In 2014, Vulture released a video titled Batman’s Parents Dying: The Supercut. Where it showed nine different version of the classic Batman origin story told across various forms of TV and cinema. Since the release of this video, we’ve now seen the story on screen twice more as the opening of Batman v Superman and played for a gag in the hilarious animated feature film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. But what is the function of the scene and how do you introduce a famous character to your audience for the journey you’re about to embark on.
Bruce Wayne
Bruce Wayne, accompanied by his parents, enters a dark alley late at night where his parents are murdered by a criminal and young Bruce’s mind is forever scarred, leading him to grow up into what we know as Batman. We’ve seen this story plenty of times before and we will be doomed to see it many more because Batman doesn’t necessarily have an awful lot of relatable personality qualities on his surface besides this trauma. So if you’re looking for a quick human edge to the Bat we know, this is a story creators gravitate towards.
The use of this scene in Batman v Superman is to have Thomas Wayne’s dying words be the name of his wife, “Martha”. This film has been torn apart by critics, especially the reveal that this scene is setting up for a moment near the end of the movie where Batman stops wailing on Superman because Superman also says “Martha” just before he’s about to die, the name o f his own mother. Superman saying Martha calls Batman back to the death of his parents and allows both heroes to take a breath long enough to realise they’re both human and on the same side.
One of the largest problems with starting a movie on a scene like the death of the Waynes is that you forget that you’ve yet to set up your character and who they are in their universe in the present. We know Batman’s trauma, yes, but who is he to the world surrounding him, how does he operate today. Sadly, Batman v Superman doubles down in the following sequence with Bruce Wayne in the streets of the city of Metropolis as the ending fight of Man of Steel plays out above him, destruction raining down on innocent civilians.
I spoke previously in my Action/Thriller article about the Action/Thriller protagonist and how they’re the only person capable of finishing a job the rest of the world isn’t equipped to deal with. The same article highlights that in an Action movie, destruction caused by a villain is a large scale, city wide visual treat while in an Action/Thriller, the destruction is human, personal, painful. To recontextualize the final action sequence of Man of Steel into a city-wide tragedy that Batman himself was in the middle of plainly cements Batman as an Action/Thriller hero for this feature as he goes all out to take down a living god known as Superman.
But one of the key problems with Batman v Superman is that it’s not an Action/Thriller movie and Batman will spend a large majority of his time behaving counter to audience desires as the tone of the movie stays largely within the Action genre from this point forward. Batman’s misunderstanding of the genre he’s playing a leading role in is good for showing us that he doesn’t understand that Superman is a hero, but bad for us as a first introduction to the character because who he is does not mix with the movie we’re seeing. We do not get to know Bruce besides his Dirty Harry revenge persona and trauma is not equal to character.
Jim Gordon
In the 2014 Pilot for the Ben McKenzie lead detective show Gotham we begin with the death of the Waynes. With the story set in Gotham city’s past, following the character of Jim Gordon as a new hire, Gotham is trying to utilize the death of the Waynes as a cold open for the detective show it has in line for us. The function of a cold open is to jump into the action of the show and in a procedural crime drama what this means is showing the murder that our lead characters will be investigating that week.
The problem we face is that Gotham secretly wants to function as an origin story for Batman and his villains at the same time. The death of the Waynes is a strong scene and could easily serve a purpose in the story of Jim Gordon and be a case that matters to audiences but the core issue we have in the Batman mythos is that the character of Joe Chill, the person that murdered the Waynes, exists for Bruce’s story.
Without cutting to an opening sequence, Gotham is set on making Bruce’s story a tight secondary plot within the entire series and so we follow Gordon right up until he meets Bruce himself:
EXT. THEATER DISTRICT ALLEYWAY. GOTHAM – CONTINUOUS
A GCPD HOMICIDE SQUAD CAR pulls to the curb, Gordon and Bullock inside. GORDON’S POV – The alley is taped off, and bathed in the eerie glow of temporary lights set up by the first responders. FOUR GCPD OFFICERS hold back a small crowd of ONLOOKERS. The two detectives get out of the car and head down the alley, ducking under the tape.
