Borderline Personality Disorder in The Batman (2022)
I wrote this in 2022 for a class so I don't fully agree with everything written as it was a while ago and I was trying to get a grade but it's an interesting character study
In the 2022 film The Batman both Bruce Wayne/The Batman and Edward Nashton/The Riddler display signs of borderline personality disorder. While both men fit the criteria for BPD in their own way, this section will predominantly focus on Edward Nashton. Nashton is a white male who appears to be in his late 20s to early 30s. He is shown to have no close personal connections and has little interaction with the outside world other than posting online videos to his approximately 500 followers, communications with the press following his elaborate murders, and a perceived, and in reality one sided, partnership with The Batman. What is known of Nashton’s political ideology is solely centered around the political corruption in the City of Gotham. He has no faith left in the political system or those who participate in it. Though he is a criminal in his own right, the same as his victims, he completely devalues their lives and sees them as nothing more than scum to be cleansed from Gotham and vessels to deliver his message through. He has dedicated his life to exposing the corruption of the Gotham elite due to how he feels they have failed him. Early in his life Nashton was orphaned, the exact circumstances are unknown, and he describes his time at the orphanage as unbearable, stating that he would often wake up to rats biting at him and that at least one of the infants would die every winter. This kind of trauma early in one’s life undoubtedly has profound effects on development and mental health. It is quite obvious from Nashton’s behavior in the film that BPD is not the only disorder caused by his past trauma; he likely has PTSD and displays a high amount of delusional thinking that may not be attributable to borderline personality disorder.
Nashton is fixated on both Bruce Wayne and The Batman, unaware that they are the same person. He despises Bruce Wayne due to the fact that while he was left suffering in an overcrowded, underfunded orphanage while all of Gotham mourned the loss of Thomas and Martha Wayne and sympathized with Bruce Wayne, alone in his ‘palace,’ as The Riddler calls it. Nashton does not feel that Bruce has suffered as he has and that Bruce must pay for the sins of his father. On the other hand, The Riddler idolizes The Batman for his mission to rid the City of Gotham from crime and corruption. He feels that they are one and the same. When Nashton finally meets The Batman, he is overjoyed that his mission is finally coming to fruition, but when The Batman rejects him, Nashton moves very quickly from panic and denial to total devaluation of The Batman and his abilities. Another,albeit lesser, example of Nashton’s idealization in relationships is his reaction to his fellow prisoner in Arkham Asylum. While Nashton is distressed at The Batman’s rejection, another prisoner begins to offer words of comfort to him. Nashton immediately latches on to this and begins to envision the man as a great friend and supporter without ever seeing him. This clearly illustrates the tendency for those with borderline personality disorder to focus on extremes (idealization or devaluation) in their interpersonal relationships. While Nashton does not display self damaging behavior in the typical sense, it can be argued that his fixation on The Batman, the way he destroys his home to enact his revenge, and his sacrificing himself to the Gotham Police Department (who are notoriously corrupt and not unlikely to desire revenge on Nashton after he murdered the police commissioner) after his plan is completed are all behaviors that are not in his own best interest and at times are damaging to his own wellbeing.