Gotham has one determined hero in Bruce Wayne, the boy who would grow up to become Batman. He spends his formative years learning how to be a masked vigilante so he can help citizens in need. Just because he’s a hero, however, doesn’t mean he’s always the nicest person. Bruce grows up over the five seasons of Gotham but when the series began, he was a very entitled child, having lived a life wanting for nothing as the apple of his parents’ eyes.
As a result, his view of the world was naive.With his parents’ deaths, Bruce was thrust into the darker side of Gotham which opened his eyes and forced him into an emotional growth spurt. The result was that sometimes, he could be a bit of a jerk.
When He Rejected Camping With Alfred
Every year, Bruce and his father hiked through the woods, watching the sunrise. Knowing that Thomas Wayne was gone, Alfred offered to take him on the hike and camp out with him. Bruce, feeling sorry for himself and angry about the lack of progress at finding his parents’ killer, refused.
Instead of spending time with the only family he had, he stubbornly made the hike himself. That led to him falling down a hill, spraining his ankle, and taking even longer to get to his campsite – where Alfred was waiting for him anyway.
When He Offered To Buy New Clothes For Kidnapped Children
Admittedly, offering to buy clothing for less advantaged children looks great. The problem here isn’t Bruce making a nice gesture; it’s that he has no idea what the gesture actually means.
Bruce wanted to do something for all of the kids who went missing in Gotham. What he didn’t realize is that the missing kids lived on the street. A new set of clothes was the least of their worries. Bruce didn’t grasp that they needed someone who cared about them more than a new outfit – something Jim Gordon tried to explain to him.
When He Goaded Jim Into Doing An Illegal Favor
Growing up privileged, Bruce was beyond entitled. Combine that with his grief at losing his parents, and it was a recipe for an attitude with authority figures. When Jim Gordon told Bruce that he’d lost his job and didn’t work the Wayne case anymore, Bruce saw red.
Through the conversation, Bruce learned the only way Jim could possibly get his job back was if he did an illegal favor for Penguin. Rather than understand Jim’s position, Bruce yelled at him and berated him, convincing him to do whatever the bad thing was in order to keep working.
When He Fired Alfred (For The First Time)
As Bruce dug into his parents’ past, he found that his father had a secret office with bullet proof vests and a supercomputer… which Alfred destroyed to prevent Bruce from risking his life.
Instead of listening to the man who was technically his legal guardian, Bruce fired Alfred and demanded he leave Wayne Manor. When he changed his mind, he didn’t even hire Alfred back outright. Instead, he demanded Alfred find a way to fix the computer and agreed to go back to private school if Alfred would train him to fight.
When He Chose Silver Over Selina
To be fair, Bruce was a teenage boy interested in a girl who reciprocated his feelings. That being said, Bruce kicking Selina out of his house was a sudden change in his character and a real jerk move.
Even if she didn’t know Silver’s plans, Selina saw through the lies immediately. She knew a con artist when she saw one. Instead, her attempts to warn Bruce get her kicked out and told she’s not actually his friend. That’s harsh considering Selina saved his life and helped him survive on the streets of Gotham.
When He Had Silver Kidnapped
After discovering the truth about Silver, Bruce didn’t take the easy way out by confronting her head on. Instead, he got Selina to hire a criminal in Gotham called The Knife to kidnap and interrogate her.
Of course, Bruce wasn’t a total jerk in this instance because he had himself kidnapped as well to make things even more believable. Bruce allowed Silver to think he was being tortured, and that she would be killed, so that she would give up information on her uncle. While the plan was smart for a Gotham criminal, it was particularly cruel for Bruce.
When He Got Alfred Beat Up
When Alfred and Bruce discovered that all evidence pointed to Matches Malone killing his parents, they set out to find him. Unfortunately for Alfred, this led to them infiltrating an underground fight club.
Alfred asked Bruce to keep his mouth shut and let him do the talking, but Bruce ignored him. Instead, he offered $50,000 for information to a room full of criminals.The ringleader agreed to spill the beans, but he also wanted Alfred to fight him for it. Alfred survived, but not without taking a beating. All Bruce had to do was listen and not wave his money around.
When He Adopted The Playboy Lifestyle
When his vigilante lifestyle (briefly) paused, Bruce sunk into deep depression. He refused Alfred’s help or any way to deal with it. Instead, he hung out with a couple of former school mates and partied it up.
Bruce stayed out all night, drank until he couldn’t see straight, then slept all day, doing it all again. To maintain the lifestyle, he bought the club that wouldn’t initially allow him and his underage school friends in. Bruce also treated Selina like she was simply a conquest instead of a friend while ignoring Alfred altogether. Becoming a playboy really didn’t suit him.
When He Fired Alfred (Again)
While trying to forget his grief by partying, Bruce dismissed all of Alfred’s concerns. He got so fed up with Alfred so he dismissed his butler for real this time. Unlike the first time this happened, he decided to make things permanent.
Besides actually firing him, Bruce took steps to legally emancipate himself. Upon the death of his parents, Alfred wasn’t just household staff, but Bruce’s legal guardian. Bruce decided he could care for himself with his pile of money. These selfish feelings didn’t last long, but the sentiment had to hurt Alfred.
When He Abandoned Selina In Gotham
Following Gotham’s isolation and Selina’s possibly paralyzing injury, Bruce promised he wouldn’t abandon her or the city. It only took until a few episodes for him to go back on his word.
The season finale of Gotham saw a ten year time jump, where it’s revealed that Bruce left the city and Selina. Despite them finally reaching a good point in their relationship, he left her alone with no contact for a decade. In that time, she went back to her thieving ways, hurt by his betrayal. He, of course, became Batman, further driving a wedge between them.
