Bruce Wayne/Batman I seek...The means to fight injustice. To turn fear against those who prey on the fearful.
Most-quoted character in Batman Begins (2005): in 58 of its 125 quotes
Most scenes with: Henri Ducard/Ra's Al Ghul (8), James Gordon (6), Alfred (5)
The first time I stole so that I wouldn't starve. I lost many... assumptions about the simple nature of right and wrong. And when I traveled... I learned the fear before a crime... And the thrill of success. But I never became one of them."
More lines from Bruce Wayne/Batman
23 quotes Bruce Wayne/Batman Bruce Wayne/Batman My anger outweighs my guilt.
Bruce Wayne/Batman I will not become an executioner.
Bruce Wayne/Batman Gotham isn't beyond saving.
Bruce Wayne/Batman [on the duration of his stay in Gotham]
As long as it takes to show the people of Gotham that their city doesn't belong to the criminals and the corrupt.
Bruce Wayne/Batman [To Carmine Falcone]
I'm Batman.
Bruce Wayne/Batman [To the homeless man he traded with earlier in the movie]
Nice coat.
Bruce Wayne/Batman [To Detective Flass, hanging upside down from grappling hook]
DO I LOOK LIKE A COP?!
Bruce Wayne/Batman [To Detective Flass]
SWEAR TO ME!
Bruce Wayne/Batman Well, a guy who dresses up like a bat clearly has issues.
Bruce Wayne/Batman [to Alfred, in reference to keeping the guests busy]
Tell them that joke you know!
Bruce Wayne/Batman I don't have the luxury of friends.
Bruce Wayne/Batman You're not Ra's Al Ghul. I watched him die.
Bruce Wayne/Batman It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me. [Quoting Rachel Dawes]
Bruce Wayne/Batman [To Falcone, who asks who he is]
I'm Batman.
Bruce Wayne/Batman [from the theatrical trailer]
They told me there was nothing out there, nothing to fear. But the night my parents were murdered I caught a glimpse of something. I've looked for it ever since. I went around the world, searched in all the shadows. And there is something out there in the darkness, something terrifying, something that will not stop until it gets revenge. [pause] Me.
Bruce Wayne/Batman [To Alfred when asked why he chose to theme his gear around bats]
Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies shared my dread.
Bruce Wayne/Batman Who said anything about stopping it?
Bruce Wayne/Batman People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy, and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man, I'm flesh and blood. I can be ignored, I can be destroyed. But as a symbol...as a symbol, I can be incorruptible. I can be everlasting.
Bruce Wayne/Batman You're not the devil... you're practice.
Bruce Wayne/Batman [To Lucius Fox after test-driving the "Tumbler"]
Does it come in black?
Bruce Wayne/Batman I won't kill you.[pause] But I don't have to save you. [To Ra's al Ghul, just before leaving him to crash in the train]
Bruce Wayne/Batman [slurring]
Everyone? Everybody? I want to thank you all for coming here tonight and drinking all of my booze. No, really. That's the thing about being a Wayne: that you're never short of a few freeloaders like yourselves to fill up your mansion with. So here's to you people. Thank you. [takes a drink] Um, I'm not finished. To all you phonies, you two-faced friends, you sycophantic suck-ups who smile through your teeth at me: please leave me in peace. Please go! Stop smiling. It's not a joke. Please leave. The party's over. Get out. [party guests leave, revealing Ra's al Ghul's men]
Scenes with Bruce Wayne/Batman
34 scenes
Prisoner
[Bruce Wayne and a prisoner are in the morning chow line. Wayne looks at a fellow prisoner]
They are going to fight you.
Bruce Wayne Again?
Prisoner
Until they kill you.
Bruce Wayne Can they kill me before breakfast?
Prisoner
[A fellow prisoner accosts Bruce Wayne in the morning chow line.]
You are in hell, little man. And I... am the devil.
Bruce Wayne You're not the devil. You're practice.
Guard
[After a brawl in the prison yard, Bruce is dragged away by guards.]
Solitary!
Bruce Wayne Why?!
