As we all know by now 'The Dark Knight Rises' is a fantastic film, getting 10/10 from many online reviewers, a 9.5/10 from me. By the way this post contains big spoilers, if you haven't seen the movie then go see it, then read this.
There has been a lot of talk online about the ending to the film, at first it looks like a happy ending, which is strange for such a dark trilogy, but when you look more closely at the facts, it kind of gives off an 'Inception' feel to it.
So lets take a look at the ending: Batman flies the bomb over the city and towards the ocean, and when he is a safe distance away from Gotham the bomb detonates. When there is only five seconds left on the timer, we can clearly see Batman still in the cockpit of The Bat. There is literally no way that he could have escaped that blast. That is a fact. Then we learn that Bruce Wayne had applied the autopilot patch to The Bat, providing some explanation as to how he could have escaped. Finally we see Alfred's dream realised, with Bruce alongside Selina in a cafe. The happy ending.
But that still doesn't explain how he could have escaped, with five seconds left on the timer when we last see Batman, there is no way that he had enough time to fly The Bat a safe distance away from the blast radios. There have been some suggestions that an ejector seat was applied, but i didn't see it, and many others didn't either, and still, he wouldn't have had enough time, he would have been vaporised in the blast. So this is the general consensus, that Batman died in the explosion, it's the only rational way it could end, even for a movie, it is impossible. Near the beginning of the film Alfred tells Bruce that he sees "Only one end to your journey" (at least I think that is the quote) and that is death. Bruce is a broken man, even before Bane breaks his back, he hasn't been able to deal with Rachel's death. So death to him, is his only option.
So he died in the explosion. But I hear you all saying "but he's alive at the end of film?" The question is, is he really alive? Before that point there had already been one dream sequence (the appearance of Ra's Al Ghul in Bruce Wayne's dream, although many have argued that it isn't a dream, but Ra's haunting Bruce from the grave), so look at it this way, Alfred will be the most grief stricken person at the knowledge of Bruce's death, he was one of the few people that knew that he was also Batman. Also he has looked after Bruce since the day that he was born. So the fact that his dream is realised and he sees Bruce in the cafe from his dreams could just be Alfred visiting the same place and seeing what he wants to see. Also, how could Bruce possibly know which cafe Alfred was talking about?
That's what I think happened, Bruce died, but Batman lived (Batman is a symbol) and what we see at the end is a dream from a man who devoted his life was looking after the Wayne family, who are now, all dead.
One more thing raises a few questions, like why is Selina Kyle in the cafe with Bruce? Why her specifically? Why would Alfred picture her with Bruce? Which leads us to believe that what we see is real. Nolan is the man who made 'Inception', he likes leaving us with a few questions. My only explanation is that if it is real, then Bruce went with her to use the clean slate and have a fresh start, and if it isn't real then Alfred pictured him with her because he believes that she is just like him (because when you think about it, they are very similar, they just took different paths).
Now John Blake, or 'Robin' as we find out his real name is, didn't see that one coming did you? Well I did, by the end I'd worked out that he would find the Bat cave, although I didn't see the robin thing coing, that was a clever move by Nolan. What really struck it for me was when Blake throws his gun away after killing two goons, because both Batman and Robin don't believe in guns, in fact in you watch the tv series 'Batman Beyond' you see in the first episode that Bruce stops being Batman because his age and physical health forces him to threaten a goon with a gun so save his own life.
It is obvious that Bruce intended for someone else to follow in his footsteps, Gotham always needs a hero. Some one has asked me how the new Batman could work without money, and I think that Fox would still support the new Batman, we never see what happens to him so I assume that he returns to continue running Wayne Enterprises. So once the company gets back on its feet, Fox can help the new Batman. There's also another way to look at it, how much money would he actually need? Because all the equipment is already there, what more would he need? Apart from enough to survive, he wouldn't need a fortune to continue as Batman. Just a bit extra for occasional repairs.
So, will Blake become Batman? Possibly, possibly not. We know he won't become Robin, because that is his name, and no man with any sense would name their superhero alter ego after themselves. He surely wouldn't last very long. So he would either become Batman, or if he believed that those shoes are too big to fill, he could become Nightwing, which would make sense because the first Robin (Dick Grayson) went off and became Nightwing, and in some comics, then went on to become Batman after Bruce's death (or disappearance in one series).
I mentioned a possible sequel, which is more likely than you might think, because although this is the last Nolan Batman film, he has clearly left it open enough for another director to come and continue the story. If any director was brave enough. There have already been talks of a sequel, even a Nightwing spin-off movie, some aiming at continuing off 'The Dark Knight' trilogy, and others making the film completely separate from the series. A sequel is possible if anyone is brave enough to continue from nolan, but if they do decide to continue the franchise, they will have to compete with the planned Batman reboot which will be linked in with the 'Justice League' film (if that project ever gets off the ground). Nolan was originally set to produce the new Batman film, but recent news states that he was done with Batman. I think after the death of Heath Ledger before 'The Dark Knight' and the pressure of making a third film that was better than its predecessors was a lot for one man to handle. I think he is proud of his trilogy, and he wants to leave it where it is. If there was any chance of getting Nolan on board for another Batman film, it went after the Denver massacre in the a showing of 'The Dark Knight Rises' (a truly tragic day, those people did not deserve what happened to them, my heart goes out to the families of the those that died and those that are injured, I hope they make a complication free recovery).
I've done my best to explain the ending to 'The Dark Knight Rises' if I've anything has slipped my mind, feel free to comment and I'll answer your questions as best as I can, I hope you've found this post useful.
