Characters / The Dark Knight Trilogy: Wayne Enterprises

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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Beware of unmarked spoilers for The Dark Knight Rises

Wayne Enterprises is the Wayne family's company. This is the page for its members and associates.

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Bruce Wayne / Batman

Bruce Wayne / Batman

"Well, a guy who dresses up like a bat.... clearly has issues."

"It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me."

Played by: Christian Bale, Gus Lewis (child)

Voiced by: Kevin Conroy, Hynden Walch (child) ^{Foreign VAs}Sergio Gutiérrez Coto (Latin-American Spanish), Denis Bespaly (Russian), Claudio Santamaria (Italian)

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

"As a man, I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored, I can be destroyed. But as a symbol... as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting."

This particular incarnation of Batman is unique from other live-action movie portrayals in that we see him begin as an inexperienced vigilante before becoming the veteran crimefighter we all know and love.

In Batman Begins, Bruce is haunted by his parents being killed. After failing to kill Joe Chill, the man who killed his parents, Bruce meets Carmine Falcone who tells him just how much he does not understand criminals and the crueler aspects of life. Bruce disappears from Gotham to learn about the criminal underworld and trains with the League of Shadows and Henri Ducard. He later returns and as Batman, he attacks the criminal underworld controlling the city and meets Jonathan Crane, AKA Scarecrow. Batman finds himself having to save the city from Henri Ducard, AKA Ra's al Ghul and The League of Shadows, who plan to use Scarecrow's fear toxin to destroy Gotham. Batman does save the day but at the cost of Wayne Manor burning down, his father's monorail getting ruined and the Narrows (a slum in Gotham) being driven insane.

A year later in The Dark Knight, Bruce begins to hope that Harvey Dent can take his place as Gotham's savior, due to Harvey locking many criminals away legally. Bruce also hopes to begin a relationship with Rachel Dawes, his oldest friend, but Rachel is dating Harvey Dent and ultimately chooses Harvey over Bruce. Rachel leaves a letter with Alfred to tell Bruce this. Unfortunately, The Joker appears and brings chaos and violence to Gotham City. Batman eventually triumphs over The Joker, but in the process, Rachel Dawes is killed and Alfred burns Rachel's letter, so Bruce won't be crushed by Rachel choosing Harvey, and Harvey Dent is turned into the vengeful Two-Face. Batman decides to take the blame for the murders Harvey Dent committed, knowing that Dent needed to remain a hero in the eyes of Gotham and to prevent the arrests of the Gotham mob from being undone.

Eight years later in The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce is retired as Batman but is drawn back into being Batman as Bane and Catwoman appear in Gotham.

