Quotes

YOUNG BRUCE:: Rachel, let me see. Can I see?

RACHEL: Finders keepers. And I found it.

YOUNG BRUCE: In my garden.

OLD MAN: Did you have dream?

BRUCE: Nightmare.

OLD MAN: Worse than this place?

OLD MAN: They are going to fight you.

WAYNE: Again?

OLD MAN: Until they kill you.

WAYNE: Can't they kill me before breakfast?

LARGE MAN: You are in hell, little man... and I am the devil.

BRUCE: You're not the devil... you're practice.

GUARD: Solitary!

BRUCE: Why?

GUARD: For protection.

BRUCE: I don't need protection.

GUARD: Protection for them.

DUCARD: Are you so desperate to fight criminals that you lock yourself in to take them on one at a time?

BRUCE: Actually, there were seven of them.

DUCARD: I counted six, Mr. Wayne.

BRUCE: How do you know my name?

DUCARD: The world is too small for someone like Bruce Wayne to disappear no matter how deep he chooses to sink.

BRUCE: Who are you?

DUCARD: 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?

DUCARD: 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?

DUCARD: The path of a man who shares his hatred of evil and wishes to serve true justice. The path of the League of Shadows.

BRUCE: You're vigilantes.

DUCARD: 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?

DUCARD: Legend, Mr. Wayne.

BRUCE: And what am I looking for?

DUCARD: Only you can know that.

DUCARD: What are you seeking?

BRUCE: I seek the means to fight injustice. To turn fear against those who prey on the fearful.

DUCARD: To manipulate the fears in others you must first master your own. Are you ready to begin?

BRUCE: I can... I can barely stand.

DUCARD: Death does not wait for you to be ready! Death is not considerate or fair! And make no mistake, here you face death.

DUCARD: Tiger. Jujitsu. Panther. You're skilled. But this is not a dance.

DUCARD: And you are afraid... But not of me. Tell us, Mr. Wayne... What do you fear?

THOMAS: The bats again? You know why they attacked you, don't you? They were afraid of you.

: YOUNG BRUCE: Afraid of me?

THOMAS: All creatures feel fear.

YOUNG BRUCE: Even the scary ones?

THOMAS: Especially the scary ones.

YOUNG BRUCE: Is that where you work?

THOMAS: No, I work at the hospital. I leave the running of our company to much better men.

: YOUNG BRUCE: Better?

THOMAS: Well... more interested men.

EARLE: You're in excellent hands. We'll be watching the empire. When you grow up, it'll be waiting for you.

YOUNG BRUCE: Alfred?

ALFRED: Yes, Master Bruce?

YOUNG BRUCE: It was my fault, Alfred. I made them leave the theater.

ALFRED: No.

YOUNG BRUCE: If I hadn't gotten scared...

ALFRED: It was nothing that you did. It was him, and him alone. Do you understand?

YOUNG BRUCE: I miss them, Alfred. I miss them so much.

ALFRED: So do I, Master Bruce. So do I.

DUCARD: And do you still feel responsible for your parents' death?

BRUCE: My anger outweighs my guilt.

DUCARD: You have learned to bury your guilt with anger. I will teach you to confront it and to face the truth.

DUCARD: You know how to fight six men. We can teach you how to engage 600. You know how to disappear. We can teach you to become truly invisible.

DUCARD: Always mind your surroundings.

DUCARD: Theatricality and deception are powerful agents. You must become more than just a man in the mind of your opponent.

DUCARD: Justice. Crime cannot be tolerated. Criminals thrive on the indulgence of society's understanding.

DUCARD: Your parents' death was not your fault. It was your father's. Anger does not change the fact that your father failed to act.

DUCARD: The training is nothing! Will is everything! The will to act.

BRUCE: Yield.

DUCARD: You haven't beaten me. You have sacrificed sure footing for a killing stroke.

DUCARD: Rub your chest. Your arms will take care of themselves. You are stronger than your father.

BRUCE: You didn't know my father.

DUCARD: But I know the rage that drives you. That impossible anger strangling the grief until the memory of your loved one 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 there are those without decency who 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: What stopped it?

DUCARD: Vengeance.

ALFRED: Will you be heading back to Princeton after the hearing, sir or can I persuade you to stay on for a day or two?

BRUCE: I'm not heading back at all.

ALFRED: You don't like it there?

BRUCE: I like it fine. They just don't feel the same way.

ALFRED: I've prepared the master bedroom.

BRUCE: No. My room will be fine.

ALFRED: With all due respect, sir, Wayne Manor is your house.

BRUCE: No, Alfred, it's my father's house.

ALFRED: Your father is dead.

BRUCE: This place is a mausoleum. If I have my way, I'll pull the damn thing down brick by brick.

ALFRED: This house, Master Wayne, has sheltered six generations of your family.

BRUCE: Why do you give a damn, Alfred? It's not your family.

ALFRED: I give a damn because a good man once made me responsible for what was most precious to him in the whole world.

