It occurred to me that in the past, when the Batman backstory has been explored, it mainly focuses on Bruce's relationship with his father, Thomas...but much less has delved into his relationship with his mother. With his father being out of the house so often as a doctor and a wealthy, busy industrialist building a fortune, Bruce would have actually spent MUCH more time with his mother than his father.
In an effort to flesh out this relationship, here is what I've worked out so far:
The whole story would be told in flashback as Batman, as an adult, while investigating a different crime, finds the clues that reveal this story, which eventually leads him to an old and dying man, with a secret about his past.
We begin by establishing long before one fateful night in Crime Alley, that although to all outside appearance the Wayne family was one big happy family, in reality, with the father away from the house so often, his mother feels neglected and lonely. At one of their many social events Martha is, once again, left alone when Thomas gets called away on business. On one of these occasions, Martha meets Miles, a charismatic acquaintance of Thomas. Miles deals with international business. Importing and exporting.
Due to the international nature of his business dealings, his schedule is sporadic. He is regularly free during the daytime...a time when Martha gets particularly lonesome. Her charity work lends itself to activities during the day and Miles begins to help her in these charitable endeavors. They start spending more and more time together. They begin to get closer. They begin to spend time socially, in addition to the charity work.
He periodically joins her on horse rides around stately Wayne Manor. She eventually begins sneaking away during her rides around the grounds and uses a cave on the grounds of Wayne Manor as the location of a tryst. This same cave would eventually be used by Bruce as the Batcave.
Alfred, in doing her laundry, notices stains on her shoes and clothes that give away the location of where on the grounds that she had been hiding away. But he does not feel that he can betray her trust by informing Thomas, or even discussing this with her.
We learn that Miles turns out to have some affiliation with crime or the mob. Through items that he accidentally leaves in the cave, Martha begins to find clues to this effect and begins investigating him. She starts taking more of an interest in his public dealings (possibly a crooked land deal) and how they relate to this illegal dealings. Possibly even the corruption of an up and coming politician. Maybe doing some dirty work for a political campaign.
During all of this, Donny, another of the mob lieutenants has noticed Mile and Martha growing closer. He keeps this information in his back pocket to use as leverage later.
Once the evidence begins to mount, they argue and she tells him she never wants to see him. She arrives home. Thomas does not even notice that she is upset. This is a testament to either Martha's composure, Thomas' neglect or both. Later, after seeing Thomas leave for work, she gets upset and runs off to her cave. Alfred sees how upset she is and follows. She tells Alfred what is happening. With the help of Alfred, she gets enough evidence to end his criminal activities. Alfred also convinces her to talk to Thomas.
She admits the whole thing (the affair and her lover's criminal activities) to Thomas and knowing that they will have to admit her affair in doing so, they both agree to go to the police together to put an end to the criminal activities. They plan on going first thing on Monday morning so they can speak with the Police Commissioner.
Miles is forced to reveal to his Mob Boss, that he does not have the items left in the Batcave. Miles tells them that the items are somewhere he can't go to without risking himself, but assures them that it somewhere that is safe because the people that could find it would risk themselves even more if they revealed it. Donny has noticed how shaken Miles has been. Donny realizes that Martha is the only one who could be harmed by admitting their relationship, so she must have the items, and she could use it as evidence to bring down their crime empire. Donny sends his thugs to silence Martha.
Donny's thugs are sent out to follow Martha. Miles discovers what Donny has done, they fight and Miles kills him. But the thugs are already scouring the city looking for the Martha Wayne.
Miles races to Wayne Manor to warn Martha. Alfred tells him she is not here and he is not welcome there. He pleads with him to tell him where Martha and the family are. He convinces Alfred that he MUST act immediately. They can't go to the Police without revealing their affair. Alfred agrees and tells them that they are seeing the Mask of Zorro at the movies.
Seeing them take the shortcut through Crime Alley, Donny's thugs use the opportunity to silence her. Thomas tries to save her, but gets shot and killed first. Then the thugs kill her, too. Miles arrives too late to save the parents, but his footsteps and shouting scared off the thugs, as they leave Bruce alone. Miles turns the corner into the alley and sees young Bruce in tears slumped over his parent's bodies. Knowing their blood is on his hands, he grieves for his lost love and feels responsible for her death. Miles flees from Gotham City forever.
Bruce, not knowing any of this grows up thinking that the murder was random. And at each stage in the story as Martha's situation changes, her interactions with Bruce lead to the foundation for his integrity.
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For the rest of this on-going developing project, click here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bHVBFTNLab5z6zrrSa7uGvq5XDLCV677aXukLcN4bK4/edit
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