
The first villains the Batman ever had to fight in Gotham City were naturally the local organized crime syndicates, set in place long before himself. However, he later used his knowledge of Batman's secret identity to steal his fortune and go to war against him and his allies. Perhaps most notably, in " The Joker's Five-Way Revenge," he has Batman unconscious and completely at his mercy, but elects to leave him alone as he feels it was only on a technicality, and he had always envisioned his victory against Batman as " at the end of a bitter struggle." The epilogue of Death of the Family reveals that the Joker is "incapable of even broaching the subject of Bruce Wayne". As if he feels it would sort of cheapen or ruin their unusual relationship, as Batman is the only other person he actually seems to consider real. The Joker, despite numerous opportunities to uncover it for himself, has expressed numerous desires not to know who he really is.


In the ensuing bout of insanity, he simply realized Batman was Bruce Wayne. At one point when he was near death, he sunk himself into a Lazarus Pit to save his own life. The Riddler, seeking the answer to all of life's questions, yearned to learn Batman's secret identity perhaps more than any other villain.King Tut figured out Batman's identity at one point.Bane was able to figure out Batman was Bruce Wayne in only a year.However, it was later revealed that Strange had simply faked his own death, as he often does. Strange also auctioned his identity on the black market, although he would later retract his offer an act for which boss Rupert Thorne was believed to have killed him for. Although many other villains have undergone controversy in this situation, Hugo Strange simply removed his mask without hesitation, and then actually usurped his identity, and became Bruce Wayne himself. During the events of " Strange Apparitions," Hugo Strange was able to capture Batman through a complex feint scheme with an illegitimate hospital, and numerous trained venomous snakes.Ra's has used this information to make his attacks against Batman more personal, but does not fraternize with the regular villain community, and as such has never shared it. Al Ghul simply figured out what equipment exactly would be required to live as Batman, and then deduced that Bruce Wayne was the only person on Earth regularly buying these. He had determined that whoever Batman was would make the perfect husband for his daughter, Talia, and embarked to find out for himself. Ra's al Ghul deduced Batman's identity with almost no trouble.Thomas Wayne (who Moxon had murdered), and crazed, ran out into the middle of the street where he was hit by a truck. Lew Moxon believed Bruce to be the ghost of Dr. Joe Chill ran to tell his fellow thugs, but after he explained to them he was responsible for the Batman's creation, they murdered him for that only realizing their folly once it was too late.

This included, along with others, both Joe Chill and Lew Moxon, each of whom Batman revealed his identity to shortly before he intended to exact dire revenge. However, they were either tricked into thinking they made a mistake or were killed in a predictable manner. Golden Age, many two-bit crooks actually learned of Bruce Wayne.Many have tried, and a number have actually succeeded in discovering his secret identity. Over the years, knowledge of Batman's secret identity has been one of the most coveted and controversial desires of his rogues gallery.
