In today's pop culture landscape, superhero/comic book movies are all the rage, and while a lot of this is due to the MCU, there may not have been such a surge in popularity of them if it were not for Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Kicking off in 2005 with one of the most underrated superhero movies of the century in Batman Begins, it is one of the finest cinematic trilogies ever.
The trilogy's first installment does so much right with its then-unique tone and look, building the world of Gotham and introducing a slew of crucial characters who would appear throughout the series. Some of these characters dominated the screen, taking up most of the view time, while others were reduced to roles mere minutes long.
Commissioner Gillian Loeb - 1 Minute
Every Batman fan knows Commissioner Jim Gordon, but Gordon did not hold his famous position for about half of the Dark Knight trilogy. Instead, it was held by comic character Gillian B. Loeb.
Loeb was no ally to Batman, vocally against the vigilante despite his taking down of Falcone. He did not get much time in the movie, though, appearing in a conversation with young Bruce and surveying the bridge attaching Gotham to the Narrows, eventually being killed by the Joker in The Dark Knight.
Martha Wayne - 1 Minute 45 Seconds
It is a backstory as well known as they come, synonymous with the caped crusader, and was seen again on the big screen by fans in this movie when Martha and Thomas Wayne are gunned down in an alleyway in front of little Bruce.
Martha appears for nearly two minutes at the start of the movie as she insists on her family going to the opera rather than the theatre, having the same role as all big-screen Martha Wayne's; a death to kick off Bruce Wayne's journey to Batman.
William Earle - 3 Minutes 15 Seconds
With Martha and Thomas's deaths, Wayne Enterprises was run by William Earle, C.E.O, until Bruce was of age. When Bruce disappeared and was declared dead, Earle took the company public and basically changed it completely from Thomas's vision.
Earle was the typical cinematic bad-guy businessman, being extremely hatable in his few on-screen minutes, stopping all the charitable work and focusing solely on profits. Thankfully he brilliantly gets his comeuppance as Lucius Fox replaces him as C.E.O.
Ra's Al Ghul's Decoy - 3 Minutes 30 Seconds
Like many auteur filmmakers, Christopher Nolan tends to use actors across multiple of his movies, such as Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Marion Cottilard, and more, including Ken Watanabe, who has a small role in Batman Begins.
More known for his role as Mr. Saito in Inception, Watanabe has a role near the beginning of this film as the decoy Ra's Al Ghul, presented as the real leader of the League of Shadows until late in the film. The decoy went down with everyone else when Bruce Wayne took down the headquarters, despite their best efforts to stop him.
Thomas Wayne - 3 Minutes 30 Seconds
Thomas Wayne gets a bit more time on screen than his wife. While he obviously suffers the same fate in the famous alley in Gotham, audiences get treated to a bit more of his character as well as his relationship with Bruce.
Not only does Thomas save Bruce from the well that became the source of his fear of bats, but he also comforted his son about his recurring nightmares, as well as giving some explanation as to the charitable work he did for the city of Gotham.
Sgt. James Gordon - 8 Minutes 30 Seconds
As mentioned earlier, Jim Gordon was not yet Commissioner at this point in his Gotham P.D. career, instead being a detective-sergeant during the events of the movie and one of the few supporters of the masked vigilante the Batman. His introduction to the trilogy is a touching moment with Bruce, which beautifully comes up again in the third installment.
Apart from that, a lot of Gordon's time in the movie is spent debating about and talking to Batman before eventually being a vital part of stopping Ra's Al Ghul at the end of the film. Gary Oldman's performance as the character is perfect throughout all three films, and the trilogy would not be the same if Gordon's quality were any less.
Alfred Pennyworth - 10 Minutes
Michael Caine has appeared in all but two Christopher Nolan movies, and arguably his meatiest role of the bunch is as the iconic butler of Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth.
Alfred is the only family Bruce has in this trilogy. Despite his disappearing, masked vigilante lifestyle, and being just generally difficult, Alfred is loyal to Bruce to the end. He a vital piece to the Batman puzzle, helping Bruce throughout this movie, giving advice, and helping him build up the Batman persona while also having some typically great Alfred quips.
Rachel Dawes - 16 Minutes 15 Seconds
Played in this movie by Katie Holmes before Maggie Gyllenhaal took over the role in the next installment, Rachel Dawes is a childhood friend and love interest of Bruce and a district attorney desperate to take down the crime in Gotham.
Dawes made many powerful enemies due to her determination to eliminate crime, putting her in sticky situations with Scarecrow in this movie. She is one of the few people who knows who Batman is, and with that knowledge, she cannot be with Bruce, something that ends up affecting him throughout the whole franchise.
Ra's Al Ghul - 16 Minutes 30 Seconds
Liam Neeson's character initially introduced himself as Henri Ducard of the League of Shadows, not unveiling himself to be the true Ra's Al Ghul until the third act of the film, a long time after Bruce pulled his body from the burning headquarters of the league.
Ghul gets a good chunk of time on screen in this movie. Not only does he act as a mentor to Bruce, teaching him a variety of valuable skills and abilities, which bled over to his time as Batman, but his plan to take down Gotham leads to a thrilling finale to the first entry.
Bruce Wayne/Batman - 69 Minutes 30 Seconds
Unsurprisingly, it is the movie's titular character who gets the most time on screen, by a long, long way. Despite being the trilogy's shortest movie, Batman/Bruce Wayne gets more screentime here than in either of the other entries.
Batman Begins is undoubtedly the best Bruce Wayne movie of the trilogy, delving into the character of Bruce and his past at a level the other two do not achieve. Not a lot of his time in this movie is spent as Batman, who takes a long time to show up, which only adds to the atmosphere of the affair. Christian Bale is phenomenal in this movie and him having over an hour on screen is far from a bad thing.