Characters / The Dark Knight Trilogy: Other Costumed Characters

aka: The Dark Knight Saga Other Costumed Characters

Main Character Index | Wayne Enterprises | League of Shadows | Other Costumed Characters | Gotham City Administration | The Mob and Other Criminals | Other Characters

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Throughout his superhero career, Batman encounters several (or just two) costumed characters not affiliated with anyone in particular.

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Scarecrow

Dr. Jonathan Crane / The Scarecrow

"I respect the mind's power over the body. It's why I do what I do."

"Would you like to see my mask?"

Played by: Cillian Murphy

Voiced by: Corey Burton, Roberto Molina (Latin-American Spanish)

Appears in: Batman Begins | Batman: Gotham Knight | Why So Serious? | The Dark Knight | The Dark Knight Rises

"There's nothing to fear, but fear itself! And I'm here to help!"

A corrupt psychiatrist with a penchant for studying fear. He's allied with Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins and secretly works for Ra's al Ghul, aiding in the plot against Gotham by developing a powerful 'fear gas'. After Ra's defeat, he goes on the run and becomes a drug-dealer but a year later in The Dark Knight is captured by Batman. Then eight years later in The Dark Knight Rises, Bane sets him free and places him in charge of the Gotham court, where he loves to abuse his status as hanging judge.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the comics, Scarecrow is usually portrayed as a gangly man with a rather homely face; definitely a far cry from Pretty Boy Cillian Murphy.
• Adaptational Wimp: Scarecrow is usually depicted as agile and combat-proficient to a degree. This version relies entirely on his fear toxin and minions to fight for him.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • The novelisation makes him far far worse. While the film version is just a pawn working for Ra's, the Novel Scarecrow had his own agenda involving mass murder of the entire city via civilians subjected to fear-gas induced mania killing each other. In addition, the Fear Gas provided by the League was actually manufactured and supplied by himself, having concocted it through experimentation on humans. Rather than only using criminals as test subjects, Novel Scarecrow also uses his own students. He also continues killing or torturing scores of people, racking up a far higher victim count than his film counterpart.
  • In addition, Batman: Gotham Knight which is canon to the movies, adds in additional crimes for him during the intermediate years between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, where Scarecrow uses his fear-gas to inspire others into becoming serial murderers, which was not directly stated in the films.
• Adaptational Job Change: Usually, he's a university professor before he turned to crime. Here, we first see him as a practicing psychiatrist and court consultant.
• Badass Bookworm: Until somebody gets an antidote, he is a dangerous scientist with fear toxin.
• Batman Gambit: When told that Batman has infiltrated Arkham, Crane tells his men to call the police, because they are far better equipped to deal with Batman than Crane and his own guys, and unlike Batman, won't be able to stop his plans.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Intends to take Gotham ransom along with Ra's al Ghul, unaware of his cohort's plan to outright destroy the city and is in way over his head with his more dangerous partner.
• The Cameo: In latter two films.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: He tries to apply this logic when confronted by The Chechen over his fear toxins, telling him he's free to find another supplier if he doesn't like his product...before smugly and rhetorically wondering if Batman left anyone else to buy from. It's unclear how the negotiations would have unfolded before the fake Batmans come charging in to break up the confrontation.
• Cassandra Truth: After gassing him, Batman asks who Crane is working for. Crane says "Ra's al Ghul," to which Batman replies, "Ra's al Ghul is dead! Who are you working for?!" Turns out Crane was telling the truth.
• Composite Character: Though Crane is a psychologist in the comics, his position in Begins as a corrupt psychologist who partakes in secret, unethical, and illegal activity is often a role reserved for fellow Batman rogue Hugo Strange.
• Creepy Blue Eyes: Cillian Murphy’s piercing blue eyes are utilized to startling effect. Behind the glasses and coupled with Crane’s slimy demeanor, they seem incredibly calculating, cold, and eerie.
• Creepy Monotone: He speaks in a constantly clinical and detached tone, almost prepared, and it can make him quite unsettling and intimidating.
