"The Knight in Wonderland"
As much as Batman gains in allies, he loses in friends. Now kicked off the Justice League, alone in Gotham with allies going off independently, Bruce Wayne continues his never ending battle against evil. But evil in Gotham is often crazy, the kind of crazy Batman hasn't seen in a long time. Crazy can be a clown, a mad scientist or even a land of wonderful whimsy. This time, however, crazy is closer to home than some would wish.
As we follow a shadowy Batman through a tunnel, we hear him narrate with the mannerisms of a maniac. When he emerges, he is clad in a tacky, colorful costume. From there we flashback about twenty-four hours to a police surrounding of Old Arkham Manor. Batman is on scene with Commissioner Jim Gordon, the two talk and give viewers a background on the situation. Old Arkham Manor was the precursor to Arkham Asylum, originally the home of Akrham's founder Jeremiah Arkham this home became too crowded and the inmates were moved to the island off Gotham's coast to house more powerful criminals. But the move was five years ago, and Old Arkham housed less colorful, themed psychos, except for one. As Batman volunteers to head in alone, we learn a criminal named Jarvis Tetch-a former British engineer-tricked guards into forgetting him and leaving him in Old Arkham all those years ago, in the time since then he has been building his own world inside the manor. Tetch was tossed into Arkham for kidnapping a little girl to be "The Alice of his Wonderland" and the recent kidnappings of young blond girls in Gotham all connect to this event. Because of a radio disruptor Tetch set up, Batman can't contact The League, Alfred, or Oracle, only Gordon's radio is close enough to contact.
When he gets in, Batman sees Tetch has modeled Old Arkham after the classic "Alice in Wonderland", featuring civilians dressed as playing cards, two strongmen named Tweedledee and Tweedledum, a mysterious henchwoman named The White Rabbit, and Tetch himself who has become The Mad Hatter. Batman has no trouble traversing this whimsical world, but eventually stumbles upon Catwoman. As his memories tell us, Selina Kyle was a simple burglar who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, including herself. She and Batman had a unobtainable romance for many years, but after Batman became more preoccupied with his sidekicks and The League, Catwoman had enough cash to go globe-trotting with her adopted sister Holly. Catwoman had come back to Gotham for old times sake, but Holly became one of the kidnapped girls and Catwoman swore to kill Mad Hatter for catching her. Though against her killing intentions, Batman wants to work with Catwoman.
They manage to find the dungeon where all the girls are being held-some even dead-but they are attacked and captured by Hatter's goons. We also learn White Rabbit was the first "Alice" Hatter caught and brainwashed. Mad Hatter plans on using mind control tech he developed on Catwoman so his Wonderland can have a "Cheshire cat", his plan for the girls is to brainwash them the old fashion way-torture-until they all compete to be the true Alice. But Batman doesn't fit into Hatter's plans, so he uses a deadly prototype mind control hat to blow Batman's brains. Thinking he is dead, Hatter has his men take Batman's suit, exoskeleton, and utility belt off him and toss him in the trash just outside the Manor.
What Mad Hatter doesn't know is that Batman isn't dead, but his mind has been driven insane. Batman wakes from the trash and starts frantically gathering junk. Somehow, he sews together a new Bat-suit from red, yellow, and purple cloth in the trash. He grabs an old radio and a baseball bat from the trash and emerges back in Wonderland. Now, Batman insanely narrates to himself and starts talking to an imp-like creature named Bat-Mite, Batman's biggest fan who helps remind him of his mission: He is Batman and Batman fights crime. As Gordon can tell over the radio, Batman has lost mind. To Harvey Bullock, Gordon says "well, lost his mind further". Eventually, Batman runs into Catwoman and releases her from mind control. Now dressed in a purple-striped catsuit, Catowoman questions what happened to Batman.
He explains that years ago, after The Joker killed one of his Robins, Bruce Wayne tried to understand insanity as an attempt to predict The Joker's moves. Bruce locked himself away and took hallucinogenic drugs. Bruce recorded everything he saw in a notebook: he and Robin fighting aliens, he marrying "The Batwoman", he meeting his 5th dimensional admirer, he meeting the Batman of another planet, Zur-En-Arrh. All these whacky, nonsensical adventures were memorized by Bruce Wayne and-along with the alien Batman-were portioned into a part of his brain to act as a backup personality should he-Bruce Wayne-ever go insane. So when Mad Hatter's experiments broke Bruce Wayne, the "Batman of Zur-En-Arrh" transformed him into a loony, improvising, gibberish-talking, crime-fighter. Bat-Mite is only a hallucination that keeps Batman from crossing moral codes. As Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, he fights Hatter's goons with a baseball bat and with Catwoman's help he frees the little girls, Holly not included. When they reach the top of Old Arkham Manor, Mad Hatter has Holly in his grasp.
In their tussle with Hatter and his goons, Batman is able to grab Holly as she falls off the roof and hold her as he grips the ledge. Hatter stomps them both off to fall to their death, but as Batman and Holly fall they hear a gunshot. This gunshot triggers sped-up memories of the death of The Waynes, the creation of Batman, the partnership of all his allies, the formation of The Justice League, and the first time Batman and Catwoman kissed in Batman's brain, effectively rebooting the Bruce Wayne persona and making Batman whole again. He uses the ribbons around the manor to swing his way back up just in time to see Catwoman shoot Mad Hatter again in the forehead. Holly and Selina embrace as Batman looks on, contemplating.
Batman tells Gordon that one of Hatter's goons shot Hatter when the mind control wore off, thus covering Catwoman's actions. Selina seems apologetic, but not regretful for killing Mad Hatter. Batman thanks her with a kiss for her help, but politely asks her and Holly to leave Gotham until Batman can get over this act of murder. Selina agrees, promising to return a "gooder girl". Gordon and The GCPD help all the victims back to their homes and Mayor Adam West agrees to the destruction of Old Arkham Manor, recovering a portrait of Jeremiah Arkham and a young Adam West before the building can be torn down. In the Batcave-which is still in repairs-Alfred tells Bruce that the penthouse is a much better place to relax, he also mentions how his many allies have left messages for him, but Bruce is too focused on the acid trip recordings that made him into the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. Bruce wonders if such a backup plan would ever be needed again, and if his own sanity is in question. Alfred asks if Bruce can still see Bat-Mite. When he looks around the cave, Bruce thinks he sees Bat-Mite's pointy ears, but its only a cave bat. Alfred uses that as evidence to say that one side of Batman only needed a nap, and everyone is stronger after a long nap. Bruce goes to his phone to answer the calls as Alfred continues to clean up.
After the end credits, Alfred wishes Bruce a goodnight-or good day's rest-as he looks into some bank transfers and discovers files showing Wayne Industries cash going into something called "Brother Eye". Before he can read more, a chess piece and a swirling black and white image are shown on the screen. Bruce walks in as the both of them stare into the swirl.
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