Flashpoint Batman

Origin

The Flashpoint Batman is an alternate version of Dr. Thomas Wayne, created by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert, and who debuted in the story arc Flashpoint as the Batman of that universe. Since then, the character has made several appearances, after surviving the destruction of his universe of origin. He has have relevant roles in pivotal stories of Flash, Batman and recently he has become member of the alternate universe team known as Justice (League) Incarnate.

The character was the basis for the DCNew 52 second version of Batman of earth 2.

History

Flashpoint

When the Reverse Flash ,aparentelly, disrupted the natural flow of the New Earth timeline (The DCU's main continuity) causing the Flashpoint, the past is radically changed. Rather than Thomas and Martha Wayne being gunned down by Joe Chill, it was Bruce that died in crime alley that fateful night, leaving Thomas Wayne alive and broken. Dr. Wayne ages into a very bitter, argumentative, and lonely man, who owns a chain of hotels and Wayne Casino. He has taken on the Batman mantle himself, but unlike Bruce has no qualms about killing.

Wayne uses his Casino, run by his employee Oswald Cobblepot, as a front to keep and eye on the villains, gangsters, and criminals it attracts. Furthermore, the Gotham City Police Department is privatized and under Thomas' control, with his friend James Gordon being the head of it. Gordon is aware that Wayne is Batman. Operating out of a small Batcave under a ravaged and time worn Wayne Manor, Thomas takes to the city streets at night as a brutal and homicidal Batman. It is noted that The Scarecrow, Hush, and Poison Ivy are all dead in this timeline, more than likely having been killed by Wayne. The Joker is still the Batman's greatest foe, and while on his greatest nemesis' trail in search of DA Harvey Dent's kidnapped twin children, Wayne viciously kills Killer Croc by stabbing him in the head and nearly kills one of the Joker's henchmen, a female named Yo-Yo by dropping her off a skyscraper.

With help from both Gordon and Selina Kyle, the Oracle of this timeline, Wayne vigilantly searches for the whereabouts of the Dent twins before The Joker can harm them. Gordon discovers that the Joker is holding the children hostage in none other than the dilapidated Wayne Manor. Instead of relaying his discovery to Batman, Gordon rushes in to the Manor alone to save the the children. Through the use of a cruel and convincing trap, The Joker tricks Gordon into accidentally shooting one of the kidnapped twins. Upon realizing his terrible mistake Gordon runs to the aide of the devastatingly wounded child, when the Joker appears behind him and slits his throat. With help from Selina, Wayne realizes that he must get to the Manor. He arrives too late to help Gordon or the injured Dent twin, and angrily confronts the Joker who is revealed to be none other than Martha Wayne. After explaining to Martha aka the Joker, that he has learned that Bruce survived in another timeline and that Thomas and Martha were the ones who died, Thomas tries to get Martha to stop her rampage. She asks Thomas what becomes of Bruce in the timeline he survived in. Martha is overwhelmed with despair when Thomas reveals that Bruce becomes Batman. In her despair, Martha runs away from Thomas and accidentally trips and falls into a fissure and falls to her death at the bottom of a cavern. It is important to note that all of these events described above regarding the Joker and the search of Dent's children happen sometime after Barry explains that there is a timeline where Bruce survived. It is never made clear when these events exactly take place.

When Barry Allen (The Flash) awakens and realizes that his speed is gone and that the timeline has been tampered with and discovers that Batman (who he believes to still be Bruce) is still operating out of Gotham City, he immediately decides to go there first in search of help in righting the timeline. Barry arrives and Gotham and makes his way towards the Batcave, however when he arrives he is brutally attacked by Batman demanding to know who he is. Barry is flustered by "Bruce's" inability to recognize him, but after observing objects around the Batcave Barry realizes that Bruce had died that night and that it was in fact Thomas under the cowl. Thomas berates Barry and orders him to explain how he knows anything about Bruce. Barry reveals to Wayne that he is The Flash and that in his timeline it was Thomas Wayne who died in Crime Alley and that Bruce survived and went on to become Batman.

Though Thomas initially sees Barry's rantings as complete nonsense, he comes to believe Barry and is comforted by the idea that his son survived instead of him. Thomas agrees to help Barry. Barry explains that before they can do anything he needs his speed back. Outside Wayne Manor during the middle of a vicious thunderstorm, Thomas and Barry attempt to recreate the accident that originally gave Barry his powers by using an electric chair with a lightning rod attached to it surrounded by all of the chemicals that were present during the original explosion. Barry straps himself into the chair and awaits the storm to strike him. Suddenly, a blot of lightning blasts the chair, electrocutes Barry, and douses him the multitude of chemicals. However, rather than giving The Flash back his powers, the experiment leaves Barry near death with nearly all of his skin burnt off. Thomas stands over him in distress and disbelief.

