Wayne Enterprises

Wayne Enterprises, Inc., also known as WayneCorp, is a fictional company appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Wayne Enterprises is a large, growing multinational company.

Wayne Enterprises, Inc.
Wayne Tower, headquarters
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Batman #307 (January 1979)
In-story information
Type of business	Conglomerate
Base(s)	Gotham City
Owner(s)	Thomas Wayne Bruce Wayne

The American diversified multinational conglomerate is owned and chaired by Bruce Wayne, the son of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Wayne Enterprises is a green company based out of Gotham City and headquartered in Wayne Tower.[1]

Wayne Enterprises and the Wayne Foundation are largely run by Bruce Wayne's business manager Lucius Fox. Fox makes most company decisions on Bruce Wayne's behalf, since Wayne's time is largely occupied by his duties as the vigilante Batman.

Wayne Enterprises have been presented in movies and TV as a business conglomerate, modeled after the standards of a multinational company.

Fictional company history

Wayne Tower in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #27 (Feb. 1992). Art by Chris Sprouse.

Founded by merchant ancestors of the Wayne family in the 17th century as a merchant house, it is among the oldest companies in the DC Universe. The company began as a dozen businesses started by brothers Judge Solomon Wayne and Joshua Wayne. With the revenue generated Judge Wayne essentially built Gotham City by hiring Cyrus Pinkney.[2]

Judge Wayne's son and heir, Alan Wayne, officially made it a corporate company in the 19th century. Alan Wayne, who was Bruce Wayne's great-great-grandfather, erected Wayne Shipping, Wayne Chemical, and Wayne Manufacturing. All these companies were energized by the world's Industrial Revolution; more branches were created and diversified while others dwindled and subsequently discarded. Along the years, it has developed from a merchant house to a large multinational conglomerate company in the DC Universe; exceeding LexCorp, Stagg Enterprises, and Ferris Aircraft.

Under the control of Patrick and Laura Wayne, Wayne Enterprises became a "green company" and environmentally conscious from that time forward.

Wayne Tower

Within the DC Universe, Wayne Tower is the headquarters of Wayne Enterprises. Also called "Old Wayne Tower" and "Wayne Industries Headquarters"; it was built in 1888 by Alan Wayne. After its construction, the tower was the tallest building in Gotham City. Built as a symbol to welcome all of those who enter the city, Wayne Tower has 13 gargoyles or "guardians", which Alan Wayne insisted they be called, welcome visitors for each of the 13 entry points into the city. The five guardians on the first tier watch the original five gateways into Gotham, the three bridges and two tunnels. Higher up, the seven guardians watch the seven train lines that converge at Union Station below the tower's base. A 13th guardian was added in 1930 and sits in the middle of the tower. This last one, added by Henry Wayne, watches the airport and cannot be seen by elevator or from the deck.[3][4]

At the top of the tower is an observation deck which Alan Wayne asserted be open to the public for free every weekend. It has double bonded laminated float glass for windows that are crystal-quality, weatherproof, and unbreakable.[5]

Wayne Foundation

The Wayne Foundation Building as it appears in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #25 (March 1987). Art by Terry Austin.

The Wayne Foundation is the holding company for the Thomas Wayne Foundation and the Martha Wayne Foundation; it is the largest transparently operated private foundation within the DC Universe. The primary aims of the foundation are, globally, is arts and humanities: to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology, and to fund scientific research and help altruistic people with research by providing facilities and training. The scale of the foundation and the way it seeks to apply business techniques to giving makes it one of the leaders in venture philanthropy, though the foundation itself notes that the philanthropic role has limitations.

The foundation has its own building, called the Wayne Foundation Building, which includes a penthouse where Bruce Wayne lived for a period of time. It also has a secret elevator that leads to a matching Batcave in a secret sub-basement under the building.

Through the Wayne Foundation and the affiliated organizations underneath, Bruce Wayne addresses social-economic problems encouraging crime, assists victims of crimes, and maintains connections to the streets through the soup kitchens and social services groups; all of which augments his crime fighting efforts in a way that his Batman persona cannot. This arrangement also provides a large network of connections in the world of charities. He finds out about the newest trends, sciences and the arts.

