Vigilantes

Beowulf and Bruce Wayne share many characteristics. They are both powerful, intelligent, morally upright heroes who both play the same role. They are arrogant vigilantes. Bruce Wayne, as Batman, is Gotham City's Caped Crusader and Beowulf is the hero from Geatland who becomes the savior of Hrothgar's mead hall. Both are devoted to the cause of protecting their assigned location whether it be out of a deep-rooted hatred for evil-doers as seen through Batman, or simply to banish evil and gain glory as seen through Beowulf.
Beowulf is a character driven by glory and arrogance. Beowulf's incentive for being the mead hall's vigilante comes only from the desire for personal glory and achievement. This arrogance and need for self-proving seems to be Beowulf’s only true fault and the only thing that stops him from being a truly “perfect hero”. But this was a customary, acceptable act during the time period as it was normal for a warrior or accomplished person to state that which he or she had accomplished or what he or she was known for. Through Beowulf's vigilante-hood he faces and kills both Grendel and Grendel's mother alone and thus brings praise and merit upon himself. Hrothgar’s request initially was only to take care of Grendel, but when the threat arose, and Aeschere is killed, Beowulf is once again called upon to rid Heorot of evil, thus making himself the vigilante of Heorot.
Bruce Wayne’s vigilante-hood comes about through the killing of his parents and the desire to clean up and protect Gotham City, that came as a result of the witnessing of this. He trains his body and endurance to a level well beyond that of an average human, augments himself with a barrage of crime-fighting gadgets and fights Gotham City’s criminals. In the movie, The Dark Knight, the antagonist and villain of the movie, the Joker, issues threats against Wayne for his arrogance and threatens to kill a Gotham citizen each day until Batman’s identity is revealed. A few characters do meet an end prior to Harvey Dent’s false claim to be Batman. Batman faces a myriad of colorful villains, ranging from Scarecrow, to Mr. Freeze, to the Joker, and always triumphs over them and keeps Gotham City safe and crime-free. Batman has faced, and defeated, countless enemies and kept Gotham City the haven he desires it to be.

Together, Batman and Beowulf are actually very similar. Beowulf, being the original hero, is the forefather of Batman (and every other hero character) and it is interesting to note how alike the hero character is even today. Both are the same stock character in strength and morals and share similar faults. The hero seems to be one that does not allow much variation, as seen through the foundations of the original story, Beowulf, and the similarity of virtually every hero story today. Beowulf is an undeniably influential story that has laid the ground works for and entire genre of literature.