As he's one of the most popular characters ever created, there have been countless versions of Batman introduced over the years. One of the most persistent across media -- even if it's never a single consistent idea beyond the basic concept -- is a Batman who's also a pirate captain. There have been comics stories, both in-canon and outside of it, that feature such a premise.

Here's the history of Pirate Batman across various media.

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LEATHERWING

Batman: Leatherwing was an Elseworlds released in Detective Comics Annual #7 by Chuck Dixon and Enrique Alcatena. It centers on Captain Leatherwing during the Golden Age of Piracy. Commanding the Flying Fox, Leatherwing and his crew (which includes faithful navigator Alfredo and young crewmember Robin Redblade) travel the seas and target ships on behalf of the English Crown. Leatherwing does this in the hope of acquiring enough gold to allow him to purchase back the lands of his family, which were taken from him upon their deaths.

His success catches the attention of two rival captains: Capitana Felina, commander of the Cat's Paw; and the Laughing Man, captain of the Pescador. Devising a plan to work together and discover the location of Letherwing's hoarded gold, Laughing Man fakes an attack on Felina while posing as a Contessa. Leatherwing them saves the "innocent" woman and brings her aboard, quickly falling in love with Felina. However, the feeling ends up being mutual -- even when Felina prepares to betray Leatherwing, Robin revealing the truth about his feelings for her later spurs her into action against the Laughing Man.

Although the Laughing Man seriously injures Robin during his duel with Leatherwing, the pirate captain is able to slay his enemy and use his surprising surgical skills to save his young ward. Reunited, Leatherwing and Felina soon become the King and Queen of the Seven Seas of their world, becoming the most powerful figures in their world's time period.

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RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE

While Batman: Leatherwing was an Elseworlds story (nominally happening at a time when the multiverse was still uncharted), the core DC Universe version of Batman also got the chance to become a buccaneer. After being sent through the timestream by Darkseid's Omega Beams during the events of Final Crisis, Bruce Wayne found himself in multiple time periods. One of those  was North America in the 18th century. Finding the dazed Bruce near the shore, the notorious Blackbeard and his crew came to believe that Wayne was the Black Pirate, a fearsome and legendary figure in the local area.

Alongside a captive Jack Loggins (who was actually the grandson of the Black Pirate), Bruce is forced through the caves belonging to the local cave-dwelling tribe called the Miagani. Faking his own demise, Bruce is able to sneak around and don a mask and cape, quickly dismantling the pirate crew and engaging Blackbeard in a sword duel across a bridge of bones. He's able to defeat the pirate leader and force Blackbeard to retreat. Accepted by the Miagani -- who seem to be aware of who Bruce is and his connection to their own past -- the Dark Knight is taken deep into the cave and shown artifacts that hint at his true identity and place in the timestream. This leads him to be moved through the timestream once again.

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OTHER APPEARANCES

The concept of Pirate Batman has appeared elsewhere across comics, television and video games. In the current DC Multiverse, Earth-31 is the home to new versions of Captain Leatherwing, Captain Felina and Robin Redblade. However, they aren't alive during the Golden Age of Piracy on Earth-31. Instead, global climate change and a series of natural disasters destroyed most life on Earth. With most land now hidden beneath the depths of a drowned world, a handful of ships have committed themselves to maintaining peace on the Seven Seas.

As teased in The Multiversity Guidebook, this includes pirate incarnations of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Cyborg and Aquaman. The world was also briefly seen during Dark Knights: The Wild Hunt as one of those affected by the Dark Knights spreading throughout the multiverse. A world not dissimilar to Earth-31 also briefly appeared in Harley Quinn #50, where it was affected by the Clown Princess of Crime's continuity-bending adventure.

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Outside of the comics, two versions of a Pirate Batman were introduced in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series. One of them appeared among the alliance of multiversal Batman assembled to fight Owlman during the two-part storyline "Deep Cover for Batman!/Game Over for Owlman!" Another Pirate Batman later appeared in "Time Out for Vengeance!" as one of the Dark Knights across space and time being targeted by the Batman Revenge Squad. With the help of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, Pirate-Batman was able to survive the attack and was eventually brought into the future to help combat Equinox.

The Pirate Batman look has also appeared in such animated films as Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Cosmic Clash, as well as video games such as the League of Legends-esque Infinite Crisis.

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