposed to Batman’s usual colour scheme of black, blue, and grey (with the occasional yellow and red tossed in for funsies). As such, between that and his unique senses, once can actually see this as the odd pseudo-hybrid of Batman and Man-Bat.

Anyway, I think that’s all for Batman. Lemme know what you think of my version of the Dark Knight, and who I should give my own take on the next time I do this… … …Also, just because I can’t think of any other way to knowingly and blatantly promote this, press play on the video below to listen to ‘I Am The Night’ by Miracle of Sound. I listened to it a lot while working on this. Ja né!