Act III, Scene XIII

Outside Arkham Asylum, Commissioner Gordon's phone rings. He answers it.

ALFRED: (V/O) Commissioner. Remember me?

GORDON: His friend. I remember you.

ALFRED: You said it didn't matter what he looked like.

GORDON: That was when I trusted him.

ALFRED: Trust me now. Tell the Mayor to delay the press conference. Don't let any of the prisoners or inmates out.

GORDON: Know something I don't?

ALFRED: Look up.

We cut to Superman, leg rockets firing at maximum velocity. Gotham below him blurs past, a maze of twilight streets. He's not looking down, though, but straight ahead, at a dot on the horizon, hovering in mid-air, rapidly approaching.

Batman senses something, hears something. He turns. We have time to catch a glimpse of a savage smile on his lips as he sees what's bearing down on him. He makes no effort to get out of the way.

Superman lets loose with a battlecry, filled with rage and pain and outright determination, before impacting dead-centre on Batman, sending both tumbling through the Gotham skies.

Commissioner Gordon has seen everything. Hope kindles in his eyes.

ALFRED: Game's not over yet.

GORDON: I'm on it.

We cut to the Mayor, just assuming his position on the podium. There's pandemonium in front of him from the assembled press.

JOURNALIST #1: Can you confirm the rumours that all prisoners are to be set free??!

JOURNALIST #2: Are you really going to turn the keys to this city over to a vigilante?

Someone runs from the wings and whispers into Garcia's ear. He looks as if he's about to faint with relief. He leans into the mike.

GARCIA: Sorry ladies and gentlemen. Unavoidable delay.

He rushes off-stage, to even more bedlam from the assembled press. Soon, however, news breaks of what's going on in the skies over the city and everyone, Garcia and the journos included, assembles around every television they can find.

Across Gotham, across Metropolis, everyone is doing the same thing. Lois Lane and Jason White have just been dropped off at Clark's apartment. The news channels are displaying the live video feed from Gotham. Lois' hand creeps into Jason's and she squeezes it, hard. They sit down together and begin to watch, unable even to speak.

We cut to Batman and Superman, in mid-wrestle, three hundred feet up. Superman wriggles free of his opponent and uses his boots to arrest his speed, giving him sufficient purchase to swing a punch into Batman's jaw, sending the Dark Knight into a tumble that takes him clean through several of the support pillars of an elevated train bridge. The bridge sags.

And the lights of a train shine brightly in the Gotham night. Superman throws himself into a dive even as the train driver slams on the brakes. Superman latches onto the front of the train and cranks up the power in his boots' thrust as much as he can, further slowing the train down. But it's not enough.

The train goes over the edge of the destroyed bridge, plunging down, Superman attached to its nose. Passengers scream.

And then it stops. And reverses. And we see Batman dragging it back from the opposite side. Metal squeals against metal with the incredible strain and Batman uses his heat vision to fuse it back together again until the train is righted back on the tracks.

Superman detaches from the nose and flies up into the air-

-and Batman hits him head-on.

As they rocket through the air, towards an area of parklands, Batman gets his hand around Superman's throat.

BATMAN: Who's your tailor?

SUPERMAN: Missing your toys, Bruce? Here.

He twists his body around so that his shoulder launchers are pointing towards Batman. Targeting reticles appear on Batman's torso.

SUPERMAN: Have them back.

Mini-missiles fire and impact at pointblank range, blowing the two combatants apart from one another, causing both to crash into the woodlands in different trajectories. Trees tumble as both men scythe through them at high speed.

Superman gets to his feet. We see through his visor as it switches automatically to heat-vision night enhanced mode. We see a heat signature immediately identified ahead. Superman's leg rockets fire. He scoops up a massive felled tree trunk and, flying ahead, swings it in a long lazy arc-

Batman has time to turn before the massive trunk, swung like the world's biggest baseball bat, swats him like an oversized fly down into the grassy surface below, creating an impact crater. Superman drops the trunk with some satisfaction and, not resting on his laurels, turns himself upside down and shoots down into the impact crater, hard on Batman's trail.

We stay on the surface. There's a thump. And another. At each thump the ground around us shakes as if an earthquake is taking place. We get a quick shot of three overhead helicopters, one police and two news, all covering the action.

