A lot riding was riding on the success of Absolute Batman. The creation of the Absolute Universe had to start strong. If it didn’t, comic book fans may not have invested in Absolute Wonder Woman or Superman. Thankfully, Scott Snyder’s creation was delivered.
The biggest thing that had to be established was the difference between Earth-1 and the Absolute Universe’s Bruce Wayne. If there was no difference other than their size, it would have been pointless. Thankfully, Snyder altered the right things to make Absolute Batman’s lore close enough to the story we know, but enough that everything revolving around him and Gotham is new. Here are the best five changes to Bruce Wayne and the Caped Crusader’s story.
Random changes that should be mentioned
- Jim Gordon is The Mayor of Gotham, Harvey Bullock is the Gotham City Police Commissioner, and Barbara Gordon is a police officer.
- Waylon Jones owns a gym, isn’t Killer Croc, and is friends with Bruce Wayne.
A picture in Waylon’s gym shows Bruce growing up with some of the villains he fights on Earth 1. It looks like they're still friends despite Bruce's new...hobby. - Thomas Wayne was a teacher and Martha Wayne is a social worker.
Martha lives
Every Batman fan knows the story of Martha and Thomas Wayne dying in Crime Alley. In this story, Thomas is shot during a field trip to the zoo that he chaperoned. Martha wasn’t there so she survived and raised Bruce. How she influenced Bruce’s life when he was young will be the most interesting part of his background. Hopefully, we’ll see that in issue No. 2.
Becoming Batman
This writer wondered how Bruce would become the Dark Knight and what his skills would be. He’s big, but that’s not enough for him to protect a deadlier Gotham City. Readers learn that not being rich doesn’t stop him from learning everything needed to become Batman.
Bruce got an athletic scholarship to college then faked an injury to get out of playing football. While in college, he studied everything he could on how criminals think. After leaving, he worked in several places around Gotham to understand the city. This could make him more knowledgeable about Gotham than Earth-1’s Bruce Wayne.
Black Mask
Roman Sionis is a mob boss in the main continuity and the Absolute Universe. The difference here is what Roman is willing to do to get what he wants. For example, he has the ripped-off faces of Carmine Falcone’s cousin and Sal Maroni’s brother on display with other historical faces turned into masks. After showing them to Carmine and Sal, Roman has his young child kill them. That combined with his Party Animal murderers shows he’s nothing like the original.
Alfred the mercenary
"Alfred Pennyworth: Soldier of Fortune" isn’t much of a stretch. He was in the British Military before becoming a butler for the Wayne Family and may have stayed in that field if his father never worked with the Waynes.
Alfred has some of the morals we’ve seen in the DC Comics. For example, he wanted to intervene when the Party Animals attacked Gotham Citizens. However, seeing him try and kill Batman was still odd.
The Joker who doesn't Laugh
This was the change everyone wanted to see. What kind of person would Joker be? How would they alter the Clown Prince of Crime? They did it in the easiest way possible. They took the Joker’s laugh and made him one of the wealthiest people on Earth.
One of the pilots picking up Joker was giving his partner the rules. Among them was to call him sir because his other names (Jack like Napier and Arthur like Fleck) were fake. When the other guy makes a snarky remark, he says not to joke and that their boss doesn’t laugh at anything. That’s why they call him the Joker.
Alfred was chasing him around the world and almost caught him. He didn’t get the kill shot was his handler taking him off the case. It makes you wonder if Joker is connected to that. Stay tuned to Caped Crusades to find out.
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