Thomas Wayne Foundation

The Thomas Wayne Foundation is a foundation for medicine and medical help. This foundation gives annual awards for medical breakthroughs and lifelong commitment, similar to the Nobel Foundation. The Thomas Wayne Foundation is also responsible for funding the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic in Park Row, Gotham's infamous Crime Alley. The foundation funds and runs dozens of clinics in Gotham. Bruce Wayne's surrogate mother, Dr. Leslie Thompkins, runs the Memorial Clinic in Crime Alley and governed the other clinics until she left Gotham.

Martha Wayne Foundation

The Martha Wayne Foundation is a patron and supporter of arts, families, education, and tolerance. The foundation supports and helps to run a number of orphanages and free schools, and provides teachers for those who have learning difficulties. Artists can apply for grants from the foundation to help support them in furthering the arts. The foundation sponsors companies like Family Finders. Family Finders is an organization directed at finding lost people and uniting families. The Martha Wayne Foundation also sponsors and runs dozens of soup kitchens within the city.

Bat Bunker

Under the Wayne Foundation building, there is a secret bunker, which is similar to the secret bunker of New Babylon in The Hague. As of Batman #687, Dick Grayson has taken to using this as his "Batcave," stating that he wishes to embody the role of Batman in a way that is specific to him as well as getting closer to the action in the city. The bunker is as well-equipped as the original Batcave, including the Subway Rocket vehicle (which is Grayson's favorite means of transport during the Prodigal storyline ) stationed beneath the bunker.

Corporate branches and subsidiaries

Known subsidiaries

Although the company is primarily known as a military defense contractor, Wayne Enterprises also includes dozens of umbrella companies involved in all sectors of the economy both in Gotham City and around the world.

Many of the following divisions of the company include:

• Wayne Aerospace
• Wayne Airlines
• Wayne Automotive
• Wayne Aviation
• Wayne Biotech
• Wayne Botanical
• Wayne Chemicals
• Wayne Construction
• Wayne Electric
• Wayne Electronics
• Wayne Energy
• Wayne Entertainment (parent company of The Daily Planet newspaper)
• Wayne Foods
• Wayne Healthcare
• Wayne Industries
• Wayne Manufacturing
• Wayne Medical
• Wayne Mining
• Wayne Oil
• Wayne Pharmaceuticals
• Wayne Records
• Wayne Research Institute
• Wayne Retail
• Wayne Securities
• Wayne Shipping
• Wayne Stage
• Wayne Steel
• Wayne Studios
• Wayne Technologies
• Wayne Television
• Wayne Weapons
• Wayne Yards

Batman, Incorporated

In Batman Incorporated, Bruce Wayne announces that he will officially fund the efforts of various crimefighters through the formation of a subsidiary called Batman, Incorporated.

Wayne Security

Wayne Security specializes in customized homes and business security—from armoured vehicles to enterprise security software—with emphasis providing affordable access to insurances, private security, identity theft protection, medical emergency services, monitoring systems, and personal safety products for ordinary people.

Wayne Research Institute

Wayne Research Institute is a RAND-like think tank for Nobel Prize people looking ahead to solve the next generation of problems confronting humankind. Many decisions on future development, particularly in Gotham, goes through this division. The research and development division is used by Batman to study issues and technologies that he thinks might be helpful in his endeavors.

