7. The Bat/Bond Backlash
Whether youre a masked vigilante or an MI6 secret agent, it seems that saving the world from the scourge of terrorism is suddenly a thankless task. With Batman blamed for the death of Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight Rises presents Bruce Wayne as, initially, both frail and afraid; having spent the last eight years hobbling around his mansion like a Poe protagonist. As Alfred has warned throughout the trilogy, to achieve immortality as an icon, one must accept ones mortality as a man. Likewise, Bond, having been presumed dead from the botched plot in Istanbul, returns to London to find that the tides of public favour have significantly turned. A hard drive containing the identities of undercover NATO operatives (the Macguffin of the film, just as the Clean Slate device was in Rises) has been stolen from MI6 hands. Those responsible clearly feel a moral, if misplaced, superiority: hacking Ms account to tell her and her agents to think on Think on your sins mere moments before blowing up her headquarters. The message is clear: the public wants their superheroes and spies to accept accountability. This volte-face, although somewhat exaggerated, seems influenced by the rise of Anonymous and Wikileaks, a claim Mendes denies.
At the outset of The Dark Knight Rises, we learn that The Dent Act, an effective if dubiously convenient law/ plot device, has practically rendered Batman - and the need for a Batman- obsolete. Theres a vulnerability hitherto unexplored in both Batman and Bond, as each have a death of a lover on their conscience (Rachel Dawes and Vesper Lynd, respectively). Having failed both physical and psychological tests, Bond has to prove himself to both his peers and his public. Batman, too, must overcome his emotional and physical barriers, especially as doctors reports reveal he has no cartilage in his knees. He needs to bring back the Bat signal, beaming in the night sky.