| abstract | - On the way home from seeing the film The Mark of Zorro, Bruce watched as his mother and father were gunned down by a mugger. Some say that Bruce died that night with his parents, and Batman was born in his place. In any case, he later stated that the incident marked the end of his childhood. Bruce was taken home to Wayne Manor, where he was raised by the Waynes' faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth. Intent on eliminating the crime that took his parents, Bruce immersed himself in studying a wide variety of arts and sciences. He learned from masters in their fields, such as escape artistry from Zatara, martial arts from Yoru Sensei in Japan and The Master in Nanda Parbat, and science from Nobel laureates. During his three-month training stint with Zatara, Bruce and his mentor's daughter Zatanna became very close. During his training in Japan, Bruce became enemies with fellow student Kyodai Ken when the latter was kicked out for trying to steal Yoru's sword. The two would meet again years later, in which Kyodai would acknowledge him as a worthy adversary.
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