Batman/Characters/Supporting Cast

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Batman has built up a large cast of allies over the years. These are his allies that are either considered to be "unofficial" Batfamily members or allies from outside the Batclan.

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Commissioner Jim Gordon

Probably Batman's only law-abiding ally, Jim Gordon was a rare one - an honest cop in a city so full of corruption that everyone treated him as if he were corrupt. Though his first meeting with Batman was on shaky terms, he eventually grew to accept that for the time being, Gotham needed the vigilante to keep order.

Like every other member of Batman's supporting cast, he has suffered many tragedies that would drive any normal man to suicide and/or insanity. Perhaps The most extreme example came from Alan Moore's The Killing Joke where he was kidnapped by the Joker and tortured both mentally and physically for hours on end. Almost as mind-shattering was the killing of his second wife by the same man during the No Man's Land story arc. The implication has been that you kind of have to be a little crazy to try to be an honest cop in Gotham to begin with, and Gordon's success at it has made him tough enough to survive anything the world has thrown at him.

Recently, his battle against crime has taken its toll on him, and he temporarily retired from the police force. He has since returned to his position as Gotham PD Commissioner, and continues to help out Batman as much as he can.

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• Badass Normal: With more emphasis on "normal", compared to the Bat-family, that is.
• Benevolent Boss
• By-The-Book Cop: While he does allow a vigilante to patrol the city, he will absolutely not tolerate said vigilante killing anybody.
  • There's actualy a whole set of rules the Bat-Family must abide by in Gotham or else they lose Jim Gordon's cooperation and protection.
• The Commissioner Gordon: Trope Namer.
• If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him: He gives these speeches to Batman on a regular basis.
• Let Off by the Detective: In Year one he becomes increasingly conflicted about chasing Batman as he begins to realize Batman's not a bad guy. At the end he allows him to elude capture because Batman saves his baby son.
• Mind Rape: The Joker puts him through at least three of these. And he still doesn't crack beyond shooting the clown in the kneecap.
• Police Are Useless: In the earlier comics. He gets better in the more recent ones.
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• Secret Secret Keeper: Implied. In the animated series, it's canon that he was this for Barbara - when she tried to tell him the truth, he told her that he was proud of her and she didn't need him to approve her actions anymore.
• Smoking Is Cool
• Two First Names

Catwoman I (Selina Kyle)

Meow.

She started out as pretty much a run-of-the-mill villain, but Catwoman is known by ninety percent of the world today as Batman's love interest. Pretty much the definition of a "cat burglar", Selina was, in many ways, as much of a dark counterpart to Batman as the Joker was (she's even got an animal theme!). Time after time, she would steal valuable jewels and the like (often items with a cat theme), and time after time, the Dark Knight would put a stop to her. As these "dates" went on, she became more and more infatuated with Batman, an attraction he mostly reciprocates but that he hates to admit.

Out of all of Batman's love interests, Selina is probably the most supported one, mainly because she's one of the few who can actually fight. By The Nineties, she had moved out of "supervillain" territory and become more of an anti-heroine. Various origin stories by authors such as Frank Miller and Ed Brubaker suggest that before she became Catwoman, she was a Street Urchin who suffered a variety of (often sexually-related) troubles before becoming who she is today. Nowadays, she is a wealthy socialite who steals for the hell of it (and help out the Bat-Family on occasion).

For a while, Selina went straight, and even had a baby, but soon enough, the reluctance of the DCU to let anybody in the Bat-universe have a happy life returned her to her costumed persona after a tragic event involving B-list villains Angle Man and Film Freak. Additionally, it is revealed that her going straight may have had something to do with Zatanna's magic instead of her own will. Either way, she makes a very effective hero when she wants to be. Her experience, skill, and social influence are second only to Bats himself, and she has no qualms using lethal force to get the job done.

