PLOT SUMMARY

BATMAN BEGINS
Bruce Wayne is the 8-year-old son of wealthy philanthropic businessman Thomas Wayne, resident of
Gotham City. One day, he falls down a dry well while playing around with friend Rachel Dawes where
he encounters a swarm of bats. The experience leads him to develop a phobia for bats. Bruce
attends an opera with his parents, where performers dress up as bats. He is frightened and tells his
father that he wants to leave. After leaving the theatre, they encounter a mugger in an alley. The
mugger later revealed to have the name Joe Chill, demands their wallet and jewelry. Thomas
accidentally drops the wallet while handing it to the mugger. He bends down to pick it up and is shot
dead by Chill. Bruce watches on horrified as Chill shoots his mother dead too. Chill is arrested soon
and convicted. An orphaned and traumatized Bruce is raised by the family butler Alfred Pennyworth.
He blames himself for his parents' death, reasoning that if he had not gotten scared and made his
parents leave the opera, they wouldn't have been killed.
Fourteen years later, Chill is granted parole in exchange for testifying against mafia lord Carmine
Falcon. Angered to see his parents' killer walk free, Bruce decides to kill Chill himself in pursuit of
justice. He waits outside the courtroom where Chill's trial takes place, but before he can pull his gun
out, an assassin of Falcon kills Chill. When he tells his old friend Rachel, who worked at the DA's
office about his plan to kill Joe, she strongly berates him about the difference between justice and
revenge saying, "justice is about harmony. Revenge is about you making yourself feel better." She
tells him his father would have been ashamed of him. She takes him to those parts of the city where
the streets were filled with crime and drugs, saying Falcon was the one who was creating new Joe
Chills every day by flooding the city with poverty and desperation.
Bruce decides to meet Falcon. He throws his gun away before walking into Falcon's den. He tells
Falcon that not everyone fears him. The crime lord dismisses Bruce saying he is the privileged Prince
of Gotham and he knows nothing about the workings of the criminal mind. He tells Bruce that he
ruled people by the "power of fear".
Bruce travels the entire world for years to truly understand the criminal world and conquer his fears.
He is arrested for theft and locked up in a Bhutanese prison. A man Henri Ducard visits him in his
cell. Ducard claims he is there on behalf of Ra's al Ghul, a man who could offer him a path through
the League of shadows. Released the next day, he climbs to the icy mountaintop, picking a rare blue
flower on the way as instructed. He meets Ra's al Ghul who asks him what he is seeking. He says he
is looking for a way to fight injustice. He is trained by Ducard in martial arts, weaponry and told to
master his fears.
After the purging ceremony, Ducard tells Bruce he is now ready to lead the men of the League of
Shadows but to prove his commitment to justice, he is told to slay a criminal and learn to do the
necessary. Bruce refuses, saying that "I am no executioner." He finds out that Ra's al Ghul's intention
is for him to destroy the city of Gotham since it has become too corrupted. Bruce's fights Ra's and
sets the League's temple on fire where Ra's is crushed and killed by ignited falling debris. He saves an
unconscious Ducard from falling down an icy slope and leaves him to recover in a village.
Bruce returns to Gotham City in a private jet to fight crime and show the citizens that "their city
doesn't belong to the criminals and the corrupt." Believing that a human with flesh and blood is
corruptible, he builds a persona for himself as a symbol of hope and goodness. With the help of
Lucius Fox, ex board-member of Wayne enterprises as well as an old friend of his father and his old
butler Alfred, he develops the caped superhero Batman. By taking the identity of a bat, he has
conquered his fears. He visits honest police sergeant James Cordon in his masked form to find out
how Carmine can be taken down. In his first official job as Batman, Bruce disrupts a drug shipment of
Falcone which leads to his arrest. In the meanwhile, Bruce leads a millionaire playboy persona during
the daytime to avoid suspicion. Rachel is successfully able to prosecute Carmine with evidence
provided by Batman.
Dr Jonathan Crane is a local psychiatrist who regularly provides false testimony to grant asylum to
Falcone's thugs to get them out of jail time. He is the head of Arkham asylum. Crane is secretly
transporting toxic substances hidden in Carmine's drug shipments. He uses hallucinogen from the
rare blue flower to manipulate the minds of his victims. It is suspected that a prototype weapon has
been stolen from Wayne Enterprises. The CEO Earle fires Lucius Fox for "asking too many questions
about it". The weapon was developed to vaporize an enemy's water supply.
Rachel arrives at Bruce's home for his birthday to give him a present. Bruce learns that Rachel is
heading to Arkham to question Falcone. Delaying his attendance at his birthday party, Bruce goes to
Arkham as Batman. Crane shows Rachel how a toxic substance has been added to the city's water
supply for weeks. He plans to vaporize the city's water supply and hence douse citizens with the
toxins. Then he sprays Rachel with a heavy dose of hallucinogen. Batman rescues Rachel and injects
the antidote into her body. Then he gives her two vials of antidote, one for Jim Cordon and one for
mass production, Then he captures and interrogates Crane, who says that he has been working for
Ra al's Ghul. Batman says that Ra's Al Ghul is dead and that he watched him die.
