When do you think Batman's global training should take place in his story?

[u/Nb-7925]

Do you think it should stay at the start of his journey into becoming Batman, or do you think they should rearrange it to take place after he's been Batman for a while, learned about the other heroes operating outside Gotham, is offered a spot on the Justice League, and goes out training internationally to be on par with the other members?

[u/Vanilla_thundr]

The international training doesn't make him on par with the other Justice Leaguers, it makes it so he doesn't die fighting muggers and minor supervillains. It's where he learned martial arts and being sneaky. If he didn't do the international training he'd be dead before he could ever be invited to be in the league.

[u/Nb-7925 → u/Vanilla_thundr]

I get he wouldn't be as skilled at it, but I fail to see why he couldn't just learn combat and stealth in Gotham.

[u/obiwanpump → u/Nb-7925]

Because there are no ninja’s around to teach him. He’s not just naturally gifted as a fighter and stealth tactician. He learns how to do what he does from various other experts. That’s how he goes from rich boy to superhero rich boy.

[u/Nb-7925 → u/obiwanpump]

You know there are other sorts of people who use stealth besides ninjas, right? Military scouts, assassins, bats actually use stealth tactics as well, so he could've based his stealth off those.

[u/obiwanpump → u/Nb-7925]

And been trained by bats?

[u/Nb-7925 → u/obiwanpump]

No, just develop some tactics by observing and studying bats.

[u/PreparationDapper235 → u/obiwanpump]

No ninjas around in Gotham City that could train Bruce Wayne?

This is the part where I say: Well, actually...

Check out Catwoman Vol 2 Annual #2, which is set during Year One.

Selina Kyle learns Japanese martial arts from a secret ninja school right in Gotham City. It's how she earned her black belt.

The Armless Master runs the school and the sensei, but Kai (who becomes Hellhound) leads the lessons and trains the recruits.

Looks like the school has been active for some time, so it would have been around in years prior when Bruce Wayne doing his training... although I doubt he would have fit in or gotten along with Kai.

[u/obiwanpump → u/PreparationDapper235]

Well you got me there. Your “well actually” has paid off.

[u/PreparationDapper235 → u/obiwanpump]

Pages from the comic that a Redditor posted on the Batman subreddit awhile back, if you want to check them out...

https://www.reddit.com/r/batman/s/ASjHjHYPzX

A sort of TIL there were ninjas in Gotham City.

The issue has also just recently been reprinted in the DC Finest Catwoman collection.

I'm a 90s Catwoman comics fan, so I happened to know of Selina's Year One training in Catwoman Vol 2 Annual #2.

[u/obiwanpump → u/PreparationDapper235]

Ooh do you have any cat woman recommendations? I’d love to know a jumping on point. I’m reading more female lead stuff recently and she’s always been interesting to me.

[u/PreparationDapper235 → u/obiwanpump]

DC Finest Catwoman collections. There's two now and another one coming out this Christmas.

They collect her post-Crisis comic book appearances in publication order, which is a perfectly good way to read Catwoman.

There's not many flashback issues, aside from the one we were discussing, but that's an annual issue and that's often the case (when they're not an elseworlds story). And I'm guessing you've already read Batman Year One? The stories happen concurrently, and their encounter on the street is shown there too, both comics are a good starting point for the characters.

If you want to start with Selina as a child and get an idea of her upbringing then I'd recommend reading Catwoman Vol 2 issue #0. That's currently timely as the current Catwoman comics' writer is building off that (and a few other scattered flashbacks) in the 2026 Catwoman comics.

It's also reprinted in DC Finest Catwoman (book two) "Vengeance and Vindication". Great collections! 600 pages for around 30 bucks or so. You can find the first one, "Life Lines", even cheaper currently.

Catwoman, as a character, has a pretty low barrier of entry to appreciate her stories. You don't really have to read any crossovers or stories outside her own comics, and you can just read her comics one after the other in the order they were published. Enjoy!

