History Fridge / TheDarkKnightRises

* ComicBook/{{Bane}}'s story ends at this mixed with [[{{Foreshadowing}}]], after initially seeming contradictory. If Bane got his mask after injuries in the prison, why does the child who escape not have a mask? This is resolved by the fact that this is actually the story of two people.

* In ''Batman Begins'' Thomas Wayne's final words to his son were "Don't be afraid." By embracing his fear of death in the pit, Bruce takes his first step away from the event that defined him, and towards letting letting go of his past trauma.

* The film is called ''The Dark Knight Rises''. Fitting then that Batman's new vehicle would be a flying craft.
** In the second movie, ''The Dark Knight'', he gets the Batpod, which is symbolically a horse.

* In Batman Begins, Bruce throws the pistol that he intended to kill Joe Chill with into the bay, disgusted that he almost used a gun to hurt someone. In The Dark Knight Rises, Blake shoots two of Bane's men in the construction yard as they try to kill him. Once he realizes that he's killed the men and probably ruined his chances of getting information in time to save the day, he looks at the gun in horror and then tosses it away. He doesn't throw it exactly the same way as Bruce did, but there is a parallel between the two moments and gives us a hint about what Blake's future might be.

* Think about what John Blake goes through - finding himself crippled by the system he's been serving, then deciding to throw it off altogether and go full-bore into vigilantism, thanks to some effort on Bruce Wayne's part. It is essentially got a rare POSITIVE version of what the Joker did to Harvey Dent. Not so different, eh? Although

** Makes a lot of sense. Ireland is known for being extremely good at knee/leg surgery, thanks to Northern Ireland's history of {{Kneecapping}} as punishment.

* Ra's and Talia both die inside of rectangular vehicles that were involved in their plans and crash from a great height.

** How did the cops mark the wrong truck when they were looking for the fusion bomb? Well, Miranda was the one holding the Geiger counter.

* Note that Batman throws a ''shotgun'' to Miranda right before asking Bane where is the ''trigger''.

* In ''Batman Begins'' Thomas Wayne's final words to his son were "Don't be afraid." By embracing his fear of death in the pit, Bruce takes his first step away from the event that defined him and towards letting his past go.

* In the Dark Knight, Harvey Dent says that one day the Batman will have to answer for the laws that he has broken but it will be to the people of Gotham, and not to threats of some madman. Then at the end of Dark Knight Rises, the people of Gotham City creates a statue of Batman after it's believed he died for saving Gotham from Bane's nuclear bomb: in other words, a madman's threat.

* Bruce is retired largely because of a leg injury. A leg injury he suffered when he killed Harvey at the end of the Dark Knight. Bruce can be seen limping when he runs away.

* In Rises, John Blake makes a joke about mutant crocodiles in the sewers. Fridge Brilliance because, in the animated film [[WesternAnimation/BatmanGothamKnight Gotham Knight]], Batman fought Killer Croc. It makes sense that rumors of the battle floated around the GCPD.

* Think about what John Blake goes through - finding himself crippled by the system he's been serving, then deciding to throw it off altogether and go full-bore into vigilanteism, thanks to some effort on Bruce Wayne's part. You've essentially got a rare POSITIVE version of what the Joker did to Harvey Dent. Not so different, eh?

* How could Bane smash through concrete like it was foam and paper mache? If the human body were to use its full strength at all times, it would tear itself apart from the strain of it - physical pain keeps us from using more than a fraction of our strength without the aid of an adrenaline spike. Bane, constantly breathing a steady supply of an anesthetic, doesn’t have to worry about that. The movie’s version of “venom” still grants Bane increased strength, just in a roundabout way.
* Batman firing at a tumbler with Talia in it seems to be a disregard of [[ThouShaltNotKill Batman's one rule]]. Then you realize the tumbler itself didn't have a scratch on it until it fell. It makes sense that the Bat's cannons were designed to keep from harming Batman's other vehicles. He had most likely intended to stop Talia nonlethally, and if Batman hadn't forgotten she was driving over a bridge, she would have survived.
* Bane's mask is constantly feeding him anesthetic gas so he [[FeelNoPain feels no pain]]. He's high on some level constantly. It's also why he never seems to shout.

