Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

[Mark Rand]

I remember reading Batman stories when he wasn't as bossy as he is, now. That's why I recently either abandoned the main DCU for other, or decided that Batman was either dead or incapacitated, or Batgirl stood in Batman's place.

 

Either way let's me bring in a small support staff, federal liaisons and representatives, and other such stuff. Some of these also let me redesign the Batmobile and/or the Batcave.

 

The staff would depend upon what is needed, but would probably include a technician and either Alfred or, for Batgirl, a maid. Others could include a nurse, a computer expert, and a criminalist (like someone from CSI).

 

If Bruce is incapacitated, the staff would include a veritable sea of nurses, aides, and therapists, all in scrubs, and Bruce's secretary. While a physical therapist or Bruce's secretary might occasionally help a team member, caring for Bruce's needs is their primeary job.

 

The federal liaison is there because the team has federal sanction. The representatives are there because the agencies don't trust each other. While the liaison and most representatives would be bureaucrats, there is always a chance that there's a field-rated agent in the group somewhere.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

The following is not set within the DC Comics Universe.

 

Let us now consider Batgirl. The woman behind the mask is heiress and corporate CEO Barbara Wayne. She's aided in her endevers by her housekeeper, Marie, the daughter of her parents' maid and butler, and her friend and enginer, Keiko. Both women are trained ninja, but Keiko, who lives in Wayne Manor as Barbara's houseguest, would rather design, build, and maintain equipment then join Batgirl in fighting crime.

 

Law enforcement people find Batgirl easy to get along with. She does, however, have a "creature of the night" style, and, being a ninja, prefers stealth to firepower. That's why the Batmobile looks like a high-performance sports car.

 

Her primary representative from the federal government is her liaison with whatever agency sanctions superheroes. Said liaison is a bureaucrat. Other agencies, however, have representatives. Most of these are bureaucrats, however, their could be a field agent within the group.

[KA.]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

I'm not sure I get where you are going with this, but I wanted to post to bump up the thread, anyway.

 

Are you saying that in the DCU, if there had been a Batman, there would be a hole that had to be filled in the crimefighting commuity, so there would be a need for someone/some group to 'take on the role' of Batman?

 

Even though Batman has had various people who 'supported' him in the past, including Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, etc. he was always the one in charge.

 

Having a bunch of bureaucracy around a 'Project Batman' just seems against the concept.

 

I know that I may be totally misreading what you are talking about, but perhaps when you provide a bit more detail, someone will see what you do want and provide something useful.

 

 

KA.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

I'm not sure I get where you are going with this, but I wanted to post to bump up the thread, anyway.

 

Are you saying that in the DCU, if there had been a Batman, there would be a hole that had to be filled in the crimefighting commuity, so there would be a need for someone/some group to 'take on the role' of Batman?

 

Even though Batman has had various people who 'supported' him in the past, including Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, etc. he was always the one in charge.

 

Having a bunch of bureaucracy around a 'Project Batman' just seems against the concept.

 

I know that I may be totally misreading what you are talking about, but perhaps when you provide a bit more detail, someone will see what you do want and provide something useful.

 

 

KA.

Sure. I'm postulating a number of alternate versions of Gotham City, each in its own version of the DC Comics Universe. In each, Batman either isn't as hard to get along with as he is in the mainstream DC Universe or something happened to him, or he isn't there. In all cases, a superhero team (the PCs) now work with, or replace, the Bat.

 

In most cases, his basic support staff consists of Commissioner Gordon, Alfred, Harold (or another engineer), and, possible, Maggie (Bruce's live-in secretary). The same holds true in the "Batman's dead" universe.

 

In the "he's alive, but crippled" universe, the staff is augmented by nurses, technicians and such. They are, however, tending Bruce and don't have much time to help the team. The physical therapist may have more time to tend to the team, but Bruce is his (or her) first priority.

 

In the "Batgirl" universe, Alfred is replaced by Marie, Barbara's maid. The other positions are the same.

 

Dr. Arcane is a friend of Batman, or Batgirl. A door, that only certain people can enter, connects the basement of Dr. Arcane's fastness to the Batcave.The door's primarily used by the government's liaison, a bureaucrat, and his wife, a nurse. She offerred her services for free, but Bruce, or Barbara, insisted on paying.

 

Other government agencies send representatives, but they can go no furthur than Dr. Arcane's house. Someone, usually Harold, or some other engineer, serves as messanger between the representative and the Dark Knight.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

A few changes have been made to the Barbara "Batgirl" Wayne version to bring it in line with the others.

