What other movie version had Bruce hating having to be Bruce?
In this one, he wanted to be Batman all the time and it was taking a toll on him physically and mentally.
Every other version, Bruce showed up at galas, board meetings, threw parties at his place, kept a bad one on his arm.
Even Battfleck, who was 20 years in, had his partner beat to death by the Joker, watched people he loved killed by Supes/Zod, and was over the shyt to the point that he was branding people, essentially sentencing them to death, would throw on a suit and tie to keep up appearances, there was a scene where he woke up in the middle of the night and had a chick in the bed.
This Bruce had to be told to take a shower. Alfred sees him in a suit and goes
at the idea of him going out in public and then goes
when Bruce says he's going because Riddler may come. It's his first public appearance in years and everyone is
The beginning of the movie Bruce talks about using fear as a weapon, how that symbol was a warning. And we see the effect is has on criminals, but it also has the same effect on everyone. It's why he's brought up in the mayoral debate as a masked vigilante, it's why the cops, even the good ones, don't fukk with him. He scares the fukk out of people. He finds out that his use of fear is not only inspiring guys like the Riddler, but making them feel that Batman is working with them.
At the end he realizes that he needs to be the symbol of hope. We see the Mayor turn down his hand but a kid reaching out for safety. We see the girl getting airlifted afraid to leave him because she knows she's safe with him. He knows now that when good people see that bat symbol, they need to know its because Bats is helping make the city a better place.
I'm sure he'll realize that Bruce needs to help with that, that dressing up as a bat at night isn't the only way to spread hope. I'm expecting the next film to see the Bruce we're familiar with. I'm sure he'll take the new mayor up on her offer and become more philanthropic, try to right the shyt that went wrong with his father's renewal program. And to do that, he may have to pretend a lot more, throw on a suit, attend parties, date models, go to board meetings to make sure things aren't going wrong.
