2. The Dark Knight Returns: Bruce Wayne Dons His Cowl Once More to Fight a Bigger, Stronger Villain
What Nolan Took: In the Dark Knight Returns, a vicious gang known as the Mutants is terrorizing Gotham, much like Bane and his gang in The Dark Knight Rises. Batman returns after years of living only as Bruce Wayne to face the leader of the Mutants, a genetically modified hulk of a man. Their first fight ends with Batman laying broken and being dragged back to the Batcave, but he returns to triumph over the Mutant Leader in the end.
What Nolan Changed: Mostly he just changed the Mutant Leader to Bane. The story is still pretty much the same, an older Batman gets beat down by a super-strong villain, then comes back to win the day. Keep in mind that in the Knightfall series, it was Jean Paul Valley a.k.a. Azrael who ultimately defeated Bane, not Bruce Wayne. Nolan thus merged the two stories together to come up with something completely unique.