I don’t know the comic books and all I know about the movie is what I saw in the trailer.
Looking to the big-time comic book fans to fill me in.
It seems like the story will have a lot to do with Bruce Wayne’s training prior to becoming Batman
I figure this could make an intereting story and I’m wondering how much of his training is addressed in the comic books. Also wondering if the path depicted in the movie is consistent with the path depicted in the comic books.
From the trailer it seems like there are going to be two mentors (played by Liam Neeson and Ken Watanabe). I could be totally wrong about this, again, I’m just going off my impression of the trailer. Do these characters, this backstory, have basis in the comic book?
Check out Batman: Year One in graphic novel format at most big-box bookstores. I believe they’re following this story. It doesn’t deal excessively with training, but it’s in there.
My only complaint about the new flick so far is the new Batmobile. Uggo. I understand it’s a Wayne Industries military prototype, but I think it’s a lousy Batmobile. Batman is about stealth and hiding, can you imagine a stakeout, or surveillance in this behemoth??
I agree in about the new Batmobile being ugly, but the Batmobile in general has always been hella conspicuous. I consider it a mobile crime lab and a way to get around the city fast. When Batman needs to be stealthy, he goes on foot.
From what I’ve heard the movie doesn’t follow any specific Batman story that closely. That’s okay, really, as Batman’s training period has always been only murkily defined. We’re seeing one guy who wasn’t involved in training, and at least one other guy who canonically was.
The two actors mentioned play the characters of Henri Ducard (Neesom) and Ra’s Al Ghul (Watanabe). Ducard was introduced around 15 years ago in the comics by BATMAN movie writer Sam Hamm in a three issue stint he wrote shortly after the debut of the Batman movie. In the comics, Ducard is portrayed as a resourceful if amoral assassin who tutors young Bruce Wayne in his twenties on tracking criminals throughout Europe. Bruce Wayne broke from his tutelage due to his immority; Ducard later came to America and was able to deduce that Batman was Bruce Wayne.
Ra’s Al Ghul is nominally a Batman villain who masterminds a group known as The League of Assassins. Ra’s and Batman are usually mortal enemies although Ra’s would like to see Batman marry his daughter Talia and assume the head of his criminal empire. I don’t believe it has ever been directly stated in comics that Bruce Wayne, prior to becoming Batman, ever received training from the League, but in the best traditions of the student surpassing the master it makes sense for the filmmakers to go this route.
The story may be loosely based on Batman: Year One, but without Comissioner Loeb, Sgt. Essen or Selina Kyle it certainly loses the heart of that story.
Really, it seems to amalgam elements and characters of three or four “early Batman” stories.
For a while Robin (Tim Drake) had his own car, The Redbird. It could transform from a plain sedan to a more tricked out Robin-mobile. This made more sense, and I’d like to see Batman take this route. I haven’t read Robin for ages and don’t know if he still has it.
Miller and Mazzuchelli’s *Batman: Year One * was as much about James Gordon (who would become Commissioner Gordon) as it was about Batman. Somehow, I can’t see a producer wanting to go that route, although I think it would make a fine film.
The comics, to my knowledge, have never dealt with Batman’s “Training Period” in any great depth, although there are occasional flashbacks.
The animated series have done this as well.
*Batman: Year One * has him returning to Gotham City at age 25, after twelve years abroad… which means he left the US around age 13, studied under various martial arts masters, and gained the equivalent of at least masters’ degrees in chemistry, forensics, police science, and so on. We SEE none of this, and *B:Y1 * does not specifically state it, although Batman muses on his years of preparation for the task at hand.