BruAce

BruAce is the friendship between Bruce Wayne and Ace the Bat-Hound from the DC Comics and DC Animated Universe fandoms.

Comics
Ace's first ever appearances in the DC universe was in the 92 issue of the early Batman comic series. Once Batman and Robin saw a dog drowning in the river the two go to save the German Shepherd, before bringing him back to the Batcave. The collar around the dog's neck revealed that he has an owner, but with no tag to tell them who he belongs to, Brace sends out a newspaper add with the dog's photo in hopes that his owner would see it. Knowing that they can't give away the Batcave's location, Batman has the newspaper announcement to be listed under Bruce Wayne. Due to the photo of the dog in the papers and the distinctive mark on his forehead, a black mask was made for the German Shepherd after he jumped into the Batmobile while the Dynamic Duo were leaving the cave. Robin had also made the dog a bat emblem as a dog tag for his collar, as he felt that he and Batman needed to keep the dog's "truce Identity" safe, along with ensuring that no one uses the dog to link Batman to Brace. The dog is then dubbed Bat-Hound after he helps Batman and his partner stop criminals. As much as Batman and Robin had grown close to Bat-Hound, they returned him to his true owner, John Wilker; along with them learning that Bat-Hound's real name is Ace.

Since then Batman would borrow Ace from Wilker whenever he and Robin need assistances on cases that requires stealth and tracking that Bat-Hound can provide them with. One of Ace's missions with them was of him pretending to track Batman down when he became a wanted fugitive. Once the case is closed Batman would return Ace back to his owner. Ace gets placed placed in Batman's care again when Wilker travelled to Europe and then allows Batman to keep him after he got a new job that would prevent him from looking after his dog. Making Ace an official, fulltime member of the Bat-Family.

Prime Earth
In the Rebirth universe that has Ace's origin story be rewritten, he ends up being owned and named by the Joker since he was a pup, before meeting Batman as a full grown dog. This is why Ace had attacked Batman when they first met, before he ends up being abandoned and then sent to the pound. The two meet again two days later when Alfred adopts Ace despite the warning of the dog's mistreatment had would have him being unfit to be a pet. Watching Alfred trying to tame the dog is what gets Brace to bond with Ace, despite who the dog's previous owner was. He could tell that Ace's aggresses behaviour was due to "wounds" that don't heal, just as he is still "wounded" by the murder of his parents. Eventually Ace responded to the command "Sit!" Along with Ace showing concerns for Brace and staying by his side when he returned to the Batcave with a knife wound. It was revealed at Christmas Alfred had adopted Ace to be a gift to Bruce, just as Brace's Christmas gift to Ace was a mask he joked about the dog possibly wearing it at Halloween. Bruce's gift to Ace also references the Bat-Hound mask that the original version of Ace once wore. Hinting that the bond they shared in the original universe could still be there.

When Alfred was killed by Bane and Bruce fell into despair over his death, as he no longer had Alfred to help him with the pain of loss and was considering ending it all, Ace was there to pick his owner back up. Showing the strong bond between canine and owner, as Ace sensing the pain Brace was in was, while he was playing with him and Titus, was what allowed him to help his owner through it.

Batman Beyond
Brace and Ace met in Crime alley when Brace went there to lay white roses in the alleyway he watched his parents dye, before the Jokerz thug he encountered tried to attack him again. This got Ace to attack the clown thug in order to save old man, who then saves the dog after the Jokerz injured him. Not wanting to leave an injured dog alone in the cold, Brace brings him back to his car and then takes him to a veterinary emergency hospital. With both Bruce and Ace desiring companionship, along with there being no one to claim Ace, Bruce decided to adopt the dog as his faithful guard guard and companion in his lonely manor. Since many of the people Brace was close with had either died or cut ties with him. The flashback events "Ace in the Hole" revealed that Ace also had a tough childhood and was groomed to be mean, but his kind to those he likes and can trust, making him and Brace not so different to one another.

When Terry McGinnis became the new Batman in Brace's place, he was sometimes led Ace to Terry when he needed his help. Like using Ace's strong sense of small to track down criminals. Along with keeping Ace at stand by in Bruce's car encase danger should arise when he is out. Ace would even fight the dangers that find their way into the Batcave, in order to protect his owner.

Bruce gets an idea of the hardships Ace went through after Terry lost him when the dog saw his former owner. Who was arrested for legal dog fights. To Terry Bruce didn't appear to worry about Ace, from how he tells the teen that Ace is a resourceful dog. Deep down and after Terry left the room, Brace showed concern for his dog and wanted to ensure that Ace would never suffer the pain he went through under that dog fighter again. Luckily Terry was able to find Ace and bring home to Brace, who was happy to have his canine companion again. As much as Ace was happy to be reunited with the owner who cares about him.

Fanon
Some versions of Ace has a small group of fans who view him as the dog version of Batman, just as Krypto is the canine counterpart of his owner Superman. Along with Damian's dog, Titus being seen as the second Ace in the Batfamily. Due to how the golden age mainstream comics only had Ace appear as Bat-Hound for a view issues, along with how the Rebirth series had Ace as the Joker's dog before ending up in Brace's care, it has fans focus on the Batman Beyond series. That was one of Ace's first on screen appears beside Brace, long before League of the Super Pets came out and featured a few scenes that made Ace the ideal pet for Batman before they meet one another in the 2022 film. Even though the Batman: The Animated Series spinoff also got a few Beyond fans to feel that Ace was being shared between Brace and Terry McGinnis.

Due to the metahuman Ace Batman sat with until she dies in the flashback events of the Justice League Unlimited episode, "Epilogue", it got fans to wonder if DCAU Brace had in fact named his dog Ace after her. Making the name voice both sentiment and sweet, along with there have been times in the Batman Beyond series where Ace has served as Bruce or Terry's ace-in-the-hole when he goes full attack dog on their enemies the field. People also found Ace's role in the series to be sweet, from how he was Bruce's only company in his lonely manor after Alfred died while losing ties with the rest of his Bat-family.

Fandom
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Trivia

 * Due to writers wanting to keep Batman dark and bruiting, since dogs tend to bring out people's softer side, Ace was written out out of the comics before returning in Batman Beyond. Along with Ace being returned to the comics in the Rebirth universe series.
 * In Super-Pet stories Ace is given a Batman-like mask and his own utility belt, to make him look like his owner. From how each super pet has the same powers as their powers or simply have a similar color scheme to them.
 * Unlike Super-Dog, Ace as appeared as different breeds of dogs in some of the comic or TV universes he has been featured in. The first version of Ace was of a German Shepherd, before he was later changed to a pure or mix breed of a Great Dane.
 * In the Arkham Knight game a dog bowl with Ace's name on it can be found in Bruce Wayne's office in Wayne Enterprises. Revealing that Ace does or might have exited in the Arkhamverse‎.