The Dark Knight Rises

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

Question: So Batman rides the Bat-cycle into the alley in order to get to the Bat and fly away from the cops when he returns from exile. What happens then to the Bat-cycle? It doesn't seem like the Bat-pod has room to carry it and there's nowhere in the alley to hide it. Batman also doesn't set it to self-destroy (assuming that's an option as with the Bat-pod) so does he just leave it there?

zexthatico

Chosen answer: He hides it away, presumably in the modified shipping container that we see him retrieve it from later on, once he returns to the city from captivity. Having left the Bat there so that he can use it if necessary, it would make sense that he'd also prepare somewhere to hide the Bat-pod when he changed vehicles to avoid having to leave it for the police.

Tailkinker

Question: Why did Bruce need to fake his death? Why couldn't he just leave?

MikeH

Answer: He wanted to start a new life, which means shedding all aspects of his old one. Bruce Wayne was still a person of interest in the Gotham Wall Street scandal, with his death, his will would provide for and aid all the people affected by it.

Question: Does Bruce Wayne or Batcycle use EMP Burst or something similar to turn off all reporters cameras at the Charity Ball or Subway lights during the stock market chase and the aftermath?

Answer: Yes, it would seem that he carries some sort of device that produces that effect in a small area around him, plus the gun with the lights at the end of the "barrel" appears to have the same effect over a longer range, as he uses it to take out a motorcycle some distance ahead of him.

Tailkinker

Question: When Commissioner Gordon is talking to the crowd about Harvey Dent, he takes out a speech and is about to read about what really happened to him but then chooses not to as he wants the people of Gotham City to remember Harvey as a hero who stood up for justice while letting everybody believe that Batman was a killer. Even though he never read his speech, why didn't he simply tell people that contrary to what many people believed in the second movie, that Batman was innocent and didn't kill anybody? Why not just blame everything on the Joker who was truly responsible for the murders of so many people?

Answer: He was about to admit Harvey Dent is responsible for multiple murders, but he realised that would end his career and probably bring back the old days with the mob and gangs running wild. Even though indirectly the Joker was responsible, the public would still see Dent as a murderer and still cause the system to collapse. Batman was able to be blamed for the murdering Dent and those other people instead of the Joker, who was already in custody and couldn't have killed Dent.

lionhead

This question is about why not just blame the Joker for all of the deaths. Not why he chose to never tell people that Harvey Dent began killing people.

Because it was easier to blame Batman for all the deaths, since he was being blamed for Dent's death already.

lionhead

Question: Spoiler: How did Bruce survive the explosion?

Chosen answer: It is revealed afterward that he had fixed the autopilot on his aircraft. At some point prior to the explosion he bailed out and the craft continued on without him, taking the bomb far enough away for him to survive the blast.

Phixius

It's not clear that he actually survived We did see him in the end but Alfred could have been imagining that Bruce was there It's up to us to decide if that is the case or not But it's not confirmed that he survived.

The Dark Knight Series has not been one to play with elements of imagination, or really leave things up to audience interpretation. I will relent that Christopher Nolan has a knack for this in some of his other movies. But here, things have remained pretty clear cut throughout the trilogy. We see that Bruce fixed the autopilot on The Bat, he basically delivers a map of the Batcave to Blake. And Alfred, being of sound mind and body, sees Bruce in a cafe at the end. Bruce survived.

jshy7979

Question: Why did Bane have a problem with the two men bringing commissioner Gordon down into the sewers? Also how did John Blake know which outflow Jim Gordon would come out, of since the guy said that the sewer leads to many outflows?

PapaJohns01

Chosen answer: Bane had a problem with it because it exposed his plans to the GCPD. Blake knew which outflow to go to because of the body found previously. All bodies from that area of the sewers end up in the same place, Bane's men just don't know where that is.

