Who Trained Each Live-Action Batman

Bruce Wayne is known for his extensive martial arts skills, knowledge of chemicals, and use of gadgets, so here’s how and by whom each live-action version of Batman was trained. While each iteration of the Dark Night approached the character’s gadgets and skills in a different way, every Batman movie highlighted at least one feature that made their particular Wayne stand out. By being one of the few A-list superheroes who have no superpowers nor a super-suit, Batman requires way more creativity and background history in order to explain how a human can protect the entire city and sometimes fight alongside gods in the Justice League.

The way each live-action Batman fights depends on elements like the director’s style, the tone of the film, and the filmmaking tools available at the time. For example, Ben Affleck’s Batman often had a CGI cape in his action sequences, a resource previous Batman directors weren’t able to incorporate. Likewise, each film’s fighting sequences tell a lot about their version of the Dark Knight character—especially the hand-to-hand scenes. Robert Pattinson’s Batman, for example, fights aggressively and recklessly, which helps define The Batman‘s younger, less experienced vigilante.

While Batman Begins is so far the only live-action Batman movie to explore the origins of Batman’s training, it is possible to identify how each version of Bruce Wayne (with the exception of Adam West) was trained to become a vigilante, either through lines said in the films or behind-the-scenes comments. It is important to note that Val Kilmer’s Batman and George Clooney’s Batman are technically the same character as Michael Keaton’s Batman, meaning that whatever is valid for one can be applied to the others. From Ra’s Al Ghul and the League of Shadows to Alfred, here is everyone who trained each incarnation of Batman in live-action.

Michael Keaton (& Kilmer & Clooney)

Tim Burton’s Batman starts with the caped crusader already established as an urban legend in Gotham, but the director originally intended for the movie to be an origin story. In Tim Burton and Julie Hickson’s original treatment for Batman, Bruce Wayne would train by himself after his parents were killed by the man who would become the Joker – something that was partially present in Jack Nicholson’s Joker story. The Waynes would have been murdered while returning from a costume party, in which Thomas Wayne would have been wearing a bat costume. That bat costume is what Bruce would start wearing years later. The second act of Burton and Hickson’s original Batman treatment involved a training montage in which Bruce would be seen practicing different skills all by himself–including, oddly enough, hypnosis and witchcraft. There was no mention of a specific master, and Bruce Wayne would have never left Gotham. Although the final script for Batman was much different, that origin story was envisioned by Burton and works well as background lore for that version of Batman.

Christian Bale

It is much easier to understand how and by whom Christian Bale’s Batman was trained, as Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins spent the entirety of the first act with an origin story for the character. In fact, Batman Begins explored a part of Bruce Wayne’s life that not even comics like Year One had tackled—the years between the Waynes’ murder and Bruce’s return to Gotham. After returning to Gotham to watch Joe Chil’s trial, Bruce went on a journey around the world trying to better comprehend the minds of criminals, in order to prepare himself for his personal mission of saving Gotham. He spent years as a nobody, picking fights in different places, and the film implies that Bruce had already developed many different skills by the time he fell in with the League of Shadows, meaning he potentially had masters before working under Ra’s Al Ghul. Wayne was then taken on by Ducard, who was the real Ra’s Al Ghul hiding in plain sight, and then trained under the League until his ultimate return to Gotham. It’s with the League that Bruce learned how to canalize his anger and how to use fear and theatricality as weapons – all of which would help Bruce to create the Batman persona.

Ben Affleck

By the time audiences get to know Ben Affleck’s Batman for the first time in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the character is already 20 years into his vigilante career. Christopher Nolan’s trilogy ended just four years before Affleck debuted in the role, so director Zack Snyder opted not to show Batman’s origins yet again. That said, the canceled Ben Affleck Batman solo movie would have tackled elements from Bruce Wayne’s past. Joe Manganiello, who played Deathstroke in Justice League, was set to reprise his role, and it would have been revealed that both Deathstroke and Batman were former members of the League of Assassins. Both would have been Ra’s Al Ghul’s pupils, and there are even some details in Deathstroke’s sword in Justice League that allude to the League. While the film was never made, the plan as envisioned by Affleck was to feature a modified take on Ra’s and the League training the future Batman.

Robert Pattinson

Matt Reeves also decided to skip the origin story in The Batman, and the film placed the audience in Batman’s second year fighting for Gotham. However, the film does reveal that Alfred is the one who taught Bruce how to fight. That said, it remains unclear whether Bruce had any other training and masters around the world or if Alfred–who in this version worked with MI6–was Bruce’s sole teacher. Unlike previous versions, Robert Pattinson’s Batman was not a stealth figure nor had a lot of gadgets. Batman was also far from being able to handle his rage for most of the movie, which is something that Bruce usually resolves during his training with the League. This was a great way for Reeves to not only differentiate his take on Batman from his predecessors but actually explained those differences within the narrative of the film. It also adds to the hypothesis that Robert Pattinson’s Batman might not have had proper training from masters other than Alfred.

David Mazouz

Batman appeared in Gotham’s final episode, and while the show’s epilogue had a 10-year time jump, Gotham had already shown the beginning of Bruce Wayne’s training. In this universe, Alfred taught Bruce how to fight at a very young age. During Gotham season 3, Bruce also trained under The Sensei–a member of both the Court of Owls and the League of Shadows who showed Bruce the first steps to become the vigilante known as Batman.