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The Legacy of Batman- The Dark Knight Era
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Mar 31, 2025
In this second installment of our three part series, we take a look at the next chapter in the long legacy of Batman. After Batman and Robin tanked at the box office, Warner Brothers needed a new direction for The Dark Knight. Bringing in up and coming director Christopher Nolan, WB was taking Batman into a more gritty, realistic tone of storytelling.
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What are you
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I'm Batman. Christian Bale's interpretation of Batman might be the single most important on-screen version of the character
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but The Dark Knight hasn't always enjoyed the prestige and critical acclaim of the Nolan films
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Batman has existed in just about every tonal variation you can think of, from his original comic book pulp detective iteration
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to a reinvented 1960s camp icon, to Tim Burton's box office powerhouse
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which was eventually killed by the release of Joel Schumacher's Batman and Robin
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which made it look like Batman might be done on the big screen for good
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There's been some true rough spots for the Caped Crusader, which begs the question, how did we get here
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In the comic books, the final big Batman event of the 1990s saw No Man's Land take over all the Batbooks
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It featured a horrendous earthquake hitting Gotham and the U.S. government officially vacating the city
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This left Batman's robes gallery to rule the city, with Bruce and the Bat Family as the only thing standing in between the citizenry and total lawlessness
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On the film side, as the 90s came to a close, Warner Bros. didn't really have any idea what to do with Batman
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They knew people loved him and wanted more of him, but weren't sure the exact direction to take the titular caped crusader
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As such, they took a more is more approach. They developed and abandoned multiple versions of a theatrical Batman franchise
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eyes. The first version was Batman v Superman. No, not that version. One that would have distinctly
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less Martha. Various versions of the script were based on the iconic World's Finest comics
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or the acclaimed Jeff Loeb and Ed McGinnis comics. Warner execs thought it would make the most sense
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to pair Superman and Batman up for a theatrical adventure. Remember, Alien v Predator and Freddy
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versus Jason had both done well at the box office, so why not? This version of the film was to be
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hummed by Wolfgang Peterson, director of The Perfect Storm, and Troy. It never fully captured
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the hearts and minds of the execs at Warner's, and it was put on a shelf almost as quickly as
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it was started. It wasn't landing quite in the way I think we imagined when we put them together
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on the page. Over on the small screen, Batman was still capturing the minds of fans young and old
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alike. Despite the theatrical failure of Mask of the Phantasm, it was a massive success on VHS
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This spurred WB into funding a series of directed VHS films set in the DCAU continuity
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Batman Sub-Zero, Superman Brainiac Attacks, and a repackaged Batman and Superman's world's
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finest animated film were all well-received. The DCAU, headed by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomsky
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was chugging along beautifully, with Batman, Superman, and soon Static Shock all on the air
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WB executives went to the Animation Brain Trust and asked to do a show about young Batman
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While initially taken aback by this idea, Tim and company eventually came up with the idea of doing a show about a teenager in the near future
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who takes up the mantle of Batman. This project eventually became Batman Beyond
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I am Batman! Debuting in January of 1999, the show lasted a total of three seasons and 50 episodes
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It was a middling rating success, but set the fan world on fire. There was so much demand for Terry McGinnis' Batman that a feature film was produced in the previously successful model of Sub-Zero and World's Finest
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Return of the Joker, as the title would suggest, saw the return of one of Bruce Wayne's most iconic villains to haunt Terry McGinnis' Neo-Gotham
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Released December 12, 2000, the film is commonly thought of as one of the best Batman films ever produced, rivaling Mask of the Phantasm in its complexity, character development, and stylish action
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Hello Gotham Joker back in town Still lacking direction of what to do with the feature film franchise Warners decided to not waste any more time They would develop two different Batman films
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and then whichever was best would get the green light. The first project they put into motion was a live-action Batman Beyond feature film
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written by fan-favorite BTAS screenwriter Paul Dini. The producers were eyeing Freddie Prinze Jr. as Terry McGinnis
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and were in the midst of negotiations with Paul Newman to come on board as the elderly Bruce Wayne
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This script ultimately was deemed too much of a deviation from the core brand of Batman
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and lost out to the project that most Batman fans wished had made it to the big screen more than any of the other unmade Bat projects
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Darren Aronofsky's Batman Year One. From this moment on, none of you are safe
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No, not that version either. The picture was co-written with Batman Year One comic book scribe Frank Miller, and would have been a 1970s period piece
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It was designed to take place in real time, 33 years after Batman's first published appearance in 1939
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The story is a loose interpretation of year one, mixed with elements of taxi driver
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Bruce, an orphan from birth, doesn't know he's the son of the wealthy Wayne family
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In this incarnation, he's raised by an African-American auto body mechanic named Big Al
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We follow the obviously mentally unstable Wayne as he spends his first year as a crime fighter
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putting together the costume, building the Batmobile, which in this version is just an old mobile with a school bus engine in it
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and tracking down his first criminals. Aronofsky has since said that he wanted Joaquin Phoenix to play this incarnation of Bruce
