Batman (Christian Bale)

"I'm Batman."

- Batman

Batman is the alias and second identity of billionaire Bruce Wayne, the protector of Gotham City fighting to uphold justice and order.

Life Before Becoming Batman
When he was eight years old, Bruce Wayne fell into a cave where he encountered a swarm of bats. His father rescued him though Bruce developed a fear of bats; his father later told him that though people fall, they always have the strength to get up. Late one night at a performance featuring bat-like creatures, Bruce urged his parents to leave. Outside the theater, Bruce's parents were both killed in a robbery by mugger Joe Chill; Thomas' last words to his son were to not be afraid. Bruce was later found by the police and was comforted by Sergeant James Gordon, and Commissioner Loeb told him they caught Chill. Bruce blamed himself for his parents' murder: had he not been frightened, the Waynes would not have encountered Chill, though the butler Alfred Pennyworth assured him is was no one's fault but Chill's.

After coming of age, Bruce returned to Gotham City from Princeton University intent on killing Chill, whose prison sentence was being suspended in exchange for testifying against mob boss Carmine Falcone. One of Falcone's henchwomen, however, killed Chill. Bruce told his childhood friend Rachel Dawes about his foiled plan, and she expressed disgust for his blind vengeance without regard for justice. Bruce confronted Falcone, who tells him that he was ignorant of the nature of crime, so Bruce decided to travel the world to understand the criminal mind. After nearly seven years, he was eventually detained in Bhutan for theft (ironically of Wayne Enterprises cargo), where he met Henri Ducard. He invites Bruce to join an elite vigilante group, the League of Shadows, led by Ra's al Ghul. Bruce was freed and traveled to a mountaintop to begin his combat training with the League, who - unbeknownst to Bruce - intended to use him to destroy Gotham. Bruce passed all the League's training, overcoming his childhood phobia in the process, but when ordered to execute a criminal and learning of their plan to destroy Gotham, he turned on the League, destroying their headquarters. Ra's al Ghul died and Bruce rescued an unconscious Ducard from the wreckage and left his mentor at a nearby village.

Becoming the Bat
"I seek … the means to fight injustice. To turn fear against those who prey on the fearful."

- Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne returned to a Gotham City that is mostly ruled by Falcone and begins plotting a one-man war against the corrupt system. He sought the help of Rachel, now an assistant district attorney, and police sergeant Jim Gordon, who consoled him in the aftermath of his parents' murder. After reestablishing his connections to his father's company, Wayne Enterprises, Bruce was able to acquire, with the help of former board member Lucius Fox, a prototype armored car and an experimental armored suit. He also established a secret base in a cave underneath Wayne Manor. In his new Batman costume, he disrupted a drug shipment by Falcone and left the mob boss tied to a searchlight, forming a makeshift Bat-Signal. He also disrupted an assassination attempt on Dawes, leaving her with evidence against a judge on Falcone's payroll. While investigating the "unusual" drugs in the shipment, Batman was stunned by sinister psychopharmacologist Dr. Jonathan Crane, who sprayed him with a powerful hallucinogen. Alfred rescued Bruce, who received an anti-toxin developed by Fox. Crane later poisoned Rachel after showing her that the toxin, which was harmful only in vapor form, was being piped into Gotham's water supply. Batman saved her. The police entered Arkham Asylum and arrested Crane while Batman escaped with Rachel. After administering the antidote to Rachel in the Batcave, he gave her two vials of it for Gordon – one for the detective to inoculate himself, and another to mass produce for the city's population. During his birthday party in Wayne Manor, Bruce was confronted by a group of League of Shadows ninjas led by Ducard, who revealed himself to be the real Ra's al Ghul, and that the man killed earlier was a decoy. Ra's, who had been conspiring with Crane, planned to destroy Gotham by distributing the toxin undetected via Gotham's water supply and then vaporizing it with a microwave emitter stolen from Wayne Enterprises. Bruce, tricking his guests into leaving, fought briefly with Ra's while the League of Shadows set fire to Wayne Manor. Bruce escaped the inferno with Alfred's help just as the manor is destroyed. Batman arrived at the "Narrows" section of Gotham to aid the police in battling psychotic criminals, including Crane, who the League set free from the asylum. Rachel was confronted by but warded off Crane; Batman rescued Rachel when more criminals went after her. Batman reveals his identity to her while leaving Gordon in control of the Batmobile to stop the elevated train that was being used to transport the vaporizer to the city's central water hub. Batman battled Ra's aboard the train, then escaped just as Gordon toppled the elevated line using the Batmobile's missiles, leaving Ra's to crash to the ground with the train.

