by his control over his body and his ability to fight whoever he comes up against either using his strength, his intelligence or the power of some of his incredible gadgets. Yet as we all know Batman didn’t just start out like this.
Bruce Wayne’s witnessing of his parent’s murder at the age of eight might have started him on the road to becoming The Caped Crusader, however it wasn’t the end of that road. You might be wondering therefore – who trained Batman in comics and movies?
Well, this article will tell you exactly who trained the Dark Knight in both the comic books and in the movies.
To begin with, let’s discuss who trained Batman in the comics. Although there have been several Batman films, the focus has not ever (aside from Batman Begins) been on how Batman was trained or indeed who trained him.
However, the comic books have certainly given us more of an indication as to who was responsible for helping Bruce Wayne turn himself into an agent of justice and the greatest crime fighter the DC universe has ever known.
Given that comics have variously retconned who was responsible for training Batman it is best to simply look at all those who trained him and detail how they trained the Dark Knight and not necessarily focus on whether this training is still in canon in the Batman and DC Universe.
Batman’s skill at fighting is often associated, particularly from the 1970s onwards, with learning about fighting in the Far East. Whilst one of his trainers who in the films would be associated with the far east was Henri Ducard, who Wayne later discovered worked for his arch enemy and sometime father-in-law (it’s complicated) Ra’s Al Ghul, the majority of the people who trained Batman how to fight in the East were native to their lands.
Examples include Master Kirigi a martial arts expert from North Korea who helped to train the young Bruce Wayne into how to use his breathing and his mind to be able to control his body muscles when fighting; the Yakuza assassin Tsunmento who trained Wayne how to heal himself and to predict his opponents next moves;
Chu Chin Li a Japanese martial arts expert who taught Bruce Wayne how to be a truly great kung fu fighter; Richard Dragon, a fellow super hero who taught the future Batman how to master martial arts and finally David Cain who although not from Asia was an expert assassin who taught Bruce who to fight in a particular style that would easily be able to counter his enemies.
Cain was also the father of future Batgirl Cassandra Cain who would come to hate her assassin father. Yet it wasn’t only from those associated with martial arts that Bruce Wayne learned how to become Batman.
Another super hero influence on him was the former member of the Justice Society of America Ted Grant aka Wild Cat, once a former world champion who eventually turned into a crime fighter and long standing member of the JSA. He taught Batman how to box and hit properly.
However, simply being good at fighting wasn’t enough to turn young Bruce Wayne into Batman. Thanks to the detective skills of Dan Mallory, one of Gotham City’s best Private Investigators, the young Bruce Wayne was able to understand how to follow clues and how to compile a case together.
From Gotham Police Department’s greatest detective Harvey Harris, Bruce Wayne learned how to use forensic equipment and what exactly it took to be a cop.
Yet even then, all these trainers would not complete the set of skills that Bruce Wayne needed in order to become Batman. Thanks to the skill of Zatanna (a fellow superhero and sometime love interest of Batman) and her father Zatara Bruce Wayne not only learned how to escape any lock or safe he could possible need to as well as learn about magic – something that the Batman would later find coming in useful during his time with the Justice League of America.
To finish off his education Bruce Wayne of course needed to know how to use technology to his advantage. Thanks to genius inventor Sergei Alexandrov Bruce Wayne was able to understand how to use technology to his advantage in his war on crime and thus become armed with the array of gadgets that makes being Batman possible.
Who Trained Batman In The Movies?
Unlike in the comic books, not much focus has been placed on who trained Batman. The only film to really touch upon who trained Batman is the first film in the Nolan Trilogy of Batman films, Batman Begins.
In that film Bruce Wayne believes that he is being trained by Henri Ducard of the League of Assassins and only ends his training when Ducard, seemingly on behalf of Ra’s Al Ghul, orders Wayne to kill an innocent farmer in order to be admitted to the League. Wayne refuses, instead burning the League’s base of operations to the ground and escaping.
Later, Wayne now back in Gotham and operating as Batman that Ducard is in fact Ra’s Al Ghul who has been financing the operations of Arkham Asylum’s doctor Jonathan Crane (who had now become the super villain The Scarecrow) in order to bring about Gotham’s destruction. Fortunately, Batman is able to defeat his former mentor and save Gotham at the same time.
Why It Is Important To Know Who Trained Batman
Batman is one of the greatest comic book characters to have ever been created and also certainly one of the most popular ones. However, it is easy to think that Batman simply came about thanks to his immense wealth and need for justice.
This of course isn’t the case. Bruce Wayne became Batman through years of training and working with some of the greatest people in their respective fields.
Knowing who trained Batman ensures that we truly value how amazing a journey Bruce Wayne’s was and how his becoming Batman was the culmination of a great deal of study and hard work – a lesson we can all learn from.