ALFRED: Miss Dawes has offered to drive you to the hearing. She probably hopes to talk you out of going.

BRUCE: Should I just bury the past out there with my parents, Alfred?

ALFRED: I wouldn't presume to tell you what to do with your past, sir. Just know that there are those of us who care about what you do with your future.

BRUCE: Haven't given up on me yet?

ALFRED: Never.

BRUCE: Alfred still keeps the condensed milk on the top shelf.

RACHEL: Hasn't he noticed you're tall enough to reach now?

BRUCE: Old habits die hard, I guess.

RACHEL: Never used to stop us anyway.

BRUCE: No, it didn't.

RACHEL: You're just back for the hearing. Bruce, I don't suppose there's any way to convince you not to come.

BRUCE: Someone at this proceeding... should stand for my parents.

RACHEL: We all loved your parents, Bruce. What Chill did is unforgivable.

BRUCE: Then why is your boss letting him go?

RACHEL: In prison, he shared a cell with Carmine Falcone. He learned things, and he will testify in exchange for early parole.

BRUCE: Rachel, this man killed my parents. I cannot let that pass. And I need you to understand that, please.

RACHEL: Okay.

WOMAN: Joe! Hey, Joe! Falcone says hi.

RACHEL: Come on, Bruce. We don't need to see this.

BRUCE: I do.

RACHEL: The DA couldn't understand why Judge Faden insisted on making the hearing public. Falcone paid him off to get Chill out in the open.

BRUCE: Maybe I should thank them.

RACHEL: You don't mean that.

BRUCE: What if I do, Rachel? My parents deserved justice.

RACHEL: You're not talking about justice. You're talking about revenge.

BRUCE: Sometimes, they're the same.

RACHEL: No, they're never the same. Justice is about harmony. Revenge is about you making yourself feel better. It's why we have an impartial system.

BRUCE: Your system is broken.

BRUCE: I'm not one of your good people, Rachel.

RACHEL: What do you mean?

BRUCE: All these years, I wanted to kill him. Now I can't.

RACHEL: Your father would be ashamed of you.

FALCONE: You're taller than you look in the tabloids, Mr. Wayne. No gun? I'm insulted.

FALCONE: You could've just sent a thank-you note.

BRUCE: I didn't come here to thank you. I came to show you that not everyone in Gotham's afraid of you.

BRUCE: I'm not afraid of you.

FALCONE: Because you think you got nothing to lose. But you haven't thought it through. You haven't thought about your lady friend in the DA's office. You haven't thought about your old butler. 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... You're Bruce Wayne, the prince of Gotham. You'd have to go 1000 miles to meet someone who didn't know your name. So don't come 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.

FALCONE: Yeah, you got spirit, kid. I'll give you that. More than your old man anyway. In the joint, Chill told me about the night he killed your parents. He said your father begged for mercy. Begged. Like a dog.

HOMELESS MAN: Should've tipped better.

HOMELESS MAN: For what?

BRUCE: Your jacket.

HOMELESS MAN: Okay.

HOMELESS MAN: Hey, hey, hey. Let me have it. It's a nice coat.

BRUCE: Be careful who sees you with that. They're gonna come looking for me.

HOMELESS MAN: Who?

BRUCE: Everyone.

HOMELESS MAN: It's... It's a nice coat.

DUCARD: When you lived among the criminals, did you start to pity them?

BRUCE: The first time I stole so that I wouldn 't starve, yes. 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.

OFFICER: Fool. What do I care what your name is? You're a criminal.

BRUCE: I'm not a criminal.

OFFICER: Tell that to the guy who owned these.

DUCARD: You've traveled the world to understand the criminal mind and conquer your fears. But a criminal is not complicated. And what you really fear is inside yourself. You fear your own power. You fear your anger the drive to do great or terrible things. Now you must journey inwards. You are ready.

DUCARD: Breathe. Breathe. Breathe in your fears. Face them. To conquer fear, you must become fear. You must bask in the fear of other men.

DUCARD: And men fear most what they cannot see.

DUCARD: You have to become a terrible thought. A wraith. You have to become an idea! Feel terror cloud your senses. Feel its power to distort. To control. And know that this power can be yours. Embrace your worst fear. Become one with the darkness.

DUCARD: You cannot leave any sign.

BRUCE: I haven't.

DUCARD: We have purged your fear. You are ready to lead these men. You are ready to become a member of the League of Shadows. But first, you must demonstrate your commitment to justice.

BRUCE: No. I'm no executioner.

DUCARD: Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.

BRUCE: That's why it's so important. It separates us from them.

RA'S A GHUL: Gotham's time has come. Like Constantinople or Rome before it the city has become a breeding ground for suffering and injustice. It is beyond saving and must be allowed to die. This is the most important function of the League of Shadows. It is one we've performed for centuries. Gotham... must be destroyed.

BRUCE: I will go back to Gotham and I will fight men like this but I will not become an executioner

DUCARD: What are you doing?