Guard
For protection.
Bruce I don't need protection!
Guard
Protection for them.
All creatures know fear.
Young Bruce
Even the scary ones?
Especially the scary ones.
Are you so desperate to fight criminals that you lock yourself in to take them on one at a time?
Bruce Wayne Actually, uh, there were seven of them.
I counted six, Mister Wayne.
If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, then you become something else entirely.
Bruce Wayne Which is?
A legend, Mister Wayne.
You're stronger than your father.
Bruce Wayne You didn't know my father.
But I know the rage that drives you. That impossible anger strangling the grief, until the memory of your loved ones is just poison in your veins. And one day you catch yourself wishing the person you loved had never existed, so you'd be spared your pain. I wasn't always here in the mountains. Once I had a wife, my great love. She was taken from me. Like you, I was forced to learn that there are those without decency that must be fought without hesitation, without pity. Your anger gives you great power, but if you let it, it will destroy you, as it almost did me.
Bruce Wayne What stopped it?
Vengeance.
Bruce Wayne That's no good to me.
Why, Bruce? Why could you not avenge your parents?
Compassion is not a quality your enemies will share.
Bruce Wayne That's why it's so important. It separates us from them.
Are you coming back for long, sir?
Bruce Wayne As long as it takes. I want to show the people of Gotham that their city doesn't belong to the criminals and the corrupt.
Bruce Wayne Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies share my dread.
[He throws completed batarang, embedding it in a wall.]
Bruce Wayne [Bruce looks and points his head at the "Tumbler" resting in the garage.]
What's that?
The Tumbler? Oh, you wouldn't be interested in that...
Bruce Wayne Does it come in black?
Det. Flass [Batman interrogates the corrupt Detective Flass while dangling him off the edge of a building.]
I swear to God!
Batman SWEAR TO ME!
Jumpy Thug
Where are you?!
Batman [hanging upside down, right behind him]
Here.
Batman [Batman bursts through the sun roof of Falcone's limousine.]
I'm Batman.
Batman [Batman headbutts Falcone into unconsciousness, then sees the Homeless Man he traded coats with years earlier]
Nice coat.
Homeless Man [He flies off; the Homeless Man stares after him]
Thanks.
[Bruce wants Lucius Fox to mass-produce the antidote for Crane's fear gas.]
Planning on gassing yourself again, Mister Wayne?
Bruce Wayne Well, you know how it is: it's late at night, and you're out looking for kicks, and somebody starts passing out the weaponised hallucinogens...
Bruce Wayne I wanted to save Gotham. I've failed.
Why do we fall, Master Wayne? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.
Bruce You still haven't given up on me, have you?
Never.
Wait! You could die! At least tell me your name.
Batman It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.
Bruce?
[Batman and Ducard/Ra's al Ghul battle on a speeding monorail.]
Familiar! Have you learned nothing new? [swings sword at Batman, who traps it with his wrist guards]
Batman How about this? [pulls wrists apart, shattering the sword]
Don't be afraid, Bruce. You're just an ordinary man in a cape. That's why you can't fight injustice, and that's why you can't stop this train.
Batman Who said anything about stopping it?
Batman [An explosion destroys the tracks ahead.] [Overpowering Ducard]
You never learned to mind your surroundings.
Have you finally learned to do what is necessary?
Batman I won't kill you. But I don't have to save you.
[Bruce has announced his plan to rebuild Wayne Manor "brick by brick".]
Exactly the way it was, sir?
Bruce Yeah. Why?
I was just thinking this could be a chance to... improve the foundation.
Bruce In the southeast wing?
Precisely, sir.
[The Batcave is located under the southeast wing of Wayne Manor.]
Batman [knocks on new Bat-signal]
Nice.
Couldn't find any mob bosses.
Batman Well, Sergeant?
Oh, it's lieutenant now. You really started something. Bent cops running scared, hope on the streets...
Batman But?
The Narrows is lost. And we still haven't picked up Crane or half the inmates of Arkham that he freed.
Batman We will. We can bring Gotham back.