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• Action Girl and/or Dark Action Girl
  • Action Mom
• Amnesiac Dissonance
• Anti-Hero
  • Type IV.
    • Anti-Villain: We can never figure out which side she's on.
      • Anywhere from Type I to Type IV. Yeah, Selina's kind of... complicated. Though she has settled down since the 90's as an ally.
• Badass Biker
• Berserk Button: It's best not to hurt any cats around her, but especially not the ones she personally owns.
  • Also best to avoid hurting women and children. She has a big-sister instinct that you do not want to get on the wrong side of.
• Brunette: To Ivy's Redhead and Harley's Blonde in some cases.
• Cat Fight: Her own series is filled with these. Then again, what did you expect?
• Catgirl: Kind of. She's purely human in biological terms, though.
  • Though in "Fables of the Bat-Man," one of the Legends of the Dead Earth Annuals DC did in 1996 (long story short, stories of how people on other planets post-Earth view Earth's heroes and villains) combined her with Poison Ivy and made her an actual Catgirl.
• Classy Cat Burglar: She robs! With style.
• Combat Stilettos: Had a penchant for these in some incarnations, though they got sensible through the ages. She even wore combat boots for a while.
• Criminal Amnesiac
• Damsel in Distress: Selina has been put in these situations many times. Her only fear, in fact, is a world where she has to be rescued by Batman at every turn. Basically, she's scared of dependency.
  • Badass Damsel.
• Dating Catwoman: Yet another Trope Namer.
• Depending on the Writer: Her relationship with Batman is this, especially now that they're together. Her and Bruce have been depicted as star-crossed soul mates, each other's booty call, and everywhere in between.
  • Sometimes, Selina Kyle/Catwoman herself. Along with her backstories. She's been seen through prostitution in the grim and gritty streets of Gotham, an orphaned (and problem) child whose parents committed suicide, a high socialite to sharing low apartments with others, and some all of the above.
• Femme Fatale: Most of the time.
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe
• Friendly Enemy
• Friend to All Living Things: All cats, at least. Krypto seems to have taken a liking to her as well.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Next to Dick, she's probably the one most able to call Bruce out and bring him back to his senses when he's gone over the edge. Most of the time, anyways.
• Give Her A Normal Life: Selina gives up her baby for adoption at the end of the One Year Later arc.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Her latest costume has goggles that appear to be there for no reason other than making her look more like a cat.
  • ...and night vision. And general eye protection, since her line of work tends to involve crashing through skylights...
• Green Eyes: And fits the character description to a "T".
• Heel Face Revolving Door: Is she ever.
• If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him: Gives such a speech to Batman during the Hush arc. It doesn't work.
• Licked by the Dog: In "Hush", and by Superman's dog, no less.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover
• Ms. Fanservice: Her life.
• Most Common Superpower: They're always well endowed. I guess the difference is how bigger they are or not. It just depends on the artist.
• Noble Demon
• Pirate Girl: Capitana Felina, the Elseworlds version of Catwoman in Batman: Leatherwing.
• Rape as Backstory: Several Post-crisis origins.
• Roof Hopping: Especially when being chased by Batman.
• Sensual Spandex
• She's Got Legs: Legs, meet miles.
• Shiny Midnight Black: Her usual hair shade.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Even though she may chew out Bats for his "sickening sense of honor" as she puts it, but if she's attracted to him, it's for his righteousness and kindness towards her.
• Shadow Archetype: Of Batman, of course.
• Slap Slap Kiss: Has this with Batman, but she seems to have an affinity for it by making it happen all the time.
  • She also likes the reversed version.
• Spy Catsuit
• Stripperiffic
• Stuffed Into the Fridge: Both invoked and subverted during the same story arc. Hush cuts out her heart and hooks her up to life support in a deliberate attempt to hurt Batman in the worst way possible. However, when she gets her heart back and recovers, she's the one who goes after Hush and hurts him in the worst way possible: by financially ruining him so utterly that he no longer has two cents to his name.
  • According to Gotham City Sirens (which has Continuity Nods to the Hush arc), the whole experience left her with an apparent psychological scar, where, despite the physical wound being healed, she still feels weak.
• The Vamp: Before Ivy came along, that is...
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Oh boy... so much of it with Bats, SO MUCH of it.
• Unstoppable Rage: Black Mask found out just how bad an idea it was to piss off Catwoman.
• Vapor Wear: Boy, does her current costume exert this, though it was pretty obvious beforehand.
• Whip It Good: Naturally.
• Wire Dilemma: In issue #61 of her own series, she winds up having to defuse one of Film Freak's bombs. As it turns out, cutting ANY of the wires would shut it down, making this a subversion.
• Woman in Black

Catwoman II (Holly Robinson)

Catwoman's pal Holly Robinson first appeared in Batman: Year One as a child prostitute who lived with Selina Kyle. Later, Holly returned as Selina's Girl Friday in Ed Brubaker's relaunch of the Catwoman title. Over the course of the series, Holly worked as Catwoman's spy on the streets, learned boxing moves from Wildcat, got a nice girlfriend, and became a den mother to a bunch of street urchins. Holly later became the second Catwoman when Selina temporarily retired.