Following the battle, Batman became a public hero. Bruce gained control of Wayne Enterprises and installed Fox as CEO, firing Earle. However, he was unable to hold onto Rachel, who cannot reconcile her love for Bruce Wayne with his dual life as Batman. Gordon, newly promoted to lieutenant, unveiled a Bat-Signal for Batman. Gordon mentions a criminal who, like Batman, had "a taste for the theatrical", leaving a Joker playing card at his crime scenes. Batman promised to investigate it. As Batman left, Gordon mentions that he hadn't thanked Batman for what he has done. Batman replied that Gordon will never have to, and flew off into the night.

Tracking Down Killer Croc and Deadshot
"I'm willing to put my life on the line to do what I have to. But it has to be mine, no one else's."

- Bruce Wayne



Bruce Wayne continued to serve justice as the Batman. There had been reports of people being attacked by an 8-foot-tall reptilian creature. Batman was certain that the Scarecrow's fear toxin was connected with these incidents and began an investigation in the sewers. Batman was suddenly attacked by the monster, Killer Croc, who had been injected with Scarecrow's fear toxin, thus infecting Batman with it. He defeated Croc and made his way deeper into the sewers where he encountered and confronted Scarecrow. He flooded Scarecrow's chamber and escaped with Cardinal O'Fallon, and Scarecrow just barely escaped.

An assassin named Deadshot, who took great pride in his work, was hired to assassinate James Gordon in an attempt to take out Batman. Batman managed to outsmart the assassin, and he realized that there are some criminals he may never understand, and whose lines he would never cross.

The Joker's Reign of Terror


"I see now what I have to become to stop men like him."

- Bruce Wayne

The film began with the Joker robbing a mob-owned bank, and systematically double crossing his accomplices so he could have all the money. That night, multiple Batman impersonators interrupted a meeting between mobsters and the Scarecrow. The real Batman showed up and subdueed everyone, but injuries suffered during the confrontation led him to design a new, more versatile suit of armor. Batman and Lieutenant James Gordon contemplated bringing new district attorney Harvey Dent in on their plan to eradicate the mob, and the possibility that Dent will become the hero to the people that Batman cannot be. At the same time, Bruce Wayne and Harvey both competed for the love of Rachel Dawes. The mob bosses met to discuss how to handle Batman, Gordon, and Dent, while a Chinese mobster accountant, Lau, let the gang leaders know he has taken their money to Hong Kong to prevent the police and the district attorney from seizing it in an imminent bank raid. The Joker arrived and proposed to kill Batman for them, and also tried to convince them that Lau will give them all up to the police if Batman caught him.

