Seven Years - The Bruce Wayne Story

This is the definitive origin story for the man that would become Gotham's Dark Knight,  The Batman .

Whilst comic books such as 'Batman: Year One', and films such as 'Batman Begins' have shown a version of the origin of the Caped Crusader, none have yet fully shown in close, faithful detail how tragic orphan Bruce Wayne made the incredible transition from billionaire heir to vengeful vigilante. This story, in the form of a gritty television series (think somewhere between "Smallville" and "Breaking Bad", with elements of police/investigation thrillers) aims to show the realistic, plausible explanation for his dramatic transformation into nocturnal avenger over the course of seven pivotal years.

The aim of this story is to move away from any traditional takes on the Batman - the sombre, dark and brooding caped hero is nowhere to be seen, nor is his familiar landscape, instead taking place partly in Virginia, USA, but primarily throughout Europe and Asia. We are in essence dealing with a completely original character, far from the strong, steadfast, righteous hero we have all come to know so well. At the start of "Seven Years", Bruce is a spoiled, selfish, arrogant young man of celebrity-like status (think a cross between a young Prince Harry and a male Paris Hilton) seeking to make a name for himself to live up to expectations set by his late parents.

The main themes throughout "Seven Years" are Bruce's gradual, step-by-step transformation into selfless hero, his endless search for a father figure and a family, and for a sense of peace and justice within his own life, fighting against constant turmoil and pain he has endured throughout his life. During Bruce's travels, we see him learn each individual skill that he will eventually combine to use as Gotham's defender, and witness each step of his path to become an expert detective, man hunter, boxer, fighting champion, assassin, escapologist, illusionist, and more.

In short, all rules are out of the window. Forget what you know about Batman - his expert level of skill, his heroic actions, and his honourable "No-Kill" code - none of that matters here. That is the Batman story.

This is the Bruce Wayne Story.



Prologue <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0cm;">The series opens with a montage of Gotham TV news footage - firstly the breaking news of incoming, unconfirmed reports of an inner-city shooting involving a member of the Wayne family, a high-profile family in the city. The montage then shows clips confirming the tragedy included both Thomas and Martha Wayne, leaving their only child Bruce in the care of a family friend, Alfred Pennyworth. The montage of news footage continues to show Bruce through the years - as a teenager in trouble for fighting at school, the beginning of his university life at Princeton, his flamboyant social life, stumbling intoxicated out of clubs as a young man, being snapped by paparazzi, his graduation from Princeton and eventually the beginning of his eventual career at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:15pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0cm;">Part One: The World's Greatest Detective <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bruce Wayne is undertaking his 20-week training course at the FBI, Quantico, Virginia. He is training in the field and also as an analyst. Here he stumbles across evidence that the FBI allows the illegal activities of Rupert Thorne (a Gothamite politician and alleged crime lord) to go unnoticed in exchange for details regarding other organised crime. Bruce challenges his superiors in regards to this, who advise him not to pursue this line of enquiry, and that Thorne is a vital asset to their operations in Gotham. Disillusioned by the limitations of working within a breakable system, Bruce quits the FBI and returns to Gotham.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Back in Gotham Bruce meets Harvey Harris, a Gotham police detective also disillusioned by working within a corruptible system. Harris is described by many as the best detective in the field, if not even in the world. They agree that Thorne has the city within his grasp, and Harris reluctantly agrees to help Bruce work on bringing Thorne and his criminal empire down.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">The two find Thorne's younger brother Matthew Thorne working as a doctor on his sibling’s payroll. Thorne was using Matthew and his medical expertise against his will to manufacture low-quality, cheap methadone-based drugs as a heroin substitute for sale to Gotham's addict market. Bruce discovers that Matthew was once friends with his father Thomas Wayne in medical school, and using this background information he convinces Matthew to use his information to contribute to the case against Thorne. Matthew eventually agrees, and provides the two with evidence of the drugs manufacturing, and allows them to move forward with the case.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">After several weeks, Harris and Wayne have compiled a strong case against Thorne's men, and are ready to bring him down. Knowing that the Police force is corrupt, they instead present their findings to a journalist in the hope that Thorne's crimes will be made public, forcing the police to prosecute him. However, the documents fall into the wrong hands; Jim Corrigan, a detective on Thorne's payroll has been monitoring Harris for a while, suspicious of his enquiries. One night whilst Harris and Bruce are tracking Thorne's gang, Corrigan and his men attack the two, opening fire on the car as they flee, injuring Harris in the escape.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bruce manages to drive the car to safety across town, and realises Harris is badly injured. Harris advises Bruce to flee Gotham to save himself from Thorne's men, who will no doubt be tracking him. Harris also tells Bruce that he has trained him with everything that he knows, and that Bruce is now as good a detective as he was. Harris, now aware that he is about to die, tells Bruce that if people were right about him being the best in the world, he is now leaving Bruce, his only pupil, as the "World's Greatest Detective".