Bullock nods to SERGEANT TANNENBAUM, (40’s, male, shlumpy) standing guard over the bodies of the Waynes. Sheets have been placed over them. The cop’s tone is casual but professional. Gordon is galvanised and alert. Familiar with war, murder scenes are not shocking but horribly fascinating.
TANNENBAUM The legendary Harvey Bullock. No rest for the wicked eh?
BULLOCK Tannenbaum, looking crisp. This is my new partner, James Gordon. What we got?
Tannenbaum and Gordon exchange nods.
TANNENBAUM Just got here myself. Male and a female, gunshot wounds. Their kid saw the whole thing. Poor little bastard hasn’t spoke a word yet.
The Sergeant points out Bruce Wayne, sitting on a doorstep, wrapped in a police department blanket, his face a mask of tragedy. A POLICEWOMAN stands near, feeling helpless. Bruce and Gordon’s eyes meet for a second and Gordon feels his fathomless pain. As if drawn by a magnet, he goes to the boy, sits down alongside.
They sit in silence. Bullock goes to the bodies, lifts the sheet to look at the faces. He immediately recognizes the Waynes, and curses under his breath. He puts the sheet back over the bodies, and takes Tannenbaum aside for a quiet word.
BULLOCK Listen T, you didn’t see me, okay?
TANNENBAUM I see you right in front of me. What’s your problem? Who are they?
BULLOCK That’s Thomas and Martha Wayne.
TANNENBAUM (alarmed) Oh hell. For real?
BULLOCK Yeah. I don’t need that kind of hassle. Call Major Crimes. They’d love to have this.
TANNENBAUM But they’re not here. You are here, and your partner’s talking to the witness. That makes it your case.
Bullock sighs, knowing Tannenbaum is right, and won’t budge.
ON GORDON AND BRUCE. Still silent. Finally…
GORDON My name’s James Gordon. I’m a detective. What’s your name? (no reply) It’s okay. You don’t have to talk.
After a beat…
BRUCE Bruce. My name’s Bruce Wayne.
GORDON Bruce. That’s a good strong name. Can you tell me what happened?
Bruce can’t speak. When he tries, he starts to cry instead.
GORDON (CONT’D) When I was a little younger than you a drunk driver ran into our car. Killed my dad. I was right next to him. (he has Bruce’s attention) I wasn’t hurt badly, but it took a while to get me out of the wreck. A policeman held my hand. He knew how frightened I was and he told me, he promised me, however dark and scary the world might be at this moment, there will be light. And he was right. There will be light, Bruce. There will.
Bruce looks in Gordon’s eyes, and sees strength and empathy.
BRUCE We, we just got out of the movies. We were walking through the alley to catch an uptown cab, and a man came out of the shadows. He was tall and big, with a black mask and a hat and gloves and he had a gun. A revolver. His shoes were shiny. He said give me your money and he took my dad’s wallet and my mom’s necklace, and then he shot them. For no reason. And then he pointed the gun at me, but he didn’t shoot. He walked away. (beat) I could have grabbed the gun. But I didn’t. I didn’t do anything.
GORDON You did the right thing. You’re alive.
BRUCE No. I should have done something. I was too scared.
GORDON There was nothing you could do to stop what happened. But there is something you can do now. Now you can be strong. Grief can make you strong. Be strong and one day maybe you can stop this from happening to somebody else.
Bruce nods. Gordon has no idea how deep his words sink in.
GORDON (CONT’D) I promise you, Bruce, I’ll do whatever it takes to find the man who did this.