And then, like a cannonball, Batman is expelled from his underground battlefield, sent flying high into the Gotham night. He goes right through the tailfin of one of the helicopters, sending it into a fatal spin towards the treetops below.

Superman is on the scene before that can happen, putting his fists through the cockpit glass and ripping the pilot and co-pilot from their seats, pulling them to safety even as their copter blooms into flame on the greenery below. He deposits both safely on the surface-

-and is grabbed from behind. Batman squeezes, and we hear the unmistakable crack of ribs. Superman cries out in pain.

BATMAN: Miss me?

Superman brings his leg up and around, so it impacts Batman in a very specific area. Batman's grip abruptly loosens and Superman is able to wriggle free. He cocks his head in mock sympathy as his opponent's eye-watering discomfort.

SUPERMAN: Shouldn't have gotten rid of all that armour.

He hits Batman with an uppercut that sends him high into the Gotham night once again. Superman springs after him, leg rockets firing, but when he reaches the required altitude Batman is nowhere to be found. Superman turns, and we see his combat visor trying to lock on to something.

Something black zips across his field of vision. Superman tries to follow, but it's gone before he can track it.

It happens again, closer this time. Superman tries to connect with a punch, but in vain. And then something hits him, from behind, not very hard, but hard enough to make him gasp in pain. He spins, but Batman is gone.

BATMAN: Face it.

Superman turns again. Batman is there, twenty feet or so away, floating effortlessly, in stark contrast to Superman's already quite battered appearance and artificial method of staying airborne.

BATMAN: I'm stronger than you. Faster. There's no way you can beat me.

SUPERMAN: Sounds familiar. You didn't listen. Why should I.

Both men begin to circle the other, waiting for the right time to strike.

BATMAN: You're not me.

SUPERMAN: Look who's talking about identity. (taps his head)Is it crowded in there, Bruce? Since the Fortress? Think about what you've been doing! The first time we did this, I told you I didn't think you were a killer. I still don't.

Batman closes his eyes and shakes his head for a moment, as if trying to clear his head. Superman sees this and presses the moment.

SUPERMAN: He's in there. You've got to fight him, Bruce. You can beat him.

BATMAN: You preach about morality to me? You've never lost anything in your perfect little life.

SUPERMAN: I lost my parents! My race! My whole world!

BATMAN: Did you watch them die in front of your eyes? Did you look into the face of the son of a bitch who killed them and feel too weak and too scared to do anything about it?

SUPERMAN: Revenge is no reason to be a hero!

BATMAN: Revenge is ALL I HAVE LEFT!

With a roar of anger, Batman makes his move. Superman tries to anticipate it, tries to dodge, but Batman's rage is simply too much and though Superman lands a few blows, his opponent's strength and power simply allows him to shrug them off.

Whether accidentally or by design, the two are heading back towards the Narrows, towards Arkham Asylum. Superman impacts the ground between Gordon's circumference and the entrance of Arkham. Gordon waves his men back desperately.

We go inside Arkham Asylum. Dr. Quinzel is arguing furiously with one of the guards inside.

DR. QUINZEL: You said eight o'clock! You promised!

GUARD: Jeez, Doctor! You sound like you want these loonies released! We got our orders to postpone opening the cells, and I say thank God! End of story!

He turns away. Harleen fixes him with a look of pure hatred and looks around. Her eyes alight on a tray full of syringes, and as she sees them, something seems to unhinge once and for all inside that pretty little head of hers. She grabs a handful of syringes and lunges at the guard.

He goes down screaming.

We cut away to the battle raging outside. Batman is on the attack, not giving Superman the time to get up. He unleashes blow after blow, each more devastating than the one before. One smashes the combat visor into pieces. Superman tries to activate the jet-boots and scorch his opponent, but just as he previously resisted the Tumbler's turbo boost, so Batman simply shrugs off the intense heat and with two precise strikes, destroys the boots, rendering Superman grounded. A savage blow to the midriff sends pieces of Superman's armour splintering off.

Superman stands. Batman allows him to do so. He looks like the angel of Death, merely awaiting his moment to end the fight once and for all.

