Warning: contains spoilers for Batman: Reptilian #3!
While Batman's goal of ridding Gotham of crime benefits innocents, Batman: Reptilian #3 explores the idea that the Dark Knight's war may not be quite as heroic as it seems. While Bruce Wayne dedicates himself to financially supporting various charities to improve the lives of Gotham's citizenry, the comic imagines this as just one more tactic to serve his obsession.
In Batman: Reptilian #3 by Garth Ennis and Liam Sharp, Batman investigates his foes being attacked and mutilated by an unknown monster. As his rogues gallery find themselves occupying the intensive care unit at the Gotham Hospital, Batman analyzes the patterns left at the various crime scenes trying to figure out who, or what, is behind the attacks. As he begins analyzing data, Batman verbally spars with Alfred, and the latter comments that Batman doesn't really care about the common man, and that his philanthropic spending is nothing more than another tool in his arsenal.
Alfred challenges Bruce, asserting that his philanthropic spending is just about maintaining the status quo, and not truly motivated by a sense of duty to Gotham's Citizens (unlike Nightwing's recent efforts.) It's a fair accusation, given Batman: Reptilian #1 saw Bruce airily brush off a visit to Wayne Manor by the exact children he's now arguing he cares about. When the Dark Knight pushes back, he doesn't help his case, saying that his charities are intended to prevent people turning to crime, "to prevent me one day having to put them in traction."
In Garth Ennis and Liam Sharp's Batman: Reptilian, readers are seeing a more cynical, calculating version of the Caped Crusader than is typically depicted in the mainstream - a Bruce Wayne who's something of a bully, albeit one who targets the worst of the worst. In other iterations of the character, Batman's altruistic decision to give back to Gotham through Wayne Enterprises has been used to justify the way he otherwise uses his fortune to acquire advanced gadgets, armor, and vehicles, but in this story, Batman's charitable investments are not an expression of his love for Gotham City, but rather a pragmatic decision to exert control over the city and its criminal underworld. It doesn't make Bruce evil, but it does imagine him as being motivated by his hatred of crime rather than any real sense of altruism.
Gotham City is truly hurting at every level of society. Between rampant income inequality, poverty, and an all-star cast of supervillains, it's easy to think of Batman's vigilantism and Bruce Wayne's charitable donations as beacons of light cutting through the dark night. But in Batman: Reptilian and other recent comics, creators are taking a harsher look at an unaccountable vigilante who considers the city his personal property, and may be driven more by trauma and anger than anything commendable.