• Batman: The Animated Series:
  • Batman engages in a fight with the Condiment King, a man in a Cheap Costume armed with condiments and whose most dangerous weapon is packets of hot sauce. It's a short fight and the Condiment King winds up in the hospital. Character stronger than another character.
  • There are two examples in the episode "See No Evil":
    • In the episode an ex-convict, Lloyd Ventrix, uses an invisibility suit to see his daughter Kimmy, as her mother has a restraining order against him, and pretends to be an imaginary friend named "Mojo" to get close to her. However, once Kimmy discovers that "Mojo" is really her ex-con father, she instantly rejects him because he's a "bad man" no matter how much her father wants to be with her, and runs off to find her mother. No character reactions.
    • With the toxic invisibility suit, Lloyd could stand a chance against an unprepared Batman, and the fight is in his favor at first. But then Batman gets around this by throwing a batarang at a water tower, revealing Lloyd's position with the resulting water spray. Then Batman easily takes him out with his superior fighting skills. Too fantastical.
  • In "Paging the Crime Doctor" when Rupert Thorne steals an incredibly expensive surgical laser for his brother, Matthew, who works in illicit practice provided by his brother and taking care of his brother's men, after he lost his medical license for failing to report a bullet he moved from his brother to police. Matthew isn't happy with it as he points out that he's not going to be doing cutting-edge brain surgery patching up mobsters. Plot happens.
  • The ending of the episode "The Terrible Trio" shows that just because you're rich doesn't mean you will get away with a crime. When the wealthy Warren Lawford and his friends commit crimes for fun until Batman stops them. Warren's initially convinced that he can buy his way out of trouble once Batman apprehends him and rejects his attempts at bribery. Warren doesn't seem to realize (or possibly ignores the fact) that most of his victims are just as rich as he is (if not richer), and thus can easily afford high-priced lawyers themselves and ensure that whoever ends up being the judge that presides over the trial remains unbiased. Therefore, it's not much of a surprise that Warren's presumably found guilty on all charges—breaking and entering, theft, aggravated assault, and attempted murder, just to name a few—and tossed into a dark prison cell with a burly (and apparently ill-tempered) cellmate. Not realistic. Unrealistic that someone wouldn't anticipate that their rich victims would have lawyers.
  • Recurring villain Roland Daggett is a Corrupt Corporate Executive who uses illegal methods to make a profit, and is always thwarted by Batman. While in most cartoons he would be a consistent Karma Houdini, here the constant lawsuits and damage to his reputation leave Daggett broke, and by his final appearance, he's been reduced to petty theft to get by. Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
  • A few episodes show that being a supervillain isn't very profitable. Joker winds up broke and without functioning equipment, and during his appearance in Superman: The Animated Series he’s resorted to mercenary work to get by, something he previously looked down upon. Firefly becomes an arsonist-for-hire and participates in insurance fraud for the sake of being able to fund his equipment. Other villains like Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter have their motives go from For Science! to getting money. Too fantastical.
  • "Over the Edge" invokes and discusses this. If Commissioner Gordon ever had a reason to, he would bring the full brunt of the law down on the Bat-family because he is the head of police and has an army at his beck and call. In fact, thanks to Barbara getting a near-lethal dose of Fear Gas, she has a fever dream about dying in costume and seeing her father declare war on Batman to "avenge" her, arresting Dick and making Tim a homeless kid again. Fortunately, it is just a fear; when she plans to confess to her dad about her double life, he implies that he already knows. The other Surprisingly Realistic Outcome is that she can't hide her identity from a great detective who lives with her. What's more, Commissioner Gordon winks to reassure her and further implies that he doesn't want to know "on the record" because then he'd be obligated to retire Batgirl. Not an outcome.
  • "Joker's Wild" has Corrupt Corporate Executive Cameron Kaiser trying to deliberately rile up The Joker to set the lunatic upon his new casino, which is ridiculously underwater in debt, as a form of insurance fraud. In the end, getting The Joker into this:
    • A) Got Batman into this as well, leading the Caped Crusader directly to the smoking gun of Kaiser's financial improprieties; Plot happens.
    • B) Got The Joker into this, to the point where he decided he didn't want to destroy the Joker-themed casino that was meant to be a giant middle finger to him — instead, he liked the place and was willing to kill Kaiser to take it over. No character reactions.
  • P.O.V. has a sting go wrong, the bait money is stolen, and Officer Montoya loses her gun in the ensuing chaos. This is treated as a deadly serious matter, with Montoya, Bullock, and Wilkes (a rookie) are each questioned about what happened by Internal Affairs both out of fear of competency and that one or more of the cops may be dirty. When the cops give different accounts, they are all immediately suspended and revoked of their badges and guns pending the decision of Internal Affairs. Furthermore, when Montoya goes out on her own, takes down the gangster, and recovers the money, she is further chided by Internal Affairs for acting while on suspension. Rather, it takes Gordon playing Rules Lawyer to get the Internal Affairs to back off so he can reinstate them of his own accord.^note Since the money was recovered, the specific case Internal Affairs was called in to investigate is now closed, meaning Gordon is now in charge once more and can reinstate his officers whether they like it or not. Plot happens.
• Batman Beyond:
  • The backstory shows Bruce collapsing during a fight when his age catches up with him. In the timeframe of the series proper, he's in very good shape for his age and still knows how to fight, but quickly gets exhausted if he exerts himself. Not surprising. Character ages.
  • Terry's situation as Batman is not all that different from Peter Parker's: he's a high school student that moonlights as a superhero with his family and social circle completely unaware of this. Naturally, he's usually exhausted and occasionally injured, falls asleep in class, and has fights with his girlfriend because she doesn't know he's Batman. It helps that his boss is also his mentor, most of the time... except Bruce Wayne never really lived the kind of life Terry does and isn't the most understanding of people in the first place. Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
    • Also since Terry spends all his free time beating up criminals, his grades are in trouble. Come the episode "The Eggbaby", he's failing his Family Studies class. Actions have consequences.
  • In his second appearance, Willie Watt bulked up considerably while in prison—but when his former tormentor Nelson goads him into fighting without using his psychic powers, the bully quickly gains the upper hand and Willie ends up having to fall back on his powers to win. He may have gained some serious muscle mass, but Willie doesn't have any fighting experience while Nelson, a member of the high school wrestling team, does. Too fantastical and character stronger than another character.
  • Walter Shreeve/Shriek averts Cut Lex Luthor a Check by trying to sell his sonic weapon to Big Bad Derek Powers as a method of demolishing old buildings. Powers, although impressed, points out that "dynamite's cheaper" and turns down Shreeve's offer. A Corrupt Corporate Executive like Powers isn't going to invest money for an expensive project when less costly alternatives are already available. Aversion of Cut Lex Luthor a Check.
  • When Terry's friend, Chelsea, is sent away to a rehabilitation clinic by her father, for sending a cruel e-mail to the principal, where she subjected to psychological abuse along with many other teenagers. After Batman exposes the clinic's abusive methods and kids are free, while the other kids joyously reunite with their parents, Chelsea refuses to forgive her father, as she is understandably furious at him for ever sending her to the clinic in the first place and for a petty reason. No character reactions.
    • It also turns out that a facility designed for the express purpose of controlling and punishing vulnerable, innocent teens will do nothing to actually alleviate the problems of troubled youths. Sean, a thrill seeking delinquent, who is a classmate of Terry and Chelsea and who Bruce himself pointed out, was really one of the kids who needed professional help, is just as much of a sociopath after Dr. David Wheeler's, the head of clinic, "treatment" as he was before, highlighting how hollow the doctor's claims of rehabilitating wayward youths have always been. Not surprising.
    • After Terry records evidence of Wheeler’s crimes as Batman, Bruce points out that there’s no way he can turn it in without it being thrown out, or without anyone questioning how he got his hands on it. Not an outcome.
  • When the Royal Flush Gang hold Paxton Powers hostage, they demand a ransom payment of 20 million credits from the man himself. Paxton informs them that he doesn't have that much money, as all his wealth is tied to investments that he'd have to sell in order to get the credits. This is Truth in Television for most rich people. Their solution is for Powers to have them steal a valuable artifact in his possession that they can sell for cash instead. Valid.
    • What caused the Royal Flush Gang to be put in the position where they have to kidnap Paxton? Multiple arrests and losing a key member, Ten, left them practically broke. Made even worse that they made themselves enemies to the other criminal groups for their previous acts against them. Plot happens.
  • The episode The Winning Edge shows, that Bane taking Venom all his life had caused his body to degrade and left him permanently incapacitated in a wheelchair, just like how a lifetime of taking drugs or steroids always catches up to anyone in a negative effect. Too Fantastical.
  • When late computer mogul Robert Vance, who digitized his brain impulses before he died, takes control of the Batsuit, Terry tries to fight with it using of Bruce's old utility belts, but as he's not used to crimefighting without the suit, Terry has trouble, for example misses his target when throwing one of Bruce's old batarangs. Too fantastical.
  • When tabloid reporter, Ian Peek, uses a experimental device, which was created by Dr. Nabuo Taka who worked for Wayne-Powers and died in a fire, that makes him an Intangible Man and uses to spy on people to get stories for his TV Show, The Inside Peek, Terry is ready to have Peek arrested but Bruce asks him what they can have Peek arrested for. All Terry can think of is "Trespassing", as Bruce rightfully points out that he isn't really a criminal or done anything illegal, as Peek is technically just doing his job as reporter. At least before he finds out that Peek caused the fire that killed Dr. Taka. Not an outcome.
• The Batman:
  • Man-Bat's debut episode has two examples:
    • The cops get a lead that Batman may be affiliated with Wayne Enterprises. Bruce is willing to answer Yin and Ethan's questions, but he has limits on how much they can investigate both to protect his employees and his secret identity. A judge gives them a search warrant to investigate Dr. Kirk Langstrom, whom they suspect is Batman, since he's a Wayne Enterprises employee doing a research project on bats. Plot happens.
