Batman is a fictional character, an alternative version of the DC Comics mainstream incarnation. This version of Batman was created by Frank Miller and first appeared in The Dark Knight Returns #1 (February 1986).

Biographie

Much like the mainstream New Earth/Post-Crisis Batman, Miller's Batman begins his journey after his parents are murdered by Joe Chill. (However, in Dark Knight Returns, it is hinted that he never found out who murdered his parents.) He travels the world in search of a means to fight crime, which include different martial arts that include Jeet Kune Do, Shotokan, Goju-ryu, Kyokushin, Jujutsu, Muay Thai, Judo, Aikido, Ninjitsu, Wing Chun, Shaolin Kung-Fu, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and forensic skills. After returning to Gotham City in his early twenties, Bruce takes up the mantle of the Batman. In his first few months, he exposes police corruption in the Gotham City Police Department, unsettles the empire of crime lord Carmine Falcone, and gains an ally in Lieutenant James Gordon. At some unspecified point, shortly after the events of Year One, he stops The Joker from poisoning Gotham's water supply. Also around this time, he uses the Gotham sewers as his first Batcave to prove to himself that he doesn't need his wealth, and learns Catwoman's identity.

In the second year of his career, Batman takes on a protégé in young acrobat Dick Grayson, whose parents are killed by a hitman upon The Joker's orders. Batman accepts Dick into his inner circle, and he debuts as Robin. It is during this time that he meets Justice League of America (JLA) members Superman and Hal Jordan, to whom he shows complete disrespect. During this time, Bruce Wayne grows to love being Batman and constantly refers to himself as The Goddamn Batman. His own inexperience makes him reckless and ruthless towards criminals, however, and he treats Dick with nothing short of abuse and contempt, forcing him to live uncomfortably in the Batcave and chastising Alfred Pennyworth for showing him kindness.

Fifteen years prior to the events of DKR, Batman fires Dick (the reason is unknown, though Batman states it was for "cowardice and incompetence") and replaces him with Jason Todd. Some time later, Bruce is involved in riots, during which he modifies the Batmobile to its tank-like structure. Batman later becomes a member of the JLA and seems to develops a strong friendship with Hal Jordan (also known as the Green Lantern), similar to his friendship with Superman in the Mainstream DC Universe, twelve years before DKR.

Batman apprehends Two-Face one last time before his retirement. Two-Face's last crime is the kidnapping of Siamese twins, and the JLA is pressured into disbanding by political correctness groups. While most members of the JLA retire, Superman goes to work for the government, and Batman continues to fight crime in Gotham. Batman's best friend in the superhero community, Hal Jordan, retires to space, though Batman begs him to stay.

Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane becomes Arkham Home for the Emotionally Troubled, due to the wave of political correctness. Jason dies under unspecified circumstances; exactly what happened is unexplained, but it is known that the Joker had a hand in his death. Ten years before DKR, Batman retires over the burden of Jason's death. According to Superman, the other superheroes "almost threw a party." The Joker enters a catatonic state for about ten years due to Batman's disappearance.

Seven years before DKR, Bruce crosses paths with Dick again, but it ends badly and they part ways on bad terms. Over the next two decades, Bruce takes to drinking heavily and engaging in near-suicidal risk-taking. Despite maintaining his image as a playboy, he invests a considerable amount in the rehabilitation of Harvey Dent, the former Two-Face. Following an "anniversary" of Batman's last crusade with Jim Gordon, a 55-year-old Bruce is almost mugged by a group of street hoods. He defends himself, realizing that he cannot ignore the rising wave of crime.

A new teenage gang called "The Mutants" begins to terrorize the police and citizens of Gotham. Bruce begins suffering night terrors and sleepwalking which ends in his waking in the Batcave. After watching The Mark of Zorro and reliving the murders of his parents (who had taken him to see the film on the night they were killed), he dons the cape and cowl once more. He manages to save Gotham from Two-Face and the Mutant Gang, and takes on a new sidekick — Carrie Kelly, the new Robin. When the Joker reappears and kills hundreds of people, Batman fights him one last time, but the Joker kills himself and Batman is framed for murder. Superman is sent by the government to stop Batman's increasingly violent style of vigilantism. Batman confronts the Man of Steel with a variety of weapons, including several missiles and a sonic gun. Batman fights Superman to what appears to be his own death, but not before beating Superman. It is later revealed that he was induced to catatonia but revived to lead an underground subversive movement alongside Carrie Kelly, Green Arrow and the Mutants (renamed the Sons of Batman or S.O.B.).

After going underground, Bruce Wayne and his young sidekick, Catgirl (Carrie Kelly, Robin from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns), train an army of "batboys" to save the world from a "police-state" dictatorship led by Lex Luthor. In a series of raids on government facilities, Batman's soldiers release from captivity other superheroes including: the Atom (trapped for years in a petri dish), Flash (forced to run on a treadmill to provide America with free power), and Plastic Man (now insane and trapped in Arkham Asylum). Elongated Man is recruited from his job as a commercial spokesman and Green Arrow is working with Batman. Luthor responds by sending a genetically-superpowered man who resembles the Joker to kill as many superheroes as possible. Batman, with help from his allies, manages to take Luthor down, and Luthor is killed by the son of Hawkman, who had been killed earlier on by Luthor.

As he returns home, Batman receives a communication from Carrie, who is being attacked by the new Joker. Batman rushes to her aid and recognises the man as Dick, who has been genetically manipulated to possess a powerful healing factor, but has been driven insane. Batman shows nothing but contempt for his former sidekick and plans his death the moment they face each other. Batman hurls himself and Dick into a miles-deep crevasse filled with lava and blows up the entire cave, igniting an underground volcano and destroying everything. Dick falls into the lava and is killed, but Batman is saved by Superman at the last moment and brought to Carrie in the Batmobile.