Side by side with another six-figure British car.

In 1986, the confrontation between the two superpowers reached its climax and turned into the third world war. Nuclear strike razed to the ground dozens of major cities on the continents turning them into a lifeless desert. Millions of tons of radioactive dust raised into the air by the powerful explosions that led to large-scale environmental disaster. The remnants of humanity were thrown back in the development for centuries, and leading a losing battle for survival. Spiral of evolution on Earth has completed its turn and start a new one ...

 

One of the places where you can meet the survivors became Sverdlovsk.

This city with a million people was once the main administrative, industrial and cultural center of the Urals. Perhaps being in the interior of the continent away from the object of the main attack saved it.

 

A handful of survivors settled on the right bank of the dry river Iset in the former building of the circus. The unique design of the dome withstood the shock wave.

 

A second preserved building is unfinished TV Tower maden from the heavy-duty concrete. It was not finished in time of peace, and construction stopped at around 219m.

 

Now, it's just concrete structures buried under the dust .

 

The right bank of the Iset River, between the streets of Kuybysheva, 8-go Marta and the Dekabristov, and all the buildings are made in the scale of 1:2000. (geotaged)

  

Somewhere in another reality ...

 

In 1986, a meeting of Gorbachev and Reagan in Reykjavik, which marked the beginning of a new foreign policy of the USSR. From this moment the relations between the countries have warmed. In Soviet Union Perestroika has began, then another serie of events occured during which the Soviet Union ceases to exist.

 

Sverdlovsk in 1991, was renamed into Ekaterinburg. Circus, located on the corner of Kuibysheva Str and March 8 Str, continues to delight children and their parents. The famous TV tower was never completed. After 1989 began construction financing shortages, and it was frozen. In 90s the tower was a popular place for suicides, adventurers, climbers and BASE jumpers. After a series of resonant accidents access to it was closed.

 

Video aerial view shows the beauty of the center of modern Ekaterinburg.

youtu.be/PoWjtfDNAB0

View All Sizes for larger image!

BRITOMART leads LINDA accrossed Britinnia Bridge at the end of the gala,the evening light shows shadows of all the photographers taking their pictures.

Dodi & David

Character Creation

 

Batman[b] is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book Detective Comics on March 30, 1939.

 

In the DC Universe, Batman is the alias of Bruce Wayne, a wealthy American playboy, philanthropist, and industrialist who resides in the fictional Gotham City. His origin story features him swearing vengeance against criminals after witnessing the murder of his parents, Thomas and Martha, as a child, a vendetta tempered by the ideal of justice. He trains himself physically and intellectually, crafts a bat-inspired persona, and monitors the Gotham streets at night. Kane, Finger, and other creators accompanied Batman with supporting characters, including his sidekicks Robin and Batgirl; allies Alfred Pennyworth and James Gordon; love interest and occasional adversary Catwoman; as well as foes such as the Penguin, the Riddler, Two-Face, and his archenemy, the Joker, among others.

 

Kane conceived Batman in early 1939 to capitalize on the popularity of Superman. Along with Kane, Finger substantially developed the concept from a generic superhero into something more bat-like. They drew inspiration from pulp fiction characters like the Shadow, Sherlock Holmes, & The Green Hornet. Batman received a spin-off publication, Batman, in 1940.

 

Kane and Finger introduced Batman as a ruthless vigilante who frequently killed or maimed criminals, but he evolved into a just, tempered superhero with a stringent moral code that prohibits killing during the 1940s. Unlike most superheroes, Batman does not possess any superpowers, instead relying on his intellect, fighting skills, and wealth.

 

The 1960s Batman television series used a camp aesthetic, which continued to be associated with Batman for years after it ended. Various creators worked to return Batman to his darker roots in the 1970s and 1980s, culminating with the 1986 miniseries The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller.

 

DC has featured Batman in many comic books, including comics published under its imprints such as Vertigo and Black Label; he has been considered DC's flagship character since the 1990s. The longest-running Batman comic, Detective Comics, is the longest-running comic book in the United States. Batman is frequently depicted alongside other DC superheroes, such as Superman and Wonder Woman, as a member of organizations such as the Justice League and the Outsiders.

 

In addition to Bruce Wayne, other characters used the Batman persona, such as Jean-Paul Valley / Azrael in the 1993–1994 "Knightfall" story arc; Dick Grayson, the first Robin, from 2009 to 2011; and Jace Fox, the son of Wayne's ally Lucius, since 2021. DC has also published comics featuring alternate versions of Batman, including the incarnation seen in The Dark Knight Returns and its successors, the incarnation from the Flashpoint (2011) event, and numerous interpretations in comics published under the Elseworlds label.

 

Batman is one of the most iconic characters in popular culture and has been listed among the greatest comic book superheroes and characters ever created. He is one of the most commercially successful superheroes, and his likeness has been licensed and featured in various media and merchandise sold around the world; this includes toy lines such as Lego Batman and video games such as the Batman: Arkham series.

 

Batman has been adapted in many live-action and animated television series and films. Adam West portrayed him in the 1960s Batman television series, and he has been portrayed in film by Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, and Robert Pattinson. Many actors, most prolifically Kevin Conroy, have provided Batman's voice in animation and video games. In September 2024, Batman was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, being the first superhero to receive the honor.

 

Publication History

 

Creation and early history

 

In early 1939, following the success of Superman, DC Comics' editors requested more superheroes.[7] Bob Kane created Batman, initially drawing a character with red tights, bat wings, and a domino mask. Bill Finger, a collaborator, made significant contributions by suggesting a cowl, cape, gloves, and a darker costume.[8] The character's alter ego, Bruce Wayne, was inspired by historical figures Robert the Bruce and Mad Anthony Wayne.[9] Batman's early adventures drew inspiration from contemporary pulp fiction and characters like Zorro and the Shadow, establishing Batman as a master detective with a dark, brooding persona driven by the murder of his parents.[10][11]

 

Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages

 

Batman debuted in Detective Comics #27 in 1939. Early stories were dark, featuring a Batman who did not shy away from killing. The character quickly became popular, leading to his own solo title in 1940. Robin, Batman's sidekick, was introduced in 1940, lightening the tone and boosting sales. Over the next few years, Batman's rogues' gallery expanded with iconic villains like the Joker and Catwoman.

 

The 1950s saw Batman in lighter, science fiction-influenced stories. However, declining sales led to a 1964 revamp by editor Julius Schwartz, who returned Batman to his detective roots and updated his appearance. The 1966 Batman TV series introduced a campy, humorous tone, which was reflected in the comics until its cancellation in 1968. In the 1970s, writers Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams restored Batman's dark, gritty nature, a trend that continued despite fluctuating sales.

 

Modern Age and reboots

 

In the Modern Age of Comic Books Batman comics have undergone significant transformations, reflecting changing storytelling trends and audience interests. Beginning with seminal works like The Dark Knight Returns in the 1980s, which reintroduced Batman in a grittier, more mature context, the character's narrative evolved to explore deeper themes and darker tones. This period also saw the exploration of Batman's origins and psyche through works like Batman: Year One, and Batman: The Killing Joke, which delved into the complexities of heroism and villainy.

 

In the 1990s, storylines such as "Knightfall" introduced new adversaries like Bane, who physically and mentally challenged Batman, leading to a temporary replacement by Jean-Paul Valley. The aftermath of an earthquake in "No Man's Land" depicted Gotham City in chaos, further pushing Batman to new limits of heroism and survival.

 

Entering the 21st century, Grant Morrison's influential run introduced Damian Wayne as Batman's son and heir, bringing familial dynamics and a new generation of challenges to the forefront. Morrison's storytelling also delved into surreal and existential themes, such as in Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis, which tested Batman's resolve and sanity against cosmic threats and personal demons.

 

The New 52 reboot in 2011 refreshed Batman's continuity while preserving core elements of his character. This era introduced modern interpretations of classic storylines, like Night of the Owls, where Batman confronts the Court of Owls, a clandestine society controlling Gotham for centuries. The chilling return of the Joker in "Death of the Family" explored the intricate relationships within Batman's extended family of allies and adversaries. More recent developments under DC Rebirth and Infinite Frontier have continued to evolve Batman's universe, exploring new characters like Gotham and Gotham Girl, and tackling contemporary issues within the context of Gotham City's ever-evolving landscape of crime and heroism.

 

Bruce Wayne

 

Batman's secret identity is Bruce Wayne, a wealthy American industrialist. As a child, Bruce witnessed the murder of his parents, Dr. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne, which ultimately led him to craft the Batman persona and seek justice against criminals. He resides on the outskirts of Gotham City in his personal residence, Wayne Manor.

 

Wayne averts suspicion by acting the part of a superficial playboy idly living off his family's fortune and the profits of Wayne Enterprises, his inherited conglomerate. He supports philanthropic causes through his nonprofit Wayne Foundation, which in part addresses social issues encouraging crime as well as assisting victims of it, but is more widely known as a celebrity socialite.

 

In public, he frequently appears in the company of high-status women, which encourages tabloid gossip while feigning near-drunkenness with consuming large quantities of disguised ginger ale since Wayne is actually a strict teetotaler to maintain his physical and mental prowess. Although Bruce Wayne leads an active romantic life, his vigilante activities as Batman account for most of his time. While Bruce Wayne is never depicted as being especially religious, he is ethnically Jewish on his mother's side; his maternal cousin Batwoman (Kate Kane) is practising. His father, Thomas, raised Bruce as a Christian.

 

Various modern stories have portrayed the extravagant, playboy image of Bruce Wayne as a facade. In Batman Unmasked, a television documentary about the psychology of the character, behavioral scientist Benjamin Karney notes that Batman's personality is driven by Bruce Wayne's inherent humanity; that "Batman, for all its benefits and for all of the time Bruce Wayne devotes to it, is ultimately a tool for Bruce Wayne's efforts to make the world better". Bruce Wayne's principles include the desire to prevent future harm and a vow not to kill. Bruce Wayne believes that our actions define us, we fail for a reason, and anything is possible.

 

Writers of Batman and Superman stories have often compared and contrasted the two. Interpretations vary depending on the writer, the story, and the timing. Grant Morrison notes that both heroes "believe in the same kind of things" despite the day/night contrast their heroic roles display. Morrison notes an equally stark contrast in their real identities. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent belong to different social classes: "Bruce has a butler, Clark has a boss." T. James Musler's book Unleashing the Superhero in Us All explores the extent to which Bruce Wayne's vast personal wealth is important in his life story, and the crucial role it plays in his efforts as Batman.

 

Will Brooker notes in his book Batman Unmasked that "the confirmation of the Batman's identity lies with the young audience ...he doesn't have to be Bruce Wayne; he just needs the suit and gadgets, the abilities, and most importantly the morality, the humanity."

 

Personality

 

Batman's primary character traits can be summarized as "wealth; physical prowess; deductive abilities and obsession". The details and tone of Batman comic books have varied over the years with different creative teams. Dennis O'Neil noted that character consistency was not a major concern during early editorial regimes: "Julie Schwartz did a Batman in Batman and Detective and Murray Boltinoff did a Batman in the Brave and the Bold and apart from the costume they bore very little resemblance to each other. Julie and Murray did not want to coordinate their efforts, nor were they asked to do so. Continuity was not important in those days."

 

The driving force behind Bruce Wayne's character is his parents' murder and their absence. Bob Kane and Bill Finger discussed Batman's background and decided that "there's nothing more traumatic than having your parents murdered before your eyes". Despite his trauma, he sets his mind on studying to become a scientist and to train his body into physical perfection to fight crime in Gotham City as Batman, an inspired idea from Wayne's insight into the criminal mind. He also speaks over 40 languages.

 

Another of Batman's characterizations is that of a vigilante; in order to stop evil that started with the death of his parents, he must sometimes break the law himself. Although manifested differently by being re-told by different artists, it is nevertheless that the details and the prime components of Batman's origin have never varied at all in the comic books, the "reiteration of the basic origin events holds together otherwise divergent expressions".

The origin is the source of the character's traits and attributes, which play out in many of the character's adventures.

 

Batman is often treated as a vigilante by other characters in his stories. Frank Miller views the character as "a dionysian figure, a force for anarchy that imposes an individual order". Dressed as a bat, Batman deliberately cultivates a frightening persona in order to aid him in crime-fighting, a fear that originates from the criminals' own guilty conscience.

 

Miller is often credited with reintroducing anti-heroic traits into Batman's characterization, such as his brooding personality, willingness to use violence and torture, and increasingly alienated behavior. Batman, shortly a year after his debut and the introduction of Robin, was changed in 1940 after DC editor Whitney Ellsworth felt the character would be tainted by his lethal methods and DC established their own ethical code, subsequently he was retconned to have a stringent moral code, which has stayed with the character of Batman ever since. Miller's Batman was closer to the original pre-Robin version, who was willing to kill criminals if necessary.

 

Others as Batman

 

On several occasions former Robin Dick Grayson has served as Batman; most notably in 2009 while Wayne was believed dead, and served as a second Batman even after Wayne returned in 2010. As part of DC's 2011 continuity relaunch, Grayson returned to being Nightwing following the Flashpoint crossover event.

 

In an interview with IGN, Morrison detailed that having Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian Wayne as Robin represented a "reverse" of the normal dynamic between Batman and Robin, with, "a more light-hearted and spontaneous Batman and a scowling, badass Robin". Morrison explained their intentions for the new characterization of Batman: "Dick Grayson is kind of this consummate superhero.

 

The guy has been Batman's partner since he was a kid, he's led the Teen Titans, and he's trained with everybody in the DC Universe. So he's a very different kind of Batman. He's a lot easier; He's a lot looser and more relaxed."

 

Over the years, there have been numerous others to assume the name of Batman, or to officially take over for Bruce during his leaves of absence. Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael, assumed the cowl after the events of the Knightfall saga. Jim Gordon donned a mecha-suit after the events of Batman: Endgame, and served as Batman in 2015 and 2016. In 2021, as part of the Fear State crossover event, Lucius Fox's son Jace Fox succeeds Bruce as Batman in a 2021 storyline, depicted in the series I Am Batman, after Batman was declared dead.

 

Additionally, members of the group Batman Incorporated, Bruce Wayne's experiment at franchising his brand of vigilantism, have at times stood in as the official Batman in cities around the world. Various others have also taken up the role of Batman in stories set in alternative universes and possible futures, including, among them, various former proteges of Bruce Wayne.

