THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Dr Pavel is being trasferred by the CIA on a plane, having been recently rescued by agents of the fugitive known as Bane.
Bane reveals himself to the head CIA agent and his commandos board the plane, take down the CIA men and rescue Bane and Pavel, leaving a corpse that will be presumed to be Pavel.
Batman attempts to make a sting on a group of criminals known as The Resistance, and just as he discovers they may have more noble intentions than petty crime, he is intercepted by an entire police tactical team that has been sent to apprehend him.
He injures his leg before he uses some new technology to escape Alfred must give him medical treatment and a cane to temporarily help him walk.
At home in the rebuilt Wayne Manor, Alfred begs Bruce to retire Batman. He appeals to Bruce's sense of family quoting "You are as precious to me as your own mother and father. I swore to them that i would protect you, and i havent".
Bruce tells Alfred he's already begun his exit strategy.
Wayne Enterprises, board meeting. Bruce announces his intentions to turn the company into philantropic organisation, giving all proceeds to charity. New board member, Miranda Tate will be his point person as she has history with charity organisations.
At Bruce's request, she will route the money to where its needed : ie, to help the struggling citizens of Gotham City, which is going through a phase of extreme poverty and recession. Bruce is questioned by his board, he invokes the name of hs father, without whom none of them would be wealthy men. He walks out.
On Harvey Dent Day, gordon gives a speech as he is eyed by the New Commisioner, the pencil pusher from the rat squad who was groomed to be the new Police Commisioner.
New Commisioner vilifies Commisioner Gordon to the press, for Gordon's failure to apprehend the fugitive murderer known as Batman.
Selina Kyle is introduced robbing a rare pearl necklace. She is an expert cat burglar, enjoys the danger. In her escape, she shows her prowess with acrobatics and martial arts.
Batman meets Gordon on roof, after Gordon sent him a signal via a private, secure call device that has replaced the Bat Signal. Gordon has bad news: he can no longer protect him and Batman is on his own, They say their goodbyes. I would end the scene like this:
GORDON: One last thing. Will i ever find out who you are under that mask?
BATMAN: For your sake, i hope not.
GORDON: I suppose thats a dangerous bit of information, for both of us. For the city.
BATMAN: If it ever comes to that, you'll be the first to know.
Miranda wishes Bruce on his birthday. Bruce, troubles tells her he's now at the age that his father dies. Bruce and Miranda kiss. She's the first women he's truste since Rachel.
Bruce publicly endorses the new Commisioner and talks against Batman, as a way to insure he will never be tied to Batman. It hurts him to betray Gordon, but it must be done.
In an unknown location, Bane uses Pavel to synthesize his "venom", the gas that keeps him alive. Pavel's health is declining from the exposure to gas. He begs Bane to let him go, but Bane has a new project for him. Bane: "The fire is coming."
Wayne Enterprises' annual Masquerade Ball. Bruce is the only one not wearing a mask. Selina Kyle has snuck in; she steals a dance with Bruce. He sees her pearls and flashes to his mother's death. Selina gives him a chilling warning about a coming class war.
Bruce announces that Wayne Enterprises will become a philantropic organisation, dedicated solely to help Gotham. He soberly mentions his father's legacy, has a quick flash to a moment from childhood-
From Batman Begins:
THOMAS WAYNE: All creatures feel fear.
BRUCE WAYNE(young): Even the scary ones?
THOMAS WAYNE: Especially the scary ones.
Selina listens to Bruce's passionate speech and pehaps has a change of heart about him.
Bruce announces his new CEO, Miranda Tate, but she is missing. Later, Miranda manages to sneak up on Bruce, enjoying her reveal as the temptress in red. She doesnt seem concerned that she left him in the lurch earlier.
Suddenly, the party is under siege by the members of The Resistance. They kidnap a few VIPs, issue a warning. Selina uses the distracion to case the place, grabbing a few interesting items for herself. Bruce leaps into action, tries to stop them but to no avail- there's only so much he can do as Bruce Wayne in a designer suit. He saves Miranda and they embrace.
