Wayne Bruce is an average guy with a boring life as a low-level employee at a nationwide chain of bookstores who wishes for a life of adventure. On his way to see a movie at a theater downtown, he walks into a crime scene just as a couple is being mugged and shot at. He never thought he would be the kind of man to do it, but he jumps in front of the couple taking a bullet meant for them. As everything fades to black he hears the EMTs arriving and the couple describing what had happened to a police officer.

When next he wakes everyone is calling him Bruce. Bruce Wayne. The Batman.