WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Batman, now playing in theaters.
As expected, Matt Reeve’s The Batman didn’t show the Dark Knight’s origin story. And while it seemed like an odd choice, given the film’s impressive numbers at the box office, it turned out to be a good choice after all. However, the film did act as an origin story for numerous Batman villains. But while it introduced Barry Keoghan’s Joker, Paul Dano’s Riddler and Zoë Kravitz’s Catwoman, the film’s biggest villain — and ultimate fall guy — was Carmine Falcone.
The Riddler’s whole murderous gambit was to show how Falcone was essentially Gotham’s mayor. By orchestrating Maroni’s downfall, the cruel mobster had installed himself as king of the underworld and had been running the city since Thomas Wayne’s death. In proving that, though, The Riddler ended up connecting Batman and Catwoman in an unexpected way.
At the beginning of the film, Batman and Catwoman didn’t know each other. While hunting The Riddler, the Caped Crusader’s sleuthing skills led him to Selina Kyle. Her endgame was finding her girlfriend, but for a while, those goals coincided. So, the two of them formed an uneasy partnership, but along the way, they discovered that they had something in common — a rough history with Carmine Falcone.
Bruce’s connection to Falcone came through his father. The Riddler killed a number of Gotham’s elite, but his last target was Bruce Wayne. He wanted the young recluse to pay for “the sins of [his] father.” At first, Batman didn’t understand what that meant, but eventually, The Riddler made it clear. While on his mayoral campaign, Thomas Wayne tried to pay off a reporter who had uncovered some dark family secrets, but the reporter wouldn’t be bought. So, Thomas Wayne turned to Carmine Falcone and asked the mobster to scare the guy off of the case. Carmine obliged, but went too far and had the reporter killed. However, Thomas Wayne turned up dead before he could confess to the scandal.
The realization nearly broke Bruce, and while the movie didn’t reveal haven’t his public response to his parents’ scandal yet, it probably won’t be good for his public image. However, the horrifying revelation served a much bigger purpose in the film, and it had to do with Catwoman. Catwoman’s connection to Falcone was not a surprise to her, but it was definitely a surprise to Batman. It turned out that she was the mobster’s daughter, and he didn’t know it. Selina never could stand him, but when she found out that Falcone was behind her girlfriend’s death, she wanted to put a bullet in him.
And shortly thereafter, Selina was close to accomplishing her purpose. She had a gun on Falcone and was about to kill him, but Batman showed up just in time. The two struggled for the gun, and Batman wouldn’t let Selina kill her father. But it wasn’t because Batman needed Falcone alive or because he didn’t believe in guns — it was because Batman didn’t want Selina to pay for the “sins of [her] father” like Bruce was going to have to do. So, while Batman’s realization about his parents was devastating, it allowed him to understand what Catwoman was going through and stop her from going too far.
To see how Batman’s realization saved Catwoman, The Batman is playing now in theaters.
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