*grunt* *grunt* You...you probably believe I'm billionaire philanthropist John Mayhew, don't you? Good old John, welcoming you to a sophisticated weekend of fine food, parlour mysteries and nostalgia. But I won't lie to you. I'm not John. John's dead. I killed him. And now I'm wearing his skin, the way John might have worn a rather expensive suit. So... can the world's greatest crimebusters solve John Mayhew's savage murder? Or will they all die here, one by one, begging for mercy? Place you bets. The Black Glove points at you. By this time tomorrow, you will all be dead.
— Doctor Hurt, Batman: The Black Glove
Jim Gordon: Why did you have to choose an enemy that's as old as time and bigger than all of us, Batman?
Batman: Same reason you did, Jim. I figured I could take him.
— Batman: The Black Glove
Doctor Hurt was the Devil. Sometimes he visits this world to destroy the good and make slaves of men like me. They poured hot glue into my brother's eyes...carved obscenities into my sister's flesh...so I could be driven by demons, just like you.
— Bat-Devil, Batman: The Black Glove
If my hypothetical ultimate enemy can be imagined, I can't help considering the possibility that he actually exists. And if he exists...if the king of crime is real...is he telling me his name?
— Batman, Batman: The Black Glove
The Black Glove, at great expense, has made certain shocking documents and photographs available to Gotham City's media! You mother, your father, your faithful butler, Alfred — all will stand revealed as drug addicts. Perverts. Criminals. Unless, of course...unless Batman agrees to serve the Black Glove. And willingly dedicate his life to the corruption of virtue. Ready to deal?
— Doctor Hurt, Batman: R.I.P
I am the hole in things, Bruce. The enemy, the piece that can never fit, there since the beginning. Would I bring you all this way and not deliver the killing blow?
— Doctor Hurt, Batman: R.I.P
In my attempts to see clearly in the deepest dark, in my efforts to go to the still eye in the storm of madness, did I open myself up to some pure source of evil? Did I finally real the limits of reason? And find the Devil waiting?
And was that fear in his eyes?
And was that fear in his eyes?
— Batman, Batman: R.I.P
Bruce: Imagine if Zorro came riding down the street right now on his horse!
Thomas: Ha ha. I'm not so sure Gotham City would welcome a masked man taking the law into his own hands, Bruce! The sad thing is, they'd probably throw someone like Zorro in Arkham.
Bruce: What?
Thomas: Ha ha. I'm not so sure Gotham City would welcome a masked man taking the law into his own hands, Bruce! The sad thing is, they'd probably throw someone like Zorro in Arkham.
Bruce: What?
— Batman: R.I.P
I did once consider resigning from my position at the Wayne household. “I need a disguise,” he said an I thought he’d finally gone mad with grief, especially those next words... But when I saw what he meant, when I watched how he surrendered himself to an ideal, how he used each ordeal, each heartache and failure, to become a better man, in the service of others, what could I do but stand in humble awe? And keep his wounds clean and his uniform tidy. And send him safely on his way. “I shall become a bat.”
“Alfred,” he said not long ago. “If anyone ever asks for an obituary, tell them Batman’s big secret was the classic whodunnit? Only it’s not about who killed Batman but who kept him alive all these years.” And he stopped there, leaving the rest to me.
The whereabouts of Batman remain unknown. And yet... I can see him now, in the grip of implacable forces, innumerable foes. Somewhere without hope. In a place where all seems lost. And I know this. The enemy will look away, for just a moment, underestimating him for that single fraction of a second too long. And no matter how dark the night, there will be no hiding place for evil.
“Alfred,” he said not long ago. “If anyone ever asks for an obituary, tell them Batman’s big secret was the classic whodunnit? Only it’s not about who killed Batman but who kept him alive all these years.” And he stopped there, leaving the rest to me.
The whereabouts of Batman remain unknown. And yet... I can see him now, in the grip of implacable forces, innumerable foes. Somewhere without hope. In a place where all seems lost. And I know this. The enemy will look away, for just a moment, underestimating him for that single fraction of a second too long. And no matter how dark the night, there will be no hiding place for evil.
— Alfred Pennyworth, Batman: R.I.P
On Tuesday it's Tiamat this and Tiamat that. Tohu va Boho and boo-hoo-hoo. Wednesdays, the Gorgon Queen comes in on tiptoes with a million forked tongues for hair. That's what it's like to grow upside down in a world where a hug is a crucifixion...