A TITLE CARD SLAMS INTO FRAME – ‘GOTHAM’
This scene has a great function in the story of Jim, he’s new to Gotham and seeing him show compassion for a child who just witnessed the death of his parents while his partner is trying to escape the scene perfectly sets up Jim as a good person who cares about people. The issue we fall on is that the dialogue is very on the nose and only exists to plant a seed for Batman’s eventual arrival to Gotham. The title card does not make its arrival until Bruce is wrapped up tight in the story and so the strong premise for a police drama set in the streets of Gotham city is immediately squandered. The episode will confirm this flawed setup as the person they end up arresting for the murder of the Waynes occurs halfway into the episode and turns out to be the wrong man. The remainder of the episode decides to keep a close eye on the villains of this world and erase all prior setup for a weekly crime drama.
The fixation on telling the story of every classic villain in Gotham, along with following Bruce as he grows into Batman means that a large portion of this show will begin and remain a constant struggle for more famous characters to wrestle the focus from Ben McKenzie’s Jim Gordon. Ben does a wonderful job of playing Jim in this show and his performances in other TV shows such as Southland and The O.C. show that he can carry Gotham on his performance alone if they were to let him.
Gotham will continue to fight with the lead character of Jim as it tries to wrestle the story from him time and time again, eventually leading to a final series with the subtitle Legend of the Dark Knight. The pull of the Dark Knight is too strong and while a lot of what Gotham does is along the correct path for the story of the series, it never clearly locks in what was promised when first pitched to audiences; almost immediately getting ahead of itself and instead giving us half of Jim Gordon and half of Bruce Wayne, rarely ever giving us a truly satisfactory exploration of either.
Gotham City
The opening to Scott Snyder’s highly rated Court of Owls run of Batman comics in the New 52 universe introduces us to Gotham through the eyes of its protector, Batman. The comic begins as Batman fights against villains trying to escape from Arkham Asylum.
Three Gotham landmarks seen at night; all of the locales should look menacing;
Crime Alley, Wayne Tower, and Arkham.
BATMAN CAPTIONS: Every Saturday, the Gotham Gazette includes a small lifestyles piece called “Gotham Is.” In the column, random Gothamites are asked to complete the sentence “Gotham is…” using three words or less. The Gazette has been running the “Gotham Is” column for years, ever since I was a boy. Here are some of the words used to describe Gotham the past few weeks: “Broken”, “Corrupt”, “Dangerous”, “Madhouse”, “Cursed”.
–
BATMAN CAPTIONS: Once in a while, someone will name one of the city’s villains as their answer to the “Gotham Is” question. Usually it’s a kid, a teenager going for shock value. But now and then someone actually tries to make the argument that the city is best reflected in its villains.
–
BATMAN CAPTIONS: Of course, one of the most common answers to the “Gotham Is” question is Batman. “Gotham is – Batman’s city”, “Gotham is – the Dark Knights Kingdom”, “Gotham is the bat…”, all answers I’m partial to. Still, I like to think a vote for Batman is a broader affirmation – a vote for all of Gotham’s heroes. A vote for the G.C.P.D. Honest, tireless men like Commissioner Jim Gordon.
–
BATMAN CAPTIONS: Lately, I’ve asked myself the “Gotham Is” question many times. What is Gotham to me? In a single word. Home? Family? Purpose… – BRUCE standing at the podium at the center of the manor’s ballroom. Before him is a large-scale model of GOTHAM.
He’s giving a speech to a giant crowd of GOTHAMITES.
BRUCE (CONTINUING FROM CAPTIONS): …Heritage? A third parent? What is Gotham to me, Bruce Wayne? But see, then I realized something. And what I realized was that that wasn’t the right question to be asking myself.
BRUCE: When I was a boy, and I’d had a bad day, fallen down a hole, skinned my knee, my father, Thomas, he’d always say, “Bruce, tomorrow is one dream away.”
–
BRUCE: When things are tough, circumstances challenging, or even frightening, asking ourselves what our city is pointless. Because all we’ll see are our own fears, our own frustrations, our own demons.
BRUCE: But if we stop looking to the present and the past, and instead we ask ourselves; What can Gotham be tomorrow, what will it be….