After Batman successfully abducted Lau in Hong Kong and delivered him to the Gotham City police, the mobsters agreed to pay the Joker half of their money in return for killing Batman. The Joker told all of Gotham that if the Batman did not turn himself in to the police, that more people would die each day. When the Joker began killing off public officials, including Commissioner Loeb, despite the best efforts of the police and Batman to stop him, Wayne decided to turn himself in to the police. Before he can do so, Dent publicly admited to being the Batman to draw the Joker out of hiding for the real Batman to capture. The Joker attempted to kill Dent during transport, but Gordon and Batman intervened in time to stop and arrest him. With the Joker in custody, Batman interrogated the Joker until he revealed that Rachel and Dent have been kidnapped and taken to opposite sides of the city, far enough apart that Batman would not have time to save both of them. Batman sped off to save Rachel, while Gordon and the police headed after Dent. Unknown to them, the Joker had switched the locations, sending Batman after Dent and Gordon after Rachel. With the help of a pre-planted phone bomb, the Joker escaped with Lau in tow. Batman arrived and rescued Dent just as both buildings explode, although the left side of Dent's face was burned during the explosion. Gordon does not reach Rachel in time and she died in the explosion. In the hospital, Dent was driven to madness over the loss of Rachel, which he blames on Batman, Gordon and the Joker. The Joker freed Harvey from the hospital and convinced him to exact revenge on the cops, mobsters, Gordon and Batman.

While "Harvey Two-Face" confronted the corrupt cops and the mobsters one by one, flipping a coin to decide their fates, the Joker burned Lau along with the mob's money. The Joker then declared that he will rule the streets and that anyone left in Gotham at nightfall will be subject to his rule. The Joker planted explosives on two ferries of evacuees and gave the passengers on board the chance to destroy the opposing vessel, one full of prison convicts and another with civilians, in order to save their own lives. Batman tracked the Joker to an uncompleted skyscraper. Batman prevented the Joker from blowing up the ferries when both vessels' occupants decide they would rather not sacrifice the lives of the passengers in the other vessel for their own.

Following a brief hand-to-hand fight which ended when the Joker pins Batman in a scaffold, Batman throws Joker off of the scaffold but saved him by grappling him. The Joker acknowledged that Batman really was incorruptible, but that Dent was not, and that he had unleashed Harvey's madness upon the city. Though Joker lost the fistfight, he would win "the battle for Gotham's soul". Batman found Gordon and his family with Dent at the building where Rachel died. Two-Face proceeded to judge Batman, himself, and Gordon's son through the chance of a coin flip, which he saw as the only fairness left in the world. Two-Face shot Batman in the stomach and judgeed himself innocent, but before he could determine the boy's fate, Batman tackled him over the side of the building, saving Gordon's son. As Dent lay dead on the ground, Batman and Gordon decide that the Joker would win if anyone found out about Dent's corruption and madness. Batman convinced Gordon to let him take all the blame for Dent's murders in order to preserve the former district attorney's image as Gotham's hero and give the city hope. As Gordon destroyed the Bat-Signal, a manhunt was issued for Batman.

Abilities
""You know how to fight six men, we can teach you how to engage six hundred. You know how to disappear, we can teach you to become truly invisible.""

- Ra's al Ghul training Bruce Wayne

Batman is a highly skilled martial artist having been trained by the League of Shadows and Ra's al Ghul personally in ninjutsu and other martial arts, Batman has achieved such feats as single handedly subduing a swat team and taking out a group of the league of shadows ninjas with minimal injury; even before his training with Ra's al Ghul. Bruce Wayne was able to fight an entire gang of convicts in a prison brawl with the guards locking him in solitary for the other inmates "protection". In the novelizations Bruce was trained in Back-alley fighting and Kata (Asian Marital Art)before meeting Ra's. In a flashback in Batman:Gotham Knight (Dealing with Pain) he took lessons in ignoring pain.

Batman is also highly intelligent, being a brilliant detective (known by some as "the world's greatest detective"), and an expert planner. He has proven himself exceptionally good at stealth being able to disappear in the middle of people's sentences and sneaking up on others unexpectedly. With his vast wealth and company Batman has access to some of the world's greatest equipment and technology to improve his performance. Relying on intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, and intimidation in his war on crime, Batman is a force greatly feared by Gotham's underworld.

Personality
"Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share."

"That's why it's so important. It's what separates us from them." ―Ra's al Ghul and Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne is very dedicated and determined to his work of crime-fighting, sometimes employing illegal and morally dubious tactics (like torture) but ultimately for the good of Gotham. Despite his dark past and serious work, Bruce has displayed a sense of humor around his butler Alfred and a romantic side around his love-interest Rachel. Although possessing great hate and anger towards criminals, he has proven himself a very caring and selfless person, constantly putting his life on the line to save innocent lives and bringing the most dangerous criminals to justice for society's protection.

