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Unmarked spoilers below!
- Selina clearly cares for Annika very deeply, putting herself at extreme risk first to retrieve her passport so Falcone can't blackmail her, then to find her after she goes missing. When she discovers Annika's dead, it takes a lot of effort on Batman's part to convince her not to kill the bastards responsible.
- At one point, Batman brusquely confronts Selina for what he believes was some serious callousness on her part, since he's under the impression she was using Annika to get close to the mobsters at the Iceberg Lounge without thinking what the consequences for the woman might be. Selina's reaction sets another big piece of the plot in motion, but also makes it perfectly clear that she has real feelings for Annika, and that she fell for her not as a potential mark but as a friendless girl in big trouble — that is, another "stray" just like Bruce. Batman, in turn, is moved enough to apologize for thinking that poorly of her.
- In a rather touching moment, Bruce is all dressed up for Mayor Mitchell's funeral but can't find his cufflinks, so Alfred provides him with his. The way the scene plays out, it's as if Bruce had briefly regressed back to a little boy that Alfred has to take care of. It's also in this scene that it's implied that Thomas Wayne had genuinely considered Alfred as honorary family, considering the cufflinks have the Wayne family crest on them.
- Martinez saying hi to Bruce at Mitchell's funeral. Really just a nice gesture from the guy and probably the only time someone treated Bruce as just another person rather than a wealthy weirdo.
- During the funeral scene, Bruce's first instinct when an SUV crashes into the church is to grab the deceased's son and pull him out of the way, saving the kid's life.
- In a brief but cute moment, Selina's cats all seem to take a liking to Batman, gathering around his feet. Selina also confirms that they're strays she took in.
- Batman’s response to why he knows the Riddler, who only targets corrupt figures, won’t come after Gordon? Gordon is not corrupt.
- After Alfred is left comatose by Riddler's explosive package meant for Bruce, the latter is visibly shaken, distraught and alone. He is sulking in the Batcave, worried about Alfred's recovery and feeling lost in his investigation on Riddler... until the feed from the contact lenses he gave Selina lights up on his monitor, showing Selina and her cats. You can see Bruce's face light up a bit as he calls out her name and she responds back.
- Selina had taken the lens out while talking angrily with Batman after the 44 Below recon went sour. The fact that she hung onto one of the Bat's surveillance devices anyway says something about how Selina still sees him as a potential ally, at least.
- Gordon shows his faith in Batman by helping him escape from the cops, staging a fight between them so Bats can run while still maintaining some deniability himself. He later admits he trusts Batman way more than any of his coworkers.
- On the other side, when Jim tells Batman that they need to find him a way out of the police station, the latter's first instinct is to worry about how much heat that will put on Jim if he helps him escape.
- Bruce has not shied away from showing how much of a soft side he has for Selina. Perhaps the most exemplary moment is not allowing her to kill Falcone, saying it would bring her down along with her father.
- In addition to this, he urges her not to give in to her desires for vengeance by pointing out that while Falcone may indeed deserve it, she doesn't deserve to suffer the fallout from killing him.Selina: He has to pay!
Batman: You don't have to pay with him. You've paid enough. - The fact that even at his most dour and vengeful, Batman won't compromise his core principles, even if it's a villain, and he certainly won't let someone he cares about go down that road. The fact that he even sticks to those principles right from the start of this movie, even considering its Darker and Edgier tone, goes to show how much work went into the crafting of this movie.
- In addition to this, he urges her not to give in to her desires for vengeance by pointing out that while Falcone may indeed deserve it, she doesn't deserve to suffer the fallout from killing him.
- Despite knowing there are crazed killers after her, Reál refuses to abandon the citizens of Gotham and hide despite Gordon's urgings, insisting that she needs to stay and try to keep the people calm and help them stay safe. It gets her shot, but it's still noble and shows that her principles aren't just talk.
- Furthermore, when Reál is shot, despite all the chaos around them, Gordon helps her get to safety and stays with her until she's able to get care from the paramedics.
- Batman wading through waist-high water with a torch to rescue some people trapped underneath the collapsed scaffolding in the auditorium. When he reaches out his hand, they all stare at him with trepidation until Mayor Mitchell's son (who he saved earlier as Bruce Wayne) reaches back and lets Batman pull him out. This inspires the others to do the same, starting with Reál, who pushes past her dislike for Batman's methods and lets him lead her and her constituents out of danger. He's no longer the darkness, he's the light out of the darkness.
- It's not stated, but it's subtly implied Mayor Mitchell's son put it together that Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person. Unlike a lot of other people in Gotham, though, he's not afraid of him. Whether Bruce or the Bat, he saved his life and that's good enough.
- Despite Gotham being in a state of chaos, with martial law enacted and there now being a power vacuum for the criminals to take advantage of, Batman has hope in the ending, something he hasn't had before. He knows things are going to get worse before they get better, and maybe they won't get better—but he believes it's possible, and that's more than enough reason for him to stay and fight the good fight.
