Silas Wayne

Early Life:
Silas Wayne was the youngest son of Kenneth and Laura Wayne, who used their wealth for charitable purposes such as opening up free family planning clinics throughout the country. In 1920, while the Waynes were on their way to dedicate such a clinic in the county seat of the Smallville area, Silas was kidnapped by the Ultra-Humanite and held for ransom. Managing to free himself from his bonds, Silas disguised himself as the hero called the Flying Fox and helped the young Superboy take down the Ultra-Humanite and his thugs before he was safely reunited with his parents.

At the age of ten, Silas saw his parents brutally gunned down by a mugger as they were walking home from a Douglas Fairbanks movie. From that point on, Silas dedicated his life to protecting people from criminals and bringing the guilty to justice. To that end, he trained his body to physical perfection and trained his mind in the areas of criminal science. He inherited his father's fortune and doubled its value, using the wealth to create charities to fight poverty and ignorance in Gotham City. He also became the owner of the Gotham Gazette, with which he hopes to "build an impenetrable shield around the good people of the city" such as through sponsoring essay contests, one of which were won by Virgil Swann and Bridgette Crosby whom he met at a journalist junket in 1929.

When Lex Luthor attacked Gotham City using a robot and captured Bridgette Crosby with it, Silas Wayne decided to make his debut as a superhero, wearing a colorful costume and giving Superboy a hand in defeating Luthor and his robot. Bridgette referred to Silas's costumed identity as "Robin Red-Breast", which he accepted as a suitable name by shortening it to Robin. After Bridgette was freed from the claw, she joined Superboy and Robin in investigating where the robot came from, and they tracked it to the lab of Dr. Erwin Stanislaus, who turned out to be Luthor in disguise. He tried to take off with Bridgette again with a portable helipack, this time holding Superboy at bay with a piece of Kryptonite until it was knocked out of his hand by a curved piece of metal thrown at him by Robin. Superboy cut off Luthor's escape and turned him over to the authorities before he and Robin departed.

The Shadow Returns:
In 1939 Silas Wayne showed up at the Metropolis World's Fair with his girlfriend at the time Julie, when the Electrox robot went berserk and almost killed Julie. That was where he first met Superman, as he stopped the rampaging robot by crushing him into a metal ball and throwing him into the river. Later on at the Electrox display building, Bridgette Crosby was investigating the Electrox robot case with Virgil Swann when they came across The Shadow at the display building. He took the piece of evidence Bridgette had found while Virgil made it look like The Shadow had knocked him down, though he was impervious to the blow itself. Silas went back into the display building the day after, looking for more evidence when Bridgette was abducted by the Ultra-Humanite's henchmen. He tried to fight them off, but was soon knocked unconscious and dragged outside by the henchmen. A young double-danger actor named Simon Trent rescued Silas Wayne, who later thanked the boy, saying he'll never forget him.

Later on, as The Shadow, he took one of the Ultra-Humanite's henchmen and threatened him to tell where his hideout is by making the man fall off the side of the Hyperglobe, who was immediately rescued by Superman only to discover The Shadow was interrogating him. From the henchman, The Shadow and Superman discovered the hideout was right inside the Hyperglobe and soon came to Bridgette' rescue while stopping the Ultra-Humanite from escaping.

World War 2:
Simon Trent became Silas´s eventual ward and trained him to be his crimefighting partner Robin. Alfred made a comment that Simon helped "damp down his demons". After helping Johnny Thunder, Batman became an honorary member of the Justice Society of America along with Superman, Flash and Green Lantern.

As a recognized effective crime-fighter, Batman was later recruited by the United States federal government as part of a covert strike force against Nazi operations in Europe that ultimately defeated an assassination attempt on the life of President Franklin Roosevelt. At the suggestion of Superman, he and Batman along with these other costumed heroes formed the new Justice Society of America. Due to other commitments, Batman declined full membership status, and served only as an honorary member, as he did in the past. He did, however, become more active in the wartime super group called the All-Star Squadron.

Despite being a member of the All Star Squadron, Batman mostly remained focused in protecting Gotham City though he would occasionally take part in several European cases such as with the Unknown Soldier and others.

Post War Career:
Batman continued to remain active after World War II and the public disbanding of the Justice Society due to the unwillingness of costumed heroes to reveal their secret identities as demanded by the Federal Government investigative committee.

In 1949, Simon Trent was ready to go off to college to study law and retire his Robin identity when he and Silas were called to the case of the Joker stealing a sample of Gold Kryptonite and using it to expose Superman to its radiation to make him lose his powers while he and Lex Luthor held Superman's wife Bridgette Crosby (pregnant with Joel Perry Swann at the time) hostage. Silas went in first disguised as Superman to distract the two villains, but was nearly shot to death had it not been for Superman being able to disintegrate the bullet with his heat vision while Silas played dead. Robin went in afterward disguised as Superman to further distract the villains long enough for Superman to melt the box containing the Gold Kryptonite with his heat vision. The Shadow revived and got the drop on the Joker before he and Robin got Superman and his wife out of Luthor's hideout prior to its destruction. However, Superman discovered that his unborn son had been prenatally exposed to Gold Kryptonite, causing him to be born a normal human, so he and Bridgette vowed that they would never reveal to him that Superman was his father.

At one point Wayne confronted the Scarecrow in a case that caused Wayne to seek out the help of his old time foe Kefretari, the Catwoman. Upon a promise of early parole for her, Kefretari aided Batman. During the course of this case, the two finally acknowledged their true feelings for each other and Wayne revealed his true identity to her. When Kefretari Kyle was finally released from prison, Silas Wayne accepted her. The two wed soon thereafter. Kefretari gave birth to Wayne's daughter, Maria.

Deciding not to put his daughter in a similar situation as he underwent in his youth, Wayne retired from the Batman role. But desiring to remain active in some way as a crime fighter, Wayne ran for and attained the position of Police Commission of Gotham City upon the retirement of his longtime friend Jim Gordon.

After a period of inactivity a former henchman of the Catwoman's, Silky Cernak, appeared and claimed to have proof that Catwoman had committed a murder in the 1950s. Silky threatened to expose this evidence to the police and destroy Selina's life unless she helped him commit one last crime as Catwoman. Fearing the destruction of Wayne's position and her daughter's safety, Selina acquiesced, secretly plotting to arrest Silky. Wayne resumed the Batman identity to stop her, unaware of Selina's plan. Selina was shot by Silky in her attempts to arrest him. Selina died in Wayne's arms, and Wayne was publicly revealed to have been the original Batman. Wayne decided to permanently retire from the role; Cernak would be later stopped by Maria Wayne, who became the Huntress.