7. The Case of the Disappearing Limp
When Bruce Wayne is first seen in
The Dark Knight Rises, he uses a cane and has a very noticeable limp. That limp does not disappear until we see Bruce trying on a fancy new knee brace in the Batcave before he makes his triumphant return as Batman. From that point on, the limp is completely gone even after Bane beats Batman to a pulp and strips away the cowl, leaving only Bruce Wayne. This left some viewers wondering why Bruce was not limping around Bane's prison before and during "The Climb" to freedom. Surely, this must be a gaping plot hole. What's odd about this is that the audience never actually sees brace get removed, nor does any character mention the removal of the brace. There is no shot of Bruce's bare leg to show that the brace is no longer there. If Bruce stopped limping after he put the brace on, the brace is never shown being removed, and the limp never reappeared, simple deductive reasoning leaves only one conclusion: the brace was still on the entire time. People presumed Bane would have removed the brace, but such behavior on the part of the antagonist is not a given, especially when considering his stated objectives. Remember that for Bane, it was not enough to defeat someone, but to do so after giving them hope and ripping it away. Bane ordered his prisoners to keep Bruce alive and those same prisoners gave Bruce a chiropractic adjustment to heal his back. Bane wanted Bruce to make "The Climb." Bruce's back could be healed as a misaligned vertebrae had to be put back, but one cannot regrow cartilage in a knee that does not have any. Bruce would have had no hope at all of making "The Climb" without his knee brace so removing it would have defeated one of the main purposes of Bane putting Bruce in that prison. Bane needed Bruce to actually believe the latter could actually climb to freedom. Only then would Bruce's failure put him in a state of true despair, and defeat.