Batman Silver Age Era ( 1961 - 1985 )

Alter Ego: Bruce Wayne, Various cover identities
Occupation: Multimillionaire Industrialist, Playboy, Philanthropist and Crime Fighter
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Thomas Wayne (father; deceased); Martha Wayne (mother; deceased), Philip Wayne (uncle), Jack Wayne (grandfather), Laura Elizabeth Wayne (great-grandmother)
Group Affiliations: Justice League of America (current); Justice League International (formerly); Outsiders (former leader)
Base of Operations: Gotham City
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
First Appearance: Detective Comics #27 (May 1939)

BATMAN: Silver Age (Earth 1)

Born: floating date between c.1930 and c.1950.
Started career: floating date between c.1953 and c.1973
First comic book not clearly determined.

From the 1950s through the 1970s, various new elements were added to Batman's origin, background and history. The Silver Age Batman first appeared sometime in the mid-1950s, with an origin that was (as revealed in various stories in the ensuing decades) similar to that of the Golden Age version of Batman. While the Golden Age and Silver Age distinctions are useful for discussing the character's evolution over the decades, the character's evolution was gradual, and there is no specific comic issue at which the Golden Age version gave way to the Silver Age version. Likewise, the character as he appeared near the beginning of the Silver Age (in the mid-1950s) was different in many ways than he appeared near the end of the Silver Age (in the mid-1980s), due to many minor revisions and new directions in the character's publication history.

As summarized in various stories, including 1980's the Untold Legend of the Batman limited series that thoroughly retold Batman's Silver Age origin and history, Bruce Wayne was raised by wealthy socialites Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne in Wayne Manor. Eight year-old Bruce saw his parents murdered by small-time criminal Joe Chill, after which he was raised by his uncle Philip Wayne. Bruce swore to seek revenge on all criminals, and launched himself into a lifetime of dedicated training similar to the Golden Age Batman's training.

At some point early in his training, Bruce wore a costume similar to that of the future Robin's, in order to anonymously receive training from Gotham City police detective Harvey Harris (Detective Comics #226). He and his guardians also visited Smallville, where he met the youthful superhero Superboy and worked with him on several cases. Bruce Wayne went on to attend college, taking various criminology and law related courses, but soon decided that being a police officer wasn't the path he should take. After graduating, Bruce, while pondering alone in his study on how to handle criminals, sees a bat fly through his study window, and decides to create a bat costume, calling himself "the Batman".

Sometime after the start of his crimefighting career, Bruce took in an orphan named Dick Grayson, whose parents had been killed by gangster Boss Zucco and his henchmen, and trained him as his sidekick, Robin.

In Detective Comics #235 (September 1956), Batman learned that his parents' killing had not been chance, but an assassination ordered by gangster Lew Moxon. As a child, Bruce's father had worn a bat costume (similar to Batman's future costume) to a masquerade party, where he encountered and stopped the mobster. Moxon swore revenge against Dr. Wayne, and hired the criminal Joe Chill to arrange a mugging that would result in their deaths. Batman soon tracked down Moxon (while wearing his father's bat costume, his usual costume having been torn while in action), but Moxon, recognizing the costume, inadvertently fled into the middle of traffic in a state of panic, where he was struck by a truck and killed.

Batman soon went on to meet and regularly work with other heroes, most notably Superman, who he began regularly working alongside in a series of teamups in World's Finest Comics, starting in 1954 and continuing through 1986. Batman and Superman were usually shown as being close friends. Batman also went on to become a founding member of the Justice League of America, appearing in their first story in 1960's Brave and the Bold #28. In the 1970s and 1980s, Brave and the Bold became a Batman title, where Batman would teamup with a different DC Universe superhero each month.

The early Silver Age Batman stories of the late 1950s and early 1960s often featured heavy amounts of science-fiction elements; starting in 1964's Detective Comics #327, Batman had reverted to his detective roots, with said science-fiction elements jettisoned.

In 1969, Dick Grayson was sent to college as part of a revision effort of the Batman comics; Bruce also subsequently decided to move from Wayne Manor into a penthouse apartment on top of the Wayne Foundation building in downtown Gotham City, in order to be closer to Gotham City and its crimes as Batman. Bruce spent the 1970s and early 1980s mainly working solo, with occasional teamups with Robin and/or Batgirl. Batman's adventures also became somewhat darker and grimmer during this period, with the Masked Manhunter often dealing with increasingly violent crimes, including the first appearance (since the early Golden Age) of an insane, murderous Joker.

In the early 1980s, Bruce Wayne once more took on a new sidekick, upon Dick Grayson's decision to strike out on his own as his own superhero, Nightwing. Bruce took in a youth named Jason Todd, who had a background similar to Dick Grayson's (having been a circus acrobat whose family was killed by Killer Croc), and Jason eventually took on the role of Robin.

The transition from Golden Age to Silver Age (later designated Earth-2 and Earth-1) versions was unintentional, and had no clear splitting point. Batman's early history was much more consistent between versions than Superman's, but in some cases, character traits and continuity events that would later be ascribed specifically to different versions of Batman had actually been associated with a single Batman in a past story. Once the Earth 2 & 1 concept had been developed, the Earth-2 Batman was linked with the original appearance date while the Earth-1 Batman was kept static by floating his past history. So, whenever the Earth-1 continuity comic book was published, Batman was born about 30-35 years before, and commenced his career at in his early 20s. Later Earth-1 stories had to let Batman be closer to the 35 mark to allow for the past histories of his Robins.