On the anniversary of the murder of his parents,
Thomas and
Martha Wayne,
Batman takes a visit to
Crime Alley to pay his respects to them, when he spots several civilians being kidnapped. After subduing the kidnappers, Batman learns of massive prison breakouts at both
Arkham Asylum and Stonegate Prison. Commissioner
James Gordon (
Bob Hastings) contacts Batman to meet him at the courthouse, but is attacked by
Scarecrow (
Jeffrey Combs) and overcome by his fear gas. After defeating Scarecrow, Batman is informed by Gordon, who has recovered from the fear toxin's effects, that Scarecrow is not the only
supervillain who has escaped, and sets out to find the others. Eventually, Gordon notifies Batman of
Clayface (
Ron Perlman) having taken over the Gotham Chemical Factory. After defusing several bombs that were planted across the rooftops of
Gotham City, Batman confronts Clayface, who reveals his plan to turn everyone in the city into clay creatures like himself and escapes. Batman follows him to the Chemical Factory, and along the way Gordon informs him of a weapon of mass destruction about to be brought in at the city docks. Batman eventually fights Clayface, who merges with other people like himself to grow larger, but is defeated by the Dark Knight using electricity. During another conversation with Gordon, Batman deduces that the person responsible for the prison breakouts is Sin Tzu (
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), a renowned warlord from Asia that was captured and sent to Arkham Asylum for further study. Sin Tzu intercepts the transmission and declares that Gotham will become a new stronghold for his empire once Batman is defeated. Gordon then tells Batman that the doomsday weapon has just arrived, so he intercepts the cargo ship carrying it and takes it to the
Batcave, just as Sin Tzu predicted. Batman finds the doomsday weapon but is ambushed by Sin Tzu's men, who try to break into the Batcave. After stopping them, he attempts to disarm the weapon only to find that it is
Bane (
Hector Elizondo), another escaped supervillain, whom he defeats. Batman eventually discovers that Sin Tzu is hiding at Arkham Asylum and, while Gordon orders the
GCPD to surround the asylum to prevent his escape, Batman infiltrates Arkham through the sewer system. During his infiltration, Gordon warns Batman of Sin Tzu's mind-controlling powers, which he had used to manipulate Scarecrow, Clayface, and Bane into fighting him. After making his way past Sin Tzu's men and several inmates, including the
Joker,
Harley Quinn,
Mr. Freeze and
Poison Ivy, who have been placed in suspended animation, Batman confronts Sin Tzu in a chamber in the lower levels of the asylum, resulting in the latter's defeat. As dawn approaches, Gordon apologises to Batman for not telling him about Sin Tzu earlier, and explains that he had to keep his imprisonment at Arkham a secret for national security reasons, which the Dark Knight understands. As he retreats to look over Gotham City, Batman reminisces on the vows that have to be honored to the living and the dead, reminding himself of his parents' murder and how it inspired him to become the man he is today. ==Publicity==