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Can you introduce me as Joker? Unfortunately, the studio was reluctant to pull the trigger on something so avant-garde and extreme
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They were nervous about the period piece aspect, how obviously unhinged Bruce Wayne was
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and the level of violence in the film. There's a whole subplot of Bruce using superheated bat insignias to brand his enemies' faces
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Warners ultimately opted to part ways with Aronofsky and Miller. The film was never produced, but remains a tantalizing what-if in the lineage of Batman feature film projects
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It just happened to ultimately be far too dark. Meanwhile, in the comics publishing world, the books were about to enjoy a refresh from some of the industry's top talent
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2003's Batman Hush and Under the Red Hood were embraced by fans everywhere
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They sum up the general tone of the comics during this time. The 90s were rough, uneven quality, inconsistent creative teams, and gimmicky event series ruled the decade
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So by the time the 2000s rolled around, there was a lot of surgery that needed to happen
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Most of the comics in the early 2000s are concerned with trying to make everything fit continuity-wise
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And when they're not expressly doing that, they're adding retroactive continuity to try and generate space for themselves
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The 2000s were generally an era of attempting to rebuild. I might not be a hero, but I'm certainly not a killer
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2004 saw the release of the Halle Berry vehicle Catwoman, which was directed by first-time director Pitoff
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The film was derided as one of the worst films ever made. The only reason this film was even produced
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is that it had been in development since the Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman made such a splash in Batman Returns
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The actress was attached to the project for close to a decade. However, by the time there was finally creative consensus
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she had aged out of the role. To say audiences did not respond well to Halle Berry's patient's price
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is putting it politely. Get ready for a bigger and fatter Batmobile
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OnStar, how can I help you, Batman? Justice begins. Thankfully, the back-to-back failures of Batman and Robin and Catwoman caused Warners to rethink their approach
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The studio hand-selected up-and-coming on-tour filmmaker Christopher Nolan to helm the next Bat Project
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off of the financial success of his Insomnia remake and the stylistic and artistic success that was the arthouse indie film Memento
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Nolan had been carving out an interesting reputation for himself, thanks to a string of high-concept, well-executed genre efforts that focused on tormented men with mysterious pasts
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This seemed like the perfect director to create a Bruce Wayne for the 2000s
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I got a version of this that going to be different I got a version of this that is worthwhile Nolan was paired with Blade screenwriter David Goyer and the pair began crafting a story unlike what the genre had been graced with previously His expressed goals with the picture were to create an epic on the scale of Lawrence of Arabia
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The duo sourced ideas from the comics The Man Who Falls, which sees Bruce traveling the world extensively
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and The Long Halloween, which featured much of the criminal material used in the film
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Released in 2005, Batman Begins is a loose adaptation of Batman Year One
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written by Frank Miller and illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, and the 1970s Neil Adams and Denny O'Neill's Ra's al Ghul issues
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It follows a young Bruce Wayne over the first year of his endeavor as the Batman
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We see him learning about crime, studying criminal behavior, training to be a ninja, and using his wealth to build his iconic suit
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Batcave, and other gadgets. So what do you think? Does it come in black
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Starring Christian Bale as Wayne, Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul, Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, and Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon
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Begins takes its time with the story. It dedicates the entirety of its 140 minutes of runtime to the idea that Bruce Wayne's arc for the whole movie is going to be him becoming Batman
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Begins established or refined many of the tropes and conventions that we know today of the superhero genre on film
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which is all the more impressive because they've been being produced for close to 50 years straight on the big screen at that point
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Previously, taking a whole film just to explore the origin of a character would not have been viewed as financially viable
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Literally in every incarnation of Batman previously, his origin is either hinted at or directly referenced on screen
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but none of them fully explore the story. This approach to the narrative, the stellar structure
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and the attempt to truly take the source material seriously in a grounded and unflinching way proved to be a massive success
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This is the Batman movie I've waited for my whole life. Much in the way that Grant Morrison took over the X-Men
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and revitalized the line after the success of Bryan Singer's X-Men feature film
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In 2006, DC brought the superstar writer into the fold with the task of shepherding the Dark Knight to new heights
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Morrison, who was previously known for iconic runs on Justice League, Doom Patrol, and Animal Man
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took a more open-minded approach to constructing their Batman run. The high concept of their work on the title was Everything Counts
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Every iteration of Batman, no matter how goofy, it's all in continuity
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They took this Everything Counts idea to its logical extreme, pushing the title to new levels of critical acclaim during the R.I.P. storyline where they killed Batman
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The Batman Incorporated storyline where they had Bruce setting up splinter cell networks of new Batman all over the globe
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And Batman and Robin storyline which saw the original Robin Dick Grayson taking up the cowl
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And becoming the official Batman alongside of Bruce's biological son Damian Wayne as Robin
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The core thematic through line of their run is that Batman is a totemic idea that has existed since the beginning of time
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And that Bruce Wayne is just the contemporary manifestation of this foundational building block of the universe
