Bruce Wayne, known by his alter-ego Batman, was a millionaire businessman who masqueraded as a bat in order to fight crime in Gotham City.
History
As a young boy, Bruce was good friends with Rachel Dawes. He fell down a well and was attacked by bats, and his father, a doctor, rescued him. Later they attended the opera with his mother and as they left they were confronted by Joe Chill, who mugged and then shot both of Bruce's parents. Orphaned, Bruce was cared for by the family butler Alfred Pennyworth. He attended Princeton University, then returned to Gotham as Joe Chill was being released in exchange for information on Carmine Falcone. Bruce waited outside the courtroom to kill Chill, but one of Falcone's assassins got to him first. Robbed of his revenge, he was admonished by Rachel Dawes for being so selfish. He confronted Carmine Falcone, who told him that he would never be able to face up against criminals as he didn't understand their world. Hoping to prove him wrong, Bruce got on a ferry and travelled over Asia, becoming part of the criminal underworld until his arrest and sentence to jail for seven years, where he brawled with the inmates.
Batman Begins
A man called Henri Ducard told him that if he climbed a certain mountain he could become part of the League of Shadows. Bruce was released and journeyed up the mountian, and there a man claiming to be Ra's al Ghul trained him in martial arts and deception, and he became a leader of the League. However, when asked to execute a convicted murderer, Bruce refused, setting fire to the building and escaping. Before he left he saved Ducard's life. Bruce then returned to Gotham and set about trying to combat criminals. After discovering Lucius Fox's R&D department at Wayne Enterprises he built himself a batsuit and many gadgets and weaponry. He enlisted the help of Jim Gordon, a police officer, in order to track down and capture Carmine Falcone, and deliver him to the police. After Falcone was imprisoned, Bruce investigated what he was smuggling in. He was attacked by the Scarecrow, who sprayed him with fear toxin. Bruce realised Rachel Dawes was in danger from the Scarecrow and rescued her from Arkham Asylum. He made it back to his birthday party in time, but Henri Ducard was waiting, revealing himself as the real Ra's al Ghul. Ghul burnt down Wayne Manor and left to destroy Gotham with a microwave emitter. Alfred saved Bruce from the fire, who then went to The Narrows to face Ducard. He cornered him on the monorail and refused to save him as the monorail crashed into a building. The city was saved and Batman revealed his identity to Rachel. Batman then met with Jim Gordon, who told him crime was escalating and a new enemy was on the loose.
The Dark Knight
As the Joker wrought havoc in Gotham, Bruce tried to keep track of his whereabouts. Along with Harvey Dent, the new District Attorney, they managed to track down the mob's money to a man called Mr Lau. Bruce travelled to Hong Kong to capture Lau and deliver him back to Gotham, where he implicated the rest of the mob in a Reco case.
However, the Joker sent a tape telling Batman that if he didn't reveal himself people would die. Commissioner Gillian Loeb and judge Janet Surrillo were killed, and the Joker invaded a party where he tried to capture Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes, his new girlfriend. However Batman saved Rachel and Harvey. Next, at the memorial for commissioner Loeb, the Joker and his men shot at Mayor Anthony Garcia, and Batman stopped Harvey Dent from killing one of the Joker's men. Batman then agreed to give himself up, but before he could Harvey Dent told the press it was him.
Bruce then tailed Harvey's police escort and saved him from the Joker. He confronted the Joker on the street, but couldn't kill him. Just as the Joker was about to kill Batman, Jim Gordon revealed himself and arrested the terrorist. Batman then interrogated the Joker after Harvey Dent went missing. The Joker revealed he had captured Harvey and Rachel, and gave Batman their locations. Bruce went after what he thought was Rachel's location, but in fact was Harvey's. Batman saved Harvey, but half of his face was burnt away. Rachel was killed, and the Joker escaped.
Bruce then faced trouble as Coleman Reese threatened to reveal his identity, but the Joker ordered Reese's death. Bruce saved his life, but then had to face the Joker's next threat - two ferries loaded with explosives. Batman broke into the Joker's building were hostages were being held and captured the Joker. The ferries did not explode, but the Joker revealed his true plan - he had turned Harvey Dent insane.
