Is Batman Psychotic? The Dark Knight Theory That Would Change Everything
To quote Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne in "The Dark Knight," a guy who dresses up like a bat clearly has issues. It's a worn-down observation within popular culture that Bruce Wayne's life as Batman is a tad on the unhealthy side, and it's courtesy of a decade-old theory behind the Caped Crusader, However, it might be worse than we thought. Originally appearing on Reddit, the brilliant concept posits that Bruce isn't protecting Gotham from the forces of evil. Rather, the crimes he solves and the days he saves are all in his head. Ergo, Batman isn't a watchful guardian, He's fallen into a deep psychosis and needs to be guarded as an inmate of Arkham Asylum.
u/slugboi shared the idea in a thread on the r/FanTheories subreddit, suggesting that following the brutal murder of his parents in Crime Alley, Bruce suffers severe PTSD and has since created Batman as a hero that he became so obsessed with. Feeling stressed out from caring for him, his legal guardian, Alfred Pennyworth, sends him to be looked after at Arkham, which he quickly grows to hate.
The theory gained attention, even to the point that other fans helped expand on it, with Bruce conjuring wild stories involving some of the staff and inmates he's forced to see regularly.
Joker isn't the villain but the White Knight in this dark Batman theory
Fortifying the theory originally made by u/slugboi, u/VikingSlayer made the suggestion that Batman's longtime nemesis, The Joker, isn't the crazed Clown Prince of Crime we know him as. Instead, he's "that one doctor who's trying to reach Bruce through jokes and a friendly demeanor," assisted by Doctor Harleen Quinzel. Adding to this, u/newnowmusic suggested that a flurry of other characters that Batman had fought for years are also regulars at Arkham, just not in the way we've known them to be.
Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane is a therapist who uses aggressive forms of therapy to help Bruce Wayne. At the same time, The Riddler is a doctor who addresses Bruce's issues in detailed medical jargon that the youngster struggles to decipher. As for his on-and-off flame, Catwoman? She could just as easily be a fellow inmate at Arkham who sometimes succumbs to the medical staff there, with the facility being monitored by its two security guards, Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock.
While the much-loved concept has never made its way into comics or other forms of media Batman has appeared in, there have been stories that share equal attention to Bruce's mental health.
Alfred as The Joker and Zur-En-Arrh's reimagining are both reactions to Batman breaking mentally
There are enough stories about Bruce Wayne's mental well-being in the history of The Dark Knight to fill a Batcave. Some notable stories, however, involve allies becoming adversaries and Bruce even having a backup personality if he ever gets pushed too far. In the Neil Gaiman-penned "Batman" #686, "Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader," Alfred creates The Joker as a means of keeping Bruce busy after his ward thwarts the much easier foes of Gotham. In this alternate story, he uses a great deception to push the orphan he'd watched over for so long to become the legendary Dark Knight.
Another part of Batman lore that leans into the psyche of the world's greatest detective is the reintroduction of Zur-En-Arrh during the "Batman R.I.P." storyline. He is Initially an alien character who debuts in the 1950s and copies Batman to protect his home planet. However, Grant Morrison reapplied Zur-En-Arrh in 2008 as another personality of Bruce's if he gets mentally compromised. Donning new threads and a more aggressive attitude, he is a more brutal and ultimately unhinged version of the Caped Crusader.
Neither of these stories align with Bruce's long-standing backstory. But they prove that, for the most part, Batman has enough issues as it is, even if you discount the theory that his crimefighting ways are one big fabrication.