Awesome / The Dark Knight Rises

WARNING: Spoilers are off on Awesome Moments pages.

• Batman VS. Bane is probably one of the most epic boss fights in film history. The rematch doubly so for Batman: After regaining his fear of death and will to live, he comes for Bane, this time with an army of cops to back him up and kept Bane's guys occupied. No more shadow games, no theatricality; just a one-on-one battle of fists. No more rushing with no regard, fighting with his head as much as his heart. This was the return of the Batman that everyone cheered for the last two films.
  • The fight is almost one for Bane, too. Before Bats damages Bane's mask, it looks like it was going to be a rerun of last time with Bane dominating the fight.
  • It gets better on repeated viewings. While Bane still clearly has the physical advantage, Bruce's entire approach to the fight is overall more energetic and vicious. He gets kicked down by Bane again, but he quickly surges to his feet, takes the high ground and gives Bane a "come and get it" look. Than he blocks one of Bane's punches, rears back for a haymaker—and Bane again does a Punch Catch. Then Batman shows what he's learned from the Pit, and howling in Bane's face, physically overpowers Bane's grip on the self-same fist to land his first uppercut of the fight. If you watch Bane closely, he goes from staring Bruce down to gazing in a stupor at his arm being overpowered, as though he's thinking "How the f...?" right before he gets hit in the face.
  • After his mask gets damaged, Bane goes absolutely feral for a few seconds, pinning Bruce against a pillar and launching a barrage of punches into his gut, with a speed and ferocity not seen at any other point. And when Bruce dodges out of the way, Bane's punches break the concrete. Seems this Bane has no need for super-strength serum to be monstrously strong. See it here.
  • After the fight, Bane — after spending nearly the entire film unfazed, spending his screentime living up to Badass Boast after Badass Boast — is rendered completely speechless after this fight. For the first time in the film, his tough yet intelligent demeanor has completely disintegrated, and is replaced with tranquil horror. Bane is at Batman's mercy, and he knows it. These three words sum it all up best:
    Bane: I broke you...
• When Bane opens Blackgate, the speech, the music, the rioting. A dark example, but you were bound to your seat.
  Bane: We take Gotham from the corrupt! [the cannons on his Tumblers turn to the prison doors] The rich! The oppressors of generations who have kept you down with myths of opportunity, and we give it back to you... the people. Gotham is yours! None shall interfere, do as you please!
  [the Tumbler blasts away the doors of the prison]
  Bane: But start by storming Blackgate, and freeing the oppressed!
  [Bane's men storm the prison, overpower the guards, and release the prisoners. We see the released criminals being handed assault rifles as they run out of the jail]
  Bane: Step forward, those who would serve. For an army will be raised.
  [a businessman exits his Upper East Side apartment, turns, and sees a large, angry mob walking down the street in his direction]
  Bane: The powerful will be ripped from their decadent nests...
  [henchmen and his supporters ransack an apartment; one guy tries hiding under a desk but is forcibly pulled and dragged away]
  Bane: ...and cast out into the cold world, that we know and endure!
  [we see a block of upper class people being dragged out of their apartments]
  Bane: Courts will be convened.
  [a person is tried in Crane's kangaroo court]
  Bane: Spoils will be enjoyed.
  [Selina Kyle is shown watching, envious, as revelers celebrate and pop champagne bottles]
  Bane: Blood will be shed.
  [In an upperclass apartment, a ransacking occurs while gunfire can be heard]
  Bane: The police will survive, as they learn to serve true justice!
  [police officers are shown trapped underground in a tunnel, looking rather hopeless as supplies are lowered down to them]
  Bane: This great city... it will endure.
  [Bane's henchmen load the nuclear bomb into the back of a truck]
  Bane: Gotham...will survive.
  [the camera closes on a shot of the timer ticking down as they lock the doors]
• Batman creating his own Bat Signal and solidifying that he's back via a flaming Batman logo on the Gotham bridge, and Bane's reaction when he sees it.
  Bane: Impossible...
  • Gets even better on a repeated viewing. Bane has realized that Bruce had done something he'd never done: learned the strength to escape the Pit, something Bane could never do. And now He's Back!.
  • Batman's first words here alone — "Light it up." — will send shivers down your spine.
• The police, after having been trapped underground for three-to-five months, still have what it takes to charge on Bane's men and take back Gotham City. Having Batman disable the enemy tanks also helps.
  • The line Foley gives leading the police into the fight adds to the moment in an incredible way.
    Mercenary on Megaphone: Disperse! Disperse or be fired on!
