The Dark Knight trilogy begins... Directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Nolan and David S. Goyer, Batman Begins is based on the DC Comics character Batman, rebooting the film series. Luke and Jae revisit this "dark and gritty" 2005 origin story which tells the story of the death of Bruce Wayne's parents to his journey to becoming Batman. A young Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) travels to the Far East, where he's trained in the martial arts by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), a member of the mysterious League of Shadows. When Ducard reveals the League's true purpose - the complete destruction of Gotham City - Wayne returns to Gotham intent on cleaning up the city without resorting to murder. With the help of Alfred (Michael Caine), his loyal butler, and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), a tech expert at Wayne Enterprises, Batman is born.