- Henri 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 would be spared your pain.
- Alfred Pennyworth: Took quite a fall, didn't we, Master Bruce?
- Thomas Wayne: And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.
- Rachel Dawes: Wait! You could die. At least tell me your name.
- [pause]
- Bruce Wayne: ...It's not who I am underneath... but what I *do*... that defines me.
- Rachel Dawes: ...Bruce?
- [Batman turns and leaps off the roof]
- [as Wayne Manor is burning down]
- Bruce Wayne: What have I done, Alfred? Everything my family... my father built...
- Alfred Pennyworth: The Wayne legacy is more than bricks and mortar, sir.
- Bruce Wayne: I wanted to save Gotham. I failed.
- Alfred Pennyworth: Why do we fall sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.
- Bruce Wayne: You still haven't given up on me?
- Alfred Pennyworth: Never.
- Rachel Dawes: 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.
- Henri Ducard: Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.
- Bruce Wayne: That's why it's so important. It separates us from them.
- Batman: [taps the Bat-signal] Nice.
- Jim Gordon: I couldn't find any mob bosses.
- Batman: Well, Sergeant?
- Jim Gordon: Oh, it's Lieutenant now. You really started something. Bent cops running scared, hope on the streets.
- Batman: But?
- Jim Gordon: We still haven't picked up Crane or half the inmates of Arkham that he freed.
- Batman: We will. We *can* bring Gotham back.
- Jim Gordon: What about escalation?
- Batman: Escalation?
- Jim Gordon: We start carrying semi-automatics, they buy automatics. We start wearing Kevlar, they buy armor piercing rounds.
- Batman: And?
- Jim Gordon: And, you're wearing a mask. Jumping off rooftops. Now, take this guy.
- [pulling out a file]
- Jim Gordon: Armed robbery, double homicide, has a taste for the theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card.
- [shows Batman a plastic evidence bag containing a Joker card]
- Batman: I'll look into it.
- [turns away and walks to the edge of the roof]
- Jim Gordon: I never said thank you.
- Batman: [looks back at Gordon] And you'll never have to.
- Alfred Pennyworth: Why bats, Master Wayne?
- Bruce Wayne: Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies shared my dread.
- Bruce Wayne: You're vigilantes.
- Henri 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 Wayne: Which is?
- Henri Ducard: Legend, Mr. Wayne.
- Henri Ducard: But a criminal is not complicated. What you really fear is inside yourself. You fear your own power. You fear your anger, the drive to do great or terrible things.
- [trying to lug a burning roof beam off of a helpless Bruce]
- Alfred Pennyworth: What is the point of all those push-ups if you can't even lift a bloody log?
- Alfred Pennyworth: Are you coming back to Gotham for long, sir?
- Bruce Wayne: As long as it takes. I'm gonna show the people of Gotham their city doesn't belong to the criminals and the corrupt.
- Alfred Pennyworth: In the depression, your father nearly bankrupted Wayne Enterprises combating poverty. He believed that his example could inspire the wealthy of Gotham to save their city.
- Bruce Wayne: Did it?
- Alfred Pennyworth: In a way. Their murder shocked the wealthy and the powerful into action.
- Bruce Wayne: 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.
- Alfred Pennyworth: What symbol?
- Bruce Wayne: Something elemental, something terrifying.
- Alfred Pennyworth: I assume that as you're taking on the underworld, this symbol is a persona to protect those you care about from reprisals.
- Bruce Wayne: You're thinking about Rachel?
- Alfred Pennyworth: Actually, sir, I was thinking of myself.
- Enormous Prisoner: You are in hell, little man!
- [punches Bruce Wayne]
- Enormous Prisoner: And I am the devil!
- [punches him again]
- Bruce Wayne: You're not the devil. You're practice.
- Henri Ducard: Your parents' death was not your fault.
- [Bruce attacks Ducard with his sword]
- Henri Ducard: It was your father's.
- [Bruce furiously attacks Ducard, but is easily defeated]
- Henri Ducard: Anger does not change the fact that your father failed to act.
- Bruce Wayne: The man had a gun!
- Henri Ducard: Would that stop you?
- Bruce Wayne: I've had training!
- Henri Ducard: The training is nothing! The will is everything!
