The Batman: Death of The Family
For this one, we are going to finish the story we’ve been telling the past two movies. We began with a loner Batman who had failed to save his adopted son. In the second film, we had a Batman who got a second chance to save his family with Damian Wayne. He has built a new family after losing his first family as a child. Bruce was all alone in that alley. Now he has a family. He is healing. He’s beginning to finally find peace after all these years. The crime rate is down, he’s using Wayne enterprises to donate Bat-tech to the gcpd, and Selina is back in his life. Now, he will face his greatest challenge. Joker has returned, and he wants to destroy everything Batman has built. He wants to prove the pointlessness of Batman's ideals, he wants to show the true face of humanity that hides behind the masks and costumes. Batman will fight harder than ever, because this is what his story will always come down to: finding meaning, and rejecting the idea that everything is a pointless joke. But, Batman’s story was never one with a happy ending. From the day he first put on the mask he knew how it would end.
In this movie, we have a few things we need to do:
-create an adaptation of death of the family for a general audience, taking away the more r rated elements, adding more so it makes sense to the ga, and making it different enough for comic fans to enjoy.
-introduce Catwoman into the main Batman movies. She has already appeared in spin offs like Gotham City Sirens.
-Use Catwoman as one of the only people in the world who really understands why Bruce does what he does.
-Build Damian and Dick’s relationship
-Give Batgirl more to do(at this point the movie Batgirl 2: Birds of Prey has already happened)
-bring the themes to their logical conclusion
Batman villains in this film are:
-Joker
-Clayface(minor)
-Carmine Falcone(in flashbacks)
We begin years ago. The first year. One of Batman’s earliest nights in costume. He's somewhere from 25-28. Bruce has been CGI deaged, or we’ve used an actor who looks similar. The costume is less armored, more basic. It looks like a prototype. Its military looking, but less elite, more basic and strung together. Still, recognizably Batman. He stands above a building, looking in through the skylight. Below is a party. It's a casino, there's gambling, and drinks. Young Batman speaks to Alfred through a phone, not a communication device in the helmet. He says that the biggest crime bosses in Gotham are all down there, along with corrupt cops, politicians, and businessmen and women. It's time to send a message that this city doesn't belong to them. Tonight is the beginning of the end for organized crime in Gotham. Alfred listens from a black van parked about two blocks away, and tells Bruce to be careful.
Down below, Carmine Falcone. He's the man in charge. He radiates power. He also radiates sleaze. He's in a white suit with a red rose lapel. This man runs the drugs, the guns, the women, everything. He is crime in Gotham. A mask of elegance hiding a face of greed and sociopathy. He grabs a drink from a waitress, and hands it to Commissioner Loeb. He's asks if he's dealt with Gordon. Loeb says that he's sending Flass to his home. Once they have his daughter they'll own Gordon. Falcone asks about the bat. Loeb tells him that he doesn't see the bat as an issue. He takes out a few small time drug operations, some low level thugs go away, the ones up top like them keep making money. He gives the people hope, makes them think things are getting better, and they go on as always. What's the harm? A smoke bomb crashes through the window. Batman appears, telling them that their feast is nearly over. Gotham no longer belongs to them. None of them are safe. Falcone orders his men to open fire. Meanwhile, the waitress Falcone got the drink from runs off into the hallway, and up the stairs, pulling off a blonde wig to reveal black hair. She is 20 years old or in that area. Possibly older. Could be 25 in this time period. Batman shoots a grapple hook back up into the roof, swinging along it and kicking down the bodyguards trying to shoot him then crashing back through the skylight. Falcone tells his men to get to the roof. Gun men run up the stairs. Meanwhile, the waitress(really Selina Kyle) has changed into a telltale games style Catwoman suit and is dumping the contents of a safe into a duffel bag. Batman is on the roof, cursing to Alfred that a bullet hit the grapple gun. He won't be able to swing out of here. Selina leaves the room as guards run towards the exit to the roof. They see her and try and shoot. She escapes onto the roof, encountering Batman. Batman recognizes her as a notorious Cat burglar, she thanks him for calling her notorious, and says she didn't expect to meet the Batman tonight, then proposes a truce as armed guards including a gun wielding Falcone flood the roof. They fight off the gunmen, Selina scratches Falcone’s face, and they both escape using Catwoman's own grapple gun. Catwoman disappears. Bruce runs into Alfred's black van and tells him to get out of here before they start searching the street, pulling off his mask.
