Post by raven on Feb 18, 2012 0:36:44 GMT -5
The Basics
Name: Bruce Wayne.
Alias: Batman.
Age: Thirty one.
Species: Human.
Gender: Male.
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Hair: Deep brown, nearly black; cropped.
Eyes: Blue.
Build: Muscular, somewhat bulky.
Skin: Slightly paler than average.
Class (Ranking): Hero.
Original or Canon: Canon.
Theme songs:
Dananananananana Batman!
Lineage & Relations:
Put information about your character's family and relations here.
Lineage:
Mother: Martha Wayne, deceased.
Father: Thomas Wayne, deceased.
Siblings: None.
Relations:
Crush: None.
Love: None.
Rival: None.
Enemy: Any enemy of Gotham City or its citizens - namely, the Joker.
Appearance:
On a good day, Bruce is imposing. On a bad one, he's terrifying. With a six-foot-two build and two hundred ten pounds of absolute muscle, he's a great wall of a man whose figure exudes power like others exude air. Though he is nothing but human and has no additional traits, his lithe stature could make you guess otherwise. As an heir and a playboy, the only thing that can soften his look is slicked back hair, dress clothing and perhaps his normal, blue eyes. But as the Bat, there is no such relief - a mask hides the majority of his face, adding mystery to his impressive collection of physical traits.
His personas dictate his movement, as well. While he is the Dark Knight, he's all smooth, subtle movements and nearly mechanical reflexes. While playing the "part" of Bruce Wayne, he is slower, relaxed, perhaps even slouching. His hair, dark as it is, can't be seen while in costume but varies between an unattended mess and gelled to perfection otherwise. Looser clothing hides the bulkiness of his body that the tight material of his Bat-suit emphasizes, leaving him with two almost entirely different appearances in addition to egos.
Personality:
Click!
Bruce is not known as the Dark Knight simply because he is generally nocturnal or because of his costume. Truly, his personality is dark - brooding, angry, serious. He is hugely unable to enjoy the lighter aspects of life, so stuck in his desire to protect Gotham City that it eliminates most other aspects of his personality. He has even been known to shown a form of psychological masochism; when he does something wrong and knows it or when he feels he has failed, it almost seems as though he enjoys being punished for it, or that it satisfies his need to be disciplined.
As expected, he is also quite protective - of those he loves and especially the citizens he has spent so many years of his life guarding. He has a rapier wit and is particularly known for being as smart and sharp as any, in addition to shrewdly unemotional simply because he represses himself fiercely. Bruce shows a stunning dedication to almost everything, and is additionally extremely obsessive. He tends to attach himself to small things, notions, people, ideas, and he cannot let go of them; the most obvious portrayal of this is in his undying dedication to Gotham City, which he has put above everything else in his life unconditionally and has been unable to tear away from.
Abilities & Weaknesses:
Strengths: Many strengths adhere to Batman's ability to be the Dark Knight. For one, the wealth at his disposal as Bruce Wayne. Given that he has no supernatural abilities, he must rely largely on tools and weaponry to make up for what his body cannot do - and that, of course, requires money. There's never been anything he could not pay to have invented. His set of moral codes also proves helpful in such situations that try his patience or thought process, pushing him forward when others would have quit. Perhaps his most invaluable strength is the ability to emotionally distance himself from people and the world in general, giving him almost free rein and preventing him from being sucked into the endless battle of good vs feelings. And, finally, his own instinct and sharp intelligence are hugely important to his functionality. Instinct tells him when something is amiss, something that lesser men would never sense or know; intelligence helps him fix it, something that lesser men would never be able to do.
Weaknesses: The same set of moral codes that give him strength also have the potential to be his downfall. Where others can kill their enemy to prevent recurrence, Bruce cannot, which has gotten him into trouble many times, most often with the Joker. The few people that he genuinely cares for have also posed as weaknesses in his life, primarily Robin, whom he too in and raised to fight only to regret it later when the teenager's life in danger became painful for him to watch.
Powers/Abilities: N/A.
Physical Flaws/Psychological Flaws:
- Physically flawless.
- Psychologically unable to maintain relationships with people.
- Fearless, removing his ability to assess some situations objectively.
- Mental instability - easily pushed over the edge when it comes to a person he cares for.
- Brooding nature prevents him from feeling genuine happiness; leads often to the inability to understand others.
History:
Though Bruce Wayne's story began at birth, Batman's did not. It began when he was a young preteen, the son of the wealthy owner of Wayne Enterprises and his wife, Thomas and Martha Wayne respectively. Upon exiting a movie theater one night, a mugger made his presence known and shot dead both of his parents, whose bodies their young son swore vengeance to. It was at this point that Alfred Pennyworth became a major factor in his life, taking over guardianship despite his status as his butler.