- [Ducard bests Bruce once again]
- Henri Ducard: The will to act.
- Carmine Falcone: You're taller than you look in the tabloids, Mr. Wayne.
- [one of Falcone's attendant bodyguards gives Bruce a rough going-over to check for weapons but comes up with nothing]
- Carmine Falcone: No gun? I'm insulted! You could have just sent a thank-you note.
- Bruce Wayne: I didn't come here to thank you. I came here to show you that not everyone in Gotham's afraid of you.
- Carmine Falcone: Only those who know me, kid. Look around you: you'll see two councilmen, a union official, a couple off-duty cops, and a judge.
- [points a gun at Bruce]
- Carmine Falcone: Now, I wouldn't have a second's hesitation of blowing your head off right here and right now in front of 'em. Now, that's power you can't buy! That's the power of fear.
- Bruce Wayne: I'm not afraid of you.
- Carmine Falcone: Because you think you got nothing to lose. But you haven't thought it through. You haven't thought about your lady-friend down at the D.A.'s office. You haven't thought about your old butler. Bang!
- [Falcone pulls the trigger, but the hammer falls on an empty chamber with a click; he puts the gun away]
- Carmine Falcone: 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. Alright.
- [Falcone gives his bodyguards a signal to remove Bruce; they take hold of him, and he struggles against their grip]
- Carmine Falcone: Yeah, you got spirit, kid. I'll give you that. More than your old man, anyway. In the joint, Chill told me, uh, told me about the night he killed your parents. He said your father begged for mercy. Begged. Like a dog.
- Bruce Wayne: [as Alfred opens the curtains] Bats are nocturnal.
- Alfred Pennyworth: Bats may be, but even for billionaire playboys, three o'clock is pushing it. The price of leading a double life, I fear. Your theatrics made an impression.
- [shows the newspaper to Bruce]
- Bruce Wayne: Theatricality and deception are powerful weapons, Alfred. It's a good start.
- Alfred Pennyworth: 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 Wayne: I'm not learning polo, Alfred.
- Alfred Pennyworth: Strange injuries a non-existent social life, these things beg the question as to what exactly does Bruce Wayne do with his time and his money.
- Bruce Wayne: And what does someone like me do?
- Alfred Pennyworth: 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.
- [from trailer]
- Henri Ducard: You traveled the world... Now you must journey inwards... to what you really fear... it's inside you... there is no turning back. Your parents' death was not your fault. Your training is nothing. The will is everything. If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely. Are you ready to begin?
- Lucius Fox: [Bruce points to the Tumbler] The Tumbler? Oh you wouldn't be interested in that.
- [Cuts to Bruce test driving the Tumbler on an indoor course, with Fox in the passenger's seat describing the vehicle]
- Lucius 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.
- [Bruce goes to flip the throttle]
- Lucius Fox: Not now! Not... not now, Sir!
- [Bruce flips it back]
- The Tumbler: Afterburner disengaged.
- Lucius Fox: We never could get the damn bridge to work, but this baby works just fine.
- [Bruce brings the Tumbler to a stop. He is very impressed]
- Lucius Fox: So what do you think?
- Bruce Wayne: Does it come in black?
- Bruce Wayne: Everyone. Everybody.
- [cinks his glass]
- Bruce Wayne: I, uh... I wanna thank you all for coming here tonight and drinking all of my booze.
- [the guests laugh]
- Bruce Wayne: No, really. Uh... 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.
- Fredericks: That's enough, Bruce.
- Bruce Wayne: Mm... I'm not finished. To all of you, uh, all 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.
- Fredericks: The apple has fallen very far from the tree, Mr. Wayne.
- Uniformed Policeman #1: [describing the Batmobile] He is in a vehicle!
- Dispatcher: Make and color?
- Uniformed Policeman #1: It's a... black...?
- [looks at his partner, who shrugs]
- Uniformed Policeman #1: ...tank!
- Bruce Wayne: [about the prototype Batsuit] Tear resistant?
- Lucius Fox: This sucker will stop a knife.
- Bruce Wayne: Bulletproof?
- Lucius Fox: Anything but a straight shot.
- Bruce Wayne: Why didn't they put it into production?
