The fact thatBatmanis really Bruce Wayne just might be one of the worst-kept secrets in comic book movies, with some many characters figuring out the secret identity in clever ways. Nearlyevery live-action Batman filmfeatures some scene of another character discovering Bruce Wayne’s secret identity as Batman, with Matt Reeves’The Batmanrecently being the first to buck that trend since Adam West’s feature film in 1966. The movies often find creative and impactful ways for The Dark Knight’s cover to be blown.
Supporting characters can discover Batman’s identity in a variety of ways.For the most part, people only know Bruce Wayne is Batman when he wants them to, delicately letting the secret slip through some clever wordplay or subtle statement. More rarely, other characters likevillains are able to discern Batman’s identityagainst his will, coming up with Bruce Wayne as the only logical answer to the question of who’s behind the mask.
10Batman Reveals His Secret Identity To The Flash With A Well-Timed Batarang
Justice League
Batman isn’t the only DC hero concerned with protecting his secret identity. In fact, as a billionaire playboy CEO, the more pedestrian secret identities of other heroes are far bigger of a weak spot than Batman’s own, with less resources to protect them and more loved ones for villains to target.
It’s a good thing Batman is on the right side of justice, as his sleuthing abilities make uncovering other heroes' secret identities a piece of cake. Batman proves as muchinJustice Leaguewhen he goes to recruit Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash.Understandably, Barry is quick to deny Bruce Wayne’s claims when he comes to him as a civilian.
Cast
2017’s Justice League brings together iconic DC heroes under the direction of Zack Snyder. In the aftermath of Superman’s sacrifice, Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince recruit metahumans Barry Allen, Arthur Curry, and Victor Stone to combat the dire threat posed by Steppenwolf and his Parademons.
It’s only when Batman suddenly flings a Batarang at The Flash, knowing he’ll be able to tap into the Speed Force to dodge it, that Barry lowers his guard. In one smart move, Batman both forces Barry’s hand by making him use his powers to avoid harm and proves himself as a trustworthy ally by outing himself with one of his signature throwing weapons.
9Batman Reveals His Secret Identity To Rachel With Her Own Words
Batman Begins
Batman Beginsis an underrated movie when put up against its more famous siblings inChristopher Nolan’sThe Dark Knighttrilogythanks to moments like Batman’s admission of his identity. A character created by Nolan solely for the films,Rachel Dawes serves as Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend and love interestwho goes on to become an important player in Gotham’s legal community.
10 Best Ways The Dark Knight Trilogy Changed Batman
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy made many interesting changes to the original Batman comics, often for the better in the overall story.
Just before being attacked by the crazed serial killer Victor Zsaz in the aftermath of Scarecrow’s riot, Rachel and a random young boy are saved by Batman. Curious as to who to thank, Rachel asks Batman who he is, and Batman can’t help butsubtly reveal himself to her with her own words - “It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me”.
This brilliantly calls back to an earlier scene with Rachel and Bruce in the wake of some of his playboy charade antics. Stunned by the revelation, Rachel then blurts out “Bruce?”, possibly revealing the identity to the young child alongside her as well.
8Batman Reveals His Secret Identity To Lucius Fox
Another great change the Nolan movies made to the typical Batman canon was the change of Lucius Fox’s involvement in Batman’s war on crime. In the comics, Lucius Fox is aware of Bruce Wayne’s identity, and helps him save face as his business representative in Wayne Enterprises.
As Bruce’s demands get more outlandish, he can’t help but ensure that Lucius Fox is comfortable with the knowledge of what he’s doing.
However,Nolan decided to make Lucius more involved as Batman’s in-house engineer and hardware supplier, with Bruce asking him for increasingly specific and obvious Batman equipment over the course ofBatman Begins.As Bruce’s demands get more outlandish, he can’t help but ensure that Lucius Fox is comfortable with the knowledge of what he’s doing.
Batman Begins is the inaugural film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, featuring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne. Released in 2005, it follows Wayne as he transforms into Batman to combat the pervasive corruption in Gotham City, creating a new identity to fight crime outside the system.