    • Bruce almost shuts downs Langstrom's project because he failed to keep him to date with it, until Langstrom tells him he's working on a cure for deafness. Mentioned by Alfred who says that Bruce is being too nice to Kirk by extending his research grant rather than shutting it down as initially planned. Bruce notes that Kirk claimed to be on the verge of a breakthrough; Alfred retorts that such terminology means a breakthrough could take years. This motivates Bruce to investigate. No character reactions.
  • When Batman is frozen in a block of ice by Mr. Freeze, in his first appearance, and left him behind when Detectives Ellen Yin and Ethan Bennett show, Yin uses this as an opportunity to unmask him as he is vigilante and they are obligated to, and after Batman breaks out the block of ice and escapes, he becomes temporarily ill from being frozen. No character reactions.
  • In the episode Q And A, when ex-game show constant Arthur Brown/Cluemaster plots his revenge on the host of show Ross Darren, the producer Bert Ziegler, and his opponent Yelena Klimanov for his loss 30 years earlier, due to having secluded himself for a few decades, gaining about four hundred pounds (even though he was already overweight as a child) and going bald, Yelena, Ross and Bert don't recognize "Little Artie". Not surprising.
  • Because Ethan attempted to murder Chief Rojas when he was mutated into Clayface, despite it being mostly Rojas' own fault Ethan cannot return to his old job as a cop for Gotham City Police Department, so Bruce gives him a job as security guard for Wayne Enterprises. Not surprising.
  • When Barbara first becomes Batgirl, or "Batwoman" as she originally preferred, the costume she made covers her eyes and most of her hair, so that her dad doesn't recognize her without his glasses. Batman, however, figures out immediately that "Batgirl" is Barbara Gordon for a good number of reasons: her hair color and voice are the same, and they move with a gymnastics style while fighting. Plus, Barbara said she wanted to help Batman save her friend Pamela, who become Poison Ivy, when she called him for help in the matter, and he rebuffed her. No character reactions.
  • The episode Artifacts shows when Bruce continued to be Batman in his fifties, he is having a more difficult time fighting villains. Not surprising. Character ages.
    • When Mr. Freeze awakens in the future, and archaeologists search for a way to defeat him by finding the Batcave, they discovered that any computer Batman had would have gotten out of date, and its data storage would have decayed and become unreadable. Fortunately they find a message left by Batman engraved in titanium walls, however, that leads to a hologram. Too fantastical.
    • Furthermore, while the archaeologists are aware of Batman, they don't know everything about him and in fact believe Thomas Wayne was Batman, with Martha as Batgirl and Bruce as Robin. As records fail or are lost over time, historical facts are lost to legend or Common Knowledge, and archaeology being a study of uncovering evidence and producing theories from it, it's much more believable that they'd mistake Batman's identity since all they have to go off of is a dated family photo of the Waynes which coincidentally matched up with the Batfamily. Not surprising.
  • In Harley Quinn's debut episode, where she has her own TV show where she gives romantic advice, which does more harm than good for the people she gives advice to, and she attempts to humiliate Bruce Wayne when he appears on her show as a guest. When Bruce decides to leave, Harley's boss, who was already disgusted by the bad advice she gives people and her irresponsible behavior, cancels her show on the spot. A show like hers isn’t going to be considered worth continuing by any sane executive, especially when one of the guests (who is a famous and wealthy businessman) actually storms out in disgust. Plot happens.
  • In Rumors shows that Batman can't save everyone, as shown when he failed to save inventor Paul Karon from the being crippled because of the Joker, despite managing to stop the Joker from stealing a rocket. Not realistic. Batman isn't real.
    • Robin ponders when new vigilante called Rumor who captures criminals and seems to keep them locked away, will make their job easier. Batman says that locking away people and not surrendering them to the proper authorities is kidnapping, not justice. Not an outcome.
    • Despite that Rumor (who's revealed to Karon's bodyguard, Mario) engaged in Pragmatic Villainy and only targeted villains, including several that have attempted murder, he's still arrested for his vigilante activities. Not surprising.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold, although usually running on Silver Age wackiness, had a few moments of this:
  • In "Triumvirate of Terror", Lex Luthor assaults the Batcave. Batman is taken completely by surprise and isn't even initially in costume, while Luthor is wearing Powered Armor and has weapons designed to take on Superman. It's a short fight. Not surprising. Character stronger than another character.
  • In "Chill Of The Night", Batman finally confronts Joe Chill, the man who killed his parents. After revealing his identity to Chill, Chill freaks out and begs the rest of the villains to help, while also revealing that he accidentally created Batman. Rather than helping Joe take down the Bat as a group, the other villains instantly turn on him. As they're quite angry that he created the biggest thorn in their side, and Gotham City's greatest hero, who is The Dreaded among all of Gotham's criminals. No character reactions.
    • Also, it's consistently shown that the Joker is rather obsessed with being the one to discover who Batman is (just not as much as the Riddler), so when Chill is about to name-drop Batman's secret identity, Joker takes offense and very deliberately cuts in to rally the other villains around the "I was the one who made him!" comment before he can plead any further, to make sure Chill takes the secret to the grave. No character reactions.
  • In "Battle of the Super-Heroes" Superman, under the influence of Red Kryptonite, goes full Superdickery and eventually declares himself king of the world. Batman shows up to stop him in a suit of Powered Armor resembling the one from the The Dark Knight Returns. However, rather than fighting Superman (who unlike in DKR is uninjured, at full strength and not holding back) to a standstill, Batman gets absolutely creamed, with Superman even chucking him through a building a la Justice League Unlimited. He does manage to land some hits by getting Superman off balance and calling in Krypto the Superdog for backup, but he's clearly outmatched. Batman even admits that he knows he can't win, he's just trying to keep Superman occupied and prevent him doing anything really bad until the Kryptonite wears off. By the end of the fight Batman's armour is destroyed and Superman has him in a Neck Lift with Batman completely helpless to defend himself. It's implied that Superman would have killed Batman if the Kryptonite hadn't worn off just in time. Too fantastical.
• Beware the Batman: The show does its best to give a more realistic feel to the series to show what Bruce would need to do to pull off Batman in real life, such as reducing his sleep and living on liquid meals. Also his Batcomputer usually comes up with a statistic on how realistic his chances are to pull off what he is about to do. Deconstruction shoehorn.
• Harley Quinn (2019):
  • When a rich jerk insults Harley, she hits his leg with her hammer, causing a severe compound fracture that kills him after he goes into shock from massive blood loss. Not surprising.
  • Superman gets a piece of rock in his mouth when he flies through a wall, mentioning that he should have kept it closed. Too fantastical.
  • When King Shark smells Robin's blood and goes into a feeding frenzy, the Boy Wonder panics and screams for his father. Damian may be a trained assassin, but he is still a child. No character reactions.
  • Queen of Fables is this to the Harley Quinn crew; unlike the crew, Fables is a true villain and not a thug with a code of honor. When a stranger witnesses the crew almost break into a building, Fables tells Harley to move forward with the plan as she distracts them. Harley Quinn assumes Fables will just talk things out with the family or threaten them into keeping silent. However, Fables is eventually revealed to have butchered everyone by summoning The Big Bad Wolf; stating that threatening them wouldn't have worked and she had to kill all the witnesses after they saw her kill a family member to prevent a bloodline revenge plot from a surviving member. When asked if she could see any survivors; Harley lies by saying Fables killed everyone. The surviving family member, Jason Praxis, does in fact return for revenge and nearly kills Fables and the crew after Fables tried betraying Harley for the weather machine. Not learning the lesson, Harley tries tricking Jason into believing he got his revenge by killing The Queen of Fables, but Fables returns and kills Jason in front of a horrified Harley Quinn. Fables then says that Harley shouldn't let her walk away after angering her, suggesting that she will return one day in the future. Too fantastical.
  • While the first episode deals with Harley Quinn finally breaking up with the Joker after years of mistreatment and betrayals, it still doesn't take much for the Joker to try and win her back once she joins the Legion of Doom. It takes yet another betrayal from him at the highest point in her life, along with her inadvertently breaking up her own crew's trust in her, for Harley Quinn to truly understand that the Joker does not and will never love or care for her. No character reactions.
  • Harley might not have a problem with people knowing her real identity, but her parents have had to put up with years of hatred and Relative Ridicule because of it, which provokes them into attempting to kill their own daughter. No character reactions.
  • Kite-Man admits that while flying around on his glider may be cool, it's far from the fastest way to get around. Not an outcome.
  • Commissioner Gordon isn't the usual enduring, hardboiled detective as usually depicted in the comics and adaptations; this version of Commissioner Gordon is an emotional trainwreck of a man. He's stressed 24/7, constantly on edge, and is desperate to prove himself to his only friend Batman. He's doing a thankless job and frankly nobody really respects him for it. No character reactions.
  • Riddler easily sees through Ivy and Harley's college student disguises. They are obviously not students and both their Paper-Thin Disguise are so bad that anybody who knows what they look like will be able to tell who they are. Subversion of Paper-Thin Disguise.
  • Barbara Gordon might have gotten the training from her dad in how to handle and shoot a pistol. but she hasn't yet developed the aiming skill to hit a small target from a distance. Irrelevant.
  • Batman’s months-long coma leads to his muscles becoming extremely atrophied to the point he can barely do a thing without Alfred’s help. Alfred knew that if Bruce fought in his condition, all he’d accomplish was giving Gotham false hope and injure himself further to the point his recovery would take far longer. Which is what happened when he tried to fight Bane in a power suit and ended up shattering his legs. No character reactions and final part Too fantastical.