Wayne Aerospace

Wayne Aerospace is a subsidiary of Wayne Technologies and remains one of the more highly successful divisions of Wayne Enterprises. It has its own airline called Wayne Airlines and an aviation division called Wayne Aviation. The aerospace division is a major military defense contractor within Gotham and the United States. W.A. currently owns 20% of Lockheed Martin's weapons division. The W.A. is mostly known for its extremely well structured, luxurious and exclusive corporate and private jets and airliners. Much like the Gulfstream, Wayne Enterprises tries to keep the Slipstream corporate jets out of the hands of celebrities and sells them mostly to large corporations. This in turn has made the Slipstream into a cult item among the rich because it is fashionable to have a plane as a status symbol of wealth. Wayne Aerospace's experimental aviation branch produces experimental and research aircraft for NASA. The military aviation branch designs and manufactures highly successful jet fighters and helicopters for the United States Air Forces. The most notable models of these are the W-4 Wraith fighter and the Kestrel attack helicopter. As the most prominent aerospace company in the region, Wayne Aerospace has a working partnership with Eagle Air Force Base near Gotham City. Wayne Aerospace is also responsible for maintaining the systems and the planes for the Archie Goodwin International Airport in Little Stockton, in Gotham. Wayne Aerospace maintains good natured competition with other aerospace corporations like Ferris Air and its nemesis, LexAir.

The division has generated millions of dollars for Wayne Enterprises. The company's government contracts and space exploration contracts with NASA have been very lucrative. Wayne Aerospace's most important mission is to provide the latest technology and information for the Batman.

Wayne Technologies

Wayne Technologies is the biggest division within Wayne Enterprises—referred to as "the applied sciences division" in The Dark Knight trilogy. As more and more innovations were made and new things were discovered, the division has played an important role in the technology scene around Gotham and providing the latest and cutting edge devices for Batman. As alien invasions and involvement have become more sporadic around Gotham, WayneTech acquired alien technology and used it for research & development. With this breakthrough acquisition, Wayne Enterprise was able to rival technologies produced by its nemesis, LexCorp. Some of Wayne Technologies' research into alien technology has contributed to large breakthroughs in medicine, cybernetics, pharmaceuticals and avionics. Subsidiaries of WayneTech include: Holt Holdings Inc. (the company formerly owned by the current Mister Terrific), Wayne Biotech, Wayne Pharmaceuticals, and Wayne Healthcare. WayneTech is a great resource for Batman. Not only does it provide contacts for him into the high technology world, the division can also be used to analyze whatever gadget he might find faster than he would be able to do alone. WayneTech also provides a source of business income for Wayne Enterprises as the company owns dozens of patents, including all of Holt's systems except the T-Spheres, as licensing these patents can be extremely lucrative for the company. With the strength of this division, Batman has access to any kind of medical facility or procedure, from normal to special or experimental applications, information and medical analysis. Through the company he also has access to medical files on everyone in Gotham. Since WayneTech is the market leader in cybernetic applications, he has extremely high level government contracts and contacts.

Wayne Foods

Wayne Foods is a well known subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises with its headquarters in downtown Gotham City. The firm was started in 1872 by an Irish immigrant, Patrick Toole, under the name, Toole & Sons Food Merchants. It runs a number of farms and cattle ranches in the Breadbasket regions of the United States, and business was successful in importing Irish products that could be sold at a higher cost in the US economy. By 1905, there were five Toole & Sons stores throughout Gotham City. Patrick Toole died at the age of 72 in 1919, leaving the business to his eldest son, Thomas Toole. Thomas was keen to expand across the US; however, the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 severely impacted trade lines from Ireland to Gotham. At the end of the war in 1918, Toole & Sons Food Merchants was near bankruptcy. Thomas, unable to carry on his father’s legacy, committed suicide in 1922 at age 43. The second youngest Toole brother, Rory, took over the business and immediately set about selling all company assets in favor of entering liquidation.

The business was bought in 1925 by the Wayne family, who were keen to preserve an important part of Gotham’s retail history. It is one of the most financially successful divisions at Wayne Enterprises and oldest branches. The business returned to profit in less than a year, and by the end of the second World War, Toole & Sons stores controlled over 60% of all food retail across the city. This was achieved by diversifying the product range and opening up stock to new markets outside Ireland and within the US. The company changed its name to Wayne Foods in 1956. Today, Wayne Foods focuses on the high end market and specialty goods. Although it no longer has the dominance across Gotham as it did from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, Wayne Foods continues to generate significant revenue for Wayne Enterprises. Wayne Foods produces specialized products like ecological foods, natural lines with no additives and controlled growing. Wayne Foods remains a source of information and contacts for Batman, helping to keep tabs on the food product market and threats pertaining to the safety of the food supply around Gotham City.