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• 100% Heroism Rating: Non-videogame example. At the end of The Dark Knight Rises, when Batman is believed to be dead after saving Gotham, he has earned the respect that he deserves, even getting a statue put up in his honor.
• Action Hero: He can beat the holy crap out of even a stupidly lopsided outnumbering of mooks.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In Rises Bruce went into retirement eight years ago after only a year of crime fighting, where he has done nothing but dwell on his failures and losses. In the comics Bruce has a career spanning several years at least while in The Dark Knight Returns comic, which Rises adapts elements of, he was forced by the public due to distrust which he was resentful of and didn't seem to have many regrets.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: He is much less surly and grim than most incarnations of the character in comics and other adaptations.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Batman's motivations in Nolan's trilogy is quite different from comics and other versions, in that it's essentially romantic. While Batman was traumatized by his parents' murder, what really convinced him to travel the world, train and learn to become a crime-fighter is Rachel Dawes chewing him out for even thinking of using a gun against Joe Chill, and his crusade in the first two films is more or less to prove to Rachel that he's changed and become heroic. In The Dark Knight he repeatedly tells her that he sees Harvey Dent's war on crime as a potential way to end his crime-fighting which would allow them to be together. Even in Rises, his motivations are driven by his feelings towards Miranda Tate and Selina, and in the end, he decides to give up fighting crime and settle down with Selina. In most other versions, Batman's love-life is complicated because of his commitment to the mission, and that he's tragically incapable of giving up despite his feelings for other women. In Nolan's films, his mission was arguably motivated by his romantic relationships.
• Animal-Themed Superbeing: Animal Alias variant, as per usual.
• Anti-Hero: A Pragmatic Hero. Has resorted to the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique on many occasions, including dropping someone off a building and breaking both their legs on one occasion. Has also caused quite a lot of collateral damage with equipment like the Tumbler, and acts jerkish and anti-social in his rich billionaire persona to help hide his activities as Batman, but that's just a facade.
• Arch-Enemy: He has four across the trilogy:
  • The first is Henri Ducard, the true Ra's al Ghul and leader of the League of Shadows. He's Bruce's former mentor who attempts to recruit him into joining the League of Shadows, the same group that is indirectly responsible for the deaths of his parents since they tried to destroy Gotham through damaging the economy. Several after his death at the end of the first film, Ducard's actions in the first film come back to haunt Bruce in the third film in the form of Bane and his daughter Talia.
  • The second is Jonathan Crane, better known as the Scarecrow. While he becomes less of a threat with each instalment and is an Unwitting Pawn for the League in Begins, he's Bruce's most reoccurring foe and appears in all media related to the trilogy.
  • The third is unsurprisingly the Joker, who's actions next too Ducard's has the biggest impact on Bruce and Gotham. The Joker's aggression pushes Bruce to solidify his moral code and Thou Shall Not Kill rule, and his actions result in the death of Rachel and Harvey's transformation into Two-Face, culminating in Bruce deciding to become a Hero with Bad Publicity to protect Gotham. Overall, the Joker causes the most harm to Bruce out of all the villains in the trilogy.
  • The fourth is Bane, the Final Boss of the trilogy and Bruce's intellectual and physical superior. Similar to how the Joker pushed Bruce to deciding what his moral code is and what he stands for, Bane pushes Bruce to realises what his limitations actually are and to find the strength to succeed seemingly impossible tasks.
• Badass Boast:
  • In Batman Begins, he gets one before fighting another prisoner:
    Prisoner: You are in hell, little man, and I am the devil.
    Bruce: You're not the devil. You're practice.
  • Delivers one to Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, which doubles as an Ironic Echo:
    Batman: When you tell me where the detonator is, you have my permission to die!
• Badass Cape: In addition to the 'look like a giant bat' intimidation factor, his cape is also functional as a glider.
• Badass in Distress: In The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce is trapped in the prison Bane and Talia were in for a while until he overcomes his insecurities and flaws, and trains hard enough to escape.
• Batman Gambit: He anticipates Fox's ethical objections to the surveillance system he commissions to track down the Joker, and so gives him the kill code to destroy the system once its sole purpose is fulfilled.
• Beard of Sorrow: During his self-imposed seclusion in The Dark Knight Rises. He is clean shaven when he returns to Gotham, which symbolizes his regained confidence and willpower.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In a flashback in Batman Begins, Bruce expresses that he wants to take Wayne Manor apart brick by brick. At the end of Batman Begins, his entire mansion is burnt down.
• Becoming the Mask: Bruce shows hints of this, such as instances where he retains the Bat-voice either when alone or out of costume, and his general obsession with being Batman and embodying his myths.
• Beneath the Mask: We see the default Bruce Wayne personality (usually when alone with Alfred, and Catwoman brings it out) to be less serious and more mischievous than the ultra-intense Batman. He is more introspective and strategic when out of costume, while as Batman he instead uses incredible focus, cunning, and quick thinking to overcome challenges.
• Betty and Veronica: In The Dark Knight he becomes the Veronica to Harvey's Betty. He's the unlawful vigilante and millionare playboy while Dent is the morally upstanding attorney and Gotham's "White Knight" and, despite the fact she is dating Harvey, Bruce gets to share a kiss with her. However, she reveals in a letter that she couldn't be with Bruce due to his obsession with being Batman and chose to be with Dent.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: Inverted. Bruce shows distaste for his masked persona whenever he's in public, claiming the guy has "issues" in Begins, and wondering who appointed him as the protector of Gotham in The Dark Knight. This, combined with his Millionaire Playboy persona, throws off all suspicion of him being Batman.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: His forearm blades are his most consistent tools in hand to hand combat, and he ends up using them to win the final fights in all three movies: they break Ra's's sword in the train fight, are fired off to wound the Joker and set him up for Bruce's takedown in the Pruitt Building, and they break Bane's mask.
• Byronic Hero: He experiences great personal suffering while fighting crime.
• The Casanova: Part of his public persona as a rich playboy is being a hit with the ladies, showing up with two of them in a restaurant he buys in Begins and absconding with an entire Russian ballet in The Dark Knight. However, in his personal life, he has gotten involved with all the major female characters in the series: shared a kiss with Rachel, slept with Miranda and settled down with Selina.
• Character Development: A large part of The Dark Knight shows his Moral Code solidifying compared to the end of Batman Begins, in response to Joker's aggression. Notably, it seems that the people of Gotham's unwillingness to give in and kill when faced with dire circumstances inspired Batman to take his Thou Shalt Not Kill policy more seriously and save the Joker so he could be properly tried. The Dark Knight Rises shows him overcoming his strict limitations of his own fear and growing past his weaknesses in order to match Bane's monstrous strength. The Dark Knight Rises also shows Bruce coming to terms with how dangerous and draining it is to be Batman, and finding a replacement for him as Batman.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Batman Begins shows Bruce's training with the League Of Assassins which give him nearly superhuman skills like being able to vanish from Comissinor Gordon without the latter noticing or being able to lift overweight mob boss Carmine Falcone from the ground. The later movies downplay it a bit, showing that Bruce highly relays on intelligence and gadgets. Than again, in The Dark Knight Rises he heals very fast from a broken spine and escapes his prison by using sheer will.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Rachel was his closest friend in his pre-Batman days and he sought a relationship with her when he came back. She ended up choosing Harvey Dent over him, and died without letting him know.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Bruce continues as Batman regardless of the increasing amounts of injuries he gains. In TDKR, he is shown unable to move on without Rachel or his life as Batman, as she thought before her death. It isn't until the ending that Bruce is able to accept that what he has done as Batman is enough and he can move on with his life.
• Combat Pragmatist: Batman has two rules. Everything else is fair game, for instance shooting razor blades into Joker's face to throw off his stranglehold. Early on, even the first rule has been bent a bit when dealing with Ra's al Ghul by refusing to either murder him or save his life, and in some instances with the latter he's thrown shotguns to other people for them to use instead of him.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Or rather "Reboot" in this case, as unlike the Batman of the Batman Film Series, the one here has the comics' suave Millionaire Playboy mask and makes sure to devote time to it, whereas the Batman of at least Keaton's time was a reclusive Socially Awkward Hero for whom the "Bruce Wayne" identity was little more than a mask. There's also the fact he's much more reluctant to kill than Keaton's Batman, who not only did kill, but at times sported a Psychotic Smirk while doing so.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Anyone who's read the comics should know that his origin story was kicked off by his parents being murdered by a mugger.
• Cool Car: The Batmobile is a Tumbler that was made to be used in military situations.
• Cool Garage: The Batcave throughout much of Batman Begins is spookily cool but when Wayne Manor is set aflame towards the end, Batman uses a literal garage as his base of operations in The Dark Knight. Both make a return in The Dark Knight Rises, as well as a massive flood-able generator room and Wayne Enterprises entire sealed off R&D.
• The Cowl: As usual he fights in the shadows with fear and deception. He's there and gone before his target knows what hit him.
• Crazy-Prepared: Though not quite as much as his comic or DCAU counterparts, Bruce Wayne sure has prepared for a lot of stuff.
  • At the end of Begins, Ra's has him pretty soundly pinned. In The Dark Knight, we see that the gauntlets on Batman's new suit have spring loaded scallops, which would help in just such an occasion as the ending of The Dark Knight demonstrates.
  • Upon receiving catastrophic damage, the Tumbler's ejection system still provides Batman with the Batpod for a speedy getaway, while the source vehicle is designed to self-destruct.
  • In The Dark Knight, the self-destruct option for the sonar device was most likely included because Batman anticipated that Lucius would not approve of it. Judging by how Bruce built it himself, he probably felt the same way, despite the Joker making it necessary.
  • The Dark Knight Rises also shows him being too paranoid to release many inventions, using a room that can be manually flooded in an instant for housing an experimental generator, extra batsuits (which comes in handy since his first one gets damaged in the first fight with Bane), and most importantly creating a perfect autopilot program for the Bat while at the same time constantly bemoaning how terrible it is that there's no autopilot, just in case he needs to fool his closest friends into thinking he died in a crash. Which he does at the end so he and Selina can vanish.
  • He doesn't house all of his equipment under a single roof - the reason why Bane does not end up acquiring the Batpod, the Bat, or the extra Batsuits is because it's presumed he never finds out where they are stored, with the backup Batsuit being stored in what was the interim Batcave of The Dark Knight, the Batpod stored in a back alley storage container, and the Bat having camofluage and being placed on top of a skyscraper.
• Crimefighting with Cash: The R&D of Wayne Entereprises makes his toys. He also funded a fusion reactor in DKR to fight the energy crisis.
