Family

"Batman Family," is the informal name for a group of characters closely associated with Batman, generally costumed vigilantes who either have been trained by Batman or operate in Gotham City with his tacit approval. The group functions like a tactical unit of similarly-minded superheroes who operate in and around Gotham, with Batman as its team leader and, in many cases, its dispatch. Various members of the group are usually seen interacting with one another and assisting in each other's cases, even within their respective series. Although some members occasionally resent Batman’s intrusion into their lives, all respect him as a legend within the superhero community and rarely dare to challenge his authority. Most of the members also have a strong rapport with the Dark Knight due to their long and close relationships with him over the years, and consider him a close friend and ally, and acknowledge that he most likely shares that sentiment, no matter how averse he is to actually showing it. In a 2002 storyline in which Bruce Wayne is accused of murder, Batman's friends gather to prove his innocence. It has also been implied through Batman's history that this network serves as a surrogate family for Batman and keeps him from slipping too far into his ruthless vigilante persona.

Current members

Batman

(Bruce Wayne) – The "patriarch" of the team, young Bruce Wayne witnessed the brutal murder of his parents as a child, and used this trauma and his vast personal wealth to travel the world and acquire the skills needed to wage his war on crime. Recently, Wayne revealed to the public that he had been secretly funding Batman's activities for years (stopping short of admitting that he is Batman) and would use a new corporation, Batman Incorporated, to take Batman and his mission around the world. In the DC Universe, Batman is seen as something of an outlaw, although holds a high reputation with many people due to his status as a member of the Justice League.

Nightwing

(Dick Grayson) – An orphaned child acrobat who originally served as Batman’s first sidekick, Robin, and became Bruce Wayne's ward and later adopted son. As an adult, he took up the identity of Nightwing, and served as protector of Blüdhaven, Gotham's ugly sister city to the south. During an extended absence of Bruce's, Dick temporarily served as Batman. Grayson has since returned to the identity of Nightwing.

Alfred Pennyworth

– The Wayne family butler and father figure to the rest of the Wayne family. Alfred raised Bruce Wayne after his parents were killed.

Red Robin

(Tim Drake) – The adopted son of Bruce Wayne and heir to Wayne Enterprises & Wayne Manor. Another teenage crime fighter whose skill drove him to want to assist Batman after the death of Jason Todd. After his family is threatened and moved into witness protection, he is adopted as Bruce Wayne's son and becomes the hero known as "Red Robin." Tim later leaves Gotham, and leads a new team called the "Teen Titans."

Batgirl

(Barbara Gordon) – The daughter of Gotham police commissioner James Gordon, Barbara began operating as Batgirl soon after the first appearance of Robin. After she was left paraplegic by the Joker, she became Oracle, the information broker to the DC Universe, and founded a covert team of female operatives called the Birds of Prey. Following a miraculous and as-yet unknown method of recovery, Barbara began to serve as Batgirl once again.

Red Hood

(Jason Todd) – A young street orphan that Batman caught trying to steal the tires off the batmobile. Batman recognized some skills in the kid and took him in as the second Robin. He later gets murdered by The Joker. Six months later, he was resurrected in a damaged state before Talia al Ghul tossed him in the Lazarus Pit which healed him completely. When Jason learns that Batman never avenged his death by killing Joker, he became Red Hood, his murderer's former alias and became at odds with the Batman Family. In The New 52, he makes an uneasy truce with the Bat-Family and wears the Bat-Signal on his costume. He forms a team with Starfire and Arsenal to investigate a group called "The Untitled".

Ace the Bat-Hound

 – In 1955, a few months after the Superman mythos saw the introduction of Krypto, the Batman mythos saw the introduction of Ace the Bat-hound, a German shepherd with a black mask covering most of his head, who helped Batman and Robin on various cases. Ace later reappeared as Bruce's guard dog and companion in the television series Batman Beyond (in which Ace is portrayed as a black Danish hound), the 2005 television series Krypto the Superdog. He also makes appearances as Batman's crime-fighting partner on TV show Batman: The Brave and the Bold. The modern comic book version of Ace depicts him as a companion to Harold, rarely playing a role in the plotlines. In the new Batman and Robin, Bruce adopts a Great Dane for Damian. He names the dog Titus. Damian, at first doesn't like the dog, but the two eventually bond. Bruce and Damian call the dog Ace as a nickname. It is unknown if Titus will become Ace the Bat-Hound.