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bruce takes Harris' advice and leaves Gotham that night, heading immediately eastwards, towards Britain.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:15pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0cm;">Part Two: The Wildcat <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0cm;">It has been several months since the death of Harvey Harris. Bruce, in a vacuum of guilt, has moved to London and begun a course in Chemistry at Oxford University. He has taken up residence with the Pennyworth family, and returned back to his previous attitude of apathy, often out drinking and living an apparently carefree lifestyle. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0cm;">One night when leaving a club after a particularly heavy drinking session, Bruce is recognised by some London street thugs, who lure him away from the club and proceed to mug him. When Bruce puts up a fight, they attack him viciously, kicking him repeatedly when on the floor. Moments before Bruce slips into unconsciousness, he sees a mysterious figure approach and attack the thugs. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bruce wakes in a strange house, sore and bruised, and sees his saviour; Ted Grant, a former heavyweight boxing champion known as Ted "The Wildcat" Grant. Grant has since retired and taken up training London youths to box, as well as part-time bouncer work at the club Bruce was leaving the previous night.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bruce is in awe of the star, and is amazed to see the depths to which Grant has sunk after his former fame. Grant takes care of Bruce before insisting he leave the house and never return. Bruce however tracks Grant down to "All-Stars", the gym where he trains young men to box, and asks Grant to train him to fight. Grant initially refuses, seeing Bruce as a spoiled celebrity figure who would probably quit in no time. After Bruce becomes angry, Grant accepts Bruce's offer, seeing that Bruce needs an outlet for his rage just as much as the frustrated teenagers he coaches.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bruce reveals himself to be a natural fighter, soon surpassing any and all of Grant's other protégés. Months pass, and he grows closer to his mentor, who eventually confides in Bruce the true nature of his situation; as a champion boxer he was sponsored by Jeremiah Hassan, a wealthy French-Algerian businessman and Muslim fundamentalist. Hassan also sponsored another boxer, an up-and-coming star, who got to challenge Hassan for the title. Hassan ordered Grant to throw the fight, allowing his younger and more profitable fighter to win, but Grant refused, and beat the younger fighter easily. Outraged, Hassan had Grant's coach murdered, and framed the boxer for the crime. Grant was subsequently arrested and stripped of his title, though the charges could not be proved and Grant was acquitted. However now with his reputation in tatters, he refused to return to the life of showbiz boxing, instead opting to train younger men to box.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bruce, now inspired for the first time since his time with Harris, vows to avenge his mentor for these crimes, and sets out to find Jeremiah Hassan.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:15pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0cm;">Part Three: The Frenchman <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bruce tracks Hassan down to Paris, and uses his connections at Wayne Enterprises back in Gotham to set up a meeting with Hassan, with a front of starting a joint business venture. After the meeting, Bruce travels back to his apartment, where he is ambushed by a mysterious masked man. The two fight, and though the masked man is skilled, Bruce was trained by a champion, and easily defeats him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Just as Bruce unmasks the assailant, he is approached from behind by a second man, holding a gun to his head. The man reveals himself as Henri Ducard, a former Interpol agent now rogue detective, and his son Morgan as the assailant. Both are currently working with the aim to expose Hassan's funding of international terrorism. They followed Bruce to find out what he knows of Hassan's operations in Algeria, and now threaten to kill him if he speaks about them. Bruce instead reveals his intentions of exposing Hassan and his crimes, and offers to join the two. Impressed by Bruce's detective skills taught by Harris, Ducard accepts Bruce's offer.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">The trio work together to collate information about Hassan, with Bruce using his Wayne Enterprises contacts to garner critical information about Hassan's movements and to get a closer look at their books. All the time, Morgan grows increasingly jealous of his father’s increasing affection for Bruce. Over the course of several weeks, Bruce and Hassan grow a mutual level of respect for each other as Hassan manipulates Bruce by praising his father's business skill.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Things come to a head when Morgan attempts to kill Bruce in a fit of rage, but again Bruce gets the best of his adversary. Henri Ducard appears from the shadows, and encourages Bruce to kill Morgan, to end their rivalry. Bruce, disgusted at Ducard's suggestion, leaves the trio, and Morgan, hurt by his father's lack of remorse, who calls his own son "A Nobody", also leaves, headed toward Russia.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bruce intends to bring his meetings with Hassan to an end after his perceived failure, but Hassan first convinces Bruce to join him on a trip to Algeria to demonstrate his business expansion. When in Algeria, Bruce sees Hassan making contact with suspected terrorists, and goes to leave. The pair are however ambushed, and Bruce saves Hassan's life from assassination by the attackers. They flee to a local airport and board Hassan's private jet, headed for Paris, as Hassan shows gratitude for Bruce's actions. When the jet lands, the two men enter Hassan's limousine, and set off for his workplace, but the driver soon reveals himself to be none other than Henri Ducard.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hassan tries to attack Ducard, but is incapacitated by Bruce. Ducard drives the limousine to an abandoned warehouse and holds Hassan hostage inside, tied to a chair, explaining his plan to turn Hassan in and destroy his empire. Ducard threatens to kill Hassan, but is persuaded to allow him to survive by Bruce. As Bruce steps away to make an anonymous phone call to the police to give them Hassan's whereabouts, Ducard pulls a pistol and executes Hassan.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bruce and Ducard fight, with Bruce eventually winning control of the gun. Bruce, horrified at what Ducard has done, threatens to turn Ducard in as a murderer, but is forced to flee with his former mentor as the police close in. The two narrowly escape capture, and Ducard admits that he is proud of Bruce for helping him gain his revenge on his enemy. When Bruce argues that murder is wrong, Ducard tells Bruce that it is a necessary evil, and that if Bruce can master the darkness within his own soul, he can become something incredible - but Ducard cannot show Bruce the way to do this. He instead tells Bruce of an old friend that can train Bruce in all he need to know about the art of killing, and eventually Bruce, in awe of the idea of becoming something legendary, agrees to go.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">The following morning, Ducard takes Bruce Wayne to meet his next mentor; the assassin, David Cain.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;">'''<span style="font-size:15pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0cm;">Part Four: The Assassin '''

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;">'''<span style="font-size:15pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0cm;">Coming Soon! '''<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

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