  • Evil Is One Big, Happy Family? Nope. About the only things some villains have in common are their enemies, but many of them have different goals and ambitions that won't always align with each other. Also, because they're, well, evil, many of them won't hesitate to turn on each other if they get in each other's way. As Harley discovers, not even her own crew, who previously seemed to be built up as a pack of True Companions, is above this, as Doctor Psycho betrays them when Harley doesn't want to be as evil as him. Subversion of Evil Is One Big, Happy Family.
  • Even though Harley is her best friend and has mutual romantic feelings for her, Ivy chooses to marry Kite-Man over staying by her side. Harley has betrayed Ivy's trust and help numerous times, and her unstable personality constantly means there's no guarantee she won't hurt Ivy again. Ivy can just barely consider Harley her friend, much less a potential romantic partner. She eventually changes her mind in the end once Kite Man decides he's not right for her. No character reactions.
  • Due to her poor social skills, Ivy is actually quite insecure about her love life and isn't sure if she's dating Kite Man for the right reasons. She knows he's loving and supportive but she can't help but feel that she's only dating him because he was the best option so far and is afraid to take the next step with him. She does choose him over Harley because he was seen as the healthiest, most secure relationship, at least, until they eventually do split in the end and she goes back to Harley. No character reactions.
  • Kite Man managed to get past Ivy having sex with Harley but just because he comes to forgive her rather quickly doesn't mean that the incident is forgotten. In fact, it was one of the moments that Kite Man comes to realise that Ivy wasn't the right person for him. No character reactions.

• The title character in season one tends to assume that situations will resolve like they do in sitcoms, since he starred in one during the 1990s. Reality tends to hit him in the face. Case in point: This is just Wrong Genre Savvy, especially since it's a recurring element
  • When his former costar Sarah Lynn stabs herself in a store, BoJack lets her stay at his house for several days, where he finds out she is a raging drug addict. Remembering how she wanted to go to an amusement park when she was a kid, BoJack takes her there when she's thirty to apologize for not protecting her during their sitcom days. Sarah Lynn seems to appreciate the gesture, only to tell BoJack later that she's not a child anymore, and he's not her father so he can't solve her problems with one day of fun. Character reaction
  • He finds out that the Horsin Around creator and his former friend, Herb, has terminal cancer. BoJack goes to make amends because the studio convinced him to throw Herb under the bus after he was outed as a gay man. Herb is not interested in forgiving the horse; he says that it's BoJack refusing to talk to him for twenty years hurt more than being fired and blacklisted. Rejected Apology / character reaction shoehorn
  • In season 2, BoJack is cast in his dream role as his hero, disgraced runner Secretariat. The thing is that Lenny Turtletaub the producer doesn't want to show many of the historical figure's warts. He specifically forbids director Kelsey or BoJack from shooting a scene where Secretariat made a Deal with the Devil with Richard Nixon to avoid serving in Vietnam. Despite Kelsey saying it's a bad idea, BoJack convinces her they should do it for the art, since that's her specialty, and surely Turtletaub will be impressed by their dedication. They break into the set to film it. Kelsey is proven right; Turtletaub fires her for insubordination when he sees the footage, and as punishment hires a director that clashes with BoJack and sabotages his other career choices. When BoJack runs away out of guilt for ruining Kelsey and breaking down from the stress, Turtletaub proceeds to replace him with a CGI duplicate since it behaves better and isn't a mess. While Kelsey later averts this trope by pitching the movie she wants to do in season 6 and impressing producers with her tenacity, for a long time this attempt to do things her way backfired horribly and tarnishes her career. Maybe, but it depends on how much of a Bait-and-Switch there is.
  • BoJack starts to develop a serious relationship with his costar Gina on Philbert, and finds out her passion is to sing in a musical. After initially teasing her, he convinces Flip and Princess Carolyn to hear her singing and encourages Gina that she needs to take this chance to find out if she can fulfill her dreams, giving her a Rousing Speech. Gina opens her mouth at the audition...and what comes out is an okay, off-key and hilarious rendition of a song from her favorite musical "Kernel of Truth". Flip is too horrified to say yes or no, Gina walks off apologizing, and Princess Carolyn admonishes BoJack for giving his current squeeze false hope. While Gina thanks BoJack for trying to help her, and says she's glad she took that risk, she now knows she lacks the talent to fulfill her dream, and goes to bed sadder. Hard Truth Aesop shoehorn
  • The biggest one has to be when Biscuits Braxby reveals that Bojack was directly responsible for Sarah Lynn's death to her viewers. Bojack was trying to do damage control in his first interview with her but does the second foolishly out of a sense of egotism. He is genuinely apologetic and guilty, thinking that will be enough since sitcom characters are Easily Forgiven. Biscuits then says — much to Bojack's consternation— that she knows he let Sarah Lynn remain unconscious for seventeen minutes to create an alibi and cover his butt rather than dial 911 immediately. Sarah Lynn in her debut said she overdoses all the time, and her party people have the sense to call paramedics for her, so that Bojack didn't do it showed that he violated basic Hollywoo decency. The human body can also go for seven minutes without oxygen, so he effectively killed her when she was physically vulnerable. Bojack himself realizes that what he did was terrible, as shown when he apologizes to a Sarah Lynn hallucination. Plot happens
• Diane has a few where her Wide-Eyed Idealist tendencies get her in trouble:
  • She helps "rescue" a chicken from a farm where they're slaughtered to become part of the meat industry. Is it cool and righteous? Not to the cops, who arrest her and her "cronies" for trespassing and robbery once they catch up. Not sure
  • Before, she tries writing BoJack's memoirs as a biography called One Trick Pony. Diane thinks Honesty Is the Best Policy and to show her best friend's Warts and All. Only she violated the terms of her ghostwriting contract and spilled a lot of information that BoJack doesn't want to see in print, and he notes the warts lack the "And All" part. He fires her on those grounds and is not happy when she leaks excerpts to Buzzfeed to force him to concede. Read the Fine Print is very real, folks. If we are informed about the rules of the contract, then this is just Plot Happening. Otherwise, I'm not sure.
  • Played for Drama in "Hank After Dark." Diane finds out some allegations that a beloved television show host has been abusing his secretaries. There's no proof, however, and none of them are willing to speak out for fear of Hank ruining them further. BoJack of all people tells Diane This Is Reality, not a sappy journalist biopic, and she should let it go. Her husband Mr. Peanutbutter says the same thing for both selfish and unselfish reasons: he's working on a show with Hank, and he finds out Diane has been receiving death threats in the mail. Diane remains confident that if she keeps pushing for someone to print the story based on allegations and that if one person stands up to Hank, justice will be served. Nope; every major news outlet refuses to run the story, due to their connections with Hank's employer corporation, and his fans continue to send death threats or harass her in public. In one of the show's most harrowing scenes, Hank lures Diane into an a parking lot at night and gives her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how she thought she could topple a Hollywood icon, asking who she thinks she is and telling her he's too valuable for the system to eradicate. One person isn't enough to stand against the machine, let along a ghostwriter that has only hearsay. Diane has to fly to another country before the heat dies down. This is why when Vance and BoJack are later accused for their misdeeds, the journalists take the time to gather hard evidence with sources so they can break those pedestals. Not sure. It does sound like normal storytelling convention for Hank to be punished for his misdeeds, which the show provides reasons why it wouldn't be realistic, but if things being presented more realistically than usual is an established aspect of the show, then it's just Plot.
  • After Diane divorces Mr. Peanutbutter, she starts crying when attending his housewarming party, seeing that he's found a rebound. On impulse, she flies to Vietnam; when her boss demands content, Diane decides to be like the women who go traveling to find themselves in the movies, a la Julia Roberts and a star she meets on the plane filming a movie with that premise. Her plan is to write online content and reach an epiphany about her life, to feel whole again after the divorce As she writes, however, traveling in Vietnam isn't making her feel whole; her inability to speak the local language, expatriates mistaking her for a local and "showing her around" and the fact that she has to go home eventually, to face her new, shoddy apartment all contribute to a growing sense of isolation. Not to mention she drunkenly propositioned her best friend who nursed a crush on her long before she married Mr. Peanutbutter, and he turned her down while promising to keep it a secret about her Moment of Weakness. Diane instead writes that she found she could survive being alone and is okay to settle for that until she feels happier. Indeed, it takes Diane switching therapists in season 6 and taking antidepressants for her to achieve happiness and that sense of completion. Character reaction
  • When writing her memoirs, she thinks that going off her antidepressants will providers the pain and angst that she needs. Guy, her boyfriend in Chicago, tells Diane that she's going through withdrawal when he sees her crying, throwing up, and saying she wants to die. Then he puts her to bed, tells her to take her meds, and waits until she's stable to talk. Don't go off your meds cold-turkey. Sounds more like a deconstruction.
• Sarah Lynn is a Former Child Star and raging drug addict, who mentions she gets revived by paramedics on a regular basis and swallows entire bottles' worth of pills, supplied by (a surprisingly real) physician named Dr. Hu. Then she decides to go to rehab in season 3 since the same buzz doesn't affect her with how many drugs she's been taking, and manages six months of being sober. Bojack then convinces her to go off the wagon and she starts chugging alcohol and drugs again at a rapid rate. The same amount of pills send her into an overdose since she lost the acquired immunity to them. And since Bojack didn't call a paramedic in time, she doesn't wake up from this last trip. To a lesser extent, Dr. Hu goes My God, What Have I Done? because even if he didn't supply the drugs, at any time he could have been responsible; he decides to go into pediatrics to protect Hollywood child stars. Plot happens, and character reaction
• Mr. Peanutbutter gets away with a lot of his shenanigans because he's a Big Friendly Dog and too oblivious to realize when something is a bad idea. It's because most of those bad ideas involve people, and his wife Diane and friend group can protect him. There is one case where it did not apply: when, while running for Governor of California, he opened his backyard to fracking to demonstrate its safety and didn't have any safety permits in place or common sense. The subsequent damage to the land endangered everyone at a party that Mr. Peanutbutter was hosting in his house, due to large sinkholes emerging. Diane even lampshades this, calling out her husband for his stupidity. Plot happens, since the example establishes that we'd expect the fracking to go wrong.