Batwoman

(Kate Kane) – A wealthy heiress and disgraced former West Point cadet who became a superhero, Kate Kane appeared after the timeline-altering Infinite Crisis in the pages of 52. for several months. For a portion of 52, she fought alongside Nightwing. In the wake of Bruce Wayne's apparent death, Batwoman was the feature character in Detective Comics for a short time, which prompted the launch of a Batwoman solo series with the onset of The New 52.

Catwoman

(Selina Kyle) – One of Batman's early adversaries. In later years, she becomes his frequent love interest and defender of Gotham City's East End. One year after the events of Infinite Crisis, she retired (allowing Holly Robinson to take the mantle of Catwoman) and gave birth to a baby girl named Helena. Batman calls her out of retirement to infiltrate an Amazon sect. Following a series of kidnappings of her baby, Catwoman gives her daughter up for adoption. In The New 52, Selina is a 23 year-old thief who is in a sexual relationship with Batman.

The Huntress

(Helena Bertinelli) – The daughter of a slain mafia family. She rejected crime and took to patrolling Gotham as an antiheroine. She serves as an agent of Oracle, one of the Birds of Prey. While her relationship with Batman has been tenuous, she recently earned his respect. Following the Flashpoint event that altered DC Comics continuity, she has been revealed as the daughter of an alternate universe version of Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Selina Kyle (Catwoman).

The Birds of Prey

A covert group of heroes formed by Oracle that largely fight crime in Gotham. Prominent members have included Black Canary, Huntress, Lady Blackhawk, Savant, and Creote. Following "Flashpoint", the team has been rebooted with Black Canary as the leader, Starling, Poison Ivy, Katana, and Stix, with Batgirl assisting the team on occasions.

The Outsiders

Becoming fed up with the politics and practices of the Justice League, Batman formed the Outsiders to have his own unit to perform on his terms. Drifting through various incarnations, Batman restarted the team and operated as its leader until his disappearance in Final Crisis. In the wake of his death, he charged Alfred with assembling and maintaining a new team of Outsiders in an attempt to replace all of the individual skills of Batman through the various members. In Batman Incorporated, Batman forms a new Outsiders team, which acts as a black-ops wing of Batman Inc. Freight Train, Looker, Metamorpho, Katana, and Halo rejoin the team and Red Robin becomes the new leader. The new team didn't last long since all of the members except for Red Robin were caught in an explosion that Lord Death Man set off in Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes. The team turned up alive in the first issue of The New 52 Batman Incorporated series.

Hawkfire

(Bette Kane) – A perky, blonde teenager and professional tennis player, Bette Kane became the original Batgirl to pursue the original Robin, Dick Grayson. Now known as Flamebird, Bette is pursuing her dream to become her cousin, Kate Kane's apprentice. In The New 52, Bette has become Batwoman's sidekick and goes by Plebe and wears a grey jumpsuit after Kate burns her Flamebird costume. She and Batwoman get into a fight and she goes out on patrol alone as Flamebird, but ends up injured in a gang fight. After she is released from the hospital, she acquires a new high-tech costume with actual pyrotechnic accents and becomes Hawkfire. She is now currently trying to get Kate to reconcile with her uncle, Kate's father.

Batman Inc.

Black Bat

(Cassandra Cain/Wayne) – A martial arts prodigy and daughter of the assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva. Batman and Oracle trained her as the next Batgirl. After abandoning this role, she briefly became leader of the League of Assassins. It is revealed later that the mercenary Deathstroke is responsible for brainwashing and influencing Cassandra's villainous activities. She has since been legally adopted by Bruce Wayne as his daughter. After the event of Batman: RIP, Cassandra ceased being Batgirl due to apparent frustration and passed her Batgirl identity to her close friend Stephanie Brown. After Bruce Wayne returns, it is revealed that Cassandra's disillusionment was a ruse, and that she had willingly handed over her Batgirl mantle to Stephanie under her mentor's request she do so in the event of his death or disappearance, so that her friend could grow as a hero even without Bruce's involvement. Tim Drake is revealed to have been in regular contact with her. She now operates as Black Bat, Batman Inc.'s representative in Hong Kong. She returned to Gotham during the events of Batman: Gates of Gotham to help stop the Architect from destroying the city.

Batman

(Jiro Osamu) – formerly operated as the second Mr. Unknown, now serves as the Batman of Tokyo as a member of Batman Inc.

Nightrunner

(Bilal Asselah) – Batman Inc.'s representative in Paris, a Sunni Muslim and expert freerunner.

