Just getting back into comics again, and the current Bat-titles seem to imply that Batman’s secret identity seems to be known by all and sundry. Who does know, and when was it first revealed?
Thanks
Wha…?
Don’t tell me Aunt Harriet knows!
Alfred never could keep his mouth shut.
Please, no unboxed spoilers.
What do you mean by ‘everybody’?
The general public don’t know. Most of his villains don’t know - Talia does, obviously; Poison Ivy has to be assumed to, given the Batman arc previous to the most recent one; Ulysses Armstrong does - even if he didn’t before, since he’s monitoring Red Robin, he does now; Joker might and I’m pretty sure Two-Face does, but that’s about the lot - the GCPD don’t (not even Gordon).
The other heroes who work with him frequently do (the Justice League, the other major Gotham-based heroes (save maybe Huntress)), a few random civilians and other heroes (Alfred (obviously), Jacob Kane (his uncle, and Batwoman’s father), Julia Pennyworth (Alfred’s daughter), Flash (Wally), Arsenal, Lois)…
So, there are a pretty good number, but with a handful of exceptions (the villains, uncle Jacob), they’re all people who are logically (and mostly necessarily) in a zone of trust.
Well, all the readers know…
Or they should.
With that many villains knowing, though, I’d be very surprised that none of them has leaked.
Given the list of villains that know, it makes sense - Talia’s generally concerned with Bruce’s well-being (less so, now, though she still wants Damien alive, so wouldn’t indirectly endanger him), Ivy’s in the midst of rehabilitation (working with Barbara in Batgirl), Joker would never share (Batman’s HIS boyfriend, dammit), and the Harvey side of Two-Face still has influence even when Two-Face is dominant. Armstrong’s still a threat that will have to be dealt with at some point, though. (The pacing on Detective right now means it’ll probably be a longass while…the previous arc lasted for 6 months of twice-monthly issues…)
(Actually, Jacob is probably the most likely to leak, I would say. His affection for Bruce has become strained, and he doesn’t approve of how he does things… I think if Kate wouldn’t take it as a betrayal, he’d go public.)
In the comic mini series “Hush,” Edward Nygma, aka the Riddler deduced Batman’s secret identity. When he threatened to expose his identity, Batman called his bluff, telling him that if he revealed the answer to the riddle “Who is Batman?” the Riddler would no longer be in possession of the riddle, something that the Riddler wouldn’t be able to bear.
Also, doesn’t Selina Kyle (Catwoman) know in many of the storylines (outside of the movies Batman Returns and Dark Knight Rises)?
Should hope so, they’re getting married in a couple issues. (Needless to say, she’s no longer a villain.)
In the *Injustice *alt-series ; everyone on the planet does know because in the process of slowly becoming Superdick, Superman straight outed him. On Twitter of all places. Makes Bats’ life a liiiittle bit complicated for a while.
Well, he obviously has an entire construction crew keeping his secret, because there’s no way he built the entire Bat Cave, wired it up and installed all that stuff just by himself.
Even if he was prepared?
Probably used the Bat-amnesia ray on them every day.
I think I remember a comic where someone deduced the secret by the fact that Bruce Wayne was having all this stuff delivered to his house or something. The UPS guy figures it out.
One good tax audit would put Wayne Enterprises out of business. And probably reveal Batman’s secret identity.
In the current continuity the public believe that Wayne financially supports Batman but the idea that doofy, spoiled Bruce Wayne could be Batman (who is probably not even human anyway) is ridiculous.
The real world analogy would be if someone tried to convince you that Paris Hilton was really a Ninja who fights crime.
Call Hollywood!
That’s why Wayne Enterprises is a defense contractor. Billions can go missing and no one notices. 
And it also gives them cover for making experimental military hardware. Oh, that? That was a prototype that we mothballed when the DoD decided not to put in a contract.
Paris Hilton is bankrolling a crime fighting Ninja?