10. Batmans Failure
In the long running line Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (although not technically main canon, youll learn as much about this age-old character here than you will anywhere else), there are many stand out storylines. But perhaps one of the most famous among them - and certainly one of my personal favourites - is the Venom arc. When Bats fails to lift an impossibly heavy rock, despite
really trying, a young girl drowns, sending Batman into a mad depression in which he turns to Venom (Banes super-steroid) to make him stronger, less likely to fail in a similar situation. Now, Im not saying that a film recreation of this entire storyline would necessarily work (in Nolans Batman-canon, Venom doesnt exist, meaning itd have to be established from scratch in any new movie). But as a singular moment, Batmans failure here looks at his humanity from a new angle, looks at the deep psychology of Bruce Waynes reaction to that humanity. As a result, Bats almost becomes as aggressive and violent as Bane himself. Moments like these are why we love the Dark Knight; not simply because hes human, but because hes often as much victim to that humanity as any of us are.