Batman was born out of death. For better or worse, the Dark Knight only exists because of the pain of losing his parents to violent crime. However, in 2005's Absolute Power, Batman gains memories of what it would have been like if his parents had survived.
Jeph Loeb's Absolute Power tells the story of the League of Supervillains (Saturn Queen, Lighting Lord, and Cosmic King) traveling back in time to kidnap Bruce Wayne and Kal-El as children, raising them as puppet kings and tyrannical rulers of planet Earth. When Uncle Sam's Freedom Fighters destroy the super-villains' time machine, the multiverse begins to decay. Batman and Superman are sent on a journey through various alternate timelines in order to restore both their own memories, as well as with the correct chain of events.
One of their tasks is to prevent the Cosmic King from kidnapping Bruce Wayne. Unfortunately, the Cosmic King tries to kidnap little Bruce on the same night his parents were shot. Batman, unable to watch his parents die again, kills Joe Chill by shooting him at point blank range. This causes adult Batman to be erased from history, leaving Superman stranded in an alternate past with the shocked and confused Wayne family.
Superman travels back to the modern day to find it horribly changed. Without Batman, Ra's al Ghul rules the world and has slaughtered the rest of the Justice League. Smallville is an internment camp run by the Blackhawks, and Metropolis is terrorized by Haunted Tank running amok. Bruce Wayne, however, is doing great. He lives with his parents in Gotham, playing chess with Tommy Elliot and dating Selina Kyle. Superman muses to himself “I saw something in Bruce's eyes ... Something I don't think I've ever seen there. Bruce was happy.”
Superman manages to restore Bruce's memories. Stealing his father's Bat-Man Halloween costume, Bruce Wayne uses a Lazarus pit to resuscitate Aquaman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern. The Justice League takes down Ra's Al Ghul, returns the League of Supervillains to their own century, and restores the timeline. Batman wakes up in the original timeline, stating “the memory of what was is still with me.” That means that the original timeline's Batman has three decades' worth of happy memories with his still living parents!
Considering that DC reboots their timeline every other Tuesday, one can't be certain how much of Absolute Power is still canon. For at least a little while, though, main-universe Batman got back what Joe Chill took from him: a lifetime of happiness. Story after story has asserted that Batman doesn't feel he can be Batman if he is happy. However, at the end of Absolute Power, Batman smiles and assures Alfred “I am very much myself.” One has to wonder if the Caped Crusader isn't quite as miserable as he would like everyone to believe.
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