I've seen DVK's question How many people who weren't superheroes did Batman reveal his identity to?, and I recently began playing the Arkham City game, and the two combined made me wonder just how many people have independently determined that Bruce Wayne is Batman.
Because I know this is a potentially gigantic list, given how many different adaptations of the Batman story there have been over the years, I'm including a few some restrictions:
- Comics only. No video games, television shows, or movies. No restriction on eras, so if somebody figured it out in the Golden Age and the knowledge was retconned out of their brain, they still count.
- Main continuity (of the era) only. "What If?" sort of storylines, Elseworlds for example, don't count. To clarify, I'm trying to discount offshoot continuities that get set up when a writer has a neat idea, but DC doesn't want to screw up the main titles. I don't want to limit by time period; anything as far back as the Golden Age is fine by me, as long as it fits the other criteria and even if the story in question is no longer canon
- They can't have used super powers to figure it out, other than super intelligence; powers of deduction only. So if Superman uses his x-ray vision to peek through Batman's cowl, he doesn't count. Likewise with J'onn J'onzz reads Batman's mind
- They must have survived at least to the end of the storyline in which they find it out. So a one-off villain who gets killed by the end of the issue (a surprisingly frequent occurrence in the Golden Age), doesn't count
- They must be named characters. I'm mostly adding this to prevent answers like "Ra's al Ghul figured it out, so he probably told the entire League of Assassins." That may be true, but it's not really helpful
To reiterate, I'm not interested in people who Batman told. I'm only interested in people who managed to figure it out on their own, like Tim Drake.
Answer
Even given the filters, there were plenty of folks who were able to deduce who Batman is by brainpower, proximity or exposure. Their advantage was not just their brain but either predispositions or occupations which lent themselves to isolate who Batman could be and the time to follow up on it.
People who KNOW:
Bane: Bane is revealed to know who Batman is simply by watching him move. He recognized the kinesthetic profile of Bruce Wayne as Batman from a rooftop during a surveillance mission. It was kinda creepy.
R'as Al Ghul: Immortal, time on his hands, super-intelligent and obsessed with having Batman (Bruce Wayne) succeed him. He enters the scene in Batman #232 already knowing. He appears to have always known or been reasonably sure who Batman was. He, however, isn't interested in revealing the Batman persona.
The Riddler: Riddles are his thing and "Who is Batman" is just one more. He doesn't reveal it because frankly his life would be empty without Batman. He also told HUSH. Rumor has it he lost the information during a coma but will likely deduce it again during a moment of boredom.
Owlman: A parallel reality version of Batman. In his reality Bruce Wayne was his brother so he didn't have to work too hard to make the leap to Batman's identity.
Deathstroke: Figured it out by deducing who Robin/Nightwing was and working backward.
Amanda Waller: Brilliant operational leader of the Suicide Squad, let Batman in on HER knowledge when she wanted him to work for her. She likely deduced it the way any good spy network would have, the process of elimination. The two don't get along.
Maxwell Lord: Pathological but brainy, Max also had access to the spy technology of Brother Eye which helped him confirm what he already suspected.
Silver St. Cloud: Spent so much time up-close-and-personal with Bruce's face she eventually recognized the true owner of Batman's jaw...
Lady Shiva: Nightwing commented that she was on the list of enemies who definitely knew, in a conversation he had with Robin III (Tim Drake) in “Gotham Knights #8.” Given her fighting mastery, I suspect she knew the same way Bane did, instinctively from watching Wayne from a distance. It is later confirmed when Bruce Wayne goes to her for retraining after his back problem.
Lex Luthor: In the so smart he's dumb category, Lex only recently discovers who Batman is when Dick Grayson's identity is outed. I guess knowing who Batman was just wasn't on his list of things to do while obsessing over Superman...
People who probably KNOW but it's not been revealed:
Police Commissioner Gordon: Really? This guy has been having conversations with Batman for YEARS on a rooftop by a bat-spotlight. During No Man's Land, Batman attempts to regain Gordon's trust by revealing himself, but Gordon refuses to look at him, stating that if he wanted to know Batman's identity, he could have figured it out years ago, and even cryptically saying, "And for all you know, maybe I did." He didn't get to be the top cop of Gotham by being a complete idiot. Let's call it plausible deniability and move on, shall we?
The Joker: Despite his sociopathic tendencies disguised as madness, the Joker has been depicted as a genius, with a mind so convoluted, yet brilliant, he defies even the Martian Manhunter's telepathy. While it has never been officially outed, it is safe to assume HE of all people knows who Batman is.
Hugo Strange: A premier behavioral psychologist in the DC Universe, he has always hinted he knows who Batman is but never manages to be around when and if Batman is revealed. It would be a total failure of the writing if he DIDN'T.
Man-Bat: Dr. Robert Kirkland Langstrom has been to the Batcave more than once by following bats there. Unfortunately, his memory is fragmented when he is in his mutated form so the memory is probably there but unable to be accessed directly.
Tsunetomo: Dead. One of Bruce Wayne’s martial arts teachers. Recognized Batman’s fighting style in “Detective Comics Annual #3″.
People who KNEW but don't now...
Chronos I: David Clinton. Found out the secret IDs of Batman and several other JLAers a long time ago, according to an “Identity Crisis” retcon. Then he got mindwiped by Zatanna. Then Despero recently helped him rediscover those memories in “JLA: Crisis of Conscience.” Then they got wiped out (or suppressed, or whatever) by Zatanna all over again . . . until further notice?
Felix Faust: Found out the secret IDs of Batman and several other JLAers a long time ago, according to an “Identity Crisis” retcon. Then he got mindwiped by Zatanna. Then Despero recently helped him rediscover those memories in “JLA: Crisis of Conscience.”
The Floronic Man: Jason Woodrue. Found out the secret IDs of Batman and several other JLAers a long time ago, according to an “Identity Crisis” retcon. Then he got mindwiped by Zatanna. Then Despero recently helped him rediscover those memories in “JLA: Crisis of Conscience.”
Matter Master: Mark Mandrill. Found out the secret IDs of Batman and several other JLAers a long time ago, according to an “Identity Crisis” retcon. Then he got mindwiped by Zatanna. Then Despero recently helped him rediscover those memories in “JLA: Crisis of Conscience.”
The Wizard: William I. Zard. Found out the secret IDs of Batman and several other JLAers a long time ago, according to an “Identity Crisis” retcon. Then he got mindwiped by Zatanna. Then Despero recently helped him rediscover those memories in “JLA: Crisis of Conscience.”
Henri Ducard: One of Bruce’s old teachers; he deduced the secret in the “Blind Justice” story arc, which has allegedly been erased from continuity, which would certainly explain why I don’t remember ever seeing Ducard make any use of this knowledge in any subsequent appearances in other comics.
The Wrath: A Pre-Crisis Anti-Batman, a villain whose parents were killed by a young police officer, and decides to embark upon a path of revenge. When he and Batman meet, the two engage in a battle of wits and he learns of Batman's identity. Believed to be deceased. This is later retconned out of existence.
Prometheus I: A dark mirror of Batman, this supervillain's origin mirrors the Dark Knight's. Parents killed, world traveled, skills and technology acquired, he becomes what Batman could have, a super-genius mad at the world. Having defeated Batman in hand-to-hand combat and taken down the Justice League once or twice using information he acquired from Batman's computer, he ended his formidable career in a psychic loop because he was deemed "unable to be effectively incarcerated' for the rest of life in Blackgate Prison. He learned all of the Justice League's powers, identities and weaknesses (from Batman, no less).
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