• One Played for Laughs example for Todd in season five. To help BoJack with another Zany Scheme, he agrees to apply for a janitorial position at whattimeisitrightnow.com. The head of the janitorial crew starts scanning his resume and becomes impressed. She asks why he's looking for custodial work when he founded a successful ridesharing app, won the governor election for California, and served as a fashion icon with his trademark hoodie and beanie. Todd's antics from before — and being a white dude— means that he's hired as a business executive instead, namely head of marketing. BoJack can't believe it. Plot Happens, since the expected outcome is for this kind of scheme to go wrong.
  • More seriously, the ramifications of this hiring play out as Todd becomes a boss to his friends Diane, BoJack, and Princess Carolyn. He's forced to actually be a Reasonable Authority Figure and a boss, toning down his usual goofiness. With PC, the awkward part is he's living with her rent-free but now has power over her career. This leads to them having a feud when Todd can't find his string cheese and accuses her of stealing it; he gets a Jerkass Realization and apologizes to her after their arbitration adviser finds proof that she's innocent. BoJack assaults his costar while under the influence of painkillers in the season finale, nearly killing Gina; when Todd finds out, he yells at Princess Carolyn that just because BoJack is their friend doesn't mean that they can sweep this under the rug. He wants to shut down the production of Philbert immediately, but Princess Carolyn says they have to find out if that's even what Gina wants. Character reaction. The last part isn't an outcome.
• Diane and BoJack alternate between Positive Friend Influence and Toxic Friend Influence with each other. She is the first person who encourages him to open up about his pain, and he in turn keeps saying she is a great person and capable of more than what the world thinks she can do on social media or with Buzzfeed. At the same time, they also enable each other's worst tendencies, to the point where Diane moves in with the horse for a few months following a failed stint in covering the news in Cordavia and BoJack hits on her more than once. Diane realizes that BoJack crossed lines that she didn't, like nearly sleeping with Penny and going on a bender with Sarah Lynn, and gives into her morally righteous side to call him out. He in turn points out she's always judgmental and not willing to look inward, instead rather wanting to see the world as festering and needing to be fixed. Diane eventually admits he's right on that, moves to Chicago with her new boyfriend, and starts building a new life without the horse which finally gives her purpose and the courage to take antidepressants. This gives her the means to grow and dispel her previous toxic habits, and to realize that while BoJack was a friend when she needed one, he's not what she needs by the end of the series. She sets boundaries with him, saying she doesn't want to be his Living Emotional Crutch and since he couldn't respect that with his suicide attempt, their friendship is over. Character reaction

• During the Batman: Hush storyline, at the start of the story Batman's rope for his grappling gun is cut, causing him to fall toward the ground. He manages to grab onto a nearby statue... except that just causes his arm to snap like a twig due to the inertia of the fall. Then the old, worn-out statue breaks under Batman's added weight and Batman plummets into the alley below. He breaks his fall somewhat but still ends up fracturing or breaking half the bones in his body. Valid.
• Speaking of Black Mask, this trope also applies to his death at the hands of Catwoman. She had him at gunpoint, but by this point he had faced off against most of the Bat Family and expected her to follow the same code against killing as the rest of them. What Mask didn't realize is that Selina had long been The Lancer of Batman's allies and never fully played by his rules, and Mask had tortured her brother-in-law to death and traumatized her sister. So while she doesn't like killing, she had no qualms blowing his head off. No character reactions.
• Over the years, some of Batman's villains, such as Ra's al Ghul, Bane, and The Riddler, have uncovered his Secret Identity as Bruce Wayne. The most common method is using the process of elimination to answer the question Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys? and deducing that, since Batman uses so much expensive gadgetry (the Batsuit, Batmobile, Batarangs, etc.) and seemingly replaces them with no issues (blow up a Batmobile and he'll have another one soon), it is a given that he would NOT be some working-class guy, but rather a very wealthy citizen of Gotham, and Bruce Wayne just so happens to fit that description. This has been done not only to add a sense of tension between Batman and these villains, but also to demonstrate one of the flaws of the Rich Idiot With No Day Job trope: one problem with having a famous Secret Identity and loads of cash to finance a personal war on crime is that not everyone is going to fall for your Obfuscating Stupidity act, especially if you live in a world filled with superhumanly intelligent people. Not an outcome.
  • This same approach came within a hairs' breadth of working even in Batman (1966), as Egghead correctly deduced Batman's true identity, by noting that only a man of wealth and free time could take on the role, and then narrowing down the Gotham millionaires to those who were right-handed... only to discard the hunch after getting nothing except worthlessly frippery from Wayne's brain. Bruce had been able to compartmentalize the Bruce Wayne and Batman portions of his mind to keep the latter safe from Egghead's mind-draining machine. Bad indentation.
• Batman: No Man's Land, on the other hand, shows what happens when your "Rich Idiot" act works too well: after a massive earthquake devastates Gotham, Bruce goes to Washington to convince Congress to send aid to the city, but ultimately fails because his reputation as a vapid celebrity prevents any of the politicians from taking him seriously. No character reactions.
• Mr. Freeze's ice-gun was the Trope Codifier of Harmless Freezing in the Silver Age. Post-Crisis however, Freeze has killed plenty of people using it and whenever Batman and company get hit by, the story tends to make a point about how quickly they have to escape; turning somebody into a block of ice and giving them hypothermia is pretty fatal to say the least. Too fantastical.
• In The Killing Joke, the unnamed comedian is hooked into a robbery by two crooks who seem to know what they're doing (though they're not as confident about this as they act to him and plan to make him a fall-guy) when they give him the "Red Hood" popsicle mask. In practice, it's a sense-confusing mess that makes it difficult for him just to walk up the factory's front stairs, and adds to the factors that turn a questionable idea into a disaster. '''Too unclear, not necessarily more realistic.
• In Batman Eternal, Commissioner Gordon is framed for a crime he didn't commit. He ends up being denied bail and placed in a maximum security prison while awaiting trial, as he's a known associate of a vigilante with major resources. Not surprising.
• The DC's Beach Blanket Bad Guys Summer Special contains a short story about The Penguin's youth. In it, young Oswald Cobblepot begins working out with a fitness trainer named Tony so that he can gain enough confidence to ask out Veronica Vreeland, the girl he's obsessed with. After mistakenly believing Tony wants Veronica for himself, Oswald murders him and uses the funeral as an opportunity to finally make his move on her. Veronica promptly slaps him in the face for having the nerve to ask her out at a funeral, and then tells him off for acting like a creepy stalker. No character reactions.

• Batman: The Imposter: This mini may as well be called Surprisingly Realistic Outcome The Series. It takes a far more realistic approach to several conventions of the Batman mythos than any other adaptation. Genre Deconstruction shoehorn.
  • Alfred Pennyworth is traditionally depicted as being Bruce Wayne's surrogate father, mentor, butler and closest confidant all rolled into one, usually unwavering in his support for 'Master Bruce' and his crusade. In this continuity however, Alfred, as a mere butler, finds himself utterly unable to cope with being the guardian to a traumatized, rage-filled, and disturbed child who's also technically his boss. So, he resigns and Bruce is packed off to a boarding school in Russia instead.
  • The iconic partnership between Batman and Jim Gordon ended in this continuity with Gordon being discredited and drummed out of the police force for working with a vigilante - a far more realistic outcome for a cop in his position than the usual status quo.
  • Leslie Thompkins, far from being another surrogate parent to Bruce who is largely supportive of his crusade, is depicted here instead as someone who refuses to blindly enable his violent vigilantism and forces him into therapy by threatening to expose his true identity once she discovers it.
  • All the property destruction and chaos caused by Batman's war on crime is unlikely to endear him to Gotham's wealthy and powerful, who in turn pressurize the police into taking a tougher stance on the vigilante.
  • The story begins with Batman being seriously injured and on the verge of death following an encounter with armed store-robbers - the kind of low-level criminals whom, in more mainstream adaptations, he would be able to take down almost effortlessly. Here we see all too well the very real physical risks involved in even the smallest acts of vigilantism.
  • Instead of using an ostentatious vehicle like the Batmobile, Batman gets around Gotham inconspicuously using an elaborate network of ziplines and hidden motorcycles. Even this isn't inconspicuous enough however, since the GCPD finds and confiscates many of the motorcycles and cuts the ziplines; they have the manpower and time to comb the city looking for them.
  • Far from being the impeccable and dignified manor-house it's usually depicted as being, Wayne Manor here is a mess, since Bruce lives alone without a staff or butler - Alfred having quit during Bruce's troubled childhood years.
  • By the end of the story despite the imposter being exposed, Batman's legacy remains tarnished due to the latter's crimes, because realistically, there is no way for the authorities or the citizens of Gotham to know for sure which Batman did what and whether or not the real Batman was allied with or opposed to the imposter.
• In Batman: White Knight, Joker is cured of his insanity after Batman force feeds him a random handful of pills, becoming Jack Napier again. This turns out to only be temporary and Napier needs to keep taking a replication of that combination of pills to avoid turning back into the Joker. It also sometimes upsets his stomach. Too fantastical.
  • Batgirl only wears a Domino Mask instead of a full cowl like most versions of her. Mr. Freeze recognizes her right away since he's met her in Bruce Wayne's lab and a domino mask doesn't really hide one's identity. Not surprising.
