|
| “ | Thursday, October 31st. The city streets are crowded for the holiday, even with the rain. Hidden in the chaos is the element, waiting to strike like snakes — but I'm there, too. Watching. Two years of night have turned me into a nocturnal animal. I must choose my targets carefully. It's a big city... I can't be everywhere — but they don't know where I am. We have a signal now, for when I'm needed. But when that light hits the sky, it's not just a call, it's a warning... To them. Fear is a tool. They think I'm hiding in the shadows — but I am the shadows. | „ |
| ~ Batman's narration in the beginning of the film. |
| “ | Vengeance won't change the past, mine or anyone else's. I have to become more. People need hope, to know someone's out there for them. The city's angry, scarred, like me. Our scars can destroy us, even after the physical wounds have healed. But if we survive them, they can transform us. They can give us the power to endure... and the strength to fight. | „ |
| ~ Batman's monologue at the end of the film. |
Bruce Wayne, also known as The Batman, is the titular protagonist of the 2022 superhero crime film The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves. He is a billionaire that owns his family's business, Wayne Enterprises, and is a crime fighting vigilante that acts as Gotham's savior and protector. The traumatic experience of his parents' death caused him to devote his life to fighting Gotham's criminals and the corruption that seeps through his city.
In his second year as the Batman, he goes at odds with a serial killer named The Riddler, whose goals are similar to his own, though done in vastly different ways. This leads him into an investigation involving Gotham's police department and its criminal underworld. Working alongside Bruce is Alfred Pennyworth, his surrogate father, Jim Gordon, one of the few cops that trust him, and a cat burglar named Selina Kyle. Following the aftermath of Gotham's flooding, Bruce realizes the burdens he must face in his role as Batman and as such, seeks to become a more inspiring symbol for the city he watches over.
He is portrayed by Robert Pattinson (who also played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise), and Oscar Novak played the character as a child. In the Japanese dub, he is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai, who also voiced Cloud Strife in Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.
Personality
Bruce Wayne is very angst over the events of losing his parents as a child, that he's not well sociable as a person and prefers to live alone while being busy striving to end Gotham's hostile crime rate. The way he audibly speaks would occasionally sound to be that of a whisper, not all that clear and not eager to sound as such. He likes to keep every memory of what he has seen in check in writing what has happened in his journey and does this to keep track of events that may lead to clues in solving a case.
Most of the time he seen wearing the Batman suit, as that is the character, he chose to embrace when using his fearful intimidating presence on criminals doing wrong in the night. His relationship with his butler Alfred can be disrespectful in some instances, being when he said to his lifelong butler Alfred that he was not his father and despite his harsh attitude he still cares about Alfred, showing desperate worry in trying to save from the bomb in the Wayne house that was meant to kill him instead. However, his view on Alfred got more complicated when he found out that he was keeping a secret from him about his father making a deal with Falcone to silence a reporter over his mother being mentally ill, feeling lied to until Alfred told him the whole story that it was because Thomas wanted to keep his family safe, thus preserving good terms between him and his surrogate father.
Other characters who he formed a bond or trust with would be Jim Gordon, the only current law enforcement officer Batman trusts in Gotham. Selina is a craft thief whom Batman develops deep loving affection for, seeing her in a similar situation he's in, and encourages her to not give into killing, avoiding the chances in becoming the villains of who they fight, but also has differences on their goals at hand, as he cannot place under his status as Batman in going with her, thus setting the two to part their way from each other.
Biography
Early Life
Bruce Wayne was the sole son of Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne and enjoyed a happy life with them as a child with Alfred as his other guardian. During his father's tenure as Gotham City's mayor, Thomas Wayne decided to give away their home, Wayne Manor, as an orphanage as part of his Gotham Renewal Plan which resulted in the family moving to Wayne Tower.
Losing his Parents
A reporter named Edward Elliot threatened to expose Martha Wayne's troubled past as a mentally ill patient from Arkham Asylum. Thomas, who was more concerned and desperate for his wife and son's safety than his reputation, turned to Carmine Falcone for help in an act of desperation. Wayne did not anticipate Falcone to actually killing the reporter and threatened to tell the authorities about it. However, that never came to be as Thomas and Martha were gunned down by an unknown assailant in front of a young Bruce. Forever changed and scarred by his parents' deaths, he dedicated his life to fighting the injustices plaguing Gotham with Alfred now as his surrogate father and trainer.
Bruce grew to be a antisocial, standoffish person because of his trauma but was clearly gifted, albeit troubled. He was the top of his class, was valedictorian in high school, and had a affinity for chemistry. Also in his adolescence, he would participate in street races with other kids his age and worked on a car that would later become the Batmobile. On one particular incident, a delivery boy named Edward Nashton who almost got hurt from their street racing, decided to take revenge by rigging one of their cars to explode. Bruce, while unaware Nashton was behind the crime, still noted the car was about to blow up and saved his friend from the explosion. The two had a brief romantic relationship after this.
