One of the most recent live-action adaptations of Batman was in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. There, Bruce Wayne was portrayed by Christian Bale. While he was recognizable as the character of Bruce Wayne visually, there were many character differences between Batman in the comics and Batman on the silver screen.
Bruce Wayne is someone who keeps a very strict set of rules for himself. As such, the way that Batman acted in Christopher Nolan’s movies would probably upset Bruce from the comics in a lot of ways. While the Nolan movies are still good, there are many things that Bruce Wayne would probably hate about Nolan's take on Batman.
10 He Doesn’t Have A Robin
Every iteration of Batman needs his own Robin. When Bruce Wayne first became Robin, he quickly learned that this job was not something he could do on his own. Not only was it an absurd amount of work to take care of Gotham as Batman does, but he needed somebody to leave behind in case anything happened to him.
Somebody needs to follow up Batman’s legacy, and some version of Robin is typically the one to do so. There is no Robin to Christopher Nolan’s Batman. Even the version of Robin introduced in The Dark Knight Rises doesn’t really work with Batman.
9 The Fact That He Does Actually Kill People Purposefully
Batman has several firm rules that he might try to bend, but he will never break. One of those is Bruce Wayne’s kill code. He refuses to kill anyone in most versions of the character. He has left people like the KGBeast behind before, but he avoids actively killing.
However, in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Bruce Wayne does actually kill people. He lets Ra’s al Ghul die; though Bruce says in the movie that he’s not killing him because he’s just not saving him, he’s functionally killing him. There’s no way for Ra’s al Ghul to live, and letting him die the way he does is the same as killing him, for Batman.
8 He Surrenders Being Batman & Lets The Joker Win
The Dark Knight ended with a relatively shocking twist. After Harvey Dent went bad and became Two-Face, kidnapping Jim Gordon’s family and nearly killing his son, Bruce Wayne felt that the image of Harvey Dent should remain untarnished. However, the entire original point of Batman was to keep an untarnished symbol in Batman for people to look to as a protector.
Letting Batman take the fall for what Harvey Dent did is arguably worse than Harvey Dent himself doing what he’s done. Bruce Wayne’s choice to surrender being Batman for eight years and letting the Joker win would likely enrage the Bruce of the comics.
7 The Way Bruce & Alfred Treat Each Other Grows Increasingly Stranger
While Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth’s dynamic in Batman Begins is incredibly close, their relationship changes in strange ways over the course of the three films. The two of them are like father and son for most of that time. However, by The Dark Knight Rises, everything really starts to fall apart.
After eight years of watching Bruce Wayne destroy himself, when Bruce says he wants to be Batman again, Alfred decides to give up on him. He gives Bruce a weird speech about how he’s leaving him to save him, but that doesn’t actually make much sense. Bruce Wayne would have hated the relationship Batman has with Alfred by the end of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.
6 Batman Almost Gave Up The Title Just So He Could Be With Rachel
Bruce Wayne is a man who has been in love a few times in his life. A new love interest was introduced to the Batman movies in Christopher Nolan’s films who had never even appeared in the comic books before: Rachel Dawes.
It’s unlikely that Bruce would stop being Batman to be with any woman, let alone for a woman that had never even been introduced before. In the movies, Bruce nearly turns himself in as Batman before Harvey Dent stops him. Harvey was the one making the right call there, because Batman is necessary for Gotham— and Bruce and Rachel barely had chemistry anyways.
5 He Really Has No Empathy Towards His Rogues
Part of why Batman is the perfect hero for Gotham is that he actually cares why the villains of the city do what they do. There’s a reason that Batman’s rogues become villains who do terrible things, and Bruce Wayne cares to find out why and tries to correct the circumstances and events that lead to these characters becoming villains.
In Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, however, Batman really has no empathy towards his rogues. Scarecrow, the Joker, Bane— Batman feels little empathy for any of them. He only favors Two-Face, and that’s only because he values Harvey Dent’s worth to Gotham as a symbol. Bruce Wayne would have no patience for a Batman like that.
4 Bruce Wayne Nearly Exposed Himself — Before Harvey Dent Rightfully Stopped Him
As mentioned previously, in the Dark Knight trilogy Bruce Wayne nearly exposed himself as being Batman. The Joker ends up immensely fixated on revealing who Batman truly is to the people of Gotham. He believes that this will dismantle Batman as a notion, and then he’s dead, literally and symbolically— the latter of which is perhaps even more important.
Bruce Wayne doesn’t want to have blood on his hands, so he nearly turned himself in. The “real” Bruce Wayne definitely would have hated that choice, and would have agreed with Harvey Dent that it was absolutely the wrong call to make.
3 Bruce Lets Wayne Enterprises Fall Apart Around Him
In the Christopher Nolan trilogy, William Earle took over Wayne Enterprises after Thomas and Martha Wayne were killed. While he told a young Bruce Wayne that the company would be waiting for him when he came of age, Bruce had apparently no interest in that. He set off on his own to receive his training to become Batman and, while he was gone, William Earle had Bruce declared legally dead.
Even after Bruce comes back, he doesn’t have much to do with Wayne Enterprises. This is his family’s legacy, and they make it clear multiple times how important the company is to what the Waynes wanted to leave behind, but Bruce just let it all collapse.
2 The Bruce Wayne Persona Became Too Present In Bruce’s Life
Bruce Wayne undoubtedly is someone who loves very passionately— and sometimes loves the wrong people. He usually gets romantically involved with people who are perhaps a bit too powerful, or maybe have an edge of danger to them. However, Bruce Wayne was even more of a playboy than ever before in Christopher Nolan’s Batman.
The Bruce Wayne playboy persona is important to keeping Batman and Bruce Wayne separate, but Bruce embraces this fake persona a little too much in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. Bruce Wayne would not only hate this and strongly disagree, but he’d probably find it distasteful— and likely be a bit mortified by it.
1 When Bruce Wayne Permanently Retired, He Didn’t Leave A Legacy Behind For Gotham
The end of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy concluded with Bruce Wayne choosing to leave Batman and Gotham behind. While he left everything to John Blake in theory, he didn’t actually train the guy up to take over as Batman once he was gone. Bruce Wayne fully just disappears completely from Gotham, as does Batman.
Both of them are assumed dead— which has happened before— and Bruce leaves to live in Europe with Selina Kyle. The Gotham he leaves behind isn’t nowhere near cleaned up, but Batman leaves it all the same, which Bruce Wayne would have absolutely hated.