BRUCE: Because to look forward is to hope. To aspire. To shape the city yourself, rather than to simply be shaped by it.
Batman: The Court of Owls Saga: (DC Essential Edition), Scott Snyder
The opening line of the comic script specifies that Crime Alley, Wayne Tower and Arkham Asylum should look menacing. It’s important that both good and bad locations in the mind of the reader are considered scary as this story focuses on moving forward.
The 1989 graphic novel Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth written by Grant Morrison is a good look at what Scott may be trying to get at in Court of Owls with the menacing imagery. Morrison’s book focuses on the patients of the Asylum taking over and demanding Batman meet with them. It’s important that with a focus on psychological horror, Batman can be drawn as quite a terrifying creature to the patients of the asylum in this book, he’s their version of a bogeyman. Batman is scary to Gotham’s villains.
Crime Alley is Bruce Wayne’s fear bottled into a single location, Wayne Tower is an image of Bruce and Bruce is is what the villains fear most while Arkham Asylum houses everyone that has ever wronged the city of Gotham and encapsulates what the people are scared of. With Court of Owls introducing us to Batman through his stopping an escape from the Asylum as he discusses what Gotham defines itself as, we’re looking at the continuous cycle of the Batman story we all know so well already.
Gotham city is scary, the villains are scary, Batman is scary. The story of the Court of Owls run follows Bruce as he tries to move forward from the image everyone knows already and finds himself attacked by a new villainous entity known as the Court of Owls who wants to stop his forward progression into the future. The Court know what we know, this is the “Batman” property audiences expect. Gotham is a scary place and the murder of Bruce’s parents isn’t about Bruce’s characterization, it’s about the city’s.
On Leather Wings
So how do you tackle an introduction to Batman that remains fresh while using all the defining elements of the property that audiences expect. Batman: The Animated Series from 1992 has received a lot of critical praise for storytelling and one of the clearest pieces of media we can see for how they achieved this is the series bible by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Mitch Brian.
Night in Gotham City. Only the faintest rays of moonlight break through the steamy darkness. Shadows are black, twisted and frightening. The thick, night air carries many sounds; breaking glass, sputtering neon, harsh, bitter voices and police sirens. Always police sirens. Most of Gotham’s daytime inhabitants have long since fled to the suburbs or into security-gated apartments. This is not a safe place after dark.
One thing and one alone keeps Gotham from drowning in a sea of corruption and despair. It is a grim being cloaked as much in mystery as he is in shadows. Like a bat he dives out of the night to feed on Gotham’s evil. To some, he is merely a legend. To others, he is a dedicated, driven avenger. And to criminals, he is their worst nightmare. He is… BATMAN.
Batman: Series Writer’s Bible, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Mitch Brian
Within the introduction to the bible we can see that they have captured the core elements to a Batman story as laid out before; The city is dangerous, filled with villains and protected by the Bat. Using a lot of 1940’s noir imagery and drawing on black paper to make the darker areas darker, the show paints Gotham in a familiar tone for cinemagoers but a unique spread for a Batman property. While the series is worth a deeper dive for its exploration of Gotham and the surrounding characters, the series bible stressed the use of economic storytelling and so in this first production order episode, the focus is primarily on Batman and how to establish him.
So who is Batman to this show and what does Crime Alley mean to it?
We’ll say it here first – in the run of our series, we will do NO STORIES ABOUT BATMAN’S ORIGIN. Nothing about his parents’ murder, the film they saw at the movies before they were shot, the theatre usherette who happened to see them go into Crime Alley seconds before the gun with off, etc., etc… if you’re thinking up stories along those lines, flush them. Granted, there’s a tremendous history in Batman’s early years, but that’s been done to death in the comics and it’s not the Batman series we’re doing TODAY.