We move to now, the modern Gotham, at a gala in city hall. Bruce Wayne is shaking Commissioner Gordon's hand on stage, after presenting the GCPD with a new, state of the art crime lab. Bruce heads down from the stage. Elsewhere in Gotham, Barbara battles some thugs. One pulls a gun at her while she's distracted fighting another, and she's dodges, tossing a batarang at him. The criminals defeated and sirens in the distance, Barbara grapple hooks away. On a nearby rooftop she lays down to rest, noticing the bullet grazed her suit and has cut open the side, fortunately not hitting her flesh. Gordon, at the gala, gets a call from Barbara. She says she’s going to come over later and has to tell him something important.
Bruce talks to Lucius Fox, who tells him that he’ll be busy setting up the lab at the police station so he won't be able to get him the new Batmobile by next week. Bruce says it's fine. Lucius says when he's done with the lab it should be on the same level as the one in the Batcave. A photographer asks to get a picture of the two together, Damian walks by, and they also get a photo with him and Bruce. Bruce asks Damian how security is going, and Damian tells him(obediently and like a soldier) it looks like it's going to be the first event they've been to in months that a supervillain doesn't show up at.
Bruce notices Selena Kyle(hair is slightly longer and she's less youthful than the one in flashbacks. I imagine her as being 5-10 years younger than Bruce) in the crowd, and goes over to her as music begins and they dance. She resembles the telltale games Selina Kyle. He commenting he didn't know she was back in Gotham. She says she’s been vacationing in Italy. Cut to Catwoman battling machine gun wielding nuns in a cliff side castle over the Mediterranean Sea.
(From background info in Gotham City Sirens you would know she had to get out of the country for a while after killing Black Mask in order to save Harley Quinn and in retaliation for kidnaping and torturing her roommate/close friend Holly in the film).
She comments he seems to be doing well, and she met his son. He seems… nice. Bruce says he was raised by The League of Assassins, and says she seems to be doing well too. Damian didn't mention she was here. He asks if she’s here to steal anything, or just stopping by to say hi. She flirts a bit then tells him that she's on his side now. She only steals from criminals, and always donates some of the loot to her favorite charities. He says she should donate all of it. She says she still has to eat, and she likes caviar. She disappears into the crowd as their dance ends.
Catwoman begins following an older man, and steals his wallet as she passes by him. She retrieves a keycard from the wallet and plants it in someone else's pocket.
Back in the first year of Batman’s career, Bruce is in the Batcave with Alfred. It's really just a few generators, a bunch of computers connected together, and a case for the Batsuit at this point in his career. Alfred is helping Bruce test out a new grapple gun, shooting into the wall. He tells Bruce the mob has put out a reward for his head. Bruce says that's good, they're scared. Alfred says he is too. He says he knows Bruce was all alone in that alley when his parents died, but that doesn't excuse this. This is insanity. He can't stop crime, he can't stop death, by dressing as a Bat. Bruce tells him to stop talking and look around. Does he see anyone else who can fight Falcone. Alfred says he sees Dent, and Gordon. They’re helping the city as much as him, from within the law. Bruce tells Alfred that that reminds him, Gordon is in danger. He has to go. Alfred begs him not to, saying if he keeps doing this, he will be dead in an alley just like his parents. Bruce climbs out of the cave using a rope ladder, climbs out of the well he fell into as a boy, and gets on a motorcycle in a nearby shed.
Cut to a motorcycle chase on a freeway. Batman chases down a ski masked man on another motorcycle carrying an infant Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl. Young Gordon follows behind in a car. They all turn onto a bridge. The masked man jumps off his bike threatening to throw the baby. Gordon dives for the man. They both go off the edge. Batman follows. They all fall into the river. Batman drags Gordon and the baby to the shore. Batman is maskless. It came off. Gordon tells Batman thank you, and says it's fine, he can't see a thing without his glasses.