Batcave- Bruce investigates The Resistance, finds out that Selina Kyle is one the leaders.
Gordon putes together a task force to investigate The Resistance, one of whom is John Blake, a yound and trustworthy beat cop who has proven his integrity to Gordon.
Bane's commando blast open Arkham Asylum prison, battles the police and Batman as they liberate hundreds of convicts.
Bane amasses an army in an underground lair.. Pavel works like a slave on a larger device.
Gordon gets tip that Bane may attack the Gordon rogues football game, where the Mayor and several thousandcitizens will be watching the big game. Gordon moves his men into position around and under the stadium. John Blake is pulled away to guard Nixon.
Miranda finds records of the long-buried Applied Sciences Division of Wayne Enterprises. She sees plans for several weapons, including the Tumbler.
STADIUM ATTACK- Bane blows up the football fiels, seals all exits- the Mayor is captured and Gordon is buried under rubble. John Blake rescues Gordon. Bane takes the field and issues his call for the citizens of Gotham to rise up. In three days, they must join him to burn down City Hall or their fate will be sealed. He executes the Mayor in front of everyone.
CONVOY CHASE SEQUENCE- Batman speeds after Bane's convoy which includes two camo Tumblers. Batman's Tumbler turns into "The Bat", an armed hovercraft. Batman takes out the Tumbler but Bane escapes in the main vehicle.
Police Commisioner, orders all police to mass at City Hall to put down the impending attack. He has no strategy but brute force; its the recipe for disaster.
Gordon, recuperating in a hospital bed, activates his device to call Batman. Bruce arrives, enter the room, surprising Gordon. In am emotional moment, he reveals his identity as Batman and Gordon charges him to save the city.
ATTACK ON CITY HALL- Bane's army of citizens, criminals, commandos and Resistance members fights with police in front of the court house. Bruce is back in Batman gear, fighting Bane hand to hand.
This leads to an underground fight- Selina watches in horror as Bane defeats Batman and tears off his mask, learning his true identity.
Bruce wakes up in Bane's lar. Bruce asks, why not kill him? Bane tells him: "When Gotham is ashes, you have my permission to die". He throws Bruce off the edge of a giant pit. Bruce is left to die in the pit.
Bane blows the bridges sealing Gotham City. Riots and chaos regins as the threat of nuclear destruction keeps all in fear. Martial law is no help as the city turns on itself.
As Bruce rots in the pits for days, Selina strokes the fires of an underground movement invoking the symbol of Batman, scrawling in white chalk around the city. John Blake joins her.
When Selina shows up at Wayne Manor, Alfred calls Lucius Fox. With Bruce dead or out of commision, they need a new hero to rally the people. Fox outfits Selina with cat-like suit and trains her on the Batpod motorcycle.
Lucius searches through wayne Enterprises records and makes a shocking discovery, He ans Catwoman confront Miranda Tate in her office. She's a cipher, living under an alias. Who is she and why has she been secretly funding Bane's operation with company money? She wont tell them her secret, but she tells them that she knows Bruce is still alive and if thet want him to live, they wont stop her from her plans. When Catwomen attempts to grab her, Miranda pulls out some kick-ass moves busting her and escaping. Lucius and Catwoman are helpless.
Bruce builds his strength, attempting to climb the steep rock walls of the pit. nut he cant make it. A rope is thrown down to him. He climbs up to find an unlikely ally: an older man, a Priest. He takes Bruce around the lair.
A doomsday cult works while chanting "Rise".
Suddenly an attack- a crew of commandos repels into the lair- but they are not Bane's men, they are League of Shadows. Bruce watches in horror as he sees their leader remove her mask: Miranda Tate, dressed in ninja garb. She sends her men off to find Bane while she talks to Bruce.
Miranda Tate reveals her true identity: Talia Al Ghul, the current leader of The League of Shadows. She's known his identity as Batman the entire time, infiltrating Wayne Enterprises as a long con. She tells her story:
Young Ra's (Ducard) was a lost man until he was indoctrinated into the League of Shadows in Tibet, eventually being given the title of Ra's Al Ghul, the demon. Ra's has a secret relationship with a woman who gives birth to Talia.
