One day, a bat flies through his open window, and he sees it as an omen. He decides that the characteristics of this animal align with the representation and message he wants to send the criminals of Gotham City: fear.
Bats shun the light, and they summon ideas of darkness. Bats are also survivors, adapting to the changing environment around them. Just like Bruce Wayne and the newly embraced persona of Batman, bats are a study of opposites. They are physically always nearing the light, but never entering into it. And it is a combination of these physical characteristics that clearly identify with the emotional dichotomy within Bruce Wayne, and eventually what is used to transform him into Batman.
He wants the villains to be on the receiving end of villainy. However, it is not just the criminals that have to deal with the mask of Batman. Bruce Wayne, himself, has to figure out which is the mask he wears. Is it the black mask of Batman?
Or could it be that Batman is really the desires of his inner heart and the real mask is the one he wears as Bruce Wayne? This mask is one of flippancy and arrogance. It is the face of a spoiled playboy with no more ambition than to lazily squander his wealth with as many women as possible.
It seems that when Bruce takes this mask off and shows his true self as Batman the deep anguish of his heart is allowed full freedom. So what is it that makes the criminals fearful upon seeing him in the night? It is what brings about a cascade of fear within the hearts of evildoers.
Rather than using a simple mask, Bruce Wayne incorporates the full image of a bat: cowl, mask, cape, utility belt, and an emblem on his chest.
Hyde or Son of Sam. He is in the throes of dissociative phenomenon, but not of total identity diffusion. It is black with full head coverage. The forehead is designed in an eternal scowl, depicting a menacing attitude.
Finally, although there are holes for the eyes, only the mouth and chin are exposed. The significance of this design is to allow the villain to have some doubt or fear that the action of the mouth just might be that of a vampire bat, ready to move in and suck the life-giving blood from its victim. The imaginative way that the mask and persona of Batman is used in the comics and movies is a way to explain how Bruce Wayne deals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Bruce has been so traumatized by witnessing the murder of his parents that he cannot share his pain with anyone. As long as there remains injustice in the world, he cannot find peace or happiness.
Therefore, Bruce cannot effectively function in the real world, and must retreat into a darker world as Batman. It is here that he gains some control over criminals as a way to cope, and somehow derive meaning to his existence. He lives a dual existence where Batman is the identity and Bruce Wayne is simply an image. Bruce Wayne, the millionaire playboy, is just a part that he plays … a mask he wears. The mission to fight crime has taken over his life. He is hallucinating that if he doesn't do everything in his will, he will see his parents murdered again.
There are countless incidents when flashbacks from the night his parents got murdered haunt, Batman. His childhood is nothing but a horrific memory of it that wrecks him each time he hallucinates or is reminded of it. The death of his parents is single-handedly the defining moment of his life. In The Lego Batman movie, Alfred in a conversation with Batman says the latter's greatest fear is being a part of the family again.
Cue: the night his parents were killed in cold blood, the same night that kicked off Bruce Wayne's career as Batman.
Since his beginning is steeped in the tragic death of his family, the Cape Crusader doesn't want to start over with someone again. And it is not because Batman doesn't want a family or fears commitment but it the logical fear of losing someone that stops him each time. In many other renditions, Batman's fear of relationships has been described as one of the greatest fears if not the greatest.
In Batman: Arkham Knight , Batman's mind is warped with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, mutated beyond anything on the medical record, slowly turning him into The Joker. Batman, well aware of his talents, abilities, and resources, combined with the traits and personality of Joker would prove destructive for Gotham.
Joker Infection would render Batman an insane force to reckon with, just as eccentric as the criminals he has fought. It is not the physical manifestation that scares Batman the most, but the sole inheritance of personality traits that cause more fear in his mind. Batman's indomitable fear is that there will come a day when he will no longer be able to fight for the ideals he held so dear. That he would snap beyond repair, no longer protecting the morals such as his "no-kill" code that he stood for all his life.
Batman also fears that from that day onwards, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between right and wrong causing rampage in the city.
In Injustice 2 game, the superhero says that in all his years fighting crime, one thing that he's learned is that every villain is the hero of his own story.
Bisma Fida thinks pop culture shapes human lives. Sitcoms, dramas, and movies have helped her survive the impact of the geopolitical conflict of her homeland. Setting himself almost impossible goals Bruce Wayne has convinced himself that only by being this supreme crimefighter will he be able to prove himself as worthy. Then suddenly he stopped and seemed to reflect on whether that would be what his parents really would want. Bruce Wayne began again with a new moral code that he hoped his parents would approve of and made sure that taking the life of his opponents would only happen in the last resort.
Bruce has not experienced the casual enjoyment and lifestyle that most teenagers enjoy as part of their development. No time to focus on the frivolous and fun aspects of life. Instead, Bruce spent his youth training in a multitude of disciplines to become a master in all of them. We have all witnessed people who are driven to become champions in a sport or rise to the top in a career. These people are only seeking to excel in just one field. Batman has chosen to master many different activities and skills simultaneously.
All this time trying to prove himself worthy to his dead parents, afraid that he will fail them and not prove himself worthy. Once he had finished his preparation, he still no real leisure time to forget everything and just chill out. He has convinced himself that Gotham City and the World need him and that he cannot fail. They need him to succeed and in proving himself this way, he is proving himself worthy of his parents.
Every day Batman is surrounded by the dregs of society, and he must control his anger at what they inflict on innocent people. Batman fears this event, for he knows that if he moved away from the framework within which he has worked, that he could slide into becoming little better than the criminals that he fights.
He knows that it could so easily happen, and he worries if he would be able to recognize when it happened, or would he justify his actions and slowly bend more and more of his rules.
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