8. The Absence of Scarecrow
Surely Scarecrow would have fitted perfectly into Bane's agenda of fear - especially considering how important the concept of fear is in the blood of the film? But no, instead we were treated to the sight of Dr Jonathan Crane playing Revolutionary judge, sentencing the wealthy folk of Gotham and those unfortunates selected as undesirable by Bane's henchmen to either death or exile (in reality the same thing). It's a nice theatrical joke, but rather unfortunately for anyone familiar with Futurama, it's been done before. Death by snu snu anyone? Crane had already been mistreated by Nolan thanks to the decision to transform him from a supervillain capable of eluding Batman into a street corner hood peddling his fear toxin to dealers between the end of Batman Begins and the start of The Dark Knight, and I had hoped that his inclusion in The Dark Knight Rises would go some way to giving him a better resolution to his character arc, whether facing off against Batman, or slightly more obtusely siding with the Dark Knight to help take down Bane in order to save Gotham. After all, a predator can't exist without its prey. It's also hard to shake the feeling that the court scene might have been much more humorous, and actually more fitting if a different former villain had been in the judge's seat. Which leads us to the next point...