And what about escalation?
Batman Escalation?
We start carrying semi-automatics, they buy automatics. We start wearing Kevlar...they buy armor-piercing rounds.
Batman And?
And you're wearing a mask... and jumping off rooftops. Now, take this new guy. Armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for the theatrical. Like you. Leaves a calling card. [hands Batman a Joker playing card]
Batman I'll look into it. [walks to edge of roof]
I never said thank you.
Batman [turns around to look at Gordon]
And you'll never have to.
[Batman spreads his cape and leaps off the roof]
The Narrows is tearing itself to pieces.
Batman This is just the beginning. If they hit the whole city with toxins, there's nothing to stop Gotham from tearing itself apart through mass panic.
How are they gonna do that?
Batman They'll be using the train. The monorail follows the water mains along Gotham's central hub beneath Wayne Tower. If they get their machine into the station, it'll cause a chain reaction that'll vaporize the city's entire water supply.
Covering Gotham in this poison.
Batman I'm gonna stop them from loading that train, but I may need your help.
What do you need?
Batman [holds up the Batmobile remote]
Can you drive stick?
Batman Backup.
Batman [In Gordon's Office] (holds Gordon up with a gun)
Don't turn around. You're a good cop, one of the few.
What do you want?
Batman Carmine Falcone brings in shipments of drugs every week. Nobody takes him down. Why?
He's paid up with the right people.
Batman What would it take to bring him down?
Leverage on Judge Fayden, and a DA brave enough to prosecute.
Batman Rachel Dawes.
Who are you?
Batman (the "gun" is then revealed to be a stapler, unknown to Gordon)
Watch for my sign.(retracts the stapler and backs off)
You're just one man?
Batman Now we're two.
We?
Batman [As Gordon is taking out the trash, he sees Batman perched on a railing next to his house.]
Storm's coming.
The scum's getting jumpy ever since you stood up to Falcone.
Batman It's a start. Your partner was at the docks with Falcone.
Yeah, well, he moonlights as a low-level enforcer.
Batman They were splitting the shipment in two. Only half went to the dealers.
Where was it going?
Batman Flass knows.
He won't talk.
Batman He'll talk to me.
Comissioner Loeb set up a massive task force to capture you.He thinks you're dangerous.
Batman What do you think?
I think you're trying to help... [He sees that Batman has already left] ...but I've been wrong before.
Homeless Man [As Wayne takes money out of his wallet and gives it to the Homeless Man.]
For what?
Bruce Wayne Your jacket.
Homeless Man Okay...
Homeless Man [as he takes it off, Bruce prepares to throw his own into the fire.]
Hey, let me have it. It's a nice coat.
Bruce Wayne [They switch coats]
Be careful who sees you with that. They're going to come looking for me.
Homeless Man Who?
Bruce Wayne Everyone.
Homeless Man [He runs off] [Homeless Man holds up the coat, looking at it]
It's a nice coat...
I'll get my car.
Batman I brought mine!
Yours?
[Rachel is about to be murdered and pulls out a taser, the criminal runs away] (yelling)
That's right, you better run!
Batman [Rachel turns around to see that Batman is standing behind her, startles her and she fires the taser, Batman just looks at the cables and calmly removes them]
Falcone sent these men to kill you.
Why?
Batman You rattled his cage.
Batman Leverage.
For what?
Batman To get things moving.
Who are you?
Batman Someone like you. Someone who'd rattle the cages.
[Rachel bends to pick up the photos and as she goes back up, Batman is gone] '
Bruce Wayne You're not Ra's al Ghul. I watched him die.
Are you so desperate to fight criminals that you lock yourself in to take them on one at a time?
Bruce Wayne Actually, there were seven of them.
I counted six, Mr. Wayne.
Bruce How do you know my name?
The world is too small a place for someone like Bruce Wayne to disappear no matter how low he chooses to sink.
Bruce Who are you?
My name is merely Ducard, but I speak for Ra’s Al Ghul, a man greatly feared by the criminal underworld. A man who can offer you a path.