In present day, Bruce, back at Wayne Manor opens the cave entrance through the grandfather clock and heads down. Alfred is working on a computer. He says he's done background checks and Jeremiah Arkham is clean. Bruce says it will be good to have a lunatic not running the asylum for once. Bruce gets on his Batsuit, as Alfred talks to him. Alfred tells him that when Bruce started this, he begged him not to do it, because he knew Bruce would never be happy in this life, and eventually, he would end up dead. He says that after everything with Damian, he's started to think he was wrong. Bruce trains in the cave with Damian. He reminds him that they're training with Dick in two hours. After Damian leaves, Bruce looks up at the Jason Todd costume. He seems regretful and a bit scared. He doesn't want Damian to suffer the same fate.
We move to Blüdhaven, USA. Gotham city is surrounded by two rivers, on one side, Metropolis. A shining example of the future. On the other side, Bludhaven. A place where the mob based crime of Gotham's pre supervillain days still resides. Officer Dick Grayson is checking out of work at a police station. Turning in his gun and changing out of his uniform in a locker room. He says goodnight to some fellow officers. They say it back. He seems to be well liked by pretty much everyone. He gets high fives on the way out. He gets into his car and begins the drive home when he realizes someone else is in the car. He grabs an escrima stick out of his glove compartment and turns around to attack, realizing it's just Damian in full Robin costume.
Apparently Dick is training Damian later that night. Dick tells Damian he was supposed to be waiting in his apartment. Damian tells Dick he already got his Nightwing costume from the apartment. Later, Dick instructs Damian on a rooftop. This is his first night in the field and out of the cave. Bruce wanted to be here too, but he had urgent business so Damian and him are alone for the night. Dick says that they won't be staying out all night, as he has a date later. Dick and him jump rooftops looking for a crime, and discover people running screaming out of a bank. They jump down, discovering Clayface. Dick tells Damian Clayface is extremely dangerous, and they need to be careful. When Clayface sees them, he immediately drops the money he stole and surrenders, saying he's tired of getting frozen or blown up by people in costumes because that's always what happens and to just take him back to Arkham. He claims to have left Gotham to avoid this. Later, Damian and Nightwing are back on a rooftop, and Damian tells Dick that that was sad and pointless.
In the first year, Falcone fumes in his office. There are now several long scars running down the side of his face like cat scratches. The newspaper he looks at calls Gordon a hero cop who is now testifying against ex-Commissioner Loeb. He tells his men that they need to end this. The Bat isn't just ruining their operations, he's making people forget that the Falcone family demands respect! Gordon, the Catwoman, the rival mob families, they're all waiting for a chance to take him out now that Batman’s made people think he's not untouchable. Suddenly, a messenger comes in to deliver news. Their weapons shipment was attacked, and they lost everything. Falcone asks if it was Batman. The messenger says no, the men were dressed as clowns. Their leader has requested a meeting. Falcone gets the info on the meeting's location, then shoots the messenger. He tells his men that he will not have clowns telling him what to do. They need to take the meeting, then kill the fool.
The Jared Leto Joker walks in, hopping over the body of the messenger, and tells Falcone that he's changed his mind, the meetings now. Falcone orders his guards to kill this Joker, but they've already been payed off. They grab Falcone and hold him down. Joker shoots Falcone's advisors. He tells Falcone he wants to help him. Gotham isn't the city it once was. Everything changed when the Batman came. He needs to change with it, or die. Falcone says he doesn't work with freaks. Joker shoots him. He tells the traitorous Falcone guards they work directly for him now. He’ll need their clothing sizes. He wants them to dress as pandas from now on.