- Lucius Fox: Bean counters didn't think a soldier's life was worth 300 grand. So, what's your interest in it, Mr. Wayne?
- Bruce Wayne: I wanna borrow it. For, uh, spelunking.
- Lucius Fox: Spelunking?
- Bruce Wayne: Yeah, you know, cave diving.
- Lucius Fox: You expecting to run into much gunfire in these caves?
- Bruce Wayne: Look, I'd rather Mr. Earle didn't know about me borrowing...
- Lucius Fox: Mr. Wayne, the way I see it, all this stuff is yours anyway.
- Henri Ducard: Are you ready to begin?
- Bruce Wayne: I-I can barely stand...
- Henri Ducard: [kicks him] Death does not wait for you to be ready! Death is not considerate, or fair! And make no mistake: here, you face Death.
- The Scarecrow: Boo!
- [sprays a dose of fear toxin at Batman]
- The Scarecrow: Aw, having trouble?
- [Batman starts hallucinating and tumbles backward into an easy chair]
- The Scarecrow: Take a seat. Have a drink.
- [splashes Batman with alcohol]
- The Scarecrow: You look like a man who takes himself too seriously.
- [produces a lighter and lights it]
- The Scarecrow: Do you want my opinion? You need to lighten up.
- [tosses the lighter at Batman, setting him on fire]
- Batman: [meeting Gordon carrying an unconscious Rachel out of Arkham] How is she?
- Jim Gordon: [handing Rachel over] She's fading. We gotta go. I'll get my car.
- Batman: I brought mine.
- Jim Gordon: Yours?
- [Batmobile blasts out and races by]
- Jim Gordon: I've gotta get me one of those.
- Henri Ducard: When you lived among the criminals, did you start to pity them?
- Bruce Wayne: 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.
- Ra's al Ghul: Tomorrow the world will watch in horror as its greatest city destroys itself. The movement back to harmony will be unstoppable this time.
- Bruce Wayne: You attacked Gotham before?
- Ra's al Ghul: Of course. 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. If someone stands in the way of true justice... you simply walk up behind them and stab them in the heart.
- Bruce Wayne: I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Rachel...
- Rachel Dawes: No. No, Bruce, I'm sorry. The day Chill died I... I said terrible things.
- Bruce Wayne: But true things. I *was* a coward with a gun. Justice is about more than revenge, so thank you.
- Rachel Dawes: I never stopped thinking about you. About us. And when I heard you were back, I... I started to hope.
- [She kisses Bruce]
- Rachel Dawes: Then I found out about your mask.
- Bruce Wayne: Batman's just a symbol, Rachel.
- Rachel Dawes: [Rachel touches Bruce's face] No, 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 some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.
- Bruce Wayne: [answers the phone] Bruce Wayne.
- Earle: What makes you think *you* can decide who's running Wayne Enterprises?
- Bruce Wayne: Well, the fact that I'm the owner.
- Earle: What are you talking about? The company went public a week ago.
- Bruce Wayne: And I bought most of the shares. Through various charitable foundations, trusts, and so forth - look, it's all a bit technical, but the important thing is that *my* company's future is secure.
- [speaks up]
- Bruce Wayne: Right, Mister Fox?
- Lucius Fox: Right you are, Mister Wayne.
- [Fox hangs up the phone, turns to Earle and takes off his glasses]
- Lucius Fox: [with relish] Didn't you get the memo?
- [Earle is speechless]
- Alfred Pennyworth: 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 Wayne: I'm not heading back at all.
- Alfred Pennyworth: You don't like it there?
- Bruce Wayne: I like it fine. They just don't feel the same way.
- Alfred Pennyworth: I've prepared the master bedroom.
- Bruce Wayne: No. My room will be fine.
- Alfred Pennyworth: With all due respect, sir, Wayne Manor is your house.
- Bruce Wayne: No, Alfred, it's my father's house.
- Alfred Pennyworth: Your father is dead, Master Wayne.
- Bruce Wayne: And this place is a mausoleum. If I have my way, I'll pull the damn thing down brick by brick.
- Alfred Pennyworth: This house, Master Wayne, has sheltered six generations of your family.
- Bruce Wayne: Why do you give a damn, Alfred? It's not your family.