Later he joins his birthday party, which is interrupted by Ducard. Bruce realizes that Ducard was Ra's
Al Ghul all along and it was a clever ruse to mask his identity. It was Ra who was supplying toxics
extracted from the blue flowers to Crane. The plan was to destroy Gotham to 'save' it. Ra burns
down Wayne manor. A fallen structure traps Bruce in the fire as Ra leaves him for dead, the same
way Bruce did. Alfred saves Bruce from the fire.
All criminals and insane are released from the Arkham by those in the League's control. Sergeant
Gordon decided to raise the bridges to keep all the criminals within the island. Rachels arrives at the
island to give Cordon the antidote. Ras vaporizes the waters wearing a gas mask as criminals start
going insane. Batman arrives on his Batmobile and rescues Rachel from a threatening mob. He then
indirectly reveals his identity to her through a quote she had said to him before. "It's not who I am
underneath, but what I do that defines me."
Batman tells Gordon that the microwave emitter used to vaporize water was being transported
through the city's monorail to the Wayne tower where the water hub of the city. He lends his
Batmobile to Gordon with instructions to destruct the monorail. Bruce boards the train and fights
with Ra's Al Ghul. Gordon fires the vehicle's weapons to destruct the monorails supports. Bruce has
Ra's cornered aboard the speeding train. When Ra's asks him if he has finally learned to do the
needful of killing people, Bruce answers that he has not, but he was not going to save Ra's this time.
He flies away from the train, leaving Ra's to die in the explosion. The city is saved.
Fox is appointed the new CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Bruce, who used to hate the Wayne manor as it
reminded him of his parents, makes plans to rebuild the manor exactly as it was. Gordon is
promoted to lieutenant. He unveils a Bat-signal for Batman as Batman becomes a public hero.
Gordon informs Batman about a criminal who has a liking for theatricals, leaving a joker playing card
at his crime scenes. Batman says, "I'll look into it". Gordon says he forgot to thank him for his help,
but he replies by saying, "You'll never have to."

THE DARK KNIGHT

A gang of five criminals wearing clown masks are robbing a bank. The Joker is the mastermind
behind the robbery who tells the criminals to kill each other as there will be lesser people to share
the loot. At the end of the theft, only the Joker is left standing as he puts a grenade in the mouth of
the head banker. He drives away in a bus with the money.
A new Defence Attorney is in the town, named Harvey Dent. He is working alongside Lieutenant
Gordon and Batman to round up the underworld's money-laundering enterprises. He puts several
criminals behind bars and is a white knight, popular in the city for his fight against criminals.
The criminals of the city are meeting over video-conferencing with Lau, who has escaped with the
money to China where the cops cannot reach him. Their meeting is interrupted by the Joker, who
says that while Harvey Dent did not have jurisdiction in China, the Batman has no jurisdiction. He
tells the mob that they are losing power because of Batman. He asks the mob to pay him to kill
Batman. When asked how much he would take, he says half of what they have. One of the criminals
get angry over Joker's demands and tries to kill him. Joker shows explosives attached to his jacket to
ensure his safe exit. Gambol, one of the criminals, angrily declares a million-dollar reward for the
Joker's head. He is killed later by the Joker with a knife.
The Batman, Harvey and Gordon are meeting on a rooftop. Batman offers to bring Lau to him since
the Chinese would not extradite their national. Bruce takes off on his yacht with Alfred and the
entire ballet company to avoid suspicion. Before leaving, he discusses ways to airlift a person
without landing with Lucius Fox.
Fox arrives at Mr Lau's office and states that they cannot do business together. He covertly leaves a
dummy phone in the office with which Bruce would be able to pinpoint Lau's location exactly. Using
the cell-phone, Batman turns off the lights in the building, swoops into Lau's office and airlifts him
with a balloon, into an aeroplane. The next day, Lau is wrapped neatly and delivered to the
lieutenant's office. Rachel questions Lau and discovers that the entire mob can be prosecuted under
a law called RICO law. The mob decides to hire the Joker as what he had told them turned out to be
true. Gordon arrests hundreds of mobsters. The mayor, Garcia, while congratulating Harvey tells him
that he needs to stay a white knight, as any dirt found on him could lead to the release of all the
criminals arrested. As they are talking, the body of a copycat Batman is found hanging on the walls.
There is a noted attached to the body which read, "Will the real Batman please stand up?". A tape is
aired throughout the city in which the Joker threatens, torture and finally kills the copycat. The Joker
declares that he would keep on killing people for each day the Batman does not reveal his true
identity.
Bruce throws a fundraising party at his penthouse for Harvey Dent. He makes a toast about how
Harvey is the future of the city. He says, "I believe that on his watch, Gotham can feel a little safer, a
little more optimistic". The Joker arrives at the party but not before Bruce knocks Harvey out and
hides him in a room. The Joker had come for Harvey. The Joker threatens guests demanding to know
about Harvey's location, and when Rachel tells him to stop, he holds a gun to her head. Batman
arrives and takes on the Joker. The Joker escapes after throwing Rachel out of the building while
Batman saves her.