* ComicBook/{{Bane}}'s story ends at this mixed with [[Foreshadowing]], after initially seeming contradictory. If Bane got his mask after injuries in the prison, why does the child who escape not have a mask? This is resolved by the fact that this is actually the story of two people.

* Why does Bane's voice sound so odd? It's being distorted by a mask, and he's being pumped with anesthetic gas that ruins speech functions. Considering how much his voice echoes, he may also have a voice-enhancer in that mask, [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] style. It's entirely possible that his injuries prevent him from speaking loud under normal circumstances; that would also explain why he never shouts. The front grille part of Bane's mask between the gas pipes looks awfully like a loudspeaker. He might have a microphone inside the mask. His voice is also reminiscent of that of Lord Humungus from ''Film/MadMax2TheRoadWarrior'', whose look and behavior may have helped inspire movie-Bane's characterization.

** Some anesthetic gases can create a state of euphoria and joyful feelings.

* Fox's destruction of the cell-phone tracking system in TDK pays off big-time in this film, because if he ''hadn't'' wrecked it, Bane would've gotten his mitts on it and could have used it to round up Gordon, Blake, and all the other fugitive cops.

** Figuratively, Alfred is Bruce's safety rope connecting him to the outside world.

** The cops in particular would be more likely to know the score--especially if any kind of rumor got around about what really happened to Wuertz, Ramirez, and Maroni. In The Dark Knight, Batman was their ally, and they knew it. That's also why the younger cop shoots at Batman--he's not part of the old guard that knows Bats is alright.
* In their first fight, Bane punches and breaks part of Batman's mask, fracturing it and revealing Bruce being weakened with pain. In their second fight, Batman punches and breaks a tube on Bane's mask, eventually leading to Bane being weakened with pain.
** On a similar note, Bane cannot function normally without his mask, which is how Bruce felt after Rachel's death; he couldn't fully give up the idea of being Batman even after eight years. The difference is that Bruce eventually realized that he ''can'' move past that pain and overcome it.

*** The novelization establishes that the Joker is Arkham's sole inmate... and may have escaped. Alternately, that SWAT officer put a bullet in the Joker's head.

* At first Crane's cameo in the film feels out of place, feeling like Nolan shoehorned him in just for the sake of a fan-pleasing cameo. Then you remember while he's been locked up for years, Crane is an associate of the League of Shadows, which would gain him certain privileges, to say the least.

* ComicBook/{{Bane}}'s story ends at this after initially seeming contradictory. If Bane got his mask after injuries in the prison, why does the child who escapes not have a mask? This is resolved by the fact that this is actually the story of two people.
* TheReveal that ComicBook/{{Bane}}'s sewer lair was right under Wayne Tech calls back to the first film, where it is revealed that all the water and sewer lines in Gotham merge at Wayne Tower. This was the centerpiece of ComicBook/RasAlGhul's original plan.
* In ''Begins'', Lucius brags that Batman's armor can "stop a knife." In ''Dark Knight'', Lucius warns Batman that his new more flexible suit makes him more vulnerable to knives and gunfire. In ''Rises'', [[ComicBook/TaliaAlGhul Talia]] is able to stab Batman because, as a member of Wayne's board, she would have been able to investigate his data and find a weak point. Bruce wouldn't have made the blueprints for his second suit accessible to anyone but Fox. She simply slipped the knife in one of its obvious [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak points]].

* When [[ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} Selina]] first meets Batman, she is largely annoyed by everything he does, from trying to order her around to the "no guns, no killing" rule. After luring him into an ambush, she is far kinder, saving his life several times and eventually starting her new life with him. What's the difference? At first she thought he was just someone hired by Bruce Wayne which, while moderately impressive, rubbed her the wrong way since it represented how rich people can use their money to make anyone do anything for them. Finding out he actually ''is'' Bruce puts him in a very different light. Not to mention that she was shown horrified to see Batman beaten up to near-death by Bane, not to mention that that scene is how she finds out that Bruce is Batman. She also softens up to Bruce himself after learning the truth behind his MillionairePlayboy facade.