• Dark and Troubled Past: According to Cillian Murphy, his comic backstory of being horribly bullied in school is canon to the movies, and Murphy stated in an interview that he was traumatized early on in life.
• Deadpan Snarker: A less obvious example than Lucius, but he has his moments.
  Batfake: We're trying to help you!
  Batman: I don't need help!
  Crane: Not my diagnosis!
• The Dragon: To Ra's al Ghul, spreading his fear toxin to make it easier for his boss to take Gotham.
• Dragon Their Feet: While Ra's al Ghul is killed at the end of the first movie, Scarecrow remains to have more appearances through the next two films. While he doesn't ever become a major player and has no real grand schemes of his own, he does remain a threat to the citizens of Gotham.
• Evil Is Hammy: Sometimes Crane acts like this, but only after losing his sanity. As shown in The Dark Knight and Rises, Scarecrow is still hammy and clearly enjoying what he is doing.
  Scarecrow (in The Dark Knight): I told you my compound would take you places. I never said they'd be places you wanted to go.
  Scarecrow (in Rises): Very well. Death! [smashes gavel] By exile.
• Exact Words: In The Dark Knight with the Chechen.
  "Buyer beware. I told you my compound would take you places. I never said they'd be places you wanted to go."
• Ex-Big Bad: After being joint Big Bad of Batman Begins, he turns up briefly in The Dark Knight as the villain in the film's Batman Cold Open, and then again in non-costumed identity as a minion of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
• Faux Affably Evil: Almost always speaks in a calm tone of voice. Don't buy any of it. He uses disarming phrases like "clear your mind" when about to drug people. Even after he goes crazy himself, he still maintains a mostly jovial, smug air.
  • Laughably Evil: In Rises, as he's both calm and smug and his scenes are the highlight of the movie.
• For Science!: Allegedly.
  "I respect the mind's power over the body. It's why I do what I do."
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears glasses and drives people insane.
• Friendly Enemy: Entirely one-sided on his part, but his brief appearance in The Dark Knight has him acting rather chummy towards Batman and he seems more amused than anything at finally getting caught. Or perhaps he was just that amused at the Batman impostors. Averted with Rachel Dawes- they clearly hate each other, and he's tense and passive aggressive when they interact.
• Greater-Scope Villain: He serves as this for Why So Serious??, the ARG released in the lead-up to The Dark Knight. He never appears in person, but the after-effects of his fear toxin being unleashed in the Narrows continues driving people to insanity, and causes a climate of fear that impacts the events of the ARG.
• Hanging Judge:
  • In his role as a judge in Rises, he has two types of punishments: Death or Exile. "Exile" consists of being forced to walk across very thin ice, leading the poor sap to freeze in the water. The other option is "Death... by Exile."
  • Even before that, he was doing this in Gotham Knight, where he puts a Cardinal on trial in the sewers. His crime? Helping Gotham's homeless so they wouldn't become Crane's minions.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Scarecrow is eventually driven even further insane by his own fear toxin in Batman Begins.
• Improbable Age: He’s a court consultant and the chief administrator at Arkham, but if he’s the same age as Cillian Murphy was (28) he should be a resident at most. It takes a minimum of nine years to get a doctorate in psychopharmacology, and longer than that to become a consultant.
• Kangaroo Court: Heads one in the final movie. Also, according to him, he's also given high enough of a position of authority that even Bane is unable to alter his ruling. (Given that ruling is always the same - death - it is ultimately meaningless, and probably just a show trial put on for Bane's amusement.)
• Kill It with Fire: In Batman Begins, he tells Batman to "lighten up" - by setting him on fire.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: During his cameo in The Dark Knight, he holds his own against the Batman impersonators fairly well, and remains entirely calm. When the real Batman shows up, however, he knows to get the hell out of Dodge.
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: Crane is eerily serene while people are screaming. Considering his fascination with fear, his mocking of Carmine Falcone when he screams, and his smirks when fear or violence happen to others; it is pretty safe to say Crane has some disturbing interests.
• Mad Scientist: A psychologist and a chemist that experiments with fear and toxic gas.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: He's likely a licensed and educated one but the 'morally ambiguous' is still appropriate.
