The Birth of BATMAN INC.
BATMAN INCORPORATED, or BATMAN INC. refers to an ongoing American comic book series published by DC Comics, featuring the superhero Batman. Written by Grant Morrison, the series debuted following the events of Batman R.I.P, Final Crisis, Batman and Robin, and The Return of Bruce Wayne where, after being stranded in the distant past and believed dead, Bruce Wayne has returned to the present day DC Universe. Now, he is prepared to take his war on crime to the next level by essentially "franchising" it and drafting, training and commanding a global team of heroes who will answer to Batman himself, known as Batman Incorporated.
In the series, one of the primary themes present is Batman traveling across the world seeking to use the symbolic power that Batman has on a global scale. For the first volume of the series, Wayne is featured wearing a new costume designed by David Finch, to further distinguish him from Dick Grayson, who was still operating as Batman before the DC Universe relaunch.
After the relaunch, Wayne was again the only character serving as Batman and would be shown wearing the costume that first premiered in August 2011's Justice League #1, designed by DC Comics Co-Publisher Jim Lee.
In the wake of the relaunch of the DC Universe under The New 52 initiative, the first volume of Batman Incorporated came to an end in December 2011. In May 2012, the series returned with a new first issue, continuing the narrative of the first series while incorporating the altered elements of DC Universe continuity and characters into the new series.
Batman Inc. Goes Global:
Batman has taken his name and idea and turned it into a global brand / team. Obviously, Batman cannot be in all these places at once. So he seeks out and establishes representatives in major cities all over the world to handle things, at his behest. The representatives are located in his home of Gotham, where the main team resides including Batman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Batwoman, Damian Wayne’s Robin, and Red Hood with Oracle working leads and communications, and Time Drake’s Red Robin acting as sort of a traveling agent and liaison to other teams around The World.
Some of the other representatives also form a subsidiary of sorts called, Batmen of All Nations, which include:
Man-Of-Bats and his sidekick Little Raven (USA–Sioux Indian)
El Gaucho (Argentina)
The Knight and his sidekick the Squire (later replaced by The Hood) (England)
The Musketeer (later replaced by the Nightrunner) (France)
The Legionary (Italy)
The Ranger (later the Dark Ranger) and his sidekick the Scout (Australia)
Wingman (Later replaced by a redeemed Red Hood with the Wingman moniker) (Sweden)
Black Bat ( Formally Batgirl aka Cassandra Cain) (Tokyo)
Batwing (David Zavimbe, a former police officer of the Democratic Republic of Congo / eventually replaced by Lucius Fox’s son Luke Fox later on) (Africa)
Fun Fact: Batwing expands the DC Universe by taking place in Africa, making David Zavimbe both the first (in continuity) black Batman and one of the few characters headlining a series outside the United States.
A different version of the Batmen of All Nations appears in the critically acclaimed Kingdom Come comic series. The members of this group include "Cossack, the Champion of Russia", "Samurai, the Champion of Japan", and "Dragon, the Champion of China". They were joined by "Batwoman, a Batman admirer from the Fourth World".
The New Batman Inc.
Even though they are still writing and producing Batman Incorporated comic books, there is a new iteration of the team in Season 3 of the popular HBO Max show Young Justice. A newer version of Batman Incorporated is formed in Young Justice: Outsiders when they publicly resign from The JLA, as an answer to U.N Secetary General Lex Luthor’s restrictions on the League’s actions. They continue to fight Luthor and Vandal Savage’s group known as The Light in secret.
This team’s new faces are:
Tim Drake’s Robin
After victory over the light, Batman Inc. is folded back into the League under new leadership. Black Lightning is voted, unanimously, as the new chair of The Justice League.
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