— Professor Pyg:, Batman and Robin
Professor Pyg: Imagine you're a girl. At a dance. And you meet this guy. Well read, good looks...except...except his feet...his feet are pig's trotters. UH!
Professor Pyg: Now what's wrong? You look at me like I'm out of shape. Like I drank too much and forgot my medicine, is that it? I'm an artist! Who can expect me to work on anti-psychotics? I HATE THIS MUSIC! Oink oinkety oinkety oink. I want to be sick. I want to operate. i want to be sick in front of everyone.
Professor Pyg: Put his face on him! I'm nearly ready...nearly...perfect little trotters.
Robin: You. You just redefined "wrong".
— Batman and Robin
All my dollies in rows like dominoes. What happened to me has happened to Gotham. You look away from the mirror for just a moment...and by the time you look back...Pyg's crept in. Oink oink oink.
— Professor Pyg:, Batman and Robin
Super-people. I've worked so hard to gain their respect, they sometimes forget I'm flesh and blood. In Superman's world, everything is mythology.
— Bruce Wayne, Batman #701
He knew I wouldn't kill his human host...but he didn't know I had the Radion bullet. And a New Myth of my own. A myth where Ultimate Evil turns its gaze on humanity and humanity gazes right back and says..."Gotcha".
— Bruce Wayne, Batman #701
I survived an encounter with something bigger than me, stronger than me. Something capable of twisting every moment of my life to make a path that leads...here.
Wherever here is. I have no frame of reference for this.
I...I can't remember my name anymore. How the hell do I get out of this one? Can you hear that, whoever you are?
— Bruce Wayne, Batman #702
Annie: You'll pay for what you've done! I promise you'll pay! You think you're safe! But I know your name, Malleus!
Malleus: Do it.
Annie: WAYNE! A curse on you, Nathaniel Wayne! My curse on you and all your kin! Until the end of time!
— The Return of Bruce Wayne
The first truth of Batman...it had to be one I don't like to admit. The gunshots left me alone. For years I was alone in the echoing dark of that well.
But something else defined the exact moment Batman was born. The first truth of Batman...The saving grace.
I had help.
— Bruce Wayne, The Return of Bruce Wayne
Talia al Ghul: How is this any different from your brand of mind control? Your indoctrination of my son is not welcome.
Dick Grayson: Indoctrination? I was raised by a man who taught me to use my full potential to help others.
Dick Grayson: Indoctrination? I was raised by a man who taught me to use my full potential to help others.
— Batman & Robin #12
The oil sheikh, the peanuts and the restroom. The cardinal strangled by his own dog collar. The newspaper tyocoon with the heart attack and the young mistress. The Russian and the alligator. That was the one. That's when I figured it out. It's a routine, isn't it? They're all jokes.''
— Dick Grayson, Batman and Robin
"School of Night"? All I see here is young girls under the spell of unrealistic and unhealthy role models. More proof that school is just the real world in a jar.
— Stephanie Brown, Batman Incorporated
I'm stinking of animal blood...As of now, I'm a vegetarian. And this is Bat-Cow.
— Damian Wayne, Batman Incorporated
Damian Wayne: You're a monster, but you're the best molecular biologist this dump has to offer! I'll take what I can get to end this. Can we make an antidote, you bastard?
Jackanape: End it? The Devil is preparing his arena for the final battle. Gotham is Hell's capital on Earth! There's a reason the child has no symptoms! The baby's a carrier! You brought a carrier among us!
—Batman Incorporated
It was all your fault. You let me in. You opened the door to the devil. You exposed the hole in things. Now Batman is dead. Long live the new Batman. Gotham was marked from the very beginning. City of the Mother of the Beast of Bedlam...
— Damian Wayne, Batman Incorporated
I've had my suspicions about Bruce Wayne and Batman for a long time, but i keep them to myself.
All I really need to know is this: Batman always comes back, bigger and better, shiny and new. Batman never dies. It never ends.
It probably never will.
All I really need to know is this: Batman always comes back, bigger and better, shiny and new. Batman never dies. It never ends.
It probably never will.
— Jim Gordon, Batman Incorporated