At Arkham, present day, It's snowing. Two guards patrol the grounds, and one asks the other if she's ready for the blizzard. A new inmate is being brought in. Batman watches from a gargoyle. Batman walks through the asylum, Commissioner Gordon and Jeremiah Arkham, the new Head of Psychology, at his sides. He thanks Gordon for setting this up. They pass the Riddler’s cell, where he has collected a large stack of crossword puzzles. A door to a cell is opened, Gordon says Batman has five minutes. Gordon's phone is on silent. Elsewhere, Barbara is on a rooftop calling him. It goes to voicemail. She tells him she solved her problem. It's fine and she doesn't have anything to tell him. It was a mistake. Batman enters the room. In the darkness is the Joker. Batman tells the Joker he's come to talk. He's been thinking lately about the two of them, about how eventually, he knows Joker is going to escape again. Elsewhere, Selina Kyle is scaling a building in full Catwoman costume, she opens a window with a glass cutter, then tries to open a safe with the stolen key card. At Arkham, Batman tells Joker he knows if they keep doing this, one of them is eventually going to kill the other. He wants to talk for once, and make a genuine attempt to prevent that. He doesn't want either of them to die. He knows there's good in him somewhere. Catwoman is filling a duffel bag with diamonds from the safe. A gun cocks behind her. She turns around to find a group of suited men with guns. She flips, knocking over and disarming them, scratching several S faces, joking and insulting them as she does so before leaping through the circular window hole. Batman asks the silent Joker if he's listening. He suddenly realizes though, the man in the dark isn't the Joker. He's dressed as the Joker, and in make up, but he isn't him. The Joker is loose. Batman runs out of the cell, alerting Arkham and Gordon. Gordon says he can't handle this now, not with the blizzard coming.
Batman leaves the asylum, calling in Nightwing, Robin/Damian, and Batgirl back to the cave over comms and leaving in the Batmobile as it rains. Dick and Damian respond but Barbara's comm is off. Gordon tells Jeremiah to find out how Joker escaped and puts an alert out to all officers on duty that the Joker is loose. He learns over the phone that the GCPD police station was attacked by the Joker’s gang. Two dozen officers are dead from poison gas. Gordon asks why Joker attacked the GCPD, looking up at the sky and seeing the Bat-signal is shining, the bat flipped upside down. Batman looks up and realizes this too, and he knows, the Joker is coming for the bats.
At the GCPD station, Gordon looks as his fallen officers are taken away. Renee Montoya is looking at the body of her fallen partner Crispus Allen. Gordon tells her they're going to bring Joker in. He will pay for his crimes. He gets a call from Barbara( his ringtone is “I fought the law”) and she says that she does need to talk to him. He says that he's going to be working all night and he's sorry. He asks if she's at her college. There's a blizzard and it's not safe out. She says she is.
Barbara swings down to her college campus in the snow, and into the window of her dorm. She's tired, beaten, and bruised. She jokingly thanks her absent roommate for always being out partying so she doesn't have to change in an alley, talking to herself. She's been fighting criminals all night and is tired. She looks at a bruise on her back from the mirror. Her doorbell rings. She goes to answer, calling out her dorm-mates name. She pulls open the door to find the Joker with a gun and a camera. He shoots her in the stomach and takes a picture.
Cut to year one. Bruce monitors the crime wave sweeping Gotham from the newly installed Batcomputer. The Joker has taken control of Falcone's empire. Many members of the mob have either left Gotham in fear of death or joined him. A gang war rages in the streets against the Joker by those who have chosen to do neither. The Joker meanwhile, has begun committing random acts of violence and terror as well. An art museum vandalized and destroyed, a bus of people poisoned with gas that killed them and contorted their face muscles into smiles, the mayor killed in a violent attack. Bruce tells Alfred it's unlike anything he's ever seen. There's no purpose or reasoning, just violence for violence. An alarm goes off. Joker is at a rooftop restaurant/ classic movie theater. Alfred reluctantly tells Bruce to go. The city needs Batman. Be safe.
At the restaurant, Joker’s men have blocked the exits. He's in his finest purple tuxedo. He has not come to steal or kill though, he's here to eat. He makes a joke that he’s not a bad person for holding everyone hostage, he's a victim of circumstance... he couldn't get a reservation. The movie plays on the wall. It's “The Man who laughs” (1928) He's flipping through the menu when Batman arrives, tossing taser batarangs at the guards. Others aim to shoot, Joker tells them to stop. He walks up to Batman and looks him in the eyes. Batman says it's time to go. Joker tells him he just wants to have fun and enjoy a movie. Batman says he's a murderer. They’re leaving now. Joker says that Batman wins. He’ll go with him, and offers his hand to Batman. Joker's men stand down. Batman grabs his hand, and is electrically shocked. Joker kicks Batman through the movie screen tarp and fires acid out of flower pinned to his suit onto Batman. Bruce falls out the window, his suit burning, wrapped in a tarp, and electrocuted. Young Batman manages to pull out of the tarp and glide quickly into a balcony on a building opposite the one he fell from using his cape, hitting a wall and knocking himself out. A hand grabs him as he begins to fall of over the railing and too his death. Catwoman, robbing the apartment, looks at him on the balcony dumbfounded at the unlikely event that just occurred and swears.