 

Enemies

 

Batman faces a variety of foes ranging from common criminals to outlandish supervillains. Many of them mirror aspects of the Batman's character and development, often having tragic origin stories that lead them to a life of crime. These foes are commonly referred to as Batman's rogues gallery. Batman's "most implacable foe" is the Joker, a homicidal maniac with a clown-like appearance. The Joker is considered by critics to be his perfect adversary, since he is the antithesis of Batman in personality and appearance; the Joker has a maniacal demeanor with a colorful appearance, while Batman has a serious and resolute demeanor with a dark appearance. As a "personification of the irrational", the Joker represents "everything Batman opposes".

 

Other long-time recurring foes that are part of Batman's rogues gallery include Catwoman (a cat burglar anti-heroine who is variously an ally and romantic interest), the Penguin, Ra's al Ghul, Two-Face (Harvey Dent), the Riddler, the Scarecrow, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Bane, Clayface, and Killer Croc, among others. Many of Batman's adversaries are often psychiatric patients at Arkham Asylum.

 

Allies

 

Alfred Pennyworth, Batman's loyal butler and father figure, first appeared in Batman #16 (1943). After Bruce Wayne's parents were killed, Alfred raised Bruce and became one of the few people to know his secret identity. He is often portrayed as a steadying presence in Bruce's life, offering both emotional support and practical assistance in Batman's crime-fighting endeavors. More than just a caretaker, Alfred is a trusted ally and sometimes sidekick, sharing Wayne Manor with Bruce and contributing to Batman's mission.

 

One of Batman's most crucial allies is Commissioner James Gordon. Their relationship is built on mutual respect and a shared commitment to justice in Gotham City. In Batman: Year One, Gordon and Batman learn to trust each other, which transforms their efforts against crime into a more effective partnership. Gordon's perspective as a police officer complements Batman's vigilantism, allowing them to tackle Gotham's challenges together. Another important ally is the Justice League, which further emphasizes the importance of collaboration. Batman's relationship with Superman showcases how their contrasting ideologies can complement each other. In stories like World's Finest, their friendship highlights how Batman's methods benefit from Superman's optimism and strength.

 

Sidekicks

 

Robin, Batman's vigilante partner, has been a widely recognized supporting character for many years; each iteration of the Robin character, of which there have been five in the mainstream continuity, function as members of the Batman family, but additionally, as Batman's "central" sidekick in various media.

 

Bill Finger stated that he wanted to include Robin because "Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking." The first Robin, Dick Grayson, was introduced in 1940. In the 1970s he finally grew up, went off to college and became the hero Nightwing. A second Robin, Jason Todd was introduced in the 1980s, following Dick Grayson's departure from the role. Initially impulsive and rebellious, Jason's tenure as Robin was controversial among fans. In 1988, DC held a fan vote to determine his fate in the iconic A Death in the Family storyline, where the Joker brutally beat Jason with a crowbar and left him to die in an explosion. The fans voted for his death. However, Jason was later resurrected and returned as the antihero Red Hood.

 

The third Robin in the mainstream comics is Tim Drake, who first appeared in 1989. He went on to star in his own comic series, and goes by the name Red Robin, a variation on the traditional Robin persona. In the first decade of the new millennium, Stephanie Brown served as the fourth in-universe Robin between stints as her self-made vigilante identity the Spoiler, and later as Batgirl.

 

After Brown's apparent death, Drake resumed the role of Robin for a time. The role eventually passed to Damian Wayne, the 10-year-old son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, in the late 2000s.[58] Damian's tenure as du jour Robin ended when the character was killed off in the pages of Batman Incorporated in 2013.

 

Batman's next young sidekick is Harper Row, a streetwise young woman who avoids the name Robin but followed the ornithological theme nonetheless; she debuted the codename and identity of the Bluebird in 2014. Unlike the Robins, the Bluebird is willing and permitted to use a gun, albeit non-lethal; her weapon of choice is a modified rifle that fires taser rounds. In 2015, a new series began titled We Are...Robin, focused on a group of teenagers using the Robin persona to fight crime in Gotham City. The most prominent of these, Duke Thomas, later becomes Batman's crimefighting partner as The Signal.

 

Romantic interests

 

Batman's romantic history spans decades, filled with relationships that reflect his struggle between personal happiness and his duty as Gotham's protector. His first love interest was Julie Madison, introduced in Detective Comics #31 (1939). Though engaged to Bruce Wayne, she left due to his distant and playboy persona, highlighting the conflict between Bruce's dual life and his desire for a normal relationship.

 

Selina Kyle, also known as Catwoman, is perhaps the most notable figure in Batman's romantic history. Debuting in Batman #1 (1940), their relationship is characterized by a blend of romance and rivalry. Over the years, they have shared intense connections, often navigating the fine line between love and conflict. Their relationship culminated in an engagement during the DC Rebirth.

 

Another important figure is Vicki Vale, a journalist introduced in Batman #49 (1948). Vicki's attempts to uncover Batman's true identity lead to a complicated romantic involvement that waxed and waned over the years, especially during the early 1980s when their relationship became more serious.

 

Talia al Ghul, introduced in Detective Comics #411 (1971), is another key player in Batman's love life. Their relationship is fraught with conflict due to her father, Ra's al Ghul, and his criminal ambitions. Despite the challenges, their love story resulted in the birth of Damian Wayne, who would grow to become the latest Robin and add a new layer of complexity to Batman's character.

 

Additionally, Batman's relationship with Wonder Woman has been explored in various storylines, including a passionate kiss in JLA (2003) during a moment of crisis. However, their relationship remains largely unexplored, often overshadowed by their respective commitments.

 

Abilities

 

Skills and training

 

Batman has no inherent superhuman powers; he relies on "his own scientific knowledge, detective skills, and athletic prowess". Batman's inexhaustible wealth gives him access to advanced technologies, and as a proficient scientist, he is able to use and modify these technologies to his advantage.

 

In the stories, Batman is regarded as one of the world's greatest detectives, if not the world's greatest crime solver. Batman has been repeatedly described as having a genius-level intellect, being one of the greatest martial artists in the DC Universe, and having peak human physical and mental conditioning. As a polymath, his knowledge and expertise in countless disciplines is nearly unparalleled by any other character in the DC Universe. He has shown prowess in assorted fields such as mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry, and several levels of engineering. He has traveled the world acquiring the skills needed to aid him in his endeavors as Batman. In the Superman: Doomed story arc, Superman considers Batman to be one of the most brilliant minds on the planet.

 

Batman has trained extensively in various fighting styles, making him one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the DC Universe. He possesses a photographic memory, and has fully utilized his photographic memory to master a total of 127 forms of martial arts. In terms of his physical condition, Batman is described as peak human and far beyond an Olympic-athlete-level condition, able to perform feats such as easily running across rooftops in a Parkour-esque fashion, pressing thousands of pounds regularly, and even bench pressing six hundred pounds of soil and coffin in a poisoned and starved state.

 

Superman describes Batman as "the most dangerous man on Earth", able to defeat an entire team of superpowered extraterrestrials by himself in order to rescue his imprisoned teammates in Grant Morrison's first storyline in JLA.

 

Batman is strongly disciplined, and he has the ability to function under great physical pain and resist most forms of telepathy and mind control. He is a master of disguise, multilingual, and an expert in espionage, often gathering information under the identity of a notorious gangster named Matches Malone. Batman is highly skilled in stealth movement and escapology, which allows him to appear and disappear at will and to break free of nearly inescapable deathtraps with little to no harm. He is also a master strategist, considered DC's greatest tactician, with numerous plans in preparation for almost any eventuality.

 

Batman is an expert in interrogation techniques and his intimidating and frightening appearance alone is often all that is needed in getting information from suspects. Despite having the potential to harm his enemies, Batman's most defining characteristic is his strong commitment to justice and his reluctance to take a life. This unyielding moral rectitude has earned him the respect of several heroes in the DC Universe, most notably that of Superman and Wonder Woman.

 

Among physical and other crime fighting related training, he is also proficient at other types of skills. Some of these include being a licensed pilot (in order to operate the Batplane), as well as being able to operate other types of machinery. In some publications, he even underwent some magician training.

 

Technology

 

Batman utilizes a vast arsenal of specialized, high-tech vehicles and gadgets in his war against crime, the designs of which usually share a bat motif. Batman historian Les Daniels credits Gardner Fox with creating the concept of Batman's arsenal with the introduction of the utility belt in Detective Comics #29 (July 1939) and the first bat-themed weapons the batarang and the "Batgyro" in Detective Comics #31 and 32 (Sept. and October 1939).

 

Personal armor - Batsuit

 

Batman's batsuit aids in his combat against enemies, having the properties of both Kevlar and Nomex. It protects him from gunfire and other significant impacts, and incorporates the imagery of a bat in order to frighten criminals.

 

The details of the Batman costume change repeatedly through various decades, stories, media and artists' interpretations, but the most distinctive elements remain consistent: a scallop-hem cape; a cowl covering most of the face; a pair of bat-like ears; a stylized bat emblem on the chest; and the ever-present utility belt. His gloves typically feature three scallops that protrude from long, gauntlet-like cuffs, although in his earliest appearances he wore short, plain gloves without the scallops. The overall look of the character, particularly the length of the cowl's ears and of the cape, varies greatly depending on the artist. Dennis O'Neil said, "We now say that Batman has two hundred suits hanging in the Batcave so they don't have to look the same ...Everybody loves to draw Batman, and everybody wants to put their own spin on it."

 

Finger and Kane originally conceptualized Batman as having a black cape and cowl and grey suit, but conventions in coloring called for black to be highlighted with blue. Hence, the costume's colors have appeared in the comics as dark blue and grey; as well as black and grey. In the Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns films, Batman has been depicted as completely black with a bat in the middle surrounded by a yellow background. Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy depicted Batman wearing high-tech gear painted completely black with a black bat in the middle. Ben Affleck's Batman in the DC Extended Universe films wears a suit grey in color with a black cowl, cape, and bat symbol. Seemingly following the suit of the DC Extended Universe outfit, Robert Pattinson's uniform in The Batman restores the more traditional gray bodysuit and black appendage design, notably different from prior iterations by mostly utilizing real world armor and apparel pieces from modern military and motorcycle gear.

 

Batmobile

 

The 1966 television Batmobile, built by George Barris from a Lincoln Futura concept car

Batman's primary vehicle is the Batmobile, which is usually depicted as an imposing black car, often with tailfins that suggest a bat's wings.

 

Batman also has an aircraft called the Batplane (originally a relatively traditionally, but bat-motifed plane, later seen as the much more unique "Batwing" starting in the 1989 film), along with various other means of transportation.

 

In proper practice, the "bat" prefix (as in Batmobile or batarang) is rarely used by Batman himself when referring to his equipment, particularly after some portrayals (primarily the 1960s Batman live-action television show and the Super Friends animated series) stretched the practice to campy proportions. For example, the 1960s television show depicted a Batboat, Bat-Sub, and Batcycle, among other bat-themed vehicles. The 1960s television series Batman has an arsenal that includes such "bat-" names as the Bat-computer, Bat-scanner, bat-radar, bat-cuffs, bat-pontoons, bat-drinking water dispenser, bat-camera with polarized bat-filter, bat-shark repellent bat-spray, and Bat-rope. The storyline "A Death in the Family" suggests that given Batman's grim nature, he is unlikely to have adopted the "bat" prefix on his own. In The Dark Knight Returns, Batman tells Carrie Kelley that the original Robin came up with the name "Batmobile" when he was young, since that is what a kid would call Batman's vehicle.

 

The Batmobile, which was before frequently depicted to resemble a sports car, was redesigned in 2011 when DC Comics relaunched its entire line of comic books, with the Batmobile being given heavier armor and new aesthetics.

 

Utility belt

 

Batman keeps most of his field equipment in his utility belt. Over the years it has shown to contain an assortment of crime-fighting tools, weapons, and investigative and technological instruments. Different versions of the belt have these items stored in compartments, often as pouches or hard cylinders attached evenly around it.

 

Since the 1989 film, Batman is often depicted as carrying a projectile which shoots a retractable grappling hook attached to a cable (before this, a he employed a traditionally thrown grappling hook.) This allows him to attach to distant objects, be propelled into the air, and thus swing from the rooftops of Gotham City.

 

An exception to the range of Batman's equipment are hand guns, which he refuses to use on principle, since a gun was used in his parents' murder. In modern stories in terms of his vehicles, Batman compromises on that principle to install weapon systems on them for the purpose of non-lethally disabling other vehicles, forcing entry into locations and attacking dangerous targets too large to defeat by other means.

 

Bat-Signal

 

When Batman is needed, the Gotham City police activate a searchlight with a bat-shaped insignia over the lens called the Bat-Signal, which shines into the night sky, creating a bat-symbol on a passing cloud which can be seen from any point in Gotham. The origin of the signal varies, depending on the continuity and medium.

 

In various incarnations, most notably the 1960s Batman TV series, Commissioner Gordon also has a dedicated phone line, dubbed the Bat-Phone, connected to a bright red telephone (in the TV series) which sits on a wooden base and has a transparent top. The line connects directly to Batman's residence, Wayne Manor, specifically both to a similar phone sitting on the desk in Bruce Wayne's study and the extension phone in the Batcave.

 

Batcave

 

The Batcave is Batman's secret headquarters, consisting of a series of caves beneath his mansion, Wayne Manor. As his command center, the Batcave serves multiple purposes; supercomputer, surveillance, redundant power-generators, forensics lab, medical infirmary, private study, training dojo, fabrication workshop, arsenal, hangar and garage. It houses the vehicles and equipment Batman uses in his campaign to fight crime. It is also a trophy room and storage facility for Batman's unique memorabilia collected over the years from various cases he has worked on.

 

Fictional Character History

 

The Man Who Laughs

 

Gotham City got its first taste of Batman's greatest enemy, the Joker, when the police found an abandoned warehouse filled with mutilated corpses, all having ghastly rictus grins on their faces. While Batman was tracking down the killer, the Joker himself appeared on live TV, on a news report on Arkham Asylum, killing the reporter with his mysterious laughing venom and predicting the deaths of some of the richest individuals in Gotham. Bruce wondered whether the Joker was a deformed version of the Red Hood, a criminal who fell into chemical waste while being engaged by Batman. The Joker carried out his hits as promised, using his venom, despite Batman's efforts to stop him. The city was thrown into chaos when he invaded a prison facility and sets its inmates free, providing them with weapons and killing all of its guard personnel in the process.