Perhaps Bruce's strongest characteristic is his strong moral code to never kill, believing all men deserve a trial and to do so makes him no better than his enemies, because of this he was been noted by the Joker as being "incorruptible". Although he did let Ra's al Ghul die, saying "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you", he has shown compassion for his enemies, such as when he saved his employee Mr. Reese from getting killed, who was just about to sell him out by telling the public he was Batman. Bruce Wayne has also shown himself to have a good deal of faith in people as evidenced in The Dark Knight when he was confident that the people on the ferries wouldn't blow each other up (which they didn't), which is contrast to the Joker believing people to be just as bad as him when under enough pressure.

To the public, Bruce Wayne takes on the facade of a irresponsible, fun-seeking playboy in order to avoid suspicion of his alter-ego, while as Batman he reveals his dark, intimidating personality in the form of a bat (his childhood fear for his enemies to dread) to frighten the criminals he stands against, believing theatricality to help him seem more than a man, but a symbol. Bruce Wayne's ultimate goal is to bring order and justice to Gotham city, as opposed to the Joker who's ultimate goal is to bring chaos and anarchy.

Batcave
The Batcave was Batman's base of operations. It was a cave beneath Wayne Manor.

After the manor was destroyed, Bruce moves his base of operations to hidden location at a Wayne Enterprise dockyard.

Wayne Manor
Wayne Manor was Bruce Wayne's home. It was destroyed by Ra's al Ghul at the end of Batman Begins

Penthouse
When Wayne Manor was destroyed, Bruce moved into a penthouse. This was where the Joker first searched for Harvey Dent and, according to Alfred, Bruce doesn't sleep in the Penthouse much.

Warehouse
After Wayne Manor was destroyed, The Batcave cannot be used so Batman moves his operations to the Warehouse

Batsuit
The Batsuit is the costume Batman wears to conceal his identity and to frighten criminals. This particular incarnation of the Batsuit is given the most complete description ever seen in a Batman film and possibly the comic books. The suit is derived from Lucius Fox's Research and Development program, within Wayne Enterprises' Applied Sciences Division. It is described by Fox as a "Nomex survival suit" originally intended for advanced military use, but, with its $300,000 price tag, was considered to be too expensive for the United States Army and military in general. Based on an advanced infantry armor system constructed from Nomex, the first layer of protection is an undersuit with built-in temperature regulators designed to keep the wearer at a comfortable temperature in almost any condition. The second layer of protection consists of armor built over the chest, calves, thighs, arms, and back. This armor features a kevlar bi-weave that can stop slashing weapons and can also deflect any bullet short of a straight shot impact, and reinforced joints that allow maximum flexibility and mobility. The armor was then coated with a black latex material to dampen Bruce's heat signature, making him difficult to detect with night-vision equipment. Made of a graphite material, the cowl acts as a protective helmet. The cowl's Kevlar lining is supposed to be bulletproof. A manufacturing defect in the graphite used in the production of the first shipment of the cowl's components made its outer shell incapable of withstanding blunt trauma (a flaw Alfred demonstrates to Bruce Wayne using a baseball bat). Batman apparently takes on Falcone and his henchmen at the docks with the defective helmet. The second shipment was supposed to fix this problem. An advanced eavesdropping device is concealed within the cowl's right ear and enables Batman to listen in on conversations from a distance.



Batman's cape is made of "memory cloth," also developed by Lucius Fox. It is essentially flexible in its normal state, but becomes semi-rigid in a fixed form (Batman's wings in the movie) when an electric current is passed through it from the microcircuits in his right glove. Bruce also adds metal gauntlets with scallops on the forearms, an innovation derived from his experience as a pupil of Ra's al Ghul's organization, the League of Shadows. Mainly used to block against knives or other stabbing weapons, Bruce managed to surprise Ra's by breaking the blade of his ninjaken in multiple places with the gauntlets.

