10 Movies That Weren’t Brave Enough To Kill The Main Character

7. Bruce Wayne - The Dark Knight Rises

I know that 'he's Batman' is an accepted response to any question pertaining to Bruce Wayne's survival in the most ridiculous of situations, but he really can't 'Batman' his way out of a nuclear explosion. That is ridiculous. Of course, we now have a couple of fan theories surrounding the movie; that the Bat was on autopilot and he had hopped out before it left the city, or that he actually did die and Alfred's glimpse of Bruce and Selina at that restaurant in the film's closing moments are a daydream borne out of guilt.

In the first instance, if he really did bail out and then go and retire on the French Riviera, well, that just defies who Batman is as a character. Bruce Wayne never fully psychologically recovered from the murder of his parents; he is driven till the day he dies to pursue vengeance and justice, to lock criminals away for their crimes. Harry Knowles at AICN put it best with his review of The Dark Knight Rises. Knowles states that Batman really isn't the kind of guy to mope around his mansion for seven years and give up his life's mission because of another loss of a loved one - and he sure as hell wouldn't give up on his life's mission to go a sip sangrias in the sun with Catwoman.

As far as Alfred seeing Bruce at the end of the film, I enjoy subscribing to the idea that it's simply a vision he's fooled himself into seeing, to give himself some sense of peace. But having Christian Bale in that shot lends itself to absolutely zero ambiguity. It would've been so much more devastating if Alfred saw Bruce, smiled and nodded, looked again and Bruce was gone. As his smile fades, so does the music, then fade to black. 'Directed by Christopher Nolan'. What an ending.