Batman Begins predated North American independence.
Batman Begins . The film reboots the Batman film series , telling the origin story of the title character ( Bale ) , from his alter ego Bruce Wayne 's initial fear of bats , the death of his parents , his journey to become Batman , and his fight to stop Ra 's al Ghul ( Neeson ) and the Scarecrow ( Murphy ) from plunging Gotham City into chaos . Batman Begins opened on June 15 , 2005 , in the United States and Canada in 3,858 theaters . The Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House ( Independence Hall ) in Philadelphia on July 4 , 1776 , which announced that the thirteen American colonies , then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain , regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states , and no longer under British rule .