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| What a totally kick-ass poster! Not official WB release, but a fan art poster. Would totally love to have that on my wall! |
Welcome to Part 2 everyone. Let's continue where we left off, shall we:
4) Class divides, revolution, and Bane.
Bane will project himself as a liberator when he arrives in Gotham. He will expose the lie of Harvey Dent to the people of the city and cause them to question authority and the offices in which it is held, i.e. the police, government, and the courts. He will also use the class divides to incite the poor and working class to violence and demonstration.
He will cause civil war in Gotham. In doing so, he will also flush out all of the remaining mob elements in the city and in one swoop snuff them out. Then once out of the way he can seize control of the city.
Bane's plan will be two pronged. First, cause civil unrest and get the majority of the citizens of Gotham to support him and fight with him. Then, seize the wealthy and exile them while also ridding the city of its remaining criminal elements. Once that is done, seize control and bring the city down. First the liberator and then the conqueror.
I think Nolan's message here will be clear: Be careful who you, as a society, turn to in times of strife. The lesson will be clear and one Gotham will have to learn the hard way. But what is interesting here is that Bane will accomplish what Batman could not in eight years. He will destroy the mob. He will also cause the citizens of Gotham to rise up, albeit not in the same way Bruce would have liked.
But see that is the key here: Gotham must be nearly destroyed before it can become the city Bruce intended it to be through the symbol of Batman. You will see Gotham in shambles before TDKR is over, count on it. As Alfred said in TDK, "things were always going to get worse before they got better".
5) Bane will break the Bat.
Ok, so that makes it sound like I think Bane will break Batman's back like he did in the Knightfall comic series. But the truth is that is not what I mean. I think the break will be more emotionally and mentally than it will be a literally back break. I do believe that Bane will attack Batman in the Batcave in TDKR. I also believe Bane will win that fight and leave Batman badly beaten. However, I do not think Bane will break Batman's back. I think Nolan wants to honor Bane's greatest story in the comic without completely copying it. I also think Nolan understands how much time a recovery from a spinal injury can take in the real world and does not want his story to be that long.
It would be hard to believe Bruce being out of commission for years while Bane retails control of Gotham. No what is more likely is injuries to Bruce that take months and not years in which to recover from. Bruce will fight, lose and be injured, recover, and then fight Bane again and win. I will touch on this lose, recover, win theme in a bit here.
But one thing to consider: I mentioned earlier that Bruce was lost in Batman Begins until Ras came and gave him purpose. Well I would argue that Bruce is lost again in the early goings of TDKR and Bane is the one who redefines him and gives him purpose again.
I would further argue that Bruce needs to lose and be broken by Bane in order for him to win in the end. I liken it to the Phoenix who dies and then rises anew from the ashes. I think Bruce will be defeated by Bane and the man he was will die only to be reborn as something stronger. I could write a whole separate essay about this very point, but I will refrain. Just know that Bruce's loss to Bane is necessary and important to the story Nolan is trying to tell.
6) Bane will have some kind of weapon.
Following the model laid out in Batman Begins, it would not be a party for The League of Shadows unless there is a weapon involved. The weapon of choice this time will be some sort of earthquake machine. Some have argued it is a subsonic device capable of earthquake like results. Others have said it could be a nuclear device without the explosion and release of energy. I feel it might be in between. In any event, it is a weapon that can effectively destroy Gotham.
Bane will first demonstrate his weapon at the Gothan Knights football game, some of which is shown in the latest trailer. The weapon itself will have been created by the doctor Bane takes from the CIA plane in the prologue many of you have seen. This weapon will be the way for Bane to keep the National Guard and US Government at bay while he seizes control of the city. He will use it to hold Gotham hostage until such a time that Talia orders him to destroy the city.
Yes I do think Talia and Bane will be working together. Although I do not believe, as some do, that Bane is a member of The League. Nor do I believe he trained under Ras at any point, especially when Bruce was in training. I loath the idea that both Bruce and Bane were "sons" of Ras. No, I think Bane is a mercenary who was hired by The League to assist in their plans.
7) We will learn more about the life of Ras Al Ghul.
Again it goes without saying that with the inclusion of Ra's daughter Talia that we will be getting some insight into who Ra's was. But in addition, the casting of actors playing young Ras and young Talia all but confirms it. So the questions remains: what will we learn?
I think we will see the loss of Ra's wife as spoken of in Batman Begins. I do think that Ra's will lose his wife in a fire, a fire I believe that will be caused by the local townspeople, many of whom believe Ra's and his wife to be witches and mystics. I also think we will see Ras' being recruited into the league and learn just how he was discovered. I would not be a bit surprised if his discovery and induction into the league is not that much different than Bruce's.
But you ask: how old will Ra's be? That leads me to my next point:
8) There will be no Lazarus Pits in TDKR.