BRUCE: What's necessary, my friend.

ALFRED: Master Wayne, you've been gone a long time.

BRUCE: Yes, I have.

ALFRED: You look very fashionable. Apart from the mud.

ALFRED: Are you coming back to Gotham for long, sir?

BRUCE: As long as it takes. I want to show the people their city doesn't belong to the criminals and the corrupt.

BRUCE: People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy. I can't do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man... I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored, destroyed. But as a symbol... As a symbol, I can be incorruptible. I can be everlasting.

ALFRED: What symbol?

BRUCE: Something elemental... something terrifying.

ALFRED: I assume that as you take on the underworld this symbol is a persona to protect those you care about from reprisals?

BRUCE: You're thinking about Rachel?

ALFRED: Actually, sir, I was thinking of myself.

BRUCE: Have you told anyone I'm coming back?

ALFRED: I couldn't figure the legal ramifications of bringing you back from the dead.

BRUCE: Dead?

ALFRED: You've been gone seven years.

BRUCE: You had me declared dead?

ALFRED: Actually, it was Mr. Earle. He's taking the company public. He wanted to liquidate your majority shareholding. Those shares are worth quite a bit of money.

BRUCE: Well, it's a good thing I left everything to you, then.

ALFRED: Quite so, sir. And you can borrow the Rolls, if you like. Just bring it back with a full tank.

RACHEL: This is the third of Falcone's thugs you've had declared insane and moved into your asylum.

CRANE: The work offered by organized crime must have an attraction to the insane.

RACHEL: Or the corrupt.

JUDGE: Mr. Finch. You should check with Miss Dawes here just what implications your office has authorized her to make. If any.

FINCH: What are you doing?

RACHEL: What are you doing, Carl?

FINCH: Looking out for you. Falcone has half the city bought and paid for. Drop it.

RACHEL: How can you say that?

FINCH: Because as much as I care about getting Falcone, I care more about you.

RACHEL: That's sweet. We've been through all that.

CRANE: No more favors. Someone is sniffing around.

FALCONE: Hey, I scratch your back, you scratch mine, doc. I'm bringing in the shipments.

CRANE: We are paying you for that.

FALCONE: Maybe money isn't as interesting to me as favors.

CRANE: I am more than aware that you are not intimidated by me, Mr. Falcone. But you know who I'm working for, and when he gets here...

FALCONE: He... He's coming to Gotham?

CRANE: Yes, he is. And when he gets here, he's not going to wanna hear that you've endangered our operation just to get your thugs out of jail time.

FALCONE: Who's bothering you?

CRANE: There's a girl at the DA's office.

FALCONE: We'll buy her off.

CRANE: Not this one.

FALCONE: Idealist, huh? Well, there's an answer to that too.

CRANE: I don't want to know.

FALCONE: Yes, you do.

BRUCE: Good morning. I'm here to see Mr. Earle.

JESSICA: Name?

BRUCE: Bruce Wayne.

BRUCE: Eye on the ball, and... Earl opens the meeting room doors.

EARLE: Why is no one answering the phone?

BRUCE: It's Wayne Enterprises, Mr. Earle. I'm sure they'll call back.

EARLE: Bruce? You're supposed to be dead.

BRUCE: I'm sorry to disappoint.

FOX: Environmental procedures, defense projects, consumer products. All prototypes. None in production. On any level whatsoever.

BRUCE: None?

FOX: What did they tell you this place was?

BRUCE: They didn't tell me anything.

FOX: Earle told me exactly what it was when he sent me down here. Dead end. Place to keep me from causing the board any more trouble.

FOX: Nomex survival suit for advanced infantry. Kevlar biweave, reinforced joints.

BRUCE: Tear-resistant?

FOX: This sucker will stop a knife.

BRUCE: Bulletproof?

FOX: Anything but a straight shot.

BRUCE: Why didn't they put it into production?

FOX: Bean counters didn't think a soldier's life was worth 300 grand.

FOX: So, what's your interest in it, Mr. Wayne?

BRUCE: I want to borrow it. For spelunking.

FOX: Spelunking?

BRUCE: Yeah, you know, cave diving?

FOX: You expecting to run into much gunfire in these caves?

BRUCE: Look, I'd rather Mr. Earle didn't know about me borrowing...

FOX: Mr. Wayne... the way I see it... all this stuff is yours anyway.

ALFRED: Charming. At least you'll have company.

ALFRED: This must be the lowest foundation of the southeast wing. Your great-great-grandfather was involved in the Underground Railroad secretly transporting freed slaves to the North and I suspect these caverns came in handy.

BRUCE: Alfred! Come up here!

ALFRED: I can see everything all right from down here, sir, thank you very much.

ALFRED: We order the main part of this cowl from Singapore.

BRUCE: Via a dummy corporation.

ALFRED: Indeed. And then, quite separately we place an order to a Chinese company for these.