And so it was at age fourteen that Bruce began his severe dedication to avenging his parents and ridding the world of crime. He worked viciously to become smarter, quicker, and stronger than all those the world had seen before him. Where he had already been smart, he became a genius, relentlessly pouring over books and studies of criminology, forensics, and criminal psychology. His body, too, he trained without lenience, studying and mastering every form of martial arts and style of fighting. However, on his first venture onto the bloody streets of Gotham City, this did him little good - the sheer number of criminals and his unimposing figure left him at a disadvantage that nearly got him killed... until a bat crashed through the window, and suddenly he had the inspiration he needed to become a figure larger than life, one that would stop every enemy's heart in its track when they saw his empowered form.
He was Batman.
For many years, he fought this solo act, putting his all and more into making Gotham a safer place to exist. But when, one night, he attended a circus performance as Bruce Wayne and watched an acrobatic couple fall to their deaths before their young son's very eyes, murdered by a money-greedy criminal, he found himself flashing back to his own eerily similar situation. As such, he offered the boy the chance to do just as he had, and unsurprisingly, his offer was accepted. Batman had earned a powerful sidekick and the first person to enter his life since his parents' death that he found himself genuinely caring for: Richard Grayson, Robin.
And though Robin was the perfect ally, he also proved to be a dangerous weakness. When Batman's ultimate nemesis, Joker, severely wounded him, Bruce found himself being torn between the desire to protect the city and the desire to protect the boy he had come to love as his own son more than any person he had or ever would come across. Unable to sustain a sound mind with the thought of that - or worse - happening again, he fought viciously to convince Robin to give up his life of crime-fighting. Inevitably, this failed, just as it would have if it had been the other way around, and Robin left to be the leader of the Teen Titans. Initially, the two were estranged from each other, but during a mission in which Robin and the Titans found themselves in dire straits, it was Batman that appeared to fight for them and fight hard. Since then, they have been allies, his relationship with Richard repaired though still, at times, strained by each of their knowledge that the other one could be walking their last day.
At the moment, he is largely considered a criminal by much of Gotham following a horrible stint with the Joker that ended with him being forced to kill his friend and ally, Harvey Dent, after tragedy had turned him into the worst kind of villain. Realizing the city's need to believe in a true hero, Bruce allowed Batman to take the fall for Harvey's crimes, leaving police commissioner Gordon his only ally outside of the people in his private life.
As such, Bruce Wayne flawlessly plays the part of the privileged party boy to the rest of the world, and at night he dons a mask and cape to continue protecting Gotham City from villains while he wages a war against their conception that it is him they need to be protected from.
RP Sample:
It was odd, being on patrol with someone else. Not unpleasantly so, exactly, but Raven found it difficult to get used to. Repeatedly, she found herself mentally retreating out of habit; this was usually her thinking time, where nothing existed but what her eyes took in, always watching and waiting, and what swirled about inside her head. It was equally odd to be walking around on the ground instead of flying over everything, but neither did she mind that; flying for so long a time was often more exerting than walking would be, anyway, and it was a nice break.
Beside those points, the basic fact of the matter was that it wouldn't matter if she hated it, anyway. It wasn't even her patrol night, it was Robin's; but she'd been thoroughly unable to sleep and was bored of trying. And there had been minor discussions of doubling up on patrol, anyway, with the recent spike of criminal activity. It was buzzing through the air, nearly palpable: something was going to happen, it was just unclear what that something was. Though the idea of spending a whole night talking with Starfire about clothing or listening to Beast Boy's jokes was extremely unappealing, she would rather that than have one of her teammates be caught unprepared.
And Robin wasn't like the others. His emotional depth was much more obvious, much more tangible; much more relatable. They could share a companionable silence or talk about pointless things without it becoming awkward, or they could have in-depth discussions. Understanding her seemed to be a herculean task, one she herself had yet to perfect, but if anyone could, it was him, and that made his company so much more bearable. She loved all of her friends, there was no question about that, but the other four either tried and failed to connect with her or didn't even bother to, both of which managed to irritate her and simultaneously remind her that she was essentially damned to carry out her mental existence on an island no one else could get near.
But those thoughts were painful and depressing, and she shied swiftly away from them before she was forced to annihilate another emotional reaction, which was perhaps the most painful thing of all; an act that went against her very nature. For the moment, she would simply be grateful that she wasn't going to spend another night alone in the dark, both of which tested her ability to keep fear at bay. "It's abnormally quiet," she finally said, ripping herself away from the destructive forces of her own mind. But that didn't make it any less true. She didn't have the sense that trouble was coming, exactly, but it was like a pre-thought; there was something strange going on. She just couldn't tell if it was more so than normal or not. For the sake of not having to fight on the ground in the middle of the night, she sincerely hoped it was the former.
Creator/Player Comments:
