15 Most Anti-Climactic Movie Showdowns
3. Batman Vs. Bane - The Dark Knight Rises
The Showdown: Bane (Tom Hardy) has Batman (Christian Bale) over a barrel, strangled, stabbed and about to be shot in the face. Of course, Batman will find a way to break free for one more fight with the big guy, right?
The Anti-Climax: Just as Bane prepares to shoot the Caped Crusader in the head, Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) shows up on the Batpod, blasting Bane about 15 feet away and killing him instantly.
There are defenders who appreciate the irony of killing such an iconic villain in a totally unexpected, low-key way, and it's nevertheless an amusing subversion of the expected that allows Bane to be killed without Batman having to break his no-kill rule (as he did so flagrantly in the previous two movies).
It goes without saying that the best Bane-Batman fight came about an hour into the movie, whereas this final standoff between the two was oddly minimal and so it's easy to understand why many were underwhelmed by it.