From the outset, Christopher Nolan's (comparatively) "real world" Batman universe seemed inhospitable to the idea of Robin. Nolan had already had to make the Joker a man who wears make-up, and remove the super serum Venom from Bane's background; how on earth could they convincingly put a 12 year old in circus tights on screen next to Christian Bale's Batman? The Dark Knight Rises rather ingeniously answered that question by making it more about the man and less about the costume. Nolan opted away from a standard Robin origin story, and instead introduced Gotham Police Officer John Blake, a hybrid of/homage to the three most historically significant Robins in the comics. Like Dick Grayson, Blake is a cop by trade, with an origin similar to Batman's without but a slightly more positive outlook; like Jason Todd, Blake is from the wrong side of the tracks, orphaned by street crime, and "hot headed" by nature; and like Tim Drake, Blake (perhaps rather conveniently) deduces Batman's origin at an early age, and is not specifically "recruited" by him but seeks him out, wants to help him. This laundry list of characteristics doesn't really communicate what a richly drawn character Blake is, though. To speak blasphemy, Blake arguably has the most believable "origin" of any of Batman's allies - perhaps it's a stretch to imagine this rookie cop becoming Batman, but it seems a lot less negligent to ask a trained police officer to carry on the mantle than to take a circus acrobat and ask him to outrun machine guns... What makes extra special, though, is the way he embodies the legacy of Batman. Prior films in the franchise had simply cast Batman as a thug basher with cool threads; the Dark Knight Trilogy - and The Dark Knight Rises in particular - insisted on the idea that Batman the symbol could inspire the people of Gotham to save their city, and no character embodies that better than John Blake. Blake is a victim of tragedy, yes, but he seems to have dealt with it better than Bruce; like all great versions of Robin, Blake is always there at Batman's side, to back (and perk) him up. "I'm still a believer in the Batman," Blake tells Bruce, and he means it; if The Dark Knight Rises is ultimately about how Bruce Wayne himself can't continue being Batman - he's allowed rage to consume and almost destroy him - it's also about how his mission has perhaps inspired others to take up the cause, and to do it better. Blake can be the hero of the future: not fighting injustice because he's emotionally unstable, but because it's the right thing to do.
C.B. Jacobson pops up at What Culture every once in a while, and almost without fail manages to embarrass the site with his clumsy writing. When he's not here, he's making movies, or writing about them at http://buddypuddle.blogspot.com.