Wayne Shipping

Wayne Shipping owns dozens of freighters and handles three-and-a-half billion tons of freight each month. It is used by Batman to gain an inside view on smuggling and drug trafficking. In 1986, Wayne Shipping merged with PAAL Ship Corporation, creating the world's largest commercial shipping operation for precious metals. The former PAAL CEO, Andreas Milanic, successfully floated Wayne Shipping on the New York Stock Exchange in 1988. The Wayne Family currently owns 57% of the company, with Milanic's second son, Dragoslav, owning 20% (and the remaining 23% is in public ownership). Despite a lack of investment in Wayne Shipping since the merger took place, the company still remains an important player in world ocean transportation.

Wayne Yards

Wayne Yards is responsible for the building of many naval warships, commercial and private ships, and is building a Ford-class aircraft carrier in Gotham. Wayne Steel and Wayne Yards facilities repair many cruisers and destroyers, and also have contacts within the upper echelons of the Navy and the global maritime business.

Wayne Industries

Wayne Industries is a research and development company used for industrial purposes. The company studies, researches, and develops cleaner, mechanical fission and fusion power plants; and also owns many factories and normal labor units. The company is heavily involved in the industrial circuit, developing industrial machinery such as, manufacturing heavy engines, motors, pneumatic systems and large-scale systems. Additionally, Wayne Industries is also involved in automobile manufacturing (Wayne Automotive) and cloth making. Wayne Mining is also a part of Wayne Industries, along with the few power stations (Wayne Electric) the company owns. Wayne Mining mostly mines and produces gold and some precious stones in Africa.

Wayne Biotech

This division of Wayne Enterprises remains a facility for the research and development of more innovative medical procedures and system. The company educates, trains and teaches a huge number of people annually. It maintains a good working relationship with the Gotham University and Drake Medical.

Wayne Chemicals and Wayne Pharmaceuticals work closely with Wayne Biotech to develop new medical vaccines and medicines for the treatment of different diseases. Much of the present research at Wayne Biotech is focused on finding the cure for cancer. Since the human genome has already been unlocked, Wayne Biotech is studying cloning to produce feasible human organs for future transplants. The division is also involved in research into neurosurgery methods, the fight against AIDS and HIV, and reconstructive plastic surgery. Batman uses Wayne Biotech as a research tool for finding medical information, patient histories, information on illnesses, and thus clues for his crime prevention activities.

Wayne Medical

Wayne Medical is Wayne Biotech’s sister company, but each has different fields of study and work. Wayne Medical handles most of the healthcare system in Gotham and also studies cancer and AIDS with Wayne Biotech. Wayne Medical is focused more on treating illnesses than researching them. It maintains and runs many hospitals in Gotham City and helps the Wayne Foundation with the orphanages.

Wayne Electronics

Wayne Electronics is a large consortium that has recently become a major player in the home and personal computing market. Its products rival LexCorp's in terms of speed, durability and ease of use. Wayne Electronics is a large consortium that manufactures almost anything from portable radios to stereo and Hi-Fi systems, movie cameras, cameras and electronics, measuring devices, scanners, surveillance equipment, computers and other electronics devices. Wayne Electronics is one of the top selling brand names in electronics, from multimedia to precision systems. Its other branches of business include information technology, wired networks, wireless networks and space exploration systems and satellites.

Batman utilizes contacts through Wayne Electronics in the media and entertainment industry, even if in lesser degree than through Wayne Entertainment. Wayne Electronics' contracts with the aerospace, nautical and military industries provide contacts as well.

Wayne Entertainment

Wayne Entertainment owns many arenas and stadiums in Gotham and has leased out the Sommerset Stadium to the Metropolis Monarchs and operates its own record label, Wayne Records. This division of Wayne Enterprises continuously innovates new areas in entertainment to create a niche for itself in the entertainment industry around Gotham. Furthermore, Wayne Entertainment has working partnerships with several modeling agencies and multimedia houses, and provides many contacts and information. The Daily Planet newspaper, where Clark Kent and his wife, Lois Lane, work, is operated by Wayne Entertainment.[6] Wayne Entertainment is in direct competition with WGBS (run by Galaxy Communications) and LexCom (run by LexCorp). Those companies, along with other television and movie companies, provide the same services as Wayne Entertainment. Through Wayne Entertainment, Batman has contacts in the media and entertainment industries.

