Eight-year-old Bruce Wayne falls into a cave where he encounters a swarm of bats. Bruce develops a fear of bats, and later urges his parents to leave an opera featuring bat-like creatures. Outside the theater, Bruce Wayne's parents are both killed in a robbery by mugger Joe Chill. Bruce blames himself for his parents' murder: had he not been frightened, the Waynes would not have encountered Chill. He is taken in by a mysterious instructor named Ducard and urged to become a ninja in the League of Shadows, but he instead returns to his native Gotham City resolved to end the mob rule that is strangling it.

Christian Bale ... Bruce Wayne / Batman

Michael Caine ... Alfred

Liam Neeson ... Henri Ducard

Katie Holmes ... Rachel Dawes

Gary Oldman ... Jim Gordon

Cillian Murphy ... Dr. Jonathan Crane

Tom Wilkinson ... Carmine Falcone

Rutger Hauer ... Earle