• Covered with Scars: To the point where Alfred sternly tells him, "Know your limits, Master Wayne" in The Dark Knight.
• Curbstomp Battle: He's on the receiving end from Bane early in The Dark Knight Rises, which breaks his back and lands him in a hellhole prison. Another fight with Bane turns the tables; while Batman has trouble keeping up with his opponent's speed and ferocity in the confines of the crowd, once the fight opens up it becomes evident that Bane really has no chance, as Batman has shrugged off everything he's thrown at him, even when enraged, and now Batman has room to bob and weave and break Bane's arms.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His parents were killed when young, prompting his journey to becoming Batman. Then he spent a time as a criminal himself in order to understand them and ended up in prison.
• Dark Is Not Evil: These movies in particular, more than most other adaptations, place a major emphasis on how dark the character is. They also place a major emphasis on how morally good and selfless he is.
• Dating Catwoman:
  • In The Dark Knight Rises, he has Belligerent Sexual Tension with the Trope Namer Selina Kyle. At the end of Rises this trope becomes literal with Bruce dating Selina in Florence, Italy.
  • His other love interest, Miranda Tate, comes off as this, as she turns out to be Talia al-Ghul and much more villainous than she first appears; so Bruce's interest in her might count as well.
• Deadpan Snarker: As "Bruce Wayne, eccentric billionaire". Batman is more about intimidation than witty one-liners, although does have his moments as a Silent Snarker. It becomes more evident when he finds himself in Snark-to-Snark Combat between himself or Alfred, Fox, and Selina.
• Death Seeker: In The Dark Knight Rises this is deconstructed. People point out that without fear of death, Bruce can't summon the determination to truly strive for the upper hand and he will continue to lose. He gets better.
• Dented Iron: Throughout his career as Batman, Bruce has accumulated several injuries, some of which actually have hampered his fighting skills. In The Dark Knight, he displays bruises on his back that actually concern Alfred, who tells Bruce to know his "limits". In Rises, his years of being slumped and inactive in his home make him noticeably out of practice when he dons the suit again and is easily dominated by Bane in their first fight. Bruce even has to use a bionic brace on his knee in this movie, since he didn't recover from breaking it after the events of the second film.
• Determinator:
  • This was mildly present even as a child. After falling down an old well, Bruce was less worried about his broken arm than he was about the massive swarm of bats.
  • As Batman, things that will not stop him include: being set on fire while suffering from a weaponized hallucinogen (first film); a SWAT team, about to kill hostages dressed as kidnappers and vice-versa (second film). Feral dogs attacking him while being beaten by a crowbar (second film). Police pursuit and being Hated by All because of false murder charges, even while chasing Bane and his men (third film). Dislocated vertebrae at the bottom of a prison pit, hundreds of miles away from Gotham, with a time bomb set to explode within a few months. When Selina is trying to convince him to leave Gotham before it explodes he summarizes it quite nicely.
    Selina: You don't owe these people any more. You've already given them everything.
    Batman: Not everything. Not yet.
• Does Not Like Guns: "No guns. No killing." He annoys Selina, who says, "Where's the fun in that?!" when he tries to force this code on her during the rooftop fight with Bane's men. When dealing with some of the Joker's goons in the fundraising party, he disarms one and dislodges his firearm.
• The Dreaded: To criminals, until The Joker comes to Gotham and becomes even more feared. At the end of The Dark Knight, he regains this status after Taking the Heat for Harvey Dent's five murders.
• Drives Like Crazy: Have you watched how he drives? As Bruce Wayne, he's normal, but as Batman, he's a whole other story.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After going through physical and emotional hell over the course of the trilogy, all while helping to save Gotham no less than three times, Bruce is finally able to move on from his quest for vengeance and put his trauma behind him at the end of The Dark Knight Rises, retiring to a quiet life with Selina.
• Et Tu, Brute?:
  • He really must have felt disappointed when Selina lures him against her will into a trap, resulting in him being beaten up by Bane.
  • This also happens with Miranda Tate later in the film. Unlike with Selina, though, this betrayal was deliberate.
• Exact Words: "Tell me where the trigger is, then you have my permission to die!" Batman doesn't kill Bane after learning the identity of the triggerwoman, but Catwoman does.
• Exalted Torturer: He is the high-functioning case. If you are a Smug Snake of a dirty cop, he won't hesitate to traumatize you and scare you half to death as a form of interrogation. If you're a crime lord holding out information on a madman going on a destructive rampage through his city, he will go even farther. If you are said madman and the clock is ticking on people's lives, he will start at bodily harm and beat you within an inch of your life if that's what it takes. The Joker sees all this and, with mixed awe and annoyance, declares him "incorruptible" (because he has only one rule, "no killing", and he won't break it).
• Expelled from Every Other School: According to the visual dictionary, Bruce being kicked out of Princeton was not nearly the first time he'd been expelled from an Ivy League school. This is probably meant to establish the adult Bruce as a directionless layabout due to not properly coming to terms with his parents' murder.
• Faking the Dead: At the end of The Dark Knight Rises, he fakes his death via bomb so he can finally put Gotham and his past behind him.
• Family Honor: He cares nothing for the social stature of his family name as seen in Batman Begins, but carrying his family's legacy to protect Gotham is his primary motivation. This is established in the very beginning of Batman Begins and elaborated on by the writers in a DVD commentary with the conclusion of The Dark Knight Rises.
• Famed In-Story: Between Dark Knight and Dark Knight Rises, the legends surrounding him grow, as does his symbol. Mayor Garcia and Foley repeatedly focus on the official line that he killed Harvey Dent, but kids, cops, and even criminals are all shown treating his return with awe. Catwoman is distracted from her safe cracking by his return!
• The Fettered: His 'one rule' is unbreakable.
• Fiction 500: The Tumbler, the body armor, the custom weaponry, the state of the art urban flying machine known only as the Bat.... Bruce Wayne ranks #8 on Forbes's Fictional 15 list with a net worth of $6.9 billion.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic, shares this with Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul and Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul.
• Friend to All Children: Consistent with his comic book incarnations. Any kids who meet Batman (the boy in the Narrows, Gordon's son) are entirely unafraid of him, unlike most adults. He also gives food to a street urchin when he himself is starving, rescues teenaged imitators when they get in over their heads fighting crime, and in The Dark Knight Rises, he is revealed to be funding orphanages with Wayne Enterprises' profits. At least, until the money stops.
• Game-Breaking Injury: He injures his left leg after falling off a building with Two-Face, and by the time of Rises, the cartilage in his knee has deteriorated to the point where he can't walk without a cane, and wears a powered leg brace while in costume.
• Genius Bruiser: While Bruce didn't officially graduate from Princeton, he is fluent in at least two languages, knows enough engineering and electronics to replicate and expand upon existing technology without outside help, exceptional talent in the field of criminology (without formal training, as far as the viewer knows), and he is a good enough actor to fool three of his closest friends.
• Glory Seeker: In Rises, Alfred believes that Bruce is just trying to recapture his glory days as Batman and that he should just accept that he isn't the Caped Crusader anymore. Though it drives (temporarily) a wedge between Bruce and Alfred, he manages to put his life as Batman behind at the end.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: He spends a large chunk of The Dark Knight trying to figure out what kind of motive The Joker could have for doing what he does. By the time he realizes that The Joker's actions are an end in and of itself, it's already too late.
• Good Is Not Soft: From his Jack Bauer Interrogation Techniques to his willingness to make decisions he is hated for, this Batman is a major example of this trope.
• Great Detective: Downplayed compared to his comics counterpart, who is unequivocally considered The World's Greatest Detective. However, Bruce is still shown to be a bit better than the police in tracking people and things down and solving mysteries; it's usually conflated with his use of technology and forensic skills, and the movies don't involve "cases" so much as "long involved plots" unsuitable for detective work. Interestingly, in these films Bruce doesn't seem to have studied criminology in his travels, which he's generally done in most other incarnations.
• Guile Hero: His greatest weapon is turning fear against those who prey on the fearful.
• Guilt Complex: He blames himself for everything that goes wrong; his dead parents, the people The Joker kills, Rachel's death, and Harvey Dent's Face–Heel Turn. Also, Gotham's almost destruction in Ducard/Ra's hands. Possibly, of losing the Narrows. If the novelization is to be believed, Ducard's death. It's such an Achilles' Heel for him that Bane attempts to use it as a Fate Worse than Death by the third film... and very nearly succeeds.
• Handicapped Badass: After suffering a Game-Breaking Injury on his right leg after falling with Two-Face at the end of The Dark Knight, Bruce could barely move his leg at all without the support of a cane. However, he gains a pseudo bionic-like device for his leg to help him keep moving.
• Has a Type: The three women Bruce gets involved with, Rachel, Selina, and Talia, are all brunettes.
• Heartbroken Badass: After Rachel dies he is struggling with both villains and his own grief.
• He's Back!: He pulls this off twice in Rises, first when Batman returns after the stock market is hacked, then after Bruce escapes the Pit and returns to Gotham.
  Bane: So, you came back to die with your city!
  Batman: No. I came back to stop you.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: By the end of The Dark Knight after taking the heat for Two-Face's murders.
• The Hero: Batman is the titular superhero who brings justice for Gotham City.
• Heroic BSoD: Rachel's death is the cause of this lasting 8 years between the 2nd and 3rd movie.
• Heroic Build: He is very muscular, to the point that he even provides part of the page image for the Dyeing for Your Art page.
• Heroic Lineage: In this universe, all the known Waynes were important and noble men of their times. Bruce is a superhero, Thomas was a doctor and tried to change Gotham into a better place and a distant ancestor helped slaves escape through the Undergound Railroad.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In The Dark Knight Rises to spare Gotham a nuclear bombing. However, this turns out to not be the case. He left a clue to each of his four Secret Keepers to let them know he was still alive: The Bat's autopilot patch for Lucius, a fixed Bat-signal for Gordon, GPS co-ordinates to Blake for the Batcave, and last and definitely most... fulfilling Alfred's fantasy of seeing Bruce running away from it all with a lady in tow (Selina, no less) in Italy.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Batman's Bruce Wayne persona is only jerkish because he's trying to distract everyone from the theory that he might be Batman. He barely maintains it in The Dark Knight Rises, where Miranda Tate points out that if he really was a shallow womanizing asshole, he wouldn't be so devoted to charity with personal connections to him (such as Harvey Dent, and orphanages), then be crushed when his causes fail.
• Honor Before Reason: Deconstructed, as once the underworld figures out his one rule, they stop fearing him as much as they do The Joker, who would kill them for fun.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He's this way for at least one villain per film.
  • In the first film, there is Ra's al Ghul, a mentor who proved to be an extremist sociopath.
  • In the second film, there is Harvey Dent, who proves to be Not So Above It All when pushed over the edge by the Joker.
