2. John Blake Is Robin (Sort Of)
Having spent a good deal of the film stealing hearts as the dedicated and "hot-headed" rookie cop, and generally trying to solve the mystery of Bane from within a sea of doubt and haughty derision (as embodied by Matthew Modine's almost comically inept Deputy Commissioner Foley), the former Wayne orphan finds his calling later in the film. Disgusted by Commissioner Gordon's deception regarding Harvey Dent, and by the betrayal of the troops stationed on the only surviving bridge to ignore Bane's instructions to blockade or destroy the bridge when faced with Gothamites trying to flee, Blake throws away his badge and leaves the force. But before he can leave, he goes to Wayne Manor to witness the reading of Bruce Wayne's will, and on discovering that his name isn't listed among the beneficiaries, he asks whether he might be listed under his legal name - Robin John Blake. Personally, that felt a little blatant, and it might have been more effective to discover that he was in fact legally named Dick Grayson but changed his name in order to escape his past. But there was still part of me that took enormous pleasure in the understated way that Nolan teased at the Robin folklore, having built a dynamic between Blake and Batman that felt authentically like the one between Wayne and the Boy Wonder. There is no concrete confirmation that Blake is going to go on to become what we recognise as Robin, but the fact that in his final scene we see the former cop following coordinates left to him and entering the Bat-cave at least suggests the trajectory he will go on to take. Presumably, Bruce Wayne intended Blake to take up his role as Gotham's protector, and Warner Bros have left the possibility of another director taking over this version of the Bat-universe open, without requiring the presence of Christian Bale at all.