Answer: Bane actually freed the prisoners at Blackgate Prison, not Arkham. The Joker's whereabouts are never revealed, but the novelization states that he is the lone inmate at Arkham. Realistically, the Joker probably would have received the death penalty for his crimes sometime between the 8 years that have passed between films.

Phaneron

Question: How does Bane kill Daggett? Did he break his neck? That doesn't seem likely though due to the screaming that can be heard. Did he suffocate him?

Answer: He did break his neck. You can actually hear a cracking sound when it happens. As for the screaming, you can actually still be alive for a few seconds, the screaming only lasts for a couple of seconds as well.

Casual Person

Question: After Talia orders Foley and the other cops to be gunned down, Foley's body is shown and he doesn't appear to have any bullet holes in him. Even with his black uniform you can see that his clothes don't have tears. Although it's possible that he was shot in the back, wouldn't the type of guns that are on the Tumblers be powerful enough to cause exit wounds?

Phaneron

Answer: He was hit by the tumbler. It wasn't included in the final cut due to how graphic it was when filmed.

Chosen answer: Almost certainly, yes, in fact, if the weapons demonstrated by the original Tumbler give any guide, his body would likely be severely damaged if not torn apart completely. However, as we don't actually see the precise circumstances of his shooting, we can't say that he was hit by one of the Tumbler's guns; given the intact state of his body, it seems far more likely that he was gunned down using a smaller weapon carried by one of Talia's remaining henchmen.

Tailkinker

Question: Wayne is supposed to lead the reactor back to the containment chamber so it can be flooded, as the waters will cause it to safely shut down. When Talia floods the chambers, Bruce is then forced to carry the bomb a safe distance away, over the ocean. If the flooding of the chamber could've stopped it, why couldn't Wayne just drop the reactor into the ocean to "kill it", rather than, say, going to all of the effort of carrying it a safe distance away? Or was it all just part of his ploy to appear dead?

Answer: You've misunderstood, I'm afraid. Bruce and Selina were battling to get the reactor core back to the containment chamber so that it could be reconnected to its support equipment, which would stabilise the core and prevent detonation, not so that it could be flooded there, which would do nothing to stop it blowing. Talia ordered the flooding of the chamber so that reconnection was no longer possible, forcing Bruce to fly the core out to sea, getting it out of range of Gotham before it blew.

Tailkinker

Question: SPOILER: What exactly were Talia and Bane waiting for when they stalled the detonation of the bomb? Why would they need to plunge the city into chaos before destroying it, and then wait to the very last minute to actually blow it?

Friso94

Chosen answer: Same reason she wanted Batman alive when the bomb went off: to adequately and thoroughly punish the people of Gotham.

Phixius

Question: Let's say the Joker was alive and released along with all the other prisoners. If he learns that Bane at one point tried to have Batman killed, what would Joker do? Would he try to have Bane, and by extension Talia, killed? If Batman came back, would Joker work with him to kill Bane, or allow Gotham to be destroyed. Due to different goals, who Joker and Bane somehow face off? And would some old followers betray Bane and follow Joker instead?

Answer: It is beyond implausible to presume that the Joker would have been locked away in Blackgate Prison. The previous movie has shown the Joker to have been a terrorist and extremely psychotic. Someone like the Joker would have been put away in a far more secure prison than Blackgate, one that has far more higher grade security and one that is specifically designed to hold people like him.

Casual Person

Question: What did Batman mean when he said to Bane "Then you have my permission to die"? I know he was repeating what Bane said to him earlier, but does that mean he was going to kill him?

