Movies - TV
The Dark Knight Rises Ending Explained: Batman Ends
By CHRIS EVANGELISTA
Despite mixed reviews and reactions, the third entry in Christopher Nolan's trilogy, "The Dark Knight Rises," was massive. Borrowing inspiration from Charles Dickens to craft the story of a city under siege, Nolan offers us the perfect action-packed finale to bring the franchise to an epic end.
After the events of "The Dark Knight," Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), who is in retirement, is forced to become Batman again and face Bane (Tom Hardy), who claims to be Gotham’s liberator. Bane has a nuclear device, starts blowing the city up, and holds people hostage.
Newly unretired, Batman is no match for Bane — also a former member of the League of Shadows — who was raised in an underground prison. Bane beats the crap out of Batman and ships him to the same prison, but all’s well when Bruce finds his way back to Gotham and pairs up with Catwoman aka Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway).
Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) — who turns out to be Ra’s al Ghul’s vengeful daughter and an accomplice of Bane — activates the nuclear bomb that is set to annihilate Gotham. Once she and Bane are killed, Batman has to fly the nuclear bomb out over the water — in the process of which (we are convinced) he dies.
Gladly, we’re wrong. The film’s ending circles back to Alfred’s fantasy of Bruce in a cafe in Florence, starting over after leaving Gotham and Batman behind — and Bruce does just that (with Selina). Meanwhile, John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), aka the implied new Dark Knight, accesses the Batcave, offering viewers a satisfying end to an emotional punch of a movie.