Wayne Construction

Wayne Construction is the property, construction and civil engineering division of Wayne Enterprises. The division has played a prominent role with the construction of a free railway system around Gotham City, wiping out government corruption in the process. It is also responsible for building and maintaining several resort style hotels scattered all over the world. In addition, Bruce Wayne himself amassed a private fortune of his own as a successful real estate developer before Gotham became a booming metropolis.[7]

Wayne Chemicals

Wayne Chemicals is a part of technology unit at Wayne Enterprises. It controls the branches such as Wayne Oil, Wayne Pharmaceuticals and Wayne Botanical. Wayne Oil acquired Luxor Oil, another oil company that has oil wells, drilling and refineries, providing fuel for Gotham as well as source of investment income for Batman. Wayne Chemicals also has a small percentage of ownership in Tyler Chemicals, based in New York City. Wayne Oil gives Batman a major connection to OPEC and other oil organizations and companies around the world. Wayne Chemicals exercises strong scientific and technological proficiency at developing new compounds and chemicals, but has shifted to research and development in the 1980s. With the oil fields, wells and refineries Wayne Oil purchased with Luxor Oil, it has also started to do research in petrochemicals even more than before. At the same time, it has concentrated a huge effort towards alternative fuel sources. Wayne Chemicals is the first company to have created a power generator using algae. Wayne Pharmaceuticals is another large R&D unit at Wayne Chemicals, providing income, scientific breakthroughs, direct links in the scientific community as well as giving Batman a technological edge over his adversaries.

Wayne Steel

Wayne Steel is the steel manufacturing division at Wayne Enterprises. The Steel plan are among the oldest steel mills and one of the oldest shipyards in Gotham City and have nearly as much fame as the Newport News Shipyards. The Wayne Steel shipyards date back to the founding of the Tricorner naval yards. As the government's own naval shipyards started to pull out from Gotham, Wayne Steel moved in and acquired them for Wayne Yards. The division of the company has always maintained a great working relationship with Gotham-based shipyards. Due to the high quality of their steel, Wayne Steel have also supplied shipyards outside of Gotham with their steel needs. Recent globe-spanning events have left the US navy depleted of ships and the U.S. government since been its most prominent customer for the division, as Wayne Steel has run into a boom and at times can't supply enough steel to the industry. Because of this, Wayne Steel has started to open more steel mills close to Gotham and also around the United States. This has a lead to a major windfall profits for the company. Metallurgical studies have become extremely crucial as alien technologies and new alloys have been studied and then replicated. A new side of the business that has only recently started to take off has positioned Wayne Steel it has had with the government from the 19th century, the division of the company has become a market leader in the study of alien alloys from recent economic and manufacturing crises. This division of Wayne Enterprises allows Batman to prioritize technology and alloys for him to study. Wayne Steel's alliance with the US Navy and the government has produced numerous contacts for Wayne Steel.

In other media

Television

DC animated universe

• In Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, Wayne Enterprises was run by both Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox. Attempts at taking over the company were made by rival companies, including Roland Daggett of Daggett Industries. After GothCorp's CEO Ferris Boyle was arrested, Wayne Enterprises helped keep GothCorp running without firing any employees. Wayne Enterprises once partnered with LexCorp for the development of cybernetic scouting drones, the Waynelexes, but Bruce terminated the contract after Lex Luthor created several large-scale military prototypes, violating the joint approval clause stipulated in their agreement, as well as his involvement in the Joker's rampage on Metropolis. Wayne Enterprises also hired Arnold Wesker after his release from Arkham Asylum, and funded an organ transplant operation to cure Nora Fries of her terminal illness.
• In Batman Beyond, the elder Bruce Wayne defended against numerous hostile takeovers by shrewd industrialist Derek Powers of Powers Technology. However, sometime after Bruce retired as Batman, Powers succeeded in merging the two companies, creating Wayne-Powers Enterprises. Powers has used the company's resources for many illegal business transactions, including making biological weapons for rogue nations. After Powers' criminal identity as Blight was revealed, his son Paxton took over as CEO. Paxton was soon arrested after attempting to murder Bruce and for several major art thefts. Bruce then finally reclaimed the company as both Chairman and CEO and renamed the company again Wayne Enterprises.

