As a fanfiction this would be an interesting idea. As an original work, I would think it would be a very bad idea to call your character Batman. Or Bat-man. I'm fairly certain DC has a copyright on the actual name. "Joker" O'Riley you might be able to get away with, because there's more than one character out there called Joker, and it comes from a playing card anyway.
I couldn't tell from that if you were going to be writing an AU fanfiction or original story. It's certainly got enough different elements that I think it would work more as an original story than as a Batman story.
I imagine that poor-Batman would be something of a Mac Gyver. Rather than using his fantastic wealth to custom design loads of equipment (and plans) for every possible situation, he'd be a master of Improvised Weapons and the Indy Ploy.
edited 7th Mar '11 7:51:58 AM by NativeJovian
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.Yeah, there would be a Mac Gyver element in there, but I think mixing in a little Sherlock Holmes would help to avoid the character being seen as an idiot hero. It seems that the resourceful fighter tends to fall into that category often.
I want it to seem like he has limited resources, but enough intelligence, awareness and cunning to make it work anyway.
So I've come up with a mock up of one of poor Batman's fights.
Batman sits next to a dumpster, wearing battered clothes and draped in blankets. He is trying to look homeless, sitting outside a popular nightclub.
The regular clients come out the front to smoke, but this isn't a regular client. He gets let out the back with 3 hired thugs. Batman shambles up, pretending to be drunk. "THE WORLD IS ENDING. THE PROPHECY IS HERE!" they tell him to fuck off, and he says something along the lines of "What I really want is a cigarette. Can you spare one?" The guards try to shoo him away, but he's persistent. One of the guards finally relents, and Batman retreats to his corner, with a lit cigarette.
Then, he grabs his bottle, full of a mixture of baby oil and gasoline. Excuse the Sherlock Holmes pit fight narration from this point.
4 men, counting the target. His thugs are clearly amateurs. They don't try to hide the bulges from their guns. Easy prey. First, light the paper bag and break the bottle. Use the blankets to cover the movement. Mixture burns quickly and creates dense smoke as cover. Grab flailing arm of the first guard, break it. Throw him down. Move on to the second, throw blanket, then right hook. Step on him while moving onto the third, who is drawing his gun. Break gun arm, deliver kick to the groin, then follow with knee to the exposed chin. Target is running now. Throw bat, kneecap him. Step on his head, cuff behind him the back with zip ties, give a stomp for good measure and throw him in the van. Blindfold, beat, and interrogate while "robin" (Still haven't named him) drives. Dump target in the docks once you have the information.
Do you think this creates a good hero who can have limited resources while still not coming off as dumb?
edited 14th Mar '11 3:51:46 AM by surfacetogokumissile

In one of my usual drunken stupors I came up with an idea for a re-imagining of the Batman character.
See, some say Batman has no super powers. I disagree. Batman has super wealth. So much that it's seemingly inexhaustible.
But what if that was stripped away?
Basically, the idea I had was re-imaging Batman as a poor Haitian immigrant. His parents would be killed not by street criminals, but by corrupt cops. His enemies would be shadowy cabals of bankers and developers.
What I have so far is that poor Batman spends time adrift after his parents are murdered, finding his way into a gang and eventually prison. In prison, he starts to educate himself through reading. After getting out of prison, poor Batman works by days a a plumber, and by nights uses his beaten down old van as his batmobile. His sidekick would be a hispanic immigrant who works as a bus boy at a fancy resturaunt and spies on the villains.
I had imagined poor batman as wearing a black hoodie, black bandanna over the mouth and nose, sunglasses and a black hat. He would have brass knuckles on both hands and carry (and expertly use) a baseball bat, giving him his name.
The major villain I came up with would be Jimmy "Joker" O'Riley, a former magician at a mob run casino who stepped on some toes and was given a Chelsea smile.
What do you all think? Could this idea actually have some legs?