Becoming Batman
Now in his late twenties, after years of training, Bruce honed his intellect, strength, and anger to become a vigilante with the funding of his vast fortune as the now CEO of Wayne Enterprises. He would document his crusade as “The Gotham Project” and dubbed his alter-ego The Batman. He spent the first two years of his career creating a reputation of fear striking not only Gotham's criminals but also its citizens and has lead to a tense relationship between him and the GCPD. Although Jim Gordon is one of the few, if not only, cop within the police department to trust Batman. While Alfred aids in his crusade, he voices his concern for Bruce's well-being as this crusade has left him haggard and withdrawn.
During his first year as a vigilante, Batman went at odds with a psychopathic killer known only as the Joker and incarcerated him. Joker took a particular interest in the vigilante and would continue to be locked up for about a year.
The Batman
Towards the end of his second year as a vigilante, on Halloween, Batman began investigating the murder of Gotham's current mayor, Don Mitchell Jr.. In the crime scene, he found a note specifically for him containing a cipher and a message. With Alfred's help, the long cipher was transcripted to say the word "DRIVE". With Gordon, he found that in one of Mitchell's cars contained a flash drive and the late mayor's severed thumb. The drive contained information regarding the next clue, had pictures of Mitchell with a woman at the Iceberg Lounge, and revealed the killer who calls himself the Riddler. They are even given the phrase "You are el rata alada" as a clue. Batman decides to go the club directly and get answers from its owner, Oswald Cobblepot aka the Penguin. While Penguin gives him no intel, Bruce decides to trail one of the waitresses, Selina Kyle, back to her home where he finds the woman, named Annika, living with her. He follows and confronts Selina at Mithcell's house while she was trying to get Annika's passport. The two return to the apartment with her gone. Batman sees the Riddler broadcasting his second murder of Gotham's police commissioner and he and Gordon investigate the death trap he was put in. They find out that the commissioner had taken bribes from the aforementioned rat and the next clue says for them "to bring the rat into the light". Batman decides to have Selina go back to the Lounge to get more information. There, he finds a good portion of employees within Gotham's legal system are in collusion with the mob, Penguin and his boss, Carmine Falcone. Selina decides to cease communication with Batman when he confronts her about her strange relation to Falcone.
Bruce decides to attend the mayor's funeral to gather intel on Riddler where he meets Falcone, who told him about how Thomas Wayne saved him one night. He also meets with Bella Réal and she tells him he could be doing more for Gotham like his family has in the past. The funeral is interrupted by Riddler when he had the DA, Gil Colson, ram his car through the church where Bruce saved the mayor's son. He got out with a bomb on his neck, a phone taped his hand, and letter from Riddler to the Batman. Hours later, Batman came back to the church where he spoke directly to the Riddler for the first time. The latter then had Colson answer three riddles in two minutes, which if he answered correctly, would let Colson have the code for the bomb. With Batman's help, he answers all the riddles except for the last one; he would have to give up the name of the informant or "rat" who told the police about Salvatore Maroni's drug operation. Colson refused to answer it due to the massive repercussions it would have and thus the bomb kills him. Batman gets knocked out from the explosion but is hauled away by the cops at the GCPD station. They threaten to arrest and unmask him but Gordon allows him to escape via the roof.
The two then go after Penguin who they believe to be the informant and find him making a drug deal where they realize Sal Maroni's supposedly busted drug operation was still ongoing. Batman spots Selina at the dealing, who was gonna steal their money, and the two find Annika's corpse there. They are spotted by Penguin whom Batman engages in a car chase with using the Batmobile. Batman manages to capture Penguin, where he and Gordon find out he isn't the informant and find out the phrase " You are el rata alada" refers to a website, rataalada.com, where they're given more clues. The investigation leads them to the abandoned Wayne Manor orphanage where they learn about Riddler's vendetta against the Waynes. They realize that his next target is Bruce Wayne and Batman realizes that Alfred is in danger and rushes to Wayne Tower, only to realize Riddler had gotten to him already. Bruce finds a letter from Riddler that survived the explosion saying "See you in hell". While Alfred was left comatose, Bruce got back into contact with Selina where she admitted to being Falcone's illegitimate daughter and the two share a romantic moment together and agree to a truce. Bruce then watches another of Riddler's broadcasts, where he reveals how his parents were involved with Elliot and Falcone. Shaken by this revelation, Bruce confronted Falcone directly and confirmed murdering the journalist. He then spoke to Alfred as soon as he woke up from his coma, accusing him of lying to Bruce for so long. But Alfred gave his side of the incident, saying that his father never wanted Falcone to kill the journalist but just to scare him. And that he cared more about his wife's wellbeing and Bruce's than his mayoral campaign. The two make up quickly afterwards.