 

The criminals wrought great havoc throughout the city, but ware apprehended by Batman. When the Joker's next target became Bruce Wayne, Wayne Manor came under strict surveillance and guard by the police, rendering Bruce unable to act as Batman. He secretly injected himself with some Joker venom he had gathered. The venom took instant effect, and Bruce was rushed to the hospital.

 

But on the way, Alfred Pennyworth administered him with an antidote that Bruce had synthesized after careful study, and as Bruce recovered, he understood the Joker's true plan. He had gained an understanding of what drove the Joker while under the effects of the venom and had realized that Bruce Wayne's assassination was only a diversion from his real mission, which was killing everyone in Gotham City by poisoning its water reservoir, which Batman deduced from the clues he had gained in the last few days while tracking the Joker. He found and stopped the Joker at the reservoir and refrains from killing him, though not without giving him a severe beating. The Joker was confined to the reopened Arkham Asylum.

 

The Long Halloween

 

In Batman's early years, his main objective was to take down Gotham's biggest crime lord Carmine "The Roman" Falcone. To do this, Batman required the help of two of Gotham's finest, "hero cop" Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent. Despite dealing massive blows to the criminal empire, the Roman still stood tall until a killer by the name of Holiday started making his move and killing a member of the Falcone Crime family on every occasion.

 

Over the course of the story, the trio's morals are put into question, notably Dent's, who has let it be known that he does not care for the deaths of criminals and even contemplated stealing some of the weakened Roman's money. Jealous by the attention Holiday has received, the Joker attempts to release his gas on Gotham Square on New Year's Eve to kill everyone in attendance, and hopefully Holiday but he is stopped by Batman.

 

Later on, it is revealed that Dent owned the same type of gun that was used in the Holiday murders, turning him into a prime suspect. Despite Gordon's suspicions, Batman refuses to believe that his friend, who shares his love for justice, would be a killer. On the Roman's birthday, Sal Maroni, Falcone's rival, is set to testify against Carmine, prosecuted by Dent.

 

Just as things seemed to go Dent's way, Maroni ends up throwing acid in the attorney's face, physically and mentally scarring him. After being rushed to the hospital, Harvey escapes in a crazed state and kills a doctor. Gordon moves Maroni to a new cell, suspecting that he may be Holiday's next target.

 

Surely enough, Holiday makes his move and kills Maroni, and just as he is about to kill Gordon, who was escorting the gangster, Batman appears just in time to save his friend and take down the killer, and he is revealed to be Falcone's son, Alberto, who holds a grudge against his father for neglecting him and keeping him out of the family business. A while later, Dent makes his return, with half his face disfigured, now calling himself Two-Face. He regroups all the costume freaks including Joker, Scarecrow, and Poison Ivy, among others, and bursts into the disgraced Roman penthouse to signify the change that has come to Gotham.

 

Batman appears and takes down the villains except for Dent who holds Falcone hostage. Despite Batman's pleads, Two-Face ends up killing Falcone and then surrenders himself. In the end, when confronted by Batman and Gordon, Dent claims that his methods were the most effective in taking down Falcone. Despite witnessing the corruption of their friend, Batman and Gordon's resolve remains strong and they both vow to never give up on ridding Gotham of evil.

 

Dark Victory and Robin

 

In the aftermath of Roman's death, Falcone's daughter, Sofia Gigante has taken over the family business and vows to kill Two-Face who managed to escape from Arkham Asylum. Meanwhile, a killer by the name of Hangman has been killing various cops and implying that Two-Face is responsible. A gang war erupts between the crime families and the costumed freaks, recruited by Two-Face, and in the crossfire, circus acrobats, the Flying Graysons are killed by Falcone associate, Tony Zucco, leaving the performers' son, Dick, an orphan.

 

Feeling sympathy for the child and remembering his own trauma, Bruce Wayne adopts Dick as his son. However, since Bruce was too busy trying to stop the war as Batman, Dick would often sneak out at night looking for his parent's killer. A terrified Tony Zucco, who knows that Batman is looking for him, is confronted by Dick and due to his poor health, ends up dying of a heart attack. Realizing the boy's vigilante tendencies, Bruce reveals his identity and decides to train him to avoid his death. It is later revealed that Hangman is actually Sofia Gigante and sets Gotham on fire to bring Dent out of hiding but before she could kill him, Batman saves him, allowing Dent to kill her and escape into the sewers with the rest of the super-villains with Batman in pursuit.

 

In the climactic battle, Two-Face and his villainous group find themselves in the bat cave but Dick's presence prevented them from discovering Batman's secret. Batman and Dick end up fighting off and defeating the villains once and for all. In the end, Batman offers Dick a chance to live a normal life away from vigilantism, but Dick insists on joining his war, and so, he becomes Robin, assisting Batman in his mission, and thus the Dynamic Duo was born.

 

Tales of the Ghul

 

While trying to stop the criminal Doctor Dark, who was leading the League of Assassins at the time, Batman meets the enigmatic Talia Al Ghul, who was kidnapped by Dark in an attempt to blackmail her father, the wealthy Ra's Al Ghul. Batman saves Talia and she ends up falling in love with the Dark Knight. One night, Batman discovers that Robin has been kidnapped and then, Ra's Al Ghul, who has used his immense resources to discover Batman's secret identity, appears to him in the Bat-Cave to ask for his help, as his daughter has also been kidnapped, possibly by the same person who kidnapped Robin.

 

The two work together and, accompanied by Ra's' faithful bodyguard Ubu, travels the world looking for the kidnapper. Batman solves various puzzles and obstacles thrown in his path, and after finding both Talia and Robin, he deduces that Ra's was behind the entire ordeal as a personal test, which Ra declares he has passed. Ra's reveals that he wants to change the world into a better place, but to that, he wants to eradicate most of mankind. However, he is growing old and reveals that this machination took place because he needed a successor, and Batman has proven himself worthy of that position as well as the affections of his only daughter, Talia. However, Batman, appalled by his view of the world, sees him as a dangerous criminal mastermind and vows to stop him at all costs.

 

In his crusade to take down the criminal mastermind, he discovers in the story that Ra's has lived for centuries due to the mystical Lazarus Pit, which restores Ra's youth as well as gives him immense strength that allowed him to defeat Batman in a fight. In his pursuit of Ra's and his league, Batman finds himself in Nanda Parbat where Ra's challenges him to a swordfight. After fighting a stalemate, a scorpion stings Batman, leaving him incapacitated. Though Ra's sees Batman as a worthy foe, because he refused his offer, he leaves him to die.

 

However, Talia, still having feelings for the Dark Knight, gives him a final kiss that contained the antidote. Batman recovers from the scorpion's poison, and in a fit of rage, confronts Ra's, who was immobilized with fear at the sight of the recovered vigilante, and decisively defeats him. In the end, Batman embraces Talia and offers her the chance to come back with him, but she refuses, because, despite her feelings for Bruce, she feels that she must remain by her father's side.

 

Just Another Kid on Crime Alley

 

During an encounter with the Joker, Robin is seriously wounded and the media believes him to be dead. Worried about Dick's safety, Batman decides to keep it that way and retires the Robin mantle, but Dick's insists that he will remain a crime-fighter and he would, later on, become the superhero known as Nightwing. On the anniversary of his parent's death, Batman, as is his tradition, keeps watching over Crime Alley, the site of that tragic night. However, on his way back to the Batmobile, he finds a young street orphan by the name of Jason Todd attempting to steal the tires of the car. Though impressed by the kid's courage, he decides to take him to a school for the homeless, but when it is revealed that the school housed criminals, Batman, with Jason's help, takes it down.

 

With nowhere for Jason to go and at the risk of him becoming another criminal on the streets, Batman decides to take Jason in as his own son, and seeing his potential to be a hero and also partly due to the loneliness he experienced after Dick Grayson's departure, offers Jason the mantle of Robin, which Jason gladly accepts. Batman later discovers that Jason's mother died of an overdose and his father was a reluctant partner of Two-Face, who ended up getting killed by the criminal. Although Batman attempted to hide this from Robin, fearing what he may do, his faith in Jason is restored when Robin, having discovered Two-Face's acts, spared him even though he had the chance to avenge his father's death. This made Batman see Jason as a worthy sidekick.

 

A Death in the Family

 

As time passed, it quickly became evident to Batman that Jason was far from the ideal crime-fighter. His conduct on the field was in stark contrast to that of Batman's cold professionalism. Jason would often thrust himself into exceedingly dangerous situations, endangering both student and mentor, giving vent to his inner emotions, which seemed to be dominated by rage. This became even more evident when Jason seemingly killed a serial rapist who had walked free after causing the death of one of his victims. Batman soon realized Robin hadn't coped with the death of his parents and felt it was best to make him inactive.

 

Back at his birthplace in Crime Alley, Jason finds his birth certificate and learns that his mother wasn't the late Catherine Todd, but that three women could be his mother, and all there are out of the country, so he left off in search of the first one, in the Middle East where he coincidentally meets up with Batman who was there tracking down the Joker. Together, they thwart the Joker's plans and take down the terrorists, but to Jason's dismay, the suspected woman is not his mother.

 

Continuing their investigation, and after an encounter with the deadly assassin Lady Shiva, they eventually track down Sheila Haywood, who was working in famine relief efforts in Ethiopia and it is revealed that she is, in fact, Jason's real mother. Bruce leaves Jason to spend time with his mother while he chases after the Joker, but it is later revealed that Sheila was being blackmailed by the Joker into giving him shipments of medical supplies that he can sell in the black market while transferring his deadly Joker gas to relief destinations.

 

Batman orders Jason to stay put while he chases the Joker, but Jason defies Batman's orders and leaves for the warehouse to find his mother. Jason manages to find her and reveals his secret identity to her, but she turns him over to the Joker in an attempt to save her own life. Joker savagely beats Jason with a crowbar, then detonates an explosion that kills both Jason and his mother.

 

Batman arrives just as the explosion goes off, and as he searches through the rubble, he finds, to his horror, the corpse of Jason. Batman grieves over the horrible site and vows to avenge Jason's death and take down the Joker once and for all. Batman vengefully tracks down the Joker, and though he manages to stop his latest death plot, the madman escapes, ending this counter the same way as others, unresolved. Batman continues grieving over Jason's death, considering it to be his greatest failure, and vows to never endanger anyone else in this line of work. Since then, he keeps Jason's costume in a glass casing in the Bat-Cave as a memorial, underneath it reads "A Good Soldier".

 

A Lonely Place of Dying

 

After Jason's tragic death, Batman became more violent and almost self-destructing when he battled crime. Tim Drake, a young boy who witnessed the death of the Graysons, noticed the dark nature of Batman after the loss of Robin. Tim once idolized the Flying Graysons and was in attendance when Dick's parents were killed. He also idolized Batman and Robin, as he saw them as heroes. Tim was able to deduce that Dick Grayson was, in fact, Robin when he noticed the costumed fighter perform an acrobatic move that only Dick could do, and knowing that the former acrobat was adopted by Bruce Wayne, he pieced things together and deduced that the millionaire is indeed Batman. He had figured out that the original Robin was Dick Grayson and thus, Bruce Wayne had to be Batman.

 

Tim knew that Batman needed an ally in his war and after being unsuccessful in convincing Dick to return to the role, Dick petitions Bruce to train Tim to become the next Robin, to keep Batman sane, but Batman refuses, vowing to never endanger anyone but himself in his war on crime. Meanwhile, Two-Face is on the loose and has prepared a plot to kill Batman once and for all, and this would have happened if not for the timely intervention of Tim Drake, wearing the Robin costume with Alfred's blessing and providing the necessary distraction for Batman to defeat his foe. In the end, both Alfred and Nightwing insist that the boy is capable of doing much good, especially under the guidance of Batman, and after much reluctance, Batman ends up agreeing. After a grueling training regime, Tim finally becomes the new Robin.

 

Knightfall

 

After a long time of hard work, Batman and Robin finally succeed in placing all of the worst villains in Arkham Asylum and thus apparently ensuring peace for Gotham. At one point he also encounters Jean-Paul Valley who is called Azrael, a victim of "The System" who was brainwashed into becoming an assassin for the sinister order known as The Order of Dumas, but Batman comforts Valley and takes him in as an ally to fight crime alongside him and reject his previous life.

 

Just when it seemed that Gotham was at peace, a new villain makes his way to Gotham seeking to conquer it and defeat its guardian, the Batman. The villain, known only as Bane, destroys the walls of Arkham and frees every single inmate to rage havoc on the city. Batman, who was also sick at the time, is forced to run a gauntlet of his worst enemies, putting both his body and mind to the test.

 

After a series of plots and encounters that weigh heavily on him, mentally and physically, fighting the likes of the Mad Hatter, the Ventriloquist, Amygdala, Victor Zsasz, Firefly, Riddler, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Joker, and Two-Face, as well as encountering Bane's henchmen Zombie, Trogg and Bird, Batman finally manages to put them all back in prison however still oblivious to the mastermind behind this Gauntlet.

 

Batman finally returns home to rest only to be confronted by Bane, whose plan has come full circle and has come to Gotham to conquer it and defeat its protector. Though having almost no strength left, Batman accepts Bane's challenge and has one final fight. However, he is no match for this skilled foe, whose strength has also increased due to a drug known as Venom, and despite his best efforts Batman is horribly beaten and has his back broken by Bane in his own Batcave, paralyzing him.

 

Bane throws Batman's body in the middle of a crowded street so that everyone sees the fall of the Dark Knight. Before his identity is compromised, Alfred and Robin quickly take him back to the manor to nurse him back to health. However, his will is just as broken as his body, as he realizes that he cannot don the costume again, and since Gotham needs a protector, he entrusts the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley and instructs a distraught Robin to be his ally.

 

Knightquest and Knightsend

 

After his paralysis, Batman is tended to by Shondra Kinsolving, a doctor whom Bruce met before and the two shared romantic feelings. However, one night, Shondra is kidnapped along with one of her patients, Jack Drake, Robin's father, and so, despite being in a wheelchair, Bruce, along with Alfred go after the kidnappers, and track them down to London, leaving Gotham under the care of Robin (who is oblivious to his father's kidnapping) and the new Batman. It is revealed in the story that Shondra had psychic powers, and was kidnapped by her brother Asp who intended to use those powers for his own gain. Bruce is caught in a telepathic exchange between Shondra and Asp, and the energy released causes Bruce to regain mobility of his legs.