I don't care that the production filmed in India. I don't care that there was a green screen area that resembled a pool for the India shoot. Those facts don't sway me one way or another. The fact is I don't see any way Nolan includes the pits in this film. The Lazarus Pits are one of the those fantastical elements from the Bat mythos that just don't easily fit in the world of semi-realism Nolan has built for his Batman films.
I personally love the pits and how they have been used in many Batman stories. But with that said, I don't want them included here. It just makes it all too easy for them to bring Ras back or to heal Bruce's injuries. If anything, what Nolan has done with the two previous films in this series should tell us he hates making things easy. So no Lazarus Pits.
9) The themes of legacies and fathers and sons/daughters will play out.
This is one of the more important things that Nolan will do with TDKR. I think one of the key questions that will be asked in this last film is: how can Bruce best honor his parents and their legacy within the city? What can he do to best honor them and the name Wayne? Is the best way to honor them for Bruce to be Batman? Or is it better for him to try and help the city like his father did and invest in the city financially? These are questions Bruce will wrestle with in this film for sure and the answers to these questions will not be easy.
Talia, on the other hand, will have to wrestle with the ghost of her father. She will have to decide if destroying Gotham, as her father had wanted, is the right thing to do. Is pursuing her father's path the best way to honor him? Was he right in his worldview and the steps in which he created to solve the problems he perceived to society? I think in the end Talia can't pull the trigger and realizes that destroying Gotham is not the answer.
10) Catwoman, Catwoman, Catwoman...
Not sure if I can say any more about this character that has not already been said. I think Selina will come from money and not be a stripper as some have suggested. I also believe she will be the estranged daughter of Falcone from Batman Begins. The reason I argue this is that I think Nolan loves the drama that Fathers and children present, filled with misplace loyalty and talks of legacies.
I also think Catwoman is the voice of the Revolution, as it were. She sees the underside of Gotham, the world which the city itself papers over and ignores. She understands the plight of the poor in Gotham and sympathizes with their pain. She is a Robin Hood figure in this film. She steals from the wealthy and uses those prizes to help the less fortunate. She is very much a political figure and a woman of action.
In addition she is much like Bruce, with a duality that causes problems to her real persona. She, like Bruce, struggles with not allowing her own personal monster, Catwoman, from consuming her. She also feels obligated to fight on despite the costs personally to her. She and Bruce will be two sides of the same coin in TDKR and this fact will be something that creates the bond between them.
Ultimately, I would say that Catwoman will be a figure that will straddle the fence morally. I think she will be working with Bane, but will come to fight alongside Bruce. However that change will require her learning Bruce is indeed Batman, which is something I believe she will discover when she breaks into Wayne manor as Catwoman and discovers the cave. I think before the film is through she will know Bruce is Batman and will fight alongside him out of love and respect.
11) John Blake- Man of Mystery.
Just who is John Blake? Well we know he will be played by Joseph Gordon Levitt. We know he is a police officer within the Gotham Police Department. And we know Commissioner Gordon trusts him a great deal. Other than that we know very little about this character.
Here is what I believe when it comes to Officer Blake. First, I feel that Blake is going to represent the new order of police officers in Gotham. Good cops who do their jobs well and do not succumb easily to corruption and bribery. Blake will represent the next generation, or whatever you would like to call it. I feel strongly that one of the themes of this film will be passing of the care of Gotham from the old guard, Batman/Gordon, to the new, Blake/Selina.
Blake will also be as close to Robin as Bat-fans are likely to get in a film directed by Christopher Nolan. I suspect that Blake will head up a task force whose mission is to find out who the Batman is and arrest him. Blake will do is job well and find out that Bruce is The Batman, Now this is where things get alittle dicey.
I strongly believe that Bruce comes clean to Blake. I think he tells him the truth about Dent and his actions in covering it up. At that point Bruce will ask Blake to keep his identity a secret and to help him within the Gotham Police Department. Blake accepts and becomes an ally of Bruce's, a young ward if you will.
Concurrently, I also think Gordon is displaced as commissioner at some point in this film. He then forms a covert group, consisting of police officers, to work against Bane and his army. Blake will be one of the recruits and in being so will become a vigilante of sorts.
So we have ally of Batman and vigilante, sounds alittle like Robin, no?
But that is as close as we will get folks.
There was a very well written article I read about Blake potentially becoming the next Batman. The person who wrote it believed that Blake would end the film at the entrance to the Batcave and it would leave things open to him becoming a new Batman. I like the idea but ultimately feel that Bruce is the only Batman in the Nolan universe. Blake is just a police officer I am afraid. But one who is important to the future of Gotham.
11) Gotham will learn the identity of the Batman.