After ending her brief stint as a replacement Catwoman, Holly left Gotham and was thrown into the cast of Countdown to Final Crisis. Holly spent most of Countdown in a state of constant facepalming, as she began an Odd Friendship with Harley Quinn and tried to make sense of a plot involving fake Amazons and Granny Goodness. Post-Countdown, Holly ran away to Comic Book Limbo, where she currently resides.

• Action Girl
• Affirmative Action Legacy
• Blue Eyes
• Functional Addict: She managed to kick her drug addiction, although she comes close to falling Off the Wagon at one point.
• Gayngst: Averted. Her being queer is never made into an issue, nor does it cause her any angst or trouble.
• Legacy Character
• Lipstick Lesbian: she seems to alternate between this and a more tomboyish style.
• Morality Pet: For Selina.
• Redheaded Hero
• Put on a Bus
• The Runaway: She ended up on the streets after running away from Abusive Parents.
• Series Continuity Error: Holly was killed during a 1988 storyline in Action Comics Weekly. Ed Brubaker, unaware of said storyline, brought her back. This was lampshaded in a short story he later wrote titled "Why Holly Isn't Dead", in which Holly complains about Canon Discontinuity and Selina suggests Continuity Reboots as an explanation.
• Sidekick
• Spy Catsuit
• Street Urchin
• Team Mom: To the Alleytown Kids

Huntress (Pre-Crisis / New 52) (Helena Wayne)

Batman and Catwoman finally confessed their love for one another, then got married and had a daughter. The daughter, Helena, had all the benefits of being rich (an excellent education, etc.), was trained by her parents to be an excellent athlete, and joined Dick Grayson's law firm. However, tragedy struck and Selena was blackmailed into donning the Catwoman suit for one more heist, which led to her death. Swearing vengeance on the blackmailer, Helena Wayne became the costumed heroine, the Huntress. No, this was not a badly written fan-fic, this was what happened on Earth-Two, during the Pre Crisis era. Even after her father, the Earth-Two Batman, died in battle with a villain after coming out of semi-retirement one last time, she continued crimefighting with Dick Grayson (still going by Robin even though he was well into middle age), and joined the Justice Society of America. Then Crisis on Infinite Earths happened, and all of the Earth-Two characters "never existed".

...until the 'New 52' reboot, where Earth-Two is not the previous Earth-Two. In the New 52 Earth-Two, Helena Wayne was trained by her father to be the perfect Robin. Somehow or another, she ended up in the main 52-verse, where she took on the identities of Huntress and Helena Bertinelli.

• Action Girl
• Common Mary Sue Traits
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Power Girl.
• Legacy Character: To both Batman and Catwoman.
• Like Brother and Sister: Her and Earth-2 Robin, due to their upbringing.
• Redeeming Replacement: To Catwoman (who had turned good in this continuity).

Huntress (Post-Crisis) (Helena Bertinelli)

Main Article: Huntress

The Post-Crisis version of the Huntress. Her name is Helena Bertinelli, the daughter of one of the Gotham's major Mafia families. At the tender age of eight, she was forced to witness the brutal massacre of her entire family. After spending years training (one of her masters was Richard Dragon, who trained the Question and Barbara Gordon), she returned to Gotham to become the costumed vigilante, the Huntress. Unlike most members of the Bat-Family who eventually built a level of trust with her, Batman held a deep distrust of Huntress for a long time, believing to be too much of a loose cannon, although he eventually trusts her enough to sponsor her for the Justice League (her original JLI membership apparently having been forgotten).

Notably, she helped maintain order in Gotham during the No Man's Land storyline, as a temporary Batgirl (and eventual Batman) when she discovered that criminals feared the Bat more than her Huntress costume. She has since been forced to resign from the Justice League, although she still operates as a member of the Bat-Family and the Birds of Prey team.

• Action Girl
• The Archer
• Badass Biker
• Badass Teacher: she's a crime-fighter by night and a high-school teacher by day. Just try to threaten "her kids".
• Black Sheep
• Darker and Edgier: The main reason Batman didn't use to trust her was because she seemed willing to waive the Thou Shalt Not Kill rule.
• Fired Teacher: Before Oracle found her a job, she was constantly getting fired for missing days and showing up with wounds.
• Harmful to Minors: She watched her parents get shot by her her father's associates.
• Mafia Princess: Her childhood
• Really Gets Around
• Stripperiffic: the Jim Lee costume. Sigh...
• The Unfavorite: Often comes off this way not only in the Bat-family (with Batman) but in Birds of Prey (with Oracle).
  • Of course, a lot of Oracle's animosity is rooted to Huntress' past relationship with Dick Grayson.
    • And the fact that Huntress spent a good deal of the beginning of Batman No Mans Land using the Batgirl identity.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Inverted, it's specifically because they had "No strings attached" sex in the past that this has developed between herself and Dick Grayson.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: In her early appearances, Huntress really wanted Batman to acknowledge her as being as good a hero as him. She's gotten over it for the most part, but a bit still lingers as seen in Hush.

