10 Sequels That Contradicted The Previous Movie's Message

The Dark Knight sets up a big theme about the importance of lying to preserve the greater good.

By the end of the film, Harvey Dent has fallen from grace and has become Two-Face due to personal tragedies. Rather than expose the DA's crimes, Batman decides to take the fall for his former friend's actions and allows Jim Gordon and the rest of the GCPD to issue a manhunt on him.

This theme is further extended when Alfred burns Rachel's farewell letter to Bruce, knowing that its contents would break his master's spirit.

The next film, The Dark Knight Rises, goes the opposite route and says that keeping the truth is a bad thing and that our heroes were wrong for keeping the truth from the public. Our main characters are chastised for keeping their secrets and are punished because of it. Bane exposes the lie Batman and Gordon told, and in doing so, causes the release of every criminal Harvey prosecuted.

At the same time, when Alfred reveals the truth about Rachel to Bruce, this causes their relationship to deteriorate with the loyal butler leaving Wayne Manor for good.