Today's Batman

Each time a new Batman movie is made or whenever the comic book gets an update, the writers do their best to make Batman fit in today's world.  Batman first appeared in print in 1939.  Hitler invades Poland, Einstein writes Roosevelt encourging the building of an atomic bomb.  America is going through a great depression.  It's a different world.  One where there's a great economic divide and science is taking off.  It makes sense the Bruce Wayne should be tuxedo wearing, playboy industrialist.  It also makes sense that Batman should be a scientist, able to use knowledge as well as physical prowess to best his enemies.

But what if Batman we were to do a complete rewrite of Batman?  I mean, "playboy industrialist"?  That is more rare than a caped superhero.  More likely, his dad have been an ex-football player who owned his own car dealership.  Better yet, he would own a whole fleet of dealerships.  Bruce would have never had to work, giving him plenty of time to hit the gym with his bros.  Upon his parents' deaths, the dealerships would have been left to him as well as his family fortune.

Broken, he would go to college where he would join a fraternity.  Drinking, tanning and date rape would be the norm.  He would pursue a degree in criminal justice because he wants to be a cop and bust some heads.

But deep down inside, there would be this longing... this urge for meaning.  Bruce would sign up for a computer class and fall in love.  A couple of classes taken, behind his frat bros' backs, each semester.  He would befriend geeks who would introduce him to Dungeons and Dragons, comic books, sci-fi, Star Wars and all things relating to geek culture.  Bruce would gradute with a degree in computer science AND criminal justice.

But he would keep this world hidden.  Just as the 1939 Bruce Wayne would travel and train with various gurus, so would our hero.  Telling his entourage that he's off getting some foreign tang, he would get his master's in advanced industrial engineering.  He would study with Tibetan monks, martial artists and magicians.  He would gain the knowledge he would need, mixed along with his already totally buff bod, to start fighting crime.

Back home, Bruce takes over the family dealerships.  He uses the costum garages to tinker with gadgets and build the rides he would need to become the ultimate super hero.  Bruce Wayne would come to be known as BATMAN!

Douchebag by day, Geek by night!

Bruce Wayne

Batman