    Dpt. Commissioner Peter Foley: There's only one police in this town.
  • Foley started the movie acting like a jackass and Glory Hound (and also a coward during the three-five month period before Bruce returned to Gotham, after the police get trapped). However, for the final battle, he shows up his dress uniform and led the charge from the front. It gave the scene another level of awesomeness and completely redeemed him.
    • Especially as it was a Brick Joke; Earlier, Gordon said, "I'm not asking you parade down Main Street in your dress blues." In the end Foley comes around, leading the charge in the final fight against Bane and his militia; suited up in his full dress. He's clearly not completely fearless, but he refuses to let that stop him from fighting—and likely dying — for Gotham.
    • Before he dies, Foley also manages to kill Barsad, Bane's Dragon, while shooting at Talia.
    • During Batman's fight with Bane, other cops are hunting down the truck with the bomb. Despite being heavily outgunned, they successfully use ambush tactics to take out vehicles, including shoving a dumpster in the path of a technical to stop it and hijack it in an alley. They then turn the truck around to use its heavy machine gun on Bane's Tumblers.
• After Batman has been missing for eight whole years, a psychologically broken cripple hiding away in his manor, he finally returns to take down Bane's thugs and effortlessly outdodge the police. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns will most likely never get a live-action adaption, but the entire Stock Exchange chase sequence captured the book's awesome He's Back! moment.
  • They even directly quoted it with the older cop saying to the younger: "Oh, you are in for a show tonight, son!"
  • There is also the awesome visual of the GCPD chasing Batman: A massive fleet of cop cars chasing a lone man on a bike.
• Selina Kyle playing Big Damn Heroes and taking out Bane with the Batpod's cannons before he can kill Batman with a shotgun.
  • And her summation of Batman's code — because sometimes, you just need to blast a villain and be done with it.
    Selina Kyle: About the whole "no guns" thing? I'm not sure I feel as strongly about it as you do.
• During the convict's account of what happened to Talia's mother, we see a duo of moments. First is when the prisoners surround her mother, Talia—a CHILD at this point—nonetheless shivs one of them in the back. Then Bane, after picking her up, backhands the man with such force that he's practically lifted off his feet and thrown backwards.
• Bruce makes the leap onto the rock from the pit on his own without the rope, followed by the cheers from the other prisoners.
  • Followed by the music switching from Bane's Leitmotif during the first attempt, to Batman's in the final climb, available on the official soundtrack as the piece "Why do We Fall?"
  • Just before he makes the jump he hesitates, only to receive encouragement from none other than a swarm of bats — his old fear — erupting from a crevice nearby.
• No matter what she grew up to be, the fact that Talia managed to climb out of that enormous pit, with no rope, as a child, is pretty damn awesome. It takes Bruce two failed attempts before he gets how it's done: fear of death propelling you on that last, damn near impossible leap from one ledge to the homestretch to freedom. Everything she manages afterwards is just icing on the cake. And considering the height of the jump and the lack of rope, it is safe to say Talia could only have gotten it on the first try.
• Batman's Ironic Echo line when he beats Bane and turns his "You have my permission to die" back on him. After the brutal first beating, it was quite awesome to see the old man still had some moves.
• The Bat, the Batpod and the Tumbler remain some of the best vehicles put to film.
  • The Bat features some amazing flying, out-maneuvering a Macross Missile Massacre and turning it against its launcher.
  • The Batpod does an awesome "spinning wheels turn" trick, nearly one-upping the wall turn in The Dark Knight. Doubly so with Selina at the controls, turning on a dime to pursue the convoy. Notice how in that moment, the Batpod's movement and engine sound are reminiscent of a cat.
  • Even though they were used by Bane's men, the updated Tumblers were awesome, especially the one with the retractable missile cannons.
• Jim Gordon is laid up in the hospital for months, but when crap goes down, he's able to take down two armed assailants with a gun hidden under his pillow. He nearly takes down John Blake by accident too.
• Speaking of John, his bravery against the jittery bridge police definitely shows his promise as the next Batman.
• All of Bane's dialogue during his first battle with Batman in the sewers.
  • Right before the battle, he says this:
    Let's not stand on ceremony here... Mr. Wayne.
  • Bane quoting Ra's by saying:
    Theatricality and deception. Powerful agents for the uninitiated. But we are initiated, aren't we, Bruce?
  • Near the beginning of the fight, Batman deals Bane several blows to the head. Bane barely even flinches.
  • Especially after Batman attempts to confuse him by cutting the lights and Bane, amused, says:
    Ahh... You think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it. Molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man and by then it was nothing to me but blinding! The shadows betray you... because they belong to me!''