• Non-Action Guy: Never physically fights anyone, he just relies on his fear toxin and the element of surprise (which, to be fair, works pretty well.) Crane admits to this when he says that Falcone isn't intimidated by him.
• Not Wearing Tights: Like most of Batman's adversaries in the Nolan adaptations, his costume is subtler than in the comics. The only constant is his creepy mask made from simple burlap and his fear toxin sprays. However, at the end of Begins he escapes Arkham Asylum along with other inmates, wearing an untangled straitjacket. The gray and tattered straitjacket, together with his burlap mask, make him look decidedly closer in appearance to his standard comic book version. In the third movie, it's adequately a suit with tattered, frayed shoulders that look like straw poking out of the seams.
• Pretty Boy: A beautiful, androgynous young man with piercing blue eyes.
• Psycho for Hire: In some ways he's one himself, though he's a more subtle psycho than most. In other ways, he creates them.
• Psycho Psychologist: Enjoys the power the mind has over the body and ruining peoples' sanity with his fear toxin.
• Sadist: It's observed by a few characters that beneath his For Science! facade, he actually gets a kick out of his experiments.
  Crane: "Outside he was a giant. In here, only the mind can grant you power."
  Rachel: "You enjoy the reversal."
• Sanity Slippage: He was a nut job from the start but decently hides it. Once Batman hits him with his own fear toxin though, whatever sane composure he had went out the window.
• Scary Scarecrows: Fear gas does this effect to one boy in Batman Begins.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Dr. Crane does look a little more intimidating with his lenses on.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: After Rachel tases him in the face at the end of Begins, he’s last seen screaming and whimpering pathetically as the horse he’s riding runs away.
• Smug Snake: Plays nearly all of his scenes with a "smartest man in the room" smirk on his face.
• Snake Oil Salesman: Of a sort. By the time of The Dark Knight, Batman has essentially either offered up most drug dealers to Gordon, or has scared them into giving up their territories. As a result, Crane is the only drug dealer left in town. The problem? He's peddling his own fear toxin. There's a clear distinction between hooking people on a drug, and scaring the shit out of them straight into insanity.
  The Chechen: Look what your drugs did to my customers!
  Scarecrow: Buyer beware! I told you my compound would take you places. I never said they'd be places you wanted to go.
  The Chechen: My business repeat customers.
  Scarecrow: If you don't like what I have to offer you can buy from someone else. Assuming Batman left anyone to buy from...
• The Short Guy with Glasses: Crane is noticeably shorter than every other major character in Batman Begins, even Rachel.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: He never raises his voice when gassing people.
• Stoic Spectacles: Always calm Until he himself is gassed.
• Unexplained Recovery: Averted. His fear gas should have driven him insane but in small doses the body would gradually adjust to it over time. This is why he appears fine in Dark Knight.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Ra's al Ghul. Ra's notes that Crane was not himself a member of the League of Shadows and believed The Plan was to hold Gotham to ransom with his fear toxin, not to destroy it as Ra's intended to do.
• Villain with Good Publicity: In Batman Begins he is a respected psychologist despite what he does under the table... until Batman gases him with his own toxin.
• Voice of the Legion: His voice, and anyone else's, has a very creepy effect after you've inhaled his gas.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In the third film, he isn't seen again after the trial scene, and no mention of him is made afterwards. Though after the bomb blows up there's a shot of the police who have clearly retaken the courthouse. If Crane was still there, he would have been recaptured.
• Xanatos Gambit: Batman fails to act before, as Scarecrow predicted, the police capture him? Rachel loses her mind, the city will descend into chaos when they discover the DA is dead and his assistant is unfit to replace him, and Ra's al Ghul can carry out his plan without much interference. Batman shows up and saves Rachel? Ra's al Ghul will move forward and carry out his plan ahead of schedule (as Ra's himself puts it, "Your antics at the asylum have forced my hand."). No third option here, but being the clever planner he himself is, the Batman ends up saving Gotham anyway, but not before the Narrows breathes in the fear gas.