Batman and Gordon are summoned by the Batsignal to find Selina with Kenzie, another cop in Falcone's payroll. The two learn that Falcone killed Annika for knowing the biggest conspiracy in Gotham; Falcone has pretty much the entire police and legal department within the city in his pocket for the past two decades by using Thomas Wayne's Gotham Renewal Act for laundering money as it went unsupervised. Batman deduces that Falcone is the true rat Riddler was mentioning who gave up Maroni's drug operation to the police to gain power for himself. Selina, motivated by revenge on her father, tries to kill Kenzie but Batman and Gordon save him and she rushes to the Iceberg Lounge to kill Falcone. Batman goes after her personally and starts by cutting off the power supply in the club while Gordon has the voicemail of Falcone admitting to the conspiracy and him killing Annika sent to the news. After making his way through armed mobsters, Batman saved Selina from almost being killed from Falcone and stopped her from killing him. While Falcone was being arrested by the GCPD, at least the ones not on his payroll, he was shot dead by Riddler from his own apartment. He escaped afterwards but then quickly turned himself into the police and was sent to Arkham. At his apartment, they found disturbing journal entries written by Riddler, now identified as Edward Nashton and the copious amounts of devices he used to formulate his plan which he had premeditated for years. Batman had found a bat locked in a cage with one last letter addressed to him, with "My Confession" written in it and they found the bloodied tool that Nashton used to kill Mitchell with. When observing a wall of plastered pictures of Bruce Wayne and newspapers about his vigilante counterpart, Batman was given the impression that Riddler discovered his identity. Gordon then told Batman that Riddler wants to speak with Batman at Arkham. Believing this to be the end of his crusade, he tells Gordon he's a good cop and leaves.
Batman meets Riddler at Arkham where he tells him about his horrid life in the Wayne Manor orphanage and his resentment towards the Waynes for not living up to their promises for change. He particularly hated Bruce Wayne for the attention he was getting as an orphan while Nashton and the other orphans were just forgotten and said Bruce was never really an orphan due to his privileged life. Batman realizes though that his identity is safe when Riddler tells them that Bruce Wayne was the only one they didn't get in the end. Batman then questions why he's been writing to him, to which Nashton reveals to be inspired by the vigilante and claims that they have been working together this entire time to enact his crusade. When Batman tells him he's insane, he has a breakdown and tells him that the two would've watched his plan reached its climax safely in Arkham. Batman is startled by this, while Riddler deduces that the former didn't find everything at his apartment regarding the rest of his plans and says he would die if he tries to stop it.
Back at the apartment, Batman realizes that the murder weapon for Mithcell is a carpeting tool and he removes the carpet with it to reveal a roughly drawn map of Gotham with blinking lights titled "A REAL CHANGE". Batman and Officer Martinez were able to watch Riddler's last stream where he reveals that he and his followers had set up explosive cars at certain parts of the city to blow up, causing a massive flood almost instantly. And that said followers will sneak their way to Gotham Stadium to assassinate the newly elected Mayor Réal. They discover this too late as the explosions have already occurred and Riddler's followers are already at the stadium so Batman swiftly leaves. Some time later, with Riddler's followers already causing chaos, the stadium flooded and the mayor shot (albeit nonfatally), Batman arrives from the rooftop and begins to dispatch the followers. However, he begins to struggle due to the multiple enemies, lofty platforming and his armor's weakened state. Gordon and Catwoman see this and try and reach the scaffolding to help him. Just as Batman is about to be shot while hanging on to a ledge, Selina knocks the follower out and helps Batman up. However, the follower then begins to attack her so Batman, dazed and wounded, takes a shot of adrenaline to regain his strength and brutally beats the man until Gordon comes to stop him. The follower is unmasked and asked who he is to which he responds with "Me? I'm vengeance." Batman is shocked by the negative effect by inspiring extremists like the Riddler and his followers. Batman notices a dangling powerline over the flooded ground and cuts off the wiring, sending him down to the water. He then lights a flare and helps out the trapped citizens to safety.
Batman narrates that Gotham has now been placed in martial law and things will get worse before they get better. But he realizes he needs to change his approach and decides to being a more heroic figure to the city instead of just a symbol of fear and he's seen helping the citizens in the daylight. He meets with Selina who decides to move to Bludhaven, telling Batman that Gotham won't really change and that he should come with her. Batman declines, still wanting to try and make a difference, with Selina recognizing his resolve. The two then part ways as Selina goes in the opposite direction and Batman heads towards the city as the Batsignal shines in the early night sky.
Quotes
| “ | I'm vengeance. | „ |
| ~ Batman after beating up a thug. |
| “ | If I can't make a difference, then I don't care what happens to me. | „ |
| ~ Batman. |
| “ | Two years of nights has turned me into a nocturnal animal. | „ |
| ~ Batman. |
| “ | Fear is a tool. When that light hits the sky, it's not just a call. It's a warning. | „ |
| ~ Batman, speaking of fear and the Bat signal. |
| “ | They think I am hiding in the shadows, but I am the shadows. | „ |
| ~ Batman. |
| “ | You have a lot of cats. | „ |
| ~ Batman to Catwoman. |
| “ | Selina, don't throw your life away. | „ |
| ~ Batman to Catwoman. |
| “ | What have you done!? | „ |
| ~ Batman to Riddler. |
Trivia
- Robert Pattinson auditioned for the role wearing Val Kilmer's suit from Batman Forever, and George Clooney's cowl from Batman & Robin.
- Nicholas Hoult, Armie Hammer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson auditioned for the role.
- Matt Reeves has stated that the late singer Kurt Cobain was the inspiration of his version of the character.
