The enduring appeal of Batman lies in the universal themes involved in his vigilante quest for justice. His backstory is both inspiring but also dark, a cautionary tale wrapped in a fable; a boy orphaned too young to change the cruel nature of the world, but who one day, through training and resources, grows up to become a symbol of hope and of fear. Lifted in part from such classic literary tales as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Mask of Zorro, Batman continues to celebrate the idea that one doesn’t need superpowers to become a superhero if one is determined enough. Given the universal nature of the character, it’s no surprise then that other heroes (and a few villains) have taken up the mantle from time to time. Through various storylines, crossovers, and arcs, Batman has occasionally been incapacitated, killed, or even just turned his back on the whole crime-fighting path. This has allowed everyone from his sidekicks to his greatest enemies a chance to don the cape and cowl, for better or for worse.
The storylines that involve someone other than Bruce Wayne portraying Batman allow for completely different interpretations of Batman’s backstory, as well as the look of his batsuit and gear. Everything from the person’s demeanor, to their physical appearance, to their voice, and even their age makes them appealing as the Bat in a way not previously imagined. What if Batman grew up in the Soviet Union? What if he had the Joker’s voice? What if he murdered indiscriminately in the streets with guns? Enjoy the many looks of Batman as portrayed by some of DC’s most famous heroes and villains!
20 BLACK MASK
As part of the follow up to the "War Games" crossover storyline, War Crimes depicts a Gotham City plunged into chaos, with Batman patrolling the streets alone without the help of Robin (Tim Drake), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), or the Oracle (Barbara Gordon). Black Mask controls the criminal underworld, and works to paint Batman as a merciless psycho and reveal his true identity.
Disguised as Batman, Black Mask commits a spree of brutal crimes, which Arturo Rodriguez, his partner in crime, uses to brand Batman as a maniac in the press. They are successful for a time, until the real Batman apprehends Black Mask and sends him to prison.
19 AZRAEL
Few people can break the Batman, but during "Knightfall", Bane snapped the Caped Crusader in two like a matchstick (or is that batstick?). Luckily for the people of Gotham, Bruce Wayne had been training Jean-Paul Valley, a young former assassin of the Sacred Order of Saint Dumas that he believed would make a worthy replacement should the worst occur.
While Jean-Paul made a solid Batman, and even had a wicked armored suit, he had been programmed by the Order to one day become its most vengeful angel, Azrael. While Bruce was in recovery, Jean-Paul’s Batman became more and more violent as his programming kicked in, forcing him to combat his former student and take back the cape and cowl.
18 THE JOKER
Over the course of his crime-fighting career, Batman has had to turn to several different people to impersonate him, but the cape and cowl have rarely been worn by force. Nor have they been used for depravity in his name by his enemies.
Therefore, imagine everyone’s surprise when, in the second season of the animated series The Batman, The Joker became Batman and actually... did good?! Granted, he went a little too far, punishing Jim Gordon’s wife for having one item over the limit in the self-checkout and a few kids for “vandalism” when they drew their hopscotches on the sidewalk, but there was something irresistible about the combination of the clown and bat together.
17 TERRY MCGINNIS
While Batman: The Animated Series is arguably the best Batman animated TV show in syndication, Batman: Beyond would be a close second among fans. It chronicles the crime-fighting adventures of Terry McGinnis, a teenager that takes on the mantle of Batman under the guidance of an older, grizzled Bruce Wayne.
With a high-tech red and black Batsuit that gave him abilities even Bruce Wayne never had (such as the ability to actually fly), Terry McGinnis proved an effective replacement for his mentor, and was popular enough to garner his own comic series set in in the future Rebirth DC Universe after the series ended.
16 SUPERMAN
Though the pseudo-rivalry between Superman and Batman has been ongoing for decades, the Big Blue Boy Scout and the Dark Knight occasionally have reason to swap supersuits. Whether it’s to throw their respective girlfriends off the scent of their true identities during an Elseworlds tale, or because they’ve literally swapped powers like in Batman/Superman #55, it’s always entertaining.
As fans would imagine, Superman as Batman is far more level headed and forthright than his more jaded superhero peer (probably because it wasn’t his parents that got shot in front of him as a young child). When he has the use of his full abilities, however, he does delight in surprising supervillains with “Batman’s” newfound “superpowers”.