BRUCE: Put it together ourselves.

ALFRED: Precisely. They'll have to be large orders, to avoid suspicion.

BRUCE: How large?

ALFRED: Say 10,000.

BRUCE: Well, at least we'll have spares.

ALFRED: Yes.

FLASS: Don't suppose you want a taste. I just keep offering, thinking maybe someday you'll get wise.

GORDON: There's nothing wise in what you do, Flass.

FLASS: Well, Jimbo, you don't take the taste, makes us guys nervous.

GORDON: I'm no rat. In a town this bent, who's there to rat to anyway?

BATMAN: Don't turn around. You're a good cop. One of the few.

GORDON: Who are you?

BATMAN: Watch for my sign.

GORDON: You're just one man?

BATMAN: Now we're two.

GORDON: We?

FOX: Well, what is it today? More spelunking?

BRUCE: No. Today it's BASE-jumping.

FOX: BASE-jumping. That like parachuting?

BRUCE: Kind of. Do you have any lightweight fabrics?

FOX: You know, I think I have just the thing. It's called memory cloth. Notice anything? Regularly flexible but put a current through it molecules realign, it becomes rigid.

BRUCE: What kind of shapes can you make?

FOX: Can be tailored to fit any structure based on a rigid skeleton.

BRUCE: Too expensive for the Army?

FOX: I don't think they tried to market it to the billionaire, BASE-jumping crowd.

BRUCE: Look, Mr. Fox.

FOX: Yes, sir?

BRUCE: If you're uncomfortable...

FOX: Mr. Wayne, if you don't want to tell me exactly what you're doing when I'm asked, I don't But don't think of me as an idiot.

BRUCE: Fair enough.

BRUCE: What's that?

FOX: The Tumbler? Oh, you wouldn't be interested in that.

FOX: She was built as a bridging vehicle. During combat, two of these would jump over a river, towing cables. Over here on the throttle, flip that open and throttle up. This will boost you into a rampless jump... Not now! Not... Not now, sir.

FOX: We never could get the damn bridge to work but this baby works just fine.

FOX: So, what do you think?

BRUCE: Does it come in black?

FLASS: Word on the street is you got a beef with somebody in the DA's office.

FALCONE: Is that right?

FLASS: And that there's a fat prize waiting for anybody willing to do anything about it.

FALCONE: So, what's your point, Mr. Flass?

FLASS: Have you seen the girl?

FLASS: It's a cute little assistant D A. Don 't you think that's a little too much heat to bring down, maybe? Even for this town.

FALCONE: Never underestimate Gotham City. People get mugged coming home from work every day of the week. Sometimes... Sometimes things just go bad.

ALFRED: It's a problem with the graphite, sir. The next 10,000 will be up to specifications.

BRUCE: At least they gave us a discount.

ALFRED: Quite. In the meantime, sir, may I suggest you try to avoid landing on your head?

ALFRED: Why bats, Master Wayne?

BRUCE: Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies shared my dread.

FALCONE: Ignorance is bliss, my friend. Don't burden yourself with the secrets of scary people.

THUG: Where are you?!

BATMAN: Here.

FALCONE: What the hell are you?

BATMAN: I'm Batman.

BATMAN: Nice coat.

HOMELESS MAN: Thanks.

RACHEL: Hold it. That's right, you better run.

BATMAN: Falcone sent them to kill you.

RACHEL: Why?

BATMAN: You rattled his cage. Barman gives her some photos.

RACHEL: What's this?

BATMAN: Leverage.

RACHEL: For what?

BATMAN: To get things moving.

RACHEL: Who are you?

BATMAN: Someone like you. Someone who'll rattle the cages.

OFFICER: Falcone's men?

GORDON: Does it matter? We'll never tie him to it anyway.

OFFICER: I wouldn't be too sure of that.

GORDON: What the hell is that?

LOEB: Unacceptable. Now, I don't care if it's rival gangs, Guardian Angels or the goddamn Salvation Army get them off the street and off the front page.

OFFICER: They say it was just one guy. Or a creature.

LOEB: It was some asshole in a costume. Yeah?

GORDON: This guy did deliver us one of the city's biggest crime lords.

LOEB: No one takes the law into their own hands in my city. Understand?

BRUCE: Bats are nocturnal.

ALFRED: Bats may be. But even for billionaire playboys, 3:00 is pushing it. The price for leading a double life, I fear. Your theatrics made an impression.

ALFRED: If those are to be the first of many injuries to come it would be wise to find a suitable excuse. Polo, for instance.

BRUCE: I'm not learning polo, Alfred.

ALFRED: Strange injuries, a nonexistent social life. These things beg the question as to what exactly does Bruce Wayne do with his time and his money.

BRUCE: What does someone like me do?

ALFRED: Drive sports cars, date movie stars. Buy things that are not for sale. Who knows, Master Wayne, you start pretending to have fun you might even have a little by accident.

MAN: Sir. We have a situation.

