5 Batman “Facts” That Aren’t Actually True

While there are plenty of popular superheroes, there may be none more popular than Batman. The Dark Knight has been thrilling readers for more than 80 years as he fights villains and protects Gotham City on the pages of DC Comics and beyond. His origin story and his history are things of legend, so much so that you don’t have to be a comics expert to know some major facts about the Caped Crusader. Everyone knows Batman, that’s just how it is.

But just because everyone knows Batman doesn’t mean that they are right about Batman. While there are a lot of facts and trivia out there about Batman (including some that are hard to believe), there are also things that fans have accepted as facts that aren’t exactly true. From origins of different characters in Batman’s world to the truth about Batman’s no killing rule, here are 5 Batman “facts” that aren’t actually true.

5) Batman Can Do Anything (And Beat Anyone) With Enough Prep Time

There’s no denying that Batman is a very skilled and intelligent hero who, more often than not, bests his opponents and solves every crime and puzzle that comes his way — they do call him the World’s Greatest Detective, after all. Because of this, you’d be forgiven for believing the rampant idea that Batman can do anything with enough prep time, but it’s simply not true. If it were truly the case that Batman could handle anything if only he had the right amount of time to prepare, DC wouldn’t need any other heroes and, more than that, his stories would be boring. Who wants to read about a hero who is always going to win?

What’s more accurate about Batman is that, while he’s always preparing for just about any type of threat one can imagine, he’s often confronted with things he didn’t expect. In a more recent run of Batman, his back up Failsafe — one of his “preps” — ended up going rogue and Batman didn’t really have a plan right away for how to stop it. Batman has also repeatedly been defeated by the Joker, Bane, and other villains and while the hero always manages to come back in the end, he’s not infallible. More accurate here would be to say that Batman might be the best at thinking on his feet — which is a pretty important thing for a hero to be able to do.

4) Batman Doesn’t Kill

The idea that Batman doesn’t kill has been on that has been very prevalent in comics for some time — and has led to plenty of debates among fans as to whether he should or not — but the idea that Batman doesn’t kill or hasn’t killed is actually a myth. Batman has actually killed before. His first appearance in Detective Comics #27 actually saw him kill a villain, but it was an editorial mandate after Batman #1 that actually shifted things for the hero’s more violent ways. Following the brutal hanging death of a foe (from Batman’s plane, no less), DC editorial decided that Batman would be against killing going forward.

However, even with the editorial mandate that changed everything for Batman, he has still killed — or at least it’s been suggested that he’s killed. One notable instance of this was in Batman #420. That issue saw Batman lock KGBeast in the sewers and leave him to starve to death. It was later retconned, but for that one issue it seemed pretty clear that Batman may not be as opposed to killing as you’d expect.

3) Bruce Wayne Adopted Dick Grayson And Then Made Him Robin

While all comics characters — particularly Batman characters — have seen their origin stories shifted and changed over the years, there’s one “myth” about Bruce Wayne that endures and it involves Dick Grayson’s origin as Robin. The story that most people seem to hang onto is the idea that Bruce adopted Dick because they both were orphans and he wanted to give young Dick a better life and Dick becoming Robin came later. However, in the original story, Bruce began training Dick well before the idea of Dick becoming his son was even a thing. in Detective Comics #38, Bruce trained Dick as Robin to help catch Boss Zucco and, after, Dick was supposed to go back to his life as it was.

However, that doesn’t work out. Dick makes his case for sticking around as Robin and that’s that. In fact, Bruce doesn’t actually gain legal custody for quite some time, until the origin story is tweaked a bit in Batman #213. Now, many years and many origin tweaks later, it’s hard to imagine Bruce not adopting Dick, but the idea that it was always the case is just wrong.

2) Bruce Wayne is an Only Child

We usually think of Bruce Wayne as an only child, but that’s actually not the case. Bruce Wayne actually has an older brother, Thomas Wayne Jr. However, even Bruce wasn’t aware of his older brother for some time. It turns out that Young Thomas suffered a head injury after being struck by a car and the child suffered severe and permanent brain damage. The Waynes had Thomas institutionalized and while they planned to tell Bruce about his brother, they didn’t get a chance to do so before they themselves were killed.

Bruce would eventually find out about his brother when he became the assassin the Boomerang Killer. Generally, however, Thomas Wayne, Jr. has been relegated to a different continuity, though the character does pop up from time to time and is usually later retconned again but one thing holds across every appearance: Thomas Weayne, Jr. has a pretty bleak existence, sometimes being portrayed as Owlman and part of the Court of Owls as well.

1) Alfred Raised Bruce From Childhood

Alfred Pennyworth may be one of the most beloved characters in comics, appreciated for his role as Bruce Wayne’s surrogate father as well as his unwavering support system for his efforts as Batman. However, the idea that Alfred raised Bruce from childhood is actually false — and has its roots in television. Alfred actually wasn’t introduced until Bruce was already operating as Batman — in fact, Alfred didn’t appear until Batman #16 in 1943. Alfred also wasn’t always the wide, multi-talented butler we’re used to, either. He was actually not especially great at his job at first and actually discovered Bruce’s Batman identity by accident. The idea that Alfred raised Bruce actually was first introduced in an episode of Super Friends and became comic book canon in the 1980s.

So, who actually raised Bruce in the original origin story? That job actually fell to Bruce’s uncle, Philip Wayne, brother of Thomas Wayne. He became Bruce’s legal guardian following the death of his parents. Also interesting is the fact that Philip was often not around because he had to travel for work so the care for Bruce fell to another member of the household — Philip’s housekeeper Mrs. Chilton, who just so happened to be Joe Chill’s mother.

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