SUPERMAN: Please, Bruce…you're not yourself. Something happened in the chamber - your mind…akkk-

He trails off as Batman places a hand around his throat and lifts him into the air. They rise and rise until they're a hundred and fifty, two hundred feet straight up, above the Asylum. Rain begins to lash them as a thunderstorm brews over Gotham.

We cut to inside Arkham. The door to the Joker's cell opens to reveal Dr. Harleen Quinzel, now thoroughly insane. She holds a double handful of syringes.

DR. QUINZEL: He needled me, I needled him! That's funny, huh?

Inside, the Joker stands and faces the open door of his cell. He is not smiling in the least.

JOKER: Hilarious.

And with that, he walks imperiously out to freedom, Dr. Quinzel scampering after him like an adoring lapdog.

High above, Superman is fighting to stay conscious as Batman's fingers tighten around his throat.

BATMAN: You had all of this power…and you wasted it. I won't make the same mistake. First Gotham, then…

And he stops. And looks behind Superman at something we can't make out.

BATMAN: What the hell?

He takes his hand from Superman's throat, allowing the Man of Steel to simply fall from his grasp and begin dropping toward the ground two hundred feet below. As his limp body falls out of shot, we see what Batman was looking at.

A white dart. A plane. Heading directly for him.

RICHARD: Surprise, you bastard.

Batman reacts.

RICHARD: EJECT!

He fairly screams the last command and a hole opens in the cockpit above him. His pilot's seat seems to grow a solid bubble around it and it shoots upward, clearing the fuselage of the plane just as the whole thing impacts Batman.

On the ground below, as Superman's body hits the surface, Commissioner Gordon and his police contingent shield their eyes from the sudden fireball that lights up the Gotham sky.

Watching on television, Jason White falls to his knees.

And the Joker sweeps through Arkham's reception area, taking a moment to topple a guard who makes a belated grab for him (having until that moment been glued to the news footage). The Joker grabs a blade gleefully tossed to him by Dr. Quinzel and slashes the guard's throat, pirouetting gracefully to a stop as the guard's lifeblood seeps out between his fingers.

He takes a deep steadying breath, as if he's just done something particularly therapeutic, and walks outside.

Batman, sent sprawling by the plane collision, is thumped into the ground also. Dazed, he takes a few moments to get to his feet. We see something touch down in front of him, and it resolves itself into a futuristic ejector seat device, with a solid transparent bubble that dissolves into nothingness upon contact with terra firma. Richard steps out from within it just as Batman gets to his feet, scarcely able to believe his eyes.

BATMAN: Who...who the hell are you?

RICHARD: Me? Just a regular guy.

Batman swings a punch, but somehow, by his recent standards, it's remarkably slow in its execution and Richard is able to step around it. As Batman processes this puzzling downturn in his powers, Richard smiles and lays a beauty right on his jaw, a real teeth-rattler that sends the Batman staggering backward. He rubs his face in disbelief and staggers, putting his hand to his head as dizziness surges through him. Richard is sure to stay close.

Superman, until now still stunned by the high fall he just took, starts to come around back to consciousness again. He gets to his knees.

RICHARD: (shrugs)Okay. Maybe not completely regular.

And to the disbelief of Batman, of Gordon and his watching cops, of the entire world's media watching, Richard White begins to beat on the Batman. He steps around punches. He dodges kicks. Batman tries to take off and finds that he can't so long as Richard maintains close proximity to him.

And he lands blow after blow after blow, raining them down on Batman's face, his solar plexus, until the Dark Knight, weak and unable to take any more, is hit with one last shot of such power that it seems to come from Richard's toes right up through his whole body. He thumps the ground, out cold.

Richard stands over his unconscious body, breathing heavily, fairly shaking with exertion and excitement. He turns until he sees Superman, still on his knees, and a huge disbelieving grin breaks out on his face.

We see the image of Richard White triumphant be beamed across the world, to Gotham and Metropolis and beyond, and to one extraordinarily proud little boy in particular, who is just as stunned as everyone else by what he's just witnessed.

RICHARD: (shrugs) He wasn't so tough.

JOKER: Try me.

And with a savagely powerful thrust, the knife the Joker is carrying goes right through Richard White, from back to front. Richard lets loose a liquid gasp as blood fills his mouth. Gordon, his cops, Superman, all react with shock and horror - no-one had even seen the Joker creep across the grounds.

