Bat-Man (Earth-43)

The Batman of Earth-43 was a version of Batman who had been transformed into a Vampire.

Red Rain
Investigating a series of murders of Gotham City's homeless, the victims' throats having been slashed, Batman simultaneously finds himself becoming unusually stronger while also developing an aversion to sunlight. After he surprises a killer just after the woman has killed a new victim, he notes that the body has only two pinpricks on the throat rather than the slashes he had seen earlier, prompting him to consider that there is more going on than he suspected. Entering a storm-drain to track the killer, Batman discovers that the murders are being committed by a family of vampires.

Having learned about the presence of vampires in Gotham, Batman is officially contacted by the renegade vampire Tanya- leader of a group of 'Others' who have rejected the methods of other vampires to protect the humans-, who reveals that she is responsible for his recent transformation; by biting him to infuse him with the vampire 'virus' without actually draining his veins, she has granted him the power necessary to oppose Dracula, the leader of the vampires, directly, something that none of her followers can do as all of them have been under his power at some point. Having explained the situation to Commissioner Gordon, Batman led Dracula's minions into the Batcave, Tanya and her followers keeping them occupied while Batman destroyed the roof of the cave, exposing all vampires inside to sunlight, destroying them. With Wayne Manor having been sacrificed to ensure his identity remained a secret, Bruce and Alfred Pennyworth relocated to a brownstone in Gotham, Batman then using his new bat-like wings to fly and confront Dracula. After a prolonged battle, with Batman's silver batarangs providing him with little advantage against Dracula's raw strength, Batman eventually defeated Dracula by impaling him on a tree that was destroyed by lightning, but at the cost of the last of his humanity as Dracula drained the last of his human blood from him. After Bruce's will is read by Alfred, Batman tells Alfred that although Bruce Wayne has died, the Batman will live on, thanks to his new vampire powers.

Bloodstorm
Some time later, the Joker is revealed to have taken leadership over Dracula's minions (who, according to the Joker, can't think beyond their next victim after their master's death), coordinating their feedings as he works to convert and take control of the city's criminal families. Despite Batman's constant struggle against his thirst for blood as Tanya's blood substitute becomes increasingly ineffective, he continues to hunt the vampires, aided directly by Selina Kyle (who is a werecat after being bitten by a vampire that turned into a wolf while hunting her), while Commissioner Gordon, Alfred, and a group of Gotham police turned vampire hunters worked to eliminate the vampires in the daylight. The human group managed to destroy the crime bosses in the day, while Batman and Selina took out the remaining vampires in a warehouse at night. Unfortunately, Catwoman is killed after successfully killing the vampire that turned her, intercepting a crossbow bolt that the Joker had tried to shoot Batman with. After realizing that the only person able to control his bloodlust is dead, the enraged and grief-stricken Batman turns his anger towards the Joker, draining him of all his blood. Horrified by what he has done, Batman fled the scene of the crime- after staking the Joker in the heart to prevent him returning as a vampire-, leaving Gordon and Alfred a note encouraging them to drive a wooden stake through his heart to stop him now that he has become a monster like Dracula.

Crimson Mist
However, the staking didn't kill Batman; in this continuity, staking merely immobilises the vampire unless decapitation also takes place, resulting in Batman being driven gradually insane by his body's physical decay and his longing for blood as he lay immobile in his coffin, increasingly longing for the blood that he had long despised. Eventually he was restored by Alfred after a crime wave takes the city in an attempt to give Gotham a savior again. Now a slave to his vampiric impulses, Batman proceeded to drain the villains Penguin, Riddler, Poison Ivy, Black Mask, Scarecrow, and most of his other old foes of their blood, the only blessing being that he always decapitated his victims after death so that they do not return as monsters at his side. After Batman has left the heads of the Black Mask gang on the fences around Blackgate Penetentiary as a 'warning', he then proceeds to fly into Arkham Asylum and kill all the homicidal inmates, leaving Two-Face and Killer Croc as Gotham's only remaining villains. With no other way to stop the vampire Batman, Two-Face forms an alliance with Commissioner Gordon and Alfred to combat Batman, the Dark Knight's former allies recognising that, even if Batman only targets criminals, the man he once was would have never done such a thing. Even Batman himself was uncertain how much of the man he once was still existed in this state, committing brutal murders while uncertain if they were motivated by his own bloodlust or intended to provoke Gordon and Alfred into attempting to destroy him.

