Batman is one of the most well-known heroes in pop culture and everyone knows his story by now- losing his parents at an early age, Bruce Wayne honed his skills and added his tremendous resources to the mix to become Batman, Gotham City's greatest hero, and battle the most dangerous threats the city can throw at him.
However, that's just the most familiar version of the character; in his eight decades of existence there have been multiple versions of him from around the DC Multiverse and some of them are downright bizarre. Batman lends himself well to all kinds of situations, though, and these iterations have sometimes been in some great stories.
10 The Bruce Wayne Of "The Gift" Was A Weak Billionaire Playboy Whose Parents Were Alive
A lot of people wondered what would happen if Bruce Wayne never became Batman and used his wealth in other ways. That question was answered in writer Tom King and artist Tony S. Daniel's "The Gift". Booster Gold, wanting to give Batman a unique gift before his wedding to Catwoman, went back in time and saved the Waynes.
This caused Bruce Wayne to become a soft billionaire, one who didn't believe Gold when he told him the truth, forcing Gold to go back in time to make sure the Waynes died. There was a version of Batman on this world, though- a homicidal Dick Grayson, putting the bizarre cherry on top of the weird sundae.
9 The Old Batman Of Kingdom Come Was Definitely Strange To See
Writer Mark Waid and artist Alex Ross's Kingdom Come wasn't the first time readers had seen an older Batman but he was one of the more bizarre and unnerving. This Batman's body had mostly broke down from years of abuse and he needed a special exoskeleton to even walk. He used Bat-Robots to enforce the law in Gotham, keeping it free of superpowered beings and its crime under control.
That's not too bizarre; Batman as a control freak proto-fascist makes sense. What was bizarre was the smile he had when describing his life to Superman. He was partly playacting to keep Superman out of his hair but it was just so unnerving to see him this way in general that it made him one of the weirdest Batmen out there.
8 Bat-Mite Is An All-Powerful Imp That Wants To Be Batman
While Batman is one of the more serious heroes around, that wasn't always the case. In fact, there was a time when Batman comics were full of humorous situations and one of the sources of that was Bat-Mite. Bat-Mite was Batman's version of Mr. Mxyzptlk, an all-powerful imp who committed mischievous acts.
The big difference was that Bat-Mite wanted to be the Batman of the Fifth Dimension, dressing up like his ideal and trying to "help" him, which led to all kinds of weird and wacky situations. The character would fall out of vogue but still makes strange appearances every now and again.
7 The Devil Batman Was Downright Strange
Grant Morrison's time on the Batman books was a fruitful time for the character. Their gonzo imagination did bring in some weird things, though, as Morrison tried to reconcile everything in Batman history into a cohesive history. They did by introducing the Black Dossier, Batman's casebook containing every case he ever went on.
One of them involved three Gotham policemen conditioned to replace Batman in case anything went wrong. Each lost their minds in different ways, with the most bizarre one basically becoming a Satanist trying to destroy the city for the devil. It was a weird and wild story and just went to show the weirdness that could happen to someone not ready to be Batman mentally.
6 Vampire Batman Has Always Been Weirder Than Scary
Batman goes well in horror stories, so the Elseworlds Red Rain trilogy, by writer Doug Moench and artist Kelley Jones, where Batman became a vampire were instant classics. However, that doesn't change just how bizarre the whole thing was. Sure, Batman and his whole MO seemingly mixed well with vampires but it was strange that Batman didn't have a plan for dealing with vampirism.
For fans raised on the Batman who can overcome anything, seeing him become a vampire and give into his blood lust is just plain bizarre. The fact he didn't have a contingency plan makes it all the more strange and while it's a great story, it just feels wrong at times.
5 Seeing Superman As Batman Was Strange, To Say The Least
Superman and Batman are polar opposites, so seeing Superman in a Batman costume, fighting crime in Gotham City is just plain bizarre. That was the premise of Superman: Speeding Bullets, by writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Eduardo Barreto. Instead of crash landing in Kansas, Superman landed in Gotham and was found by the Waynes.
This different Bruce Wayne would witness his parents gunned down and become Batman, using his Kryptonian superpowers to fight evil. While he was Batman, readers knew at his heart he was Kal-El and it was never not weird. Great story, though.
4 Omega Was What Would Happen If Batman Gave Up And Embraced Evil
There were a lot of great things about Batman: Last Knight On Earth, by writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo. Starring an amnesiac Batman teamed with the still-living head of the Joker, which was bizarre enough on its own, making their way through a dystopian future, it pitted the Dark Knight and the remaining heroes against Omega, the most dangerous villain on Earth.
Omega, though, was the real Batman, an aged and damaged version of the Caped Crusader who used the head of Darkseid as a weapon and commanded an army of villains. The fact that Batman gave up the fight and turned against his friends and everything he stood for was extremely bizarre but made for great reading.
3 Azrael As Batman Was Much Too '90s
DC was all about change in the '90s and Knightfall was the way they injected some of that into Batman. The story saw Bane break Batman's back and Azrael take over as Batman, instead of a choice that made more sense like Dick Grayson. Seeing the Batman costume turned into an armored, bladed monstrosity with pouches was just too ridiculous for words.
The great thing is that the creators meant for it to be ridiculous- the writers wanted to show that indulging trends often ruined characters, so the '90s-ization of Batman was always meant to be a bizarre experiment to show people just wrong it was to base character change on shallow trends.
2 Superman: Red Son's Batman Looked Like A Russian Stereotype
Superman: Red Son, by writer Mark Millar and artists Dave Johnson and Killian Plunkett, was a fascinating look at a Communist Superman and re-contextualized the rest of the DC Universe. The Batman of Superman's USSR lost his parents in one of Superman's Stalin-like purges and became a dark avenger, targeting the Kryptonian's regime.
What made the character so bizarre wasn't his characterization but his look- the classic Batman costume became something more suited to the Russian climate and there's something kind of funny about the whole thing.
1 The Batman Who Laughs Is More Bizarre Than People Realized
The Batman Who Laughs was the big bad of the DC Universe for a couple of years but the whole thing was pretty bizarre. A Batman from a dark universe where he was given a Joker virus and committed terrible atrocities, he was dangerous but the whole thing was just so weird.
Seeing a skinny, evil Batman making the same kind of jokes as the Joker was simply bizarre. Evil Batmen aren't exactly the strangest but just the way the Batman Who Laughs carried himself was what made it so ridiculous. He was evil and threatening but the whole thing was just so bizarre.
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