Batman, Robin, and Nightwing meet in the Batcave. Bruce asks if either have seen Barbara. Neither have. Batman’s a bit worried, but Dick says that she can protect herself. Bruce trained her himself after all. Dick asks why they're here. Bruce says that the Joker is out of Arkham, and he thinks the Joker is going to be coming for them. From what happened at the GCPD station, it seems personal. Bruce tells Damian that he has to stay in the cave until they know what's going on. Damian is angry, saying the Joker is just another criminal, and he's being ridiculous. Bruce tells Damian it's not up for discussion. Damian stops. Batman leaves, telling Dick to stay with Damian. Dick is angry and surprised. Bruce says he's going to find Joker and also confirm Barbara is alright. Dick says Bruce is making the wrong call. He can't do this alone. How many times have they caught the Joker together? Bruce says this time is different. Dick tells Bruce he’s scared, and he's acting irrationally because of it. Batman gets into the Batmobile and leaves. Dick looks to an older model of the Batmobile and prepares to get Dick. Damian appears and tells Dick to come with him, they're going out. Father is wrong this time. The Joker has gotten into his head. He needs them. Damian gets in on the drivers side.
In the Batmobile, Alfred(who was working in the background during the previous scene) asks Bruce from the radio if he's sure he's making the right choice. Bruce tells Alfred he knows something the others don't. He built a tunnel from the cave to Arkham using drilling robots from Lucius. He had planned to set up a rail line to and from the cave eventually. It's meant to help him get to Arkham faster in case of a breakout or riot. He thinks the Joker may have discovered it, and used it to escape. If his theory is correct, the Joker could have learned who he is.
Gordon is talking to Montaya. She says the guy dressed as the Joker was an Arkham guard. He was promised payment for impersonating the Joker. They have him in custody but he doesn't know anything else. They still can't figure out how the Joker escaped without being seen. Gordon gets a text. He says he needs a minute, and it's probably his daughter. He looks down, we only see his face, and he tells Montoya to call an ambulance(it's implied that the texts are pictures of his dying daughter taken by the Joker but we don't see). Alfred tells Batman Barbara is in the hospital. She was shot in her dorm by the Joker.
Batman arrives at the hospital, coming in from the window to tell Batgirl he's sorry. This is his fault. She tells him the doctors say she's paralyzed with no chance of recovery. He asks if Joker said anything to her that could hunt at where he is. She tells him Joker told her to tell him that he would be where it all began. Batman leaves right before Gordon enters.
Gordon is with his daughter. Gordon tells her he's sorry. This is his fault. The Joker came for her because he was looking for him. He did it to send a message. Barbara tells him that he's wrong. It's not his fault. He shouldn't be tearing himself up. This was her choice. She's the reason this happened, not him. She is Batgirl. Gordon is shocked. He never suspected even for a second. He tells her he's going to get the bastard who did this to her. He will pay for his crimes. Gordon leaves. Montaya is waiting outside. She tells Gordon that there was an unconfirmed Joker sighting near the Ace Chemicals plant. They both decide to go. In the cop car, they wait as a plow moves the snow in front of them. Montoya asks Gordon what's going to happen to Joker when they catch him. Will he just go back to Arkham again? Gordon says the law will handle him. She says that the law hasn't been doing a very good job. Every time he comes back more people die. No one is safe when he's around.
