1. He's Scared Of Bats
This is a bat...
Yeah, that's not very scary is it? Nor, for that matter, are these...
Winged demons? I am yet to be convinced. Bats used to be a much bigger deal of course, before glitter and miserable teenagers ruined vampires for everyone, but now, they just don't boast the same sort of bite as they used to. They're basically just winged rats, a minor step up from the humble, disease-riddled urban pigeon. And for those who will suggest that he simply uses the bat as a symbol of fear, and that the imagery is based entirely on his experience in the well when he was young, Nolan consciously chose in The Dark Knight Rises to bring that fear back to the forefront. In the painfully blatant scene in which Wayne's rise from the pit prison is likened to his ascent from the well, and his ascent to becoming Batman again, Nolan adds a silly bat attack that lacks subtlety and is largely unnecessary. That is supposed to remind us all of how similar the two situations are, and we are thus reminded that Bruce Wayne's adult decision to become a bat was very much informed by continued adult fears. As he tells Alfred in Batman Begins "Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies shared my dread." The big wimp. Do you agree? Is Nolan's Batman too soft? Did drama get in the way of his real image? Share your observations below.