In his youth Bruce Wayne witnessed the brutal murder of his father and mother by a street hoodlum. He vows to avenge their deaths by declaring war on all criminals and dons the bat cape and cowl to frighten his enemy. “And thus is born this weird figure of the dark … This avenger of evil.
As a child, Bruce witnessed the murder of his parents, Dr. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne, which ultimately led him to craft the Batman persona and seek justice against criminals. He resides on the outskirts of Gotham City in his personal residence, Wayne Manor.
Put in simpler terms, it is the trauma of witnessing his parents' murders that causes Bruce to leave Gotham and allows him to return twelve years later. The childhood trauma of losing his parents constitutes the link that unites the old Bruce Wayne with the new one as Batman.
After witnessing the murder of his parents Dr. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne as a child, he swore vengeance against criminals, an oath tempered by a sense of justice. Bruce Wayne trains himself physically and intellectually and crafts a bat-inspired persona to fight crime.
Williams (2012) pointed out several symptoms of PTSD in the character, concluding that Batman can be diagnosed with PTSD because he witnessed the death of his parents as a child (Williams, 2012).
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What did Batman suffer from?
For starters, Langley asserts that Batman, despite popular opinion, does not have a mental illness. The Dark Knight exhibits some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, but not enough to warrant a formal diagnosis.
mostly off of the life he's had and the tragedy, trauma, etc. that he's experienced Batman has been depressed since then. Those of which consist of: 8 years of torture from Desaad, feeling the combined pain of Apokalypse on top of that.
Batman: Three Jokers #1 (August 2020). In Batman's origin story, Joe Chill is the mugger who murders young Bruce Wayne's parents, Dr. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne. The murder traumatizes Bruce, inspiring his vow to avenge their deaths by fighting crime in Gotham City as the vigilante Batman.
Batman's lack of superhuman abilities makes him especially vulnerable to physical trauma, as his body cannot withstand continuous beatings without severe consequences. Batman's past trauma and lack of emotional healing make him easily manipulated by his enemies, who use his fears and personal losses against him.
The movies Batman stars in always want to show off the biggest villains his rogues' gallery has to offer: Joker, Scarecrow, Bane, and Riddler. But because of this, most viewers have no idea that Batman's biggest weakness is actually his inability to prepare for the smallest situations spiraling out of control.
Possessing a mix of brute strength and exceptional intelligence, Bane is often credited as the only villain to have "broken the bat", defeating him both physically and mentally.
Arthur was brought up by a foster mother and did not have a father figure. The foster mother herself describes him growing up as a fun and kind boy, but later he was abused and beaten by his adoptive parents and even had a severe head injury.
Ultimately, I think his youth was a mixed bag of experiences. Yes, Bruce Wayne lost his parents at an early age, but thankfully, he did still have a loving, supporting father-figure in his life, and the inheritance his parents left behind.
For starters, the most practical reason that Bruce Wayne decides to retire at the end of the movie is that he simply cannot handle the physical stresses of being Batman anymore.
The mayor's son is a way of keeping that trauma fresh. Bruce has three significant encounters with the young boy. Investigating the crime scene, Bruce discovers that it was the young son who found his father's dead body. Bruce stares at the sad and lonely boy, a moment of crushing vulnerability.
Thus, after Bruce gave up on the project, Bruce felt that he had nothing else left in the world and locked himself away in Wayne Manor, becoming a recluse, waiting for things to go bad in Gotham in the hopes of once again becoming Batman and having a purpose in life, or as Alfred suggests, a reason to die.
There's no doubt that recalling the fate of his parents is Bruce's biggest fear and regret. No matter who kills Batman's parents in different media, it's the catalyst to the person he becomes. Bruce spent all his childhood and early adulthood scared of remember what had happened.
Batman worries about things like his loved ones dying, failing to save Gotham, or his successors becoming evil. Unfortunately for the Dark Knight, these fears have often manifested in reality, with Bruce Wayne having to face his worst nightmares and push his mental limits.
The Joker (real name unknown) is a homicidal maniac with a clown-like appearance, bent on creating havoc in Gotham City and fighting a never-ending battle against Batman.
That includes the Joker, whose endless cycle of committing crimes, killing innocent people, being captured, and breaking out of Arkham Asylum has caused severe problems in Batman's life and Gotham City.
Batman and Joker definitely aren't brothers in the comics. While the Joker movie plays very deeply with this idea, it still maintains the same stance. In the books, Joker's origin story has been a mystery. Readers have come across multiple different ones over the years.
The batman comics give us a pretty good picture of the incidents that followed. Bruce gets thrown out of school, goes around beating up people he thinks are bad, gets away from people who care about him, and so on; classic signs of PTSD. He also shows uncontrollable anger and guilt.
To review, we learned from Earth-2 and Kingdom Come that for Batman, happiness can be achieved even in the midst of his never-ending mission when he learns to accept the love of his friends and family.