In response, Fox tells him that the less he knows, the better, but not to take him for an idiot. This “don’t ask, don’t tell” relationship between Batman and Lucius Fox as warrior and armorer is an enjoyable twist on the typical secret identity awareness, with Lucius having enough plausible deniability in his involvement with Batman to stay safe while contributing to the worthy cause.
7Batman And Catwoman Reveal Their Identities To Each Other
Batman Returns
Michelle Pfeiffer is far and away considered to be thebest live-action Catwomanby many, thanks in large part to her romantic chemistry with Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne. This strong connection is highlighted during the party scene in which the two irrevocably reveal their attraction to one another in and out of costume at a bizarre masquerade ball.
Batman Returns sees the return of Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne after his victory over the Joker. This time, the Dark Knight faces a new threat in the form of The Penguin, an outcast who wants revenge on Gotham City. Featuring Danny DeVito as Oswald Cobblepot, Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman, and Christopher Walken as Max Schreck, Batman Returns is Tim Burton’s second and final movie based on the iconic DC comics character.
In a sensual dance of equal parts danger and flirtation, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne essentiallycome clean to one another as Catwoman and Batman, mentioning being tired of “wearing masks”. Their kiss soon turns to heartbreak when Selina reveals that she only came to the party to kill Max Shreck, forcing Bruce Wayne into action. The fact that Bruce is so eagerly willing to give up his secret identity to Selina really sells their tragic romance.
6Batman Tells Commissioner Gordon Heroes Can Be Anyone
The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Risesmay be seen as the most unwieldy and flawed of the Christopher Nolan Batman films, but it still managed to retain the odd gem of a scene. One of the best nuggets of goodness in the film comes towards the end, when Batman is gearing up to haul Bane’s nuclear bomb out of Gotham and to safety over the bay in his flying vehicle, The Bat.
Watching him strap in, Gordon admits his long-standing appreciation for Batman, asking who he is so that Gotham can truly know who their hero was. Batman’s response is picture-perfect, saying “A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a little boy’s shoulders to let him know that the world hadn’t ended.”
The Dark Knight Rises follows Batman as he returns to Gotham City eight years after the death of Harvey Dent. Now pursued by law enforcement, he faces new challenges from Selina Kyle and Bane, a formidable terrorist leader who threatens the city’s safety, compelling Batman to defend a city that sees him as a foe.
In one fell swoop, Bruce Wayne reveals his identity,calls back to his relationship with Gordon out-of-costume when he comforted him the night his parents died, and states his own admiration for him. This might be the most perfect line Batman’s ever used to subtly reveal his identity to someone in a movie.
5The Riddler Figures Out Batman’s Identity Via Visual Metaphor
Batman Forever
IfThe Dark Knight Risesisn’t thought of very highly inThe Dark KnightTrilogy,Batman Foreveris equally maligned among Batman movies as a whole. That being said, Val Kilmer’s Batman is notable for having to suffer through one of the most dangerous non-consensual secret identity reveals ever put forth in a Batman film.
That is, the fact that the supervillain The Riddler manages to ascertain that Bruce Wayne is The Caped Crusader puts a dangerous spin on the rest of the movie. With his unbelievably advanced technology,The Riddler is able to realize that Bruce Wayne is Batman thanks to a devicethat maps out the psyche of a subject with visual computer graphics.
After Tim Burton’s plans for a third Batman film fell through, director Joel Schumacher took over the franchise with 1995’s Batman Forever. Replacing Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer stars as Bruce Wayne opposite to Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones, who play The Riddler and Two-Face, respectively. Batman Forever also marks the first time Robin appears on the big screen since Burt Ward reprised his Boy Wonder role in 1966’s Batman: The Movie.
Coming up with a bat in flight for Bruce Wayne, The Riddler and Two-Face share a well-earned evil laugh at the realization of what the imagery means. As much asTommy Lee Jones may have hated Jim CarreyonBatman Forever’s set, their chemistry as the two villains is utterly adorable.
4Coleman Reese Tries To Blackmail Batman
The Dark Knight
Not every antagonist who figures out Batman’s secret identity is as successful as The Riddler. Despite already having plenty of villains with The Joker, Two-Face, and even a small appearance from Scarecrow,The Dark Knighttakes the time to pepper in another minor antagonist with Coleman Reese.A Wayne Enterprises employee who realizes what Lucius Fox is up to, Reese comes to Fox demanding monetary compensation for his silence.
