The Dark Knight Rises: A Closer Look at the Ending

The Unraveling of Bruce's Journey

Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy delved deeper into what makes Bruce Wayne tick than any previous DC movie, but the ending of The Dark Knight Rises undoes a lot of the struggle Bruce went through to develop his protector of Gotham.

Christian Bale as retired Bruce Wayne standing with Michael Caine as Alfred in The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Each movie in the trilogy focuses on a specific stretch of Bruce's career as Batman, and Batman Begins spends a significant chunk of its run time on Bruce's international travels. While overseas after his parents' deaths, Bruce undergoes grueling training under R'as al Ghul and the League of Shadows.

John Blake in his police uniform in The Dark Knight Rises

Throughout the rest of the trilogy, that training proves useful as Batman uses the lessons he learned to overcome the terrifying villains of The Dark Knight trilogy. However, in step with the grounded nature of Nolan's Batman movies, Bruce has to hang up the cape eventually. After he retires and moves abroad with Selina Kyle, he seemingly sets up his ally, John Blake, to inherit the mantle of Batman.

Bruce and Selina at a café in The Dark Knight Rises

While the closure of seeing Bruce finally finish his mission is welcome, the ending also makes much of Batman Begins completely pointless.

John Blake holds up a light in the Batcave before accessing it in The Dark Knight Rises

The Dilemma of Passing the Mantle

The Dark Knight Trilogy is among the best Batman movies of all time, but the ending of The Dark Knight Rises falls slightly apart after some thought.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake in front of Waybe Manor in The Dark Knight Rises

It makes complete sense for Bruce to pass on the mantle of Batman as he ages, but how it's done invalidates much of Bruce's journey.

John Blake stands on a Gotham bridge in The Dark Knight RIses

Bruce chooses police officer John Blake to take over for him after the two develop a bond in the movie, but the young hero - despite the tongue-in-cheek reveal that his name is Robin - is woefully unprepared for the job.

It's unlikely Bruce would pass on the role of Batman to someone who lacked the skills to do the job, which means Wayne must believe that Blake's training is enough. However, this invalidates a significant portion of Batman Begins.

The Potential of the New Batman

Despite John Blake's lack of training, there are still a few reasons why the new Batman may be able to succeed as The Dark Knight.

At the beginning of the trilogy, Gotham may have lacked true supervillains, but it was incredibly deep in corruption and organized crime. However, by the time of The Dark Knight Rises, Gotham is on an eight-year run of no major organized crime or villain activity due to the success of the Dent Act.

Bane and Talia's takeover proves anything is possible, but the 'default' state of the city has changed to one of order and peace. As such, a less experienced Batman likely won't be thrown to the wolves quite as quickly. Blake will likely have time to develop his skills with the aid of the now-functional police instead of having to fend off foes as powerful as R'as right away.

However, the possibility of things going south after The Dark Knight Rises still necessitates John Blake being largely prepared to be Batman without training. Bruce believes that he has the ability to handle villains - both traditional and of the super variety - as is. However, to a degree, this still plays down the importance of Bruce's overseas journey in the grand scheme of the Batman mythos.