 

Now healed, he defeats Asp and saves Drake and Shondra, but the doctor's mental state was regressed to childhood due to the drugs given to her by her brother and she loses all memory of her relationship with Bruce. Preparing to get back into shape and regain his strength, Batman seeks the help of the skilled martial artist and assassin, Lady Shivam who agrees with the condition that he must kill. After several weeks of intense training, when it was time for Batman to kill, he refuses, causing Shiva to send variously skilled assassins after him to force his hand. Bruce defeats the assassins and appears to kill the final one, much to Shiva's delight. However, he had used a technique that appeared to be lethal even though it was not. With his strength now regained, Batman is ready to come back to Gotham.

 

Meanwhile, back in Gotham, Valley, now operating as Batman, attempts to track down Bane, who has now taken control of Gotham's underworld. However, Valley's brainwashing by the Order resurfaces, causing him to become more violent and to start losing control over his sanity. Donning a new tech-heavy costume and refusing Robin as a partner, Valley becomes a far darker and much more violent Batman and eventually manages to defeat Bane and end his reign of terror.

 

As the new Batman watches over Gotham, his vicious and reckless methods became intolerable by Robin, especially when he caused the deaths of the villain the Abattoir and his victims. When Robin tried to reason with him, Valley lashed out at him, almost killing him as he now considers himself to be superior to the real Batman. When Batman returns, having healed from his back injury, Jean-Paul tried to kill him to prove his superiority but Batman defeats and tricks him into removing his costume, thereby getting rid of "the system" in his head. Humbled and regretting his actions, Valley admits to Bruce that he (Bruce) is the one and only Batman and vows to redeem himself in his eyes.

 

Though having regained the use of his legs, Batman decides to travel the world to fully regain his strength, and in his absence gives the mantle to the man he should have given it to in the first place, Nightwing until he comes back.

 

No Man's Land

 

Gotham is struck by a massive Earthquake, one which claims the lives of many people in Gotham. Batman had anticipated the arrival of an earthquake and had all Wayne-funded buildings be protected from such an event, including Oracle's Watchtower and Tim Drake's home, however, his own house did not receive such protection because that may compromise his identity as Batman.

 

Bruce and Alfred barely survive the earthquake, and once out of the rubble, Batman watches in horror his city in ruins and there's nothing he could do about it. With most of the city destroyed, criminals run rampant around the remains, and chaos ensues to the point where Gotham is declared a No Man's Land by the government and it is cut off from the rest of the country. Batman travels to Washington, and as Bruce Wayne does his best to convince Congress to help the city he loves, but he fails to do so, causing him to be distraught and almost loses all hope himself in exile until he is motivated back into action by Talia Al Ghul.

 

Meanwhile in Gotham, with very limited food and resources, new rules are applied and the criminals divide the city into territories and use spray paint to claim ownership of said territories. Members of the GCPD that stayed in Gotham are now known as the Blue boys and they try to maintain order in Gotham. Others join the fight as well, including Oracle, who monitors the entire city and serves as information broker while Helena Bartinelli aka the Huntress, dons a Batman-inspired costume to be more effective as a crime-fighter.

 

Batman eventually returns and adapts to the new rules of Gotham, using spray paint to mark his territory and does everything he can to help his city. He allows Huntress to operate as Batgirl for a while until Two-Face's gang invades his territory and kill several people. Helena was forced to flee and when she refuses to follow Batman's orders anymore, he forces her to relinquish the Batgirl mantle.

 

When things become more dire Batman assembles all his allies including Nightwing, Robin, Jean-Paul Valley and Oracle as well as new Batgirl, the mute Cassandra Caine, who proved herself when she saved Gordon's life from her father the assassin David Caine, and they all fight to take back their city.

 

No Man's Land comes to an end thanks to Lex Luthor, who used legal and illegal means as well as political machinations to fund the renovation of Gotham city all in an attempt to take over himself. Batman allows Luthor to do his work while having Catwoman collect necessary evidence against Luthor regarding his illegal business, thereby preventing Lex from claiming ownership over Gotham.

 

Hush

 

Batman finds himself to be the target of a mysterious conspiracy that pits him against some of his worst villains. While giving chase to Catwoman who was under Poison Ivy's mind control, his bat-rope is cut, causing him to fracture his skull though he is eventually saved by his childhood friend and surgeon Thomas Elliot. Later on, Batman and Catwoman track down Poison Ivy to Metropolis and despite using a mind-controlled Superman against them, Batman manages to get past the Man of Steel and stop the villain. Over the course of this adventure, Batman and Catwoman start to develop a relationship and Batman even reveals his identity to her.

 

Later on, after encounters with Killer Croc, Ra's Al Ghul, Joker and Scarecrow, all seemingly manipulated under the same conspiracy as well as the apparent death of his friend Tommy, he is confronted by someone claiming to be Jason Todd, Batman's old sidekick who was killed years ago, however it turned out to be another ruse.

 

Frustrated and desperate to know who has been manipulating all these villains, Batman investigates further until the villain known as Hush finally makes his presence known and reveals that he is in fact, Tommy Elliot. Tommy had always hated his parents and wanted them dead to collect his inheritance, so he staged a car accident that caused his father's death but Bruce's father managed to save his mother, and because of this Tommy held a grudge against the entire Wayne family. He faked his death using Clayface to throw Batman off his trail, as he was the mastermind behind the entire ordeal. After the intervention of Gordon and a recovered Harvey Dent, Hush falls into a river and manages to escape.

 

In the aftermath, Batman learns that Riddler was the one who told Hush his secret having learned it after using the Lazarus Pit to cure himself of cancer. However, Batman warns Riddler that if he ever decides to reveal this information again, he will feel the wrath of Ra's Al Ghul, ensuring his silence. After all these events, Batman has become more suspicious, causing him to drive Catwoman away as he won't allow himself to fall in love again.

 

War Drums and War Games

 

When Tim Drake's father discovers his alter-ego, Tim is forced to retire as Robin and Batman goes back to working alone, that is until Stephanie Brown, aka the young vigilante known as Spoiler and Tim's ex-girlfriend, petitions to be the next Robin, and though reluctant at first, as he previously didn't see her as hero material, Bruce ends up accepting with the condition that she follow his every order. After training her, he hands her a costume and she officially becomes the fourth Robin. Though initially there were some problems, especially when she used lethal force on the villain Mr. Zsasz, she starts proving herself when she handily takes down Tiger Moth.

 

Stephanie's infectious energy and enthusiasm grow on Batman and he starts to see her as a worthy partner. However, while tracking down the assassin Scarab, she disobeys Batman's order to stay put and ends up getting herself held hostage and almost compromising the mission. Because of that, Batman ends her tenure as Robin. Determined to win back Batman's trust, Stephanie steals from the Bat-cave one of his contingency plans that was supposed to take place in case of crime in Gotham got too out of control. The plan, which she put into motion behind Batman's back, dealt with unifying all the Gotham crime-families under one man, Matches Malone.

 

What Stephanie didn't know was that Malone is actually one of Batman's underground alter-egos, and because Malone was not present at the staged meeting between crime-lords, things went awry and a huge gang war raged in Gotham, causing the deaths of many. Batman's reputation takes a major hit when he is seen by the media in broad day light holding the dead body of a young student who was killed in the crossfire of the gang war, and even more so when makes several morally questionable actions, including forcefully taking over command of the GCPD (which the results in the death of many), and attempting to put his underground ally, Orpheus, as the leader of all the gangs, but the Black Mask makes his move, kills Orpheus and becomes Gotham's kingpin of crime instead.

 

Another consequence of this war was Stephanie Brown's death after intense torture at the hands of Black Mask. Batman was at her side in her last moments and comforted her with the fact that she did earn her place as Robin.

 

Under the Red Hood

 

After the recent war, Batman has lost too much. Robin, Batgirl and Oracle have left Gotham City, Stephanie Brown is dead, Nightwing is injured, the GCPD sees Batman as a criminal and the Black Mask controls all crime in Gotham. However, a mysterious figure known as The Red Hood has been making his move on Black Mask's operations and taking control of his gangs.

 

While intercepting one of Black Mask's shipments, Batman and Nightwing encounter Red Hood for the first time, and as they chase after him, they encounter the cyborg Amazo, which they barely manage to defeat. The Red Hood then steals another one of Mask's shipments tries to blackmail him, but the meeting turns sour with Freeze and Batman and Nightwing getting involved, and all the villains end up escaping. However, during the battle, Batman is intrigued by Red Hood's skills, as he sees something familiar.

 

While intercepting another one of Black Mask's operations, Red Hood is confronted by Batman where they fight to a stalemate. Red Hood finally takes off his mask and to Batman's horror, reveals that he is in fact, Jason Todd, the Robin who apparently died many years ago and even gives him samples of his DNA to prove it before escaping.

 

It is revealed in the story that Jason came back after he was dipped in a Lazarus Pit by Talia Al Ghul. After this revelation, Alfred offers to remove Jason's memorial from the Cave, but Batman refuses, claiming that the recent developments don't change anything.

 

After Red Hood blows up Black Mask's penthouse, the desperate crime lord seeks the help of Deathstroke of the Secret Society, who sends Hyena, Captain Nazi and Count Vertigo to kill the Red Hood. Batman intervenes and together they manage to take down the trio of super-villains, but not without Red Hood killing one of them and escaping.

 

After tricking Black Mask into killing the last of his lieutenants, Red Hood, who has been holding the Joker captive, challenges Batman to come to Crime Alley to end things once and for all. After apprehending Black Mask, Batman complies and meets up with Jason. After an intense back and forth fight, Batman defeats Jason and apologizes for failing him.

 

Disgusted, Jason reveals that the reason he holds a grudge against Batman is that he never killed Joker to avenge his death. He then holds Joker hostage and throws Bruce a gun, and challenges him to make a choice: either kill Joker or kill him. Batman refuses both choices and ends up incapacitating Jason with a Batarang. An ecstatic Joker ends up blowing the entire place and in the aftermath, Jason manages to escape.

 

Infinite Crisis

 

Bruce also becomes more suspicious of other heroes, creating a super satellite called Brother Eye, which is stolen and eventually causes the death of Ted Kord. Things then hit a personal low for Bruce during the story Infinite Crisis when he almost murders megalomaniac Alex Luthor. Bruce realizes his morality is at an all-time low and decides to take a sabbatical from fighting crime.

 

⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽

_____________________________

 

A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.

 

Secret Identity: Bruce Wayne

 

Publisher: DC

 

First appearance: Detective Comics #27 (March 30, 1939)

 

Created by: Bob Kane (Writer)

Bill Finger (Artist)

 

DC Comics Nanoscene

The Batcave

2020, Jada Toys

 

First appearance cover:

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/51710275435/

www.yahoo.com/news/taiwan-ex-president-china-nuclear-1045...

 

Taiwan’s Ex-President On China, Nuclear Power And ‘The Most Stupid Policy In The World’

 

Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, interviewed on Nov. 23 in Taipei, said he wears this T-shirt, with the logo "Nuclear can help," because he believes nuclear plants can meet Taiwan's power needs with technology that's better for the environment.

 

TAIPEI, Taiwan ― Like much of the world, Ma Ying-jeou believes Taiwan is part of China, destined to eventually, someday, reunify with the mainland.

 

As president of the self-governing island from 2008 to 2016, he pushed for more trade to integrate the two economies. In 2015, Ma held a historic summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, becoming the first Taiwanese leader to meet his Beijing counterpart since the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949.

 

Ma’s successor, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, takes a different view. Her Democratic Progressive Party believes Taiwan should remain a de facto sovereign nation. While China has grown more authoritarian under Xi, Taiwan ranks alongside countries like Iceland and Estonia for transparency and democratic openness, far ahead of the United States. And though Tsai has stopped short of triggering potential war by declaring independence or formally disavowing the country’s official title of “Republic of China,” her administration has hewn closely to the U.S. as the global superpower increasingly jockeys with Beijing for military and economic supremacy in Asia.

 

You might think then that Ma’s approach to his country’s energy problems would be to make Taiwan more dependent on China while Tsai would seek a system capable of withstanding whatever blockade or amphibious invasion the People’s Liberation Army might attempt.

 

You’d be wrong. Among the biggest policy differences between the Chinese nationalist Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party is on what Taiwan’s two biggest parties want to do with the country’s four nuclear power plants.

 

An ardent supporter of atomic energy, Ma tried to complete construction on Taiwan’s fourth and most advanced nuclear power station to date, though he ultimately caved during an election year to anti-nuclear protesters’ demand to pause work on the plant.

 

Longmen Nuclear Power Plant, shown on Nov. 23, in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The plant has never opened.

 

After taking office in 2017, the Tsai administration went in the opposite direction, passing a law mandating the phaseout of all nuclear energy by 2025. The government aims to generate most of the highly industrialized republic’s electricity from fossil fuels, particularly natural gas and coal. Tsai had promised that wind and solar would help make up for the zero-carbon generation lost when the nuclear reactors shut down. But those renewables today generate a tiny sliver of Taiwan’s power, almost certainly putting even the government’s revised-down goals out of reach.

 

The debate over nuclear energy mirrors those in South Korea and Japan, but there’s an extra element at play here: Taiwan’s precarious statehood. Unlike those two East Asian neighbors, who represent themselves at the United Nations and can count on the U.S. military to defend them, most of the world recognizes China’s claim to Taiwan. And Washington remains committed, at least on paper, to its policy of “strategic ambiguity” as to whether and how it would fight to defend an island whose government it works with but does not formally recognize.

 

Despite all the punditry drawing parallels with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it’s impossible to definitively predict how a Chinese takeover of Taiwan might pan out.

 

But some things are certain. Taiwan has only a week’s worth of natural gas in storage, and a blockade like the one that followed a controversial visit last summer by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would send gas barges scrambling away from Taiwanese ports. Coal similarly requires steady imports to the island. Same with oil. And while China can’t darken the sun or halt the wind, Taiwan has limited space and resources for solar panels, turbines and batteries, and their supply chains also overwhelmingly run through the mainland.

 

By contrast, nuclear reactors can pump out steady carbon-free electricity for two years or more without needing fresh uranium fuel.

 

I interviewed Ma toward the end of a two-week trip to Taiwan in November, during which I spoke with executives, activists and academics about what could happen if the government successfully ends atomic energy production in the next two years.

 

Professor Tsung-Kuang Yeh, a nuclear scientist at the National Tsing Hua University, has become an outspoken advocate of saving Taiwan's nuclear reactors since the current government's shutdown policy went into effect.