During a memorial service the next day, the Joker shoots at mayor Garcia but ends up shooting
Gordon who had jumped in front of the mayor. As Bruce ponders the Joker's motives, Alfred tells
him a story about when he was in Burma, and government officials were trying to buy the loyalty of
local tribal leaders with precious stones. A bandit kept raiding their caravans, robbing them of the
precious stones. Alfred and his friends went looking for those stones, assuming that the bandit was
trading them for something. However, they did not find anyone, except for one child playing with a
precious stone. The bandit was throwing them away. Alfred was telling Bruce how some people do
not commit crimes based on logic or reasoning. They just liked to watch the world burn.
Meanwhile, while interrogating a criminal Schiff, Harvey Dent realizes that Rachel Dawes is the
Joker's next victim. He calls up Rachel and tells him to go anywhere safe, which she says is Bruce's.
Batman arrives at the interrogation scene and informs Harvey he is going to reveal his true identity
to stop the Joker from killing the inhabitants of the city. He tells Harvey to hold a press conference
the next day. The next day, Harvey has a press conference and declares that he is Batman and offers
himself to be taken for custody. He believes this will give Batman the chance to capture the Joker.
Rachel is upset that Bruce did not step up and let Harvey take the blow.
While Harvey is being transported to prison by a SWAT team, the Joker attempts to kill Harvey
through multiple firearms. The real Batman arrives in his Batmobile and intercepts the shots fired by
Joker. Batman turns Joker's vehicle upside down through cables shot from his vehicle. The Joker
stands in the middle of the road yelling at Batman's fast approaching vehicle to hit him. Batman is
forced to crash as he wants to honour his no-killing code. Cordon, who is revealed to be alive, takes
the Joker into custody.
Harvey is released and honoured by the public for his bravery, while he states that he simply trusted
Batman to save him. He is then driven Detective Wuertz home in a car. Gordon is promoted to a
commissioner by the mayor Garcia for his bravery. He tries to interrogate an uncooperating Joker in
his cell. Gordon finds out that Harvey never made it home. He questions the Joker about what he
has done to Harvey. Unable to get the whereabouts of Harvey, Gordon leaves the Joker to the
Batman. Joker reveals to Batman that Rachel and Harvey are on opposite sides of the city and
Batman can save only one of them. Batman rushes off to save Rachel while Gordon and his team go
for Harvey. It is revealed that the Joker has switched the locations. The victims have both been tied
to gasoline tanks. Batman saves Harvey's life, but one side of his face is severely burnt and
disfigured. Gordon is unable to save Rachel, and she dies. Joker escapes from the jail with Lau using
a detective as a human shield.
Gordon pays a visit to Harvey in the hospital and says he is sorry about Rachel. Harvey has refused
skin-grafts to treat his disfigured face. Harvey is angry that Gordon trusted the police when he
explicitly told him not to. Gordon is tipped about where the Joker is going to be that night.
The Joker has gathered all the stolen money into a pile in a warehouse with Lau sitting on top of it.
He burns down the entire pile saying, "All you care about is money. This town deserves a better class
of criminal, and I'm gonna give it to them."
Coleman Reese, Bruce's accountant, goes live on television to announce the true identity of Batman.
Joker calls in the show and declares that if Coleman was not dead in an hour, he was going to blow
up a hospital. All hospitals are asked to be evacuated. Joker shows up in Harvey's hospital in a
nurse's uniform and gives him a speech to become a supervillain. Harvey flips a coin to determine
whether to shoot the Joker. Joker walks out of the hospital and blows it up. Harvey shows up where
Detective Wurtz the one who picked him up is, flips a coin then shoots him.
The Joker captures two ferries, one filled with civilians and the other with criminals and gives each
ferry a detonator to blow up the other ferry. He tells them via loudspeaker that by midnight if one of
them does not blow up the other, he would blow up both the ferries. With a listening device made
by snooping mobile phones, Batman determines the exact location of Joker. Both the civilians and
criminals have not blown up each other. After midnight, Joker decided to detonate both the ferries
but is apprehended by the Batman after a series of fights.
Harvey is at the building where Rachel died, holding Gordon's family captive. Batman and Gordon
arrive at the scene, where Harvey decides to kill Gordon's son. Batman reasons with him saying that
Gordon's family was not responsible for Rachel's death. Harvey then decides that Batman, Gordon
and himself were the responsible ones. He flips the coin for Batman and shoots him in the stomach;
then he flips for himself. Next, he flips for the boy, but Batman tackles him, saving Gordon's son.
Harvey dies from the fall.
Batman and Gordon ponder on the implications of Harvey's death. If people found out about him
becoming corrupted by the Joker, people would lose hope, and the Joker would win. Batman decides
to take the blame, saying he will become what the city wants him to be. The Bat-signal is destroyed.