"He's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not the hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A Dark Knight."
Batman Returns teased a Catwoman encore performance that never came while Batman Begins laid the groundwork for the Joker's epic introduction, but it is the ending to The Dark Knight that became the biggest cliffhanger in the franchise's history. Batman is unmasked as a 'villain' and sent into hiding. It was a bold decision, considering a follow up had not yet been green-lit. Gotham's 'White Knight' Harvey Dent had been transformed into Two-Face, killing off some of the city's criminal elite before kidnapping Jim Gordon's son. To protect Dent's image, Batman agrees to take the blame for those deaths - and Harvey's - and the film ends with him on the run, pursued by the police. As Gordon smashes the bat signal this hero's reign as protector of Gotham comes to a tragic end. Things would be cheered up slightly come the end of The Dark Knight Rises, thankfully; Bruce Wayne would find a way to escape his life - and secret identity - and live happily away from the streets of Gotham.