15 DAMIAN WAYNE
As the son of a superhero and a supervillain, Damian Wayne found himself torn between the path of righteousness and the path of evil. Ordinarily, he is the Robin to his father’s Batman, but in Batman #666, fans get a glimpse at what would happen if Batman and Talia al Ghul’s slightly more maniacal son took over as protector of Gotham City.
Damian makes a pact with the devil to become an immortal with insanely fast healing, making him a Batman with little mercy and qualms about taking out criminals outright. Gotham City may plunge into chaos, but Damian is an impressive Batman who is both startling and incredibly intimidating since he holds nothing back.
14 NIGHTWING
The first in a series of “Robins” to fight alongside Batman, Dick Grayson became a full-fledged superhero in his own right. Still, from time to time, he would take on the mantle of Batman when necessary. When Bane broke Batman’s back and he unwisely gave his cape and cowl over to the unprepared Jean-Paul Valley, it was Grayson who came to the rescue and helped Batman take it back when Valley proved unstable.
Aside from temporarily taking on the mantle while Bruce continued to recuperate, Grayson became Batman full time when he thought Bruce had perished during the events of "Final Crisis". Grayson was a competent leader of the Titans, member of the Justice League, and helpful as Bruce would later assemble Batman Incorporated.
13 TIM DRAKE
When agreeing to become Batman’s sidekick, it’s assumed the position bears with it the responsibility to one day don the Batsuit should Bruce Wayne require it. Of all the Robin’s Bruce has trained, Tim Drake was the most reluctant to assume the role, despite being an admirable choice.
Unlike Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jean-Paul Valley, or even Batman himself, Tim Drake was incredibly well-adjusted. His grounded moral center in Batman: Battle for the Cowl was the reason he would be called upon to fight Jason Todd for the chance to be Batman, the latter’s reign over Gotham proving too severe. While he may never have wanted to be Batman, he currently fights crime as the Red Robin.
12 RED SON BATMAN
One of the most popular Elseworlds storylines involves the “what if” scenario of baby Kal-El from Krypton crash landing in Stalin’s Soviet Union rather than Kansas. Superman grows up to rule the Soviet Union with an iron fist, and Russian police captain Pyotr Roslov works with the American Lex Luthor to bring him down.
They employ an orphan of Russian dissidents who has since become the Batman, as well as a thorn in the side of Superman’s regime. A hero of the people, he even goes so far as to capture Wonder Woman in order to draw the Man of Soviet Steel out, using red heat lamps to (almost) defeat him.
11 THOMAS WAYNE
Due to the events of the Flashpoint series, when Barry Allen attempts to go back in time and save his mother, he inadvertently alters time, and so instead of Bruce Wayne’s parents being shot in front of him as a child, he is the victim and his parents survive. Thomas Wayne becomes Batman in memory of the tragic loss of his son.
Though that was in 2011, in the early days of Batman comics, a young Bruce Wayne witnesses his father beat back a group of criminals after a masquerade ball (in which he’s dressed as a bat), and uses this inspiration for his own superhero costume one day.
10 BATMAN OF ZUR-EN-ARRH
In the '50s, Superman was the most popular of the DC superhero titles, and Batman comics would begin to follow similar storylines as those found in Superman. This is why in 1957, Batman was contacted by beings from another planet, a planet which he traveled to and has a similar experience as Kal-El did upon traveling to Earth -- he acquired superpowers!
Batman’s point of contact on the planet Zur-En-Arrh was in fact, that planet’s “Batman”, who had studied him on Earth and replicated his every gadget (and catchphrase), albeit with infinitely more sophisticated technology. They were distinguishable by Zur-En-Arrh’s Batman wearing a Batsuit of purple, yellow, and red.
9 ELLIOT NESS
While most of the Elseworlds storylines involved alternate realities in which Bruce Wayne was Batman in various unique scenarios, occasionally there were storylines involving Batman being the adopted guise of a completely different person. In Batman: Scar of the Bat, famed crime fighter Elliot Ness becomes Batman in an effort to track down the nefarious gangster Al Capone.
Armed with a tommy gun and sporting a tan trenchcoat along with the trademark cowl, he stalks the streets of Chicago in an effort to root out organized crime. He even uses a baseball bat on some wise guys to drive the Bat imagery home.
8 RED HOOD
The second Robin after Dick Grayson, Jason Todd took up the Batman mantle after Final Crisis, believing that he could be superior to Bruce Wayne. He wasn’t counting on having to fight Tim Drake for the chance to wear the cowl, but Drake knew that Todd was too unstable to properly protect Gotham City.