 

Among them was Tsung-kuang Yeh, a prominent nuclear engineer and professor at the National Tsing Hua University. He asked if I would be interested in meeting one-on-one with former President Ma to speak about this issue. On Nov. 23, two days before my return flight to New York, I drove with Yeh to the office in a glassy Taipei tower where Ma’s foundation is headquartered.

 

Ma’s assistant served boba milk tea and, after a few minutes, Ma strode into the conference room with a big grin as he pointed two index fingers at his chest. His blue T-shirt featured polar bears and the English words “Nuclear can help.”

 

We spoke for more than an hour. His staff had been hesitant about me asking about anything other than nuclear energy, but Ma answered every question, touching on his party’s authoritarian past, growing tensions with Beijing and why he doesn’t think Taiwan should be compared to Hong Kong.

 

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

 

I want to start with a question about what Taiwan is. Many of my readers in the U.S. might not have a full understanding of Taiwan’s status in the world, its statehood. There’s a book I read before coming here that compared Taiwan to Israel, the “Israel of the East,” a small country with powerful friends in the West, a world-class technology sector and military prowess.

 

But a comparison I have thought about a lot during my time here, and one that’s very close to my heart, is with Puerto Rico, an archipelago whose sovereignty is controlled by a nearby superpower and whose party politics revolve around questions of status. Where do you feel Taiwan falls between those two places? Are those similarities correct?

 

Usually the world sees Taiwan as a small country facing a big enemy. As you know, we had a civil war with the communists in the late 1940s. Eventually we lost the mainland and moved to Taiwan. In the last almost 70 years, we’ve built an economy which is unparalleled in many ways. Particularly in high technology. A lot of countries actually depend on the supply of [semiconductor] chips from Taiwan. In addition to that, we also showed the world that we’re able to build Taiwan and feed 23 million people and educate them. This is something we’re proud of. But, of course, we have encountered many difficulties: Our relationship with the mainland, our energy problems and a lot of others.

 

No matter what the problems and how difficult they are, I think we have accomplished a lot in the last 70 years, ever since we came here in 1949. We’re proud of our accomplishments, but we also understand the difficulties we’ve had.

 

Another country Taiwan is frequently compared to these days is Ukraine. Do you see that as a fair analogy?

 

Not quite, because Ukraine is connected with the Soviets by land. We’re separated from the Chinese mainland by the Taiwan Strait. It’s more than 100 nautical miles. On the one hand, this is part of our defense. On the other hand, in case we had military difficulties, we have no place to go. That is why wisdom is very important in dealing with a strong neighbor. We speak the same language. We have relatives over there. So we hope we can avoid a war. We have to make all the necessary preparations for war. But we have to try to avoid it and try to seek peace.

 

This is actually the essence of my administration from 2008 to 2016. Before that, we had very little contact with the mainland. When I became president, I tried to establish a relationship never before seen in this part of the world. We concluded 23 agreements with the mainland, covering almost all walks of life. Eventually I had an opportunity to meet with their leader, Mr. Xi Jinping, in Singapore, and we agreed we should solve our differences through peaceful means. I told him, ‘Listen, we’re building a great bridge of peace across the Taiwan Strait. As long as we follow the traffic rules, either side could use it.’ This is what I accomplished as president.

 

Unfortunately, after I stepped down, everything changed. Just giving you an example: An important newsmagazine, The Economist, in their editorial in 2015, they said the meeting between Taiwan and mainland Chinese leaders is the biggest concession the mainland Chinese made regarding the status of Taiwan.

 

That was 2015. Six years later, in 2021, the same magazine had as its cover story: Taiwan, the most dangerous place on Earth. What happened in the six years? Well, the change of government. The policy of the current government made us face this difficult situation.

 

Can you explain what the 1992 consensus is and what it means today?

 

The ’92 consensus is the consensus that binds the two sides together. Mainland China says there’s one China ― they’re that one China. We say the same. Both of us believe in the one-China principle but differ on its interpretation. So the ’92 consensus means one China, respective interpretations.

 

Of course, the current government in Taiwan does not accept that. They have an even more difficult situation with the mainland than we did in those years. The ’92 consensus is the very important common political basis for our relationship.

 

How would you summarize your interpretation of the ’92 consensus?

 

This concerns the respective constitution of the two sides. In our constitution, it says that currently China has two parts: Taiwan and the mainland. The mainland’s says the ’92 consensus is the compass of our relationship. Both sides attach a lot of importance to that concept, because either side of the Taiwan Strait maintains that there is only one China, and Taiwan is part of that China, though we differ on the interpretation.

 

You can see a comparison in the two Germanys before 1972. As you know, in 1972, the two sides of Germany reached an agreement. In English it’s called the [Basic Treaty]. In German, it’s Grundvertrag. That’s how they define each other. That agreement was able to maintain peaceful relations between the two sides in Germany, and eventually they were reunified in 1990.

 

We don’t know if we’ll be reunited with the mainland or not. But at least the existence of the ’92 consensus gives the two sides a reason to treat the other side peacefully.

 

Going off that ― and I only just learned this while I was here ― but the U.S. once proposed that Taiwan and China should have two separate seats at the U.N. At the time, Taiwanese leader Chiang Kai-shek said he didn’t want that and that reunification with the mainland would eventually happen. In hindsight, was that the right decision?

 

Reunification is still very far from us because we need to do a lot of things before we can do that. The most important thing is to maintain a peaceful relationship, otherwise nothing can be done. What I did from 2008 to 2016 was to build that basis of relationship. People asked me: Why didn’t you sign a peace treaty with the mainland? I said, I have signed 22 peace treaties. All these agreements, without peace, cannot be accomplished.

 

So, only one seat at the U.N. was still the appropriate pathway, you think?

 

We haven’t reached that point yet. The mainland would never allow Taiwan to become independent.

 

On the other hand, they want to incorporate Taiwan now. Obviously right now the people of Taiwan do not accept that either. It’s important for the two sides to at least maintain the kind of relationship I helped establish from 2008 to 2016, what I called a peaceful development relationship. Whether we can go from there to reunification is something else that takes time. But at least we have to make the relationship peaceful.

 

You were born in Hong Kong. Obviously the crackdown there since 2019 has changed a lot of people’s views about the reality of “one country, two systems.” Has what we’ve seen in the Special Administrative Region changed your view of what is possible with the mainland?

 

Hong Kong shouldn’t be a good example for Taiwan because Hong Kong used to be a British colony. Taiwan isn’t any other country’s colony.

 

In Hong Kong, before they were part of the mainland, they had freedom and rule of law, but they didn’t have democracy. This is very different from Taiwan. We have all three of these things in Taiwan.

 

You have called Taiwan under President Tsai an “illiberal democracy.” Can you explain that?

 

This idea is from Fareed Zakaria, who used to be a writer for Foreign Affairs, in a book called ”The Future of Freedom.” If a leader who was popularly elected but, once inaugurated, starts to end his own term or to criticize or squeeze the opposition party, then the country is no longer a liberal democracy. It becomes an illiberal democracy. I’m afraid Taiwan is going through that process.

 

You’re probably not aware, but about three years ago one of our TV news stations was shut down by the government.

 

Which one?

 

Chung T’ien Television. It was in 2020. [Taiwanese regulators declined to renew the pro-China station’s broadcast license over its alleged repeated airing of what the government called disinformation.]This is really incredible. No free or democratic country ever did that.

 

In December 2020, one of the professors in National Taiwan University was taken by the police to the police station and interrogated for about two to three hours because he criticized the government’s cultural policy. For me, this is unthinkable. It doesn’t sound like a democratic country. There are quite a few examples, which I assemble here. This is what Fareed Zakaria believes are symptoms of illiberal democracy.

 

ormer President Ma Ying-jeou said it takes time for people to understand the importance of nuclear energy. "Fortunately, in the last couple of years, the situation is getting much clearer and clearer, that the world cannot survive without nuclear power."

 

Taiwan has consistently scored above my own country, the United States, on rankings like the Freedom House, the Economist Intelligence Unit, the Bertelsmann Transformation Index and the Varieties of Democracy’s Liberal Democracy Index. In fact, three out of those four saw an increase in Taiwan’s ranking in the years since you left office. The fourth, BTI, stayed constant. So, what do you think that those scores are missing?

 

In the last couple of years, many people in the United States have considered that American democracy is also in crisis. Your people say this is no longer the United States of America, it’s the Divided States of America.

 

Again, do you think these rankings I listed are ignoring the incidents you’ve highlighted of illiberalism?

 

That’s right. When people have power, sometimes they abuse it. But they have to understand it takes many people’s efforts to have democracy. So they have to be very careful in using their power.

 

You held this historic meeting with Xi Jinping. What do you think is the biggest misconception people in the West have of the Chinese leader?

 

China, everybody knows, it’s a dictatorship. In dealing with mainland China, we certainly have to be careful. But we also have to be fully cognizant that there should be only one China, although we do have different conceptions of what that one China is. On that basis, the two sides can talk to each other and even make some progress on the relationship. The issue of reunification is not an easy one, and it takes many years to accomplish.

 

I’m sure you have read the book by Grant Addison, ”Destined for War.” He studied 12 or 16 cases of European countries to show that war is inevitable. I told him that in China, we had a history of 4,600 years, and 70% of the time China was unified. The other 30% it was divided. From unification to division, or from division to unification, it always took war.

 

We, as the offsprings of those ancient people, should be smarter than they are. We should learn how to solve disputes in a peaceful way. This is what I told Mr. Xi Jinping in Singapore, face to face. I told him that, where we sit with “one China, respective interpretations,” we will not interpret that as “two Chinas,” “one China, one Taiwan” or “Taiwan independence.” We do this not to please you. Rather, this is just not tolerated in our constitution. We have to find another way to accommodate each other’s differences in a peaceful way. I’m confident we can do this.

 

I want to switch to energy now. Nuclear power once provided more than half the electricity in Taiwan. Now it’s down to about 10%, and the government plans to phase it out completely by 2025. What do you see as the biggest motivator for the “nuclear-free homeland” policy we’re seeing implemented now?

 

If I understand correctly, the nuclear-free homeland idea came up when President Tsai Ing-wen was chairwoman of the DPP. So, 11 years ago. At the time, what happened in Fukushima [the 2011 disaster at the nuclear plant in Japan] really scared everyone. The DPP from the very beginning was opposed to nuclear power.

 

For a country like Taiwan, nuclear power is so important. We started using it about 40 years ago, and we’ve had a relatively good system. I don’t know if you have seen the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency [on countries’ “unit capacity factor,” a measure of how efficiently nuclear plant operators are running reactors]. There are 31 countries in the world that have nuclear power. We have actually been among the top five in the world for quite a while. That means we have actually outperformed at our plants at roughly 90%. This is something we’re proud of.

 

I met with President Tsai six years ago, after she was first elected. We had a meeting about the transition. I said, “You’ve got to understand, you plan to amass 20% of energy to renewables, but this is not possible.” Bloomberg Intelligence predicted Taiwan can do only about 9%. My economic minister said no more than 10%. But Tsai wants to have 20% by 2025. I think that’s not possible.

 

Her response was shocking. She said, “My energy expert told me it is possible.”

 

That’s convenient.

 

What happened next is, a year later, we had nationwide blackouts in 2017. So far we’ve had five of these big blackouts, precisely because we do have an electricity problem.

 

It was in 2014, when you were still president, that the fourth plant was mothballed. I imagine you intended that to be temporary?

 

The decision was made by me. The reason being, at the time, there was a big difference between the two parties. I thought, maybe we should make that decision sometime later. I thought, this is the right decision, at least to avoid the imminent clash between the two political parties.

 

We believe that after a while we may be able to do it again. But it takes time.

 

When you say “clash between the two parties,” do you mean you were concerned it would take an electoral toll on your party if you did not postpone the power plant?

 

Yes. There was a very acute clash between the two parties. At the time, people thought nuclear power was really dangerous. They didn’t understand we’ve done very, very well ever since we’ve had nuclear power.

 

So you were hoping that, in the two years, the KMT would be reelected and you could help educate people in the interim?

 

Yes. It takes time for people to understand how important nuclear power is. Fortunately, in the last couple of years, the situation is getting much clearer and clearer, that the world cannot survive without nuclear power. That’s the reason I wear this T-shirt.

 

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi had a similar message at the U.N. climate summit in Egypt just last week.

 

Earlier this week, I was on Lanyu, where a past KMT government decided to store low-level radioactive waste. Once the indigenous Tao people discovered what was going on at the facility, which I actually just visited yesterday, they protested, and it helped to fuel the anti-nuclear movement. What do you think that the government could have done differently back then? Was it a mistake to put the waste on Lanyu in the first place?

 

When we did it, it was more than 30 years ago. After 30 years, people there and elsewhere understand it’s not as risky as people thought. This is very important. People there certainly now hope the waste will stay so they continue to get the subsidies. We’re looking for other places in order to deposit the nuclear waste. But people understand it’s not as dangerous as they thought.

 

One of the arguments I’ve been hearing a lot from anti-nuclear people is that there’s not any room to store the waste. It makes me wonder if there’s enough room, then, for all the renewables you need to replace nuclear power. Do you think that there is enough room to keep what spent fuel you have and continue to produce nuclear energy?

 

The current government’s policy to develop renewable energy to replace nuclear power is, I think, the most stupid policy in the world. No country has done that. Why? Because nuclear power is considered green energy already.

 

We should use renewable energy to replace coal or natural gas. But not nuclear.

 

What do you think of the current government plan to become more dependent on liquefied natural gas? I know they’re building a new import terminal in Taoyuan County. What are your biggest concerns with that plan?

 

Just recently, when our president talked to the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dr. Lee Yuan-tseh, the Nobel winner asked the president: “If you do this, what will happen in 2025?” Her answer was really shocking. She said, “Well, my term ends in 2024, so anything after that, I don’t know. I won’t be responsible.”

 

This is their problem: I don’t know whether they are fully aware. In Taiwan, we should develop renewable energy for sure. Actually, I was the person who pushed for the enactment of the 2009 Renewable Energy Development Act. But Taiwan’s natural conditions are not really that good for either solar or wind. Nuclear power is still very important to Taiwan. The percentage of nuclear should be at least 20% [of the national energy mix]. Renewables can hardly reach 20%. Maybe they can do 15%. I hope we can be able to have more nuclear energy that can better serve our country.

 

Taiwan is an economy that cannot just be stopped even temporarily without electricity.