MikeH

Chosen answer: It was probably on his mind. Not sure if he would have actually done it, but he needed Bane to tell him where the trigger was, after that maybe he guessed Bane would die anyway, having failed his mission. It could be either that Batman kills him indirectly, he commits suicide or he gets the death penalty. (Also, plausibly, he could have been hinting that Bane will inevitably die of natural causes after a long, dissatisfying life in prison, a reversal of how Bane attempted to defeat Batman in the same fashion).

lionhead

Question: Even though everything seems to be resolved at the end, Gotham was still in rough shape when Bruce faked his death. Thugs and actual villains from Arkham were loose in the city, and there was no Batman to stop them. Although we see towards the end that Bruce really does want to hang up the cowl, it seems unlikely that he would leave Gotham behind if he didn't have belief in them to sort things out. How did Bruce plan to solve this? Did he plan Batman's "death" to look like he died as a martyr, just like his parents death did? Ras' al Ghul did tell him that after Thomas and Martha's death Gotham was inspired to keep itself alive. Or is Bruce just putting his faith in John Blake to step in as the next Batman?

Answer: Gotham wasn't in great shape when he retired after the events of The Dark Knight, but, with the new powers bestowed upon them by the Dent Act, the city authorities were able to clean up the city without his assistance. While the Dent Act has been somewhat discredited by the revelations about Dent himself, the positive effects on the city that it brought would be obvious to anybody, and thus it's unlikely, particularly given the role of the police in ending Bane's rule, that those powers would be stripped from them any time soon. It will take time, but they have what they need to do the job, regardless of what Blake ultimately decides to do.

Tailkinker

Question: What exactly was the point of Daggett? He funds Bane's endeavors with the promise that he will take over Wayne Enterprises, Bane sabotages the stock market to make Wayne go broke, and then, almost immediately after doing this, Bane kills him. Why even have Daggett in on the scheme if the (supposed) plan was to have Miranda Tate take over Wayne Enterprises?

Brad

Chosen answer: Because they needed somebody to be the fall guy. For Tate to take control, somebody needs to take Bruce Wayne's majority share out of the picture and the highly ambitious Daggett is the perfect candidate. They use him to further the plot to remove Bruce from his position, while Miranda cultivates Bruce's trust, positioning herself as the person that Bruce would turn to for help. Daggett's hostile attitude would alienate him from the other board members, whereas Tate, carrying Bruce's seal of approval as his nominal successor, would have a much easier time. They used Daggett to do the dirty work, then took him out of play, allowing Miranda Tate to step in unopposed and, importantly, still trusted by Bruce.

Tailkinker

Question: In the flashback scene of Bane inside the prison, why were prisoners attacking Bane?

Answer: Bane is acting as a protector for the young Talia, keeping her safe and ultimately holding off the other prisoners while she escapes. As for what a bunch of male prisoners might want with a young girl, well, it's not going to be nice.

Tailkinker

Question: SPOILER: What exactly was Bane's and Talia's plan? Had Batman not thwarted the attempt at blowing up the bomb, were the bad guys simply content with being killed in the blast also as long as Gotham was destroyed as well?

Answer: Yes. Their entire purpose was to finish what Rha's had started; no matter what the cost.

Question: Alfred comes up to Bruce who is examining print dust on the safe after his mother's necklace was stolen. Alfred says to him "This is your idea of sounding the alarm, is it?" What does he mean? I don't understand this line.

Bunch Son

Chosen answer: The reason why Alfred says "This is your idea of sounding the alarm" is specifically because Bruce has not sounded the alarm. From Alfred's point of view, he has been told by Bruce that they have been robbed, but the only thing Bruce is doing is examine the safe for fingerprints. He found it odd that Bruce's idea of trying to find the culprit was looking for fingerprints and not actually sounding the alarm and having the place locked down so that they can find the burglar.

Casual Person

Question: Why did Stryver leave Daggett at Bane's mercy? It's even more puzzling since Daggett even ordered Stryver to stay and guard him.

EK8829

Answer: Either Stryver knew Bane was going to kill Daggett and he didn't want to risk his own life by interfering, or he was simply so intimidated by Bane that he chose to comply with Bane's demand rather than draw his ire.

Phaneron

More mistakes in The Dark Knight Rises

Alfred: You are as precious to me as you were to your own mother and father. I swore to them that I would protect you, and I haven't.

More quotes from The Dark Knight Rises

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

More trivia for The Dark Knight Rises

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