Azrael III (Michael Lane)

"I am the Dark Knight of God! I am Azrael." —Azrael (Michael Lane)

Ex-cop Michael Lane has since succeeded Jean-Paul Valley as a new Azrael working for Sacred Order of St. Dumas splinter group the Order of Purity (written by Fabian Nicienza, and later David Hine), following a Deus Angst Machina that rivals that of Tim Drake. Unfortunately, the series was the embodiment of You Fail Religious Studies Forever & Darker and Edgier, and ran a lot like your average Dan Brown book. He also fought Theme Serial Killer The Crusader. This series was cancelled at issue #18.

Azrael II later appeared in the Judgement On Gotham, a Bat Family Crossover which ranged across Batman, Red Robin, Gotham City Sirens, and the Batman again. It featured Azrael working with the Crusader (though both were under the influence of Ra's al Ghul) to judge Batman, Red Robin, and Catwoman, in order to find one righteous person in Gotham City, or they would destroy it. Exactly why they just didn't go take a poll of the attendees of the local Christian churches is not known. They both disappeared after end of the arc. The storyline in itself was motivated solely by the fact that Michael Lane, apparently, failed religious studies, which is pretty ironic seeing how he's supposed to be a "Soldier of God."

• Anti-Hero: Played straight. Michael Lane ranges from Type 3 to Type 4 all the way to Type 5.
• Anti-Hero Substitute: Michael Lane tried to be this during the Battle for the Cowl event where he was first introduced (Batman: Battle For the Cowl: Azrael: Death's Dark Knight. Dark Knight?). It didn't work out.
• Ax Crazy: Micheal Lane slowly got more and more Ax Crazy as his series wound down to a close. He got better (slightly) after he came back from the dead.
• Back from the Dead: On the third day, no less.
• Big Bad Friend: Michael Lane's assistant, Adrian Paratino, actually works for Ra's freakin' al Ghul.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Check.
• Chest Insignia: Michael Lane's Suit of Sorrows has a Christian cross on it, though before he took the suit, the cross was modeled after the bat-symbol, indicating the previous owner of the suit.
• Christianity Is Catholic: Same bad case of this as with Jean-Paul Valley's series, but shown more prominently.
• Church Militant: Order of Purity? Check.
• Darker and Edgier: Michael Lane's series is made of this.
• Deus Angst Machina / Death by Origin Story: This happened to Michael Lane in a degree that rivals Tim Drake's Deus Angst Machina. His son was hit by a car and died at age three. His wife committed suicide within a year. Only six months after her death, Michael's two siblings (his last living relatives) were murdered by an apparent Satanic cult.
• Deadpan Snarker: When he wants to be.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: A lot of people have noted that Michael Lane's costume looks like something out of Assassin's Creed.
• Doing In the Wizard: Completely averted in Michael Lane's series, where the Suit of Sorrows is only described as "cursed" or "magic."
• Dual-Wielding: Michael Lane carries two flaming swords; one red and one blue.
• Flaming Sword: Ditto. As stated before, Michael Lane has two.
• Friend on the Force: Pete Farrelli, probably Mikey's only real friend in the world, since Father Day is pretty much using him to accomplish the ends of the Order of Purity, and Adrian Paratino is actually working for Ra's al Ghul.
• Heroic Sociopath: Every day.
• Legacy Character: Applies, as Michael is only the most recent incarnation of a line of Azraels who work for Sacred Order of St. Dumas splinter group the Order of Purity. All they need is the Suit of Sorrows and a volunteer. All of the people who wore the Suit of Sorrows were eventually driven insane by it. Heck, it only took six weeks to do the trick for Michael Lane's predessor.
• Mission from God: Mikey is convinced that he's on one of these, though considering how around the bend he is, thanks to the Suit of Sorrows...
• Mook Face Turn: Michael Lane once worked for Dr. Hurt of the Black Glove, and accepted an offer to become Azrael partly as his way of atoning for his perceived role in the demise of Batman.
• Offscreen Afterlife: Averted. Michael Lane briefly went to someplace that was obviously meant to be purgatory.
• Our Angels Are Different: Darn well they are. See Jean-Paul Valley's entry on this.
• Powered Armor: Michael Lane wears a suit of crusader armor called the Suit of Sorrows, which is made from the fragments of the armor of 100 crusaders slain in battle. It gives him enhanced speed, strength, and stamina. The only drawback is that it will eventually drive him insane, as has happened to all of the people who wore the suit before him.
• Religion Is Magic: The Suit of Sorrows and the Sword of Sin and the Sword of Salvation? Natch.
• Servile Snarker: Adrian Paratino, Michael Lane's assistant, is very snarky.
• Theme Serial Killer: The Crusader murdered several members of the Order of Purity in manners based on the martyrdoms of various Christian saints.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Has happened to poor Mikey a few times, him being crazy and all.
• Tragic Hero: Played Straight, then Double Subverted, though possibly justified, making this Zig Zagged. Explanation; Michael has many flaws and is willing to kill people when he deems it necessary, which gets him trouble with Batman when he was Bat-Devil. However, he himself is aware of these flaws (when not wearing the Suit of Sorrows), but can't seem to be able to do anything about it, or for some reason doesn't want to. On the other hand, the factors that led to him to becoming so messed up, which are exacerbated by extensive use of the Suit of Sorrows, make it pretty hard to blame him for what he's done. See Freudian Excuse entry above for more information.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Adrian Paratino and Pete Farrelli.
• Voice with an Internet Connection: Adrian Paratino again.
• Will They or Won't They?: Michael Lane had this with his sister-in-law, Jenny Lane. They did it in a flashback from issue 16.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The Suit of Sorrows is said to have driven all of its wearers insane. It only took 6 weeks to take this effect on Michael Lane's predesessor.
• You Fail Religious Studies Forever: The second series is filled with this.
  • According to this book, faith is the eighth deadly sin. Which makes no sense at all when you take a look at Hebrews Chapter 11, in The Bible. Yeah, you'd think they'd want to take a look at that thing before going around bashing Christianity.
  • And apparently, the Apocrypha is real, a la The Da Vinci Code. (Spoiler: In reality, it is hilariously erroneous. Kind of like an Classical Greek version of some New Age jargon).
  • He's supposed to be Chrstian, but Azrael doesn't show up anywhere in Christian texts. The only he connectionmight have is an incredibly vague one based on a somewhat similar name.