  • In the last film, there is Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul. Also he puts a lot of faith in Selina Kyle, and ends up (in his own words) "disappointed." It's subverted in the end, where the faith he has in her ends up bringing out her good side.
  • He also tends to underestimate the assorted Big Bads in each film:
    • When the Joker appears, Batman, somewhat hypocritically, dismisses him as just one man who couldn't possibly be more dangerous than the mob. He ends up destroying quite a bit of the city, driving the last nail into the mob's coffin and almost doing the same for Batman, and drives Harvey Dent to madness.
    • Later, Batman, who has been out of action for roughly eight years, gets back in the batsuit, and is able to hunt down and capture several League of Shadow members who were trying to escape a bank robbery. The primary villain Bane manages to get away. Batman dismisses Bane as just another one of Ra's al Ghul's flunkies. When Bruce and Alfred review tapes of Bane's assault on the bank, Bruce brushes away Alfred's assessment of Bane's combat abilities, stating that he'll simply "fight harder". He teams up with Catwoman to go underground and take out Bane, only to be outsmarted by Bane and lured into a trap. It's only thanks to the ensuing Curb-Stomp Battle that Batman realizes just how dangerous Bane really is.
• Horrifying Hero: Fittingly, the reaction that this Batman gets out of criminals (and decent folk) is not a "Shining Angelic Crusader of Justice", but rather "Hideous Demonic Giant Bat", believed by the poor folks stuck in The Narrows when their minds were warped by fear toxins.
• Hope Bringer: This is his ultimate goal: give hope to the Gothamites that their city does not "belong to the criminals and the corrupt" and that their lives will get better.
• Iconic Sequel Outfit: While the batsuit in the first movie is more comic-accurate, the second batsuit is so synonymous with Christian Bale's incarnation that the original suit never once appeared in The Dark Knight Rises.
• The Idealist: Surprisingly inconsistent with his comic-book counterpart, even though he still possess most traits of a cynical superhero. His desire to use non-lethal force comes from compassion, which is taunted as a weakness throughout the trilogy. It's taken to extremes in The Dark Knight Rises, where moments before he flies a bomb away from Gotham to his death, he reminds Selina and Gordon that he has faith in them.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: His refusal to kill stems from his belief that compassion is what separates him from the criminals he fights.
• I Have This Friend: In The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce refers to Batman as his "powerful friend" in the hopes of changing Selina's mind about working with Bane to get him to go broke.
• Incompletely Trained: Bruce has never completed his training with the League of Shadows that he started in Begins. When his current lesson was to execute a man, he chose to flee and develop his skills as Batman on his own.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: He's called "incorruptible" by the Joker. Granted, Batman is the epitome of Good Is Not Nice, but Batman in the Nolanverse absolutely will not kill.
• Innocently Insensitive: In The Dark Knight, Bruce throws a lavish fundraising party for Harvey Dent and declares his support for him in front of the guests. It rubs Rachel the wrong way, making her believe Bruce is actually mocking Dent and his efforts, but he maintains that he meant it.
• Irisless Eye Mask Of Mystery: These films usually avert this trope, but on one occasion in the Dark Knight he acquires this look via a Sonic imager in his mask giving his eyes an appearance similar to the comics.
• Ironic Fear: Of bats, even when in the persona of Batman. He gets over this as Batman Begins going from fearing bats to letting them fly around him and ultimately using them to non-lethally defeat SWAT teams.
• I Work Alone: This aspect of Batman is less present in this version, as he has faith in his allies like Alfred, Lucius and Gordon to aid him. However, when dealing with his copycats in The Dark Knight, Batman bluntly states that he doesn't need their help.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Uses this often to get information but when he does it against Scarecrow by fear gassing him and then interrogating him; it makes Scarecrow become insane and evil instead of sane and evil. Later, in The Dark Knight, it doesn't work at all against Joker due to him being Too Kinky to Torture.
• Knight in Sour Armor: This trope neatly fits him like a glove. He watches his parents gunned down in front of him, the woman he loves is killed (and then he finds out that she loved someone else more than him), the Knight in Shining Armor he hoped would let him retire had turned insane, the city he had fought so hard to protect has vilified him, he has seen the worst humanity has to offer, he spent eight years in seclusion, three separate psychopaths have tried to destroy the city he swore to protect, he gets the shit beaten out of him and is tossed into a prison described as "hell on Earth" and is forced to watch his city turned into an anarchic prison... and yet he is still a staunch idealist who believes that Rousseau Was Right, that people are worth saving, and refuses to kill anyone.
• A Lady on Each Arm: How he sometimes appears at social gatherings as a way of keeping up his "billionaire playboy" persona.
• Ladykiller in Love: Actually downplayed since his ladykiller persona is just an act and Bruce may have never been relationship with the gorgeous women he appears in public with. The truth is that he pines for Rachel his entire life and wishes to be together with her. In Rises he moves past his grief from her death and is in a stable and loving relationship with Selina Kyle.
• Large Ham: When he is Batman, he has these moments. More so in The Dark Knight and Rises, while in Begins he was usually more subdued.
• Legally Dead: William Earle has Bruce declared dead to make it easier to turn Wayne Enterprises into a public company. It doesn't work because Bruce left a will naming Alfred as his beneficiary.
• Leitmotif: The series' theme, Molossus, tends to play when he's onscreen as Batman.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: When Batman's limits have been reached, he resorts to other measures. See Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique for more info. Case in point:
  • In the beginning of The Dark Knight, he is content to deal with the mob first until the Joker kills one of the copycats that Batman had saved only a few days ago. He turns all of his attention to Joker.
• Lonely Funeral: The only ones seen at Bruce's grave are the four men who knew he was Batman; Alfred, Gordon, Blake and Lucius. Of course, Bruce isn't actually dead which they learn afterwards.
• Made of Iron: Batman has fallen off buildings numerous times (half the time not landing on his feet), set on fire, hit by a brick wall from a moving van, bitten by mob dogs, stabbed in the torso by Talia, and taking a huge beating from Bane twice (the same guy punching holes in concrete pillars).
• Manly Facial Hair: Has one in the Backstory of Batman Begins when in prison and kicking seven criminals' asses at once.
• Married to the Job: Subverted. Bruce initially made it clear that once Gotham no longer needed Batman, he would go on to settle down and start a family. Unfortunately, circumstances forced him to put his mission before his personal happiness, as seen with Rachel's death. It's only after meeting Selina Kyle and saving Gotham one last time that he is able to start a new life.
• Master Actor: You would have to be to balance being a Millionaire Playboy and a superhero, and fool three of your closest friends while doing so along with the entire city.
• McNinja: Had training along these lines from The League Of Shadows. However, due to their Knight Templar tendencies and desire to destroy Gotham with Scarecrow's fear toxin, Bruce left them (violently) and later, left their leader, Ra's al Ghul, to die, after he tried to destroy Gotham.
• Megaton Punch: He lands the mother of all kicks on Bane, sending him through a glass door, and then another one sending him flying another few feet. The second one is especially funny, as the victim looks up, dazed, just in time to see it coming.
• The Mentor: He gives advice and guidance to John Blake's Luke, a heroic young man who also lost parents to violent death. Except he doesn't die.
• Millionaire Playboy: He keeps up this appearance as a cover. In Batman Begins he randomly buys a restaurant and in The Dark Knight, he absconds with the entire Russian ballet in a seaplane.
• The Mourning After: In The Dark Knight Rises. After Rachel dies in The Dark Knight, Bruce resolves never to love anyone else romantically again and becomes a recluse for eight years, seeing no chance of having a normal, happy life now she's gone. He even thinks trying to move on would somehow insult her memory, because he believes she never gave up waiting for him. It's then subverted when Alfred reveals that Rachel actually chose Harvey Dent over Bruce (which he didn't mention at the time to avoid pouring salt in the wound); after this revelation Bruce pursues a relationship with Miranda Tate. That doesn't end well either, though luckily Selina Kyle is quick to take her place.
• Nice Guy: Especially in comparison to other incarnations of the character. He is fairly respectful to those that he meets, even in his Millionaire Playboy persona. While he certainly takes his mission to protect Gotham seriously, he comes across as less obsessive about it that than in the comics and other adaptations. Also, while Bruce/Batman in other adaptations will reluctantly, if genuinely admit how much he respects and needs the help of his allies, this incarnation has no problem stating that he owes his success to the aid of his allies and friends.
• Mr. Fanservice: Part of the 'billionaire playboy' persona is looking fantastic.
• Non-Idle Rich: Par the course for Batman. Bruce fools the public and most people in his social circle by posing as a lazy, carefree and eccentric billionaire but it's all a cover for his double life as a superhero.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: That shallow womanizing playboy can't possibly be a ferocious vigilante that dresses up like a bat, because "a guy who dresses up like a bat clearly has issues".
• Old Superhero: A downplayed example, but in The Dark Knight Rises Bruce is around thirty-nine years old after being retired for eight years. This means he starts to suffer from the many injuries he acquired while crime fighting while focus is placed on his struggle to achieve the same physical feats that he could do in the first two films.
• Once an Episode: Each film in the series has him directly involved in the death of one adversary.
  • In Batman Begins, he refuses to outright kill Ra's al Ghul, but all the same, he leaves him to his own devices, resulting in his death when the train goes off the rails.
  • In The Dark Knight, In order to save Gordon's son, he knocks Two-Face over a narrow ledge, resulting in Two-Face breaking his neck in a nasty fall.
  • In The Dark Knight Rises, he shoots at Talia al Ghul with lethal intent in the bomb truck she's driving, resulting in her crashing it and dying moments later.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Several times Bruce mentions that he has not fixed the autopilot, which comes back near the end when he has to fly the bomb away. Barring the fact that he lied, and used it to fake his death.
  • If he ever threatens to kill someone, you know damn well that a very serious situation is going on.
• Order Versus Chaos: Represents order to the Joker's chaos in The Dark Knight because he is trying to keep the city stable and the rule of law in place.
• Parental Abandonment: HIS PARENTS ARE DEEAAAAAAAD!
• Passing the Torch: To 'Robin' John Blake in The Dark Knight Rises by giving him the coordinates of the Batcave.
• Powered Armor: Prior to the leg brace mentioned above, Batman tries out power-assist technology at the start of The Dark Knight (you can hear the noise of the servos). It lets him bend a gun barrel with one hand and almost literally tear his way through the side of the Scarecrow's van, but he later mentions to Lucius Fox that the new armor is too heavy and clumsy.
• Pretender Diss: In The Dark Knight, Batman doesn't appreciate the costumed vigilantes who dress up as him and try to fight the mob. When one says he only wanted to help, Batman shouts back that he doesn't need help and mocks their costumes for featuring "hockey pads".
• Pretending to Be One's Own Relative: In the novelization of Begins, between returning to Gotham and revealing himself to Earle, Bruce poses as his own cousin, "Gene Valley", to investigate the legends about Ra's al Ghul.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gets a few that serves to deconstruct some of his character traits:
  Maroni: They're wise to your act; you have rules. But the Joker, he has no rules. No one is going to give him up for you.
  
