Overview
An incomparable athlete, the Batman is also a master of virtually all known forms of physical combat, an unparalleled strategist and tactician, and an expert in the art of disguise. His reasoning and deductive abilIties are second to none. He is rivaled only by Mister Miracle (see Mister Miracle) as the world's greatest escape artist. The Batman carries a wide array of weapons in his utility bet (see Batman's Utilty Belt. Among his means of transportation are the Batmoblle and Batcopter.
He is vengeance. He is the night. He is Batman.
When Kenner launched the groundbreaking Super Powers Collection in 1984, Batman stood as a foundational pillar of the franchise. While other action figures in the lineup boasted cosmic or metahuman abilities, Batman's presence reinforced the core theme of the line: that sheer human willpower, unmatched intellect, and advanced technology could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with gods.
The Kenner toyline marked a massive milestone for the character, cementing his definitive mid-1980s comic book aesthetic—the iconic blue-and-grey suit with the yellow oval chest emblem—into the mainstream cultural consciousness. Anchoring the very first wave of figures alongside Superman, Batman became an instant bestseller. His popularity was so enduring that Kenner kept his figure in continuous production across all three annual waves from 1984 to 1986.
Beyond the individual action figure, the Super Powers Collection revolutionized Batman's world by introducing legendary vehicle play-sets like the fan-favorite Super Powers Batmobile. This era of merchandise drastically redefined how fans interacted with the Dark Knight, creating a design blueprint and nostalgic legacy that heavily influences modern action figure lines to this very day.
About Batman
Bruce Wayne, the son of Thomas and Martha Wayne, was born to a life of wealth and leisure. The Wayne family's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, helped look after Bruce in the boy's early years. Bruce lived with his parents at the enormous mansion called Wayne Manor. One day when he was six, Bruce fell down a hole on the manor grounds into the vast cave lying beneath the property. In the
cave Bruce was frightened by a large, fierce-looking bat.
Sometime later, six-year-old Bruce went with his parents to see The Mark of Zorro at a Gotham City movie theater. After leaving, the Waynes walked through the area that would become known as Crime Alley. There they were confronted by a mugger named Joe Chill. When Thomas Wayne defied him, Chill shot him and Martha Wayne dead before the eyes of their horrified son. Chill left the traumatized orphan beside his parents' corpses.
Bruce was found there by Leslie Thompkins, a young woman who was a physician and social worker. She was named as Bruce's guardian and brought him up at Wayne Manor.
Young Bruce vowed at his parents' gravesite to avenge them by warring against all criminals. He trained himself over the years to physical and intellectual perfection in order to become a master crimetighter. Wayne spent a number of years abroad just before beginning his crimefighting career in Gotham City.
Shortly after returning at last to Gotham City and Wayne Manor, Wayne disguised himself slightly in order to explore Gotham's crime-ridden East End without being recognized. In the East End Wayne became embroiled in a fight with several criminals, including Selina Kyle, the future Catwoman (see Catwoman, revised), was seriously injured, and was captured by the police. Wayne escaped without his true identity being discovered.
Returning to Wayne Manor, Wayne sat before a bust of his father, thinking he would rather die than go on living without a clear idea of how he could find a way of making his opponents fear him so that he would have the necessary advantage in battling them. Then, like an omen, a great bat, apparently the same one that had frightened Wayne as a boy, crashed through the window and settled upon the bust of Thomas Wayne. Inspired by the sight, Wayne decided to adopt a bat-like costume to unnerve his adversaries. Thus Bruce Wayne became the Batman. At first he shared the secret of his dual identity only with Pennyworth, who was still his servant, and with Thompkins.
Crime and political corruption had been rampant in Gotham City since the retirement years before of its previous costumed vigilante, the Reaper. The Batman now began a one-man war both against Gotham's criminals and its corrupt political officials.
The Gotham City police, headed by the corrupt police commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, hunted the Batman for his illegal vigilantism. Among the policemen seeking to arrest the Batman was Lieutenant James W. Gordon (see Commissioner Gordon). Honest and dedicated to his work, and disgusted by the brutality and corruption in his own department, Gordon began to change his opinion towards the Batman after seeing him risk his life to save an elderly woman from death.
After Gordon turned in Detective Arnold Flass, one of Loeb's confederates, for his criminal activities, Loeb and the Roman, a Gotham crime-lord, had Gordon's newborn son kidnapped in an effort to blackmail Gordon into cooperating with them. The Batman saved the baby's life, and from then on, the Batman and Gordon were allies.
Loeb resigned on being implicated as a criminal by Flass, and Gordon became a captain and then police commissioner himself. Gordon ended the police's pursuit of the Batman. During the second year of the Batman's career, the Reaper again became active in Gotham City. Opposed to the Reaper's killings of criminals, the Batman clashed with the Reaper and finally defeated him. During this time the Batman also finally confronted Joe Chill, the slayer of his parents.
Bruce Wayne became the guardian of Dick Grayson, a boy who was a member of the Flying Graysons, a family of circus aerialists. Dick's parents had been killed by criminals, and he became the Batman's crimefighting partner, Robin the Boy Wonder. Some years later, Grayson ended his partnership with the Batman, and Grayson now operates under the name Nightwing (see Nightwing). Wayne took in another orphaned boy, Jason Todd, who has succeeded Grayson in the role of Robin and is the Batman's current crimefighting partner (see Robin II, revised).
Bruce Wayne is principal stockholder in Wayne Enterprises, an extensive empire of various successful businesses. Wayne is also founder and chief stockholder of the Wayne Foundation, a philanthropic organization (see Wayne Foundation). The Batman has long been a member of the Justice League and currently serves as its leader (see Justice League). He also formed a team of crimefighters called the Outsiders, with which he has recently renewed his association (see Outsiders).
The Batman has a wide array of notorious criminal adversaries. Among the most infamous of these are the Joker, Ra's al Ghul, the Catwoman, Two-Face, Professor Hugo Strange, the Penguin, the Scarecrow, and the Riddler (see individual listings). The Batman's principal headquarters is the Batcave, the vast cavern lying beneath Wayne Manor (see Batcave).
Source: Transcribed verbatim from the "Batman" profile in Who's Who: Update '87 #1 (August 1987). Research and text by Peter Sanderson. Character characterization by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Profile illustration by Alan Davis (pencils) and Paul Neary (inks). Published by DC Comics. All rights, characters, and text are trademarked and copyrighted by DC Comics.
