12. Dr Jonathan Crane Appears As A French Revolution-Style Judge
One of the big questions for fans of the Nolan trilogy related to what the director would do with Dr Jonathan Crane AKA The Scarecrow, after allowing him to evade capture in the first film, before rather unfairly turning him into a shadow of his former self in The Dark Knight (from super-villain to street corner drug dealer in one uneasy step). The early acknowledgement that Cillian Murphy was set to reprise his role offered fans the tantalising hint that the good doctor would find some resolution in the end-tying final episode, perhaps including an appearance from the Scarecrow as part of Bane's army. Given the importance of fear, and even more specifically of over-coming fear in the story arc as a recurring theme, the reintroduction of Crane's malevolent alter-ego would have fit perfectly, and more importantly it would have offered a prestigious enough conclusion to the character's own story. But that wasn't to be, and instead Nolan chose to include Crane (minus make-shift mask and fear toxin) as the head of the French Revolution style people's court that rises as a result of Bane's revolution. As Bane instructs the inhabitants of Gotham to rise and take back what is theirs from the greedy and apathetic upper-classes (how contextually appropriate of Nolan), the lower and criminal classes turn the city into a chaotic Republic (albeit under the ominous shadow of the war-lord and his henchmen), governed by a new set of laws. Those law changes lead to the formation of the court, where Crane sits in comically egotistical manner offering the accused the choice between exile and death (which both amount to the same thing). It isn't exactly a fitting end for the character - though of course it leaves his story open for any future instalments set in this same universe - and in all honesty feels more like a cameo shoe-horned in as an obligatory nod to Nolan's relationship with Murphy. And his disappearance from the final action of the film did little to abate that feeling - so while it was a fun moment, it is rather a shame that Crane and Scarecrow went out not with a bang, but a comparative whimper.