Bat-Mite

Batman's #1 fan is actually an alien from Another Dimension with magic powers. Technically a hero, but he often ends up causing more harm than good. Sometimes gets into fights with Mr. Mxyzptlk, a Superman villain of the same species. He vanished at the dawn of the more "realistic" Bronze Age, but Grant Morrison brought him back after Infinite Crisis, explaining that he is a figment of Bruce's imagination that serves as a voice of reason should he somehow lose his grip on reality.

• Great Gazoo
• Loony Fan
• Person of Mass Destruction: There was a notable story where Bat-Mite and Mxyzptlk fought, which destroyed the entire Multiverse. There was even a scene where Darkseid "found" a paper with the Anti-Life Equation on it that simply said: "Bat-Mite + Mr. Mxyzptlk = Anti-Life". Darkseid promptly laughed himself to death.
• Reality Warper
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Introduced in the fifties, but vanished (much like Batwoman, Bat-Girl, and Ace the Bat-hound) during the Dark Age. He did eventually reappear with Grant Morrison's help, though with some Cerebus Retconning.

Harvey Bullock

Perhaps the most controversial member of the Gotham Police. He has a reputation for taking bribes and wrangling Miranda Rights, yet Commissioner Gordon and his partner Renee Montoya trust him unconditionally. Bullock was a "bishop" in the government agency Checkmate, but eventually returned to Gotham. He was one of the few who stayed in Gotham during No Man's Land. After Jim Gordon retired after being shot during the storyline Officer Down - when the man who shot him walked free - Bullock killed the culprit and left the force. He became a PI.

After Infinite Crisis and the return of Jim Gordon as Commissioner, Bullock returned to the force as well.