El Gaucho

(Santiago Vargas) – renowned crime fighter in Argentina who was inspired by Batman, former member of Club of Heroes, now operates as a member of Batman Inc.

The Hood

(George Cross) – Maverick Special Government Agent of England, now operates as a member of Batman Inc.

The Dark Ranger

(Johnny Riley) –Following the death of the first Ranger at the hands of Wingman, his former sidekick, the Scout, has taken up the mantle as the new Dark Ranger. Now operates as a member of Batman Inc. He appears to be of Aboriginal descent.

Batwing

 (David Zavimbe) – The Batman Incorporated representative from Tinasha in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A former child soldier, he currently operates as a police officer in his civilian identity.

Batwing II

(Luke Fox) the new Batwing and son of Batman associate Lucius Fox

Superman

(Kal-El) – Teamed up with Batman on multiple occasions, as "The World's Finest Duo".

Status unclear

Misfit

 (Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe), Misfit debuts as a shadowy figure, wearing a homemade variation of Barbara Gordon's classic Batgirl costume, accurate enough to be mistaken for the original article at night. The mystery girl agrees to retire her Batgirl identity, but not to abandon her heroic activities.

Bat-Mite

Bat-Mite, a reality altering imp from the 5th dimension Bat-Mite made many early appearances as Batman's "biggest fan." Current continuity has treated him as an apparition of Batman's imagination, most recently during Batman's psychological breakdown at the hands of the Black Glove organization. During this, Bat-Mite described imagination as the 5th dimension and described himself as, "the last fading echo of the voice of reason."

Talia al Ghul

Talia al Ghul is the daughter of Ra's al Ghul and is the mother of Damian. After learning of her son's intention to remain Robin, as well as his new devotion to his father's family, Talia has disowned Damian in favor of another son she will create, and put a bounty on his head as well as declared a personal war on Bruce Wayne. The clone eventually kills Damian, which Talia did not anticipates, and leading the grieving Batman vindictive towards her and the clone.

The Question

The Question (Renee Montoya) - Detective Montoya was added into the comics in the 1990s as a character adapted from the animated series. Renee's sexual orientation was unwillingly outed by Two-Face. She later quit the GCPD when her partner Crispus Allen was murdered and the man responsible got off. Following this she became a main character in the 52 limited series. Renee, the second person known as the Question, occasionally fights crime with the current Batwoman, who is her on-again-off-again lover. During the Countdown, Oracle solicits the assistance of the Question and Batwoman. Although they promptly refuse "Bird" status, they have on at least two occasions worked under the orders of Oracle.

Holly Robinson

Holly Robinson is a former prostitute trained by Wildcat and her friend Selina Kyle, to briefly become the new Catwoman following the birth of Selina's daughter. In her civilian identity, retaining the skills she learned in training to become Catwoman, she was a main character in Countdown. The series saw her receive extensive Amazonian training as part of Granny Goodness' scheme to acquire new Female Furies. In the series' denouement, she and former supervillain friend Harley Quinn return to civilian life in Gotham, together.

Man-Bat

Man-Bat (Kirk Langstrom) alternates from being able to control his monstrous persona to giving in to its instincts. When he does control it, he uses the Man-Bat for good. He was recently seen as part of the Network fighting crime.

Warlock's Daughter

Warlock's Daughter (Darla Aquista aka Laura Fell) is the daughter of a Gotham Mob Boss. When she dies in a brutal Gotham Gang War, Henry Aquista, her father, travels the world with his daughter's corpse, looking for a way to bring her back to life, and eventually comes back to Johnny Warlock, who he finds overseas. Johnny trades Henry's life for Darla's. She returns to the U.S. and finds Tim Drake in Blüdhaven, but is trying to kill Robin under orders from Johnny. Eventually, she fights alongside Robin and saves his life during a battle with metacriminals in Blüdhaven before she's taken in by the Shadowpact.

Simon Dark

Simon Dark – A mysterious vigilante active in Gotham City, Simon Dark is a patchwork man constructed from the bodies of several dead children by a medical genius and a dark cult.

Jason Bard

Jason Bard – A private investigator hired to be Batman's daytime liaison in the "Face the Face" story line, but after the onset of "Batman R.I.P.," Batman had not contacted him in some time. He then briefly worked for Robin during the outbreak of a gang war in Gotham City.

Ragman

Ragman - A similarly vengeful vigilante hero operating in Gotham, Ragman wears a mystical suit of living rags that functions as a kind of golem.