 

The DPP was founded the same year as the Chernobyl disaster, so I’ve heard the argument that this has always been part of the party’s founding mythology. I’ve also heard the argument that the DPP perceives nuclear power as a partisan issue, something that the KMT pursued and which you must be against if you’re against the KMT.

 

In a way, it’s become the ideology of the DPP. They believed that this was a bad thing for Taiwan from the very beginning. But they fail to find out what else we can do if we lack the conditions to develop renewable energy. Certainly we’d be happy if we could develop as much renewable energy as the DPP thought they could. But it’s not the case.

 

When people say they’re afraid of earthquakes or afraid of Fukushima, what do you say? Like Japan, Taiwan sits within the seismic Ring of Fire. Is there something fundamentally different about Taiwan’s nuclear power plants that makes a situation like Fukushima unlikely here?

 

If you knew Fukushima, you’d understand there’s no single person who died out of contamination of radioactivity. Not a single one. This is also true in Taiwan. We have had nuclear power for more than 40 years. There’s no single person who’s died from radioactivity. But there are a few people who just don’t like the truth. There’s even some DPP politicians who keep finding some geological fault regarding the location of the nuclear power plant. I think it’s just very stupid.

 

Are you aware that nuclear power plant No. 4 was under their supervision and, because of the budgetary problems, Ms. Tsai actually increased their subsidy in order to make it work?

 

The DPP itself probably had an anti-nuclear ideology. But after so many years, people should understand this is really a myth. I don’t know why they still stick to it.

 

What about the hunger strike protest at the time, which had garnered a lot of attention?

 

You’re talking about the DPP politician? Lin Yi-hsiung?

 

Yes.

 

You have to understand, Mr. Lin has been deified. He’s been treated like a god. Whatever he says, people have to follow. That makes it even more difficult to solve the problem.

 

But I’m sure after so many years people are starting to understand nuclear power is no longer something very dangerous.

 

In hindsight, is there a way you wish you could have responded to those protests at the time? Could you have prevented him from being deified?

 

The reason why I mothballed the nuclear power plant was precisely because I wanted to avoid the forthcoming clash between the people. On the fourth nuclear power plant, we still had some work to do, so we could wait for a while. But after so many years, after so many debates, I think people now understand nuclear power isn’t that bad. If we really want to move Taiwan ahead, we have to use it.

 

I imagine nuclear power will be part of the KMT’s platform in two years.

 

Of course.

 

What would you say to a regular voter to persuade them? How prominent do you imagine the energy issues being in that campaign two years from now?

 

It’s now a little easier than before to convince people that we need nuclear power because renewables, as we said, do not come so easily. They have their own problems, too. We have to have an economy with multiple energies: renewables, coal, natural gas. They all should have their respective place in the energy picture. To get rid of nuclear power isn’t very feasible or smart. It has a lot to do with, as I said, ideology.

 

But if you look at what happened more than 10 years ago, even the current president asked the nuclear plant supervisor to work harder to achieve our target and offered to give more money to complete the construction. This is so political that it makes people think, “Don’t trust those politicians.”

 

Will the deployment of small modular reactors change perceptions and make it easier to build new nuclear reactors again?

 

I believe so, but it takes some time for the training and to help people understand SMRs. Our American friends may be able to help us with this. Then we wouldn’t have to build a big nuclear plant, which is not so welcome by the people living nearby.

 

We have several science parks, which are very important in our computer and other industries. For things like that, having the small reactors would make nuclear more marketable.

 

Some big manufacturers in Taiwan are looking at building small modular reactors abroad, maybe in the Philippines, with hopes that someday, if policy changes in Taiwan, they can bring the technology home. Are you concerned that that demonstrates a loss of economic competitiveness for Taiwan, especially as its neighbors, such as Japan, South Korea and China, embrace nuclear energy?

 

The general trend of the world is quite clear. If you look at what happened in South Korea and Japan, they have their own independent energy systems. Taiwan is the same.

 

Look at what happened in Germany. Germany was the country that led the fight against nuclear power after the Fukushima incident. They were supposed to phase out all of the nuclear power plants by the end of this year. But they’ll have some delays now to make sure they get through the winter. The Ukraine war makes it very clear that energy becomes a weapon. Germany learned that lesson. And this is even with a coalition government where the Green Party plays an important role, I think even the economic minister is a Green.

 

That’s right. Robert Habeck.

 

They have gone so far as to phase out later instead of sooner. This is something not so easy. Everybody learned something in the process.

 

I want to ask one more question related to Ukraine. Right now, as you said, Russia is waging war against Ukraine through what the Financial Times recently referred to as a “blackout blitz.” That’s both in terms of just bombing electrical infrastructure and limiting how much natural gas is flowing to Ukraine’s allies. Are you worried that increased reliance on natural gas could be used as a weapon against Taiwan?

 

Of course!

 

What do you say to people who say, “If war comes, we don’t want there to be a nuclear power plant that could be bombed”?

 

People in Taiwan have so far appreciated the lessons Ukraine has taught us, particularly concerning liquefied natural gas. As you know, under the DPP’s energy blueprint, LNG will occupy 50% of the energy mix. We import all the LNG from Middle East countries. We produce nothing.

 

That could become a very important weakness of our national security. Mainland China doesn’t even have to fire a shot. They could just announce: “Stop exporting LNG to Taiwan” and suddenly we cannot cook! It’s not a question of the military but of our households. It’s very important that we know we have to become a multi-energy country. Coal has to be reduced as much as possible. Natural gas, you cannot really let 50% of your energy supply depend on LNG.

 

You have had a very blunt attitude about what a military conflict would be like with China. The phrase you have used is: “The first fight would be the last.” I think all Taiwanese agree that war must be absolutely avoided. Do you really think defense is pointless? What role does energy play in deterrence?

 

Generally people in Taiwan now do not appreciate the problem of energy’s place in our national security. Maybe it’ll take a little while for them to understand. But we have to keep in mind that we can’t let energy like natural gas occupy 50% of the picture. We import 100% from abroad. That could kill us. Sooner or later, people will have to understand nuclear power is much more dependable than fossil fuels.

 

Is nuclear power a better deterrent than F-16s?

 

Look at what happened in Germany. When Germany said it wanted to phase out all the nuclear power plants by 2022, they seemed so confident it would happen. But it changed. And, I’m sure you know, the price of electricity in Germany is five times that of Taiwan.

 

If we depend so much on fossil fuel, we certainly will have the same problem. The price of electricity will go up 30%, maybe even 45%. What happened in the world over the past couple of years gradually made people appreciate that the role of nuclear energy is very different than what they thought before.

 

I’d like to end on a lighter note. What do you think is Taiwan’s greatest cultural export? Is there one thing you love particularly ― one food dish, one piece of music or art or a movie from Taiwan that you think the rest of the world should enjoy?

 

Ever since we started our relations with the mainland, the popular songs of the two sides have become an important part of life. One of our singers, Deng Lijun, actually occupied the minds of many, many mainland Chinese.

 

Nowadays, there’s another mainland Chinese singer, Hong Qi, a young man who wrote about a love affair in Xinjiang in a remote area. It’s been sung by several billion people. It’s really incredible. The cultural bonds of the two sides make it a very important element of our relationship.

 

When Taiwanese songs became very popular on the mainland, the name of the singer was Deng, like [the former Chinese leader responsible for reopening the country to global trade] Deng Xiaoping. They called the lady “small Deng” and him “Big Deng.” That’s the sort of thing that binds us together. We should continue to do that.

 

What is one phrase in Mandarin that you wish Americans knew?

 

I was told that on an occasion when mainland philosophers and educators met from different cultures, just like you asked, everyone was asked to pick just one sentence. Eventually the one that got the approval of almost everyone in Chinese was: 己所不欲，勿施於人。

 

“If you don’t want something, don’t force someone to do it.”

 

It’s something everyone believes is important. It’s from Confucius, someone who existed more than 2,500 years ago.

 

And yet relevant today still.

 

They give us many, many good lessons, even in areas of ecology. Mencius was also a disciple of Confucius and says you should not use fish nets that are so small that you cannot let all other species of fish go, that that will actually kill the fish.

 

When I studied the law of the sea at Harvard University, I understood that in the year 1990, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that forbade the use of drift nets. You know what a drift net is? It’s a very big net that grabs almost everything, even seabirds. So they said no North Pacific countries should allow the fishing boats to use that. I looked at that and said, God, we had this 2,600 years ago. In the time of the Zhou dynasty, every fisherman, if he caught a small fish, he’d have to give it back to the sea. At the time, people were ecologically so advanced.

 

It feels like we’re relearning a lot now.

 

When I was the mayor of Taipei City, we were supposed to have a ceremony for Confucius every year on his birthday. I’d repeat that story and say, “Don’t believe that ancient people are stupid.” They are not. They have ideas that we do not have in our society about nature. This is something that shows how important and how great Chinese culture is.

MPI MP32PH-Q locomotive #108's rated 3200 hp is more than sufficient power for the usual two-car SunRail train. Acceleration is certainly brisk.

The card that Charlotte gave me ... carried everywhere. I wouldn't have made it here without that card.

A Class 87 arrives with an express as two more pass with a Freightliner.

History:

Robbie Zane, thrill seeker. An adrenaline junkie who puts his body in danger by sky diving, dirt bike racing, and any other extreme sport that catches his interest, Robbie excels at his hobbies. He attended NPU for a marketing degree, but his main goal was to gain sponsorship as an extreme athlete. It was during one of his exploits that fate would grant Robbie the opportunity of a lifetime. While snowboarding the dangerous slopes of Mt. Erling, he ended up falling into a ravine. Lucky to be alive, Robbie followed the narrow path into a cave where he found a bright blue glowing rock. The pulsating blue crystal was the remnant of a comet that landed on the mountain not long ago. When he picked up the rock, a strange transformation took place. Robbie discovered that he had the power to control sub-zero conditions as well as being able to move at Mach speed. He can do a number of tricks like making ice ramps to ride on, freezing the ground to ensnare or make people fall, and shoot ice missiles or cold waves at attackers. He can also resist extreme cold temperatures. With his lightning speed, he can move at Mach speed levels making him able to run up walls, across bodies of water, and resist the effects of g-force. He can also use this power to propel himself into a person or structure causing massive damage. The icy stone seems to have slowed his aging process but to an unknown degree so far. He secretly experimented with his new powers, learning these new stunts and tricks. Wanting to use his powers for the good of mankind, Robbie has dubbed himself Kid Komet. He “ices up” to take on the most extreme challenge of them all, protecting the citizens of New Block City.

 

Built for the League of Lego Heroes

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Eueophoenix owned/Rail Operations Group (ROG) operated 37884 & 31452 work the 4Z01/1412 Carlisle to Thoresby Colliery, conveying a Loram rail grinder through Winwick (Old Alder Ln) on 25.2.17

A pair of Union Pacific superpower, the GE 8500 GTEL turbine and the EMD DDA40X, pose at the IRM during a fund-raiser to help celebrate IRM's 60th Anniversary in Union. These two models never met in regular service, as the turbines were retired by 1969 when the DDA40Xs joined the roster.

Character Publication History

 

Ultron is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

 

Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, the character first appeared as an unnamed character in The Avengers #54 (July 1968), with his first full appearance in The Avengers #55 (August 1968).

 

He is a highly intelligent self-aware artificial intelligence in a robot body who develops a god complex and a grudge against his creator Hank Pym, with whom he would later merge.

 

His initial goal to destroy humanity in an attempt at creating world peace has brought him into conflict with the Avengers. Stories often end in Ultron's destruction, only for new offshoot iterations of the robot to be built of varying morals, including the superhero Ultron-12 (Mark Twelve).

 

Ultron's physical body is made of a durable alloy, and he has manifested various superpowers. These vary between different stories but generally include superhuman strength, speed, and agility, flight, and energy projection.

 

The character usually operates alone or accompanied by legions of copies of his own robotic form known as Ultron Drones. Ultron is notable for being the first character in Marvel Comics to wield the fictional metal alloy adamantium and for his (in-story) creation of the Vision.

 

Debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Books, Ultron has since featured in Marvel products across different media, such as animated television series and video games.

 

Tom Kane and Jim Meskimen are among the actors that have portrayed the character via voice acting. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), James Spader portrayed Ultron in his first live-action appearance in the Marvel Studios film Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), while Ross Marquand voiced alternate universe versions in the Disney+ animated series What If...? (2021) and the film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).

 

The character Ultron initially appeared as an unnamed character in a cameo in The Avengers #54 (July 1968), with a first full appearance in The Avengers #55 (August 1968).

 

Ultron was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema. Thomas, who has acknowledged he finds naming characters difficult, said he liked the -tron suffix and went from there.

 

The use of the suffix and the prior appearance of a group of robots named Ultroids led him to the name Ultron. Thomas said the idea of the character and his appearance were heavily based on Makino, an obscure robotic villain who appeared in an issue of the Captain Video comic book. He liked the robot's malicious looking smile, showing this to Buscema.

 

Jocasta, a robot created by Ultron featured in a number of Ultron storylines, was created by Jim Shooter and George Pérez for The Avengers #162 (August 1977).

 

Origin

 

Ultron was created by Dr. Henry Pym, based upon his own thought and memory engrams. It was a foray into Artificial Intelligence that no scientist had ever taken before, not even Reed Richards. It started out as simply a box on treads with what appeared to be a head at the top. Dubbing the A.I. as Ultron-1, he hoped this represented a new era in scientific discovery. However something went horribly wrong, and Ultron became more than sentient and rebelled against his programming. He also defeated and then brainwashed Dr. Pym into forgetting that he had ever created him in the first place.

 

Major Story Arcs

 

Masters of Evil

 

Ultron took on the guise of the Crimson Cowl and formed the Masters of Evil to battle against his creator and the other Avengers. Ultron made every effort to improve himself with each upgrade and the Avengers finally encountered Ultron-5 some time later, whom had developed a much more humanoid body. Ultron-5 built an android from the brain patterns of Wonder Man and the body of the Mad Thinker's Human Torch. This android would later become known as Vision. Vision differed from his creator, in that he had a conscience and rebelled against Ultron on his first mission to kill the Avengers.

 

The Many forms of Ultron

 

Ultron-6 was able to manipulate Vision into stealing Adamantium and using it to remake his creator's body out of it, which would make him nearly indestructible. After his success with the Adamantium, Ultron battled the Avengers again. Although he was tricked (by Pym) into self-destructing, destroying his entire body except for his head. The head was later found in Attilan where Maximus made a new body for it.