 

Keiko isn't the engineer, Harold is. She's Black Scorpion, Batgirl's partner in crimefighting.

 

Maggie, although Barbara's secretary, doesn't work out of the manor. She works out of the Wayne Enterprises building.

 

Harold's lover is Marie, Barbara's housekeeper.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

One of the things I've always loved about stories featuring law enforcement and intelligence agencies is the fact that they don't always get along. In fact, it seems that, more often then not, they don't cooperate.

 

This is the basic idea behind many agencies sending representatives to a superhero team instead of only one agency. Sure, only one representative is the government's official liaison, but the others may try to influence a team member or the team leader.

 

Due to this need, the representative is usually a bureaucrat, either given this job as a reward for service or to get rid of a troublemaker who doesn't play by the rules of the bureaucracy. (Said rules include doing as much as possible to tie things up in red tape.) Occasionally, an agent will be assigned as a representative, especially if said agent fouls up an assignment by a rival agency that has a powerful senator as an ally.

 

In this case, either Batman or Batgirl is not as important to the government as Superman (in the DC Universe) or The Champions (in the CU). Therefore, most of his representatives will be discarded by their respective agencies. They won't get information from their agencies and reports they send in will be filed in the trash.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

Our topic for today is The Batcave.

 

First, the basics. It's a seven story cleft in the earth that runs north and south. The various rooms are in the east and west walls. The northeast and northwest ends have stairwells, with pipes running through them, that connect all levels. Unlike the other, the northeast stairwell connects to Wayne Manor's basement, as does the elevator shaft beside it.

 

All levels but sub-level six, are connected by bridges at the north and south ends. On sub-level six, the bridge is at the north end only.

 

All levels have either restroom and breakroom facilities or provisions for them.

 

The Wayne Manor basement has the cave's reference library and makup and disguises.

 

TBC

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

Finally, we're in the cave.

 

On the east side of the main level we have, running north to south, the communications and computer equipment and the vehicle storage with a tunnel to the surface. The communications and computer gear is in a circle. A locked door in one wall gives access to the seven linked Crays that make up the Batcomputer. (Keys to this door are given to anyone who wants one.) The heart of the vehicle area is the turntable for the Batmobile. Rooms line the exit tunnel. Several hold vehicles and the elevator to the repair shop.

 

The crime lab occupies the west side of the main floor.

 

The repair shop occupies the east side of sub-level one.

 

The gymnasium and other training facilities occupie the west side of sub-level one.

 

The east side of sub-level two contains the trophy room.

 

The west side of sub-level two has the medical area and emergency supplies.

 

Sub-level three as well as the western sides of sub-levels four, five, and six are storage and expansion areas. Harold sometimes tests gear in these areas, too.

 

The eastern side of sub-level four has the gateway to Dr. Arcane's basement, two bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, and the access to the city's subway system.

 

The eastern side of sub-level five contains the power generating equipment.

 

The eastern side of sub-level six is where the Batboat and its related equipment are.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

In case there are some of you who haven't figured it out, I'm a fan of the Silver Age Batman. After that, things have gone down hill.

 

Although they gave us a good map of Gotham City, they screwed it up by naming a lot of stuff after people involved with Batman.

 

I also liked Harold. Too bad they killed him off.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

I think the first idea I'm going to look at in this thread is the seriously, or critically, injured Batman.

 

His identity will become public knowledge, more federal liaisons will be assisting, or trying to assist, him and his team, and there will be plenty of people, in colorful scrubs, running around Wayne Manor.

 

Who knows, some of the people in scrubs might even enter the Batcave to see how things are going down there.

[Cancer]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

I would have thought the Batcave would have active defenses that walled it off when an intruder approached or triggered one of the standard entrances. They wouldn't be harmful measures (that's a post-Silver Age thing), more like things where slabs of concrete or rock were put in the access shafts/tunnels.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

I would have thought the Batcave would have active defenses that walled it off when an intruder approached or triggered one of the standard entrances. They wouldn't be harmful measures (that's a post-Silver Age thing)' date=' more like things where slabs of concrete or rock were put in the access shafts/tunnels.[/quote']

 

Goes without saying. I was just describing the interior, not it's defenses.

 

Another defense gadget might be some kind of knockout gas despenser.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

Although I'm working on a "Batman in Pittsburgh instead of Gotham" campaign idea, the ones in this thread assume that the Bat team is in Gotham City.

