10 Batman Questions That Always Confused You

3. Is Bruce Wayne Just A Mask?

No. Well, the answer is a little more complicated than that, but the reality is that Bruce Wayne and Batman are two sides of the same coin, and none is more dominant than the other.

There's been a tendency in some depictions of the character to deem Bruce the mask and Batman the real man underneath. To make that judgement, however, would be a fundamental mistake to make.

Bruce Wayne and Batman are one and the same - you can't separate one from the other. This isn't to get confused with Bruce Wayne's public persona either, which he uses as a means of deflecting suspicion from his nightly activities. Just because he projects a fake image to the public doesn't mean he's consumed with darkness, as was illustrated perfectly in another Darwyn Cooke novel, Batman: Ego.

Bruce is a father, friend and ally to many. He's also extremely compassionate, and while that element is sometimes lost when he suits up, it's never a case that one side of the character represents his 'real' self.