EARLE: All right.

MAN: The Coast Guard picked up one of our cargo ships last night heavily damaged, all crew missing, probably dead. The ship was carrying a prototype weapon. It's a microwave emitter. It's designed for desert warfare, but it... It looks like somebody turned it on. It uses focused microwaves to vaporize the enemy's water supply. The damage to the ship was catastrophic. The weapon itself is...

EARLE: Missing?

MAN: Yeah.

VALET: Mr. Wayne. Nice car.

BRUCE: You should see my other one.

BRUCE: Well, a guy who dresses up like a bat clearly has issues.

EMPLOYEE: Sir, the pool is for decoration and your friends do not have swimwear.

BRUCE: Well, they're European.

EMPLOYEE: I'm going to have to ask you to leave.

EMPLOYEE: It is not a question of money.

BRUCE: Well, you see I'm buying this hotel and setting some new rules about the pool area.

WOMAN: I think the Batman deserves a medal.

EARLE: And a straitjacket to pin it on.

RACHEL: I'd heard you were back. What are you doing?

BRUCE: Just swimming here. Wow, it is good to see you.

RACHEL: You were gone a long time.

BRUCE: I know. How are things?

RACHEL: The same. Job's getting worse.

BRUCE: Can't change the world on your own.

RACHEL: What choice do I have when you're too busy swimming?

BRUCE: Rachel, all of... All this... It's... It's not me. It's... Inside, I am... I am more.

WOMAN 1: Come on, Bruce. Come on.

WOMAN 2: Bruce, we have some more hotels for you to buy.

RACHEL: 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.

FALCONE: Yeah, Dr. Crane, I can't take it anymore. It's all too much. The walls are closing in. Blah, blah, blah. A couple of days of this food, it'll be true.

CRANE: What do you want?

FALCONE: I wanna know how you're gonna convince me to keep my mouth shut.

CRANE: About what? You don't know anything.

FALCONE: I know you don't want the cops to take a closer look at the drugs they seized. And I know about your experiments with the inmates of your nut house. See, I don't go into business with a guy without finding out his dirty secrets. And those goons you used. I own the muscle in this town. Now, I've been bringing your stuff in for months so whatever he's planning, it's big, and I want in.

CRANE: Well, I already know what he'll say. That we should kill you.

FALCONE: Even he can't get me in here. Not in my town.

CRANE: Would you like to see my mask? I use it in my experiments. Now, I'm probably not very frightening to a guy like you. But these crazies, they can't stand it.

FALCONE: So when did the nut take over the nut house?

SCARECROW: They scream and they cry much as you're doing now.

CRANE: Well, he's not faking. Not that one. I'll talk to the judge and see if I can get him moved to the secure wing at Arkham. I can't treat him here.

BATMAN: Storm's coming.

GORDON: The scum is getting jumpy because you stood up to Falcone.

BATMAN: It's a start. Your partner was at the docks with Falcone.

GORDON: Well, he moonlights as a low-level enforcer.

BATMAN: They were splitting the shipment in two. Only half went to the dealers.

GORDON: Why? What about the other half?

BATMAN: Flass knows.

GORDON: He won't talk.

BATMAN: He'll talk to me.

GORDON: Commissioner Loeb set up a massive task force to catch you. He thinks you're dangerous.

BATMAN: What do you think?

GORDON: I think you're trying to help. But I've been wrong before.

FLASS: Come on, I ain't got all night.

STREET VENDOR: Flass, I have kids to feed.

FLASS: What, they don't like falafel?

BATMAN: Where were the other drugs going?

FLASS: I never knew. I don't know. I swear to God.

BATMAN: Swear to me!

FLASS: There was something... Something else in the drugs... ...something hidden.

BATMAN: What?

FLASS: I never went to the drop-off point. It was in the Narrows. Cops only go there in force.

BATMAN: Do I look like a cop?

FLASS: No...!

FINCH: This is the one I'm talking about.

GUARD: What's your problem with it?

FINCH: It shouldn't exist. This ship left Singapore with 246 containers, but arrived with 247. I'm guessing there's something I'm not supposed to find in there.

SCARECROW: Having trouble? Take a seat. Have a drink. You look like a man who takes himself too seriously. Do you want my opinion? You need to lighten up.

BATMAN: Blood. Take. Take poison. Blood poison. Poisonous. Poisonous.

BRUCE: How long was I out?

ALFRED: Two days. It's your birthday. Many happy returns.

FOX: I analyzed your blood... isolating the receptor compounds and the protein-based catalyst.

BRUCE: Am I meant to understand any of that?

FOX: Not at all. I just wanted you to know how hard it was. Bottom line, I synthesized an antidote.

BRUCE: Could you make more?

FOX: You planning on gassing yourself again, Mr. Wayne?

BRUCE: Well, you know how it is. You're out at night, looking for kicks... someone's passing around the weaponized hallucinogens...

FOX: I'll bring what I have. The antidote should inoculate you for now.