Although the Gordon/Two-Face alliance was able to track Batman to his new lair in the Batcave, with the intention of setting off explosives to expose Batman to the sun, after Batman was shot through the heart with a crossbow and sent falling into a cavern during the struggle, Two-Face and Killer Croc attempted to kill Commissioner Gordon and Alfred. Alfred gives his life to give the badly-injured Batman the strength needed to save Gordon, still having faith in his master even after everything he has done. After killing Two-Face and Killer Croc, Batman convinces Gordon to set off the explosives, warning Gordon that he will go on to devour the human race if he is not prevented from killing again. Gordon is crushed by the falling rubble in the explosion, and Batman, having whispered a last apology to his old friend, walks into the sunlight, hoping that he will finally have the peace he's been seeking since his transformation.

Countdown
In the Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer, the Challengers of the Beyond venture into a parallel earth. The Challengers of Beyond had actually arrived at Earth-43, and Donna Troy finds a dead Barbara Gordon, marked by Ray Palmer and with a stake through her heart. Barbara was turned into a vampire by Batman and was killed by Dick Grayson. Grayson has become obsessed with killing Batman ever since he murdered his parents, and after finally locating his crypt, he finds he can't bring himself to kill him, so Batman bites him and turns him into a vampire as well. The Challengers leave this Earth, with Dick now taking on a Robin-esque role as Batman's partner.

In Countdown: Arena, the Bat-Man later becomes one of three alternate versions of Batman, that fight to be in Monarch's army against the Monitors. Bat-Man wins his place in Monarch's army, turning one of the other Batmen during their fight.

Powers and Abilities
Like all Batmen, the Batman of Earth-43 began his life as a human operating at the peak of physical and mental perfection, even proving capable of briefly standing up to a relatively newly-turned vampire despite his opponent's strength, although prolonged conflict against a vampire was obviously impossible. After his transformation into a vampire began, Bruce Wayne demonstrated greatly enhanced strength, able to lift a Mercedes up onto two wheels with only one hand, although he was still notably weaker than Dracula himself in a direct confrontation, relying on his silver batarangs to do damage in a simple physical fight. Prior to his transformation coming full circle, Batman developed bat-like wings that allowed him to fly with little effort.

After becoming a full vampire, Batman's powers were operating at their peak, his physical strength growing each night as he became more in touch with his vampire powers, only for his body and mind to become increasingly weakened as he fought his new natural urge for blood, initially relying on Tanya's blood substitue before it ceased to satisfy his thirst. He was now also capable of turning into a mist-like state when he wanted, although he rarely used this power, preferring to fly when travelling. He regularly went into action armed with wooden throwing daggers weighted with silver inside them. So long as he abstained from human blood, Batman was also immune to the traditional vampire weaknesses of holy water and crucifixes, although he was apparently still unable to go out in sunlight (Although it was never specified if this was because he just didn't want to or if it would have burned him now as easily as it did later). In this new form, Batman was functionally immortal, surviving being shot with no signs of long-term injury, and could even come back from being staked through the heart so long as his head was not removed.

However, the long-term paralysis and decay that resulted from the stake in his heart had a significant effect on Batman's mental state after he was restored. Although he apparently retained enough detective skills to deduce the Riddler's latest riddle, he was now consumed by his longing for blood, eagerly decapitating his old enemies after drinking their blood even as he privately brooded over his guilt and grief at what he had become, often reflecting in a grimly philosophical manner about his new state of corruption and its impact on his relationship with his enemies and allies. When flying, he also transformed into a bat-like monster rather than simply gaining wings in human form as he had before. When in human form, he appeared almost dry and physically frail as a result of the decay he had suffered while staked, although he retained enough raw physical strength to effortlessly throw off even the obviously physically powerful Killer Croc in a fight.

In other media

 * The Bat-Man of Earth-43 made a brief cameo in the recent cartoon Batman: The Brave and the Bold during the episode "Legends of the Dark Mite!". When Bat-Mite decides the change Batman's appearance and costume, he turns Batman into the Bat-Man of Earth-43, to which Bat-Mite remarks, "Imposing, but too dracula." Also, in the season one finale "Game Over for Owlman", where he teamed up with other parallel Earth versions of himself. The Bat-Man of Earth-43 had been recruited in an army of Batmen by the mainstream Batman to battle Owlman and his army of villains.

Appearances

 * Batman & Dracula: Red Rain
 * Red Rain: Blood Lust
 * Night of the Bat
 * Batman: Bloodstorm
 * Batman: Crimson Mist
 * Countdown: Arena
 * Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer
 * Justice Society of America
 * Batman/Superman
 * Countdown
 * Tales of the Multiverse: Batman - Vampire