• Cowboy Cop
• Dirty Cop: Can be at times.
• Donut Mess with a Cop
• Good Cop, Bad Cop: With Montoya, he was the bad cop.
• Hidden Depths: Harvey is quite knowledgable in classic film.
• If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him: Pulls this one on Renee Montoya before taking the matter into his own hands.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Noble Bigot with a Badge: "Noble" may be a stretch. Not entirely loathable, at least.
• Perma-Stubble
• Police Brutality
• Private Detective: when he was off the force.
• Sympathetic Murderer: The police only think he's "helped" the mob get their hands on the man who shot Commissioner Gordon, but they find it hard to hate him for that.
• That One Case: For Harvey, it was a school killing that was later resolved in Gotham Central.

The Question II (Renee Montoya)

Renee Montoya was an officer of the GCPD. She was Harvey Bullock's partner until he was promoted to lieutenant and stayed in Gotham during No Man's Land; it was then that a connection between her and Harvey Dent/Two-Face was first established. After No Man's Land, her new partner is Crispus Allen, a cop from Metropolis. When she is outed due to Two-Face's machinations - Two-Face being in love with her - she is disowned by her family. Renee struggles with anger issues for more than a year until Infinite Crisis breaks and Cris is murdered by Dirty Cop Jim Corrigan. She comes close to crossing the line once more, and leaves the force. However, Victor Sage took her in during this stressful time and made her his protégé.

The events of 52 reveal that she has become the new Question after the death of Vic Sage, where she saved her friend (and ex), wealthy socialite Kate Kane, the new Batwoman.

• By-The-Book Cop: When partnered with Bullock. She changed.
• Canon Immigrant: From Batman the Animated Series.
• Coming Out Story: Being forcibly outed sucks.
• Clear My Name: The plot of an arc in Gotham Central.
• Despair Event Horizon: The murder of her partner Cris Allen.
• Good Cop, Bad Cop: She was the Good Cop to Harvey's Bad; partnered with Cris Allen, she played more often the Bad Cop.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: How she lays the hurt on people she feels deserves it.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Her confrontation with Two-Face left her with a scar running along her right cheekbone and a confrontation with Flash villain Dr. Alchemy burned the double Venus symbol into her collarbone.
• Legacy Character: During 52, she inherits the mantle of the Question.
• Police Brutality: Renee's anger issues were what led her to resign from the force.
• She Who Fights Monsters: The freaks and dirty cops have a tendency to attack her personal life; that sort of thing takes a toll.
• Suddenly Sexuality: Not that it was not well-done, but she had canon boyfriends before the revelation of her sexuality. Word of God handwaves this with the explanation that the previous boyfriends were beards and good friends.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: According to the Series Bible for B:TAS, she originally joined the force after the death of her husband.
• Threefer Token Minority: Renee is a woman, a Latina, and a lesbian.

Lucius Fox

The acting CEO of Wayne Industries: Fox essentially runs the company, since Bruce obviously has other things to occupy his time. He and Bruce are very good friends, and similarly to Jim Gordon it is often implied that he has figured out Jim's secret, though again like Jim it is never outright stated.

• Damsel in Distress: Many of his appearances involve him getting kidnapped or threatened in some way.
• Honest Corporate Executive
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• Out of Focus: Dips back and forth between a recurrer and being an unseen part of the setting. Recently he hasn't been seen much, though his daughter was recently a supporting character in Red Robin.
• Secret Secret Keeper: Much like Jim Gordon, it's often implied Lucius knows about Bruce's nighttime antics. This is upgraded to being a full Secret Keeper in the Nolanverse.

Vicki Vale

One of Batman's earliest love interests, Vicki Vale is a skilled and determined reporter for the Gotham Gazette. Her typical subject of writing is Batman: she reports on his exploits and occasionally tries to puzzle out his real identity, but she's always foiled. She has a hidden crush on Batman, and less so on Bruce Wayne, creating a Love Triangle out of two people, though she sometimes suspects that they're one and the same...

...What? No, she is not Lois Lane! She has red hair! She is completely, 100% different!

What with being a blatant Plagiarism of the Superman comic books who appeared primarily during Batman's Dork Age in The Interregnum, Vicki seldom shows up today. She disappeared in 1963, resurfaced in 1977 (and was promptly forgotten by the editors), and finally resumed love interest status in The Eighties...right before the Crisis on Infinite Earths wiped her history from existence. Post-Crisis, her appearances are primarily limited to the occasional cameo. She's done better in alternate continuities and media, having featured in All-Star Batman and Robin, the 1989 film (in which she was intended to be 1970s love interest Silver St. Cloud, whose name was deemed too silly), and The Batman vs Dracula. She also has an Expy in the form of Summer Gleeson.

All of which give her a leg up on...