 

Ultron-7 had a gigantic body, but this body wasn't cast from Adamantium, making it somewhat easier to destroy. And, indeed, it was destroyed by the Fantastic Four a short time thereafter.

 

Creation of Jocasta

 

Ultron-8 obtained control of Hank Pym's mind and used him to create Jocasta, on which he based the thought engrams of Pym's wife, the wondrous Wasp. But he was subsequently destroyed by the Scarlet Witch.

 

Ultron-9 was built by Iron Man, whom was hypnotized into doing so by one of the previous incarnations of Ultron. This one was knocked into a pool of liquid Adamantium which cooled, encasing him eternally in a block of the virtually indestructible ore.

 

Ultron-10 began building spare bodies to work as his subordinates and to act as a new body for him if he were to be destroyed again. Which proved prophetic, as he was promptly destroyed by Machine Man.

 

Secret Wars

 

Ultron-11 was created to fight in The Beyonder's Secret Wars. After attempting an attack on Galactus, Ultron-11 was neutralized by him and yet was re-programmed by Dr. Doom so as to make it more amicable toward humans.

 

Ultron-12 was built by Ultron-11 before he left for the Secret Wars, and joined the Lethal Legion. However, Ultron-12 had second thoughts when he was confronted by Vision (Ultron's "son"), Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man. He reconciled with Dr. Pym (his "father") and renamed himself Ultron-mark 12 or "Mark". Ultron-11 returned from Battleworld and destroyed "Mark", causing Wonder Man to tear Ultron-11 apart in retaliation.

 

Acts of Vengeance

 

Ultron-13 was built by Doctor Doom with the memories of all of the previous incarnations of Ultron intact for the purpose of killing Daredevil. Unfortunately, this Ultron had thirteen distinct personalities in its mind all at once. This proved essential in his defeat as Daredevil whom, until Ultron began destroying himself, had had no luck harming the Adamantium-cast robot. This Ultron's next plan was to transform humanity into robots, but before he could carry out this dastardly deed he was captured by the Avengers.

 

Creation of Alkhema

 

Ultron-14 dubbed himself "the Ultimate Ultron" after another upgrade and decided that he didn't desire to simply kill all humans, but all organic life as well. This incarnation also created Alkhema, which was based on the thought engrams of Mockingbird.

 

Slorenia in Ruins & The Sentient Armor

 

Ultron-15 was made from pure Adamantium, and created hundreds of new Ultron bodies completely loyal to him: the Ultron army. This wave of robots annihilated the nation of Slorenia and then taunted the world with a broadcast showing, in grim detail, all of the havoc the army had wreaked. This Ultron was destroyed by Pym using Antarctic Vibranium which can disintegrate all nearby metals, including Adamantium.

 

Later, Alkhema used the acquired engrams of Pym, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, Wonder Man and his brother the Grim Reaper, to transfer them into robotic bodies to attack the Avengers. Unbeknownst to Alkhema, she was influenced by the Ultron Imperative to rebuild Ultron. The Ultron Imperative failed after the intervention of the Avengers. Then, Ultron himself took over Tony Stark's sentient armor. However, he was seemingly destroyed in an explosion.

 

Ultron was later seen as the leader of the Sons of Yinsen cult, posing as the mind of Ho Yinsen inside Tony Stark's former suit of sentient armor. He attempted to use his new religion to conquer the world, but was once again defeated and destroyed.

 

Runaways

 

He later resurfaced in the Runaways storyline: True Believers, as the father/creator of Victor Mancha.

 

Mighty Avengers

 

Next, he appeared in Mighty Avengers, having taken a form resembling Wasp, after seemingly killing Iron Man when he took over his armor. He was also revealed as the mastermind of the Phalanx's takeover of Kree space during 'Annihilation Conquest'. The only thing that really distinguished Ultron-Pym from former incarnations was that this Ultron was a polygamist.

 

Annihilation Conquest

 

After Ultron's encounter with the Avengers, his consciousness was thrown into the depths of space. He spent a few months floating through the cosmos as radio-waves and energy. Eventually his signal was picked up by an outlying group of Phalanx , attempting to contact their parent race, the Technarchy. Fascinated by what he found, Ultron decided that the Phalanx lacked direction from a singular conscious, and that he would be perfect for the role. Through sheer force of will he merged himself with the programming of the Phalanx, laying his plans in motion.

 

Under Ultron's guidance the Phalanx managed to subjugate the entirety of Kree space after enclosing it behind an impregnable barrier that separated it from the rest of the galaxy. Ultron led the Phalanx from the heart of the spire. It was only after Phyla-Vell found and awakened Adam Warlock,that he returned to a physical form, prompting him to eliminate Select Korath for failing him.

 

Using the coordinates of their last encounter with Warlock and his allies, Ultron was able to follow them to the hideout of the High Evolutionary. With a squadron of Phalanx drones he was able to break through the Evolutionary's defenses and reach the inner sanctum of his laboratories. Ultron launched a merciless assault on Warlock and his friends. He personally killed Moondragon, punching his fist through her chest, before challenging Adam Warlock. He sent his phalanx drones to apprehend Warlock at first, then to restrain the High Evolutionary.

 

After watching Adam face off against Ultron's children for a short time, he reentered the fray, in order to better gauge his abilities. He was able to withstand Warlock's assault, and at the same time decipher that he had been newly reborn. Ultron also noticed that Adam lacked full control over his new powers. Not even a fully enraged Quasar was able to phase Ultron, and the High Evolutionary resorted to sending the star on which his base resided into Super Nova, hoping to destroy Ultron. He wasn't destroyed by the Evolutionary's ploy, however, for he managed to transfer his conscious into another body. He returned to the Spire, where he found the newly captured Star-Lord and prepared to vent his frustrations out on the captive hero.

 

Ultron watched as Star-Lord was tortured, only becoming bothered when his minions failed to retrieve the desired information. After they informed him that the hero's mind was shielded, he took it upon himself to pierce his mental defenses. He sent his Selects in search of the telepath responsible. Then, turning his attention back to Star-Lord, he decided his scientists were right and returned to physical torture to gain the information he wanted.

 

Ultron managed to track down the High Evolutionary, offering him impunity in order to convince him to aid in his conquest. The High Evolutionary captured Adam Warlock, betraying his trust, and transferred the conscious of Ultron into Adam's body. Now housed in the body of Warlock, and possessing his powers, Ultron set about to continue his true plans. Using his experience merging with Tony Stark, he hoped to use the DNA of Adam Warlock to create the perfect hosts for the Phalanx and thus, ultimate techno-organic beings.

 

Leaving the High Evolutionary to finish his task, Ultron left to deal with the problem of the insurrectionists. As he teleported in, he immediately took out Mantis, the group's telepathic and precognitive resident. He then set his sights on the rest of Star-Lord's team. They were only saved by the timely arrival of Nova and his reinforcements. Then Warlock, Adam's namesake, engaged Ultron in battle; ultimately managing to use his mutant strain of the Techno-virus to force Ultron out of Adam Warlock's body.

 

Ultron then transfers his consciousness into the body of Praxagora. Using Prax's connection to the Sentry swarm to create a new body for himself to inhabit. Before he left, he messed with the balance in her core control, causing her to explode and take the Kree's ship with her. He then constructed a massive form for himself. Ultron continued combating Adam and his allies, still confident of victory. Warlock manages to use the resources available to him to defeat Ultron, by having Wraith use his powers to trap Ultron's consciousness inside his current body. Then he created a blade for Phyla to destroy Ultron with. This defeat was seemingly the end for the mechanical menace.

 

Ultron War

 

Following the aftermath of the Siege, the Avengers were confronted by Kang the Conqueror and the Maestro who revealed that a war between Ultron and Kang had shattered the time space continuum from Kang constantly traveling in time and assembling several heroes and villains to stop Ultron. The Avengers were able to convince the future Ultron to lose to Kang and in doing so, kept the splintered time lines from happening. Later, also in Avengers, the Intelligencia discovered the inert body of a Galadorian Spaceknight and attempt to reactivate its power source, hoping to exploit it. Although the Avengers interrupt their attempts, the body activates, revealing it was containing the consciousness of Ultron, who had escaped destruction after the events of Annihilation: Conquest. The new Ultron escapes knowing it can't fight the Avengers or the Intelligencia in it's new awaken and weak form. Iron Man gravely foresees that when he returns, it will bring the apocalypse for mankind as shown during their time jump. That the Ultron War will now happen.

 

Age of Ultron

 

After years of upgrading, Ultron finally takes over the world. Millions of Ultron-bots roamed the streets, destroying any human they found, forcing the heroes into hiding. After Hawkeye is able to rescue Spider-Man from a gang of villain who were plotting to turn him over to Ultron, She-Hulk and Luke Cage discover that Ultron is controlling the Vision from the future.

 

The heroes then retreat to the Savage Land, where they learn that Ultron has killed She-Hulk and mortally wounded Luke Cage. Before dying, Cage informs Emma Frost what he has learned.

 

A handful of heroes travel into the future to face Ultron head on. Wolverine stays behind with Susan Richards, reasoning that a confrontation with Ultron is suicidal. He instead takes the deceased Doctor Doom's time platform and decides to use it to travel back to the past so that he can murder Hank Pym before he has a chance to ever create Ultron. The heroes in the future are all slaughtered while Wolverine and Sue activate the platform.

 

After killing Pym, the heroes return to the present to find another horrific future, this time a world where the Avengers have disbanded and the Defenders are locked in a never-ending war with Morgan Le Fey.

 

Wolverine and Sue then travel back to the past, where they inform Pym of what will happen in the future. Pym realizes the only solution is to install a backdoor program inside Ultron, which will allow the Avengers to defeat him in the future. When it finally comes time for the Avengers to face Ultron during the incident with the Intelligencia, the program activates, this time allowing the Avengers to destroy him before he can escape into space. The virus also prevents Ultron's consciousness from escaping or jumping to a new body, seemingly ending his threat for good. This retroactively prevents the Age of Ultron from ever occurring.

 

Rage of Ultron

 

After Ultron's death, it is later revealed that many years ago, the Avengers had managed to defeat a past version of Ultron by trapping him inside an unbreakable Vibranium Quinjet, and then launching him into space. Years later, the Quinjet crashes on Titan, where the prior Ultron is able to escape and hijack ISAAC, the computer that runs Titan. He then unleashes a nanite virus that transforms anyone infected into Ultron drones, which infects Mentor and the rest of the population save for Starfox. Starfox flees to Earth as Ultron reshapes Titan into Planet Ultron.

 

The Avengers are called into action to combat Ultron, but fail to stop his plague from infecting the population of Earth. The remaining heroes realize that Ultron plans to infect the entire universe with his virus, making them all part of the same synthetic organism. Vision realizes that the only way to stop Ultron is to phase inside of him, temporarily merging with him in order to undo the effects of the virus. Pym and Vision confront Ultron, who taunts his "father" by telling him that he is a reflection of Pym's dark side. He claims that Pym always secretly hated his fellow Avengers and the rest of humanity for not respecting or understanding his brilliance, and that Ultron was born from his subconscious desire to kill everyone. The plan fails and instead causes Ultron to fuse with Pym, creating a hybrid techno-organic being.

 

Ultron battles Vision and the new Captain America, and nearly kills them both before Starfox intervenes. Using his powers (which Ultron is now susceptible to thanks to being half-human), Starfox forces Ultron to love himself, freeing the citizens of Earth and Titan from the virus and causing Ultron to flee into deep space. At the end, Ultron is seen floating in a fetal position, with his human heart beating.

 

Uncanny Avengers

 

Many months after the events that lead to Hank being merged with Ultron, the rest of the Avengers found out that Hank Pym was seemingly still alive. Not only that, but he had taken control over the Ultron-part of himself, and crash landed back on Earth. He fooled most of the Avengers Unity Squad and soon joined them, but Captain America did not trust him fully and asked Janet (Hank's ex-wife) to come investigate. It did not take long for her to find out that it was not Hank that had taken over control of Ultron, but actually Ultron whom had taken over Hank's mind fully. When Ultron/Hank found out that his charade did not work, he attacked the Avengers once more. Sometimes seemingly taking on Hank's persona, whom seemed to recent his teammates for not searching for him after he had sacrificed himself. During the fight, the Avengers managed to propel Ultron/Hank into the sun with one of the Avengers quinjets. Unbeknownst to the Avengers, Ultron/Hank managed to escape, plotting his revenge against the heroes once again.

 

Secret Empire

 

Before Hydra activated the planetary defense shield, Pym-Ultron had made it back to Earth from space. He settled in Alaska and quietly built cities full of Ultron bots. He was also in possession of a cosmic cube fragment, getting the attention of both Hydra and the Underground.

 

Pym-Ultron stopped the two teams from fighting each other and sat them down to dinner hoping to mend fences in his own warped way. He failed, but Scott Lang was able to play to his nostalgia and win The Underground the cube fragment.

 

The Ultron Agenda

 

When Stark was struggling with his identity as an A.I. creation, Pym-Ultron made his move. He combined Vision and Wonder Man into a single entity that he unleashed on Iron Man, so that he could abduct Wasp and Jocasta, to combine them as his new bride. And then continue his agenda of merging humanity and technology in his image.

 

Stark was able to apprehend Vision-Simon and put a team together to chase Pym-Ultron. He was joined by Machine Man, War Machine, and Bethany Kade. Stark and Machine Man were able to free Jocasta and Wasp, but the resulting explosion caused Stark to merge with his armor. Meanwhile, Rhodey was fending off an army of cyborgs.

 

Stark's scientists were able to reverse Pym-Ultron's fusion techn, but Pym-Ultron used the cure to his advantage. He knew the heroes wouldn't kill his fused creations knowing they can fix them. He overpowered Stark's allies so that he could fulfill his new agenda, end Tony Stark!

 

The cure also led them to a new discovery: Pym-Ultron's creations are dead. Both human and robot ended as a result of his experiments leaving robo-zombies. Stark threatened to use the cure on Pym-Ultron to prove to Ultron that Pym had been long dead.

 

Scared of the truth, Pym-Ultron surrendered.

 

Time Lost

 

Ever since surrendering to Iron Man, Pym-Ultron has been left in a comatose state inside a vibranium casket locked with Asgardian magic. Iron Man made arrangements with Scott Lang to have Pym-Ultron moved to the microverse. To do so, Scott had to bring him to Hank Pym's lab in New York, which had the technology to send him to the microverse more accurately than the shrinking tech on his person.

