It's hard to believe that over 8 months have passed since we saw Christopher Nolan bring his Batman saga to a suitably bombastic, emotional climax with The Dark Knight Rises, and though the film was acclaimed on the whole, there are unquestionably some finer points that we tend to ignore in favour of the overall dramatic heft. Christopher Nolan's Batman films all had their bizarre quirks - who can forget the irritating police officers from the first two Batman flicks? - though his finale was arguably the most curious and idiosyncratic of all, asking viewers to buy into some pretty ridiculous ideas which, thanks to the stunning execution overall, we were more than happy too. In light of that, here are 10 truths we don't want to admit about The Dark Knight Rises...
10. Bane Can't Measure Up To The Joker
Given that Heath Ledger was so widely acclaimed for his performance as The Joker (even winning a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), it was always going to be a tough act to follow for whoever was to play Batman's next adversary. Though Tom Hardy did total justice to Bane, there's the unavoidable tendency to compare the character unfavourably to The Joker, beginning with the fact that his introduction follows the same sort of trajectory (a masked unveiling amid perilous circumstances), and following through with the idea that he similarly has a convoluted plan that relies on a shedload of coincidence. Bane is the more intellectual of the two villains; his plan at least seems a little more sensible and focused (The Joker's was pure anarchy, Bane's is revolution), and of course, he's a far more imposing physical threat to The Joker. That said, the manner with which Nolan reinvented Batman's most iconic foe last time made it basically impossible for Bane to possibly live up to that, no matter how good a villain he was anyway. Matching the combined terror and exhilarating entertainment value of Ledger's character is the toughest feat facing comic book filmmakers today.