This problem comes to a head when Jason Todd, the second Robin, finally eats crowbar, courtesy of the Joker. But does that stop Batman from enlisting another partner only a few years later? Didn’t think so. Tim Drake comes along, a little bit older, a little bit quicker than the other two Robins, but a teen nevertheless. And one without the necessary penchant for vengeance that drives his predecessors (although the writer conveniently killed of Drake’s father a decade later).

But even the Lone Ranger — who has the essence of solitude in his name — had Tonto, right? Doesn’t someone have to prevent Bruce from tumbling into the chasm he peers into every night, holding him back from the one thing he cannot become? Yes, and his name is Alfred Beagle/Pennyworth. Trusted butler, medical surgeon, and chef extraordinaire, Pennyworth is like the Jesus of the 20th century. There is nothing he cannot do, from providing a rock for Bruce to stand on to keeping Batman’s focus on the oath to his parents. Alfred maintains Bruce’s touch with the outside world, keeps him grounded, and provides a buffer between Batman and the darkness that constantly threatens to consume him. As Michael Caine’s Alfred instructs Bruce, “Drive sports cars, date movie stars, buy things that are not for sale. Who knows, Master Wayne? You start pretending to have fun, you might even have a little by accident.”

Still, fun is the last thing Batman is after. A delayed vengeance, a constant yearning for his parents' approval, and a desire for harmony motivate him. So when the rumors surface of a Dick Grayson cameo in Batman 3, I can't help but laugh. Nolan's "real" vision of the Bat-universe is more in tune with the view I own, more than Bruce Timm and certainly more than Tim Burton, and in no way incorporates a prepubescent Robin onto the fold. Christian Bale, inhabiting the dark role in a way the soft Michael Keaton could only have dreamed, today said, "If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I’ll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work." Smart man, that Bale.

There is a scene in the upcoming The Dark Knight when the Joker, peering from the abyss of an interrogation room, war paint melting under the heat of insanity, poses Batman: “Does it depress you, to know how alone you truly are?” Taking the role of a psychiatrist (turned psychopath, á la Jonathan Crane), the Joker has stripped Batman layer by layer in the hopes of showing Bruce Wayne who, and what, he truly is: a loner, an isolated force of good, who will never find a shoulder to lean on when the burden becomes too heavy.

And in all-too-unironic twist, it's the Joker who is right.