'Arrowverse'

Main article: Arrowverse

Wayne Enterprises appears on the CW's Arrowverse.

• In the pilot of the CW's live-action TV series The Flash, a spin-off of Arrow, a newspaper article from the future tells of a Wayne Tech/Queen Incorporated merger being completed in 2024.
• It appears in the part 2 (Arrow) of the Elseworlds crossover, in which Wayne Enterprises is run by Kate Kane in Gotham City, although the company has gone downhill after Bruce Wayne and Batman vanished three years ago and the board of directors made a series of bad investments. The exterior and lobby of Chicago's Carbide & Carbon Building (at the time, the St. Jane Hotel) portray the firm's seemingly derelict and largely abandoned headquarters.
• The building appears in the series Batwoman as a base of operations for Kate and Luke Fox with a Batcave. Chicago's Board of Trade Building once again serves as the Wayne Enterprises headquarters, looking much as it did in Christopher Nolan's Batman films.

Other

• In an episode of the Teen Titans animated series, when Robin defected to Slade, the remaining four Titans fought against Robin on top of Wayne Enterprises, destroying the letters "A" and "Y" in the process.
• Wayne Enterprises appears in The Batman under the name Wayne Industries. In "The Big Heat," Wayne Industries competed against GothCorp for the handling of the Children's Hospital. Although GothCorp won the City Council's vote, the decision was overturned when Batman revealed that GothCorp hired Firefly to commit industrial sabotage against its competitors. The Children's Hospital contract was then awarded to Wayne Industries.
• The Metropolis division of Wayne Enterprises is briefly seen in the Young Justice episode "Schooled". The episode "Infiltrator" features the Philadelphia branch of Waynetech, which is attacked by swarm of nanites unleashed by the League of Shadows.
• Wayne Enterprises has been featured in several episodes of Gotham. A young Bruce Wayne begins investigating the corruption at the company, and finds out his father Thomas Wayne was aware of their criminal dealings, although was investigating them prior to his death. The company is mentioned several times during the second season and plays a background role to the goings on. Theo Galavan attempts to get Bruce's 51% share of the company in exchange of giving information about his parent's killer, but the deal falls through when Galavan is arrested by James Gordon. Later in the season it is revealed that the Court of Owls run the company, and are looking for a way to bring back the dead using Hugo Strange who carries out inhumane experiments at the Wayne Enterprises division Indian Hill.
• Wayne Enterprises appears in the TV series Powerless; in the series, Wayne Enterprises is the parent company of Wayne Security, the company for which the series' central characters work.[8][9]

Film

• In the 1966 film Batman, Bruce Wayne is presented as head of the Wayne Foundation, which is described as a world-renowned organization dedicated to peace and understanding among nations.

Batman Anthology

• In the 1989 film Batman, no mention is made of any family company owned by Bruce Wayne. In the beginning of the film at the Harvey Dent Press Dinner, there is a seat for Bruce Wayne, which is empty (because he is busy working as Batman), suggesting that he funded Dent's campaign. In the casino scene in Wayne Manor, Vicki Vale asks him what he does for a living, and he is about to answer, but is interrupted by Alfred.
• In the 1992 sequel Batman Returns, still no mention is made of Wayne Enterprises in any capacity. However, Bruce is shown attending a meeting with Max Shreck, suggesting that he is known as a stockholder with holdings in various companies.
• In the 1995 film Batman Forever, Wayne Enterprises was finally presented in the series, with Bruce Wayne serving as head of the entire company (CEO), while Fred Stickley was head of the research department until being murdered by Edward Nygma, an employee in that department. Bruce also has a transport tunnel behind his desk in the main office that transports him back to Wayne Manor. In the deleted scenes, the Wayne foundation is mentioned by Bruce and Alfred.
• In the 1997 sequel Batman & Robin, Wayne Enterprises was revealed to have been funding Dr. Jason Woodrue's research only to withdraw it when Bruce realized his intentions. It is when Poison Ivy finds a beaker with the Wayne Enterprises logo on it that causes her to travel to Gotham City. The company is briefly mentioned again later during the donation of the giant telescope for the Gotham Observatory, which Mr. Freeze later turns into a giant freezing weapon.

