How Does Nolan Bruce Wayne/Batman Compare To Comic Counterpart?

[Agent Z]

Not sure if there was ever a thread like this but I thought I'd make one anyway. How does the Batman as depicted by Christopher Nolan stack up against his (many) comic interpretation(s). Is he just as good, if not better? Do you think they didn't follow the source material well enough? What are your thoughts?

[SiegePerilous02]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about him. On the one hand, he was a thousand times more likeable than the Bat-Jerk we were being subjected to at the time in the comics, and wasn't the invincible Bat-God either. But on the other hand, I don't think we got to see his intelligence displayed adequately on screen. He always seemed to be two steps behind the Joker all throughout the film, and I generally prefer the two to be equals in the mental games of chess they have going on, and didn't do too much detective work. We focused more on his ninja training than his studies.

And while the whole "the mission is what matters/I can never ever stop being Batman and no one can ever get close to me" stuff gets tedious a lot of the time, I feel this Bruce was a little too far in the other direction. He seemed way too eager to give up being Batman, especially when he wants to settle down with Rachel of all people (bleh). I think him retiring and getting with Selina like his parents would have wanted was a nice, mature ending for him, but it doesn't feel too earned when he fought crime for two years and then vanished.

[Agent Z]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about him. On the one hand, he was a thousand times more likeable than the Bat-Jerk we were being subjected to at the time in the comics, and wasn't the invincible Bat-God either. But on the other hand, I don't think we got to see his intelligence displayed adequately on screen. He always seemed to be two steps behind the Joker all throughout the film, and I generally prefer the two to be equals in the mental games of chess they have going on, and didn't do too much detective work. We focused more on his ninja training than his studies.

And while the whole "the mission is what matters/I can never ever stop being Batman and no one can ever get close to me" stuff gets tedious a lot of the time, I feel this Bruce was a little too far in the other direction. He seemed way too eager to give up being Batman, especially when he wants to settle down with Rachel of all people (bleh). I think him retiring and getting with Selina like his parents would have wanted was a nice, mature ending for him, but it doesn't feel too earned when he fought crime for two years and then vanished.

What do you have against Rachel?

[SiegePerilous02]

What do you have against Rachel?

She's just really, really bland. She seemed more like a plot device for the men to pine over and then die so that Harvey would have motivation to become Two-Face. There isn't much more to her than that, and I kinda hate that Harvey's transformation was reduced to being upset over his dead girlfriend rather than the psychological issues he had in the comics.

[bat39]

As far as Bruce wanting to retire goes...it makes sense in context.

In the comics, after Batman took down the Mob, the 'freaks' took over Gotham and so he ended up fighting a never-ending war against the likes Joker, Penguin, Two Face etc. not to mention periodic resurgences of the Mob and numerous other super-villains.

In the far more grounded Nolanverse, sure there was the Joker, but there really wasn't an explosion of 'freaks' like there was in the comics. So once the Mob was taken down, Batman would indeed have been home free.

Nolanverse Bruce isn't a man so emotionally scarred by his parent's deaths that he is compelled to dedicate his entire life to a never-ending crusade. He's a man who realized that his parent's deaths were just a symptom of a larger disease that afflicted Gotham and he wanted to do his best to kick-start the curing of that disease. When he'd nearly achieved his objective, he understandably felt he could hang up the cowl.

[PyroSikTh]

In the comics, Batman/Bruce Wayne is the character who drives the story. For Nolan, Batman/Bruce Wayne was a vessel of themes along with everyone else.

[SiegePerilous02]

As far as Bruce wanting to retire goes...it makes sense in context.

In the comics, after Batman took down the Mob, the 'freaks' took over Gotham and so he ended up fighting a never-ending war against the likes Joker, Penguin, Two Face etc. not to mention periodic resurgences of the Mob and numerous other super-villains.

In the far more grounded Nolanverse, sure there was the Joker, but there really wasn't an explosion of 'freaks' like there was in the comics. So once the Mob was taken down, Batman would indeed have been home free.

Nolanverse Bruce isn't a man so emotionally scarred by his parent's deaths that he is compelled to dedicate his entire life to a never-ending crusade. He's a man who realized that his parent's deaths were just a symptom of a larger disease that afflicted Gotham and he wanted to do his best to kick-start the curing of that disease. When he'd nearly achieved his objective, he understandably felt he could hang up the cowl.

True, there are very different circumstances at work here. After the Joker and Two-Face, it sounds like there wasn't an insurgence of costumed supervillains in the Nolanverse. This, coupled with the Harvey Dent Act, allowed the crime rates to drop. Still, I'm used to a Bruce who is so compelled to put on the costume and patrol regardless of the crime rates; as competent as the new breed of police are, they can't be present to stop every crime, and that alone would drive Bruce to continue as Batman, even in a limited capacity.

In the comics, Batman/Bruce Wayne is the character who drives the story. For Nolan, Batman/Bruce Wayne was a vessel of themes along with everyone else.

Yeah, I generally prefer the characters to come first, or an equal balance between character and theme. Harvey in particular suffered from this.

[Alan2099]

Nolan Batman basically had to have somebody give him instructions on what to do or at least a pep talk every fifteen minutes and apparently didn't understand the concept of being criminally insane. He flushed the name of Wayne down the toilet and on top of all of that his big character arc can be described as "I have no idea how to be Batman", "I don't want to be Batman," and finally "I quit being Batman... oh yeah, and I quit being Bruce Wayne too. Instead I think I'll hook up with this major thief and murderer that I barely know."

Comic batman may be a jerk a lot of the time, but Nolan Batman really didn't put too much effort into being a hero at all.

[byrd156]

The Nolan Batman is just lame in comparison.

[Pharozonk]

Nolan's Batman is pretty ineffective compared to actual Batman

[Predator JP]

he was too nice. i want to see Bat-Jerk, more interesting.

[Kid A]

Nolan's Batman is pretty ineffective compared to actual Batman

The same Batman who lets the Joker kill hundreds of people every week?

[Pharozonk]

The same Batman who lets the Joker kill hundreds of people every week?

I meant more in the detective skills and designing gear departments.

[KurtW95]

Nolan Batman takes a dive at the sheer site of Comics Batman.

[lancerman]

He's more realistic. He's not the best at every thing he does. He doesn't drive all his friends away who try to help him. He's usually pretty welcoming and supportive of his allies. He's more optimistic. He has more tangible goals. And he had a reasonable endgame.

So he's pretty much what Batman would be if you took away all the Mary Sue jargon and didn't put him in an endless continuity.