NOTE: This part ends around the part of Jared, Warren McGinnis' murderer, dying. Stay tuned for a second part sometime within the next week.
[Opening Credits]
There is a press conference at the main Wayne Enterprises building. The main speaker, Bruce Wayne, has been head of the Enterprises for many years. Since he has been falling to poor health, he decided that the best thing to do was to retire from Wayne Enterprises. He also decided that he would step down as the Batman, guardian of Gotham City. But no one (with few exceptions) was supposed to know his identity. He announced his decision at the Wayne Enterprises conference - “I have decided that, for the best concerning my current condition, that I will step down as head of Wayne Enterprises”. In the crowd, a businessman by the name of Derek Powers had an idea. “Since Bruce Wayne has no planned successor,” he thought, “I can talk him into letting me take over!”. After the conference was over, Powers met with old Wayne and cunningly inquired “You see, Mr. Wayne, I have been a hard worker for Wayne Enterprises for many years now. I think the only thing that can surely prove I’m a capable worker is that I take the reigns from you”. Wayne, being rather hesitant, asked “Are you sure it will be in good hands?”, to which Powers replied “Absolutely!”. After meeting with other workers over it and gaining their approval, Powers thus became the new chief of the Enterprises. Little did Wayne know that Powers was nothing like he claimed to be!
[20 years into the future]
Powers has finalized a mutagenic nerve gas, and intended to sell it as a weapon. “I can make go ahead and sell this baby! If I can sell bombs made out of these, I can make Wayne Enterprises have global domination. Heck, I can probably destroy Gotham City once we re-locate into Washington DC!”. One of his employees, Warren McGinnis, overheard Powers’ plans and decided to make them public. He published an editorial in the Gotham newspaper and exposed Powers’ plans to take over the world. In it, he wrote “I overheard Mr. Powers’ very words concerning this mutagenic gas, and if we don’t stop him, Gotham City will probably be devoured by cancer and other related diseases! I suggest we put him out of power.” Infuriated when he read the paper, Powers met with a hitman named Jared. “I understand you have a reputation as a murderer, Jared.” Powers stated as they talked in Powers’ living room. “I have a certain someone that I’d like you to take care of.” He pulled up a picture of Warren McGinnis and shouted “He wants to put me out of power, I’ll put him out of misery!”. Jared nodded and said, “I’ll do it, sir.” and left Powers’ mansion.
Later, McGinnis is walking home in downtown Gotham from a night at the movies. He starts thinking all of a sudden about his past. About his ex-wife, Mary, and his sons, Terry and Matt. Matt lived with Mary after their divorce, while Terry decided to stay with his father. Warren started to reconsider whether their divorce was the right thing to do, when suddenly, out of the shadows, Jared comes in front of him. With a loaded pistol in hand, Jared said in a grisly voice “I’ve been sent by D. Powers to put you out of your misery!”. Before Warren tried to reason with him, three shots shattered the silence of the overall mood of Gotham.
Later that night, at Warren’s house, 16-year-old Terry paced back and forth while looking at the clock. “Where did Dad go this time?! He must have stopped by a bar or something”, he said out loud. A few minutes later, a police car drove up and parked outside of the house. A tall, tough cop knocked on the door. “Mr. McGinnis? I need to talk with you about something important”, he said. Terry opened the door, and the cop said “Your father’s been shot in downtown Gotham. It doesn’t look like he’s going to make it”. Terry, his heart shattered, couldn’t help but sob while the cop was inside. The next morning, it was confirmed that Warren McGinnis was dead.
A week later, Terry moved in with his mother and brother. “I’m so sorry to hear about Warren,” Mary said as Terry came in the house. “He was a very strong father. You should consider yourself thankful to have someone like him as your father.” “I do, Mom.” Terry said. He then turned and hugged his little brother, Matt. After setting his room up, he went to bed.
A few days later, Terry’s hanging out at high school with his friends (including his girlfriend, Dana). They start talking about how their party that night should go, when all of a sudden, a team of thugs came out. Calling themselves the Jokerz, the group consisted of the muscular Bonk, the twins Dee-Dee, the obese clown Chucko, the scarecrow-like Ghoul, and the wolf-beast Woof. “We want your money!” Bonk exclaimed as the team started charging. Terry quickly managed to get his friends into another area, but he himself fell to the Jokerz, as they were beating him savagely. Terry tried to hold them off, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, old Bruce Wayne is going for a walk around the high school, when he hears a load of commotion. Wondering what was causing it, he came upon the Jokerz attacking Terry. “That chubby one reminds me of a certain someone back in the Bat days…,” Wayne ponders. Without much hesitation, he comes into the middle of the gang. Though outnumbered, Terry and Wayne manage to defeat the Jokerz. Wayne suddenly dropped to the ground, cane in hand, when he said, “Take me to the Wayne Mansion.”. Terry drove Wayne’s limo back to the mansion. When they entered, Wayne stated that he probably had a mild heart attack. “It was probably nothing worth worrying about, don’t worry”, he also said. “Why don’t you stay a while? Make yourself at home, but just don’t touch the book case.” He pointed to a small book case that was secluded from the rest of the mansion. Wayne then went into his bedroom to retire.
When he was out of sight, Terry disobediently went up to the book case. He touched a book on the shelf, interested in reading it, when the shelf suddenly moved aside, showing a passageway. Terry curiously entered, when he discovered a vehicle that later proved to be the Batmobile, which was what Bruce Wayne used as a means of transport when he was the Batman. He later discovered more gadgets (such as utility belts and bat-a-rings) when he came up to a giant computer screen.
“I told you to stay away from the book case!” a loud voice thundered in the cave. Bruce Wayne came in, with his hound Ace at his side. “Well, you never mentioned not reading the books themselves!” Terry joked. But Wayne had a dead serious look on his face. He then said, “If you haven’t noticed, I was the Dark Knight back in the day. I didn’t want anyone to know, because I was afraid of my reputation”. He then talked about friends who have passed away (such as his butler, Alfred, commissioner James Gordon, and his business manager Lucius Fox). Suddenly, Terry had an idea. “Hey, Mr. Wayne…can you please train me in combat? I would like to learn how to fight better. You know, so you don’t have to save me again. *laughs*”. Wayne was hesitant, but agreed.
Two months into the training, Terry asked if he can borrow a Batsuit, so he can locate his father’s killer and defeat him. “I do not want you wearing any of these suits. Besides, you’re not strong enough to be a Batman.” Wayne stubbornly replied. But Terry decided to go ahead and steal a certain suit. The suit, which was the most recent design, featured a big red bat logo as well as red wings on an otherwise completely black suit. It also had an impressive jet pack. When Wayne went back into his room, Terry snatched the suit, put it on, and flew out of the Batcave. He was long gone before Wayne discovered one of his suits was missing. “I told that boy not to!” he exclaimed.
Later, in downtown Gotham, Terry was flying around in the Batsuit with the image of his father’s murderer, Jared, in his mind. He says “There’s such a large crowd here…oh wait -” before he spots Jared in a corner of a set of apartments. “THERE HE IS!” Terry exclaims, and charges directly at Jared, knocking him against the wall.
Jared stood back up, confused at what happened. “Who are you?!” he exclaims, to which Terry replies “I’m the new Batman!” before pushing him against another wall. Jared stumbles upon an opening to the ground and falls in, and Terry flies down a minute later. He later finds Jared’s body being speared by many spikes (the ground was covered with them), and knew without a doubt that Jared was dead.