Catwoman

Selina Kyle / Catwoman

"I take what I need to from those who have more than enough. I don't stand on the shoulders of people with less."

"There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne."

Played by: Anne Hathaway

Dubbed by: Maryana Spivak (Russian), Cristina Hernández (Latin-American Spanish)

Appears in: The Dark Knight Rises

An acrobatic burglar with a bold disregard for Gotham's elite. She has had a pretty lengthy criminal past, with past arrests for various jewelry heists, resisting arrest, and escaping a women's correctional facility at age 16.

At the start of Rises, she is an unwitting accomplice to Bane's master plan, collecting Bruce Wayne's fingerprints for Daggett, which Bane uses to attack the stock exchange and bankrupt Bruce, and later she leads Batman to Bane to initiate the ensuing Curb-Stomp Battle that ends with Bruce being thrown into a hellhole prison with a broken back. However, as Batman himself points out, there's more to her than meets the eye. She wishes to escape Gotham to avoid the bomb crisis, and encourages Batman to do the same. With some encouragement from Batman, she becomes more proactive in saving the city, and in the end becomes the woman that Bruce Wayne takes in tow, fulfilling Alfred's fantasy.

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• Achievements in Ignorance: Discussed for a boastful joke, after Bruce states that the pearls she's wearing were in a safe he was assured was uncrackable.
  Selina: Oops. Nobody told me it was uncrackable.
• Adaptation Distillation: The "sultry dominatrix" aspect typically associated with most iterations of Catwoman have either been downplayed or entirely removed (such as the forgoing of her signature whip), in favor of emphasizing her characterization as a classy master jewel thief.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Anne Hathaway keeps her normal brunette hair color here, which is different from the pure black (sometimes blonde) hair that other versions of Selina usually sport.
• Ambiguously Evil: It's never clear to what extent her actions are motivated by altruism or simply self-interest. Until she goes back to save Bruce from Bane.
• Animal-Eared Headband: Technically, they are safe-cracking goggles which happen to resemble cat ears when flipped up onto her headband. Possibly jeweler's inspection goggles.
• Anti-Hero: Ends the film as an Unscrupulous Heroine, being a lot more jaded than Batman, but still a good person at heart.
• Anti-Villain: Starts out as a Type II, considering the criminal acts she's doing (such as the moves she does to escape an assassination attempt at the bar, which involved tricking Stryver into calling a SWAT team, and also personally shooting two henchmen) are mostly to save herself from whatever very unpleasant fate that Bane could have given her.
• The Atoner: She acknowledges her track record of burglary and her notoriety in Blackgate prison, and is trying to erase her records so she can start anew.
• Badass Biker: In the climax, Selina commandeers the Batpod, when she is commissioned by Batman to dismantle the blockades surrounding Gotham. She then silently considers her options before heading back into the city, using its cannons to blast Bane and save Batman.
• Battle Couple: Shades of it with Batman in the climax.
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • Selina drops this line verbatim when she confronts Daggett shortly after Bane's attack on the Stock Exchange.
  • Later indirectly turned on her. After Bane "gives" Gotham back to "the people", just as Selina predicted to Bruce Wayne during their dance, she realizes that not everyone is going to share what they get. And it won't be pretty.
• Big Damn Heroes: Coming back to save Batman, taking down Bane in the process.
• Big Damn Kiss: Right before Batman's apparent Heroic Sacrifice, when Selina declares that she and Bruce are both "suckers", they take a few seconds to suck face before he departs.
• Bond One-Liner: After blasting Bane with the Batpod's cannons. "About the whole 'no guns' thing...? I'm not sure I feel as strongly about it as you do." In reference to her preference to guns and lethal force in combat in contrast to Batman's one rule, which would've allowed his death at Bane's hands if not for her interference.
• Byronic Hero: Similar to Bruce, she has a dark past and personal anguish that drive her actions.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: While not as strong as Batman or Bane she still has her moments of taking down multiple enemies though she needed Batman's help at one point.
• Classy Cat-Burglar: Naturally.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Not even once during the film is Selina Kyle referred to as "Catwoman". However, there is one brief mention of "The Cat", plus a couple of references to "The Cat" on articles scanned by quickly in Selina's file when Bruce is on the Batcave computers. For some reason, this became more noticed in media than other examples of the trope, with various sources and reviews going out of their way to refer to the character as "Selina Kyle" and not "Catwoman". For example:
  "...cat burglar Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway)... She is essentially Catwoman, but is never addressed as such."
