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Tim Burton's Batman Triumphant (1995)
Dramatis Personae
Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)
Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough)
Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)
Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams)
Rupert Thorne (Jon Polito)
Jonathan Crane (Jeff Goldblum)
Helena Thorne (Jennifer Jason Leigh)
Wayne Manor
Born on June 1, 1940 in New York City, Doctor Timothy William Burton had a Ph.D in criminal psychology. His protege and former patient, Jonathan Crane, developed an obsession with curing his panphobia that bred rumors of human experimentation. His supervisor, Jeremy Arkham, failed to produce any evidence of before his death at the hands of a prowler in his penthouse apartment in Gotham Heights. Doctor Burton died last night from two gunshot wounds.
Bruce Wayne had pilfered a copy of the recording of the murder captured by a nearby surveillance camera. While Two-Face had pulled the trigger, someone had set him free in the first place. It showed someone dressed like Scarecrow, someone Doctor Burton identified by the name of Jon moments before his death. Bruce did not find this tape by happenstance. Jonathan Crane wanted him to see this. He wanted him to see his handiwork.
Jonathan Crane spoke into the camera. "I know you will see this. I know who really killed them." The cryptic statement spooked Bruce. Obviously, Jonathan Crane's graduate degree in psychology from Gotham University came in handy for messing with people's heads. In all likelihood, what he said meant nothing, just another obscure attempt to scare Batman. But something in Bruce's gut knew otherwise. Those words had a deeper meaning.
Using trace amounts of Thorne Industries' antidote to the fear toxin, Bruce had synthesized a single batch. Thorne Industries had a run in sales for the antidote. By this time next week, Thorne Industries stood to gain millions of dollars from domestic sales alone. He had a product everyone wanted. They paid through the nose to get it, either not knowing or not caring the true origin of the fear toxin that the antidote helped to cure.
A part of Bruce wanted to tear himself away from his bed and start bashing skulls until he got the answers he needed. But those bullets, though stopped by the best body armor money could buy, still hurt. Selina Kyle had to carry him to his Batmobile after the adrenaline caused by his injuries wore off. He didn't stand a chance against this rogues gallery in his condition. On top of that, he had a crime lord's daughter playing vigilante killer in Gotham.
As his mind drifted in and out, he returned to a strange place, a memory he had not visited in years, the funeral of his parents. The priest's words gave no comfort. He carried with him the red book, a journal his father had written in every day of his life. He remembered the last entry. "I would never tell Bruce this, but I don't want to go the theater tonight. I have surgery in the morning. I would have preferred we stayed home. I never could say no to him."
Now, he remembered why he repressed this memory. Jack Napier didn't kill his parents. Bruce did. He forced his father to change his plans. Had he not thrown a temper tantrum, they would have stayed home and enjoyed a quiet evening and many more to come. Perhaps in his quest to avenge their deaths, he sought on a subconscious level to punish his parents' real murderer, Bruce Wayne, a spoiled little brat wouldn't take no for an answer.
He could not avenge their deaths as Bruce Wayne. He could not avenge their deaths with so much guilt fermenting in the back of his mind. He raced into the rainy night in search of a persona. As he crashed through a hole, he found one, a monstrous and dark figure that would take away his guilt. It would turn him into a dark avenger who take away the grays of his life and paint his world in the only two colors he knew, black and white.
As Bruce awoke, Selina stood over him with a worried look in her eyes. "You shouldn't blame yourself for their deaths. You couldn't have known, Bruce." Bruce felt a sharp pang in his chest. "You talk in your sleep, Bruce. A nasty habit for a man with so many secrets." She lied next to him. "You really think punishing yourself for their deaths will make the pain go away?" He nodded weakly. "Nothing will make the pain go away."
Selina Kyle curled up against him like her feline namesake. "My mom only taught me one valuable lesson in all the years I knew her. She said, 'The only way out is through.' If you want your freedom from a life of nightly torment, you must face your fears. Go to them. Show them what you have become and beg their forgiveness." She kissed his forehead. "Every night, you face enemies who show you no mercy. Don't let yourself be one of them."