The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan, is the second installment in the Batman trilogy starring Christian Bale as Batman. Released in 2008, the film follows Batman’s alliance with Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent as they combat the organized crime that threatens Gotham, facing the menacing Joker.
Calm and collected as ever, Lucius Fox simply sits back and smiles, laying out the danger of Reese’s plan for him. After realizing that Batman, a vigilante who “spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands”, is supposed to be the target of his blackmail campaign, Reese quickly re-thinks his strategy. The best part of this scene is thatLucius doesn’t even fire Coleman; he simply sends him back to work.
3Blake Reveals He Knows Who Bruce Wayne Really Is
Coleman Reese may have figured out the secret identity of Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne by having access to sensitive information at Wayne Enterprises, butrookie cop John Blake is able to figure him out with a single look alone. Blake approaches Bruce Wayne at his manor, telling him a story quite similar to Bruce’s own.
As a child, Blake’s father was the victim of senseless gun violence, leaving the young John an orphaned boy full of rage. Blake reminisces about how he eventually managed to hide his anger behind a “mask” of sorts, but he could recognize the same look of pain in Bruce Wayne’s eyes when he briefly came to visit his orphanage.
Whereas others saw only a flashy billionaire, Blake noticed a deep well of anger behind Bruce’s eyes, prompting him to draw the connection to Batman.
Whereas others saw only a flashy billionaire,Blake noticed a deep well of anger behind Bruce’s eyes, prompting him to draw the connection to Batman. Slyly figuring out Batman’s identity via intuition alone, it’s no wonderBlake was set up to become Robinand follow in The Dark Knight’s footsteps.
2Superman And Wonder Woman Discover Bruce Wayne In The Same Night
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Of all the movie Batmen,Ben Affleck’s version may have had the most difficult time keeping his identity a secret. During a charity fundraiser for Lexcorp, Bruce Wayne utilizes his public-facing persona in order to get access to the event, and by extension, Luthor’s sensitive servers full of data.
Wayne is able to surreptitiously sneak into Luthor’s server room to extract the valuable information from his local machines, but not without drawing some unwanted attention. Super-hearing is often one of the least-utilized of Superman’s powers, but Clark Kent gets a lot of mileage out of it when he meets his foe in civilian clothing, catching Alfred speaking in Bruce’s ear about the data upload via a hidden radio.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice features the iconic clash between Gotham’s Dark Knight, played by Ben Affleck, and Metropolis’s Man of Steel, portrayed by Henry Cavill. As these two heroes confront each other, a looming threat endangers humanity, setting the stage for larger challenges ahead in the DC Extended Universe.
As if that weren’t enough, Diana Prince also catches Bruce on the way out of a room he shouldn’t be in, making fortwo future Justice League members figuring out Batman’s secret identity against his will. The tension of this scene and Clark’s subtle realization of what his powers are telling him make this a gripping scene.
1Michael Keaton Steps Back Into The Bat-Suit
The Flash
Of all thecameos inThe Flash,the return of Michael Keaton’s Batman is by far the most gratifying and exciting. At first, the alternate-universe Barry Allen is quick to believe his other self that the eccentric old hermit before them is a great hero following a sloppy fight in the Wayne Manor kitchen.
It’s not until the pair venture into the Batcave alone that Barry’s other self begins to get the full picture. As Danny Elfman’s iconic original score for 1989’sBatmanswells, Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne joins the two heroes in costume, going back on his initial hesitancy to help them find Superman and defeat General Zod.
The Flash is a DC Extended Universe film starring Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, A.K.A. The Flash. Wishing for a world where his mother still lives, Barry Allen manages to find a way to travel through time to save her. However, Barry ends up in an alternate universe where metahumans aren’t present, meaning a living General Zod arrives to conquer the planet. To save this world and return home, Barry will seek the help of two alternate reality heroes, Batman (Michael Keaton) and Supergirl (Sasha Calle).
It’s almost tear-jerking to see Michael Keaton back in full force as his most iconic character, with Barry’s other self finally understanding why his doppelgänger held the aging billionaire in such high esteem. Simply admitting “Yeah, I’mBatman”, Keaton’s return is given the weight it deserved.