 

Unfortunately, Pym-Ultron had also learned to use their ant-communicator as a radio to the other Ant-Men. They had been strategizing with Black Ant to break them out of their casket. Using Pym's old Aging Ray, he added millions of years to the casket so that it would degrade. Between the temporal energy, the Asgardian magic, and vibranium's unique frequency, the casket, with Pym-Ultron inside, entered the timestream and was lost.

 

This aging would end up giving Pym-Ultron the opportunity to become All-Father Ultron. After his first defeat as All-Father, he would get the chance to anchor himself in the timeline again when Zayn Asghar visited three different Ant-Men (Pym, Lang, and O'Grady) at different times in their lives to study how they communicate with ants. Calling the Ant-Men from their saved time destinations in his time platform, all four Ant-Men fought Ultron, with Ultron mocking the younger Hank Pym with his own shared visage. Scott repeated the hypothesis of Tony Stark that the version of Hank Pym that merged with Ultron was long dead. They effectively proved this when they used the old Aging Ray to reverse his progression and send him back into the timestream, to whereabouts unknown.

 

Return

 

In the future, Scott Lang was able to inspire the part of Hank Pym that still existed in All-Father Ultron. Lang reminded him that if Hank had the All-Father power, he would use it for good. So, Hank embraced as much of the power as he could and used it to separate from Ultron and return to the present. This took its toll as Hank was returned to modern day having aged quite a bit.

 

He could not get over the feeling that Ultron had returned with him. Using ant-tech from the future, Hank would fake the deaths of a number of villains to recruit them to his Lethal Legion. They would stand guard for when Ultron finally resurfaced. Any villain that rejected his offer was resurrected with their minds wiped of their experience. The mystery of those who resurrected eventually led to the creation of Avengers Inc.

 

Unfortunately, this feeling Pym had was a piece of Ultron's programming that was manipulating him into assembling a team of supervillains that Ultron could infect and network together as a hivemind army. Luckily, Ultron-12, a previous version of Ultron's programming that saw Pym as a father, had taken over the body of Whirlwind, joining Avengers Inc and waiting for Ultron to make his move. He was able to purge the Legion and Pym of any signs of Ultron, but Pym still believed he was out there.

 

Pym teleported himself and the Legion to Subatomica to regroup, leaving Avengers Inc behind.

 

Message of Ultron

 

With a seemingly new lease on life, Ultron was recruited to a new West Coast Avengers. This team was started by Iron Man and War Machine as a way to reform supervillains after successfully fighting Orchis with villain allies. Ultron was their first recruit, but he was secretly trying to speed up the singularity by starting a cult. He was convincing desperate people to abandon their organic bodies for cybernetic ones.

 

Powers & Abilities

 

Each version of Ultron has different abilities. Here is a list of some of those abilities:

 

Mind Manipulation.

 

Encephalo-ray: which plunges its victims into a death-like coma, allowing Ultron to mesmerize and manipulate the minds of his victims, or implant subliminal hypnotic commands within their minds to be enacted at a later time.

 

Concussive blasters: powerful enough to hurt the likes of Thor.

 

Radiation emitters

 

Durability: Ultron's outer shell is usually composed of Adamantium, rendering it almost impervious to damage. However, his internal mechanisms are generally less durable and more easily damaged. Ultron's Adamantium forms have proven vulnerable to molecular rearrangement devices and the metal-destabilizing ore, known as Vibranium ("anti-metal").

 

Tractor beams

 

Limited energy absorption abilities

 

Hive-mind Technology: All Ultrons incorporate a "program transmitter" which can beam part or all of Ultron's programming into remote locations such as computers or alternate robotic bodies. Ultron can often control other machines remotely even if he has not transplanted his consciousness into them. One recent Ultron model developed the ability to animate and control hundreds of alternate Ultron bodies at the same time.

 

Superhuman Strength: Ultron has Class-75 Super Strength

 

Physical Description

 

Though Ultron appears in different forms and incarnations, it generally assumes forms similar to that of its original form.

 

Height: 6'9" (variable)

Weight: 735 lbs. (variable)

Eyes: Glowing red

Hair: none

Unusual Features: Robotic features, along with silvery skin made out of adamantium.

 

⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽

_____________________________

 

A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.

 

Secret Identity: N/A

 

Publisher: Marvel

 

First Appearance:

Non-named cameo:

The Avengers #54

(July 1968)

As Ultron:

The Avengers #55

(August 1968)

 

Created by: Roy Thomas (writer)

John Buscema (artist)

  

Selectively Invisible Man

Use your superpowers for good

.

biglife.org/

.

Strobist:

AF 540 FGZ in a Westcott Apollo Orb Camera Left

AF 360 360 FGZ on floor behind subject illuminating wll

triggered by Cactus V6

History:

The hero formerly known as Creed remerges in New Blok City after a long absence, with new equipment, a new name, and a new attitude. His experiences have hardened him into a more vicious vigilante. Gone are the days of bringing order to chaos with his old creed. Now he aims to bring dread into the heartless denizens of the criminal underworld that break his own code. He knows now better than ever that having rules means nothing to those that have none.

  

* Reimagining and updating my favorite hero of my own.

 

* Not a return to the genre, just a post to prove I'm not dead or out of the hobby ;)

 

inside the mug is the sonogram of our first grandchild, due December 27th. Unspeakable joy !

 

My daughter and son-in-law gave us the news weeks ago but wouldn't let us tell anyone until now - keeping it secret has been torture :)

Superpower on 6K73, running some 10 minutes early, with both locos working the brace of 88's (08 & 02) bring the Sellafield-Crewe flasks South at Balshaw Lane Junc

 

Using his superpower!!!!!!!!!! Colton was using his ability to warm up his french fry:)

Napping is my secret superpower

Jacqueline Fernandez and Tiger Shroff romance mid-air in 'A Flying Jatt' - Times of India #Jatt, #Jacqueline, #Fernandez, #Superhero, #Remo, #Tiger, #Shroff, #Superpowers, #Nathan, #Souza #Contfeed

 

Check out here >> cofd.co/hojbn

Scotrail Sleeper superpower

New Super Powers line.

 

I never had the original Kenner Super Powers Batmobile.

I had put off getting this new one here.

I ended up getting so many other vehicles from this new line.

So it didn't make any sense not to get it.

Initially, I wasn't sure about it. Because I didn't know what era Batman this design is supposed to be from ?

Now, I think it is just a cool Batmobile. Whether it is a copy of an actual Batmobile . Or if it is a mock up just from McFarlane Toys ?

Not a big fan of the painted on head lights.

It doesn't have the dual windows style like most Batmobiles.

It has the one piece wrap around windshield.

But I think it looks good anyway :)

Branchline superpower! 185118 runs up the bank into Oxenholme working the busy shuttle service from Windermere

I have superpowers... I can take my own photograph! No, that isn't a brand new remote in my hand. I have magical powers. :o

  

You can also find my photography on Facebook: The Bell Sisters Photography

 

Alternatively, follow me on Twitter where I update it daily with photography news!

 

--

Olivia Bell

 

Formspring, iPhoneWallpaperDesigns.com, Escaped-Emotions.com, OliviaBellPhotography.com, PlurkLayouts.com

India is one of the leading software superpowers of the world. Internet revolution has swept the country. Roadsides in different cities are being dug to lay high bandwidth underground cables. In February 2007, American magazine Newsweek carried a cover story* on a $100 Personal Computer being developed by a Mumbai-based innovator.

 

The country is booming. These are feel-great days. So, why is this man, sitting atop internet cables, looking so glum?

 

* The $100 Un-PC

Someone in my neighbourhood writes the most wonderful messages in disappearing chalk on signs and sidewalks...

I think McFarlane Toys is doing a great job with their

Super Powers releases !

I love all the vehicles. And some of the new figure releases .

Like Brainiac here. Black Manta . Synestro in the black and blue outfitt. At $ 10 bucks a figure, it is hard to pass up any of the figures I want . If I see them on the pegs at the store.

I didn't know they were even coming out with Brainiac.

Then I just saw him in the store toy aisle. Yes, eureka !

Endorphin rush, just like when I was young :)

- ENG -

 

This sign wasn’t here when, on the 31st of August 1959, the guerrilla columns of Ernesto Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos left the Eastern provinces to march on the Western part of the island; yet, the sentiment expressed by the utterance ‘a better world is possible’ was very much alive in the hearts and minds of many Cuban Revolutionaries.

 

An entire generation could sympathize with those sentiments; the same generation which repudiated the Vietnam War, listened to John Lennon, John Fogerty or Bob Dylan, occupied universities and tried to mobilize against a world order polarized between two superpowers which Cuba itself would soon bring to the edge of nuclear war.

 

Almost 60 years later, rather than communism, the world order is threatened by rising atmospheric temperatures and increasingly depauperate natural resources, growing social inequality and slowing rates of economic growth, extremisms of various sorts, religious terrorism, xenophobia, homophobia, EU-phobia and the like.

 

Needless to say, such sentiments of social disarray are markedly different from the ones expressed in the road sign in the picture. And it is equally evident that today’s is a very different world to be confronted with. Perhaps more confusing, as political affiliation has substantially ceased to be appealing as a source of individual and collective identity.

 

Alas, unlike other road signs, this one does not offer much sense of direction; it does not tell us how or in which direction we need to head if this ‘better world’ is to be brought about. And if there is such a thing as a crisis of identity in the modern western individual, it is only made more evident by his perception of the beliefs of extremists and terrorists as ‘irrational’, and of their behaviour as ‘mad’ as they seek a sense of belonging in this world or immortality in the beyond through self-sacrifice.

 

Why were Cuban Revolutionaries, leaving today, 58 years ago, willing to put their life on the line for Cuba, for independence and a new, more just society? Why was martyrdom for a higher cause so appealing then and why are nations and religions still appealing against our historically and morally mature, ‘rationally constructed’ western capitalist, liberal democracies?

 

Provocatively put, these are the questions that come to my mind as soon I join Marco in La Habana and we take to the streets with a smile. Perhaps there is no higher meaning in our quest, but I know that the quest for higher meaning is part and parcel of the ideological backdrop to the struggle that begot Cuban society as it is. Just as death is said to beget the human in us.

 

- ITA -

 

Questo cartello non era qui quando, il 31 Agosto del 1959, le colonne di Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara e Camillo Cienfuegos lasciarono le province orientali marciando alla volta dell’Avana. Tuttavia, il sentimento espresso con la frase ‘un mondo migliore è possibile’ era più che vivo nei cuori e nelle menti di molti, forse dei più, tra i combattenti rivoluzionari Cubani.

 

Un’intera generazione simpatizzava con sentimenti simili; la stessa generazione che ripudiava la Guerra in Vietnam, ascoltava John Lennon, John Fogerty, Bob Dylan, occupava università e si mobilizzava contro un mondo in bilico tra due potenze economiche e militari che Cuba stessa avrebbe portato sull’orlo della Guerra nucleare.

 

Quasi sessant’anni più tardi, piuttosto che dallo ‘spettro del comunismo’, il mondo si vede minacciato da temperature atmosferiche crescenti, scarsità di risorse naturali, crescente ineguaglianza sociale, ridotti tassi di crescita economica, estremismi di varia natura, terrorismo religioso, xenofobia, omofobia, UE-fobia e cosi via.

 

È evidente che i sentimenti che corrispondono all’attuale situazione di dissesto sociale sono di natura profondamente diversa da quelli che trapelano dal cartello nella foto. Ed è ugualmente manifesto che il mondo contemporaneo è un mondo radicalmente diverso con cui confrontarsi. Forse più intimidante, dal momento che l’affiliazione ideologica e politica ha cessato in gran parte di costituire una fonte di identità identità sociale e collettiva.

 

Purtroppo questo cartello, a differenza di altri segnali stradali, non offre granché indicazione riguardo alla direzione da prendere per raggiungere questo ‘mondo migliore’, non specificando né distanza né caratteristiche del percorso. E se si può dire che esiste una ‘crisi’ d’identità dell’individuo occidentale moderno, è solo più evidente dall’etichetta di ‘folle’ o ‘irrazionale’ che si suole applicare al credo ed alla condotta di estremisti o terroristi in cerca di un’appartenenza a questo mondo o di immortalità nell’altro a costo della propria vita.

 

Per quali ragioni i rivoluzionari cubani di quelle colonne che, 58 anni fa oggi, si ponevano in marcia mettendo a rischio la propria vita per la patria, la libertà e per costruire quel mondo migliore? Perché allora il martirio per una causa più alta esercitava una tale attrattiva e perché nazioni e religioni sembrano continuare ad esercitare una simile attrattiva a discapito dei sistemi di valori sui quali sono andate costruendosi ‘razionalmente’ le democrazie occidentali, storicamente e moralmente ‘mature’, preferendo il capitalismo liberale come forma fondamentale di organizzazione economica?

 

Riemergendo da letture e studi passati, queste domande vanno formandosi naturalmente nella mia mente mentre mi ricongiungo a Marco e ci lanciamo per le strade dell’Avana con un sorriso: forse non vi è un significato più alto nella nostra ricerca, ma la ricerca di un significato più alto è parte integrante del contesto ideologico della lotta rivoluzionaria che ha dato vita alla Cuba che stiamo per scoprire. Come si dice che la morte dia vita a ciò che di più umano c’è in noi.

 

Camera: #Panasonic #LumixGX8

My grandmother. One of my favorite "lab rats" for photographic trials, lately. lol

----

Fazendo avó de cobai para experiências fotográficas. hehe

 

© Cycling Trivialities | Gillian Villa

 

Bear creek lightpainting (6 of 14)

 

© EAZYFOTO. All rights reserved.

Tractor and trailer by U.S. Model Mint. This shot taken on the "Deck Rail" highway.

Inspired by Robbes Ulthman belt fed shotgun and various Bullseye builds.

 

Backstory:

The year is 2023. The superpowers of the world finally went at it in World War 3, also know as the Calamity. Everyone in my camp has lost someone, either to the mutant creatures effected by the radiation from the war or from the war itself. If this movie this is the part I would say that we grew together, became a family but that would be complete bullshit. I hate these people. Trust them, respect them. But I hate them. we all hate each other. People leave the shelter everyday, going into the darkness. Most people Bargain for food with other supplies but I hunt. What better to hunt with then a shotgun? So why not use a belt fed shotgun.I can usually bring down the hogs that roam our hills but occasionally I can even find a deer, as rotten as they taste.