  • The movie script and the novelization, however, do refer to her as Catwoman all the time, even implying that it's a well-known alias.
• Combat Stilettos: Selina has them with her thief outfit. For combat, they're shown to have serrated edges that make kicks deadly, and indeed she puts this to good use in some of the fights in the movie. Judging by how often she wears heels outside of costume, she is accustomed enough to wearing them that fighting wouldn't be much of a stretch. Lampshaded when she's confronting Daggett:
  Stryver: Nice outfit. Those heels make it hard to walk?
  Selina Kyle: I don't know. [kicks his foot, stabbing him in the instep] Do they?
• Conscience Makes You Go Back: Batman's faith in her despite her betrayals leads her back to the city to save him and the city.
• Crazy-Prepared: Selina knows that Stryver and the other guys are going to kill her after she hands over the fingerprint slide at the bar. So she creates a very clever escape plan after acquiring Bruce's prints:
  1. She seduces a Congressman who was leching over her at the Harvey Dent Day party (which isn't too hard for her).
  2. A few nights later, she gets him drunk, and takes him to the bar with her, and sits him down at the counter. Then she meets with Stryver at another table, and stalls long enough that one of Stryver's associates puts a pistol to her head.
  3. When this happens, Selina pulls a cell phone out of her purse and tells Stryver to hit the send button.
  4. When Stryver draws his pistol Gangsta Style and prepares to shoot Selina, she just slyly reveals that her "date" is the Congressman, and she's just tricked Stryver into using the man's cell phone.
  5. On cue, tires screech to a stop outside, and Selina takes advantage of the others being distracted by the noise to attack. She grabs Stryver's pistol and kills two henchmen with just seconds to act before the SWAT team smashes through the front doors with a battering ram, at which point she screams to act like a distressed captive. Then while the SWAT team and patrol officers are chasing the other thugs and Stryver out the back door, she saunters out the front door, gets Blake to take her to safety, then escapes while Blake rushes in to join the shootout.
• The Cynic: About everything, from Gotham to her life to the Everything Is Online aspect of modern-day society.
• Dark Action Girl: While not evil, she's definitely a bad girl when she wants to be - the bar shootout, the confrontation with Daggett, and the finale.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Which becomes most apparent when she joins Batman late in the film.
• Damsel in Distress: Exploited during the bar scene when she hands over Bruce's fingerprints. As the SWAT team breaches the front doors, she screams and acts like she was captured by the bad guys, then calmly strolls out of the front door and past Blake while Blake and the other officers engage in a shootout with the fleeing criminals.
• Dating Catwoman: Slowly develops feelings over the course of the film for Bruce, and tries to convince him to run away with her and forget Gotham. The two do eventually run off together after Bruce fakes his death and leaves Blake to take up the legacy.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • For instance, after being caught stealing:
    Selina Kyle: Oops. No one told me [the safe] was uncrackable.
  • There's also Selina and Bruce's Snark-to-Snark Combat while dancing.
• Domino Mask: Selina's safe-cracking goggles functions as one. It's not meant to hide her facial features or her hair so much as it serves as eye protection. The goggles also serve as useful eye protection while riding the Batpod. There's also her domino mask from the masquerade ball.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Finally gets to wipe her record clean thanks to Bruce having the "clean slate", and runs off with Bruce at the end.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite deliberately selling Batman out to Bane, Bruce once again tries to appeal to her better nature upon his return. She Lampshades this and makes it more of a reflection on Bruce's character. It's downplayed by her Friend to All Children Just Like Robin Hood attitude.
  "You trust me with that? After what I did to you?"
• 11th-Hour Ranger: Completes her Heel–Face Turn in the final act.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • In addition to only stealing from those who are richer than her, she is visibly unsettled watching Bane utterly break the Batman. Who wouldn't, given that the second thing that comes out of Bane's mouth is, "Let's not stand on ceremony here... Mr. Wayne."
  • Later, when she and Jen have helped themselves to a house formerly belonging to a rich family, she is saddened when she sees a family photo that reminds her that an innocent family used to live there. This is a major turning point for her, as her opinions towards the rich that she used to justify stealing from are changing. It also helps that given the last few months, she's seen that corruption is not exclusive to Gotham's elite—with the addition of Bane and his men.
  • Also happens to be a Friend to All Children, when she takes out two gang-bangers trying to beat up a young boy.