Back to year number one, Selina drags Batman into the apartment and gets him on a couch. She puts some ice on his head then realizes she should change or of the Catwoman costume before he wakes up and does so. She also grabs her blonde wig out of her bag. Later, Bruce wakes, she tells him she found him on the balcony when she got home from work. He asks where the Joker is. She says that there was a shootout with the police about an hour before she got home and he escaped. He says thank you for the help and leaves. As he heads to the Batmobile, hidden in a nearby alley, he realizes she was Catwoman, and turns around to run back to the building he just left. He tracks Catwoman across rooftops, finally catching her behind a large tv screen in Gotham's equivalent of Times Square. He says that he's bringing her in. She angrily asks if he can just let her go, she did save his life after all. He says he’s seen her face. She can't hide, and should give up. He knows people in the GCPD. He knows she's not a bad person, and can put in a good word for her. She attacks him, and they fight behind the glow of the giant neon screen, going from individuals to silhouettes. Catwoman distracts Batman with feminine charms then knocks him off the platform, throwing him a grapple rope. He grabs it and she runs to escape as he climbs up. Then, the screen turns to green and purple, as do all the others in the square. The Joker laughs and announces he will be poisoning the Gotham Reservoir later that night. Anyone who tries to stop him will fail. Countless people will die, but there is no need to worry, they'll die with a smile. This can be avoided. If 1000 people in the city are killed in his name within the next hour, the poisoning of Gotham will be prevented. Batman ends the chase and goes to stop Joker. Young Gordon heads out with the other cops as riots begin in the streets.
Cut to now, Batman arrives at Ace Chemicals, while Gordon and Montoya also do at the same time. Montoya tells Gordon that she called all units at the hospital. They head in to look around. Batman searches through the plant, and finds/avoids a trip wire attached to a machine gun. Montoya and Gordon search the building. They walk down a hall when Gordon handcuffs her. She sees he took her gun. He says he knows she didn't make any calls. She's here to kill the Joker. She says that the Joker needs to die. He deserves it. Gordon says that isn't their call. He tells her to stay there and leaves. He hears gunshots and calls the GCPD on his radio and says he needs backup.
Batman climbs up the stairs towards THE CATWALK. The place it began. A joker goon attacks him from behind. He dodges and tosses him. Several others attack, he pulls ones machine gun off of them then begins beating them down. They attack him with taser sticks. Meanwhile, Damian and Dick drive the other batmobile(Dick is driving now of course) They are driving to Ace chemicals. They arrive and run in. Batman is fighting a large joker goon who tries to push him into a vat of chemicals over the railing. The Joker is in the building… somewhere. We can hear him laugh as Batman begins to tip over the edge. Gordon shoots the goon and helps Batman up, then punches him in the face. He yells at him, asking how he could let something like this happen to his daughter. He trusted him and he brought his daughter into a war! Damian and Dick run down a hallway. Doors close behind them and the hall floods with gas. They put on breather masks but the gas, to their shock, goes through. Damian holds his breathe as Dick falls, pounding on the door. He pulls out his sword to slice through as Joker appears behind him, knocking him out with a crowbar.
Batman tells Gordon that the Joker is here. He heard him, there were traps… he's sorry about what happened but this has to wait. Gordon tells Batman he's bringing him in. Batman is under arrest. He pulls his gun on Batman. Batman disarms Gordon and runs as the police swarm the building. Cops find Montoya and in a different area a blood stained crowbar. Batman races into the Batmobile, and notices the old Batmobile as he drives away. Gordon orders a raid on Wayne Manor.
In the past Joker and his gang of costumed henchmen have taken over the Gotham reservoir/dam. Hostages have been taken. Several large trucks are pumping chemicals into the water. The Joker is in front of a green screen giving the speech from earlier. He finishes the speech and heads over to watch the poison spill into the reservoir. In the city Batman watches as people riot, jumping down into the streets to stop them. He scares the rioters off and they run. Meanwhile, Catwoman is running home across rooftops. Young Holly is locked in their small apartment as people smash the door with an axe. A member of the mob attacking asks if anyone knows how many are dead so far. Catwoman jumps in and starts fighting them off. We get a small emotional moment where she asks if Holly is okay. She tells Holly to get to the roof. She’ll be safe there during the riots. She has to go back out. People need help.
