In the first of the trilogy, Batman Begins, the movie starts out with good old Batman just
beginning to save the streets of Gotham and is cracked up to be nothing more
than a nut by Lieutenant Gordon, the media, and the rest of the police force. Immediately
upon Gordon and Batman meeting one on one, they form a bond. Gordon’s faith in
Batman never fluctuates. He is the only cop on the entire police force who
believes in Batman and what he’s doing, though he might not always understand
his methods, right from the beginning. Subtly, Gordon and Batman become their
own type of duo upon Gordon saying “You’re just one man” and Batman replying
“Now we’re two.” As Batman continues to save the streets, bringing down big
named mobsters, his fame grows to a point where practically every citizen
living in and around Gotham knows him. The police, mainly to set an example
that vigilantes will not be tolerated, set up a task force to catch The Bat.
The police believe that “no one should take the law into their own hands.”
Gordon thinks he’s just trying to help and keeps is bond with Batman intact. At
the end of the movie, Batman saves the day and the city of Gotham (of course he
does). The media praises Batman and in the first page of the newspaper and
pushes Bruce Wayne down to page eight with a demeaning title that states
“Drunken Billionaire Burns Down Home.” Sorry, Bruce, we all know it was
actually The League of Shadows that burnt down your home, but we’ll just keep
that between us. The movie ends with Gordon setting up the famous Bat signal on
the roof of GCPD and announcing “Batman brought hope to Gotham.” Then there’s a
quick conversation between Gordon and The Bat where Gordon says “never said
thank you” and Batman responding with “and you’ll never have to” before
vanishing away mysteriously like he usually does.
The second movie, Batman:
The Dark Knight, picks up with the media talking to the mayor in an
interview. The mayor says “Batman doing good? No.”, “we’re close to an arrest”,
and adding in the contradictory statement “the investigation is ongoing”. Mean
while, we, the audience, listen in and laugh to ourselves. Catch The Bat. HAHA.
In the middle of our silent laughter, the movie shows Gordon and a lady cop
standing by the lit up Bat signal on the roof of GCPD. Gordon tells the lady
cop “He won’t come. I just like to remind everyone he’s out there.” The lady
cop asks why to which Gordon answers “Hopefully because he’s busy”. Come to
find out Batman is working with Gordon as part of a secret tact team that is
finishing up taking down the mob. It’s so secret that only a few cops know and
the DA, Harvey Dent, is suspicious but not in the loop. Harvey Dent knows that
officially, Batman is to be arrested on sight as a vigilante. But Dent is far
from stupid. He knows that the cops aren’t able to bring down the mob alone and
are clearly in league with The Bat. Dent wants to meet this caped crusader but
Gordon knows that the “fewer people that know things the safer” and continues
with “I do the best I can with what I can.” Fast forwarding through many scenes
and picking up to where Bruce Wayne and Moscow ballerina crash Harvey Dent and
Rachel’s date. The Moscow ballerina rambles on to the table about how she can’t
believe that Gotham idolizes a masked vigilante and expresses her concern for
the people that willingly live there with The Bat flying around. Harvey Dent
starts his mini speech saying “We need someone like Batman”, “I think Batman’s
looking for someone to take up his mantle, like myself”, and finishing with “we
wait long enough to see ourselves become the villain”. Eye opening, Harvey,
really. So now there’s the issue of all these fake Batmans running around the
streets of Gotham trying to help. Batman continuously has to save their lives
and tries to get them off the streets. Well the Joker gets his hands on one of
them that announces “Batman showed us we don’t have to be afraid of scum like
you.” Of course the Joker laughs maniacally and preaches that this is why Gotham
is crazy and naturally finishes his little unannounced media broadcast with a
threat about how Batman has to take off his mask or people will die. No big
deal. Just kidding. The whole city freaks out and granted people die and blame
the Bat, especially a detective who flat out says “You’re the reason these men
are dead.” Even one of the mob leaders calls Batman out “All you gotta do is
take off the mask. Are you really going to let more people die.” Now the city
has Batman feeling guilty and more do goody than usual. Batman is ready to take
off the mask, however Dent and Gordon think that this would be him giving in.
So at the press conference that Batman had Dent set up to announce his
identity, Dent decides that he is going to tell the public that he’s The Bat.
But before this announcement the citizens banter off questions like “you’d
rather protect the life of a vigilante over citizens?” To which Dent explains
that everyone just wants him to reveal himself because they are afraid. Batman
feels guiltier now because Dent is arrested. Alfred, Bruce/Batman’s butler
gives him some words of advice “endure. They’ll hate you for it but that’s what
Batman’s there for, to do what no one else can, the right thing.” Okay so in
this long movie, the public realizes that Harvey Dent isn’t actually Batman
upon the arrest (first arrest) of the Joker. Media to Dent “So you’ve been
working with The Bat this whole time?” Dent: “No but I was trusting him to do
the right thing. Save my ass.” The Joker escapes from prison and continues to
kill people because technically Batman still didn’t reveal his identity and the
media, still a little P.Oed states “We waited for Batman to do the right thing
and take off his mask but he hasn’t.” Alright so in the final scenes…ish, where
Batman is bringing down the Joker, he has to fight off the SWAT team because
they’re about to be tricked into killing the hostages. At first the team is
annoyed and betrayed by The Bat until they catch on. Silly, SWAT. Okay, finale
time. Once again Gordon goes to thank Batman and Batman says he doesn’t have
to. Not to give away any spoilers but things go down with Dent, the so called
white knight, and Batman has to cover for him by taking the blame for a couple
of murders. Gordon explains to his son why Batman has to do this by saying
“Batman will be whatever Gotham needs him to be” and so forth and so touching.
The full speech is in the video below.
In the final movie, Batman:
Dark Knight Rises, there is a high-speed chase. Bane, the villain has
motorcycled away with all of Gotham’s money on a laptop. Don’t ask, just watch
the movie if you’re interested. The cops chase Bane. Then Batman shows up to
chase Bane and the cops decide that chasing after Batman instead of Bane is of
higher priority…Seriously? Annoying. Anyway, this is Batman’s first appearance
after 8 years and CNN is all over it. Every cop, and I mean every single cop,
chases after Batman, and just when they think he’s cornered, Batman flies away.
In the movie Batman saves the cops over and over and over and over again. It’s
basically what the whole movies about, kidding…kinda. Batman saves Gordon and
the cops, then soon to be “Robin” and the cops. “Robin” thanks him and Batman
says “Don’t thank me yet.” He’s right. Batman almost dies, comes back to
Gotham, and saves the cops a couple of more times before fighting along side
them. He rescues half of the force from underground tunnels, takes out a couple
of tanks that are ready to shoot the whole police force, and then “dies” for
the people of Gotham flying a nuclear bomb out to sea. Batman is “dead” and
both Gotham and the police force praise him. It’s about time. The cops
literally cheer when Batman saves the day this time around. The town of Gotham
even puts up a statue of Batman and Gordon restores the Bat signal that they
destroyed upon the ending of the previous movie. It’s good to know that at
least now, in death, Batman is appreciated. But am I right? The constant flip
flopping of support from the media, the police force, and the public is
annoying. I’ve been consistently on The Bat’s side from the beginning. I got
your back, Batman!
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