Batman rushed off the building where Rachel had died to find Dent holding Jim Gordon's family hostage. He flipped a coin for each of their lives, shooting Batman in the chest. Just as he was about to kill Gordon's son, Batman attacked Dent and threw him off a ledge. Batman and Gordon agreed that the story of Harvey's madness should not leak out, and Batman would be branded a villain who killed Dent. Batman drove off into the night.
The Dark Knight Rises
For the next 8 years, Wayne shut himself in his mansion and stopped fighting crime as the Batman. He started a fusion energy project at Wayne Enterprises, but abandoned it when he stopped taking an interest in the company. He threw a party in memory of Harvey Dent, and had James Gordon and Anthony Garcia speak about Dent. During the party, a maid took him some food and started investigating his room. He fired an arrow close to her head, and noticed she was wearing his mother's pearls from his safe. She then kicked Bruce's leg and jumped out of the window. Bruce noticed that she had been dusting his safe for fingerprints.
He tracked her down and found her name was Selina Kyle. Alfred told Bruce that he needed to get out and live his life again. Wayne was then visited by John Blake, a police officer explained that he was an orphan and knew that Wayne's alter ego was the Batman. Blake said that Gotham needed the Batman to return. He also mentioned that the Wayne Foundation had stopped providing funding to St. Swithin's, his old orphanage.
Bruce asked Alfred about the funding, and found out that Wayne Enterprises was no longer turning a profit. Bruce decided to visit Gordon, who was in the hospital, and he too said that Batman had to return. Bruce visited Lucius Fox, who encouraged him to see Miranda Tate about her energy proposals. He also showed Bruce the applied sciences department, and The Bat. Bruce then went to Selina Kyle's apartment and followed her to a party, where he took back his mother's pearls from her. He also met Miranda Tate, whose party it was, and agreed to hear her proposals.
The next day the mercenary Bane took the Gotham Stock Exchange hostage and escaped on a motorbike. Bruce chased him and his men on The Batpod, but the police started following him instead of Bane. He was cornered by the police, but managed to escape from them. He then rescued Selina Kyle from Bane's mercenaries, and told her that in exchange for saving her life he had to take him to Bane.
Alfred then told Bruce that he was leaving Wayne Manor as he feared that he would die. The next day Lucius informed Bruce that his fingerprint was used in the stock exchange to bankrupt Wayne Enterprises. Bruce then made Tate the head of the company and showed her the fusion reactor. He also visited Selina's apartment to set up a meeting with the Batman. That night he and Tate spent the night together in his mansion.
He met with Kyle as Batman, and she took him into the sewers. She took him to Bane, but locked him in a cage with him. Bane revealed he knew that Batman was Bruce Wayne, before beating him up and breaking his back. He then blew up the roof and revealed he had broken into Wayne Enterprises' applied sciences division. He took Bruce to The Pit, a hellish prison where Bane grew up. He explained that he would make Bruce watch as he destroyed Gotham.
Bruce then worked to heal his back and gain his strength again. He then after several attempts managed to scale the pit and escape from the prison. He returned to Gotham where Bane was holding the city hostage. He rescued Jim Gordon and John Blake from the icy river, and then freed the police from being trapped underground. He gave Selina the Batpod and fought with Bane. Just after besting Bane in combat, Miranda Tate stabbed him in the back and revealed herself as Talia al Ghul, loyal to the League of Shadows.
Talia left with the atomic bomb, and Bane tried to shoot Bruce, but he was rescued by Selina in the Batpod. Together they tracked down the bomb and stopped the truck, but Talia revealed she had flooded the reactor chamber making the bomb impossible to stop. Batman decided to fly the bomb safely away from Gotham, but on the way activated the auto-pilot and escaped. He made Gotham believed he had died, but in fact moved to Florence with Selina. There he saw Alfred, and acknowledged the man but spoke no words to him.
Gallery
Batman Begins
