Plot
Bruce Wayne is playing on a field as a young child. Suddenly, he falls into a well, where he is attacked by a huge pile of bats, developing chiroptophobia. Soon afterward, he witnesses his parents' murder by a local mugger Joe Chill, leaving Bruce to be raised by the family's butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Bruce grows in vengeance and wishes to kill Chill.
Years later, Chill is granted parole in exchange for testifying against the local Gotham City crime boss Carmine Falcone. Bruce, now a young man, goes to the trial, intending to kill him, but one of Falcone's assassins does so first. Rachel Dawes, Bruce's childhood friend and now an assistant district attorney, is disgusted by his desire for vengeance. As a result, Bruce confronts Falcone, who berates him. Bruce decides to travel and learn about the criminal underworld, before becoming a criminal himself. In a Bhutanese prison, Henri Ducard offers to train him in the arts of stealth and fear as a member of the League of Shadows, led by Ra's al Ghul. After completing his training, Bruce learns the League's true intention is to liberate Gotham by destroying it. Bruce refuses and burns down the League's temple. Ra's is killed by falling debris, while Bruce saves an unconscious Ducard, leaving him with the local villagers.
After meeting Alfred, Bruce returns to Gotham. Publicly posing as a playboy, he takes an interest in his family's company, Wayne Enterprises, a technology and defense conglomerate company now run by the unscrupulous CEO William Earle. Bruce meets the Wayne Enterprises's top scientist, Lucius Fox, who introduces him to the company's prototype technologies, including a heavily armored car and protective bodysuit. Taking these, Bruce finds an entrance to the cave under his well, confronts his fear of bats and creates a workshop, taking up the identity of "Batman". As Batman, he intercepts a drug shipment and provides Rachel with evidence to indict Falcone, empowering the honest Sgt. James Gordon and the Gotham police to arrest the previously untouchable Falcone. Meanwhile, a prototype water vaporizer is stolen from a Wayne Enterprises's cargo ship.
Back in Gotham, Falcone and his henchmen are declared mentally unfit for trial and transferred to Arkham Asylum by the corrupt Dr. Jonathan Crane, who had been using Falcone to import a dangerous hallucinogenic drug that causes severe psychosis. Crane exposes Falcone to the toxin while wearing a burlap mask, driving Falcone insane with fear of the "Scarecrow." While investigating Crane, Batman is also exposed to the drug and is rescued by Alfred and given an antidote by Fox. Rachel goes to Arkham, where Crane reveals that he has been dumping the toxin into Gotham's water supply before dosing her with it. She is rescued by Batman, who exposes Crane to the toxin and interrogates him. Crane reveals that the toxin is only dangerous if inhaled. Batman escapes with Rachel in the Batmobile, inoculating her and giveing her two vials of the antidote, one for Gordon and one for mass production.
At his birthday celebration at Wayne Manor, Bruce is confronted by Ducard, who reveals himself to be the real Ra's al Ghul. Feigning drunkenness, Bruce kicks his guests out so they will be safe, leaving him alone with Ra's and his men. Ra's reveals the League's plan to destroy Gotham: having stolen the Microwave Emitter and conspired with Crane, they intend to vaporize the city's toxin-riddled water supply, creating mass hysteria and violence. The League sets fire to the mansion and Bruce is nearly trapped inside, but Alfred saves him at the last minute. As the League begins unleashing the toxin, Batman rescues Rachel from a drug-induced mob and reveals his true identity to her. He entrusts Gordon with the Tumbler and pursues Ra's, who is using Gotham's train system to deliver the weapon throughout the city. Batman confronts Ra's on the train and escapes just as Gordon uses the Tumbler to destroy the elevated tracks, leaving Ra's to die in the ensuing crash.
Batman becomes a public hero, but simultaneously loses Rachel, who cannot bring herself to love both Bruce and Batman. Bruce buys a controlling stake in the now publicly traded Wayne Enterprises, fires Earle, and replaces him with Fox as the new CEO. Jim Gordon is promoted to Lieutenant, showing Batman the Bat-Signal and mentions a costumed criminal who leaves Joker playing cards at crime scenes. Batman promises to investigate this new criminal while disappearing into the night.
Read more about this topic: Batman Begins
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“The plot! The plot! What kind of plot could a poet possibly provide that is not surpassed by the thinking, feeling reader? Form alone is divine.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)