• Femme Fatale: Downplayed. Selina hates playboy Bruce too much to seduce him, but she still kisses him and pretends to be his wife to steal his car. Also, she doesn't hesitate shooting henchmen when necessary. Selina is a more obvious version of the trope, however, in contrast to Miranda Tate/Talia Al Ghul, who plays the trope far straighter and more subtly as a modern-day Femme Fatale, with almost-fatal results.
• Foreshadowing: Well, there's the fact that she steals Martha Wayne's necklace, essentially stealing his heart and then steals his car by telling a valet that she's Bruce's wife...to his considerable amusement. It's not surprising to see her wearing Martha's necklace for real at the end.
• Friend to All Children: Comes to the aid of a kid being mugged by street thugs he'd stolen from, and warns him against stealing from those he can't outrun. Her relationship with Jen clearly invokes this as well, given her younger appearance and how Selina tries to keep her out of danger in many of the interactions they share.
• Gaussian Girl: Inverted. Selina is not introduced with a romantic blur, but the last shot of her gives her one.
• Genius Bruiser: From safe-cracking and consecutive cons, to kicking ass even without her special heels.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual: They're safe-cracking goggles. Possibly jeweler's inspecting goggles as well, judging from interviews of the costume designer.
• Hates Rich People: At first she holds a lot of resentment towards Gotham's elite for hoarding money and doing little to help impoverished people; consequently she feels no guilt about targeting the wealthy for her burglaries and supports Bane's plan to take over Gotham and (ostensibly) return control of the city to the common people. However, she does start to warm up to Bruce Wayne due to his willingness to help her and she's remorseful when she betrays Batman only to learn he is Bruce, as he's using his fortune to try and make things better. After Gotham descends into anarchy, Selina is also upset when she sees the home of a wealthy family has been ransacked, realizing Bane's methods are just making things worse. She eventually teams up with Batman to stop Bane.
• Heel–Face Turn: After Batman comes back and not only trusts Selina with the lives of Gotham's citizens, but gives her an easy way out and the clean slate program she had been looking for, Selina atones for her actions by coming back to save Batman's life. They are confirmed to be dating in the penultimate scene.
• Heel Realization: Her discovery that Batman is not Bruce Wayne's hired muscle (as she had assumed), but is Bruce Wayne himself—thanks to what Bane says in their first "fight"—is but the first step in her gradual realization that Gotham's elites aren't as unanimously corrupt as she thought.
• Instant Expert: She mastered that Batpod fast, didn't she? We can only assume she owns a basic motorcycle, and the controls are similar enough that she figured it out.
  Batman: To start it, you throttle—
  (Batpod engine roars to life; Batman tilts his head in a "yeah , like that" manner)
  Selina: I got it.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: She is coolly offended when John Daggett calls her a "dumb bitch." Because nobody ever called her dumb.
  John Daggett: You dumb bitch!
  Selina Kyle: Nobody ever accused me of being dumb...
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Batman specifically tells her that there's more to her than the selfishness she outwardly displays. See Pet the Dog.
• Justified Criminal: She thinks she is, anyway:
  Selina Kyle: Ugh. There's no fresh start in today's world. Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what you did. Everything we do is collated and quantified. Everything sticks.
  Bruce Wayne: Is that how you justify stealing?
  Selina Kyle: I take what I need from those who have more than enough. I don't stand on the shoulders of people with less.
  Bruce Wayne: Robin Hood?
  Selina Kyle: I think I do more to help someone than most of the people in this room. Including you.
• Kick the Morality Pet: Suckering Batman into a trap where Bane proceeds to give him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. That said, she is clearly thrown for a loop when Bane reveals Batman's secret identity, and more so when Bane goes to town on him, leaving Gotham's "dark knight" out of commission and the city at the League's mercy. While Bruce later points out that her apologizing "wouldn't suit you", it's clear that Selina regretted her actions and only betrayed the Batman to make sure that Bane didn't kill her.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Becomes this by the climax of the movie.
• Last Girl Wins: She's the last of Bruce's love interests that he meets, and the one he ultimately ends up with.
• Leg Focus: Stryver gives her this look when he says, "Nice outfit. Those heels make it tough to walk?"
• Little Black Dress: Selina wears one to the bar meeting with Stryver. It appears to be similar to the dress she wears when dancing with Bruce later. She also turns her maid outfit into one by removing the white collar and cuffs, in the space of three steps going from blending in with the hired help to blending in with the socialites.