  Old Prisoner: You're Not Afraid to Die. You think this makes you strong. It makes you weak. How can you move faster than possible, fight longer than possible without the most powerful impulse of the spirit: the fear of death?
• Reed Richards Is Useless:
  • Lampshaded and Justified in The Dark Knight Rises. When Alfred asks Bruce why he doesn't hand over all his fancy technology to the police for their use, Bruce replies that one man's tool is another man's weapon, and he fears somebody would misuse his technology if it falls into the wrong hands. He's later proven right when Bane steals all of the experimental weapons he has locked away and turns his fusion reactor into a bomb.
  • It is also pointed out that the prototypes are all far too expensive in terms of the mass production required for a police force, or the military, with the unmodified Batsuit costing at least $300,000.
• Retired Badass: Bruce has not been Batman for quite a while between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, but He's Back! for the film. He finally gives the cowl to Robin John Blake at the end of the film, and fakes his death to get out of the job.
• Riches to Rags: In The Dark Knight Rises, Bane and his men raid the Stock Exchange and execute fake trades that bankrupt Bruce, causing him to go "From Billionaire to Bum."
• Rousseau Was Right: In stark contrast with The Joker's belief of Humans Are Bastards, Batman firmly believes in the good of humankind. For example, in The Dark Knight's climax, The Joker has rigged two ships (one containing prisoners, and the other containing refugees) with explosives. If one ship blows up, the other ship leaves. However, not only do both sides defy The Joker, it was the prisoners who refuse to do it first.
• Science Hero: He has all those wonderful toys provided by Lucius Fox and his "Applied Sciences Division" at Wayne Enterprises, and can excise clues from even the most mangled evidence.
• Secret Identity: This series provides a deconstruction of the trope. No matter how hard Bruce tries, he can't keep his identity as Batman from everyone and, at least once per movie, one character finds out. At least most of his friends agree to keep his secret.
• Secret Identity Vocal Shift:
  • The deepening of Bruce Wayne's voice when he puts on the Batman costume sounds like he's gargling with gravel. Oddly, he still does this even when he's talking to people as Batman who know his secret identity.
  • He takes this to another level in Batman Begins where he has his normal Bruce Wayne voice, a raspy voice for talking to allies as Batman, and the gravel-gargling voice he uses when trying to scare the crap out of bad guys.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: With Selina Kyle, predictably enough. They go from Snark-to-Snark Combat in their first scenes to Big Damn Kiss.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Represents idealism to The League of Shadows' cynicism in Batman Begins. He believes that Gotham can be saved while they believe it is beyond saving and needs a Mercy Kill.
• Stealth Expert: Along with Batman's obligatory Stealth Hi/Bye, although Gordon nearly caught him the first time he tried this with Gordon. He thinks it's just some nut.
• The Stoic: Even as a child, Bruce woke up quietly after nightmares, and rarely cried.
• Taking the Heat: At the end of The Dark Knight, for Harvey Dent's crimes. He is later cleared in The Dark Knight Rises, ironically enough, by Bane.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome/Tall, Dark, and Snarky: The playboy persona is handsome and snarky because Batman is scary and stoic.
• Technical Pacifist: While he never intends to kill someone, he turns a blind eye to Ra's al Ghul, and accidentally kills several people. The garbage truck driver in The Dark Knight and Ra's in Batman Begins.
• Terror Hero: Although Batman has inspired hope in Gotham by the time of The Dark Knight (enough to inspire Heroic Wannabes), criminals are scared of Batman. At least they are until the mob realizes Batman won't actually kill them. While they're still afraid of him, they fear the Joker far more.
• That Man Is Dead: As of The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne has forsaken his Batman identity. That Batman hasn't been seen since the death of Dent.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Deconstructed. The Dark Knight explores how this moral high ground makes him drastically weaker than the Joker. Foreshadowed by Ducard in Batman Begins. Notably though, this version of Batman is not a zealot about this stance and will kill when it's necessary. Ra's Al Ghul, Two-Face, and Talia al Ghul all found this out the hard way.
• Throwing Off the Disability: After reconditioning himself in the Pit during Rises, no more mention is made of his bum knee or broken back.
• Took a Level in Badass: Throughout Batman Begins, which chronicles his journey from frightened child to caped crusader. The Dark Knight Rises did it again, showing him recovering first from years of apathy, and later from severe beating and near death; the result releases certain inhibitions and hardens him enough To match and overpower Bane in their next confrontation. Subverted in that Bane clearly has the physical advantage over Bats in their second fight, though by no means as decisively as their first bout. Batman wins not by overpowering him, but by disabling his mask.
• Triple Shifter: He is so invested in his career as Batman that he barely gets a regular sleep. In The Dark Knight he falls asleep in the middle of board director meeting at Wayne Enterprises.
• Übermensch: Part of his Hope Bringer goal is to become a larger-than-life symbol that will inspire others to change the status quo of Gotham.
• Uncle Pennybags: His charity efforts get a mention in Rises, where is stated that he supported an orphanage and the news of it closing down when he goes broke affects him.
• Unwitting Pawn: He ends up being this to every Big Bad in the trilogy: he plays into Ra's al Ghul's hands by saving his life and later by raiding Arkham Asylum when Rachel gets poisoned; he plays into the Joker's hands twice, first by bringing Lau in and causing the Chechen to hire the Joker in the first place, and then by luring him into a trap set by Gordon and, as part of Joker's distraction to escape police custody with Lau in tow afterwards, sets off to save Rachel only to end up saving Harvey instead (though the third time Joker tries to get him to play into his hands, he just saves the Joker from falling to his death, having learned his lesson from the first two times); and he plays into the hands of Bane and Talia by chasing the men who had just committed stock exchange fraud against him, trusting Miranda Tate (actually Talia in disguise) with the fusion reactor, and letting Selina Kyle lead him to Bane for their first confrontation.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: At the end of Batman Begins, Rachel mentions this, though compared to many other examples of the trope this is rather downplayed, as he's still on the side of good.
• Vigilante Man:
  • The police see Batman as this in Batman Begins which allows Dr. Crane to call the cops on him. SWAT tries to arrest Batman and they fail.
  • Also, Henri Ducard has advice for Bruce on this:
    "A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification. He can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... A legend, Mr. Wayne."
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: In Bruce's mind his work as Batman for Gotham is simply continuing his father's work of making his home a better place. In the bonus feature's of TDKR dvd, one of the writers states Bruce's thoughts during the end as...
  "What I've done is enough. My father would be proud."
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: - As a kid and as a young adult, Bruce was terrified of bats, so it's no accident that the bat became his personal symbol when he began his one-man crusade against crime in Gotham.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Batman thinks that he and Rachel are destined to be together and that Harvey is just a Romantic False Lead. But as Rachel reveals in a letter, she would have chosen Harvey Dent.
• Would Hit a Girl: At the very least, Batman would attack a vehicle that has Talia inside of it, with artillery.
• The Wise Prince: Figuratively and secretly he is the prince of Gotham and does a good job "ruling" it.
• You Killed My Father: Averted. Bruce never gets closure with Joe Chill, his parents' murderer, because of a female assassin posing as a reporter shooting Chill before Bruce can get the chance.
• Zero-Approval Gambit: He came up with this plan at the end of The Dark Knight to ensure the criminals Harvey Dent locked up stayed locked up. It works for eight years, but it ultimately crashed and burned after Bane reveals what Batman and Gordon did.