Bruce What makes you think I need a path?
Someone like you is only here by choice. You have been exploring the criminal fraternity, but whatever your original intentions, you have become truly lost.
Bruce And what path can Ra’s Al Ghul offer?
The path of a man who shares his hatred of evil and wished to serve true justice. The path of the League of Shadows.
Bruce You’re vigilantes.
No, no, no. A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification. He can be destroyed or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can’t stop you, then you become something else entirely.
Bruce Which is?
A legend, Mr. Wayne. Tomorrow, you will be released. If you are bored of brawling with thieves and want to achieve something, there is a rare blue flower that grows on the eastern slopes. Pick one of these flowers. If you can carry it to the top of the mountain, you may find what you were looking for in the first place.
Bruce And what was I looking for?
Only you can know that.
I've prepared the master bedroom for you, sir.
Bruce Wayne No. My room will be fine.
With respect, Wayne Manor is your house.
Bruce It's my father's house.
Your father is dead.
Bruce This place is a mausoleum. If I had my way, I'd pull the damn thing down, brick by brick.
This house, Master Wayne, has sheltered six generations of your family.
Bruce Why do you give a damn, Alfred? It's not your family.
I give a damn, sir, because a good man once made me responsible for what was most precious to him in our world.
Bruce You still haven't given up on me?
Never.
You're taller than you look in the tabloids, Mr. Wayne. [his men frisk Bruce] No gun? I'm insulted. You could've just sent a thank-you note.
Bruce I didn't come here to thank you. I came here to show you that not everyone in Gotham's afraid of you.
Only those who know me, kid. Take a look around you. You'll see two city councilmen, a union official, a couple of off-duty cops, and a judge. [draws a pistol and points it at Bruce] Now I wouldn't have a second's hesitation in blowing your head off, right here and right now, in front of them. That's power you can't buy! That's the power of fear.
Bruce I'm not afraid of you.
Because you think you got nothing to lose. But you haven't thought it through yet. You haven't thought about your lady friend, down at the DA's office. You haven't thought about your old butler. [gestures with his gun] Bang! People from your world have so much to lose. Now, you think because your mommy and your daddy got shot, you know about the ugly side of life, but you don't. You've never tasted desperate. You're, uh, you're Bruce Wayne, the prince of Gotham! You'd have to go a thousand miles to meet someone who didn't know your name! So don't, don't come down here with your anger, trying to prove something to yourself. This is a world you'll never understand, and you always fear what you don't understand.
[Rachel Dawes visits a hotel and sees Bruce going out soaking wet with two European models in underwear and bathrobes walking out
Bruce?
Bruce Wayne Rachel?
I had heard you were back. What are you doing?
Bruce Ugh, just swimming. Wow, it is good to see you.
You were gone a long time.
Bruce I know. How are things?
Same. Job's getting worse.
Bruce Can't change the world on your own.
What choice do I have when you're too busy swimming?
Bruce Rachel, all of, all this, it's not me. Inside, I am more.
Model #1
Come on Bruce, come on!
Model #2
We have some more hotels for you to buy.
Bruce. Deep down, you may still be that same great kid you used to be, but it's not who you are underneath. It's what you do that defines you.
Jessica The meeting's already started.
William Earle What meeting? [enters conference room, sees Fox distributing materials to board members seated around table] Fox? I seem to remember firing you.
You did. I got another job: yours.
Earle On whose authority?
[driving Bruce Wayne]
Batman may have made the front page, but Bruce Wayne got pushed to page eight.
Bruce Wayne [Bruce reads headline, answers phone]
Bruce Wayne.
Earle What makes you think you can decide who's running Wayne Enterprises?
Bruce Well, the fact that I'm the owner.
Earle What are you talking about? The company went public a week ago.
Bruce And I bought most of the shares - through various charitable foundations, and trusts, and so forth. Look, it's all a bit technical, but the important thing is that my companys future is secure. [speaks slightly louder] Right, Mr. Fox?
Right you are, Mister Wayne. [turns to Earle, takes off glasses] Didn't you get the memo?