Jason White watches his father fall forward to his knees, the hilt of the knife still buried in his back, the blade deep in his heart. Richard has time to touch the wound, to look at Superman as the Man of Steel races toward him and catches him as he slumps forward.

JASON: NOOOOOOO!!! DADDY!!!!!!!

His fists pound the television screen but he lacks the strength to break the glass. Lois scoops him up and hugs him even as he bucks and kicks against her, overcome with terrible grief.

We cut to Richard in Superman's grasp. He looks up, still somewhat astonished by the fate that has befallen him, into the eyes of the Man of Steel. A corner of his mouth tugs upwards.

RICHARD: Now we're even.

And with that, Richard White dies.

Cops rush forward, shouting warnings. The Joker stands with his hands raised above his head, shouting placatory statements.

JOKER: Don't shoot! I'm unarmed! I surrender unconditionally!

Superman lays Richard's head down gently on the grass. He closes his son's beloved adoptive father's eyes for the final time.

And then he raises his head. And this is a Superman we've never seen before. This is a Superman ready to kill.

The Joker looks at him and shrugs, gesturing to the prone body of Batman slumped nearby.

JOKER: He started it. No-one, do you hear me, no-one EVER gets to do that but me!!

With a wordless roar Superman is on him. The Joker shrieks in delight as Superman rolls him, doesn't fight back as Superman begins to pound him. Police make as if to rush to the scene, but with an arm here and a gesture there, James Gordon forbids them from moving a muscle, and so they simply stand as watch as Superman begins to beat the Joker to death right in front of their eyes.

JOKER: (laughing uncontrollably)And here I thought Dent was good!

Superman roars and continues the beating, until he's tackled by a screaming girl. It is, of course, Dr. Quinzel, who tries to stab him with more syringes. They break on his skin and the remains of his Batman-like suit harmlessly and he swats her away. A few of Gordon's men grab her and restrain her. She screams and bites and writhes, hurling insults at Superman as she does so.

DR. QUINZEL: Don't you hurt him! You can't hurt him!

Superman dismisses her, turning his back. The Joker has gotten to his feet, albeit with some difficulty. He spits out a mouthful of blood and beckons Superman on with a smile, pointing up at the helicopters above their heads.

JOKER: Come on, hero. Come on, Boy Scout. Kill me. Kill me while the world watches.

And indeed the world is watching as Superman walks toward him, stopping to pick up the knife the Joker used to murder Richard White on the way. There's murder in Superman's eyes.

The Joker spreads his arms wide, bows his head and closes his eyes, in a perverse mockery of the Crucifixion. Moonlight glints off the knife's blade as Superman gets within striking distance of his prey.

And a figure rises, seemingly from the dead.

BATMAN: Now you know.

Superman stops his approach. Batman walks to him and stands between Superman and the Joker.

BATMAN: Now you know what it feels like. To see someone die in front of your eyes. What it is to be human.

SUPERMAN: Get out of my way.

BATMAN: No.

SUPERMAN: GET OUT OF MY WAY!

BATMAN: It's over.

There are tears in Superman's eyes, we see. We cut quickly to Metropolis and see a quick shot of Jason and Lois. Jason is still in the throes of grief but both are watching the live video feed of Superman standing over the Joker. Jason blinks through his tears.

SUPERMAN: He'll kill again.

Commissioner Gordon, stepping close to cover the Joker, hears all of the following.

BATMAN: That's because he's a monster. But we're not. I understand now. I was wrong. I thought you had all this power and you saw us as weak, and that's why you kept wiping our noses and saving our asses. But the truth is, with all this power, it would take all of the willpower in the world not to become a monster. With or without Zod's help, I was about to. But you, you never did. You were better than us. You deserve the name we gave you. Don't throw it away now.

JOKER: (clapping his hands)You still don't disappoint me. We're set for such times together, you and I…oh, not to forget our new friend here, who seems to have almost as much potential for-

Batman pauses in his speech to Superman, and then without looking, simply throws a backhand fist out and catches the Joker square in the face, flooring him with such ferocity that we get the distinct impression he won't be opening his eyes for a while, not to mention using his original front teeth ever again.

BATMAN: It's over.

Superman nods. He drops the knife, then goes back to where Richard's body lies.

Fade out.