Gordon gets a call on his phone, and it's an unknown number. Gordon answers and Batman is on the other end in the Batmobile, speeding down the streets. He tells Gordon he's heading to the reservoir. He tells him to keep the peace the best he can. He has a plan. He arrives at the reservoir, taking out Joker goons and throwing sleeping gas into the room the hostages are kept in to knock out the thugs guarding them. Time is of the essence, so he fights as fast as he can. The Joker tries to shoot Batman, then attacks him with his cane. Batman breaks the cane then kicks Joker. Joker stumbles and almost falls over the edge into the reservoir but Bruce grabs him. Joker asks what Batman is waiting for, kill him! Drop him in! Batman says no and pulls Joker up then tosses him across the concrete. Joker tells Batman he's starting to understand him. He believes he can save them, he thinks they're worth saving, but he's wrong. See, it was all a joke! He's been pumping plain water into the reservoir! Batman grabs Joker and pulls him over to the green screen/camera setup. He turns it on and it hacks into Gotham’s screens once again. He tells everyone as Batman that The Joker wanted to trick them into showing their worst instincts. Don't give in to him. There was never any poison. He ends the live video and ties Joker up. Rioters stop and police arrest people.
Now, Batman drives. He calls Alfred, and tells him Joker got Damian and Dick. He shot Barb and turned Gordon against him. This was all part of his plan. Alfred tells Bruce he couldn't possibly know enough to do this, there are too many variables! Bruce says if he had access to the Batcomputer he could have. We have no idea how long he knew about the tunnel before he set everything in motion. Alfred tells Bruce that The Joker’s entire operation is based on lies and trickery. How do we know this isn't just paranoia. How do we know that this isn't just in his head? Alfred stops. He tells Bruce police cars are coming. Sensors have detected them along the main road. Bruce tells Alfred to delete everything. Blow up the suits, burn the mansion down. Alfred asks if he's sure. Bruce says to do it. Alfred hits a hidden button in the hall of the manor. He enters a password. (There was another burning of the mansion prior to BVS. It was back to normal in my first movie, It was rebuilt. He got it rebuilt. How many times has it been destroyed and fixed in the comics?I’ll explain the first destruction some other time).
The devices in the cave spark and explode. Alfred runs out of the mansion as it begins to catch fire. In the snow he clears his throat then runs to the police as they arrive to find the house burning, yelling for help. In Selina Kyle's apartment, Batman arrives. Holly is sleeping on a couch with a black cat curled up beside her. There is money, cat toys, and high tech weapons and armor strewn around. There are two Golden Cat statues(referencing Batman ’66) on a shelf. The front door is now metal. Wind howls and rain falls outside. Catwoman climbs in through a window and finds Batman. They go to talk on the roof. Bruce tells Selina that he's lost everything because he was an idiot. Dick and his son have both been captured by the Joker. The police are hunting him. He needs her help. She says if he really needs her, she's here for him. Bruce says he had Damian's costume microchipped, and that will lead them to Joker. Joker is trying to draw him into a trap. He's been playing games with him. He doesn't have any other options than to walk into it though. But, Joker isn't expecting her.
In the Batmobile Batman checks the GPS. Damian's tracker shows he's at the dam/reservoir. Joker goons are everywhere. Damian and Dick are in costume, tied up in a large pipe chamber in chains. Joker is preparing for Batman’s arrival. He's putting on some clown makeup to make his face pop more, he's getting on a tuxedo. Joker tells Damian and Dick that the reservoir is overflowing because of the blizzard. Soon the machines will automatically discharge the water through the floodgate, which will go through the chamber they are in, and launch them out the dam and to their death.
In the car, Bruce says that he has something to say, as they could die tonight. Selina says that's always the case. Bruce asks why they never got together. Selina tells Bruce she can't be with him. She has plenty of money, she doesn't commit crimes for the money, she does it because she enjoys it. She likes breaking into the unbreakable just to prove she can. That's who she is. Him, he's a symbol. That's who he is. That's who he will always have to be. That's why they can never be together. They arrive at the reservoir.