Azrael

Azrael (Michael Washington Lane) - The "Third Ghost of Batman," one of a series of Batman impostors created by Dr. Simon Hurt, has recently become the new Azrael wearing a mystical suit of armor given to the original Batman by Talia al Ghul.

Proxy

Proxy (Wendy Harris) - The daughter of the villain the Calculator was paralyzed during an attack when she served with her brother on the Teen Titans. She acts as Oracle's sidekick and assists the new Batgirl; however, her connection to the rest of the Bat Family at large is unclear. Pre-Crisis, Wendy was the niece of detective Harvey Harris, a mentor to a young Bruce Wayne.

Catgirl

Catgirl (Kitrina Falcone), is Catwoman's sidekick. Kitrina is known for her abilities as an escape artist, first escaping from a locked box while tied up and thrown in the water by her uncle, Mario Falcone, and escaping from Catwoman while tied in an "inescapable knot."

Lynx

Lynx - Originally seen allied with Gotham's villains, Lynx would later be seen fighting alongside its heroes. After battling Red Robin, he comes to believe she's on his side.

The Spoiler

The Spoiler - The daughter of Cluemaster who became a teenage superhero. She was Tim Drake's love interest. When Tim retired, Stephanie became the new Robin but was fired for disobeying Batman's orders. She became Spoiler again and went after Black Mask. Black Mask captured and tortured her. He then killed her. Later, Dr. Leslie Thompkins faked her death and hid it from Batman and Robin until later on. She became Spoiler again and fights by Batman's side. When Cassandra Cain left the mantle of Batgirl, Stephanie becomes the new Batgirl. In The New 52, Barbara Gordon became Batgirl again and the status of Stephanie Brown is unknown. A storyboard for an issue of Batman Incorporated shows her becoming Spoiler again but the issue came out before Flashpoint, so Stephanie has yet to appear in The New 52.

Creeper

Creeper - A Gotham City television personality named Jack Ryder that lost his job and became a security guard which brought him into conflict with the mob. After he was almost killed, Ryder was saved by a scientist that made him into Creeper. Early in his career, he would team up with Batman and became a frequent ally, even joining the Outsiders. His status in The New 52 is unknown.

Deceased members

Azrael

Azrael (Jean-Paul Valley) – Azrael was a genetically modified assassin of the Order of St. Dumas who once replaced Bruce Wayne as Batman when he was badly injured by Bane. Valley defeated Bane, but grew increasingly paranoid and violent. Bruce was forced to reclaim the mantle of the Bat. Valley returned to the Azrael identity and attempted to regain Batman's trust. After many years, he managed to find his way back into Batman's graces and served as an "Agent of the Bat" until his death. Because his body was never found, speculation arose as to whether or not he had actually died, but that speculation was laid to rest when Valley's body was reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps during the Blackest Night.

Orpheus

Orpheus (Gavin King) – Orpheus was an agent of a shadowy organization that had outfitted him with crimefighting equipment and training. He became one of Batman's agents and posed as a crime boss, but was later killed by Black Mask.

Harold Allnut

Harold Allnut – Harold was an aide of Batman's who helped design, make, and repair many of his gadgets. Harold was later killed by Hush.

Batwoman

Batwoman (Kathy Kane) – Kathy Kane was Batman's ex-girlfriend, and along with Bette Kane, was one of the first female crime fighters in Batman franchise. However, she soon was assassinated by League of Assassins.

Deadman

Deadman (Boston Brand)– Boston Brand was murdered by a member of the League of Assassins and returned to life to ask Batman for help in solving his murder. When the organization behind it comes to light, the pair work together to topple the group.

Knight

Knight - The name of two of Batman's allies. The original was the sidekick of Shining Knight during WWII as Percival Sheldrake as Squire. He became the Knight as an adult and made his son, Cyrus the new Squire and team up with Batman. When Percy died, Cyrus became the new Knight and adopted Beryl Hutchinson as his new Squire. After he joined Batman Inc., he was killed by a henchmen of Leviathan.

Robin

Robin (Damian Wayne) – The biological son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul. Damian is raised largely by subordinates in Ra's al Ghul's League of Assassins and trained by his mother until he began living in Gotham with the Wayne Family. After Dick Grayson takes up the mantle of Batman, he chooses Damian to be the new Robin. Damian continues to operate as Robin, actively serving with his father upon his reemergence and Grayson's reemergence as Nightwing. In issue 8 of The New 52 "Batman Incorporated" series, Damian gets stabbed in the stomach with a sword by his clone, The Heretic and dies.

