The Development of Batman

In Batman Begins, eight-year old Bruce Wayne witnessed the murder of both of his beloved parents at the hands of a mugger. As an eight-year old, Bruce is in Erikson's psychosocial stage of “industry vs. inferiority,” which occurs between the ages of six and twelve.

According to Life-Span Human Development, written by Sigelman and Rider, during this stage,

“Children must master important social and academic skills and keep up with their peers, otherwise, they will feel inferior.” Dealing with the terrible loss of his parents would certainly have affected the social and academic skills of Bruce Wayne. Although the movie shows little of his childhood, it is likely that he did not take much joy in socialization after the murder.

Likewise, his mind was probably too preoccupied with other thoughts to focus too intently on schoolwork. In these ways, it is likely that Bruce Wayne would have fallen behind his peers.

However, Bruce Wayne came from an extremely wealthy and successful family. He had a best friend that he played with. Someone of his stature may not have even attended school with other children. These aspects of his life would surely help combat any inferiority he may have felt, and if he did still feel the pangs of inferiority, it is doubtful that these minor shortcomings lead to him eventually becoming Batman.

Erikson's next psychosocial stage is “identity vs. role confusion.” The majority of the film focuses on Bruce Wayne's life as a young adult. While he went away to college for a short time and returned to Gotham occasionally, the time that Bruce spent in prison and training with the League of Shadows in Asia played a larger part in developing his character. Sigelman and

Rider described Erikson's fifth psychosocial stage as a time when, “Adolescents ask who they are and must establish social and vocational identities, otherwise, they will remain confused about the roles they should play as adults.” During Bruce's teenage years, two important, life-altering events happen. Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham to attend a hearing that will decide whether or not Joe Chill,the man who murdered Bruce's parents, will be released from prison early on the condition that he testify against his former cellmate and mob boss Carmine Falcone. Bruce originally plans to kill Chill but just as he begins to raise his gun, an assassin, posing as a reporter, shoots Chill first to prevent him from testifying against Falcone. After the hearing

Rachel Dawes, Bruce's lifelong friend, slaps Bruce and expresses her disappointment in his vengeful plan. This incident makes Bruce realize that he will never be a killer like Joe Chill or

Carmine Falcone. Although he will not become a murderer, he still has an interest in fighting criminals. After being sent to an Asian prison where he spends most of his time brawling with unjust people, Bruce is offered the chance to train with a group of people called the League of

Shadows. During his training he gains the skills he goes on to use in his career as Batman and learns to overcome the guilt and anger he feels over the deaths of his parents. Eventually Bruce graduates from training and is set to be a leader of the League. However, he cannot lead without passing one final test. His trainer, Ra's al Ghul, tells Bruce to kill a man that is known to be a murderer. Bruce's response shocks and disappoints al Ghul. Upon being told to kill the man brought before him, Bruce replies, “No. I'm no executioner.” When told by al Ghul that “Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share,” Bruce tells him: “That's why it's so important. It separates us from them.” Although the events following this discourse result in the death of a man, it is an accidental death. Likewise, the only other death that can be linked to

Bruce Wayne is that of Ra's al Ghul; but he was not killed by Batman, rather he was just not saved by him. Bruce Wayne spared al Ghul's life once, only to be repaid by al Ghul trying to kill

Batman and destroy Gotham. His death was really his own fault, and Batman simply chose not to rescue him again.

During the stage of “identity vs. role confusion,” Bruce Wayne discovered his identity.

He appears to have no real interest in school or the family business or a social life. He is, however, interested in helping people. When asked by al Ghul what it is that he seeks, he responds: “I seek the means to fight injustice. To turn fear...against those who prey on the fearful.” After being attacked and having his family estate burned to the ground, Bruce tells

Alfred: “I wanted to save Gotham.” Even at the very end of the movie, despite all the horrors he has just been through, Batman tells Lieutenant Gordon, “We can bring Gotham back.” Gordon believes that Batman has “started something,” there is “hope on the streets” because of Batman.

Through all of his hardships and struggles, Batman has found his identity as the hero of Gotham.

It can be argued that Bruce Wayne's traumatic childhood caused him to form the violent identity of Batman. Yet is is clear that according to Erikson's psychosocial stages, Bruce has developed in a normal and healthy manner, which does not help much to explain the creation of

Batman. There is, however, another possible cause for his new identity. In the 1960's, psychologist Albert Bandura carried out an experiment that studied observational learning, or the learning by observing the behavior of other people. In this experiment, Bandura had nursery school children watch a film in which an adult accosted and verbally harassed a Bobo doll.

Three different versions of the film were shown, each to a different group of children. One version showed the adult being praised, one showed the adult being punished, and one was shown where the adult received neither punishment nor praise. After watching the film, the children were put with a Bobo doll to see how they would react toward it. The children who watched the films where the adult was praised or experienced no consequences were more aggressive with the doll than the children who saw the film of the adults being punished.

However, the children who watched the adults being reprimanded learned just as much as the children watching the other films had. They were able to replicate the actions they had seen on screen. The difference is that they had observed these actions as being worthy of punishment and made the choice not to repeat them. Although Bruce Wayne witnessed the murder of his parents when he was older than the children in Bandura's experiment were, the same principles can be applied. Gotham had its fair share of criminals and crooked cops who proved to be above the law, but in the case of the Wayne murders, the perpetrator was caught and sentenced to prison for some time. Bruce witnessed murder and then witnessed firsthand the consequences of it when then-Commissioner Gordon told him of Chill's arrest. For the remainder of his life, Bruce does not intentionally kill anyone and only fights to protect his own life and the lives of the people of Gotham.

Another concept developed by Albert Bandura that can be applied to Bruce Wayne's development is that of human agency. Life-Span Human Development defines human agency as, “ways in which people deliberately exercise cognitive control over themselves, their environments, and their lives.” Ra's al Ghul recognized that within Bruce was “the drive to do great or terrible things.” Like Bandura's human agency, al Ghul had his own ideas about controlling oneself. During the time Bruce spent with the League of Shadows, al Ghul explained that, “The training is nothing. The will is everything.” Bruce Wayne exercised his willpower to do great, rather than terrible things. Human agency allowed Bruce Wayne to become a hero and not a vigilante. Although Bruce Wayne dealt with many terrible tragedies during his lifetime, and will surely experience more given his new profession, he chose to rise from the ashes of despair and injustice and come away stronger and more righteous.