Malone

*EDITOR'S NOTE: This page is for the character of Matches Malone, NOT the alias used by Batman. Any actions committed by Batman under the guise of Malone should not be added to this page, but the Batman one. Appearances of Batman as Matches Malone should be tagged as an appearance by Batman-- not this page.

History

Matches Malone was an orphan from Hoboken,where he and his brother grew up becoming arsonists and using their skills to commit insurance fraud. Eventually they left the city and decided on Gotham as their new base where they burned down a dozen buildings in their first year in the city. Eventually they drew the attention of Gotham's vigilante the Batman, who stopped them as they were preparing but as Malone pointed out their was no law against having potassium, and no evidence to link them to the insurance fraud. Eventually they were released from custody, while shortly after Matches' brother was shot in the head and killed with Batman and Harvey Dent suspecting Matches but with no way to prove it. Batman then confronted him at his brother's grave with the warning that he would be watching,which he did tailing him for the next few nights eventually finding him after he had committed suicide. This sparked an idea in Batman who buried him next to his brother, before adopting Matches Malone as his new alias to help him infiltrate the criminal underworld of Gotham.

Matches however turned up a decade later being shot in a bar,with Oracle receiving the call and sending Batman and Nightwing to investigate. He then reveals how he made his brother's suicide look to be a murder to save face as he believed it to be a cowards way out and then after gaining Batman and the GCPD's attention using a ringer as he attempted buy time to leave Gotham, in which he succeeded enabling him to return to Hoboken where he changed his looks and name. However he was drawn back in when at a bar he heard that Matches Malone was a rat with a $10,000 bounty on his head. He then returns to Gotham to find who was spreading lies about him finding The Ventriloquist and Scarface in a bar who promptly shoot him. As Matches slowly begins to die he extracts two promises from Batman, to bury him next to his brother and to kill the Ventriloquist. Batman ultimately keeps this promise by burning Scarface alive, as he continues to use the Matches Malone's identity in the pursuit of justice feeling it is the best way to give the man some atonement.