The Dark Knight Trilogy

• In Batman Begins, board member William Earle (Rutger Hauer) takes over the company after the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne. He assures Bruce that the company will be in good hands until he is old enough to claim it. However, after Bruce's disappearance, Earle has Bruce declared legally dead so he can carry on his plan of turning Wayne Enterprises into an open capital company. However, due to Bruce's act of leaving all his money and assets to Alfred, Earle was unable to liquidate his majority shareholding which would have allowed for a complete takeover. When Bruce finally returns to Gotham, he does not show obvious interest in reclaiming the family business. He is given a generous trust fund to live off. Instead, he chooses to work in Applied Sciences, using it and his coworker Lucius Fox to provide him with high-tech equipment. He takes gear originally made for military use, including body armor and a prototype armored vehicle, and uses them to create equipment for his war on crime. At the film's end when Wayne Enterprises becomes a public corporation, Bruce reveals he has become majority shareholder by purchasing the shares through various shell companies he established using his trust fund. He then fires Earle and installs Fox as the active CEO. According to Forbes' 25 Largest Fictional Companies, Wayne Enterprises had estimated sales of $31.3 billion in 2007.[10] Wayne Tower is portrayed by the Chicago Board of Trade Building.
• Wayne Enterprises appears in Batman: Gotham Knight (which takes place between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight).
• In The Dark Knight, Fox remains as the CEO of Wayne Enterprises. The company's research and development department has produced specialized fabrics and materials, electromagnetic gyroscopic navigational satellite systems (as shown on Batman: Gotham Knight), antihemorrhagic agent, radiation stamping technology, and rotor blades made of metal composites that have low radar signature and special acoustic design. As in Batman Begins, Bruce continues to utilize the resources of his company to aid his vigilante work as Batman. For example, he has Fox arrange a business meeting with a Chinese mogul Lau (Chin Han) in order to "get a closer look" at Lau's business practices and confirm his own suspicions that Lau and his company, LSI Holdings, had been cooperating with the Gotham underworld in money laundering schemes. He also had Fox build components for his new Batsuit. Batman also has used the company's radiation stamping technology to lightly irradiate a large quantity of money for Gordon and his detectives to use to track the mobs' money and identify the banks that are aiding them. Later on, Batman uses a sonar technology developed by Fox in order to track down and capture the Joker. In addition, a subplot of the film involves Wayne Enterprises' fiduciary Coleman Reese (Joshua Harto), who accidentally discovers Bruce Wayne's identity as Batman while reviewing the company's budget when he uncovers blueprints for the Tumblers, and attempts to blackmail Bruce and Fox. Fox gets Reese to back down by questioning his decision to blackmail a man he believes to be a violent vigilante. Later, Bruce "accidentally" saves Reese from the Joker's attention. Ultimately, Reese does not reveal his discovery and resigns from Wayne Enterprises. By this point in time, Wayne Tower is represented by 330 North Wabash.
• By the time of The Dark Knight Rises, Wayne Enterprises is depicted to be in tough times after the company invests huge sums of money into researching a new fusion power project, but Bruce Wayne subsequently mothballs it due to concerns that the resulting fusion reactor could be weaponised. A series of investments falsely made by Bane in Bruce's name puts Wayne Enterprises further into financial ruin, opening an opportunity for business magnate John Daggett to buy the company. Bruce enlists Miranda Tate and her wealth to buy controlling interest in the company which helps him save it and to protect the nuclear reactor by supporting her as the new chair and CEO of the company, unaware that she was Ra's al Ghul's true child and he was therefore giving her everything she needed to complete her plan. With her and Bruce's eventual deaths, all of his assets and majority share holding are placed in trust and sold to pay his debts. As a result, the company continues to run and the position of CEO is returned to Fox. The Wayne Foundation was also mentioned as sponsoring a Gotham City orphanage, where Detective John Blake was raised, and whose funding was cut following the company's fall from profitability.