Like Batman, Jason Todd had been an orphan, but unlike Batman, he found his birth mother living as an aid worker in Africa. Or so he thought. When she turned out to be a crook that sold him over to the Joker, he was ended by a Joker bomb. Only Ra’s al Ghul’s Lazarus Pit could resurrect him, but he never came back “quite right”. He would later become Red Hood.
7 BRANE
In the '40s science fiction tropes were all the rage, and Batman was subjected to quite a few storylines involving flying saucers and extraterrestrials. In Batman #26, a man named Brane and his son discover a time capsule that contains news footage of Earth’s past. It is the year 3000 now, and Earth has been conquered by aliens, with little memory of an age when superheroes walked among them.
Brane and his son become obsessed with footage of Batman and Robin and decide to become them. With their newfound superhero personas, they lead a crusade with their people to overthrow their alien overlords.
6 COMMISSIONER GORDON
Jim Gordon has represented the long arm of the law alongside Batman’s vigilante form of justice for as long as the Bat signal has sent shivers down the spines of Gotham’s greatest criminals. So when Batman was killed during the “Endgame” storyline beneath Gotham City, it was Jim Gordon who upheld both the law and Batman’s code.
Given heightened strength and speed by a powerful biomech suit specifically designed for him by a private technology company, he worked tirelessly to bring criminals to justice, albeit in a much more by-the-book way than his predecessor. He relinquished the mantle once Batman returned, eager to give it back to its rightful possessor.
5 ALFRED PENNYWORTH
Batman’s stalwart butler Alfred Pennyworth has been in the employ of the Wayne family since Bruce Wayne was an infant. He has been, at different times, a father figure, a friend, a confidant, and even a fellow combatant.
In the recent issues of Batman: Rebirth, Alfred has taken on a new role; that of the Batman himself. When Batman needed time to reach the latest threat to Gotham City, he sent Alfred in his stead, piloting the Batplane in full cape and cowl until the real Batman could make it. Alfred was in the British Army and has hand-to-hand combat experience, but was happy when Batman resumed his duties.
4 WAYNE WILLIAMS
After his police officer father was murdered at the hands of brutal criminals, young Wayne Williams vowed revenge. However, growing up in a bad part of town, standing up to the thugs meant being framed for crimes he didn’t commit, resulting in a jail sentence. When he got out, he became a professional wrestler and together with a scientist friend he met while in the slammer, he has a suit created for him that mimics the enhanced auditory and vision of a bat (it also looks just like one).
This was Marvel writer Stan Lee’s reimagining of the Batman, as part of the “Just Imagine” series of one-shot comics whereby the famous superheroes of DC Comics were given new storylines Marvel writers.
3 HUGO STRANGE
When famed Arkham psychologist Harleen Quinzel became obsessed with the Joker, she turned to a life of crime and became Harley Quinn. When noted Arkham psychologist Hugo Strange became obsessed with Batman, he literally tried to become him. He’s the only villain that has successfully deduced Batman’s true identity.
In Batman: Prey, his work with the Gotham City Police Department leads him to profiling Batman in an effort to crack down in vigilantism. His behavior becomes eerily similar to Batman’s, and in an effort to “get inside Batman’s head”, he fashions his own batsuit. Unlike other villains, his goal is to destroy Batman to take his place.
2 KIRK LANGSTROM
In Justice League: Gods and Monsters, a very different Batman is introduced in Kirk Langstrom. A brilliant biochemist in college, Kirk attempts to find the cure for Lymphoma by experimenting with the anticoagulant properties of vampire bat saliva to break down the tumor over time. The serum he creates from the project, while successful in eradicating the tumor inside him, splices into his DNA and makes him transform into a vampire-type creature that requires blood to stay alive.
When Superman comes across Langstrom, he’s feeding on rats with his retractable fangs to prevent himself from feeding on humans. His vampire side gives him super speed, agility, strength, and healing powers.
1 BANE
During the Forever Evil storyline that focused primarily on DC villains, Bane impersonates Batman in Forever Evil: Arkham War to break inmates out of Blackgate Prison and lead them in an assault on Penguin, the current then mayor of Gotham City. The Justice League has perished or disbanded, and criminals control all the major metropolitan areas. Batman is no longer a symbol of hope but of menace.
Penguin has informed Bane that the reason he’s losing the war on Gotham is because he doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of the populous like Batman. Inspired by his words, Bane constructs a batsuit of his own to lead the prisoners.