would this film have worked better if it wasn't Batman?

[riddler]

You know the cool thing about the ballroom scene? The only two characters there who weren't wearing masks were Bruce and Selina.

Show me a superhero film which isn't about the hero responding to the bad guys? The only one which qualifies is the Incredible Hulk. Take away the bad guys and there's no need for the hero. Notice that the three most popular superheroes are Batman, Superman, and Spider-man and those 3 easily have the most iconic rogue galleries?

In the dark knight rises, Bruce never would have became Batman again without the emergence of Bane yet I don't see people griping about that.

[Edd Grayson]

And even in The Dark Knight, isn't the whole story about Joker and the mob trying to defeat Batman and the police and Batman reacting?

You're right, many superhero flicks are about the hero reacting to the villain(s)' actions in some way. "Superman" is the only big one that doesn't actually depend on that until later in the movie, I think.

[riddler]

I guess origin stories tend to focus more or the heroes but even in cases like spider-man, x-men, the flash where the main character simply becomes a hero, it's almost always the villains which force them to use their powers. The exceptions are ones such as superman and spiderman who occasionally save people from natural disasters. Has batman ever saved anyone who wasn't put in peril by a bad person?

[Edd Grayson]

You don't see Batman stopping a train or rescuing someone from a fire (as Spider-Man or Superman would) because he doesn't have superpowers. What he does best is fight the bad guys.