Julie Madison

...the other oldest love interest, and the first. A kidnapping-prone socialite/actress, and Bruce Wayne's fiancee, Julie appeared in the earliest Batman stories in Detective Comics and remained engaged to Bruce for two years before breaking it off, due to stress from, you know, being kidnapped so often. She then became an actress, then a princess, and then ceased to be of any importance whatsoever.

Again, only appears as The Cameo, if ever. Writer / Artist Matt "Grendel" Wagner has done a fair amount of work with the character in a pair of excellent Batman mini-series exploring the time period during the Year One era, just before the "first" Joker story, "The Man Who Laughs" and The Long Halloween arc.

You might (but probably don't) remember her from Batman and Robin, where she proudly continues her tradition of being Bruce Wayne's beard arm candy loving girlfriend and having virtually no personality or plot-relevance. Shine on, you crazy diamond.

• The Artifact: Probably the only reason any one occasionally bothers to write her.
• Damsel in Distress
• First Girl Wins: Averted. Bruce Wayne rarely has a successful love life, but when he has children they're never with her.
• Shallow Love Interest

Man-Bat

AKA: Robert Kirkland "Kirk" Langstrom

Doctor Kirk Langstrom created a serum which would give humans powers of echolocation, which he tested on himself due to him growing deaf. However, the serum instead transformed him into the Man-Bat, who would sometimes terrorize Gotham City. His wife, Francine, had taken the serum later on, and she became the She-Bat, and they flew through the night together. The transformation has been treated like a curse at times, but sometimes Kirk Langstrom is in full control of Man-Bat, becoming an ally of Batman and other superheroes. In recent comics, he is more often shown to be a hero. He and his wife have two kids, the first born daughter, Becky, being able to change into a She-Bat, and the second born, a boy named Aaron, was born in Man-Bat form due to his parents' exposure to the serum.

• The Atoner: Sometimes
• Bat Out of Hell: Well, not literally...
• Chronic Villainy: Subverted.
• Mad Scientist: In The Batman, Kirk Langstrom is crazy and became Man-Bat voluntarily. Though he eventually does a Heel Face Turn.
• Professor Guinea Pig
• Super-Powered Evil Side: Man-Bat could be seen as this when Kirk isn't in control.
• Super Serum

The Creeper (Jack Ryder)

Main Article: The Creeper

Much like Vicki Vale, Jack Ryder is one of Gotham’s most well-known reporters, infamous for his aggressive, truth-seeking nature he displays in his controversial talk show aptly named You Are WRONG! After researching a famed biochemist named Dr. Yatz and his breakthrough in nanocell technology, Jack sought the doctor out only to find him held captive by a group of mobsters who intended to use his discovery for their own ends. His attempts at rescuing Yatz failed and he was shot in the head, but not before being injected with Yatz’s last sample of nanocells. The cells saved Ryder’s life, granting him a healing factor as well as enhanced agility and strength, turning him into an insane yellow skinned, green haired creature that took to calling itself the Creeper. Although unpredictable and considered deranged even by the standards of the other nutcases who plague Gotham, the Creeper is still moral at his core and fights on the side of good, even becoming an ally of Batman whenever their paths cross.

Unlike Steve Ditko’s other staple creations like Blue Beetle and the Question, the Creeper never really achieved the spotlight that his fellow heroes had largely due to the number of retcons and inconsistencies that have grown in his origin story over the years (the above story is the newest and most used version in the Post-Crisis continuity so far). Mostly, he’s featured as a supporting character who’s had a number of small appearances in main and alternate canon alike, most notably in the DCAU where he had his own episode in Batman: The Animated Series as well as cameos in Justice League Unlimited. More recently, he was a member of the newly established but sadly shortlived Outsiders, getting some long overdue action during their Blackest Night arc.