* Many people complain that Bane's new, [[StiffUpperLip Jolly]] voice makes him much harder to take seriously as a BigBad than Heath Ledger's Joker. But Bane's not the Big Bad. [[BaitAndSwitchBoss Is he?]]

* The GenderNeutralWriting surrounding Talia as a child makes sense in light of the fact that she was born in a prison, so there would have been [[PrisonRape very practical reasons]] for hiding the fact that she was female, and add to that the heavy implication that her mother was raped before the other prisoners killed her and it reaches a whole new level of FridgeHorror.

* Why would a cop gleefully tell his trainee that they're in for a show when Batman, wanted for the murders of five people, makes his first appearance in eight years? For the same reason Scarecrow knew that the gun-toting {{Heroic Wannabe}}s weren't really Batman (besides the fact that there were three of them), and how Falcone wasn't quite as afraid of Batman as he was of the Joker. It made no sense to pin five murders on someone who'd spent a full year pulling off all sorts of crazy stunts without a death to his name.

* When [[ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} Selina]] first meets Batman, she is largely annoyed by everything he does, from trying to order her around to the "no guns, no killing" rule. After luring him into an ambush, she is far kinder, saving his life several times and eventually starting her new life with him. What's the difference? At first she thought he was just someone hired by Bruce Wayne which, while moderately impressive, rubbed her the wrong way since it represented how rich people can use their money to make anyone do anything for them. Finding out he actually ''is'' Bruce puts him in a very different light. Not to mention that she was shown horrified to see Batman beaten up to near-death by Bane, not to mention that that scene is how she finds out that Bruce is Batman. She also softens up to Bruce himself after learning the truth behind his RichIdiotWithNoDayJob facade.

** Oh, this is spelled out. Selina asks him who he's pretending to be, and he says, "Bruce Wayne, [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob eccentric billionaire]]." She doesn't grasp the significance of it at the time, of course; and the moment goes by so fast that the audience might miss it too.

** The safety rope in the Pit is also false hope--it keeps you from dying from failing the last jump, but its restriction and weight also keep you from ESCAPING.

** This may also be another contrast between false hope and the real kind: Using the safety line is a false hope, because it weighs you down and restricts your jumping ability. You'll survive if you slip or miss the last ledge, but [[MortonsFork you'll stay imprisoned.]] Climbing on your own is the ''real'' hope, because while adrenaline/fear physically fuels you, you also need to believe ''[[HopeSpot that you don't need help to get out.]]'' Alternately, you have to accept that [[IDieFree you might die anyway.]]

** This may also be a contrast between false hope and the real kind: Using the safety line is a false hope, because it weighs you down and restricts your jumping ability. You'll survive if you slip or miss the last ledge, but [[MortonsFork you'll stay imprisoned.]] Climbing on your own is the ''real'' hope, because while adrenaline/fear physically fuels you, you also need to believe ''[[HopeSpot that you don't need help to get out.]]'' Alternately, you have to accept that [[IDieFree you might die anyway.]]

* The main page points out that in reality, the safety-rope that the prisoners use to avoid falling back down into the Pit [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou would do a LOT of spinal damage to everyone who fell.]] It is very likely that some of them DID die this way. If they survived, it's easy to see despairing prisoners settle for long-term/permanent paralysis from using the rope, because they think the minimal protection from using the rope is "easier" because it's a KNOWN future, compared to climbing without it--HopeIsScary, after all. The Pit probably keeps them "prisoner" due to breaking their morale, as much as the literal challenge of climbing out does.

* The main page points out that in reality, the safety-rope that the prisoners use to avoid falling back down into the Pit [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou would do a LOT of spinal damage to everyone who fell.]] It is very likely that some of them DID die this way. Plus if they survived, it's easy to see despairing prisoners settle for long-term if not permanent paralysis from using the rope, because they think the minimal protection from using the rope is "easier" than [[HopeIsScary deciding to make the climb without it.]] The Pit probably keeps them "prisoner" due to breaking their morale, as much as the literal challenge of climbing out does.