Alfred Pennyworth

Alfred Pennyworth

"Know your limits, Master Wayne."

Played by: Michael Caine

Voiced by: David McCallum, Armando Réndiz (Latin-American Spanish; Begins), José Lavat (Latin-American Spanish; The Dark Knight and Rises)

Appears in: Batman Begins | Batman: Gotham Knight | The Dark Knight | The Dark Knight Rises

"Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman, he can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make: the right choice."

The Wayne Family butler, Alfred is Bruce's guardian, confidante and oldest friend. He knows Batman's identity, having aided him from the very start.

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• Audience Surrogate: According to Michael Caine, Alfred represents the audience.
• Battle Butler: Downplayed compared to some adaptations, but he does have a past with the SAS and there are plenty of hints at his combat ability.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Alfred is as polite and professional as you'd want a butler to be, but he was once part of the SAS and knocks out a henchman guarding Wayne Manor.
• Break His Heart to Save Him: In Rises, he becomes fed up with Bruce's needless self-destructive behavior and refusal of help, and leaves for good as a last-ditch effort to snap Bruce out of it. It doesn't work.
• Cool Old Guy: White-haired, funny, very kind and loving to Bruce, played by Michael Caine, the list goes on.
• Cowardly Lion: He pretends he's not very brave (Alfred jokes that Bruce's Secret Identity should be to protect him rather than Rachel) but when called to rush into a burning building guarded by the League of Shadows, he rises splendidly to the occasion.
• Deadpan Snarker: Many of his lines are about snarking at Bruce's Batman crusade and other issues.
• Give Him a Normal Life: He just wants Bruce to get over his pain and have a normal, happy life.
• I Am Very British: Averted. He's noticeably the first portrayal of Alfred to not have the more polished, upper-class accent, instead retaining Michael Caine's trademark East London accent.
• The Jeeves: Bruce's British butler.
• Morality Chain: To Batman; not that Batman isn't a good person, but without Alfred's advice, Batman would go off the rails pretty quickly.
• My Greatest Failure: In The Dark Knight Rises, he cries and tells the Wayne family's graves that he failed to protect Bruce, as he believes he deserted Bruce in his hour of need and is indirectly responsible for his death saving Gotham. Fortunately, Bruce reveals he is still alive to Alfred later.
  Alfred: I'm so sorry. I failed you. You trusted me, and I failed you.
• Nice Guy: Morally upstanding and an all around gentleman, though not without a bit of snark.
• No Hero to His Valet: Played with. No Badass to His Valet is subverted, as Alfred does regard Batman/Bruce as a true badass, but he can see all Bruce's flaws and often calls him out on then when he needs it.
• Papa Wolf: In Batman Begins, he knocks out one of Ra’s Al Ghul’s goons and ventures into the burning Wayne Manor to save Bruce.
• Parental Substitute: He raised Bruce after the death of his parents and his greatest wish is for Bruce to put the tragedy behind him, leave Gotham, meet a Nice Girl and live Happily Ever After.
• Put on a Bus: Leaves midway through Rises and doesn't return until Bruce's funeral.
• Retired Badass: Retired SAS commando.
• Servile Snarker and Sarcastic Devotee: The loyal butler who nevertheless makes clear what he thinks of Bruce's crusade.
• Speeches and Monologues: Once a movie, Alfred would go into a small speech to Bruce, cluing him on ideas and resolve.
• Undying Loyalty: He's been with Bruce through thick and thin. He considers leaving Bruce in Rises as his Greatest Failure.
• Warrior Poet: While he only infrequently demonstrates his warrior side, he is very well-spoken.

Lucius Fox

Lucius Fox

"Now that's more like it, Mr. Wayne."

Played by: Morgan Freeman

Voiced by: Kevin Michael Richardson, Rubén Moya (Latin-American Spanish)

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

"If you don't want to tell me exactly what you're doing - when I'm asked, I don't have to lie. But don't think of me as an idiot."

A research head at Wayne Enterprises and personal friend of Thomas Wayne. He supplies Batman with all his gadgets and technological advances, later becoming CEO of Wayne Enterprises.

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• Abled in the Adaptation: Lucius debuted in the comics requiring glasses and typically does to this day, while here he does not seem to require them.
• Adaptational Job Change: While he ultimately does become CEO as in the comics, this version of Lucius stated off overseeing the Applied Sciences Division
• Cool Old Guy: Like Alfred he's a savvy, snarky, older gentleman.
• Death Glare: He noticeably grows colder when telling Lau that Bruce wasn’t deliberately wasting his time while cutting off their deal, well aware of how deeply ingrained Lau is in the criminal underworld.
• Everyone Has Standards: His voice is laced with disgust when he explains to Bruce that a highly advanced suit of armor was rejected for mass production because of its price.

Lucius: [deadpan] Bean counters didn't think a soldier's life was worth $300 grand.

• Gadgeteer Genius: Played with. He is a research head, so presumably there is also a team under him that made all Batman gadgets. It is likely that he didn't make all the gadgets himself, but plot wise he is still the provider of all of Batman's equipment.
• Honest Corporate Executive: Starting at the end of Begins when he becomes CEO of Wayne Enterprises and highlighted in Dark Knight when he calls Batman's city-wide surveillance system unethical. Fortunately he destroys the system at the end of the movie.
• I Know You Know I Know: Lucius quickly guesses what Bruce Wayne is up to, but both men enjoy pretending that the latter is simply borrowing his gadgets for fun.
• Ironic Echo: In Batman Begins, he is told "Didn't you get the memo?" by William Earle who plans to fire him from Wayne Enterprises. Later, he says the exact same thing to Earle after Lucius takes Earle's job.
  • He does an Ironic Echo to Lau in the span of one conversation with him in The Dark Knight.
• Magical Negro: Technological magic in this case.
• My Greatest Failure: In the denoument of The Dark Knight Rises, he was adamant to learn whether he could have been able to fix the Bat's autopilot, feeling his removal of it inadvertently caused Bruce's demise. His staff showed that Bruce actually patched it already... cluing him in to that He's Just Hiding.
• Nice Guy: Similar to Alfred, he is a morally sound gentleman.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Fox condensing the prototypes from the Wayne Industries defense subsidiaries in to one location ended up backfiring, when Bane found it and used them to his advantage in taking over Gotham.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: As well as engineering Batman's gadgets (presumably with a team that we do not see), he knows enough about toxicology to synthesize an antidote to Scarecrow's fear toxin, and Batman entrusts him with the task of disarming the fusion reactor Bane has turned into a neutron bomb in The Dark Knight Rises.
• Resign in Protest: He briefly does this due to his concerns about the surveillance technology that Batman used to find the Joker at the end of The Dark Knight, and insisted that after the Joker was caught he wouldn't work at Wayne Enterprises if the device didn't go. Batman apparently anticipated this, and set the machine to self-destruct after they were finished using it.
• The Smart Guy: Likely the smartest guy in Wayne Enterprises.
  Fox: It takes a better mind than mine to fix it.
  Bruce: A "better" mind?
  Fox: Well, I was trying to be modest. A less busy mind.
• Science Hero: He's the goodhearted scientist who help created Batman's gadgets and other cool tech.
• Secret-Keeper: One of five people to know Bruce's secret. He figures it out because of Bruce's 'unusual requests'.
• Unflinching Walk: Gets one as he walks away from Batman's sonar-based device which listens in on every phone in Gotham, which is currently shutting itself down permanently after using it to find The Joker.

Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne

Thomas and Martha Wayne

"And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."

Played by: Linus Roache & Sara Stewart

'''Voiced by: Jason Marsden and Andrea Romano, Óscar Gómez and Anabel Méndez (Latin-American Spanish)

Appears in: Batman Begins | Batman: Gotham Knight | The Dark Knight Rises (Thomas, archival footage)

"Bruce... don't be afraid."

The parents of Bruce Wayne, well-known and well-loved billionaires who are tragically cut down by a mugger in front of their young son.

---

• Death by Origin Story: Begins as a whole is an origin story, but they die at the start.
• Death by Irony: Gunned down by the very same person they were trying to help.
• Fiction 500: Founders of Wayne Enterprises.
• Good Parents: Bruce remembers them fondly and we see Thomas Wayne helping Bruce overcome his fear of bats.
• Happily Married: Among other things, they are both opera aficionados.
• Honest Corporate Executive: The reason they are "well loved". In a city of dirty money they are clean.
• Non-Idle Rich: Dr. Thomas Wayne leave the running of the company to 'more interested men'. He himself spends his days in a nearby hospital.
• Overly Generous Fool: Alluded to when Alfred tells Bruce that his father, Thomas, almost bankrupted his corporation, Wayne Enterprises, trying to stimulate Gotham City's economy and save it from economic collapse.
• Posthumous Character: We learn about them from Bruce's flashbacks.

