My Father, a wealthy philanthropist and Doctor, Thomas Wayne, my Mother Martha and myself, 8 years-old at the time, were coming out of a movie theater. The time was 10:47 p.m. As we stepped onto Park Row (now called Crime Alley), a masked gunman named Joe Chill came out of the shadows wanting my Mother's pearl necklace she was wearing. Before my young eyes, Chill shot and killed my Father in cold blood and then my Mother as she was screaming for help. I, traumatized at the sight of my parents' death, would never be the same. After my parents' death, I was raised by my wise and loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth, and inherited my family's vast fortune as well as my father's company Wayne Enterprises.
Facing my parents' gravestones, I made a solemn oath to avenge my parents' deaths.
I toured the world looking for experts on various fields, training myself mentally and physically. Despite fiscal security, happiness eluded me. I was comforted by Dr Leslie Thompkins, who helped me to mourn my parents and find a purpose in life. At age fourteen, I started a twelve year walkabout around the world to study and learn various subjects. For academics, I studied at Cambridge in England, the Sorbonne in France, as well as other famous European universities. A Frenchman named Henri Ducard taught me man-hunting, a ninja named Kirigi taught me stealth, an African bushmen trained me in the art of the hunt, and Nepalese monks taught me healing.
I returned to Gotham City, where I decided to become a vigilante. But despite all my honed skills, I knew something was missing. I believed criminals to be a "superstitious and cowardly lot", and in order to rid Gotham of evil, I needed to reinvent myself into a terrifying symbol that would strike fear in the hearts of criminals. While in my Father's study, a large bat came crashing in. I saw this as an omen, and recalled my fear of bats as a child and decided to use the bat as my symbol. Using my vast wealth, I designed a costume and state of the art equipment based on bats. From this point on I lead a double life. By day, the playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne, and by night, vigilante crime-fighter Batman.
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