Ra's raises Talia in secret, teachon her the ninja ways, swearing her to allegiance to the League of Shadows as a sleeper agant. Talia falls in love with a man, an unstable yet powerful League member, and when Ra's find out, he tries to kill the man while on a misson, leaving him for dead. After Ras dies and Talia assumes his mantle of her father, the man returns now as Bane, able to live only with a breathing apparatus. When Talia stops him from overthrowing her, Bane forms his own rogue segment of League and becomes obsessed with conquering Gotham city as a sick means to prove he's better than Ra's.
(Observe that, Bane's backstory contains father and son themes, build around the goal of destroying Gotham, a dark mirror of Bruce trying to maintain his father;s legacy of saving Gotham. They also share the same lover, Miranda and surrogate father, Ducard)
Talia was unable to stop Bane from developing a thermonuclear device. He believes that if he dies while nuking Gotham, he will achieve immortality and the true title of Ra's Al Ghul. He will become a legend.
Talia asks Bruce to heplps her defeat Bane, and she promises the League of Shadows will leave Gotham ciy forever. Bruce must decide is he can trust one demon to defeat the other.
Bruce knows where Bane has taken the bomb, the ideal ground to do the maximum damage. They'll need a plan, and more help.
Bruce suits up in a modified suit that Lucius designed to help Bruce with his injuries. Lucius gives him a "kill switch" that will shut down the nuke, but he must get close enough to the bomb to insert the device. Batman and Catwoman fly into action in the Bat, while James Gordon and John Blake assemble the underground resistance now known as the "Bat-Army".
Bane's army fights the League of Shadows, Batman, Catwoman, Gordon, Blake and the Bat-Army in a final battle.
Batman, Talia and Bane are sperated in a final struggle over the nuke. Caged in as others look on from behind bars, Bane gets the upper hand on Batman, ready to break his neck.
Talia redeems herself by saving Batman, but Bane kills her. Bane begins the countdown on the nuke.
The other forces watch helplessly as the timer ticks down and a wounded Batman is our only chance at stopping Bane. Several young people capture the fight on video and the entire city watches live on their various video devices.
The fight is brutal, taking its toll on both Bane and Batman, but Bane still manages to keep Batman away from the bomb.
Just when Batman looks like he's given up, he turns to the cameras and removes his mask, revealing his identity to Gotham city and the world. He utters a final phrase, the dying words of his father, "Dont be afraid".
Bruce tears off Bane's mask, which incapacitates Bane but exposes Bruce directly to the poison gas. Bruce deactivates the bomb. But he collapses, begins to cough up blood. Bane, suffocating, crawls on his knees towards Bruce, tries to wrestle his mask away from him. Bane's brute strength begins to overpower Bruce, until Bruce wraps him in a head lock and throws Bane's mask away, to land right next to Batman's mask on the ground, only a foot away.
Cameras roll and the crowd watches, stunned, as both Bruce and Bane choke out. Their two bodies go limp, falling next to one another like mirror images, as citizens all over Gotham weeps for their fallen hero. The video goes viral. Bruce becomes a legend.
Bruce Wayne is laid to rest on a televised ceremony, as James Gordon gives a speech about Bruce being Gotham's true savior. We see Bruce, embalmed, in the coffin as the lid is closed, it's lowered into the ground as the city watches, everyone is in tears, expect Alfred, who looks curiously annoyed.
Bruce Wayne is celebrated as the symbol of Gotham City, replacing Harvey Dent and restoring the hope and honor of a once-proud city. Thomas Wayne's legacy has been upheld.
Later, Alfred cracks open an identical coffin to find Bruce, alive, breathing from an oxygen tank. They switched coffins as Batman's last act of deception (Nolan twist touch)
Somewhere in Asia- Alfred drops Bruce off and they say goodbye. Bruce, face scarred from the venom, but truly at peace, walks into the mountains.
Meanwhile in Gotham City, John Blake, now a Lieutenant, works with Catwoman to keep Gotham Ciy safe. The bat symbol is scrawled all over town.
