You remember that episode during Clark's crusade where they go to China? What if Bruce was one of the men that locked up the guys and he was trying to infiltrate their syndicate and learn from it? This is in line with what he actually did, and he could help them escape afterwards, and then they walk in on Bruce as the others crawl out of a passage and he throws a knife at a chandelier burning incense, it pours the ashes everywhere allowing Bruce to escape. This would emulate a batterang and the smoke pellets without actually being them as this would be just prior to his ninjitsu training. When Lex or Jason is crawling out before the other guys arrive, he could ask him who he is, and Bruce could say "A Dark Knight" or some other name he's known for.
This way in the begining, we just see him as some random thug working with the Chinese gangsters that are actually in the episode, and maybe right after they talk to the men, Bruce can say in Madirin "just let them go" or something and then the main gangster says something back that makes him pissed. They leave and later on he comes back to help.
At the end of the ep, he could be getting on a bike and we hear Clark say "I know what did back there" and then Bruce justifies it, inspiring Clark a bit and then when Clark asks if Bruce has a place to go, Bruce says "France, Nepal... Japan maybe?"
And then Clark can say, something like "Well wherever you go, I hope we meet again someday" This way we don't get a tacky Superhero sidekick story, and instead we get Bruce as a side story only the only hint you have of who he is, is when he mentions France, Nepal, Japan and "Dark Knight".
During the flashback scenes of Lex and Ollie at school they could make a reference to a party at Bruce's house or something.
If these happened you wouldn't necessarily need an origin story for Bruce. By this time, we could fully introduce Batman.
Episode Title: Darknight
Lois and Clark are covering some banquet in Gotham. The two have some banter and then you hear Lois say, "My God, it's Bruce Wayne" And he comes on stage, gives a speech, the banquet begins, and Bruce approaches Lois and Clark. Clark not recognising Bruce (due to him being much younger, four-five years ago and Bruce had a beard) asks "Have we met" and Bruce simply smiles and Lois says "I think you would have remembered meeting Bruce Wayne" and Bruce extends his hands and says "Well it's not too late" They shake hands and Clark goes "Clark Kent", staring at him kind of skeptical. Then a bunch of doors break open as we hear someone shoot into the air. Everyone starts screaming and ducking under tables and one of them grabs a mega phone and says for everyone to give up their jewlerry and their money because there is a bomb on the roof rigged to blow in one minute unless they all comply. Lois looks around and whispers "Where'd the boy-billionaire go?" and she turns to see Clark is also missing.
Right then a blur sweeps around the room, knocking out the robbers. Clark goes up to the roof to see a man running at the sight of Clark. Suddenly, a cloaked swoops in and and takes the man down. Clark looks at the caped crusader who stares straight passed Clark. He turns around to see the bomb stopped at 9 seconds, and takes a step back as he notices the bomb is laced with Kryptonite. He heres a poof and turns back to see a cloud of smoke starts to disappear and all that remains is a batterang.
Smallville Opening Theme Plays
The next morning Lois talks about what was apparently reported and how they missed their chance at the scoop because Clark whent off to hide somewhere.
Throughout the episode, Clark tries to find the caped crusader and also figures out that the bomb was actually made by the Toyman. Clark talks to Chloe over the phone and he says how he's going to try and find out who the man is. The phone goes out. Clark turns it over to see a battering through the phone that has "I know who you are" written on it. Clark looks out the window to see the man perched across the street on a roof and then jump off and glide down the street. Clark jumps out the window after the guy. Clark speeds speeds down the road, jumps and catches the guy. He pins him down and yells "Who are you?" and he replies "I'm like you. Someone trying to help. Someone who cares." Clark x-rays his mask and says "Bruce?"
Commercial Break
After the commercial, the two are talking on the building, and Bruce tells him VERY briefly what he was upto in the past few years. And when Bruce asks Clark how he got his powers, Clark says the same thing he always says "Let's just say I'm not from around here" The two share the info they have, and Batman hints at a man with a sick sense of humour. Together they find a building where there are a large group of people wearing clown masks making the bombs. The two take out the bomb makers, and then they walk into the next room where they do the kryptonite lacing. Clark falls and Batman has to fight the people himself fast as Clark starts shaking. He quickly blows a steel door down and pulls Clark in. Batman is caught off guard as he carries Clark in, and someone knocks a steel bar over his back. As he is about to hit him in the head, Clark's hand catches the bar, and punches the guy into a wall. Batman gets aims at the piping in the ceiling, grapels up, shoots back down at the guy and pulls him up to. He questions the man and he tells them where they can find the Toyman.
Commercial Break
As the two men are walking on a roof, Clark confronts Bruce's methods and tells him that he can't cross the line. Bruce tells Clark that if Clark hesitates that he shouldn't even come. Clark grabs Bruce's arm, turns him around. Bruce punches Clark and he stumbles back. Bruce opens his hand and looks at a bunch of little pieces of Kryptonite that he received from the lacing chamber. He pours the pieces around Clark who is slunched over on the ground and puts the remaining piece in his belt. "I'll come back for you later." Bruce walks into the room and walks straight down a hall, taking anyone out who gets in his way. A few guys come to the roof to see Clark on the ground. The tell him to get up, but when he doesn't, they hit him with a riffle and drag him inside. Clark looks up and pushes both men into the walls. Clark speeds ahead and pushes Batman into the wall by the arms, holding him in place. "Whatever is in there we take it together." We see a door open and the two enter. The camera pans between them and turns around to reveal that they are in a room surrounded by TV's. The Toyman comes on screen and congratulates the two. There's this whole evil monologue thing and Toyman tells them that he was meant to lure Batman as he had a bounty on his head. Toyman tells Clark that he plans on getting revenge on Oliver and he needed the money to build a bomb big enough to blow up a whole chuck of Metropolis where Ollie lives and tells Clark that he knows his weakness and for him not to try anything. The screen cuts to a still picture of a big smile. The screens cut to black as we see Bruce has pulled some box apart and is analyzing it. "I can shut down the bomb from here, but it won't stop a manual detonation. Can you get there in time?" "Yeah, just tell me where." Batman tells him and then just as Clark leaves, "What about smiley?" "I'll deal with him." The two shake hands and Clark speeds to Metropolis, and takes the Toyman down. He leans over the Toyman's body, takes his cell phone and calls 911 to report the incident. He super-hears sirens, smiles and super-speeds away.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
We get back to Clark and Lois getting out of a cab infront of the Daily Planet and Lois is complaining about how she missed the big story and how she was lonely the entire time in Gotham because Clark wasn't returning any of her calls. "Sorry, I kind of met someone at the Hotel" Lois goes "Oh..." "NO! I mean, a guy" "Not really helping your case Smallville, but to top off my terrible time in Gotham, I didn't even land an interview with Bruce..." (at this point they're in the basement) Lois opens the door to see Bruce turn around. "-Wayne?!" "Hello Ms. Lane." She turns around to see Clark smiling. "I'll leave you two to your interview." Lois runs off "Right, I'll go get my notepad" Clark and Bruce shake hands "Nice to see you again Mr. Kent" "I hope to see you again" The camera pans from a side shot to a closeup of their hands shaking.
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