4. Meddling Kids Become Mentees
In
The Dark Knight Rises, a young police officer named John Blake shows up at Wayne Manor and tells Bruce that Blake knows he is Batman. Blake gained this knowledge because of a shared emotional experience with Bruce. Both men had seen a parent or parents murdered before their eyes. Blake challenges Bruce to start paying attention to the details of his own life and helps Bruce see that Gotham needs him to be Batman again. Over the course of the film, Bruce educates the young Blake on the meaning of Batman and even teaches him how to use some of The Dark Knights weapons. When Bruce Wayne retires at the end of the film, he leaves Blake the coordinates to the cave that holds all of Batmans gear, suggesting John Blake will be the original Batmans successor. Tony Stark never gave up being Iron Man for eight years and the world knows he is a superhero, so there is no I know who you are scene in
Iron Man 3. He does, however, meet a young fan of his work who helps him get back on his feet. Enter Harley, an adolescent boy who might as well be a younger, poorer Tony Stark. In Harley, Tony sees much of himself. Harley is an inquisitive, smart-mouthed boy who loves to tinker with technology (which is a potato gun, in Harleys low tech case). Both have absentee father issues, though Harleys are quite literal. Tony rightfully assumes Harley is being bullied, because Tony probably was, and gives Harley a weapon the boy can use to stop it, not unlike the mini-mine Batman handed John Blake. Like John Blake did to Bruce Wayne, Harley pushes Tony Stark and helps him in his journey back from despair to take down the Mandarin. There is much more levity in this relationship than the one in
The Dark Knight Rises, but the comparison holds up. There is no Batcave at the end of
Iron Man 3, but Tony refurnishes Harleys dismal garage with top of the line tech at the end of the film, leaving the boy with the means to become the worlds next great mechanic, if he so inclines. Both John Blake and Harley have become polarizing characters. Fans can argue back and forth about whether they love or hate these characters, but they each add value to the story being told in their respective films. They help ground the heroes and show the inspirational impact Batman and Iron Man have respectively had on the people they fight to protect. It is great to see characters like Blake and Harley paying that inspiration forward when the heroes need it most since that is what many fans whove been inspired by Batman, Iron Man, or any other superhero would love to do, if such an opportunity could ever exist in real life.