  • This series does a good job of detailing the kind of problems a vigilante like Batman can cause. Napier claims that Batman's vigilantism is less about justice and more about control, and adds that it's the Dark Knight's way of salvaging what's left of his soul. Another point brought up is the Disproportionate Retribution scenario of the event that cures the Joker. Joker was briefly returning to his days as an annoying prankster, merely skating around Gotham on a scooter and goading Batman into chasing him. Batman, with his military-grade Batmobile and determination to capture Joker before he does any harm, ends up causing more damage than the Joker is. It's even revealed later on that the city diverts three billion dollars a year from flood and hurricane prevention just to repair the damage caused when Batman fights supervillains. And once Batman gets his hands on Joker, the beatdown is as violent as ever, if not more. Again, all the Joker did in the story up to this point was screw around being a nuisance. Batman's response to this gives Gotham a wake-up call and everyone begins questioning the Dark Knight's behavior and how the GCPD enables him. Genre Deconstruction shoehorn.
  • The series as a whole also eschews the franchise's typical conceit that mental illness is in some cases untreatable and makes you a criminal mastermind, impossible to predict, or "super-sane"; instead, Joker's worsening state is shown as a slow downward spiral culminating in a desperate cry for help, and Napier publicly alleges that Arkham Asylum was a derelict piece of property renovated by the rich "gatekeepers" as a place to treat the mentally ill as prisoners instead of patients. Not an outcome.
• In the sequel series, Batman: Curse of the White Knight, Bruce, deeply affected by the events of White Knight, plans to tell Gotham that he's Batman. Ruth, the creator of the Batman Devastation Fund and the woman who represents the people that profit off of Batman's war on crime, approaches Bruce and spells out to him exactly why that's a bad idea. Not an outcome.

  Ruth: First, the stock in your companies would plummet as the FBI seized your assets and arrested you for terrorism. Thousands of people would lose their jobs— Not just your employees, but workers all over the city as you send Gotham's economy into a tailspin, resulting in even more crime and poverty. Then you'd lose your entire fortune as you accumulated hundreds of assault charges from decades of vigilantism. Everyone you ever worked with would be charged with aiding and abetting, including the entire GCPD. You'd BEG to go to prison— Because that's the only way you'd be safe from the dozens of super-criminals who will seek revenge.

  • This is ultimately defied, though. When Bruce finally does reveal his identity, the one thing that does happen is that Bruce goes to jail. He willingly surrenders his money to be distributed to all of Gotham, Wayne Enterprises is restructured under Lucius Fox's leadership, and the GCPD willingly accepts vigilantes into the force. The events of the series show that Bruce ultimately had a point in his crusade, and since Bruce was the only one to step forward and out himself, the rest of Wayne Enterprises gets to avoid culpability via plausible deniability. Bad indentation, and you can't "defy" SRO under its current definition.
• Batman: Three Jokers
  • It's common in most versions of the Batman mythos for the Joker's identity to be a complete mystery even to Batman, and the series even references that with the Joker Venom rendering its victims impossible to identify. This series, on the other hand, shows that with Batman's detective skills and resources, he figured out the Joker's (at least the Comedian version) identity a week after their first meeting. Valid.
  • Given that her Batgirl costume doesn't hide her identity the way Bruce's or Jason's does (especially the long red hair), it comes as no surprise in the final issue that Gordon knows it's Barbara; it's his own daughter, of course he can recognize her (build, voice, mannerisms, etc.). Yes, it comes as no surprise.

• Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
  • For a cartoon, in that when Batman decks the Joker hard, a tooth is knocked out—and remains out. Not surprising, cuttable ZCE.
  • When gangster Chuckie Sol's car crashes from a pretty good drop, Sol is killed on impact, especially given that his windshield was broken and he went through a concrete barrier, unlike most cartoons where car crashes occur all the time and everyone escapes uninjured. Valid.
  • During a flashback Salvatore Valestra smokes like no tomorrow when we see him as a mob boss. In the present, however, all of that smoking now leaves him on oxygen along with him having trouble moving. Not an outcome.
  • In stark contrast to most cartoons, when Batman takes a blow that leaves him bleeding and disoriented, he is still suffering from it later in the movie, and he is forced to spend a night off to heal from it correctly. Valid.
  • When Batman stops Joker's bomb from destroying Andrea's hotel room, even though the bomb was still quite a bit away, the blast wave still sends Batman into a wall. Not surprising.
• Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
  • After stopping the Jokerz in the Cold Open, Terry tries to go out and dance with Dana. Bruce tells him he ought to get some sleep since he's been up all night, but Terry assures him he's fine. One Gilligan Cut later and Terry is fast asleep in the nightclub. Plot happens.
  • When Wayne Industries executive Jordan Pryce helps The Joker's henchmen steal from the company and have them try to kill Bruce Wayne, so he can become CEO of the company, and Batman turns over evidence of it to the Police, he is arrested. Assisting criminals with sabotaging your own company (as well as trying to get rid of the CEO) will get you in trouble with the police, even if you're a high-end corporate executive. Not surprising.
  • After Bruce prevented Tim Drake from being Robin again after the Joker tortured and brainwashed him in their last encounter before The Joker's death by Tim's hands, at first Tim understandably seems bitter that Bruce retired him, and how his hero career ended with torture, brainwashing and murder. 10-Minute Retirement, after all, is supposed to be a thing. He admits, however, that Bruce made the right call. After the trauma, Tim needed a new direction and focus because you can't exactly throw yourself back into a similar situation and expect to heal. At the end, it's made clear that he considers Bruce as a good father and missed him. No character reactions.
• In Batman: Gotham Knight, when Batman tries to close the range on Deadshot by charging, Deadshot doesn't suddenly become a graduate of the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy. Deadshot promptly lampshades the stupidity of trying to charge at a gunman. Valid.
• In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, when Bruce takes up the mantle of Batman once again, ten years of retirement shows its effect on him when he can barely pull himself up a rope and his joints start to ache. Not surprising.
• In Batman: The Killing Joke, after the controversial sex scene between Bruce and Barbara, he starts avoiding her, likely feeling ashamed that he'd "taken advantage" of his best friend's daughter. No character reactions.
• The LEGO Batman Movie:
  • The movie is shown to take place in a continuity where all the previous Batman incarnations, live-action and animated, happened. This trope then gets slapped onto this idea during the Gala, where Barbara Gordon points out that, while Batman has been doing a great job protecting Gotham City for 78 years, it's still the most crime-ridden city in the world since Batman was never able to permanently bring any of the villains in. Not realistic, as the blended timelines cause inconsistencies.
  • Batman's No Seatbelts rule for his Batmobile causes Robin to fly out of his seat and get hurt when riding for the first time. Plot happens.
  • Robin is taught by Batman on how to be stealthy. Robin... does not blend into dark areas, what with his bright colors and glittery cape and all. Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
  • Using the Phantom Zone Projector to send the Joker to the Phantom Zone causes Batman and Robin to get arrested since, good intentions or not, the Projector is an illegal weapon that was brought into Arkham Asylum, a highly secure prison. Batman also gets briefly called out on using a child to do so. In fact, this is exactly what Joker wanted too, as he proceeds to team up with the criminals inside. Too fantastical.
• Batman and Harley Quinn: Nightwing expresses disappointment that the reformed Harley Quinn is working as a waitress at a themed diner "Superbabes" instead of using her psychiatric background to find something he considers better (at least, in his opinion). She informs him via a pile of rejection letters that she attempted to do just that, but that no one would hire a former super criminal... especially one who has been a very public super criminal (she made no secret of Harleen Quinzel being Harley Quinn), working with one of the worst psychotic murderers of her time. Her only other choice was to accept offers she'd been given to do porn, and at least the waitress job lets her hide in plain sight without being attacked (since the patrons just think she's a random woman with a really good Harley impression). Not surprising, plot happens.
• In Batman: Gotham by Gaslight Jack the Ripper, AKA James Gordon is an American Civil War veteran, nearly 6'6 tall, very well built, and an amateur champion of English-style boxing, whereas it is implied that Batman is at the beginning of his vigilante career. So, it's obvious why the Ripper is able to outsmart Batman in a fight. Likewise Selina, who was trained to be a circus lion-tamer, not a fighter, staggers Gordon by being unexpectedly armed with a whip at the start of their fight. It goes downhill for her VERY quickly once the surprise wears off. Not surprising.
• Batman Ninja
  • When Batman tries to use his grapple gun to get away from the samurai, he discovers he can't, since there are no buildings more than two stories tall in a common village in Feudal Japan. Plot happens.
  • When he uses his grapple gun to latch onto a Joker samurai and use them as a flail against dozens of others, it breaks due to the excessive stress put on its cable. Not realistic, as people can't swing people around like that effectively.
• Batman vs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • When Bane tries to break Donatello's back over his knee like he did with Batman, there's a loud crunch from his kneecap from forcing the highly durable shell up against it. Too fantastical.
  • Instead of transforming into an animal, Poison Ivy turns into a half-human half-plant hybrid. She definitely looks like she was going to be a formidable opponent, until she (and the protagonists) realize that she's immobile due to being rooted to the ground. The protagonists simply stay out of her reach and walk out the door. Too fantastical.
  • Even if you're superhumanly good martial artists, leaving yourself open to an opponent for drama's sake is never a good idea. Batman's dramatic leap towards Shredder lets the latter use the Sato-Oshi technique on him and Ra's' "Reason You Suck" Speech to Leonardo while standing above him lets Leo just kick him in the nuts. Valid.
  • Still injured from his first fight with Shredder, Batman does noticeably worse in the rematch. Thankfully he had help. Not surprising, cuttable ZCE.

Batman Film Series

• General
  • Batman's inventory gets damaged in every movie, requiring an upgrade in the next film. The Batmobile sheds a lot of parts in Batman Returns, leading to a new model in Batman Forever. Likewise, the batwing is totaled in the first film and a replacement doesn't appear until the third. Batman's suits also change due to wear and tear. The Riddler's invasion of the Batcave also leads to a change in setting in Batman & Robin. Examples Are Not General.