William Earle

William Earle

"I'm merging your department with Archives...and I am firing you. Didn't you get the memo?"

Played by: Rutger Hauer

Voiced by: Alfonso Ramírez (Latin-American Spanish)

Appears in: Batman Begins

"I think after 20 years, we can allow ourselves to stop thinking about what Thomas Wayne would've done."

Following Thomas Wayne's death, Earle stepped in as the head of Wayne Enterprises. He had Bruce legally declared dead during his leave of absence, and has pulled Wayne Enterprises in morally dubious directions. He's fired by Lucius Fox after Wayne makes him CEO.

---

• Corrupt Corporate Executive: While he doesn't have any explicit ties to the microwave emitter project, it's implied he's trying to keep the company's ownership of it under wraps, because as Fox notes, it's an illegal (and highly unethical) weapon. He fires Fox right after Fox questions him about it, presumably to try to shut him up and keep him from stumbling onto any more dirty secrets in Applied Sciences.
• Deadpan Snarker: "Didn't you get the memo?"
• Didn't Think This Through: For all his scheming to take Wayne Enterprises public, he apparently never accounted for the possibility that Bruce Wayne -one of the richest, most powerful men in the world- would be able to simply buy the shares after they went public.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's doing things with the company that Thomas Wayne wouldn't like, but he's otherwise polite and professional. The exception seems to be Lucius Fox, since they're implied to have a history of not getting along when it comes to running the company.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He tried turning Wayne Enterprises into a publicly-traded company in an attempt to wrest control away from Bruce. At the end of the film, he succeeds... only for Bruce to buy most of the shares through various charities and trusts. And then Bruce fires him.
• Jerkass: Especially towards Lucius; however, he does his best to avoid getting on Bruce Wayne's bad side, only putting him in Applied Sciences because he specifically mentioned it catching his eye and being genuinely nice towards him for the most part (going so far as to not tell him that Applied Sciences is, in Lucius's words, a "dead end"), because he knows that he's a Wayne and would have him removed for crossing him. He finally crosses Bruce when he fires Lucius for asking too many questions about a misplaced microwave emitter, and so he finds himself out of a job the day after the Wayne Manor fire. Clearly, he's the only one who's surprised by this turn of events.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While he's definitely in the wrong about a few things, Wayne Enterprises is going under and the company needed a way to survive.
• Laser-Guided Karma: For trying to get rid of Lucius, Bruce Wayne is empowered to get rid of him. Didn't you get the memo?
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: The threat he poses to Batman; firing Fox and shutting down his 'toy' factory. "Didn't you get the memo?"
• Oh, Crap!: At the end of the film, after hearing that Bruce Wayne bought enough shares in Wayne Enterprises to become the owner of the company.
• Tranquil Fury: His reaction to Lucius bringing up an illegal test of the Wayne Enterprises microwave emitter is very subtle and yet very obvious, not to mention very immediate.
• Villainy-Free Villain: Aside from trying to cover up the theft of the microwave emitter from Wayne Enterprises, Earle doesn't do anything evil or even really wrong, and makes perfectly fair and valid business decisions when running the company. His antagonism comes more from being a condescending dick to others.

Fredericks

Fredericks

"The apple has fallen very far from the tree, Mr. Wayne."

Played by: John Nolan

Voiced by: Urike Aragón (Latin-American Spanish)

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

"I don't think that Thomas Wayne would have viewed heavy arms manufacture as a suitable cornerstone of our business."

A key member of Wayne Enterprises' board of directors whom often tries to honor the business ethics of Thomas Wayne as well as defending the actions of Bruce Wayne.

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• Ascended Extra: Along with Mike Engel below, he appears among interviews in Gotham Tonight (in the bonus DVD extras for The Dark Knight) regarding directions Wayne Enterprises is taking (especially the expensive science R&D projects masked for Batman's weaponry).
• Cool Old Guy: In The Dark Knight Rises, Fredericks volunteers to be kidnapped by Bane so none of the other board members have to.
• Only Sane Man: He's the only board member with visible sense.
• Undying Loyalty: Even when he's already seen the extent of idiocies Bruce Wayne can get into, he still believes it is appropriate that a Wayne handle the future of the company.

Coleman Reese

Coleman Reese

"What are you building for him now... a rocket ship?"

Played by: Joshua Harto

Voiced by: Jorge Roig Jr. (Latin-American Spanish)

Appears in: The Dark Knight

"Sir, I know that Mr. Wayne is curious about how his trust fund gets replenished. But frankly, this is embarrassing."

An accountant at Wayne Enterprises who figures out Batman's true identity after discovering Lucius Fox's original designs for the Tumbler. Unfortunately, this information turns out to be a lot less profitable and a lot more dangerous than he imagined.

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• Amoral Attorney: According to the novelization, he studied to be a lawyer, and part of his motivation for trying to blow the Batman's cover was that he wanted to represent the Wayne Enterprises legal team, and yet he has been stuck as their accountant for five years.
• Blackmail: Wants to try this on Bruce upon learning he's Batman:
  Fox: What can I do for you, Mr. Reese?
  Reese: You wanted me to do the diligence on the LSA Holdings deal, again. Well, I found some irregularities.
  Fox: Yes, their CEO is in police custody.
  Reese: No, not with their numbers; with yours. Applied Sciences — a whole division of Wayne Enterprises — just disappeared, overnight. I went down to the archives and started pulling some old files.
  [He produces blueprints of the Batmobile]
  Reese: You're not going to tell me you didn't recognize your baby out there, pancaking cop cars on the evening news. Now you have the entire R&D department burning through cash, claiming that it's related to cell phones for the army? What are you building for him now, a rocket ship? [beat] I want $10 million a year, for the rest of my life.
  Fox: Let Me Get This Straight...: You think that your client — one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world — is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands. And your plan is to blackmail this person? [chuckles] Good luck.
• Break the Haughty: Lucius absolutely destroys Reese's haughty, smug confidence by pointing out the absurdity of trying to blackmail a rich and powerful man that he also knows to be a vigilante with no qualms about violence.
• Canon Foreigner: A character named "Coleman Reese" does not exist in the comics. However, his determination to outsmart Batman and discover who he is, as well as his Stealth Pun of a name (Mr. Reese, compared to E. Nigma), has led some fans to believe he's meant to be this universe's loosely-adapted version of The Riddler.
• Didn't Think This Through: Blackmailing one of the most powerful men in the world is risky to say the least. Forgetting that the entire basis of your blackmail is that he's also a badass vigilante who beats down hardened criminals in his spare time? A major oversight. Especially when said vigilante's primary nemesis by this point is an Ax-Crazy psychopathic Monster Clown who has zero compunctions about having you killed.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Subverted. He initially thinks that discovering Batman's secret identity has turned him from an average corporate lawyer into someone wielding enough power to blackmail one of the most powerful men in the world. When Lucius points out the many problems in Reese's plan, he immediately loses his smug composure. Becomes double subverted when he goes on TV to announce Batman's identity regardless, leading to a triple subversion when he realizes his knowledge has made him an enemy of the Joker. By the end of Dark Knight Reese seems to realize - what a greedy jerk he's been notwithstanding - that knowing Batman's secret doesn't give him nearly as much as he originally thought and that weaponizing it is far more trouble than it's worth.
• Greed: He planned on blackmailing Bruce to give him ten million dollars a year for the rest of his life.
• He Knows Too Much: The Joker prevents him from revealing Batman's identity, calling for Reese's death in one hour or he will blow up a hospital. It's clear the Joker was probably going to blow up the hospital regardless, but the threat is still made.
• Heel–Face Turn: He stops trying to blow the Batman's identity when Bruce saves his life. That certainly taught him a lesson in gratitude.
• Jerkass: He tried to blackmail a superhero who protects his city, and acted very smug while announcing his plan to do so.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Before he realizes Bruce is Batman, he's not wrong that falling asleep during board meetings is hardly professional behavior.
• Karma Houdini: Although he has a couple near-death experiences, he ultimately gets no punishment for attempting to blackmail Bruce and expose his secret identity.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He goes on TV to expose Batman’s secret identity, only for the Joker (who wants his secret identity to stay a secret) to blackmail the people of Gotham into trying to kill Reese to keep him quiet.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After he realizes that Bruce, a man he was about to sell out, saved his life regardless, after Bruce uses his Lamborghini to intercept a pickup truck that was trying to ram the police car that Reese and Gordon were riding in, Reese's expression is one of surprise and shame.
• Punny Name: Subtle, but it's most apparent when you say "Mr. Reese" quickly. He's one of the few who solves the mystery of Batman's identity.
• Secret-Keeper: He ends up keeping Batman's identity a secret, after Bruce saves his life despite knowing that Reese knew about him.
• Slimeball: The blackmail scene. He finds out the identity of Gotham's Hope Bringer and his response is extreme personal greed.
• Smug Snake: Again, the blackmail scene. He was so sure that he had Fox dead to rights that the quick turn around is all the funnier.
• Spotting the Thread: He noticed Bruce falling asleep regularly during board meetings in the day, an entire department going missing, and eventually stumbled on designs for the Tumbler, which allowed him to put together that Bruce was Batman.