  • Before pulling him out of the darkness, slamming him on the ground and cracking his mask with his bare hands while it's still on his face. And keep in mind - Batman's cowl has bulletproof Kevlar in it in this continuity. And Bane broke it in just four direct punches.
  • Then Bane gets his classic catchphrase: "I will break you." Even better, it doesn't sound corny at all. On the contrary, he makes it sound bloody terrifying.
    I will show you where I made my home, while preparing to bring justice! ...Then, I will break you...
  • The subsequent back-breaking also proudly displays one of the most iconic scenes in comic-book history. Tragic and brutal, but awesome nonetheless.
    Ah, yes! I was wondering what would break first! Your spirit... or your body!
  • And finally, taking Batman's broken helm (which he shattered with his bare fists), admiring it for a moment, and then tossing it aside while striding off in that cocky manner. 'Yes, I just did that. For I am Bane. Ra's al Ghul's true heir.'
  • It also shows that Bane was delivering a message to those who witnessed the fight. Batman completely and utterly lost. Gotham is nothing but hopeless, and Bane is incredibly proud of it. Gotham's dark glimmer of hope has vanished much long ago, and even with his return...it was simply no worth fighting for the city. Not against the man who broke the Bat.
  • In addition, Batman's reactions in the fight. His slow realization that, after fighting so many crooks and high-profile criminals, such as Scarecrow, the Joker, Two-Face, and Ra's al Ghul himself...he finally finds someone he can't even stun. The desperation slowly building up in him during the fight is especially noticeable—he's slowly running out of options and steam, but still has the will to continue...but in the end, it was all for naught. Bane had shown his legion that Batman has past his prime. That he is no match for Bane—for anyone but just simple Mooks now. Of course, this makes the rematch much more satisfying to see.
• The last shot of the series: Robin (John Blake) standing in the Batcave, only just beginning his career as the next Batman, spelunking, holding a cylindrical torch and being swarmed by bats just like Bruce, a nice Call-Back to Batman Begins.
• Bane gets one in the final battle, when he punches a concrete pillar in a broken-mask fury and causes it to break. This Bane apparently doesn't need Venom to be monstrously strong.
  • The rapid series of blows he rains on Batman while being in incredible pain from lack of painkillers is something to behold. In an era of huge explosions and over the top action scenes, that series of five or six punches is still awesome.
  • Bane's sheer speed is a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Tom Hardy. Watch his entrance to the stock exchange: he takes off his motorcycle helmet, then promptly uses it to viciously smack a female security guard in the nose and knock out two more guards in a matter of seconds.
• Bane gets another when he kills Daggett by...doing something unpleasant to him. We infer that this was probably a Neck Snap — and not a quick one, at that.
  • He doesn't even need to do that. In the middle of Daggett's Bullying a Dragon moment, Bane shuts him up by simply resting his massive hand on his shoulder. You can almost hear Daggett crapping his pants.
    Bane: Do you feel in charge?
  • Even better was just Daggett ranting at Bane about the money he's poured into what Bane's doing, which.. Well, Bane doesn't like:
    Dagget: ...I paid you a small fortune.
    Bane: (disapprovingly) And this gives you power over me?
  • And then Bane shows his true colors, revealing to Daggett his motive while also showing just how little power Daggett has over him.
    Daggett: ...What is this?
    Bane: Your money... and infrastructure have been important. (grabs Daggett's neck) 'Til now.''
    Daggett: ...What are you?
    Bane: I'm Gotham's reckoning. Here to end the borrowed time you've all been living on.
  • At this point, Daggett is clearly shedding tears, scared as absolute hell. Then...
    Daggett: You're... pure evil...
    Bane: I'm necessary evil.
    (Bane proceeds to kill Daggett off-screen)
  • Bane's initial reaction to Daggett's Bullying a Dragon moment. You can almost pinpoint the exact moment he thinks "Yeah, I'm done with you".
    Bane: (stares at Daggett before looking at Stryver) ...Leave us.
• Scarecrow's cameo.
• Batman and Selina getting into Bane's underground lair. Especially one bit where a goon is firing an automatic assault rifle at Batman and we see from his perspective: Each muzzle flash acts like a strobe light, and you just see rapid-fire freeze frames of Batman getting significantly closer and closer. More Nightmare Fuel, but still pretty cool.
• Batman and Catwoman teaming up to take on Bane's men on the rooftops.
• It's kind of a jerkish move^note though understandable, given that someone's taking a Tragic Keepsake of his mother from a high-security safe, but the way Bruce introduces himself to Selina...by firing an arrow into the bullseye barely inches from her head.