• Batman (1989):
  • The Batsuit makes him immune to bullets themselves, but not to the concussive force involved with them — at least twice, he's laid out cold by point-blank gunfire. However, he still manages to preserve his mystique by "rising" back up each time in a fashion not unlike The Undertaker's. Valid.
• Batman Returns:
  • Catwoman is so mentally scarred that when Batman offers to take her in, she lashes out at him because she's just not used to anyone being this kind to her.
• Batman Forever:
  • Dick finds the Batcave and the Batmobile and takes it for a ride into gang territory. Naturally this attracts the wrong kind of attention and he ends up getting into a fight where he's completely outnumbered. Only saved when Batman shows up. He also tries to claim that he is Batman but the gang just laughs. Plot happens.
  • Robin manages to incapacitate Two-Face and has him at his mercy. He wants to kill him for the death of his family but can't do it and saves him... only for Two-Face to pull a gun on him. Not surprising.
• Batman & Robin:
  • Mr. Freeze is incredibly muscular for a scientist, as his cryo suit is far too heavy for a normal man to comfortably wear. The film does lampshade this by stating the Fries is a former Olympic decathlete. Not an outcome.
  • Robin is far more helpful when he is wearing simple acrobat tights. Once he started wearing heavy rubber padding in an effort to look as hardcore as Batman, he sacrifices his agility and causes more trouble for Batman than he otherwise would have had if he was working alone. Plot happens.

The Dark Knight Trilogy

• Batman Begins:
  • As Falcone states to Bruce, Bruce can puff up his chest and accuse him all he wants, but he doesn't fear Bruce because, even if he's rich, he knows nothing about the mafia and how deep their reach goes through the city. All Bruce is to Falcone is just a rich boy who has turned a blind eye to the little people. Not an outcome.
  • As Bruce Wayne spent several years Walking the Earth without contacting anyone back in Gotham, he has been pronounced legally dead and Alfred controls the Wayne estate. Alfred being Alfred, he is immediately willing to return it all to Bruce when he is back in Gotham. Plot happens.
  • Bruce's first Stealth Hi/Bye going less than smoothly, with him narrowly evading arrest and also injuring himself in the process. Plot happens.
  • While Bruce adhere to his Thou Shall Not Kill rule, saving Ducard, later revealed to be the real Ra's Al Ghul, does come back to bite him when he recovers from Bruce's attempt to destroy the League of Shadows despite Bruce saving him and personally arrives in Gotham to enact his plan. A textbook example of No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Plot happens.
  • Unlike most villains, Scarecrow didn't waste time monologuing when he hits Batman with fear gas. He instantly tries to burn him alive. Plot happens.
  • The Scarecrow's defeat is simple but effective. It doesn't matter how much of a scary badass you are, taking a Taser to the face will cause anyone to run away screaming. Not surprising.
  • Bruce invokes a Loophole Abuse to get around his one rule at the end. While he won't personally kill Ra's, he has no problem leaving him behind on the monorail that's now heading for a newly broken track. Ra's was the one who picked the railway for his plan after all. Plot happens.
• The Dark Knight:
  • At the beginning, Gotham's criminals pick up on the fact that Batman is only effective through his stealth and surprise. So the Chechen brings along his dogs to give him an early warning. Plot happens.
  • Once the criminals clue in that Batman has rules and find someone scarier than him, Maroni calls out the fact that no one will talk to Batman. Cuttable ZCE, not an outcome.
  • A couple of imposters dress up as Batman to help him fight crime, but Bruce has trained vigorously to deal with criminals while they haven't. The imposters are woefully out of their depth, even when using guns, they're taken down easily: one gets hit with fear gas by the Scarecrow and another gets mauled by dogs brought in by the Russians. To say nothing of the poor guy the Joker caught. Not surprising.
  • Batman's original costume is heavily armored and almost bulletproof, but as a result it's so heavy and bulky that is severely limits his mobility and peripheral vision. He has Lucius Fox whip him up a lighter suit more amenable to his martial arts style, allowing him to be quicker and stealthier, but Fox warns him that the new suit is significantly more vulnerable to small arms fire. Plot happens.
  • The mob don't take a guy dressed as a clown seriously... until after he shows just how dangerous he really is. No character reactions.
  • An accountant for Wayne Enterprises discover Bruce's identity as Batman simply by going through the company files on how Bruce's money is spent, and locating the blueprints for the "Tumbler" Batmobile in Wayne Enterprises' archives. On the other hand, this knowledge doesn't do him any good, because, as Lucius Fox points out, he is attempting to blackmail a billionaire who is also a ruthless vigilante; there is no possible way this will end well for him, and he concedes. Plot happens.
  • Alfred warns Bruce that Joker is just a psycho who's only in it for the chaos and, unlike most, won't kowtow to him no matter how threatening he tries to make himself out to be. This gets proven when they capture Joker and Batman tries his bad cop routine on him only for Joker to just laugh and mock him, point blank stating he has nothing to really threaten him with. No character reactions.
  • The Tumbler's a tough vehicle but even it has it limits. Batman has to sacrifice it to protect Harvey's transport from a bazooka attack and it's rendered inoperable afterwards. Forcing Batman to use the Bat-Pod for the remainder of the movie. Plot happens.
  • Near the end Joker engineers a situation where two ferries full of passengers will have to blow up one or the other in order to survive. He fully expects one of them to do it... and none of them do. The ferry with the criminals throws the detonator overboard and the one with the regular passengers has none of them willing to kill to save themselves. Showing the Joker fully underestimating how people will react just because he expects them to. No character reactions.
  • Also, Harvey Dent/Two-Face falls a couple of stories but lands wrong and dies of a broken neck. Not surprising.
• The Dark Knight Rises:
  • The film explores the idea that a normal human being (no matter how Badass Normal or Crazy-Prepared) couldn't continue indefinitely as Batman due to the physical strain, the psychological breakdown, and the increasing likelihood of incarceration or death. Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
  • Bruce didn't miraculously walk from the aforementioned fall unscathed either. As briefly shown in the last movie, he landed badly on his leg. When next we see him, he's walking on a limp and has to use a brace to get back into action as Batman.
  • Lucius tells Bruce he collected all the Tumblers during Bruce's "retirement" from Batman so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. However he keeps them all locked up in his private storage in one place. When Bane finds out, he's able to steal them easily just by digging under the storage area.
  • Batman and Bane's first fight. Rather than a spectacular, choreographed showdown, it's short, brutal and sees Batman, who has been out of practice for eight years and sports a bad leg, easily defeated with his punches having no effect on Bane. Not surprising.
    • Though it isn't really a fair fight either, since Bane is being sustained on anesthetic gas that keeps him from feeling pain. As shown later in the film, once the mask that's pumping the gas gets damaged, all that pain floods in at once and Bane can't concentrate. He may be a beast at fighting but that one Achilles' Heel is the only thing that kept him relatively invincible. Not realistic, as such a mechanism runs heavily on Artistic License – Biology and Artistic License – Medicine.
  • John Dagget pays Bane to bankrupt Bruce so he can take over Wayne Industries from him. After he's outplayed for the CEO position however, he chews out Bane for his supposed ineffectiveness. Bane, being an extremely dangerous mercenary that easily towers over him, naturally doesn't take kindly to this and promptly tells Dagget just because he paid him doesn't mean he has power over him before snapping his neck. No character reactions.
  • At the end of Dark Knight, Gordon has the GCPD keep hush hush about what really happened with Harvey and how he truly died to persevere his image and keep hope alive for Gotham. So when Bane reveals the truth to the citizens, it creates anarchy as the city loses trust in its law enforcement. No character reactions.
  • Just because you are a master hand-to-hand combatant with genius tactical skills hopped up on anesthetic gas does not mean you're any less vulnerable to heavy weapons. Bane finds this out the hard way when Catwoman kills him with the Bat-Pod's guns. Not surprising.
  • Talia's dies from injuries sustained in a two-story drop in a truck, contrary to how it would not normally be fatal to characters in action movies. Not surprising.

Other Movies

• Joker: Randall never gave Arthur a holster for his gun. As a result, it slips out of his pants while he stomps his feet during said hospital gig. Immediately afterward, Arthur scrambles to pick it up, but kicks it away due to his oversized shoes. Plot happens.
  • After Arthur kills the three employees of Wayne enterprise in his clown outfit, it doesn't take long for the police to immediately suspect him. A man who worked as a clown that was just recently fired for having a gun on him and is generally regarded as a creepy guy, is going to be the first person the police would think is the culprit. Not surprising.
  • After Arthur kills Murray, it doesn't take long for security to quickly tackle him and make sure he is arrested. Not surprising.
• The Batman
  • As Bruce notes in his monologue during the Batman Cold Open, he's just one man. A badass, intelligent, highly-skilled fighter decked out in bulletproof armour and versed in the use of terror tactics, capable of handling small armies of men by his lonesome with his advanced weaponry, resources and iron willpower, but still, at the end of it all, just one man, without any fantastical superpowers. No matter how hard he pushes himself night after night, he can't patrol and stop every crime happening in a large city like Gotham all alone- there's just too many isolated incidents occurring all at once for him to do so. Instead, part of the reasoning behind Bruce pushing hard into his Terror Hero tactics is to deliberately install fear into those tempted to commit criminal acts across the city, exploiting the fact that they have no idea if he's watching and waiting for them to cross the line, and pointedly going after large gangs rather than small-time singular criminals to spread the word of his presence. Not an outcome.
    Bruce/The Batman: I must choose my targets carefully. It's a big city, I can't be everywhere... but they don't know where I am.