Thomas takes Barry to the cave beneath Wayne Manor. There he treats Barry's injuries and prevents him from dying. It is revealed that Barry has sustained third degree burns to over seventy five percent of his body. Upon waking up Barry reveals to Thomas that he is slowly losing his memories of the previous timeline, and that he is beginning to remember events from the current timeline. Barry convinces a reluctant Thomas to assist him once again in setting up the explosion scenario. This time Barry is struck by a huge bolt of lightning and his powers are activated.

After regaining his powers Barry and Thomas begin to research the existence of other members of what was the Justice League prior to the time shift. Together they discover that Hal Jordan never inherited the Green Lantern Ring and the Superman's arrival resulted in the deaths of thirty five thousand people. Barry asks what happened to Superman and the Rocket, Thomas contacts Cyborg, who reveals that Superman and the Rocket were taken by the United States Government. Thomas agrees to help Cyborg's rebellion on the condition that Cyborg help him and Barry free Superman. Cyborg agrees, and the three heroes enter a secret facility in order to release Superman.

After disabling guards and temporarily looping the security systems they find Superman's cell, which is designed to emit what seems to be red sun radiation, which keeps Superman without powers. Cyborg uses a sonic blast to destroy the cell and they retrieve Superman. However the guards are alerted and the four heroes flee. When they arrive outside, the sun's energy instantly powers Superman who blasts a guard with his heat vision and then flies off leaving Flash, Batman, and Cyborg to fight the guards.

The Three fight the guards, defeating several, despite their elite training and advanced weaponry which was designed to take down a powered Superman. Element Woman arrives and helps take down the remaining guards. Suddenly as the group of heroes is about to leave, Barry has a seizure due to the memories of both timelines intersecting and Thomas gives him an injection of phenytoin sodium. Barry passes out and the three remaining heroes plan on taking him to the S.H.A.Z.A.M. kids.

Cyborg, Barry, Element Woman, and Thomas arrive at the house of the the S.H.A.Z.A.M. kids, Thomas thinking that some how the Flash's powers are related to the powers of S.H.A.Z.A.M. requests that Billy Batson use his abilities to fix Barry's degrading memories. This works temporarily, but as a result Billy experiences Barry's memories of the pre-Flashpoint universe. Suddenly the television reports that all out war has broken out between Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Barry grabs Thomas and desperately begs him to help the resistance. Thomas states that either they restore the timeline or he would rather the world burn. Barry tells manages to convince Thomas to come by talking about what Bruce would do. Unfortunately the battle was a disaster with Wonder Woman killing Billy Batson the revelation that Enchantress was a traitor who killed most of the resistance and wounded Thomas in a fit of homicidal glee. Despite his wounds he later manages to save Barry from Professor Zoom by stabbing him in the chest with a stray amazonian sword. Before Aquaman's nuke destroys the earth, Thomas gives Barry a letter to give to Bruce and tells him to change the timeline back.

The Button

The Flashpoint timeline persisted because of the hypertime persistence and the manipulations of Dr. Manhattan. There, Thomas see how an alliance of amazonians and atlanteans attacked the land territories, and how he was trargeted by both sides. When he was ready to give his last fight, Barry Allenand Brucve Wayne from the main timeline arrived to the Flashpoint timeline, were Thomas asped bruce to quit being Batman. The last thing of Bruce was to see his father repeating his last plea, before apparently being consumed by entropy along his timeline.

Allied to Bane

Thomas is later revealed to have survived this ordeal through the Reverse Flash saving him from his collapsing timeline, all in Thawne's effort to drive Thomas to despair over Bruce's decision to remain Batman. Thomas is then revealed to have been working for Bane , as part of his plan to utterly break Bruce Wayne psychologically so he gives up being Batman. Thomas would later betray Bane by shooting him in the head, sending him into a coma. Confronting Bruce alone, he tells him to give up being Batman and be happy with Selina Kyle. He holds Bruce at gunpoint after she attacks him. Though he doesn't kill him, he tries to persuade him. Bruce states that he'll be happy and be Batman too, stating he isn't the ten-year old child who lost his parents anymore and he isn't his father before knocking him out. In the prison, Bane breaks Thomas' back in revenge.

Infinite Frontier & Justice League Incarnate

After being jailed in Arkham Asylum and recovering from his wounds, Thomas was abducted by X-Tract and sending towards Earth Omega. However his vessel broke appart and fell on earth 23, where the parents of the Superman from that reality, Calvin Ellis, contacted with his son, who took Thomas to the House of Heroes. Since then, Thomas has reevaluated his actions and his posture towards Bruce and has started a growing friendship with the President Superman. Thomas helped Justice Incarnate in their quest to discover what was the mystery of earth Omega and what relationship had with the abduction of several members of the Justice Society of America. Thomas helped President Superman and they followed a clue involving Lex Luthor of Earth 23, but found him dead. They eventually follow the leads towards Earth Omega, where they discovered than Darkseid was behind the abductions. However, they didn't expect than one of their members, Machinehead, would betray them to stop the constant crossovers between earths. In the following battle, Barry Allen dissapeared from the multiverse. Thomas and Calvin recruited then Avery Ho, form earth 0, to helped them to found the lost Allen.

