The Dark Knight Rises

Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Gotham City is in a state of peace. Under powers granted by the Dent Act—legislation inspired by the late Harvey Dent—Commissioner James Gordon and the Gotham City Police Department have nearly eradicated violent and organized crime. Gordon feels guilty about the cover-up of Dent's crimes, and writes a resignation speech confessing the truth; however, he decides that the city is not ready to hear it. While following a lead in the abduction of a congressman, Gordon is captured and his speech falls into the hands of the terrorist Bane. Gordon is shot while escaping and is found by patrol officer John Blake. While recuperating, Gordon promotes Blake to detective, allowing Blake to report directly to him. As Batman has disappeared from Gotham, so too has Bruce Wayne, becoming a recluse. Wayne Enterprises is nearly bankrupt after he invested in board member Miranda Tate's clean energy project, designed to harness fusion power, and then shut it down after learning that the core could be modified into a nuclear weapon. Both Blake—who has deduced Batman's identity—and Gordon implore Batman to return. Bane attacks the stock exchange and bankrupts Bruce, forcing him to relinquish control of Wayne Enterprises. Correctly suspecting that his business rival, John Daggett, employed Bane to aid in this hostile takeover, Bruce entrusts Tate to keep full control out of Daggett's hands. However, Bane has other plans and kills Daggett to take control of his construction empire. Cat burglar Selina Kyle leads Batman to Bane, who reveals that he took control of the League of Shadows following Ra's al Ghul's death. Bane and Batman fight, but Bane dominates Batman, breaking his back. Batman is sent to a foreign prison under Bane's control from which escape is virtually impossible. The inmates relate the story of how Ra's al Ghul's child was the only person to ever escape the prison; Batman believes that the child was Bane. Meanwhile, Bane lures most of Gotham's police force underground and sets off explosions across the city, trapping the officers. Using weapons and artillery stolen from Wayne Enterprises, he turns Gotham into an isolated city-state. Any attempt to leave the city will result in the detonation of the fusion core, now converted into a bomb. Bane publicly reveals the cover-up of Dent's crimes and releases the prisoners in Blackgate Prison who were prosecuted under the Dent Act. The rich and powerful are brought before a show trial presided over by Jonathan Crane and given the choice between death and exile. Over the course of five months, Bruce recovers from his injuries and retrains himself. He successfully escapes the prison and returns to Gotham, enlisting Selina, Blake, Tate, Gordon and Lucius Fox to help liberate the city and stop the fusion bomb. As Batman, he subdues Bane, but Tate intervenes and reveals herself to be Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia. It was she who escaped the prison as a child, returning with her father and the League of Shadows to rescue Bane, the one person who aided her in prison. She plans to complete her father's work by destroying Gotham while avenging his death at Bruce's hands. Gordon destroys the bomb's remote detonator, while Selina kills Bane. Batman tries to force Talia to take the bomb to the fusion chamber where it can be stabilized, but she remotely floods the chamber. Talia crashes the truck, and taunts Batman as she dies that the bomb will still go off. Using an aircraft developed by Fox, Batman hauls the bomb beyond the city limits, where it detonates over the ocean and apparently kills him. Batman is later praised as a hero, while Bruce is presumed killed in the riots. After Bruce's funeral, Blake wants to reveal Batman's identity to the world as a tribute to Bruce, but Gordon reminds him that Batman's anonymity gives people hope that anyone can take a stand. Gordon later finds that the Bat-Signal has been repaired. The Wayne estate is divided up to cover any debts, with the manor left in the city's possession to become an orphanage and the rest going to Alfred Pennyworth. Fox discovers that Bruce programmed the autopilot on the aircraft six months prior. Alfred witnesses Bruce and Selina alive together at a café in Italy, while Blake inherits the Batcave.