RACHEL: Looks like someone's been burning the candle at both ends. Must've been quite an occasion.

BRUCE: It is my birthday.

RACHEL: I know. I'm sorry I can't come tonight. I was just dropping off your present.

BRUCE: You've got better plans?

RACHEL: My boss has been missing for two days which in this town means I should probably start by looking at the bottom of the river.

ALFRED: But, Master Wayne, the guests will be arriving.

BRUCE: Keep them happy until I arrive. Tell them that joke you know.

EARLE: Having fun?

FOX: Bill? Now, what's a big shot like you doing in a place like this?

EARLE: I need some information. The Wayne Enterprise 47-B, 1 -ME.

FOX: 1 -ME. It's a microwave emitter. It was designed to vaporize an enemy's water supply. Rumor was they tested dispersing water-based chemicals into the air but isn't that illegal?

EARLE: I want all the information on the development of this project all data, files, backup disks, on my desk right away.

FOX: Did you lose one?

EARLE: I'm merging your department with Archives. And I am firing you. Didn't you get the memo?

FALCONE: Scarecrow. Scarecrow. Scarecrow.

CRANE: Miss Dawes, this is most irregular. I have nothing to add to the report I filed with the judge.

RACHEL: Isn't it convenient for a 52-year-old man who has no history of mental illness to have a psychotic breakdown just when he's about to be indicted?

CRANE: As you can see for yourself, there is nothing convenient about his symptoms.

CRANE: Psychopharmacology is my primary field. I'm a strong advocate. Outside, he was a giant. In here, only the mind can grant you power.

RACHEL: You enjoy the reversal.

CRANE: I respect the mind's power over the body. It's why I do what I do.

RACHEL: I do what I do to keep thugs like Falcone behind bars, not in therapy. I want my own psychiatric consultant to have full access to Falcone including blood work. Find out what exactly you put him on.

CRANE: First thing tomorrow, then.

RACHEL: Tonight. I've already paged Dr. Lehmann at County General.

CRANE: As you wish. This way, please. There's something I think you should see. This is where we make the medicine.

CRANE: Perhaps you should have some, clear your head.

CRANE: Who knows you're here? Who knows?

CRANE: He's here.

MAN: Who?

CRANE: The Batman.

MAN: What do we do?

CRANE: What anyone does when a prowler comes around. Call the police.

MAN: You want the cops here?

CRANE: At this point, they can't stop us. But the Batman has a talent for disruption. Force him outside, the police will take him down.

MAN: The things they say about him. Can he really fly?

MAN: I heard he can disappear.

CRANE: Well, we'll find out. Won't we?

BATMAN: Taste of your own medicine, doctor? What have you been doing here? Who are you working for?

CRANE: Ra's... Ra's al Ghul.

BATMAN: Ra's al Ghul is dead. Who are you working for, Crane?

CRANE: Dr. Crane isn't here right now. But if you'd like to make an appointment...

FLASS: What are you waiting for?

OFFICER: Backup.

FLASS: Backup?

OFFICER: The Batman's in there. SWAT's on the way. But if you wanna go in now I'll be right behind you, sir.

FLASS: SWAT's on the way.

GORDON: What's happened to her?

BATMAN: Crane poisoned her with a psychotropic hallucinogen, a panic-inducing toxin.

GORDON: Let me get her down to the medics.

BATMAN: They can't help her, but I can. Get her downstairs. Meet me in an alley of Narrows side.

BATMAN: Crane's been smuggling his toxin hidden in Falcone's drugs and they're dumping it into the water supply.

GORDON: What was he planning?

BATMAN: I don't know.

GORDON: Was he working for Falcone?

BATMAN: He mentioned someone else, someone worse. She needs the antidote before the damage is permanent.

GORDON: How long does she have?

BATMAN: Not long.

GORDON: What is that?

BATMAN: Backup.

BATMAN: How is she?

: GORDON: She's fading. We gotta go. I'll get my car.

BATMAN: I brought mine.

GORDON: Yours? I've gotta get me one of those.

OFFICER 1: He is in a vehicle.

OFFICER 2: Make and color?

OFFICER 1: It's a black... tank.

RACHEL: What are you doing?

BATMAN: Shortcut.

OFFICER 2: What street is he taking?

OFFICER 3: He's not on a street. He's flying on rooftops.

OFFICER: At least tell me what it looks like. Never mind.

RACHEL: Is Sergeant Gordon your friend?

BATMAN: I don't have the luxury of friends. I'm gonna give you a sedative. You'll wake up back at home. When you do, get these to Gordon, and Gordon alone. Trust no one.

ALFRED: When you told me your grand plan for saving Gotham the only thing that stopped me from calling the men in white coats was when you said it wasn't about thrill-seeking.

BRUCE: It's not.

ALFRED: What would you call that?

BRUCE: Damn good television.

ALFRED: It's a miracle no one was killed.