  • And in turn, the way Selina introduces herself to Bruce: she has the audacity to steal his mother's pearl necklace from his uncrackable safe, and the moment he confronts her on it, her "meek girl" mask slips...right off. "Oops", indeed! And just to drive the point home, she knocks Bruce down by kicking his walking stick before backflipping out the window.
• The ending is both this and a Heartwarming Moment. Alfred spots Bruce and Selina living together in Europe, both of them radiantly happy.
• Another moment for Selina when she outsmarts Stryver and the rest of Bane's henchmen, who were planning on pulling a You Have Outlived Your Usefulness on her. She is expecting them to betray her, so as leverage, she's brought a "kidnapped" congressman along. She then brings the entire police force down on them in a matter of seconds by tricking Stryver into using the congressman's phone to call the SWAT team. Then she manages to slip away by shooting two of Bane's henchmen while wrestling with Stryver before the SWAT team bursts down the door and chases the thugs into the back alley. Selina immediately starts screaming and acting like a damsel in distress to trick Blake into getting her out of there so she can slip away in the confusion.
• The finale. The Bat, Batpod, three Tumblers and a massive armored truck screaming through the streets of Gotham.
• In preparation for the reactor, Bane takes the Wayne Enterprises board hostage, and tells Fox to choose one of the board members to accompany them. Without any hesitation, one member volunteers to go with Bane to an unknown destination for an unknown reason. This same man stays completely silent when Bane puts a gun to his head to force Fox's co-operation, even when it looks like Fox might let him die. Badass Bureaucrat indeed.
  • This is, in fact, Fredericks, the same board member who in previous films was the one saying things like, "Is this what Thomas Wayne would have wanted?" One can assume that he has been very, very subtly supporting Bruce through the whole trilogy.
• Just the fact that we finally have a solid portrayal of Bane in a major adaptation. He's been around for 20 years and has never been treated with a great deal of respect outside the comics despite being Batman's greatest physical enemy. Physically he may not have been a perfect portrayal, with the lack of a luchadore mask, venom, and being European rather than Hispanic (unavoidable due to the choice to cast Tom Hardy). But even Chuck Dixon, Bane's co-creator, considers it the most accurate portrayal of the character ever because the essence is there. That essence is a remarkably intelligent individual with unbelievable strength and fighting skills, and the only villain who poses a true physical threat against the Caped Crusader. There's a reason why Batman and Bane's first "fight" is one of the most memorable scenes in the entire trilogy.
• Watch that scene when Selina is about to escape at the airport. Just as she's walking down the jet bridge, Blake appears in front of her. Oh, Crap! on her face, confident smile on his. It's almost as if he stops her with his sheer presence, and the badge he flashes that says, "Oooh, nice try, but I got ya!".
• The entire ending sequence manages to be one, but above all, a single word:
  John Blake: Try my legal name.
  Secretary: You should use your full name. I like that name. Robin.
  • Alfred's dream is realized, when he arrives at the restaurant and sees Bruce with a woman, settled down... only this time, it's for real. And the girl is Selena Kyle.
  • The very last image of The Dark Knight Trilogy is Robin John Blake in the Batcave, rising up on a platform as the cave's systems activate around him. Passing the Torch and And the Adventure Continues at its finest.
• The reveal of the Batman statue. Finally, Gotham recognizes him as a true hero.
  Jim Gordon: Can I change your mind? About quitting the force?
  John Blake: (shakes his head) You know what you said, about structures becoming shackles? You were right, and I can't take it. The injustice. I mean, no one's ever gonna know who saved an entire city.
  Jim Gordon: They know. It was 'The Batman'.
  [cut to the reveal of a statue of Batman]
• "You don't owe these people anything more. You've given them everything." — "Not everything. Not yet." In four words, the entire point of Batman and what he stands for. The very definition of the term "superhero".
• A small one, but Senator Patrick Leahy once again makes a cameo, this time as a board member of Wayne Enterprises. Even better when you consider his cameo in the last movie: telling the Joker, "We're not intimidated by thugs!" Hey, Bruce would've known about that — maybe this is his reward for his bravery!
• The score is filled with the words "Deshi Basara", which mean "he rises". They're repeated over and over again, forming a drum-beat in the viewer's mind. The first time we hear them, they're solely associated with Bane. But that turns out to be a lie — Bane didn't make it out of the pit, only Talia did. As Bruce attempts the climb three times, they become his symbol, and the chanting of the chorus is for Bruce to rise.