As a longtime batman fanatic, I find the release of the dark knight rises to be the culmination of a lifelong desire to spin a yarn of my own in the dark knight’s saga. Having watched the movie, here is a take on how events may have played out to better suit the end of such an epic piece of cinema and indeed comic lore.
I will address the various issues from each characters viewpoint and hope my version interests you as much as Christopher Nolan’s (his name be praised), and hope this ties up most of the loose ends as I perceived them.
Batman/Bruce Wayne:
In the months following the events of the Dark Knight, Batman recuperates from his injuries but finds the noose tightening around him as the police come closer to making the connection to Bruce Wayne, owing to his state of health. He leaves Gotham, not only to escape the law but also to pursue answers to a question that has haunted him since the end of Batman Begins. If the League of Shadows is truly as omnipresent as Ra’as al Ghul claimed, and the architects of history to boot, what’s to stop them from attempting to destroy Gotham again?
As it turns out…nothing. For the failure of Ra’as al ghul merely enabled the ascension of another to the throne of shadows. A man with no history, save for his past as a mercenary, and a tumultuous childhood spent in a hellish prison known as “the pit”. This Bruce Wayne learns from his encounter with a doctor Pavel, a gifted nuclear scientist, who has been coerced into the leagues service to protect his loved ones and is working on a new form of fusion technology, its purpose to the league yet unknown.
Dr. Pavel convinces Bruce Wayne of the potential of his research for the benefit of the world, and Wayne uses his resources to save and extradite the doctor and his family to Gotham, while he pursues the mysterious new leader of the League of shadows.
It is then that the fusion reactor is developed with the aid of Lucius Fox and Wayne enterprise funding, and for now at least, a small victory has been achieved.
Bruce Wayne continues his search, which leads him back to the isolated temple on the mountain where he met his mentor. To his surprise, he finds the League headquarters restored and thriving. Undiscovered, he infiltrates the stronghold as a guard, biding his time and collecting information on his foe.
He is surprised to find another Gothamite in service of the league, a young man named John Blake, whom he befriends and learns of how he came to be in this desolate, hopeless place. The young acolyte relays a tale, not unlike his own, and here the seed of plausibility is sown.
Blake is discovered to be aiding an outsider and is captured, and interrogated, forcing Wayne to reveal himself in order to save him. He and Blake almost escape but are intercepted by Bane himself (at this point intact, and not yet calling himself that) and we have the first dust up between Bruce and Bane on the mountainside, as with Ra’as before. Wayne is not prepared for the fight and quickly has his leg broken (explaining his condition at the beginning of Dark Knight rises. ) but makes revelations about Bane that show him to be the cause of Blake’s torment. Blake hearing this, jumps into the fray, though weakened from his interrogation, and resorts to using a firearm to gain the upper hand.
Bane sustains critical injuries to the face and lies dying while Blake and Wayne make their escape. Wayne and Blake make it back to Gotham, to find the city flourishing in the wake of the dent act etc…2 years having passed by this time. Bruce recuperates once more and takes on Blake as his protégé.
He however refuses to train Blake any further, and the frustrated young man decides to join the GPD.
Blake graduates the police academy and moves out of Wayne manor to pursue his own life of justice, up until the events of Dark Knight Rises.
John Blake/ Batman Mk II/ Robin:
Born into a life of adventure owing to his parent’s vocation as cultural anthropologists, John Blake was born in Gotham but calls the world his home. He has travelled with his parents ever since he could recall, but this time it would be different.
In pursuit of evidence of an ancient cabal of monks rumored to practice long forgotten arts, the Blakes head into a treacherous mountain path, noting rare species of flowers that can withstand these climates. Invigorated by the discovery, they press on, only to be attacked by bandits a few miles from their goal. Their young son, John, is the only survivor, nursed back to health by the inhabitants of this isolated monastery.
Having known no home, and with no one left, Blake is adopted into this society of warrior monks and begins training in their ways.
Years later, his new life once again spirals out of control when a mysterious guard pops up, asking many questions , which soon put him at odds with his brethren.