Batman: Series Writer’s Bible, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Mitch Brian
With Crime Alley out of the way, it’s clear that Batman: The Animated Series was hoping to tackle new content for the Bat and if you’re a fan of Harley Quinn, you’ll know they did just that by creating the icon herself along with a number of famous stories such as Mr. Freeze’s backstory that was later used in the 1997 Batman and Robin movie as well as becoming the default history for the character in future comics.
The first production episode of the series, On Leather Wings, focuses on Batman coming face to face with the villain, Man-Bat. The opening of the episode has two pilots of a police blimp looking out the window, trying to spot something their radar picked up flying below them. As the object flies past the window, it is described as having bat wings. We then pan across the city as a nightmarish bat shadow haunts the side of each building, eventually leading up to a scene where a security guard is attacked by this horrifying bat creature and thrown out of a window.
It’s important that prior to the shadow on the city buildings or the attack, we think this will be Batman. We are expecting our icon to be the first on screen and our assumption is mirrored by the police department just one scene over where it’s printed in the paper that the Gotham police have declared war on Batman for what has happened to the security guard, they also believe it was him, who wouldn’t?
Staying true to The Batman’s original conception as “the world’s greatest detective,” we want to stress his mental abilities, whether he be assembling clues in a case of using his vast scientific knowledge in the Bat cave’s laboratory. He is a crime-fighter who is skilled in many languages and is also a consummate master of disguise.
Batman: Series Writer’s Bible, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Mitch Brian
With a focus on economy and their own version of Batman to introduce to the world, the function of Man-Bat in this story, this opening, is to point out what Batman isn’t; He does not fly around and he is not strong in any otherworldly way. The first time we see Batman himself is in the next scene as he reads the paper and jokes around with Alfred. The Batman of this episode will go on to spend a lot of his time being a detective and when attacked by the Gotham police department, he isn’t jumping out of the window into the night, he’s running through the building and trying to escape through the lift shaft, he’s decidedly human.
When Batman finally does take the window exit, it’s to save himself and an officer from a coming explosion, a last resort. After safely getting himself to the ground using a grappling hook on a nearby tree, Batman places the officer down and runs off into the night. The next time we see the Bat is in disguise as Bruce Wayne as he approaches researchers about a ‘bat problem’ he has been having at home as a way to both investigate the trio and their research as well as get a second opinion about his findings.
With a whole history of Batman media to try and set itself apart from, Batman: The Animated Series has exceptional storytelling in the pilot that lets us known just who this Batman is and his place in this world. Pairing the Bat against something that could so quickly be used to establish expectation and squash it within a twenty minute window is one of the smartest ways to introduce him. Economic storytelling also plays a part in an action sequence against Man-Bat as they return to the previously established blimp from the opening. This time Batman is being dragged on a wire behind the flying Man-Bat in a quality piece of 1992 TV animation that sees Batman slamming into the blimp before twirling his way around the outside of it at high speed to keep himself safe.
I said earlier about the murder of the Waynes that “if you’re looking for a human edge to the Bat we know, this is a story creators gravitate towards.” and it’s here where we see the first instance of just how to write a mostly quiet, brooding man as a human character instead of a box of trauma. After defeating Man-Bat, Batman brings him back to the Bat cave and cures him, returning the researcher to his partner after making sure he will be okay. Within a single 22-minute episode, I already know a lot more about this version of Batman than most others, he has been defined through active action and compassion.
On Leather Wings did a lot to make sure we understood that their Batman is first and foremost a detective who cares about the citizens of Gotham; Something most would agree the character is, but something we rarely see on screen as easily.
The overuse of Bruce Wayne’s traumatic past has only gotten in the way of creative storytelling and if you’re hoping to introduce a famous lead character, you can safely lean on the prior knowledge of your audience to make sure your version has definition beyond their past. Look to the future like Bruce in Court of Owls and let characters like Jim Gordon shine on their own. Clinging to past trauma can be a shackle both in life and longform narrative storytelling so look at your lead and say: “Bruce, tomorrow is one dream away.”
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