DC Extended Universe

Main article: DC Extended Universe

• During the film Man of Steel, General Zod destroys a satellite, which has the Wayne Enterprises logo on it. The Wayne Enterprises logo is the same one used in The Dark Knight Trilogy.[11]
• In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises, called Wayne Financial appears and features a different logo. A Wayne Tower based in Metropolis is destroyed during the events of Man of Steel.
• In Suicide Squad, Wayne Enterprises is responsible for creating the explosive devices used to control Task Force X. In the film, the Joker breaks into a Wayne Enterprises facility to abduct Dr. Van Criss to diffuse Harley Quinn's explosive.
• In Wonder Woman, both an armored truck and employees featuring the Wayne Enterprises logo deliver to Diana the original version of a photo that features her, Steve Trevor and their companions during Diana's exploits in World War I.

Joker (2019 film)

WayneCorp appears in the film Joker as Wayne Industries where three employees of the company attack Arthur Fleck/Joker at a Gotham City subway train until he kills all three of them. The company's CEO Thomas Wayne, his wife Martha Wayne and their son Bruce Wayne appear as well with the former being the mayor of Gotham City until he is killed alongside his spouse during a riot.

Video games

• Wayne Enterprises Tower appears in DC Universe Online. It is located in the Diamond District while the original Wayne Enterprises building is located in East End.

Batman: Arkham

Main article: Batman: Arkham

• Wayne Enterprises Tower appears in the Batman: Arkham games - Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Arkham Origins, and Arkham Knight. In the first game, Wayne Enterprises is the answer to one of Riddler's riddles: "Gotham's greatest family towers over the city". In the fourth game, Wayne Enterprises can be visited either by travelling to the top of the building via Bat-Grapple or entering the underground parking garage in the Batmobile, allowing Batman to talk with Lucius (Who is clearly aware of his identity in this continuity). One mission includes Tommy Elliot attempting to take control of the company by entering the building after giving himself plastic surgery to resemble Bruce Wayne, but this plan fails as the computers will only respond to a retinal scan from Bruce, with Elliot's attempt to take Lucius Fox hostage backfiring when Batman intervenes. Following the supposed death of Bruce Wayne, it is revealed that Lucius Fox now owns all of Wayne Enterprises.

Lego Batman

Main article: Lego Batman

• Wayne Enterprises' research labs serves as one of the villain levels in Lego Batman: The Video Game, during which Riddler and Two-Face break into them to steal a prototype laser weapon.
• Wayne Tower appears in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. It is seen being attacked by the team of Lex Luthor and The Joker until the Justice League stopped them from destroying it. It was rebuilt afterwards.

References

1. https://wayne.enterprises/
2. Batman Legends of the Dark Knight #27, February 1992. DC Comics.
3. Batman vol. 2 #2, December 2011. DC Comics.
4. Batman vol. 2 #3, January 2012. DC Comics.
5. Batman vol. 2 #2, December 2011. DC Comics.
6. Batman: Hush
7. Shanzelle Fitz-Williams (December 31, 2013). "The Costs of Being a Superhero: A Financial Profile of Batman". Bidness. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
8. Begley, Chris (December 10, 2016). "NBC's DC Comics comedy 'Powerless' now takes place at a Wayne Enterprises company". Batman News.
9. http://www.nbc.com/powerless/video/wayne-or-lose/3459804
10. Noer, Michael; Ewalt, David M. (December 10, 2007). "The 25 Largest Fictional Companies". Forbes. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
11. Johnson, Scott. "Major 'Man of Steel' Easter Egg".

External links

• Batman Begins on IMDb
• Batman Begins at Warner Bros.
• The Dark Knight on IMDb
• The Dark Knight at Warner Bros.