Tortured and questioned, his eyes are opened to the true nature of the league of shadows, and the mystery man now seems to be his only friend. True to form, his friend comes to his rescue, but they soon find themselves before the merciless leader of this cult of killers.
Blake discovers his new friend is none other than Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy, first son of Gotham, and the Batman. However, Wayne has revelations of his own, as he accuses Bane of being behind the murder of Blake’s parents (a more suitable antagony in the Nolan-verse I find) and the young man takes vengeful action leaving Bane in his current condition.
Talia al Ghul/ Miranda Tate:
Talia al ghul escaped the pit and found her place beside her father, the great Ra’as al ghul.
Bane however was not her liberator, but replacement. Ra’as al ghul trained the boy personally, as he did Bruce Wayne, to be an heir in the leadership of the league. Talia thus finds herself vying for the affections of her father, constantly in a game of one upmanship with Bane in their various plots.
Thus the relationship is changed from one of master and minion to a more potent 2 captains and only one boat scenario.
When Ra’as al ghul dies having failed to destroy Gotham, he leaves the leadership of the league to both Talia and Bane, and gives them the express command to ensure Gotham’s demise should he fail.
Talia kidnaps Dr. Pavel only to see him whisked away to Gotham, and she assumes the identity of Miranda Tate to pursue him. She uses her resources to become a Wayne industries board member (“the only one Bruce can trust”) at this early stage. She leaves the command of the league to Bane, informing him that she will let him to strike when the time comes.
It is during this time that Bane’s unfortunate encounter with Bruce Wayne occurs and she is forced to sabotage Dr. Pavels progress and delay the fusion project until they are ready. This as we see in the movie, costs Wayne Industries significantly.
Owing to the projects failure, and Bruce Wayne’s fears of someone else trying to get their hands on the good doctor, he is placed in protective custody with the C.I.A (never a good idea), and moved from safe house to safe house periodically (insert plane heist) for his protection.
In the dark knight rises:
Bane recovers, and does not wait on Talia’s orders, hell bent on revenge, gets the doctor and makes a bee-line for Gotham.
With Batman’s identity known to him he finds a weakened and surprised Wayne and breaks his back, sends him to the pit, secures the reactor/ bomb and commences the siege of Gotham.
Which as you put it, could end the first part of 2 movies quite well.
Bruce’s disappearance forces Blake into action and he begins to investigate.
His only lead is a known burglar who was seen on security footage at Wayne manor, the night Bruce Wayne disappeared. Catwoman, having so far only been seen whilst robbing Wayne manor happens to be the only witness to the events that transpired there. She tells Blake what she saw and has to tag along when Blake decides to go rescue Bruce from the Pit, seeing as she is the only one who knows a way into and out of Gotham since the siege.
They get there only to find Wayne having gotten out of the pit but dying in the desert.
(Possible training/ recovery montage and passing the torch speech here)
They all get back to the city. Events play out as they did with the exception of the final battle being Blake vs. Bane and Batman vs. Talia (post reveal).
Catwoman takes out Talia with the bat pod and bane makes off with the bomb truck with Blake in pursuit.
Blake and Bane continue their fisticuffs atop the truck with henchman driving and Batman pursues with the Bat.
Where Talia gives her dying speech…Bane would appear to be dying and reach for a gun…turning it on Blake…without thinking…Batman would grab Gordon’s gun and shoot…and Bane would give his eponymous “I broke you” line, signifying a deeper significance to the damage he achieved than the physical.
Cut to the bat whoosh…BOOM…mushroom cloud…batman mk I is actually dead….Alfred’s hallucinating…and Blake as Batman actually makes sense now…waddyathink?
Also, the missed villain opportunities:
-Penguin as Bane and co.’s go- between with the Gotham underground and facilitator of the whole stock exchange debacle….hmmm?
-Clay face as some sort of hired gun saboteur master of disguise (a la mission impossible) as opposed to mutant…going around as Bruce Wayne and losing all his money…surely Wayne industries can’t have all the good toys…
-Killer croc could simply be a mobster with an alligator skin-wear fetish that funded Banes enterprise before discovering the real endgame… (coz Daggett kinda sucked)
-C.K...