[tkdguy]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

I think the first idea I'm going to look at in this thread is the seriously, or critically, injured Batman.

 

His identity will become public knowledge, more federal liaisons will be assisting, or trying to assist, him and his team, and there will be plenty of people, in colorful scrubs, running around Wayne Manor.

 

Who knows, some of the people in scrubs might even enter the Batcave to see how things are going down there.

Not necessarily. When Bane crippled Batman's, he also threw the Dark Knight down the side of a building in sight of many people. Bruce was able to cover up his injury to some extent (Tim and Alfred came up with a car crash story), and Jean-Paul Valley took over the role without too many people noticing. Jim Gordon was one of the people who figured it out, but he and Bats had worked together for years.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

Not necessarily. When Bane crippled Batman's' date=' he also threw the Dark Knight down the side of a building in sight of many people. Bruce was able to cover up his injury to some extent (Tim and Alfred came up with a car crash story), and Jean-Paul Valley took over the role without too many people noticing. Jim Gordon was one of the people who figured it out, but he and Bats had worked together for years.[/quote']

 

I was thinking that it happened in a very public place, possibly with television cameras around and, thinking Batman dead, he was unmasked. At that point, the paramedics said that they had found a pulse.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

The idea I had for this is simple. Harold, Maggie, and Alfred are in the computer room when they see, on the television news, the incident where Batman is believed to be killed.

 

Moments after he's unmasked, revealing Bruce's face, Alfred flips switches on the communications board, sending all calls for Wayne Manor to an answering machine that the Batcomputer can monitor. Any important calls, from high-ranking governmental officials or Wayne Enterprises officials, will be transferred to the Batcave. All others will be recorded for later playback.

 

While Harold handled the computer, communications equipment, and brought the Batmobile, a modified Lamborghini Murcielago, in on remote control, Alfred and Maggie brought what they'd need from the mansion into the cave.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

When I'm writing about specific locations in Gotham City, I'll give you both my name for it and, in (), the name DC Comics gave it.

 

The Sarah Essen Gordon Memorial Drawbridge (Sprang Bridge) carries the Eastside Expressway (the Aparo Expressway) over the North River (the Sprang River). Due to financial problems, the New Jersey Department of Transportation, which owns the bridge and expressway, decided that only two people would operate the bridge.

 

They are Yvonne Thompson and her daughter, Yvette. In order to make things easier for them, a mage, hired by the state, created a portal linking their one bedroom apartment and the bridge operator's booth.

 

Yvonne resembles Pam Grier in Jackie Brown while Yvette resembles Halle Berry in Die Another Day. After graduating high school, Yvonne, who is 56, spent two years as a flight attendant before going to a hospital nursing school for two years. While a nurse, she was raped and shocked everyone by deciding to have the baby and raise her.

 

Due to her parents' situation, Yvonne and her daughter, Yvette, had to share a bedroom. When Yvette was four, Yvonne was laid off and found a job driving a bus for the Gotham Transit Authority. Yvette, upon graduating high school, entered Gotham City Community College and became a nurse, too.

 

She was laid off when she was 24, and, like her mother, became a bus driver. in 2003, both were laid off and got jobs with the state highway department. Eventually, they were assigned to be the drawbridge operators. Although no longer employed as nurses, both women keep up their studies and still have their nursing licenses.

 

The bridge itself is closed to river traffic during morning and evening rush hours. If a ship needs the bridge opened between midnight and 6 am, the harbormaster must be notified 24 hours in advance. The harbormaster then notifies Yvette and Yvonne.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

Let's consider the film Batman Begins. I think it would be reasonable for Lucius Fox to have figured out that Bruce is Batman. He'd use that knowledge to help Bruce in his crusade and, possibly, get his genius niece, Bethany, a job with Batman as his version of the James Bond character Q.

 

A year has passed since that movie. Dick Grayson joins the team as the first Robin. He has, however, an attitude problem. Eight months later, Alfred's niece, Barbara joins as Batgirl. A computer expert and motorcycle racer with some training in martial arts, she's more focused than Dick.

 

As Dick, now fed up, leaves, 18 year old Kitty Pryde joins as Shadowcat. To use her own words, "I'm a teenage mutant ninja ghost."

 

The night that Batman is crippled, he's alone on hs mission against Joker because Batgirl and Shadowcat are after Riddler and Dick's gone.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Thoughts on the various Bat ideas I've had

 

The version of the Batcave in the version started above is the same as the one posted earlier, with one change. The gate to Doctor Arcane's house now goes to Jason Blood's.