Batman is a Fighter from the DCUniverse in MultiVersus. He was revealed alongside the game itself on November 18th, 2021, and is part of the game's initial release roster, having been playable since the first Tech Test.
Batman (real name: Bruce Wayne) is one of the three most popular superheroes from the DC universe, alongside Superman and Wonder Woman. While Batman has had various reincarnations and reinterpretations across DC's history, his most well-known backstory revolves around Bruce becoming a superhero in order to avenge his parents after witnessing them getting robbed and shot to death while he was still 8 years old and enforce justice upon Gotham City.
Following the success of Superman comic books in the late-30s, the editors of DC Comics (then known as National Comics Publications) requested more superheroes to their titles. Writers Bob Kane and Bill Finger came up with the idea of a "Bat-Man" after the former drew a rough sketch of the character described as looking like "[...] Superman with kind of ...reddish tights [...] boots ...no gloves, no gauntlets ...with a small domino mask, [...] [and] two stiff wings." With Finger adding several touch ups to the character, such as getting rid of the costume's red highlights, the wings, and giving him a cowl. Batman's aristocratic personality, along with his detective skills, were inspired by characters from their era, such as The Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro (with 1920's The Mask of Zorro cited as a major influence), Dick Tracy, and Sherlock Holmes, amongst others.
Official Biography
The World’s Greatest Detective. He is the night. He is Batman.
Website
The Caped Crusader and defender of Gotham City known only as Batman was born the night that a young Bruce Wayne saw his parents gunned down in front of him. Since that day, he has pledged to battle crime and protect the people of Gotham City. Despite having no superpowers or extraordinary abilities, his dedication, willpower, and intelligence have helped him stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the universe’s greatest heroes. His arsenal of cutting-edge gadgets funded by his family fortune doesn’t hurt, either.[1]
In-Game
Able to blend into the shadows before jumping out with a huge arsenal of gadgets, master the content of Batman's utility belt to adapt to any situation.
Default Variant
Batman's default look doesn't seem to have a specific basis, instead, being simply an amalgamation based on most classical depictions of the character.
Batman as he appears in Batman: Urban Legends Vol 15.
Lore
According to Eric Stirpē, the main lead writer for MultiVersus, all Fighters from the DC universe in the game are original interpretations that take inspiration from various incarnations without adhering to any adaptation in particular.[2]
If the events depicted in the "You're with Me!" Cinematic Trailer are to be taken as canon, than Batman seems to have been operating in the Batcave at the time the "Heroes Convergence" phenomenon took place. He is shown browsing the Batcomputer before receiving a warning in regards to "a strange energy signature" that soon after teleports him on Trophy's E.D.G.E. as the first Fighter to join the realm. He then engages in a fight against Arya Stark and Bugs Bunny with Shaggy as his ally thanks to a misunderstanding. They all than jump on Bugs' ACME rocket and accidently interrupt a fight between Garnet, Jake the Dog, Taz, and Harley Quinn, starting a fight cloud between all of them. The end of the trailer shows Batman posing heroically with the rest of the Fighters teleported on Trophy's E.D.G.E., implying that the misunderstanding has been cleared up.
In the "Get a Load of Me" Reveal Trailer, Batman is seen entering the Batcave where The Joker was waiting for him after having beat up Bugs, Shaggy, and Arya.
Gameplay
Batman is a bruiser-type character who specializes in mix-ups and spacing to throw his opponents off-balance. Many of Batman's normal attacks apply Weakened, a stackable debuff that causes opponents to take increased damage from all sources. This, combined with his amazing juggling potential and high mobility, makes Batman a deadly foe capable of quickly racking-up damage, especially if paired with certain Perks, such as Hit 'Em While They're Down and Snowball Effect. In addition, Batman is capable of gliding, giving him fantastic recovery.
The Batarang, his neutral attack, is the bread-and-butter of his gameplay. The projectile is fast, can be aimed, has high priority, and can be easily incorporated in Batman's combos, as well as to keep his opponent constantly on the edge. Another one of Batman's most important tools is his Side Special, Bat-Grapple, which can be used offensively, to quickly close the gap between Batman and his target, as well defensively, such as recovering.
Batman's Smoke Bomb plays a pivotal role in his kit. It provides temporal invisibility to him and his ally, which grants brief invulnerability and makes projectiles miss, in addition to make the dodge meter recharge faster. Unique to Batman is that, while invisible, he gains Hasten, which increases his movement speed, and also grants him a buff which makes his next attack apply 3 stacks of Weakened. Lastly, enemies inside his smoke bomb are slowed.
To offset Batman's powerful and versatile kit, he's among the lightest characters in the game, despite being classified as a Bruiser. In addition, his Bat-Grapple attack can be dodged by his opponents with proper timing, allowing them to retaliate. In addition, none of Batman's attacks are imbued with armor, which further contributes for his vulnerability. Lastly, opponents with disjointed hitboxes, such as Finn and Wonder Woman, can easily outrange Batman's melee attacks.
Overall, Batman is a potent fighter that can be essentially played as an Assassin, especially given his high damage potential. His kit is loaded with utility through his many gadgets, and, while he is not very cooldown dependent, his few cooldowns (namely Batarang and Smoke Bomb) should be used carefully and thoughtfully. His juggling potential through his Side Attack, Up Attack and Up Special is among the best in the game, and can easily capitallize against opponents with poor air mobility (such as the Iron Giant and Reindog).
In 2v2, Batman finds the best in allies that already have high damage output, to exploit his ability to apply Weakness. He excels with characters that can apply other types of debuff to further increase the percentage rack-up, such as Superman, Harley Quinn, and Taz. He can also be paired with projectile specialists, such as Tom & Jerry and Velma, to provide cover fire and circumvent Batman's more vulnerable aspects. Wonder Woman is also a powerful partner as she can provide much needed armor to Batman.
