the name of the maincharacter in a comic strip created by Bob Kane in 1939. After his parents are killed by a gangster, Bruce Wayne vows to avenge their deaths by spending the rest of his life fighting crime. He becomes a master scientist and constructs the world's greatest crime lab underneath his home. He then adopts the guise of a mysterious caped crusader, "Batman," to fight the sinister forces of evil. —SHSBC Binder 33 Approved Glossary