Batman walks the length of the massive dam.The snow is near blinding. The reservoir has nearly overflown. A tuxedoed Joker appears, and shoots Batman with an armor piercing bullet(from a comically long pistol), greeting him as darling. Lightning flashes behind him. This is the moment. This is the finale. The Joker grabs the falling Batman,who clutches the railing, and begins to dance with him, dragging Batman along with him in a twisted mirror reflection of the beginning Selina dance. He tells Batman that after hearing he had gotten a new Robin, he got to thinking. The two of them are kindred spirits. Opposite, yet the same. The only difference is Batman wears a mask to reveal his true self, while he has no mask. He's all natural! Batman is an eternal agent of order, while he is the opposite. They're destined to dance forever through the darkness! There's only one problem, like with every perfect relationship, kids ruin everything! Joker pulls off Batman’s utility belt and tosses it over the edge of the dam. So, the new Robin had to go, he killed first one with a crowbar, he decided on …. Power tools? ...for the new one. He's dead now. Oh and the others, the ones corrupting our brand as well, will have to go. sadly…Catwoman too. Batman needs to be thinking with his head, not his di-batman head butts the Joker.- (Get it) Throughout all of this, Selina has been going through the dam/reservoir compound, taking out Joker goons and searching for Nightwing and Robin. She finds them begins picking the lock on the chains.
Joker and Batman battle. The injured Batman chases Joker down the walkway. Joker continues to shoot at him.Joker runs into the inside of the dam from a doorway. Batman follows. Out of bullets, Joker uses his acid flower. Batman blocks with his cape. Selina unlocks Robin and Nightwing. They all climb out. Batman and the Joker fight down the stairs. Joker is out of bullets and pulls a knife. He stabs Batman. Batman punches Joker’s teeth, knocking some out. Selina talks to batman through his helmet and tells him she found Nightwing and Robin. Joker left the masks on luckily. Batman sends them his location through a voice command and continues the chase, down a trapdoor and into a large pathway. They are in the floodgate path.
Water is leaking from somewhere and the floor is wet up to each man's ankles. Batman follows Joker to the edge. There are icicles at the end. They are at an opening leading to the edge of the dam. There is a long fall down, several hundred feet. Batman tells Joker it's over. Joker tells him it's never ever. Batman stops. Joker asks if he's considering killing him. Batman tells Joker that no one else dies tonight as he grabs him, holding him over the edge. The games are over. Bruce begins to pull off his mask. Joker squirms and kicks, saying he's not going to look. He won't. He won't. Joker kicks free of Batman and tumbles over the edge into the abyss. He hears the sound of rushing water. Dick speaks to him over his comm. He can't get through. There's water everywhere. They're safe but Bruce needs to get out. Bruce sits down, and tells Dick he didn't kill Joker. They need to know that. Bruce is sitting down. No utility belt, his cape is burnt off. No mask. He's stuck between a cliff and the raging water. He's bleeding out from his wounds. He tells Dick it's okay. He's ready. He stopped the Joker. He saved them. He's ready. The water hits him.
Dick, Selina, and Damian are all at the entrance above the waterway as water rushed through. Damian cries out. He yells they have to get down to the bottom of the dam. He could still be alive. He tries to run into the water as Dick and Selina both grab him and pull him back.
We get a bit of a montage. Dick meeting Barbara in the hospital. They look at each other and hug. Catwoman stopping a mugging. Damian at his father's funeral beside Alfred. The Justice League are also present at the funeral in civilian clothes. Gordon in his office, looking at a newspaper showing Bruce Wayne has died. The upside down Bat Signal is shut off. In the bombed out remains of the Batcave, Dick looks around. It's all gone. The storm is over and nothing remains but a blank landscape of white. It's been a few weeks, maybe months. Lucius Fox puts a tarp over an unfinished Batmobile. Dick continues to fight crime as Nightwing. Back in the cave Dick tells Alfred he never wanted to be what Bruce was. He always wanted to try and be something better. Maybe that's what Bruce wanted. But right now, Gotham doesn't need something better. It needs something to make them better. It needs Batman. Dick puts on the bat suit. Barbara is there in a wheelchair, surrounded by computers. She tells him the location of a crime from a police radio. He leaves in the new Batmobile with Damian.
The End
End Credits: Talia Al Ghul, leader of The League of Assassins, learns of her beloved's death and that Dick Grayson is now masquerading as Batman. She calls Deathstroke.