Skills
ATTACKS
GROUND
AIR
SIDE HOLD 🡆 + J
SLIDE KICK Batman does a sliding kick COMBO.
NEUTRAL J
BATARANG CHARGE and throw a Batarang ITEM. It can be aimed during flight and will return shortly. COOLDOWN applies. COOLDOWN is reduced if Batarang returns. On hit, applies 1 STACK of WEAKENED.
AERIAL BATARANG Same as ground.
SIDE 🡆 + J
FURIOUS FLURRY A COMBO of punches ending in an uppercut
SHADOW JAB Throws a forward punch. Input again to COMBO into a jab that will rush forward and aplly 1 STACK of WEAKENED.
UP 🡅 + J
CLEAR THE AIR CHARGE an overhead swing. On hit, applies 1 STACK of WEAKENED.
FLYING UPPERCUT CHARGE an upward jab. Input again to COMBO into another swipe. Swipe on hit applies 1 STACK of WEAKENED.
DOWN 🡇 + J
CRIME SWEEPER CHARGE a leg sweep attack that BREAKS ARMOR. On hit, applies 1 STACK of WEAKENED.
HEEL SMASH A downward flip kick.
SPECIALS
GROUND
AIR
NEUTRAL K
BAT-BOMB Equip a Bat-Bomb. Hit an enemy with an attack afterward to attach the Bat-Bomb. The bomb will detonate shortly, and launch the victim upward. Throwing a Batarang while the bomb is equipped will attach the bomb. COOLDOWN applies if the Batarang does not return the bomb.
BAT-BOMB Same as ground.
SIDE 🡆 + K
GRAPPLE SNIPE Batman will aim and then fire his grappling hook gun, attaching it to fighters or the environment. The grapple will pull him to its destination and he will hit enemies along the way.
GRAPPLE SNIPE Same as ground.
UP 🡅 + K
RISING BAT Batman can CHARGE an uppercut that launches him into the air.
RAPID RISING BAT Similar to ground without CHARGE.
DOWN 🡇 + K
SMOKE BOMB Batman detonates a smoke bomb, creating a smoke HAZARD that envelops fighters. While in smoke, Batman and his allies are given INVISIBILITY, receive PROJECTILE SIDESTEP, and gain faster recharge for their DODGE METER. Allies also receive brief INVULNERABILITY. Enemies inside the smoke are slowed. COOLDOWN applies.
CRASHING JUSTICE Batman kicks down and rockets to the ground, controlling his direction as he goes.
PASSIVE ABILITIESNINJA TRAINING While INVISIBLE, Batman gains HASTEN and his attacks apply 2 STACKS of WEAKENED.
Batman can dodge upward or diagonally-upward from the ground.
This perk was doing the opposite of what the text described, making Batman stronger during reel in and not spawning a proper blast at the end. The perk text and behavior have been overhauled to better match this perk’s intended use.
~ Air/Ground Side Special
Grapple hook now ignores all other projectiles, but should be properly blocked by projectile-blocking effects.
Fixed an issue where Batman could suffer knockback and begin reeling in before he is launched.
Grapple hook and tether now break immediately if Batman cancels the attack with jump or dodge
- Air/Ground Side Special
Can no longer be immediately canceled out of if Batman has hit an enemy
~ Air/Ground Side Special - Fixed bug where Batman would overshoot his grapple destination if the fighter he was grappling to dodged.
Increased the overshooting distance when grappling to an ally.
Fixed Batman grapple failing at short distances under high latency
- Ground Side Attack - First hit added 3 frames of whiff recovery.
- Air/Ground Neutral Attack (coming in patch 2): Batarang pick up will now return 9.45s of it’s cooldown down from 11.55s. This change helps create a window from when the batarang is used for the opponent to react. With perks like Coffeezilla causing this cooldown to be even shorter, we felt this change was necessary to create counterplay against the batarang.
- Air/Ground Neutral Attack: Cooldown on Batarang increased from 13s to 14s. Pick up of Batarang returns 11.55 second up from 11.05. This means that the minimum time between Batarang throws is 2.45s up from 1.95s.
Batman’s Batarang pick-up cooldown created very small windows where the Batarang wasn’t in play. This change should make it so opponents of Batman have a larger window between Batarang attacks to gain advantage.
The goal of these changes are to give Batman earned ring-out power and additional team utility. Giving a number of different attacks and combo routes that give Batman the ability to stack and maintain Weaken Debuff on the enemy.
+ Aerial and Grounded Side Special: Grapple can now be canceled out of using Jump or Dodge.
This should give Batman additional outplay options and give him some team utility that he was lacking previously.
+ Grounded Down Special: While in smoke Batman and allies ignore enemy projectiles.
This should help Batman with a bit more team utility.
+ Aerial and Grounded Neutral Attack: Batarang on hit now applies one stack of Weaken debuff.
+ Up Air Attack 2: Applies one stack of Weaken debuff.
+ Side Air Attack 2: Applies one stack of Weaken debuff.
+ Grounded Up Attack: Applies one stack of Weaken debuff.
Closed Alpha, May 19th 2022
Batman was a playable fighter in the Closed Alpha.
November 18th 2021
Batman was revealed to be a playable fighter in MultiVersus.
Trivia
MultiVersus marks one of Kevin Conroy's last performances as Batman before his passing on November 10th, 2022.
Oddly enough, in the initial reveal trailer for the game Batman was listed as an Assassin, despite being classified as a Bruiser both on the website and in-game.
This makes Batman the first Fighter to have had his archetype changed.
Batman's defeat animation, which features him throwing two firearms on the floor nervously, references his distaste towards guns.