BRUCE: I didn't have time to observe the rules of the road, Alfred.

ALFRED: You're getting lost inside this monster of yours.

BRUCE: I'm using this monster to help other people, just like my father did.

ALFRED: For Thomas Wayne, helping others wasn't about proving anything to anyone, including himself.

BRUCE: It's Rachel, Alfred. She was dying. She's downstairs, sedated. I need you to take her home.

ALFRED: Well, we both care for Rachel, but what you're doing has to be beyond that. It can't be personal, or you're just a vigilante.

BRUCE: We need to send these people away.

ALFRED: Those are Bruce Wayne's guests. You have a name to maintain.

BRUCE: I don't care about my name.

ALFRED: It's not just your name, sir. It's your father's name. And it's all that's left of him. Don't destroy it.

BRUCE: Mr. Earle.

EARLE: Happy birthday, Bruce.

BRUCE: Thank you. How did the stock offering go?

EARLE: Prices soared.

BRUCE: Who was buying?

EARLE: All kinds of funds and brokerages. It's a bit technical. The key thing is our company's future is secure.

BRUCE: Great.

ALFRED: A little the worse for wear, I'm afraid.

BRUCE: Thank you. Thanks. And thank you for that item.

FOX: You're welcome. I know you'll put it to good use.

BRUCE: I already have. How long would it take to manufacture on a large scale?

FOX: Weeks. Why?

BRUCE: Somebody's planning to disperse the toxin using the water supply.

FOX: The water supply won't help you disperse an inhalant.

BRUCE: What?

FOX: Unless you have a microwave emitter powerful enough to vaporize all the water in the mains. A microwave emitter like the one Wayne Enterprises just misplaced.

BRUCE: Misplaced?

FOX: Earle just fired me for asking too many questions about it.

BRUCE: I need you to go back to Wayne Enterprises right now and start making more of that antidote. The police are gonna need as much as they can get their hands on.

FOX: My security clearance has been revoked.

BRUCE: That wouldn't stop a man like you, would it?

FOX: I suppose not.

MRS. DELANE: Bruce, there's somebody here you must meet.

BRUCE: Not now, Mrs. Delane.

MRS. DELANE: Now, am I pronouncing this right... Mr. Ra's al Ghul?

BRUCE: You're not Ra's al Ghul. I watched him die.

DUCARD: But is Ra's al Ghul immortal? Are his methods supernatural?

BRUCE: Or cheap parlor tricks to conceal your true identity, Ra's?

DUCARD: Surely a man who spends his nights scrambling over the rooftops of Gotham wouldn't begrudge me dual identities.

BRUCE: I saved your life.

DUCARD: I warned you about compassion, Bruce.

BRUCE: Your quarrel is with me. You let these people go.

DUCARD: You are welcome to explain the situation to them.

BRUCE: Everyone. Everybody? I... I want to thank you all for coming here tonight and drinking all of my booze. No, really. There's a 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.

COUNCIL MEMBER: That's enough, Bruce.

BRUCE: I'm not finished. To all of you... All of you phonies, all of 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.

COUNCIL MEMBER: The apple has fallen very far from the tree, Mr. Wayne.

DUCARD: Amusing. But pointless. None of these people have long to live. Your antics at the asylum have forced my hand.

BRUCE: You're gonna destroy millions of lives.

DUCARD: Only a cynical man would call what these people have "lives," Wayne. Crime. Despair. This is not how man was supposed to live The League of Shadows has been a check against human corruption for thousands of years. We sacked Rome. Loaded trade ships with plague rats. Burned London to the ground. Every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence we return to restore the balance.

BRUCE: Gotham isn't beyond saving. Give me more time. There are good people here.

LEAGUE MEMBER: Time to play.

DUCARD: When I found you in that jail, you were lost. But I believed in you. I took away your fear, and I showed you a path. You were my greatest student. It should be you standing by my side, saving the world.

BRUCE: I'll be standing where I belong. Between you and the people of Gotham.

DUCARD: No one can save Gotham.

DUCARD: When a forest grows too wild, a purging fire is inevitable and natural. Tomorrow the world will watch in horror as its greatest city destroys itself. The movement back to harmony will be unstoppable this time.

DUCARD: Over the ages our weapons have grown more sophisticated. With Gotham we tried a new one. Economics. But we underestimated certain of Gotham's citizens such as your parents. Gunned down by one of the very people they were trying to help. Create enough hunger and everyone becomes a criminal. Their deaths galvanized the city into saving itself and Gotham has limped on ever since. We are back to finish the job. And this time no misguided idealists will get in the way. Like your father, you lack the courage to do all that is necessary.

DUCARD: If someone stands in the way of true justice you simply walk up behind them and stab them in the heart.

BRUCE: I am gonna stop you.

DUCARD: You never did learn to mind your surroundings.

DUCARD: Justice is balance. You burned my house and left me for dead. Consider us even.

GORDON: They're all gone? How many from maximum security?

