For some - myself included - the idea that any trilogy purporting to tell a complete and resolved story of Bruce Wayne and Batman wouldn't include any reference to the comic book hero's greatest foe leaves something of a bitter after-taste. Yes, the Bane and Talia Al Ghul story was compelling enough (aside from some of the execution), and in theory Bane represented a tangible threat to the Batman, having iconically broken him in the comics, but as already qualified, the Joker is Batman's counter-point - his exact reverse and he should have at least played a role in the final film of Nolan's trilogy. In stark contrast to the post-Dark Knight assertions that Two Face was definitely dead, and would not be returning to The Dark Knight Rises, there was no such finality for the Joker - and though Heath Ledger's death would have made such public announcements a little tasteless for some - the fact that the final film unfolds without so much as a cursory mention of the Joker's fate felt like a missed opportunity. And considering Nolan's apparent desire to use the trilogy ender as an opportunity to tie up loose ends, and offer some finality, that he left one of the biggest and most intriguing threads unresolved and even unreferenced seems something of a contradiction. The Joker's presence could have been felt in The Dark Knight Rises without an on-screen appearance by the character, with an explanation that he escaped Arkham and disappeared when he realised that Batman was no longer around preferable to him simply vanishing into the ether.