• Magnetic Plot Device: What gets Selina tied up in the plot is that Daggett (and later Bruce) hold a MacGuffin she needs to erase her criminal record.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Selina obtaining Bruce Wayne's fingerprints (and his mother's necklace) slowly rouses the billionaire from his self-imposed seclusion from the world. Later, a shootout caused by Selina's abduction of the Congressman leads to Gordon discovering Bane's lair in the sewers.
• Ms. Fanservice: Anne Hathaway gets to don a catsuit, and rides a Batpod.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Never says it, but she clearly regrets betraying Batman when Bane reveals his true identity shortly after.
  • Selina was responsible for acquiring the thumbprint that Bane and his men used to execute fake trading in Bruce's name when they attack the Stock Exchange. So it's not clear whether she felt any guilt over causing Bruce to get bankrupted. Bruce doesn't seem to think so.
  • When she and Jen take over a house that formerly belonged to a rich Gothammite family, there's a moment where it clearly hits home that something horrible probably happened to the previous occupants, and that this is not how she thought everyone being equal would play out.
• Noble Demon: She may be a thief who is also remarkably cynical and self-centered, but she only steals to survive. During the dance scene, she says, "I take what I need to from those who have more than enough. I don't stand on the shoulders of people with less."
• Pet the Dog: Several coming from "the Cat", ironically enough.
  • When a kid is being mugged by the thugs he'd taken an apple from, she puts the hurt on the crooks before they would otherwise hurt the kid. She then gives the kid back his apple (minus one bite) and some advice:
    "Never steal from someone you can't outrun, kid."
  • Telling Bruce that she's sorry he lost all his money due to Bane's attack on the Stock Exchange (in part Selina's fault, given Daggett uses her, through Stryver, to acquire the thumbprint that Bane uses to perform the fake trades in Bruce's name). Bruce can tell that she isn't really sorry, judging by the cheerful "No, you're not" that he leaves her with. It's the thought that counts.
  • Helping Batman, Fox, and the GCPD in their fight against Bane, including saving Batman from Bane and taking out the hostile Tumblers protecting the convoy.
• The Power of Acting: Pulls off the role of subservient maid and later Damsel in Distress believably. This is best seen in her escape from what would have been an assassination attempt at the bar—she uses a "kidnapped" congressman so that the henchmen will be distracted when she summons the SWAT team, and tricks Blake into taking her to safety by posing as Stryver's hostage.
• Rescue Romance: She and Batman take turns saving each other throughout the film.
• Second Love: To Bruce
• Sensual Spandex: Selina's catsuit.
• Sexy Cat Person: Just like any incarnation of Catwoman.
• Spy Catsuit: When she's breaking into Daggett's safe. Also, leading Batman to Bane, and while using the Batpod in the finale. She has a lot more scenes out of catsuit than she does in—although she has more scenes with a Domino Mask on than she does without.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Defied. Unlike the comic book version of the character who generally tries to avoid killing if at all possible, Selina has no qualms about shooting people who come after her, and she is seen carrying a pistol in a hip holster. She tells Batman on two occasions she doesn't like his "no guns, no killing" rule, saying "Where's the fun in that?!" in annoyance the first time, which happens during the rooftop fight scene. When working with Batman he imposes his Thou Shalt Not Kill rule on her, much to her annoyance. She breaks it when she blasts Bane with the Batpod's cannons to save Bruce.
• True Blue Femininity: In her final scene she wears a blue dress in contrast to the black tones she wore throughout the movie. This represents her 'clean slate' and peaceful life with Bruce.
• The Unfettered: Comes off as one compared to Batman, with her willingness to deal lethal blows to her enemies. Her continuing interactions with Batman apparently makes her draw some lines...except when she blasts Bane.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Selina tries this early only, but Batman tells her no guns. Doesn't stop her from using the Batpod's cannons on Bane.
  Selina: About the whole "no guns" thing? I'm not sure I feel as strongly about it as you do.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Selina can click this on or off like a light switch. In the bar shootout, she shoots two of Bane's men. Seconds later, the SWAT team breaches the front doors, and she immediately starts screaming like a distressed hostage.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Seems to think she's in a Crapsack World Film Noir, rather than A World Half Full superhero movie. She slowly comes around, though.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: To the extent that this trope name have become her Character Arc Words.
  Selina: I'm opening that tunnel, then I'm gone.
  Batman: There's more to you than that.

