7 Incredible Similarities Between The Dark Knight Rises And Batman & Robin
2. The Film Led To Batman Being Rebooted
A case of completely different intentions having identical goals coming up next. Both Batman And Robin and The Dark Knight Rises put a massive full stop to the current Batman continuity, making way for a completely different take to come forward a few years later. Of course, only one was planned.
Although The Dark Knight Rises left some avenues open for exploration (will Blake become Batman Mk. 2, Nightwing, Robin or just be beaten to a pulp?) it was always clear it was meant to be the final chapter in the tale, with Warner keen to stake their intentions for a reboot as soon as they could.
Batman And Robin was only ever meant to be the continuation of Dark Knight merchandising, with Batman Triumphant already in production before the previous film bombed like a guest appearance from Bane at a football match. This seems an obvious comparison, but it'd be impossible to do a list like this and not include it.
1. Alfred Sits The Middle Of The Movie Out
Standing almost as proof that Batman And Robin has no redeemable elements, it takes Michael Goughs Alfred, a constant in the series since Tim Burtons Batman, and turns him into a mostly absent plot pusher; we learn hes dying because simply because we need a way to emotionally link Batman and Freeze. And then Gough disappears until the films conclusion.
If you want to see an example of how to successfully shrink the butlers role look to The Dark Knight Rises. Like in Batman And Robin, Alfred is out of the action from well before the midway point, only to return for an emotional call back at the end, but here it's not only in-character, it directly affects the story (as opposed to trying to give it relevance).
Alfred revealing to Bruce the truth about Rachels affections and his subsequent departure (I assume from Gotham given how he doesn't appear at all during Banes reign) provides a key drive to him entrusting the company to Miranda Tate and the drive to initially go after Bane.
How these plot points, that on a base level seem so similar, can be used to such varying effect really highlights that these initially slight examples are actually showing The Dark Knight Rises vast superiority.
Any more crazy parallels between the two major Batman continuities? No matter how petty, t ell us down in the comments.