"Miranda Tate"

"Miranda Tate"

See the "Bane's triggerman" section here.

John Daggett

John Daggett

"Crazy gambling on futures has not only cost Mr. Wayne his seat, it's cost us all a lot of money. And he has to go."

Played by: Ben Mendelsohn

Played by: José Gilberto Vilchis (Latin-American Spanish)

Appears in: The Dark Knight Rises

A board member of Wayne Enterprises who hires Bane to aid him in his scheme to bankrupt Bruce Wayne so that he could take it over and access all of its technology. But Bane and his men are just using the resources and infrastructure Daggett provides in order to set up their takeover of the city, and Bane personally kills him off the minute he is no longer needed.

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• Adaptation Name Change: He's basically Roland Daggett from Batman: The Animated Series... except he's called John.
• Asshole Victim: He's slimy, jerky, corrupt. Even in that suit of his, no one's gonna miss him.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Daggett is merely a Corrupt Corporate Executive that intends to usurp control of Wayne Enterprises, but is swimming with bigger fish like Bane, who easily uses him to further his own agenda. Contrary to what he thinks, his wealth gives him no power over Bane and is disposed of by his supposed ally once his part in their plan is fulfilled.
• Body in a Breadbox: Bane breaks Daggett's neck, then (offscreen) throws his body into a dumpster, as Blake reports to Gordon and Foley when he visits them at the hospital.
• Bullying a Dragon: He's remarkably eager to verbally abuse Bane, who is not just a lot bigger and more muscular than Daggett, but could also kill him in a heartbeat without difficulty. Which is exactly what he does.
• Canon Immigrant: As mentioned above, he's an adaptation of Roland Daggett, a character who originated not from the comics, but from the 90's animated series.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Bane and his men attack the Stock Exchange on Daggett's orders to acquire resources and snuff out Wayne Enterprises. The result is that at least seven people who had nothing to do with Daggett get seriously injured or killed (the four guards that Bane brutally overpowers as he enters, and at least three people get shot during the takeover).
• Composite Character: His last name and his connections to the underworld, along with betraying Catwoman clearly bear resemblance to Roland Daggett from Batman: The Animated Series. His personal ambition, being to take over Wayne Enterprises, along with subtly implied sociopathy is clearly taken from Derek Powers in Batman Beyond.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Daggett's ultimate end goal is merely to steal control of a company and get rich. When he realizes Bane's ambitions go beyond mere wealth and threaten Gotham itself, he's horrified and calls him pure evil.
• Expy: Of Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2 in the sense of being a Corrupt Corporate Executive who thinks he's the Big Bad but is ultimately overshadowed by his Dragon-in-Chief.
• Foreshadowing: Notice that Bane kills Daggett right after Miranda Tate is placed on the Wayne Enterprises board. Daggett comes into his death scene complaining about that.
• Gory Discretion Shot: When Bane is breaking Daggett's neck, the camera promptly cuts to Stryver as we hear the sound of Daggett whimpering.
• It's All About Me: He is willing to destroy the lives of everyone he meets for his own ambition.
• Jerkass: Listen to him after Bruce is removed from his seat on the board as a result of Bane's attack on the Stock Exchange, which supplies the image caption above. He acts like Bruce is suddenly beneath his notice and should be thrown out like a rabid dog.
• Large Ham: Shouts half his lines. Most of which come from his confrontation with Bane. In this case, it's because Evil Is Hammy.
• Neck Snap: Implied to be the cause of his death and by Bane, no less.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Relies on Bane to do the legwork for him. Of course it turns out Bane was using him the whole time and bumps him off.
• Oh, Crap!: The look on his face when Bane puts his hand on his shoulder and calmly asks him, "Do you feel in charge?" while expressing exactly how much he does not appreciate Daggett trying to talk down to him. It's said in the novelization that Daggett is recalling Selina Kyle jamming a pistol to his neck earlier, and wishes it had been her who was confronting him instead of Bane.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Proof that trying to backstab Batman will never work out for you. Yeah, Coleman Reese should consider himself lucky.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Daggett was living proof that the phrase "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?" is bullshit. If pissing off Catwoman and backstabbing Batman didn't confirm an absence of brain cells, trying to insult Bane definitely did.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Believes a sufficient amount of money will give him the power to do whatever he wants. Bane proves him dead wrong.
  Daggett: You stay right there! I'm in charge!
  Bane: [gently, yet with clear menace places his hand on Daggett's shoulder] Do you feel in charge?
  Daggett: [quietly, and obviously shitting his pants] I paid you a small fortune...
  Bane: [disapprovingly] And this gives you power over me?
  Daggett: What is this?
  Bane: Your money, and infrastructure have been important... 'til now.
  John Daggett: What are you?
  Bane: I'm Gotham's reckoning. Here to end the borrowed time you've all been living on.
  John Daggett: You're pure evil...
  Bane: I'm necessary evil. [breaks Daggett's neck]
• Smug Snake: Daggett clearly thinks that Bane is Dumb Muscle who needs a rich patron like himself. Bane merely says, "Your money and infrastructure have been important.... 'til now."
• Unwitting Pawn: By using Daggett as a patron, Bane and his men are able to accomplish much of their own plan: they utilize Daggett's construction company and cement plants to rig locations across the city - construction sites, underground sewer and subway tunnels, Heinz Field, and all bridges into and out of Manhattan - with explosive charges to cut the city off from the mainland and trap the police underground. Additionally, Bane and his men commit the Stock Exchange heist to bankrupt Bruce, providing a distraction to place Talia (as Miranda Tate) in charge of Wayne Enterprises.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Daggett earnestly believed that he was the chessmaster Big Bad of a corporate/police drama where he would successfully absorb Wayne Industries and Bane was his loyal Dragon. Instead, he was the second fiddle Smug Snake in a superhero movie, having no knowledge of the depth of the Talia's plans and the League of Shadows ambitions with Gotham. Turned out Bane was The Dragon but to someone with far more dangerous (and more nihilistic) plans than him.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Bane kills him after Miranda Tate is placed on the Wayne board.

Phillip Stryver

Phillip Stryver

"We can't have loose ends."

Played by: Burn Gorman

Voiced by: Mario Castañeda (Latin-American Spanish)

Appears in: The Dark Knight Rises

The Vice President of Daggett Industries' and Daggett's Number Two.

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Chooses (death by) 'exile' in Crane's court.
• Asshole Victim: He suffers a similar fate as his boss, only this time in the hands of Gotham's criminals.
• Deadpan Snarker: Does this whenever around Selina Kyle. It's one of the few things he's vaguely competent at. For instance, "Nice outfit. Those heels make it tough to walk?"
• Co-Dragons: With Bane. At least, that's how it appears on Bane's behalf......
• The Dragon: Daggett's right hand scumgbag.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Has a rather low gravelly voice, which is much deeper than Burn Gorman's natural voice.
• Gangsta Style: He holds his handgun this way when threatening to kill Selina.
• Jerkass: His treatment of Selina for instance. Not only does he refuse to pay her for the job he hired her for, he had to be a prick about it.
• Number Two: Vice-President
• Oh, Crap!: When Selina Kyle tells him that the phone he just used is the Congressman's, which is being traced by the police. As he looks down at the phone, cue the sudden sound of tires screeching to a stop, Selina attacking him and the other thugs in the bar, and a SWAT team storming the place.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: He leaves Daggett at Bane's mercy, only to end up being tried by Scarecrow's Kangaroo Court while Bane doesn't lift a finger to help him.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Bane makes it clear to Daggett who's really in charge, Stryver quickly abandons him.
• Smug Snake: Thinks he's in control during his scene with Selina Kyle.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Tries to pull this on Selina early on only to be outgambitted by her when she tricks him into calling a SWAT team. Bane later pulls this on him with much better results.

Jessica

Jessica

Played by: Christine Adams

Voiced by: Adriana Casas (Latin-American Spanish)

Appears in: Batman Begins

• Shrinking Violet: Shy and withdrawn with almost everyone.

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