The Batsuit is changed in the next film The Dark Knight. In this new design, the bodysuit is made of hardened kevlar plates on a titanium-dipped fiber and is broken into multiple pieces of armor over a more flexible bodysuit for greater mobility. As a trade-off, however, the flexible armor leaves Batman more vulnerable to injury from bullets or knifes in favor of increased flexibility and lighter weight. The cowl of the Batsuit, which in previous film incarnations has been attached to the shoulder and neck, is now a separate component inspired by the design of motorcycle helmets, allowing the wearer to freely swivel and move his neck without moving the rest of his upper torso as was characteristic in all the previous cinematic versions of the Batsuit. Also, a strong electric current runs through it that prevents anyone except Bruce Wayne from removing it, further protecting his identity.

In this Batsuit, the iconic blades on the sides of Batman's gauntlets are now retractable and are capable of firing outwards as projectiles. The bat emblem is smaller than the one in Batman Begins and it is more similar to the Batman logo used in the posters.

Furthermore, unlike the Batsuit in Batman Begins, this suit does not have an external 'memory cloth' cape, but, rather, a concealed cape in compartments behind the shoulder blades, which eject, connecting to the suits limbs to provide a hang-glider-like functionality with a bat-motif design.

The Batsuit also has "sonar-vision", where signals emitted by mobile phones are converted into images in a similar way to sonar. In order to view the said images, white lenses fold down from Batman's cowl to cover his eyes. Aesthetically this gives Batman, for the first time in a live action film, the 'white eyed' appearance he is always depicted with in the comic-books and animated series.

Utility Belt
The Utility Belt is a specialized belt Batman wear to equip his crime-fighting gear. The utility belt is a modified climbing harness, with magnetized impact-resistant pouches and canisters attached to the belt at ergonomic points for ease of reach. It carries a magnetic gas-powered grapple gun, an encrypted cell phone, Batarangs, a medical kit, smoke bombs, mini explosives, periscope, remote control for the Batmobile (the Tumbler), mini-cam, money, and other unspecified equipment. Batman removed the belt's shoulder and chest straps because they constricted his movements.

Batarang
A Batarang is a roughly bat-shaped throwing weapon used by Batman. The name is a portmanteau of bat and boomerang. Although Batarangs are named after boomerangs, they are more similar to shurikens, fitting with Batman's training as a ninja. He used one to knock out a light in Batman Begins.

Grappling gun
The grappling gun is a special item Batman uses to scale up or rappel down tall buildings, or swing between Gotham City skyscrapers on successive lines.

Similar to a grappling hook and speargun, the line gun uses a strong clamp attached to a high-tensil wire for scaling surfaces and/or traversing gaps. It can be recovered by releasing the clamp and rewinding the cable. It was based from one that is designed as compact climbing gear for commando units.

It is propelled with compressed air works with a magnetic Enterhaken. The thin climbing cable was tested on a load-carrying capacity of 350 lbs.

High-Frequency Transponder
The special sonic device is an artifact Batman uses to summon bats. When it is not used, it is equipped in the left boot heel. When used at a lower frequency the sound can cause people to have incapacitating headaches.

Vehicles

 * Batmobile Tumbler
 * Batpod
 * Batglider

Behind the scenes

 * In The Dark Knight's end credits, Christian Bale is only credited with playing Bruce Wayne, and not Batman.

Appearances

 * Nolanverse
 * Batman Begins
 * Batman: Gotham Knight
 * The Dark Knight
 * The Dark Knight Rises

See

 * Batman
 * Batman (Lewis Wilson)
 * Batman (Robert Lowery)
 * Batman (Adam West)
 * Batman (Michael Keaton)
 * Batman (Val Kilmer)
 * Batman (George Clooney)
 * Batman (Bruce Thomas)
 * Batman (BTAS)
 * Batman (The Batman)