What kind of personality should Bruce Wayne have?

[Guts/Batman]

For awhile now we haven't seen much of Bruce Wayne, just Batman.

Hopefully after the crisis we will se a Bruce Wayne with an actual personality not "billionaire playboy".

So I pose this question to my fellow CBRers: What kind of personality should Bruce Wayne have?

[Converge]

He should be a dick. Or an asshole.

[Alan2099]

Can we PLEASE move away from heroes that aren't the slightest bit likeable?

If anything, make him caring, but a bit harsh and distant. If he was a total jerk all the time, I can't see any reason for him to even bother trying to protect the city. Make him into a person that has some issues, but is trying to get past them and do the right thing.

Move his frocus from protecting "his city" to trying to make the city a better place.

They used to say in the comics that Batman was a symbol of fear for the criminals, but a symbol of hope for the innocent. let's see a bit more of the human side of Batman.

[Mia]

When you say Bruce Wayne, do you mean his public or private persona?

When I think of Bruce Wayne I think of Pierce Brosnan in the Thomas Crown Affair. Watch it and you'll see what I mean.

[Guts/Batman]

Hmmmmmmmm...

How about both private and public?

[Mia]

Public:

A cheerful (not dumb) outgoing man, who gives off the an air of entitlement. He acts as if the world is his own personal playground and he can do as he wants to. Very charming, erudit and urbane. Known to live very fast and likes to be challenged. Likes and commands the best. A bit of a womanizer who has access to many women....but commits to none of them. Knows what he wants and demands it (nicely). Hides his smarts and intelligence behind a cavalier air. Knows fully well how to 'keep his hands clean' and let others do his dirty work.





Private: Thoughtful, introspective and quiet. Likes to feed both his mind and his body. Fitness/health nut who keeps his mind and body fit. When at home he can be found working on his "Bat" computer. Or stratagesing the next corporate take over or how to grow and maintain his business.

[metalhead_dave743]

I think the Batman Begins Bruce and DCAU Bruce do it best.

[Alan2099]

I think the Batman Begins Bruce and DCAU Bruce do it best.
I can agree with that. Slight preference to the animated Bruce in the brown suit, though.

[Converge]

Make him into a person that has some issues, but is trying to get past them and do the right thing.

That's what he is now.

Since when does Batman not try to do the right thing?

[Alan2099]

I'd say since about the famed Bat-Quake.

[Converge]

I'd say since about the famed Bat-Quake.

Name the instances where he wasn't trying to do the right thing. I never read the "Bat-Quake."

[1HELLBOY]

Name the instances where he wasn't trying to do the right thing. I never read the "Bat-Quake."


I think he might be talking about No Man's Land.

[megladon8]

I thought he was done very well in Batman: TAS.

A friendly man who doesn't rub it in peoples' faces that he is rich, and he has a naiiveness about him that makes him seem innocent and almost always in a slight state on confusion as to what's going on.

Also, he came across as very timid and caring.

[Sean Whitmore]

I liked the way Dixon and Moench handled Bruce, back when he actually...y'know, APPEARED once in a while. Extremely cheerful and naive, like a big kid. Seemingly ignorant about business matters, but quick to action whenever he sees injustice or inequality. Extremely charming around the women he uses as camaflage, but slightly goofy around women he actually likes.


SEAN

[megladon8]

I liked the way Dixon and Moench handled Bruce, back when he actually...y'know, APPEARED once in a while. Extremely cheerful and naive, like a big kid. Seemingly ignorant about business matters, but quick to action whenever he sees injustice or inequality. Extremely charming around the women he uses as camaflage, but slightly goofy around women he actually likes.


SEAN

Yes! What I was trying to say, except yours sounded less stupid than mine!

[Converge]

I think he might be talking about No Man's Land.

I knew what he was talking about.

PS: If there's one thing I do NOT want Batman to be, it's naive.

[Guts/Batman]

I knew what he was talking about.

PS: If there's one thing I do NOT want Batman to be, it's naive.

To me, Batman is a totally different persona.

Bruce Wayne being hopeful would be a nice contrast to Batman's distrusting nature, IMO.

[Converge]

To me, Batman is a totally different persona.


To me, they are the same person.

Because, well, they are.

[FearsomeFlyingGlove]

IMHO, Bruce Wayne in the comics should be played somewhat like Michael Keaton in Batman/Batman Returns, with just a dash of Tony Stark and a modicum of either Reed Richards or McGyver.



However, the way he's actually going, he will probably end up acting like Rorschach.

[lonewolf23k]

My take on Bruce Wayne's public persona is that he'd appear to be a very emotionally intense individual: a free-wheeling playboy, an extreme sports enthusiast, a workaholic businessman and a very generous philantropist, all rolled into one.

Of course, while most would believe these mere personality quirks, they would be carefully-crafted aspects intended to serve more then just as a disguise: As a philantropist, he can help the helpless very effectively; as a businessman, he can also help improve the state of Gotham and reduce crime; the extreme sports would let him explain his occasional wounds (some explained by "slumming"), and the playboy aspect lets Bruce "work out sexual tensions" which might otherwise distract him in his work as Batman.

[Arkham Resident]

hope he'll have a very public personality.

To hide further his secret identity as Batman. I think too many people
already know he's Bruce Wayne.

[Ruthless_Pryde]

When you say Bruce Wayne, do you mean his public or private persona?

When I think of Bruce Wayne I think of Pierce Brosnan in the Thomas Crown Affair. Watch it and you'll see what I mean.


I have seen the movie and have it on DVD and I agree totally!!.

Thomas Crown was Batmanish-- he was a billionare with a public profile but had an edge to him. He wasn't just some idiot with money but he was always onestep ahead of everybody when he needed to be and was able to manpulate things into always going his way.

Personally the best Bruce Wayne I have seen was sfter fugitive in Gotham nights. you got a chance to see him do charity work, take poor people out to lunch, flirt with the ladies, send the Bludhaven PD 1000 bullet proff vests, drop by and check on Lucious after his heartattack and have dinner with his family. He did it all. Also there was an issue of Gotham Knights when Hugo Strange came back. Dick and Tim were walking around in the office and talking about what would happen if someone found out that Bruce Wayne was Batman and he just shows up and lets them know that he'll be there in a few minutes. that was cool b/c Batman was always there even as Bruce Wayne. ( if that makes since)