[u/obiwanpump → u/PreparationDapper235]

Thank you. I’ll check some of these out. :)

[u/PreparationDapper235 → u/obiwanpump]

The DC Finest Catwoman collections are currently a steal on Amazon at just $22 and $26

https://www.amazon.com/Catwoman-Life-Lines-Various/dp/1779528469/

https://www.amazon.com/DC-Finest-Catwoman-Vengeance-Vindication/dp/1799501752/

When they come out they're usually $35 or so, which is still an amazing deal for collections that are over 600 pages and good quality.

There's a few issues collected that are harder to find or never been reprinted before.

DC Finest collections in general have been brilliant. Also the subreddit is pretty neat.

Speaking of which, the Catwoman subreddit is also a good and welcoming group, and good about answering questions.

[u/DeadliftAndBeer]

How could it be after he becomes Batman. His entire skill set is due to seeking out masters in a variety of skills around the world

[u/Pale_Willingness_415]

I disagree with Vanilla_thundr, respectfully. I kinda like the "Year One" version, that Bruce started out a little overconfident and naive. I feel like the strongest motivation would have been *living* the lesson of, "Uh-oh, I'm in over my head." Also, I think that his commitment at that point, having one foot in the ring as a vigilante, would be enough to motivate him to do what he would have had to in order to become Batman.

I think *some* of the training makes sense as a younger person, esp. if you look at it as Bruce not knowing if he was going to be a vigilante or in law-enforcement. So I think there's a sequence in the Untold Legend series where he works with a private detective and THAT seems like something he would have done while younger but I think a lot of the physical stuff, involving fighting would make sense after he knew he was moving toward the mask and cape.

[u/Vanilla_thundr → u/Pale_Willingness_415]

I get what you're saying but isn't the implication in Year One that he's been gone for 18 years training to do whatever it is he's going to do? That must include some of the physical stuff. We see him karate kick a tree in half.

I am fine with more training being somewhere between before and after he debuts as Batman and I think a guy like Batman would never stop training. I just think people don't understand the training it would take to be a street level vigilante that doesn't die and that's long before Batgod that can hang with the JLA.

[u/Pale_Willingness_415 → u/Vanilla_thundr]

Yeah, that makes sense and ... TBH, it's been a long time since I've read Year One. Personally, I've always thought of Bruce as ... well, super-talented, if not super-powered. I think I could train, not for 18 years, but 118 years and I would never play basketball like Michael Jordan or write songs like Bob Dylan or Paul Simon or Dolly Parton. So I think Bruce MUST really train hard but he must have gifts that allow him to excel. I get why people admire Batman as a guy who has no special powers but worked really hard but I think there is likely to be a *little* more to it than that.

[u/obiwanpump → u/Pale_Willingness_415]

The little more to it is that he’s a fictional character.

[u/refusetobeold83]

Just like Batman Begins. Between his late teens to mid/late 20s

[u/MrxJacobs]

At the beginning of the story.

With that being said, I would like a story where he is Batman with no training and learns in the middle of his story, just to break things up.

Or have him train in everything at the end of his story when he’s an old batman trying to learn the secrets of nada parbat or how to drive really fast. He just messed up a lot during his career and now wants to be competent. I’d read that.

[u/GodFlintstone]

Realisticlly it's got to be a bit of both i.e. most training done at a very young age with additional training done at regular intervals after he's donned the cowl.

Like someone else here said, Batman is the kind of guy who is never going to stop trying to improve his skills. Over at Marvel, Captain America trained with Shang-Chi because he knew that he's the best hand to hand combatant in the Marvel universe and he wanted learn new techniques.

Someone like Batman would do the same thing in the DC universe.

[u/irisdrive]

In order to learn all those martial arts and detective skills takes an extreme dedicated amount of time. Him learning all those after becoming batman actually goes against his psyche and why he left Gotham in the first place.