By the time that Terry McGinnis entered Bruce Wayne’s life, Bruce had long since given up on the idea of being the dark knight. His body feeble and broken from years of punishment, Bruce was no longer able to be the Batman that Gotham needed or deserved.
Luckily for Bruce, and for Gotham, a punk kid with a history of being on the wrong side of the law would manage to break into the bat-cave and steal the latest version of the bat-suit. While Terry may not have been the ideal Batman when he first started out, the young hero would manage to grow into a worthy successor. But would he ever outshine the original?
10 Master Brucie Done Changed The Game - Bruce
No matter who comes after him, no matter how good of a job they do, Bruce will always be the original. And there’s nothing any of his proteges can do to change that simple fact.
Bruce was the first person to truly dedicate himself to fighting crime on a level that wasn’t even thought possible until he put on the mask. Bruce has devoted his time, life, wealth and resource, everything he has to become the hero that Gotham (and the world) needed.
9 People Person - Terry
Much like Dick Grayson, one of Terry’s biggest strengths is the simple fact that he really knows how to relate to people. Since the death of his parents, Bruce has really struggled to not only trust people but even communicating with them has always been a major issue for Bruce.
Bruce’s inability to trust or communicate with those around him has hindered his entire career, unlike Terry who has been able to accomplish a lot due to the fact that he’s willing to trust others and willing to reach out when he’s in over his head.
8 Raised The Next Few Generations Of Heroes - Bruce
Not only was Bruce a revolutionary when it came to putting on the mask and fighting crime, but he was also a trailblazer when it came to training young proteges in the fine art of superhero-ing. Bruce was smart enough to understand that he couldn’t possibly hope to retain the mantle of the bat forever and smart enough to know that when the time came, he would need someone that had been trained to carry out the mission with the same ethics that he held Batman to.
So, Bruce did what any intelligent vigilante would do, get a group of scrappy young kids and train them over years and years in hopes that they would carry on his mission when he was no longer able.
7 Overcoming Trauma - Terry
The whole entire reason that Batman exists in the first place is so that Bruce has an outlet to work through the trauma that he (even during Terry’s time) never got over. The death of his parents weighed so heavily on him that becoming Batman was the only thing he could to in order to avoid becoming something much, much darker.
Though Terry went through similar trauma, he was actually able to move past that trauma and become something outside of it. Something that Bruce was never capable of doing.
6 Analog Batman - Bruce
During Terry’s time as Batman, the young Batman has so many advantages when it comes to the tech that he’s working with, it’s almost unfair that he goes out and fights crime with such a leg up. For Bruce, however, there was no high-tech batsuit that allowed him all the advantages of the Batcave and helped him in combat.
Bruce had to do all the work himself. Not only did he have to condition his body in ways that Terry could hardly imagine, but he also had to train his mind to do everything that the computers in Terry suit and Batmobile take care of.
5 The Tech - Terry
Though Bruce has his fair share of amazing gadgets at his beck and call, they are nothing compared to the incredible tech that was easily available during Terry’s time as Batman. Bruce’s wealth may have been able to buy him a lot of fancy crimefighting tech, but wealth can speed up the passage of time.
The Batsuit that Terry sports alone is enough to put him at a significant advantage, but there’s also the advanced computer system in the Batcave and the upgraded batmobile that he gets to cruise around in. The future is simply a better time to be a bat.
4 Endless Commitment To Justice - Bruce
While Terry wouldn’t don the cowl into well into his teenage years, Bruce had been studying and training well before that time. Not only was Bruce the first to don the mantle of Batman, but he also held onto the mantle much longer than he should have.
Bruce’s endless commitment to fighting against those who would do harm the Gotham, the world and it’s citizens is something that many would admire, but very few would ever be able to live up to.
3 Tested In Ways Bruce (Likely) Could Have Never Have Imagined - Terry
Bruce may have been the first person to take on the identity of the Batman, and he may have been through more as Batman than many heroes would ever go through in their entire lives, but there are things that Bruce couldn’t have possibly imagined during his time as Batman.
A great example is the watching Joker be resurrected over and over again, first through Tim Drake and then again when the clown prince of crime is resurrected during Rebirth.
2 Experience (Combat & Otherwise) - Bruce
While Terry has no doubt become one of the greatest men to take up the calling of Batman (he hasn’t gone crazy, killed a bunch of people or turned his back on the lessons Bruce taught him), there’s no denying the fact that Terry just isn’t experienced the way Bruce is.
By the time that Terry becomes Batman Bruce has already lived an entire lifetime fighting crime by any means necessary. He’s trained his body, mind, and spirit for decades and that’s just not something that Terry can get without actually spending the time as Bruce did.
1 Student To The Master - Terry
Though Bruce traveled the world learning everything that he could about honing his body, mind, and spirit to perfectly combat the crime in his hometown, no one taught Bruce how to be Batman. Being Batman isn’t just about the necessary skills required to affect change in the streets, it’s about being able to successfully combine all of those skills with the endurance required to go out night after night and fight an endless battle.
Terry’s biggest advantage is that he had Bruce to teach him how to be the dark knight, how to remain standing in a war that will never end.