Killer Croc

''Waylon Jones / Killer Croc

Appears In: Batman: Gotham Knight

A feral, inhumanly strong thug with a condition that makes his skin tough and scaly, hence his nickname. While he appears only briefly, Waylon's backstory is elaborated on as a boy whose deformed appearance made him an outcast before he arrived in Arkham. Unfortunately, he soon earned the interest of Dr. Jonathan Crane, whose vile experiments made him more of a beast than ever.

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• Abusive Parents: It's claimed Waylon's mother flushed him down the toilet as a baby for his monstrous appearance.
• Adaptational Non Sapience: The comics Waylon retains his human mind (for the most part) and often can be quite cunning and articulate. This incarnation is portrayed as a vicious, near-mindless brute who never even speaks. Then again, Crane's fear gas experiments have taken a toll on his sense of reason and he doesn't get any screen time showing him unaffected.
• Bait the Dog: As a child, he was put under Dr. Crane's care to cure his fear of bats. Crane being Crane, his method of "curing" Waylon was subjecting the boy to horrible medical experiments and manipulating him into being his pet.
• Body Horror: His condition is described as real-world disease "Epidermolytic Hyperkeratosis", which causes severe blisters and skin infections. It's probably for the best Croc only appeared in animated form.
• The Dragon / The Brute: Scarecrow uses him as both his strongest enforcer and personal attack dog. He doesn't have much in the way of reason or smarts, but with a twisted mind like Scarecrow guiding him, he's just as deadly.
• Feral Villain: Even moreso than the original Croc, Waylon is completely lost to his ferocity and predatory instincts.
• Made of Iron: Batman wards him off by shoving a flash-bomb in his mouth, which detonates. This only stuns Croc before he flees.
• Man Bites Man: His bite passes the fear formula on through wounds. He takes a bite out of Bruce during their fight, infecting him with the fear toxin.
• Nuclear Mutant: If one homeless guy is to be believed, Waylon's condition was worsened by exposure to all the toxic waste in the sewerways.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes are bright red, likely a result of his body's condition.
• Sewer Gator: He's neither a real reptile nor called an alligator, but he's Gotham's equivalent: A huge scaly monster who dwells in the city's sewers.
• Token Super: Downplayed. Assuming that Gotham Knight is canon, he's the closest thing to a metahuman in a more realistic setting. While Ra's Al Ghul isn't immortal and Bane is just really strong rather than superhuman, Killer Croc remains true to his roots, being an abnormally strong and durable beast from a reptilian mutation. That said, he's ascribed with a real-world skin disorder rather than mutant powers.
• Tortured Monster: As he so often is portrayed, Killer Croc was an abused child put through nightmarish pain and used as a guinea pig by someone who should've been helping him.

The Man In Black

Jacob Feely / The Man In Black

Bite Me!

Voiced By: George Newbern

Appears In: Batman: Gotham Knight

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a robbery. If you cooperate, everything'll be fine and you'll make it home for dinner. Please line up in front of me and place all your valuables in this case.

A skilled thief who commits robberies with technology of his own design. Batman's confrontation with him is witnessed by three kids at separate times.

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• Adaptation Expansion: The novelization fleshes out Feely's character and motivation a bit more than his appearances in the film.
• Badass Bookworm: He's a talented inventor who performs daring heists and actually holds his own against Batman himself.
• Canon Foreigner: Bar a few similarities to Firefly, he's a rogue created exclusively for Gotham Knight.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: A brilliant inventor who wastes his talents on petty theft. The novelization explains that Feely hates patenting his stuff because he doesn't want to be under someone else's thumb. Dander actually lampshades that he'd have to be an Arkham inmate not to use his tech that way.
• Composite Character: His high-tech outfit, Jetpack, and engineering skills are mostly inspired by Firefly, but his Burglary M.O and being perceived fighting a monstrous Batman by children comes from Willie the Horse, a regular crook from the original 70's story, The Batman Nobody Knows, which inspired the first segment.
• Dark Is Evil: He's called the Man In Black for a reason.
• Expy: Of Garfield Lynns/Firefly, except lacking the former's pyromania and name.
• Evil Counterpart: To Batman himself, surprisingly for a minor villain. He also is a brilliant tech genius who uses his gadgets in the field and dresses in a menacing black outfit, which is something he points out himself in the novelization.
• Jet Pack: He deploys one when he needs to make a quick getaway.
• Mask of Sanity: He has a fairly cool demeanor as the Man In Black, but when he's on his way back to Arkham we see his vision of the place is nightmarishly warped, implying there's something deeply screwed up with him.
• Would Hurt a Child: He points his gun at the teenage Dander as a hostage, and later prepares to bludgeon another teen named Pork Chop for running into him on his skateboard. In the novelization he kidnaps the girl Meesh and threatens to drop her unless Batman stops his chase.

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