Batman(Bale) and Batman(Pattinson) swap enemies

[Dr Will Hatch]

Spoilers for The Batman inside, you've been warned!



1. Lieutenant Jim Gordon informs Batman(Christian Bale, TDK era) about the new villain in town known as The Riddler(Paul Dano), who is going on a killing spree against Gotham's elite.

Can Baleman stop these murders and prevent The Riddler's larger plan of flooding the city?

2a: Pattinson Batman has to deal with the plot of Batman Begins and stop the League Of Shadows and the Scarecrow(Cillian Murphy) from destroying his version of Gotham City through fear.

2b: The Joker(Heath Ledger) has allied himself with the crime families of Gotham City and is spreading terror in am effort to get Batman to take off his mask and turn himself in. Can Battinson stop him?

2c: Battinson has to deal this time with Catwoman(Anne Hathaway), Bane(Tom Hardy) and the resurgence of the League of Shadows, and has to stop the latter two from destroying the city with a nuclear bomb. The scenario begins right after Bane attacks the stock exchange.

[FrenchGemini]

Having seen The Batman for the second time last night (damn good movie, for now I'd say Battinson is my favorite live-action Bats, with Bale and Affleck being second ex-aequo) here is my take on it:

1: In character, assuming he goes through the riddles (I don't remember him, Alfred or Fox being knowledgeable in cryptographics or being especially good at solving riddles) I don't see Baleman whip out the sonar tech until after Colson's murder (by the way, I don't see him survive that explosion at point-blank range). By that point, he catches up to Riddler, I think. Or he thinks outside the box as he did during the hostage situation in TDK, and tries cutting the knot by finding out from where the Iceberg Lounge photos were taken. Either way, once he gets his hands on Riddler, I don't see the latter resist Batman's interrogation tactics.

Assuming Baleman fails and the assassination attempt on Real still happens, given that the guy (for all the crap we give him around here regarding his fighting skills and choreography) did go through a SWAT team and Joker's thugs at the same time, he should do just fine against a dozen nutty, dark web equivalent of Twitch subscribers with guns.

Also, funny thought, this Bruce Wayne is much more of a public figure than Battinson, so I could see Nashton try a more direct approach and capture Baleman, at which point he is accidentally stopped, with Wayne claiming he got lucky or something(as seen in the Dark Knight, he wasn't shy about using his fighting skills in civilian clothes if needed).



2a: Battinson likely dies badly after meeting Scarecrow (which he would, he wasn't that careful), while he would survive being doused in flames, he doesn't have access to Fox or someone to whip out an antidote, and he himself doesn't show knowledge in chemistry so far (outside of a dubiously canon prequel novel, and assuming we grant him that, remember that he is knocked out by the fear gas at this point). Assuming he meets the League rather than Scarecrow... he also dies badly, by feats, he got manhandled by ordinary thugs at a few points. I guess the armor could help him take a few of those guys down, but it won't help him against Ra's, especially since his striking power and strength are lower than Bale so far.

2b: Harvey Dent is killed just fine, along with the other two, since he won't be at a party thrown by Battinson's Bruce, because of the latter's reclusive nature, so the Joker will be using another way to get to him. At Loeb's funeral, Battinson would actually be there as Bruce Wayne, with his Batgear not too far, through the same reasoning he had for Mitchell's funeral. I actually don't think he can stop a lot here, but it is less because of his detective skills (which are just fine, with a bit of help from Alfred) than because Baleman had access to better tech (outside of the armor itself) to help him fight the Joker(sonar tech bullet reconstructing, a better glider, and a Batmobile with a built-in Batpod to keep chasing after being shot with a rocket launcher)

2c: He dies badly in the first fight against Bane.