The Dark Knight Rises Plot: How We Think Bane & Catwoman Feature
Fear. Chaos. Batman Begins. The Dark Knight. These ideas shine in these films brighter than the Bat-Signal on a cloudy Gotham night...
Right from the start I want to tell you all that this post is nothing more than what I feel to be an educated guess. Only a very select group of individuals actually are in the know when it comes to any juicy realities behind the plot of this summers most anticipated film. All I can offer are some thought out possibilities and hopes. With that said, lets get to work. Fear. Chaos. Batman Begins. The Dark Knight. These ideas shine in these films brighter than the Bat-Signal on a cloudy Gotham night. When looking at whats in store for Christopher Nolans final Batman outing, it is essential to look to the past films in the trilogy for any type of context. We know that Nolan latches on to strict themes when dealing with his version of the Dark Knight. That being said, it shouldnt come as much of a surprise that The Dark Knight Rises will have a solid major theme that ties the film together. After wracking my brain in an attempt at trying to crack the code of such a secretive film, I have come up with my current possibility based on what we know. Could the major theme perhaps be order? When I say order, please understand that I am by no means suggesting peace. Gotham as we know from trailer #2 is in the midst of peace time. To me this suggests that with the mob wiped out, a large amount of criminals taken off the streets by Harvey Dent, and a new shining Commissioner of police in power, Gotham is probably at the best its been yet. Batman may not even serve much purpose in Nolans Bat-universe at this point. As we know of course, there are storm clouds on the horizon for Gotham with the appearance of Bane. Catwoman will also be prowling the streets as well as the high probability that the League of Shadows is somehow involved in the plot. 
Since I know that Nolan and Co. are some of the most original filmmakers of our time, I know that he will not allow some rehash of either Batman Begins or especially The Dark Knight. That being said, I can assume that Bane is not just the next Ras Al Ghul or a more muscular Joker. Bane to me has always been more of a man who wants to rule over Gotham than just destroy it. Thats not to say that Bane isnt the new leader of the League of Shadows but perhaps he is, and only uses them to get backup in conquering Gotham for himself. This of course would wreck Talias plan of destroying Gotham as per her fathers dying wish. Pitting these two against each other seems more interesting than them just being a scary Bonnie and Clyde in Gotham. If Bane wanted to conquer Gotham, I feel that he would have to do it by employing a new tactic we have yet to see: Order. My thoughts on Bane using order to control Gotham rather than fear or chaos stems from all the hype surrounding the plot ties to the Occupy Wall Street movement. I have to say that I was never thrilled about this idea as it seemed to political and obvious for a Batman story. I am fully aware that basing comics around political turmoil of a generation is very common. Obviously a Watchmen or a Dark Knight Returns could only exist in the 80s and I get that. But for some reason seeing Christian Bale dealing with Occupy just felt like something I didnt want to see. This changed in my mind a bit however when I saw it as a potential tactic of Bane. If Bane were to find out what Harvey Dent had become and shattered the hopes and dreams of Gotham, he could perhaps step in and swear to the working class to eliminate all their troubles. To do this he could imprison the rich, stomp out the police, and essentially give over Gotham to the working man. In the charged climate this may seem like a great idea to thousands of hard pressed citizens who have just had enough of what they saw as order before. However that would also mean that Bane could now insert himself as the self appointed emperor of Gotham. His rules. His laws. His Gotham. Im sure we can all see the problem with that world. And of course, so will Batman. 
Batman will have to rise to protect the city once again from itself. He can make the right choices others cant. Unfortunately Bruce Wayne will probably be locked away with the other high ranking residents of Gotham. Maybe that was exactly what Bane wanted. Bane in comics always knew who was under the cowl. He could have obtained this information from Talia since Bruce was the first intended leader of the League of Shadows against Gotham. With Batman quietly out of the way Bane is in control. But what about Catwoman? Perhaps at first sides she with Bane as she believes in what hes doing. She could be like a modern day Robin Hood robbing from the rich to give to the poor. When she sees her freedom threatened however by Bane, she realizes she has to side with Batman. My gut tells me that she knows Bruce as Batman as well. Could she break into Wayne Manor to rob from the rich and discover more than she bargained for? This would give her the reason to break out Wayne and set the Dark Knight loose on the city as its savior. Of course this is all speculation. To me however it makes sense for Nolan to explore the power struggle of Gotham and the gray areas of what order means and how it works for everyone. Its topical, edgy, interesting, and of course will require Batman to step up once again to fight for what he knows is right. July 20th 2012 can literally not come quickly enough.