The Dark Knight Rises

Eight years after the evil Joker (Heath Ledger) terrorized Gotham City, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) is now in self-imposed exile. Following the downfall of mafia villain Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) in the first film, the Gotham crime lords are not quite as powerful. A new masked villain named Bane (Tom Hardy) arrives in Gotham with the League of Shadows. Bane's evil plan is to destroy Gotham along with the citizens, just as the late villain Ra's al Ghul (Liam Neeson) attempted in the first film. Evil tycoon John Daggett (Ben Mendelsohn) lends his construction crews to Bane so they can secretly plant bombs in the sewers. Daggett wants to control Wayne Enterprises, but Bruce gives control to the beautiful Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), who also agrees to protect Bruce's energy reactor.

After Bane and his henchmen attack the Gotham Stock Exchange, Bruce becomes Batman again in order to stop them. Bane kills Daggett and spares Daggett's henchman Philip Stryver (Burn Gorman). Bruce and Miranda seem to love each other. Batman meets with cat burglar Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), and she takes him to Bane in the sewers. Batman and Bane fight, with Bane smashing Batman's graphite cowl, and also damaging Batman's back. Bane takes Batman to a prison pit and then returns to Gotham. At Gotham Stadium, Bane detonates the sewer bombs and bombs under the football field as well, killing many people. The VIP Box also explodes, killing Mayor Anthony Garcia (Nestor Carbonell), who the Joker attempted to kill eight years ago. Bane and his army take the citizens hostage, blowing up all bridges except the Gotham Bridge, and threaten to detonate Bruce's reactor if anyone tries to escape the city.

Bane reveals the truth about Harvey "Two-Face" Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who the Joker manipulated into turning evil and then Dent fell to his death after a struggle with Batman. The Joker tried to prove that Dent could be evil like him and Batman subsequently took the blame for Dent's crimes. Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) is the judge of a kangaroo court after Bane liberates Blackgate Prison's inmates. Scarecrow worked with Falcone and Ghul in the first film. Scarecrow sentences many wealthy people to death, including Stryver, forcing them to walk on the frozen Gotham River, falling through the ice to their deaths. Batman escapes from the pit, and enlists the help of Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), Officer Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Catwoman to help him defeat Bane and save the city.

During a vicious battle between the cops and Bane's army, Batman battles Bane, damaging the tubes on Bane's mask. Miranda stabs Batman in the side, revealing herself to be Talia al Ghul and the mastermind villainess behind the chaos. Talia wants revenge for her father Ra's al Ghul's death and intends to finish her father's evil work by destroying Gotham. Catwoman uses the Batpod to blast and kill Bane. After a chase, Batman kills Talia and uses the Bat to fly the bomb over the bay where it explodes. The city is saved. Alfred (Michael Caine) sees Bruce and Catwoman at a cafe, and Blake inherits the Batcave.

Factual error: When the bridges are blown up, some of the bridges are suspension bridges, but the bridge only fails at the point of the explosion. The main horizontal supports are severed, but large portions of the bridge remain magically aloft. The nature of suspension bridges means the remaining vertical cables and road deck would fail as well, resulting in the loss of the bridge between the two main pillar supports.

More mistakes in The Dark Knight Rises

Bane: Leave us.
Daggett: No, don'€™t go anywhere. I a€™m in charge here.
Bane: [Puts his hand on Daggett's shoulder]. Do you feel in charge?

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Trivia: The kicker for the opposing team is actually the mayor of Pittsburgh Luke Ravenstahl, who was a kicker in college.

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Question: SPOILER: At the end of the movie, it is common knowledge that Bruce Wayne is dead. A tombstone is erected and Wayne Enterprises are executing his will. Since everyone knows Batman died, did Gordon (or someone else) out Bruce as Batman? Fair enough, they could've come up with a cover story for Bruce's death, but surely people would get suspicious if Bruce Wayne and Batman died around the same time.

Brad

Chosen answer: Given that no accurate records would have been kept of what occurred in Gotham during Bane's occupation, it would be very easy to claim that Bruce had been in the city when the bridges fell, been captured and subsequently executed by forcing him out on the ice, as had happened with many other socialites. Plenty of people died during Bane's takeover of the city, particularly in the final hours. There's no reason why Bruce would stand out among them as a candidate, and even if anybody did harbour some suspicion, it could hardly be proven.

Tailkinker

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