Powers and Abilities

It is said of Thomas Wayne, in the Flashpoint timeline, that he is the greatest tactician in the world. It is for this reason that Cyborg specifically sought him out to assist in the resistance against Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Cyborg also mentions that Batman is feared and respected among the world's superhumans and criminal elements, and that his legend is so built up that it is believed (falsely) that Thomas is invincible.

Thomas in the Flashpoint timeline, demonstrates peak athletic strength and combat skills. He can effortlessly lift a grown man above his head, which is demonstrated in the confrontation with Barry. Also in that scene, it is shown that Thomas is able to throw Barry with a single arm, with enough force to shatter a wooden table to pieces. Later in the Flashpoint story, Thomas is shown of being very combat proficient by fighting and defeating well armed and elite soldiers trained to fight superhumans such as Superman. He is shown to have the strength to kick down a wooden door, shattering it into pieces and breaking the door frame and closely surrounding walls, all with a single kick. It is also implied in the final battle that he is capable enough to fight against Amazon warriors as well as Atlantian soldiers, though no such scenes are actually shown.

Regarding endurance and pain tolerance, Thomas is shown to be capable of withstanding heavy beatings, such as the prolonged physical assault given to him at the hands of the Joker, who was wielding a hammer. This is all the more impressive as Thomas' batsuit contains no apparent armour or protective qualities. He is also shown being capable of withstanding and recovering from metahuman assaults from Killer Croc and Professor Zoom, and in both cases killing his attacker.

Equipment and vehicles

In the Flashpoint timeline, Thomas Wayne wears a Batsuit which appears to simply be a costume worn for intimidation purposes and to conceal his identity. The Batsuit is not shown to have any specific defensive purpose or capabilities. However the cowl has a feature which causes the eyes to glow red in all light conditions, but the purpose for this is not made clear and could perhaps simply be designed to invoke fear and dread in his enemies.

Along with his Batsuit, Thomas Wayne in the Flashpoint timeline, wears a utility belt very similar to Bruce Wayne's belt. Not a large array of items are used in Flashpoint. The items used are flashlight, various batarangs, grapple line, and a syringe containing phenytoin sodium, which is a antiepileptic, which slows brain activity. It can be assumed that he carries or has access to many more medicinal chemicals and drugs that can be injected via syringe.

In the World of Flashpoint, featuring Batman, it is revealed that Batman has access to a larger computer, very similar to the one used by Bruce Wayne which is usually found in the Batcave. However this large computer is not found in the Batcave under Wayne Manor, but elsewhere in a unknown location. In fact the Batcave in Wayne Manor is very spartan in nature, containing a few tables, and upstairs a single desktop basic PC computer system.

Thomas Wayne is shown as having at least two vehicles which he uses as Batman in the Flashpoint timeline. These are the Batmobile and a Batplane. The Batmobile is shown to have a direct link to the Oracle via video communication and the Batplane has stealth capability and features global holographic communication systems.

Other Media

Animation

• Thomas Wayne, as Batman, appears in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, an adaptation of the Flashpoint storyline, where he is one of the main characters, helping Barry Allen to restore the original timeline. He is voiced by Scottish actor Kevin McKidd.

Video Games

• Thomas Wayne's Flashpoint Batman costume is an alternate costume for Batman in Injustice: Gods Among Us.
• The Flashpoint Batman costume is an alternate DLC outfit in Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Knight.

Merchandise

• Thomas Wayne was featured in the HeroClix figure game as both Flashpoint Batman and Earth-2 Batman.
• Thomas Wayne was featured in DC Direct's Flashpoint line as Batman.
• Kotobukiya produced a statue of Flashpoint Batman.
• Flashpoint Batman was featured in the Imaginext line by Fisher-Price.
• Prime 1 Studios created a statue of Thomas Wayne as Flashpoint Batman.
• Flashpoint Batman was featured in Funko's Pop! line of bobbleheads.
• Flashpoint Batman was featured in the Batman: The Adventure Continues line from DC Direct.
• Flashpoint Batman was featured in Spin Master's Batman line.
• Flashpoint Batman was featured in the Real Action Heroes figure line by Medicom.
• Flashpoint Batman was featured in the DC Multiverse line by Todd McFarlane. An unmasked variant with an exclusive Amazonian sword accessory was also released.