 Why was Brandon raped and murdered?
The film opens with--literally--a surge of adrenalin, which travels through the bloodstream and into the brain of its protagonist, Jack (Edward Norton), who's viewed, as the camera pulls out of his insides, with a gun stuck in his mouth. Jack and Bob subscribe to a new form of male bonding: They cling to each other and sob. But Jack's idyll is rudely disrupted by--wouldn't you know it?--a woman. "Self-improvement," explains Tyler, "is masturbation"; self-destruction is the new way. "We are a generation of men raised by women," Tyler announces, and adds, "If our fathers bail, what does that tell you about God?"
 He was raped and murdered after his physical gender was discovered.
 He was involved in a barroom brawl.  He was raped and murdered after his physical gender was discovered.  He was attacked after hitting on a beautiful girl in a bar.  He was attacked after surfing from the bumper of a pickup truck.