- Alfred Pennyworth: I give a damn, because a good man once made me responsible for what was most precious to him in the whole world. Miss Dawes has offered to drive you to the hearing. She probably hopes to talk you out of going.
- Bruce Wayne: Should I just bury the past out there with my parents, Alfred?
- Alfred Pennyworth: 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 Wayne: Haven't given up on me yet?
- Alfred Pennyworth: Never.
- Ra's al Ghul: Have you finally learned to do what is necessary?
- Bruce Wayne: I won't kill you.
- [he throws two bombs, breaking a window and opening the back of the train car]
- Bruce Wayne: ... But I don't have to save you.
- [he spreads his cape and rises out the back of the car; the train plunges off the rails and explodes]
- Bruce Wayne: Have you told anyone I'm coming back?
- Alfred Pennyworth: Well, I just couldn't figure the legal ramifications of bringing you back from the dead.
- Bruce Wayne: Dead?
- Alfred Pennyworth: You've been gone seven years.
- Bruce Wayne: You had me declared dead?
- Alfred Pennyworth: Well, 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 Wayne: Well, it's a good thing I left everything to you, then.
- Alfred Pennyworth: Quite so, sir. And you can borrow the Rolls if you like. Just bring it back with a full tank.
- Batman: [has laid a snare-trap which yanks Flass by his leg 70 feet into the air] Where were the other drugs going?
- Flass: I never knew. I don't know. I swear to God...
- Batman: Swear to *me*!
- [He rapidly lowers a screaming Flass and then yanks him back up]
- Flass: I don't... I don't know. I never knew. Never. They went to some guy for a couple of days before they went to the dealers.
- Batman: Why?
- 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 when they're in force.
- Batman: Do I look like a cop?
- Flass: No...!
- [rapidly lowers Flass once more before dropping him to the ground]
- Lucius Fox: It's called memory cloth. Notice anything?
- [Bruce runs the material through his fingers, and shrugs, "no."]
- Lucius Fox: Regularly flexible. But put a current through it...
- [the cloth springs into the shape of a one-person tent]
- Lucius Fox: Molecules re-align, becomes rigid.
- Bruce Wayne: What kind of shapes can you make?
- Lucius Fox: Can be tailored to fit any structure based on a rigid skeleton.
- Bruce Wayne: Too expensive for the Army?
- Lucius Fox: I don't think they tried to market it to the billionaire, spelunking, BASE-jumping crowd.
- Bruce Wayne: Look, Mr. Fox.
- Lucius Fox: Yes, sir?
- Bruce Wayne: If you're uncomfortable...
- Lucius Fox: Mister Wayne, if you don't want to tell me exactly what you're doing, when I'm asked, I don't have to lie. But don't think of me as an idiot.
- Bruce Wayne: Fair enough.
- Rachel Dawes: [looking at the ruins of the burned down Wayne Manor] What will you do?
- Bruce Wayne: Rebuild it. Just the way it was, brick for brick.
- Alfred Pennyworth: *Just* the way it was, sir?
- Bruce Wayne: Yeah. Why?
- Alfred Pennyworth: I thought this might be a good opportunity for improving the foundations.
- Bruce Wayne: In the south-east corner?
- Alfred Pennyworth: Precisely, sir.
- Earle: Jessica, where are you?
- [walks into outer room]
- Bruce Wayne: [to Jessica] Eye on the ball, and...
- Earle: Why is no one answering the phone?
- [sees Bruce from behind, teaching Jessica to play golf]
- Bruce Wayne: [turning around] It's Wayne Enterprises, Mr. Earle, I'm sure they'll call back.
- Earle: Bruce? You're supposed to be dead.
- Bruce Wayne: Sorry to disappoint.
- Alfred Pennyworth: [referring to ordering the separate cowl pieces from Asia] They'll have to be, uh, large orders, uh, to avoid suspicion.
- Bruce Wayne: How large?
- Alfred Pennyworth: Say, uh, 10,000.
- Bruce Wayne: Well, at least we'll have spares.
- Carmine Falcone: [feigning insanity] Yeah, Doctor Crane, I can't take it anymore. It's all too much. "The walls are closing in." Blah, blah, blah. Couple more days of this food, it'll be true.
