The Dark Knight Rises: Five Connections to The Dark Knight

Okay, as we did with Batman Begins, we’ll leave aside the obvious things like the idea that it’s the same actors playing the same characters and that Scarecrow might or might not come back and all that good stuff. We’re really just talking about specific thematic and story beats that pop up in one movie and then, by all appearances, will pay off in The Dark Knight Rises, the third and final film in Christopher Nolan’s epic Batman trilogy.This time around, we’ve got a specific line that represents each—and while the speaker may or may not appear in the film, it seems likely that who said it will be nearly as relevant as simply the fact that it appears in the film.“The day won’t come when you no longer need Batman.”A line spoken to Bruce Wayne by Rachel Dawes, it’s very telling in terms of where Bruce finds himself at the beginning of The Dark Knight Rises, and it speaks to his psychology in a deep and fascinating way.Batman was, after all, born out of a desire by Bruce to make sense of the senseless killing of his parents and even if he succeeded in bringing peace and harmony to Gotham, that wouldn’t solve the underlying issue that brought the Dark Knight into being in the first place. Rachel saw this, and knew that he would never truly retire the cape and cowl—something that Bruce has never been able to see.