FLASS: Every one of them. Serial killers, rapists.

GORDON: Get them to raise the bridges. We don't want any getting off the island.

ALFRED: I hope you're not a member of the fire brigade.

ALFRED: Master Wayne! Master Wayne! What is the point of all those pushups if you can't even lift a bloody log?

BRUCE: What have I done, Alfred? Everything my family... my father, built...

ALFRED: The Wayne legacy is more than bricks and mortar, sir.

BRUCE: I wanted to save Gotham. I failed.

ALFRED: Why do we fall, sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.

BRUCE: You still haven't given up on me?

ALFRED: Never.

DUCARD: Gentlemen... time to spread the word. And the word is... panic.

MAN: Jesus. The pressure, it's spiking. Right there. That water main is right under the Narrows.

GORDON: We need reinforcements. TAC teams, SWAT, riot cops!

LOEB: Gordon! All the city's riot police are on the island with you!

GORDON: Well, they're completely incapacitated!

RACHEL: It's okay, it's okay. No one's gonna hurt you.

SCARECROW: Of course they are!

RACHEL: Crane?

SCARECROW: No. Scarecrow.

LOEB: Gordon... there's nobody left to send in.

GORDON: So I'm on my own?

GORDON: The Narrows is tearing itself to pieces.

BATMAN: This is just the beginning. If they hit the whole city there's nothing to stop Gotham tearing itself apart from mass panic.

GORDON: How are they gonna do that?

BATMAN: They'll be using the train. The monorail follows the water mains to the central hub beneath Wayne Tower. If they get the machine to Wayne station it'll cause a chain reaction that'll vaporize the entire city's water supply.

GORDON: Covering Gotham in this poison.

BATMAN: I'm gonna stop him from loading that train, but I may need your help.

GORDON: What do you need?

BATMAN: Can you drive stick?

SCARECROW: There you are! There is nothing to fear but fear itself! I am here to help you!

LITTLE BOY: Batman will save us. He'll come. He'll come.

RACHEL: 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.

RACHEL: Bruce?

DUCARD: Well, well. You took my advice about theatricality a bit literally.

BATMAN: It ends here.

DUCARD: For you and the police, maybe. My fight, however, lies with the rest of Gotham. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a city to destroy.

BATMAN: I can't beat two of your pawns?

DUCARD: As you wish.

DUCARD: You will never learn.

BATMAN: Sorry.

DUCARD: Familiar. Don't you have anything new?

BATMAN: How about this?!

MAN: Evacuate the building. We're on top of the main hub and it's gonna blow.

DUCARD: You are just an ordinary man in a cape. That's why you couldn't fight injustice, that's why you can't stop this train.

BATMAN: Who said anything about stopping it?

BATMAN: You never learned to mind your surroundings!

DUCARD: Have you finally learned to do what is necessary?

BATMAN: I won't kill you... but I don't have to save you.

ALFRED: Batman may have made the front page but Bruce Wayne got pushed to page eight.

EARLE: What makes you think you can decide who's running Wayne Enterprises?

BRUCE: 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 company's future is secure. Right, Mr. Fox?

FOX: Right you are, Mr. Wayne. Didn't you get the memo?

BRUCE: I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Rachel.

RACHEL: No. No, Bruce... I'm sorry. The day that Chill died, I... I said terrible things.

BRUCE: But true things. I was a coward with a gun... and justice is about more than revenge, so thank you.

RACHEL: I never stopped thinking about you. About us. And when I heard you were back, I... I started to hope.

RACHEL: But then I found out about your mask.

BRUCE: Batman's just a symbol, Rachel.

RACHEL: No. This... is your mask. Your real face is the one that criminals now fear. The man I loved... the man who vanished... he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there somewhere. Maybe someday, when Gotham no longer needs Batman... I'll see him again.

RACHEL: Proved me wrong, you know.

BRUCE: About what?

RACHEL: Your father would be very proud of you. Just like me.

RACHEL: What will you do?

BRUCE: Rebuild it. Just the way it was, brick for brick.

ALFRED: Just the way it was, sir?

BRUCE: Yeah, why?

ALFRED: I thought this might be a good opportunity for improving the foundations.

BRUCE: In the southeast corner?

ALFRED: Precisely, sir.

BATMAN: Nice.

GORDON: I couldn't find any mob bosses.

BATMAN: Well, sergeant...

GORDON: It's "lieutenant" now.

GORDON: Bent cops running scared. Hope on the streets.

BATMAN: But?

GORDON: 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.

GORDON: What about escalation?

BATMAN: Escalation?

GORDON: We start carrying semiautomatics, they buy automatics. We start wearing Kevlar, they buy armor-piercing rounds.

BATMAN: And?

GORDON: And you're wearing a mask and jumping off rooftops. Now, take this guy. Armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for the theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card. Gordon shows him a Joker playing card.

BATMAN: I'll look into it.

GORDON: I never said thank you.

BATMAN: And you'll never have to.