- Dr. Jonathan Crane: What do you want?
- Carmine Falcone: I want to know how you're gonna convince me to keep my mouth shut.
- Dr. Jonathan Crane: About what? You don't know anything.
- Carmine Falcone: I know you don't want the police to take a closer look at the drugs they seized. And I know about your experiments with the inmates of your nuthouse. 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.
- Dr. Jonathan Crane: Well, I already know what he'll say: that we should kill you.
- Carmine Falcone: [chuckling] No, even he can't get me in here. Not in my town.
- Dr. Jonathan Crane: [sighs, then matter-of-factly] Would you like to see my mask? I use it in my experiments.
- [takes out the Scarecrow mask]
- Dr. Jonathan Crane: Now, probably not very frightening to a guy like you, but these crazies, they can't stand it.
- [he puts it on]
- Carmine Falcone: So when did the nut take over the nuthouse?
- [Crane sprays fear gas into Falcone's face; Falcone begins to scream in terror as the gas takes effect: Crane's voice is altered, and the mask appears to move like a real face]
- The Scarecrow: They scream, and they cry. Much as you're doing now.
- [Cuts to later outside Falcone's cell. He is still screaming]
- Dr. Jonathan 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.
- Bruce Wayne: Don't turn around. You're a good cop, one of the few.
- Jim Gordon: What do you want?
- Bruce Wayne: Carmine Falcone brings in shipments of drugs every week, no one brings him down, why?
- Jim Gordon: He's paid up with the right people.
- Bruce Wayne: What will it take to bring him down?
- Jim Gordon: Leverage on Judge Faden, and a DA brave enough to prosecute.
- Bruce Wayne: Rachel Dawes.
- Jim Gordon: Who are you?
- Bruce Wayne: Watch for my sign.
- Jim Gordon: You're just one man?
- Bruce Wayne: Now we're two.
- Jim Gordon: We?
- Rachel Dawes: 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 Wayne: Maybe I should be thanking them.
- Rachel Dawes: You don't mean that.
- Bruce Wayne: What if I do Rachel? My parents deserved justice.
- Rachel Dawes: You're not talking about justice. You're talking about revenge.
- Bruce Wayne: Sometimes they're the same.
- Rachel Dawes: No, they're never the same, Bruce. Justice is about harmony. Revenge is about you making yourself feel better. Which is why we have an impartial system.
- Bruce Wayne: Your system is broken.
- Rachel Dawes: [Rachel makes a sharp turn] You care about justice? Look beyond your own pain, Bruce. This city is rotting. People talk about the depression as if its history, and it's not. Things are worse than ever down here. Falcone floods our streets with crime and drugs, preying on the desperate, creating new Joe Chills every day. Falcone not have killed your parents Bruce, but he's destroying everything they stood for.
- [She parks in front of a building]
- Rachel Dawes: You wanna thank him for that, here you go. We all know where to find him, but as long as he keeps the bad people rich and the good people scared no one will touch him. Good people like your parents who will stand against injustice, they're gone. What chance does Gotham have when the good people do nothing?
- Bruce Wayne: I'm not one of your good people, Rachel.
- Rachel Dawes: What do you mean?
- Bruce Wayne: All these years I wanted to kill him.
- [reveals his gun]
- Bruce Wayne: Now I can't.
- Rachel Dawes: [Rachel slaps him twice] Your father would be ashamed of you.
- [meeting someone introduced as Ra's al Ghul]
- Bruce Wayne: You're not Ra's al Ghul. I watched him die.
- Henri Ducard: [from behind Bruce Wayne] But is Ra's al Ghul immortal?
- [Bruce turns around to face Ducard]
- Henri Ducard: Are his methods supernatural?
- Bruce Wayne: [to Ducard] Or cheap parlor tricks to conceal your true identity, "Ra's"?
- Henri Ducard: Surely, a man who spends his nights scrambling over the rooftops of Gotham wouldn't begrudge me dual identities?
- Bruce Wayne: I saved your life.
- Henri Ducard: I warned you about compassion, Bruce.
- [from teaser]
- Bruce Wayne: 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... Me.
- Bruce Wayne: You're gonna destroy millions of lives.
- Ra's al Ghul: 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.