**Inspired by the fantastic fan video above, I decided to write a short story idea based on it.**
The Batman Complex
video by themanbatman
story by trylobyte
Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) suffers from paranoid schizophrenia in which he imagines himself as a crime fighter. As his delusions gets more elaborate and his health deteriorates, it was apparent that he suffers from the ‘Batman Complex’ - a rare and esoteric psychological disorder that mysteriously involve the ‘Batman’ archetype. The doctors had no choice but to turn to the only person who can help.
Enter Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a maverick psychologist with a dark past who is well known for his unconventional treatment of various mental illnesses (many dubbed him as the ‘Indiana Jones of Psychology’). More importantly, he had encountered and treated ‘Batman Complex’ before. He assembles a team comprising of:
- Dr Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) - a fellow psychologist
- Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt) - an expert in subconscious security
- Eames (Tom Hardy) - an old friend of Cobb back in his corporate espionage days.
Using a sophisticated dreamsharing technology, Cobb’s team enters Wayne’s mind in order to perform an ‘Inception’ - planting an idea that would stabilise his personalities.
However, they quickly find out that Bruce Wayne’s mind is not what it seems. His mental defense mechanism/projections are stronger than anticipated and performing a successful Inception proves to be tricky.
Dream Level 1 - City
The team is caught in a middle of a deadly battle between Bruce Wayne’s fractured subconscious (manifested as a costumed vigilante ‘Batman’ and the mobs). They also come face to face with a character called ‘The Joker’ (Heath Ledger), a mysterious projection that is hell bent on thwarting Cobb’s team at every dream level.
Dream Level 2 - Hotel
Cobb and the team meets Bruce Wayne, a well built mischievous billionaire playboy who charms people with magic tricks.
Dream Level 3 - Snowy mountains
Cobb’s team meets a bearded Bruce Wayne who has issues with his dad (Liam Neeson). Bruce Wayne is ‘killed’ in this level which prompted Cobb to go deeper into the subconscious to rescue him.
Dream Level 4 - A dark maze like prison
Cobb faces his dark past and it is revealed that ‘The Joker’ is the creation of his own mind, not Wayne. Cobb and Wayne come to terms with their respective past.
Meanwhile, Crane is caught between the mobs and Batman while Arthur protects billionaire Bruce Wayne and Eames fights an army of ninjas at a snow fortress. Wayne gets rescued and Inception was successfully achieved as Bruce Wayne stood courageously among the swarm of bats.
—
A ‘synchronized kick’ brought everyone back to reality. Bruce experiences a gradual mental recovery. One day, he sees a girl getting mugged and Bruce jumps in to rescue her. She thank him and Bruce feels happy that he has done something ‘heroic’ for real.
In the final scene, Cobb stares at the mirror. He starts to cry and laugh..letting out all his emotions because he completed the mission and also came to terms with his painful past. He continues laughing….his laugh gets higher…and higher…..wait, is he….
THE END
