When Batman first appeared in issue #27 of Detective Comics he was already a crime fighter and no mention was made of how he became Batman leading many readers to question his background.
The answers came in issues #33 in November 1939 and #47 where it was revealed that Bruce Wayne (Batman’s secret identity) was the son of Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha who were wealthy Gotham city socialites.
Young Bruce lived a life of luxury at Wayne manor until the age of eight when a street thug named Joe Chill murdered his parents on their way home from the movies.
This travesty devastated the youngster who swore an oath to fight crime and avenge his parent’s death so he began a regimen of physical training and studied crime fighting methods.
While planning his crime fighting career Bruce realized that he needed to mask his true identity and as “Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot,” he wanted to be able to strike fear into the hearts of the criminals by way of his new persona.
All it took was for a bat to fly through his window to provide the inspiration Bruce needed to become the Batman and he quickly began working on his costume.
In the early years Batman was seen as a vigilante and not liked by the police. It was also revealed that Bruce had a fianc