What Happened To Everyone Who Became Batman?

10. Jean Paul Valley

The first (and perhaps most infamous) occasion where Bruce Wayne instructed someone else to pick up his mantle came during the lauded Knightfall saga. The crossover, helmed by a veritable who's-who of legendary Batman writers, saw the introduction of the villain known as Bane and left Batman with his back broken and in need of some R-and-R. Naturally, this meant that someone else had to take on the mantle in his absence, but the person Wayne picked was anything but a safe choice.

A few months earlier, DC had introduced the character of Jean Paul Valley to the Batman line of comics in Sword of Azrael, where it was revealed that he was trained by a secretive organisation known as the Order of Saint Dumas. Batman then decides to recruit Valley as an ally, but despite only having been in Gotham for a couple of months, Bruce decides that he'd be the best choice to fill in as Batman while recovering.

What followed was nothing short of disastrous. Valley initially donned Bruce's costume, but then decided to change his approach to fighting crime altogether. He fashioned a new suit, and a new crimefighting mantra altogether, testing it first on Bane before brutalising Gotham's criminals in a way that managed to draw the ire of Bruce, his allies, and especially its criminals.

Bruce would eventually return and reclaim the mantle, culminating in a fight with Valley in the Batcave. Afterwards, and with Bruce's help, Azrael would would uncover his origins, until being killed off later in his own comic.