- The sheer sight of Batman operating openly in the sunlight; no longer a myth in the shadows or a bogeyman, he has embraced his role as a hero and is being treated as such. It's also notable that he's earning this new respect through helping innocent people without beating up bad people. Considering Bruce's diary described him as becoming nocturnal (to the point that he visibly flinched away from bright sunlight early in the film), this is a big transformation for him.
- That brief moment where a woman refuses to leave Batman's side when being hoisted to a rescue chopper shows that she feels more safe in a flooded city with him around than on a military helicopter without. It's a clear sign how much Gotham's citizens' view of Batman is evolving. The way he carries her so delicately and protectively as the dawn breaks over them is an extremely powerful visual, one befitting a true hero like Batman.
- Extra heartwarming is that when the girl clings to him, terrified from the ordeal and unwilling to leave his side, Bruce is stunned for a moment, then slowly and gently takes her hand and wordlessly assures her she'll be alright. He even keeps his hand in hers as the helicopter lifts her up, letting go only when she's out of reach just to assure her he's with her. This moment definitely marks the birth of the righteous protector of the innocent we all know and love.
- Alfred waking up in the hospital to see Bruce by his side, at which point he gives him a warm, loving smile. Though the conversation they have afterwards immediately undercuts it, it's still a sweet moment and shows how much Bruce matters to Alfred.
- Despite that heartbreaking moment, Bruce finally admits he does feel fear: he's terrified of losing Alfred. Alfred's response is to simply hold out his hand to Bruce, which he holds onto.
- The fact that despite knowing he made a huge mistake with deadly consequences, Alfred's insists to Bruce that Thomas cared more about him and Martha than their reputation during his run for Mayor.
- Especially when you remember other recent media portraying Thomas in a less positive life. Batman The Tell Tale Series had him be a straight-up gangster who used his wealth and doctorate to get what he wanted. Even the main comics timeline saw Thomas Wayne of the Flashpoint Universe become an antagonist during Tom King's run. With that meta knowledge in mind, it's nice to see a more realistic split difference on Thomas as a good man who made one bad decision and was willing to go down if it meant taking Falcone with him.
- Batman thinks that the Riddler intends to expose his Secret Identity to the world and, no doubt assuming he'll be thrown into jail soon, makes a point of telling Gordon that he's a good cop.
- A subtle case. On at least two occasions, Batman pulls himself out of a frenzy when Gordon holds him back. In fact, Gordon is physically aggressive towards Batman in the interrogation room, showing how much they trust each other.
- The way Gordon follows Batman in this movie, practically joined at the hip with him, as the pair solve crimes together. It's very clear how close the two are. When Batman pulls his traditional Stealth Hi/Bye on Gordon, you realize with a shock that he's only done it this once during the movie, and it's more because he needed to leave in a hurry. For most of the movie, he walks into and out of crime scenes in plain sight accompanied by Gordon.
- Another subtle one, but before Batman goes to meet with Riddler in Arkham Asylum, he turns to a worried Gordon, who asks him if he needs him to go with him. Batman says he's needed here, but before he leaves, he says this one simple sentence, likely just in case Riddler is about to trap him and he doesn't make it out. It further solidifies that he trusts Gordon just as much as the latter trusts him.Batman: You're a good cop.
- A deleted scene shows that Batman trusts the Joker to help him with the case of the Riddler. Although it ends up being fruitless, and the Joker ends up using it as an excuse to insult him, Batman still thinks Joker is smart enough to be able to identify certain types of evildoers who roam Gotham.
- Consider how a lot of previous live action portrayals show Batman holding Joker in utter contempt ("You're garbage who kills for money"). Here, Batman at the very least seems to regard Joker with indifference but with an odd amount of patience. He doesn't talk down to him, he doesn't insult him, or even yell at him when he begins trolling him. It seems that this incarnation takes after the more idealistic portrayals where in spite of everything Joker has done, Batman still holds out hope that he might be cured yet.
- At the end, Batman and Selina meet for one last time at her mother's grave, where she tells him of her plans to leave Gotham. Batman takes this in stride and sincerely tells her to take care of herself, and they share a motorcycle ride before ultimately parting ways.
- In a deleted scene showing how Selina got into the club downstairs, she asks Penguin for access. He initially denies her, saying that the guys down there are jackals and would be "all over her". When she insists saying that she needs the money, he offers to give it to her out of his own pocket showing that he cares for Selina and possibly the other girls in his employ which is something that is shown in the comics but very rarely in other media.
- It's a small thing, but Selina does refer to The Penguin by his preferred nickname of "Oz," something most people don't do, and gently turns down his offer of money.
- Despite being a greedy, slimy, corrupt scumbag, before he dies, Gil Colson shows a glimmer of humanity by refusing to give up the Rat's name for the sympathetic reason of protecting his family and loved ones from Falcone's wrath.