Former members

Harvey Dent

Harvey Dent was the former District Attorney, and previously known as the villain Two-Face. He was deemed cured after his facial reconstruction surgery by Dr. Thomas Elliot. Dent was requested by Batman to watch over Gotham City during his one year absence with Robin. Dent's style of justice has been more brutal than Batman's precision-style vigilantism. Upon Batman's return to Gotham, a series of grisly murders of several members of Batman's rogues gallery points to Dent. When confronted by Batman, Dent blows up his apartment. The inner turmoil created by the situation forced Two-Face out of his psyche once again, and he's seen re-scarring his face with a scalpel and acid.

Bane

Bane would come to be an ally to Batman following their initial encounter however in the events surrounding Infinite Crisis, he appeared to return to his evil ways. Yet, he proves to walk a fine line as observed in the Secret Six.

Edward Nygma

Edward Nygma aka the Riddler, after waking up from a coma, he has gone "legit" and formed a well-known detective agency that sometimes helps Batman. When Riddler gets caught in a bomb explosion, the explosion re-awakened his psychosis.

Deadshot

Deadshot (Floyd Lawton) entered Gotham as what appeared to be another crimefighter. However, he would try to kill Batman to be the city's only hero. He would return later in the Suicide Squad forced to help people but when he learned he had a daughter, he sought to wipe out gangs that threatened her home. As a member of the Secret Six, he often walks a line between cold-blooded killer and murderous saint.

Catman

Catman (Thomas Blake) started his career modeled after Catwoman and Batman as a foe to the latter. Catman would also work for the Shade to help destroy remnants of Green Arrow's life as a hero after his apparent death, seemingly giving up crime and retiring. As a member of the Secret Six, Blake seems motivated to do good but is haunted by his violent, animal-like nature.

Cheyenne Freemont

Cheyenne Freemont, fashion designer and daughter of two metahumans, she is reluctant to use her abilities as her parents were run out of town for using theirs. Briefly involved with Dick Grayson, she creates a costume similar to Nightwing's and uses her powers to help Nightwing save Jason Todd from the Pierce brothers before retiring as the female Nightwing.

Sasha Bordeaux

Sasha Bordeaux, Bruce Wayne's former bodyguard. Events forced her from his side that resulted in a long journey, arriving at the government organization known as Checkmate. After being turned into a partial OMAC cyborg, she now holds the title of Black Queen in the organization.

Onyx

Onyx (Onyx Adams) was Orpheus' bodyguard and protector. She took up his position as gang leader after Orpheus' death. A bond developed between Onyx and Cassandra Cain. After the events of Infinite Crisis, she was not seen in Gotham until Birds of Prey #114 in 2007, which reveals she has remained an active vigilante and a contact of Oracle.

Club of Heroes

Club of Heroes was an international group of heroes largely made up of those inspired by Batman (counting him among their number). They would later disband but would reunite when the occasion arose. Several of their number went on to join Batman Inc.

Manhunter

Manhunter is the name of three associates of Batman. Paul Kirk was a masked man during WWII that became a pawn for the Council when they genetically altered him into an assassin. When Kirk learned that the Council was using him and created clones of him as their soldiers, he joined with ninja master Asano Nitobe and Interpol agent Christine St. Clair to destroy the organization and kill his doubles. Kirk would add Batman to this group before his demise in his mission, the remaining trio continuing his work posthumously. An exception in this would be made for the clone Kirk DePaul. Mark Shaw was a human infiltrator for the Manhunters that would later distance himself from the group and become the super-villain Star-Tsar, infiltrating the Justice League as the Privateer. After some time in prison, he wiped his record with service in the Suicide Squad. Afterward, he would again go by the name Manhunter as a bounty hunter working with Oracle operating largely out of New York. Shaw would take down several of Batman's rogues before the two met battling the Sportsmaster. Kate Spencer is the grand daughter of Phantom Lady that took up the title Manhunter and later joined the Birds of Prey. She is currently the district attorney for Gotham City where she at one point continued to operate alongside the Birds as Manhunter.

Jason Blood

Jason Blood is a demonologist based out of Gotham. Generally when dealing with such matters, Batman has consulted Blood (and employed help from Blood's "companion," the demon Etrigan). When the Justice League was stuck in the past, Blood was recruited to form a new version of the group based on a contingency plan established by Batman.

Nimrod the Hunter

Nimrod the Hunter (Dean Hunter) was framed for a crime he did not commit by the criminal named Chancer. Breaking out of prison, he stole a military suit of armor and sought to clear his name with Batman's help.