Nolan has said for some time now that he fully intends to end Batman's story in TDKR. He has also made it pretty clear based on the two previous films in this series that he is not beholden to the comics when it comes to what he does with Batman in these films. Therefore, all bets are off.
When you consider that class warfare will be a major theme running through TDKR, it makes perfect sense for the people of Gotham to learn that one of its richest citizens has indeed been fighting for them all along. This revelation punches big holes in Bane's arguments regarding the wealthy in Gotham and how aloof they are to the needs to the poor and working class.
It also moves this series to a definitive end. With the public aware of his true identity, how can Batman continue in Gotham? He can't and he won't. This brings me to my next point:
12) Bruce will resurface and will become whole with The Batman.
Basically look at it this way- Bruce and Batman are two distinct people or personalities. They initially both kind of struggled to co-exist and function as equals. Slowly over time Bruce became more submissive and ceded ground to The Batman. So much so that it caused concern to those around him (the aforementioned Fox and Alfred plot threads).
I feel the key to properly ending Bruce's journey in this series is for him to learn that he has as much power to help Gotham as Bruce as he does as Batman. They both possess great power in helping the city back out of the darkness and only working in tandem can they restore Gotham.
But much more important, Bruce needs to find peace emotionally and mentally. He needs to let go of his hate, guilt, and anger over failing to prevent his parents death. In so doing, Bruce will find he is much stronger and capable of defeating Bane. In fact, when he faces Bane for the last time he will be fighting him as Bruce Wayne and not Batman.
This is an important distinction to consider. I grant that he will fight Bane dressed as Batman when they encounter each other for the final time. But he will only be doing so as Batman is an important symbol and Bruce will want to continue to use that symbol and the power it contains. However, he will not longer allow the monster to control him. He will be in control in every way.
I would argue that is the point of the entire series. Bruce first has to create the symbol and use it effectively to help Gotham (Batman Begins). Then Bruce has to learn what the limits are to his creation and what his own limits are when it comes to how and what he is willing to do to save Gotham, all the while slowly losing ground to his monster as it begins to take over. (The Dark Knight). Then in this film, Bruce is nearly consumed by the monster and has to fight to regain control and ultimately achieve balance.
That is what Nolan set out to do in this series. Show the error of Bruce's logic in Batman Begins that only the symbol (Batman) can save Gotham. Then show how this creation takes over and Bruce becomes buried under his feelings of guilt, remorse, and anger over the deaths of those close to him, first his parents and then Rachel. Then finally show how Bruce is able to reconcile his feelings and once again find balance and become a whole person again. Bruce's journey is about him discovering that the symbol was not the whole answer and that only he himself had the power all along to make real change to Gotham and inspire as just Bruce Wayne.
Last here is the major burning question that has preoccupied many:
13) Will Batman die/sacrifice himself in the end?
The short answer to this one is Yes. Yes, I do believe that Batman will die at the end of TDKR. As I wrote earlier, I do not believe Bruce will ever willingly retire from being The Batman. Nor do I believe that he will continue on as Batman long after the events of TDKR have played out.
Nolan has made it clear that he intends to end this film in a way that will make it dfficult for someone else to go and tell a Batman story in this universe. Retirement or maintaining the status quo do not achieve that objective. Having Batman die most certainly does and I believe will be the ending we see in July.
But now the question becomes- why? Why kill Batman? For that answer, let's look to martyrs and legends in our own world. The first thing to ask is how many of them died for the cause they believed in? How many of them sacrificed themselves willingly for the greater good? Now think about what has been stated many times in this series: Bruce wants Batman to become a legend to the people of Gotham and inspire long after he is gone.
I ask what better way for The Batman to become a true legend than to sacrifice himself to save the city from Bane and certain destruction? I think the combination of the people of Gotham learning Bruce is Batman, coupled with him sacrificing himself will be enough to cement his legendary status in Gotham. His sacrifice will inspire many and will be used to rebuild the city as a better place and spur its citizens to continue to preserve and protect it.
I have read through multiple sites that Nolan ends this film in a very Shakespearean way. What is more Shakespearean than to have the hero of the story die. But not just die, but to die on a very public stage with the fate of Gotham in the balance.
There is the possibility of Bruce faking his death and living out his life somewhere other than Gotham. But I am just not sure Nolan will want to do that. Rather, I think he desires to have the Batman go out in the biggest way possible. What way is bigger than to die saving his beloved city.
Ok, loyal reader...thank you for reading. This has been my take on what you will see onscreen in July when you pluck down your $10 to witness the end of the Nolan saga.
I stand by nearly all of this and feel pretty good about nearly all of it coming to pass.
It is certainly an exciting time to be a Bat-fan and I have enjoyed writing this all very much. I look forward to your comments, questions, and criticisms related to this post.
Until next time...
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