• The Cameo: Aside from his many appearances in the comics as both Jack Ryder and the Creeper alike, he figures into animated continuities as this such as Batman: The Brave and the Bold and, most memorably, the DCAU.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Would you believe that a giggling freak with a rictus grin and green hair is one of the good guys?
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Poor Batman.
  • When Hush posed as Bruce Wayne in the comics following Batman’s apparent death, Batman's friends and allies displayed a "show of force" to demonstrate how easily they could stop him if he tried anything. Most of them just block his path when he tries to escape (Katana going so far as to hold a sword to his throat), but the Creeper picks him up like a doll and throws him across the room. Later, he's seen in disguise personally babysitting Hush at work.
• Fun Personified
• Intrepid Reporter: So much that he slips into jerkass territory now and then. He hosts a talk show called You Are WRONG!, not to say anything of the guest stars he has on just for the sake of deliberately antagonizing them.
• Involuntary Shapeshifting
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In spite of his assholish tendencies with his fellow reporters, he’s shown to genuinely care where it counts when ex-girlfriend Vicki Vale approaches him for advice on whether or not it’s ethical to publish an incriminating story that could ruin someone’s life.
• Large Ham: He purposefully invokes this in his original Ditko incarnation, in order to terrify criminals into submission. All subsequent versions, though, have portrayed the Creeper persona as being genuinely out of his gourd.
• Laughing Mad
• Make Me Wanna Shout: Depending on the Writer, his laugh can range from a deadly sonic weapon to just plain annoying.
• Our Demons Are Different: His Creeper side has been recently revealed to be demonic in nature.
• Slasher Smile
• Split Personality: Suffers from this depending on the story.
• Stalker with a Crush: Played straight with his DCAU counterpart and Harley Quinn, who he’s hopelessly infatuated with despite her hating him.
• Stripperiffic: His costume consists of a green speedo, red boots and gloves, and a giant, fluffy red boa. In the 2006 miniseries, the costume naturally grows on his body as another side effect of the nanocell technology with the “boa” resembling some sort of organic, tendon-like growth.
• Talkative Loon: The Creeper is not a quiet or reserved individual, as anyone who has tried to fight him will attest.

Abuse (Colin Wilkes)

Colin was a ten year old orphan with a history of claustrophobia, chiroptophobia, abandonment issues, paranoia and violence. He had spent time in several foster homes, and underwent therapy sessions at the Children's Hospital. He was introduced to superheroes by George, a janitor at one of the orphanages he grew up in. He started collecting newspaper clippings, which was everything he had ever owned, along with his teddy bear Rory.

The Scarecrow abducted Colin and experimented on him with a synthetic Venom, hoping Batman would not fight children. But, realizing that despite Colin's grotesque appearance he was a child at heart, Batman used his Batrope to stick Colin's teddy bear to Crane causing him to attack Scarecrow instead of Batman. In the end, Batman prevented Colin from killing the Scarecrow by cutting his venom lines. Scarecrow was arrested, and Colin was moved to a hospital.

After the hospital, Colin was placed in St. Aden's Orphanage. He was still suffering from side effects of the Venom-treatment, and when he concentrated, he could activate it, changing into a giant behemoth. He decided to use this nearly indestructible form to fight crime, but knew he didn't look the part. He donned a trench coat and a hat, and ordered custom-made brass knuckle dusters that carried his new name: Abuse.

Though his first superheroing involved stopping robberies, he later turned to something bigger when he found children's bodies in the river. After investigating Humpty Dumpty's connection, he teamed up with Robin to take down the cause of the bodies: an illegal fighting ring for children, operated by Mr. Zsasz. Robin and Colin took him down, and shut down the operation. As a sign of gratitude, Robin gave Colin the Cycle of Abuse, a trike, because he thought Abuse looked stupid walking with his trench coat.

• Badass Longcoat: When in Abuse form. Complete with a fedora.
• Brains and Brawn: An argument can be made that he fits either or, with Damian fitting the opposite.
• Brother Chuck: Hasn't been seen since the cancelleation of Streets of Gotham. And thanks to the recent DC reboot, it'll be a miracle if he ever shows up again.
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: DC artist Dustin Nguyen said he had a lot planned for Colin that wasn't able to be fit in the original arc, but to keep an eye on the reboot. People are really hoping it happens.
• Healing Factor: When Damian asked a few days later if Colin was okay from the fight, Colin said "I... Abuse heals quick." It turns out he was mostly wearing all those band-aids because he thought they looked cool.
• Heartwarming Orphan: With his parents dead and moving from foster home to foster home, he's had to mature quicker than others. It doesn't stop him from being nice to other children and doesn't let his neuroses get him down.
• Hulking Out: Albeit it doesn't require any Unstoppable Rage and he's still in full control.
  • He can also do it partially, at first only affecting his leg so it would grow and break a restraint.
  • Mild Nightmare Fuel here, since you see all his veins get really big before he grows with them and it looks creepy for the 3 panels before he's fully Abuse.
• Morality Pet: Partially, to Damian.
• Power Fist: Brass knuckles shaped in the form of the word: "Abuse".
• Redheaded Hero
• Secret Keeper
• Super Strength: As Abuse, seemingly about to the same levels of Bane when he used Venom.