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All new animated series. It's a battery. You're just button mashing. Returning to Hollywood, momentum was building for a sequel to Begins
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After stepping away to direct The Prestige, Nolan returned to Gotham with co-writer David Goyer and his brother Jonathan Nolan
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in order to craft the cinematic reintroduction of The Clown Prince of Crime
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Despite a shocking amount of fan backlash, they would cast former teen heartthrob-turned-would-be-serious actor Heath Ledger in the part
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His performance would be the cornerstone of the project. This town deserves a better class of criminal
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and I'm going to give it to him. The Nolans and Goyer wanted to do something distinct and definitive with the sequel to Begins
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They decided to take a handful of comics that featured the Joker, like the Joker's five-way revenge and his first appearances in the ongoing Batman title from 1940
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and attempted to craft a story that would reflect and resonate with the modern world. The Dark Knight, released in 2008
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not only created a highly unique and influential iteration of one of the most iconic villains ever
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but also created one of the most complex and genre-defining sequels ever produced
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The film is anchored in post-9-11 American fears. Issues of state sovereignty
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Patriot Act overreach and institutionalized corruption are examined and deconstructed In fact the very idea of the symbolism of how we break down systems of power was approached in a way that had not been done on film yet The Dark Knight scope and vision paired with the traditional superhero tropes created an almost instant buzz around the project
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However, this compounded when audiences got a good look at the uncompromising crime aesthetic
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that Nolan cribbed directly from Michael Mann's heat. All of these elements created something
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wholly unique, which is all the more impressive when considering that it was made in a studio
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system where there are development execs, producers, and individuals with differing opinions who aren't
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always necessarily there with the best of intentions. Ledger's performance as the Joker was unlike any
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other Joker up to that point. After the announcement of his casting, when doing press for the role
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he mentioned that the smile was going to be less a part of his performance than his eyes. Fans were initially filled with ire over this information. However, the finished film carries
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the weight. His dark, twisted, and aggressive performance drew more from Tom Waits and David
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Bowie than it did any previous incarnation of the Joker. His performance pushed Bale's Batman to
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unprecedented heights, resulting in a story unlike almost any other in the backcanon
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You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with. When it was finally released, The Dark Knight pulled in just over $1 billion at the box office
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It is commonly considered to be one of the most influential films of its generation, with its impact being felt across the board, even down to the way films are marketed
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Following this smash success was no easy order, and yet, 2011 saw superstar team Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo
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taking over the monthly adventures of The Dark Knight for the new 52-line-wide publishing relaunch
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Snyder and Capullo created an interesting fusion between the typical Big Two Titan fight storytelling
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and the gritty, more realistic interpretation of the Nolan films. In fact, the quarter-vowel storyline recontextualized the history of Gotham
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the Waynes, and added interesting pieces to Batman's backstory that are undoubtedly going to show up in the future installments
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of Matt Reeves' The Batman franchise. You either die a hero, or you live long enough
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to see yourself become the villain. Back in Hollywood, the cliffhanger that The Dark Knight leaves off on
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left Bat fans spiraling for years, wondering what would happen next. Then in 2012
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we saw the release of The Dark Knight Rises, the third and final installment in Nolan's trilogy
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The original plan for this film is that it would have centered on the trial of the Joker, but due to the tragic and untimely death of Heath Ledger
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that was obviously impossible. Keith Ledger has been found dead. Drugs were responsible
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He was just 28 years old. In the lead-up to the film, rumors swirled that Nolan was in talks with his Inception star Leonardo DiCaprio
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to star in the project as a grim and gritty version of the Riddler. Ultimately, the film drew inspiration from the previously mentioned No Man's Land crossover
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with Bane being the central antagonist, portrayed by Tom Hardy. Beaces cost to your strength. Victory has defeated you
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The Dark Knight Rises was a commercial hit, raking in $1.08 billion
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It was not seen as the critical triumph of its predecessor, though. With somewhat clumsy Occupy Wall Street, homegrown insurgents
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and the war on terror metaphors threaded throughout the plot, the film attempted to recapture the success of The Dark Knight, but ultimately fell short
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The release of The Dark Knight Rises, while generally considered inferior to its predecessor
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has not harmed the legacy of the Nolan Batman trilogy overall. The three films are still widely considered to be a creative triumph
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They are often pointed to as some of the highest quality superhero films ever produced
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and are widely credited with legitimizing the genre in the eyes of the old guard Hollywood elite
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Nolan's directorial style, the film's grounded approach, and the overall style and tone are often imitated and rarely surpassed by directors of all genres
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However, the superhero landscape was changing. In the nearly ten years it took Nolan to create the Dark Knight trilogy
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superhero movies went from being a genre that was generally looked down upon to being the dominant force at the box office
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and with the rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe of interconnected films, DC and Warner's had their eye on a new prize
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Unfortunately, things would not go smoothly. She with you? I thought she was with you
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