  • This version of Batman goes out of his way to cultivate the image of himself as a Terror Hero and an avatar of Vengeance against the criminals of Gotham to motivate them into ceasing their criminal ways, but mainly to provide an outlet for his deep-seated rage issues regarding his parents' murder. Whilst this does make him a terrifying force in a fight, outside of it his reputation as a brutal vigilante makes it hard for the police to cooperate with him, with it being clear that it's mainly due to Gordon's aid that they're not devoting efforts into locking him up themselves, and many of the citizens he seeks to protect fear him just as much, if not more, than the criminals he targets. It also means that choosing such a theatrical method of fixing the city's problem and actually having an effect inspires copycats who seek to emulate his example without any understanding of his goals or motivations. Bruce is horrified to discover that the Riddler is actually a Loony Fan of his who believed they were on the same side, and that he accidentally inspired his own reign of terror upon Gotham when Edward sought to turn Bruce's methods against what he saw as the corrupt elite of the city... primarily, Bruce Wayne himself. This is his main motivation to part with his revenge-driven crusade and start making efforts towards becoming the Big Good of Gotham instead of the terror stalking its nighttime. Irrelevant Wall of Text.
  • In an effort to help the underprivileged residents of Gotham, Thomas Wayne established the Renewal Fund, a charitable fund meant to get vital money into their pockets without the red tape and oversight that had impeded similar efforts in the past. Unsurprisingly, the lack of actual governance over the fund after he died meant the city's corrupt officials and criminals swooped in, used the money to fund their criminal activities, exacerbated the problems the fund was meant to solve. Oversight exists for a reason. This also addresses the common "Why doesn't Bruce just throw money at the problem?" criticism. (He does, but carefully, so it doesn't cause precisely this type of problem.) Yes, unsurprisingly.
  • Batman is chased to the top of the tall building, then leaps off of it, counting on his wingsuit and parachute to bring him to safety. The parachute gets caught on an overpass and Batman faceplants hard onto the road. Plot happens.
  • Batman and Gordon's partnership is not looked on favourably by the rest of the GCPD, with many of them tolerating him only because Gordon has their respect from his long years of service, and it's made clear that several of them are itching to arrest him. Accordingly, the Batsignal is not located atop the police station and is instead in an abandoned construction tower, clearly something jury-rigged between Gordon and Batman by themselves, and is usually used as a meeting spot for the two of them away from the rest of the police. Given how absolutely corrupt Gotham historically is that it's seen as necessary for such a partnership to exist in order for the police to be effective down the line, it comes as no surprise that despite all the efforts they've made towards combatting surface-level crime, both men were excluded and unaware of the real corruption present in the city's authority figures until Riddler exposed the truth. Both men are clearly upset when they discover Sal Maroni's drug trades were still operating in the city under Falcone's management and Batman deduces that they never stopped despite his well-publicized takedown. Irrelevant Wall of Text.
  • Gordon himself is usually portrayed as completely incorruptible and morally pure, but this film emphasizes the moral and legal ambiguity of working with a violent vigilante. Several cops correctly point out Batman is jeopardizing evidence, which could cause lots of problems in court, and Gordon helps Batman abduct and question suspects, conduct unauthorized surveillance, and leaks vital evidence the cops can't legally use to the press, which gives him the deniability to act on it. Under normal circumstances, these would all be very bad things, but the movie implies it's the only way he can work around the cops' corruption. Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
  • Gotham is a major metropolitan city so of course it is going to have a major traffic problem at all hours. As soon as Batman and Penguin's car chase gets into the freeway it grinds to a complete halt several times, because it doesn't matter how much of a Cool Car you are driving, when there's a traffic jam, you are not going anywhere. Plot happens.
  • Despite being a staple of his character, this version of the Batman doesn't use his signature Batarangs in combat. In a pitched gunfight, and especially in the low-lighting conditions Batman favours in a fight, it would be hard to land a hit with a thrown object, especially since they're not easy to retrieve if they miss, and this Batman is shown to be capable of being knocked off-balance by the kinetic impact of gunfire on his bulletproof armour, meaning it would be nigh-impossible to actually toss an object back in his target's face with any accuracy when his aim is getting constantly thrown off. Instead, Bruce skirts around his Does Not Like Guns rule by using his wrist-mounted Grappling Hook Pistols as a mid-range weapon when he needs to close the distance to his target, them being easy to reload and aim in a firefight, and mostly used as an Emergency Weapon when he can't easily reach a target. The closest thing to the Batarangs is Batman's Chest Insignia, which is revealed to be detachable and functions as a large knife for when he needs to use a cutting tool, such as severing the live power lines during the flooding of Gotham, and otherwise Batman never uses it for combat purposes. Irrelevant Wall of Text.
  • Batman is a Genius Bruiser and the film devotes a lot of time to showing how his smarts and detective skills are equally as vital to his crime-fighting abilities as his resources and fighting skills, but he is not quite yet the world's greatest detective, able to parse out the correct answers to the Riddler's clues immediately based on some obscure knowledge he retained, especially with how varied and obtuse the clues get. He's able to piece together the state of the Mayor's crime scene from observational skills and is quicker at following the lines of logic needed to understand the Riddler's puzzles than the police, but several times he requires outside aid and advice to deduce the correct answers. Cobblepot ends up helping him solve one of the riddles by mocking him for not noticing the inaccurate Spanish used in the phrase "el rata alada", something neither Batman nor Gordon noticed because neither of them had a good enough understanding of Spanish. This comes into play in the climax, wherein Riddler was under the impression that Batman had already solved his final puzzle and discovered his plans to flood Gotham in time to thwart it, and gloats that he'd clearly been giving him too much credit. As it turns out, the clue relies on Batman being able to recognize a carpet-scraper on sight—since Batman is old money, he misses the hint. Irrelevant Wall of Text.
    The Riddler: Oh, you're really not as smart as I thought you were.
  • Similar to past incarnations, instead of a voice modulator, Bruce chooses to pitch his voice differently when as Batman or Bruce Wayne in public, speaking more confidently, clearly and with a deeper baritone when as Batman, that sounds closer to his normal voice when speaking to Alfred, and having a lower-pitched, withdrawn speaking cadence when appearing in public during the mayor's funeral, selling the idea that he's a withdrawn Shrinking Violet. The only people he does meet in both personas are the criminals inhabiting the Iceberg Lounge, and they realistically can't equate the spoiled rich kid to the terrifying vigilante that has kicked their asses before. However, even this isn't fully enough to fully avoid people recognising his voice, especially if they regularly meet with him, and he outright avoids speaking to Gordon and Martinez when they meet at the funeral, even if he comes off as cold and anti-social because of it. Irrelevant Wall of Text.
  • Selina Kyle can use surprise, agility, and trickery to get the better of foes, but in a direct physical confrontation with much larger and stronger men (like Batman or Falcone), her Waif-Fu doesn't get her very far. Case in point, at the film's climax, Batman is about to be shot in the face and she swoops down from above and grabs the mook about to kill him and throws him against the wall before kicking him in the face. It barely takes the guy out of the fight and in the short time it takes her to help pull Batman up and awaken him with a kiss, the same mook gets back up and surprise attacks Selina from behind and would likely have killed her save for Batman's last minute, adrenaline-fueled intervention. Irrelevant Wall of Text.
  • Batman's Badass Cape falls more into the 'impractical' side of Awesome, but Impractical on a few occasions. He does use it as a hang-gliding tool as has been shown in other media, but it requires him several seconds of preparation to zip it into a more aerodynamic wing suit form before he can do so, which nearly gets him arrested by the police when he's doing it in a time-sensitive situation. And during the Final Battle, it provides an easy way for Riddler's followers to grab hold of him and take him off-balance, threatening to drag him backwards to the edge of the gantry they're fighting on and toss him down into the flood waters before he can recover. It greatly helps with his Terror Hero aspect, but a cape is a very impractical fashion accessory to wear if you're planning to go into pitched combat like Bruce does. Irrelevant Wall of Text.
  • In the climax, whilst Riddler is able to amass several followers from his fanbase to accord on the final phase of his plan after he's arrested, they only number about 12-15 men tops, rather than a small army, despite him having a widespread fanbase in the thousands. There's a significant difference between cheering on somebody ideologically on the other side of a computer screen, and actually putting yourself on the line when enacting Riddler's plans. However, despite their small numbers, they're presented as a significant threat in the Final Battle because they have a high ground terrain advantage, covering multiple angles with high-powered firearms, the element of surprise as well as the ground below in the stadium rapidly flooding, meaning that the police can't coordinate to any degree to stop their attack. However, these people are clearly amateurs who haven't been training with guns for that long, as on several occasions they miss relatively easy shots against Batman and Mayor Reál, despite Reál being an open target on a stage and Batman being a dark figure pressed against an illuminated sign. On the flip side, while Batman succeeds in blindsiding them with an attack through the roof, once the element of surprise wears off they quickly rally and gain the advantage over him several times from a combination of their greater numbers, guns and the terrain limiting his mobility whilst giving them a clear line of sight on him almost all the time. Bruce outright has to be rescued from the last Mook because he's so spent after fighting the rest of them off. Irrelevant Wall of Text.
  • Although she doesn’t say anything, Selina is initially visibly uncomfortable when Bruce reveals he had been watching her in her apartment. No character reactions.
  • As shown throughout the film, unlike other iterations of the character, this Batman can't easily glide throughout the tall buildings of Gotham and in the crowded and packed streets, the Batmobile has extremely limited manoeuvrability. Batman only ever uses it in place of a small tank when he's visiting a location that will have a lot of armed goons and he needs something that can withstand their firepower. His Grappling-Hook Pistol isn't used as his primary means of getting around, but rather as an emergency exit option when he needs to rapidly flee the scene. Accordingly, Bruce primary means of transport around the city is an ordinary but powerful motorbike, which can easily get around the cramped and sometimes poorly-maintained streets of Gotham, not to mention is a lot harder to follow than something as conspicuous as the Batmobile. Accordingly, in order to avoid being recognised when he's driving around, Bruce spends a lot of time navigating Gotham's streets in civilian clothing that obscures his face, carrying the Batsuit around in a portable backpack so he can change into it at a moment's notice and apparently appear from nowhere at a scene. Irrelevant Wall of Text.
  • The Batmobile is fast, loud, enormous, and intimidating. It also has the turning circle of a barge and suspect weight distribution. Batman nearly loses a chase target that can take a tighter turn in a civilian car and has to corral them onto a highway to prevent it happening again. When he does need to make tight maneuvers in a hurry, he Drives Like Crazy by necessity, doing things like allowing the rear end to slam an obstacle if it gets him facing the right way - the car's tough enough to take it. Plot happens.

• Batman: Arkham Series:
  • Even though the electronic fences are built by the company Batman owns, even he can't get through without codes. And even when he gets half the code, he still needs to hack through. They were made to keep unauthorized people in or out of certain areas, and that includes Batman. Plot happens.
  • Batman can take out dozens of prisoners with delicate uses of flips, jumps, punches, and Batarangs. But try to take on a group of gun-wielding goons head-on, and Batman will quickly be turned into Bat-paste. Especially when he fights mooks with high-powered sniper rifles. Not surprising.
  • It turns out that a formula that rapidly turns men into giant monsters developed in prison by a corrupt doctor with nothing even vaguely resembling proper medical testing, tested on a bunch of lunatics with improvised ingredients, has unforeseen short-term and long-term side effects. You don't even actually defeat the first boss so much as he keels over from a heart attack two minutes into the fight, with the sounds implying that his heart exploded from the untested formula. The Joker taking the formula to become the Final Boss directly leads to the next game's central plot, where he's dying due to the damage that the untested formula did to his body. Too fantastical.
  • The series' approach to super-villains. Yes, they are dangerous but the problem lies in finding them or dealing with their gimmicks threatening innocent life. Once that's all done, things go how you'd expect when Batman, an Olympic-level athlete/expert combatant in full body armor and specialized weapons, fights people who aren't all this. Plot happens.
  • Batman can Offhand Backhand individual mooks easily. But when faced with multiple mooks, he has to pull his punches so he can be sure he won't kill them. As his combos get longer, he starts leaping across entire rooms to strike foes, since they're hesitating - and giving him breathing room to think - after seeing him smash their pals into the pavement. Plot happens.
  • While for the most part the games have no true time limits, there is one point in Arkham Asylum where Zsasz takes a hostage, knowing full well that he has no hope in a fight against Batman. However, Zsasz is also a compulsive psychotic murderer with a penchant for killing women, he's been locked away for a while in maximum security, and his hostage is a woman who has made his life hell for a long time. Players who linger for a while or let themselves be seen by him results in him killing the hostage instantly, which is Lampshaded by Joker. It's particularly jarring for experienced players, who usually assume that there is no time limit and want to listen to all of Zsasz's dialogue. No character reactions.
    • When you call him in City, he says he has three hostages. Batman eventually needles the psychopathic murderer about his life choices during the course of tracking his location, which enrages Zsasz and makes him drop the call. When you get to him, he now only has two hostages and there's a corpse floating in his hideout. He said Batman would regret pissing him off. No character reactions.
    • Early on in Arkham City, Batman is held at gunpoint by four mooks inside the church. If the player decides to wait around, the mooks will eventually shoot Batman dead. Plot happens.
    • Same thing in Arkham Knight where Harley Quinn has Robin being held at gunpoint. If Batman takes too long to intervene, Harley will kill Robin. Plot happens.
  • For most of City, there are an abundance of henchmen. After many of the inmates are killed in Protocol 10, there are a lot less heads to knock around. Plot happens.
  • Batman can pull metal grates off of walls. So can Joker, Nightwing, Robin, and Deathstroke since all of them are some degree of Badass Normal with strength training. Catwoman - who is more about stealth, agility, and speed - is not able to do this, to the point she asks Batman just how he does it at all. Not surprising.
  • The ending of Arkham City shows that Joker Immunity isn't always a sure thing. Attacking someone that is holding the only cure to the poison that is on the verge of finally killing you is not a good idea. Cuttable ZCE.
  • Harley Quinn's Revenge implies that, although not formally charged, the general consensus, at least among the remaining inmates of Arkham City, is that Batman killed the Joker. Murder by Inaction is still murder. Plot happens.
  • Origins has quite a bit: Nothing can have "quite a bit" of SROs.
    • Promotional materials for Origins mention "unconfirmed rumors" that Batman has personalized aircraft. When Batman discovers Bane's computer console and realizes Bane knows his Secret Identity, one of the monitors has a radar display. Bane figured it out by merely tracking the Batwing, and putting two and two together about where it takes off from and where it goes to land. This is very similar to the way he found it in the Knightfall novelization; tracking the Batmobile by chopper, losing it, and then looking at the rich men with houses in the area. Plot happens.
    • Letting Joker ramble on too long while he has Batman at gunpoint will result in Joker killing Batman with a single bullet at point-blank range. At this point, Batman is just another meaningless victim to the Joker, and without the clown's future obsession with turning the Bat insane like him, there's nothing stopping him from shooting Batman immediately. No character reactions.
    • During the credits, Jack Ryder is having a live conversation with Quincy Sharp and various political experts over the game's events, debating over how effective the cops are, the state of the country if such criminals can actually exist, and the failure of Gotham's prison system. The only one to escape criticism is Batman, who is at least doing something about crime in Gotham even if his vigilantism is itself, by definition, a crime. Not an outcome, no character reactions.
  • Knight has quite a few: Nothing can have "quite a few" SROs.
    • After the chaos in Arkham City about Protocol 10, many of the surviving inmates sued Gotham City Hall for giving Hugo Strange the go-ahead for the protocol; many of them got a substantial payoff and were released from prison. Since the Gotham city government, like most city governments, isn't obscenely rich, the money for these payoffs came from budget cuts to Gotham city departments and services, like the GCPD and the Gotham Fire Department. This means big layoffs in both departments, which directly affects Gotham's ability to respond to emergencies during Halloween Night. Plot happens.
    • The police were unable to find all of the tainted blood the Joker sent to hospitals in the previous game. A statewide search and retrieval is not going to go off flawlessly, with any mistakes and errors caused by anyone in the chain of investigation preventing all the blood from being found. Not surprising.
    • Batman has three hideouts: Panessa, the clock tower, and his office. Each of these is occupied by just one of Batman's allies, two tops. All three are easily stormed by villains because there are no guards and the only security measures seem to be their innocuous locations and bio-metric recognition, which we see can be easily faked. Even the GCPD is attacked, but it takes a small army to make the attempt since the building is actually guarded by an entrenched force. Not surprising.
    • The supervillains pooled all of their money for a $3 billion army. As a result, they're so strapped for cash during Halloween that most of them have to do regular crimes just to get some income, with Penguin running guns and Two-Face robbing banks. This comes back to bite them as they lose whatever money they had left in the DLC chapters, thus losing their ability to pay for henchmen and means to fight the Bat Family. Plot happens.
    • Talia is mentioned a few times in the game, and despite Protagonist-Centered Morality, her impact on the world is mixed. Her family and Batman miss her, whereas Cash's entry in the evidence room calls her a terrorist, Alfred calls Nyssa the sanest of the Ghul family, and the Joker hallucination mentions seeing her in hell. The Joker one is especially poignant if you view him as a product of Batman's subconscious: even he couldn't totally deny Talia was evil. No character reactions.
    • Victor Zsasz was a recurring threat in the previous games, but it was clear that he only had Joker's support to make him a figure in the underworld, because the other villains were too disgusted or scared of him. With the Joker dead, Zsasz has been left to his own devices and is entirely irrelevant to the game's events, with his one appearance being incidentally on a security camera. Plot happens.
    • This is what the Knightfall Protocol is all about at the very end: when the Scarecrow unmasks Batman live on television, that's it, Bruce knows it's over. Batman relies on superstition and fear to be effective since he's just a normal human under the training and the high-tech gear, and having his identity revealed completely destroys that - not to mention as well that a successful vigilante like Batman, especially one prone to Arch Enemies due to his aversion to directly killing criminals, in a city as riddled with crime as Gotham, will have made a lot of enemies who absolutely will not hesitate to use any advantage they can get against him. He rounds up the last of the villains, races off back to Wayne Manor, and blows it all to kingdom come. It's uncertain if Bruce and Alfred died at the very end or not, but it's done to make sure no one goes after the other masked heroes connected to him. No character reactions.
    • Not all of the consequences of Batman's public unmasking involve villains coming after him with force. One of the mook conversations after the unmasking involves a couple street thugs planning to sue Wayne for everything he's got after all of the beatings he's given them in the past. Plot happens.
    • In an interesting minor example, the Riddler Trophies aren't just collectibles that exist only for the player to find - they're actually there in the game world. Enemy chatter reveals that the mooks sometimes try to retrieve them themselves, but either aren't able to solve the riddles or find they can't take them for other reasons (in Knight, it's mentioned that they electrocute anyone other than Batman or Catwoman who tries to touch them). Plot happens.
    • The aerial drones under the Militia's command (Dragon and Serpent) can take much less punishment than their land-based counterparts, as weight is much more of an issue for any aerial vehicle and necessitates them not being as heavily armored. Not surprising.
• Batman: The Telltale Series: In Season Two, Episode 2, Bruce is forced to break into his own company, a guard is attacked and security footage captures him. However, while the guard is put on leave and Alfred replaces the footage with dummy footage, it does not stop the guard from telling the cops about it, while the dummy footage is easily seen through and results in Bruce almost getting arrested. Plot happens.