Before we start thinking about how to move forward, we have to remember where the series left off. The state of Bruce Wayne and Gotham city effect how the next part of the story should play out. This would seem obvious, but a lot of the suggestions and rumors I've heard about for villains and plots seem to ignore the major circumstances of Bruce's life. There are two really big things that changed for Batman from the beginning of The Dark Knight to the end.
Batman is an outlaw: Well, as a vigilante, Batman's activities have been illegal from the beginning. However, the response to Batman has changed over the series. When he first showed up in Batman Begins, the police thought he was crazy and dangerous so they tried to arrest him. Later, at the beginning of The Dark Knight, he has been working as Batman for months and has made a major difference in the city. Since the police have seen that Batman has helped Gotham, Jim Gordon has been able to convince them to allow Batman to work with them. He lets him have access to crime scenes, evidence, and even get time alone to interrogate the Joker. By the end of the movie all of this is lost. Batman has decided to take the blame for all of Two Faces crimes in order to preserve the memory of Harvey Dent. During the final montage of scenes we see Gordon smashing the Bat signal and the police chasing down Batman with dogs.
How should this affect things: Batman is now wanted. His connection to the police is now lost. The only person who knows the truth is Jim Gordon. Unfortunately, Gordon's position will force him to lead the chase on Batman. He must pretend that he's trying to bring him in. Of course he'll continue to do what he can to help Batman. He doesn't have any way of contacting Batman, so he really just has to wait until Batman randomly shows up. These circumstances would put the Gordon/Batman relationship to the test and show some very interesting tension. There would probably be a lot of pressure on Gordon and the rest of the Gotham police department to find out who Batman is and arrest him. As they got closer to finding him, Bruce would grow more stressed and paranoid, while still feeling a responsibility to the city. There's a great scene in the classic animated movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm that depicts Batman being chased by the police. It's very intense and if they could capture that in this movie, it would be one of the movie's best action scenes. (Below, I've included an image and video from Batman: Year One that capture the feel I want for the hunt for Batman)
Rachel is Dead: Rachel Dawes was the love of Bruce Wayne's life. They were friends since childhood and she was one of the only people who really knew him. She was one of the only people Bruce trusted with the knowledge of his secret identity. To Bruce, Rachel represented his hope for a happy future in a world that no longer needed him to be Batman. He intended to eventually retire from being Batman and live happily ever after with her. In The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent was a symbol of hope for the Gotham City's future. When it came time to decide between Harvey and Rachel, Bruce didn't hesitate when deciding to rescue Rachel over Harvey (in a way choosing his personal life over the fate of Gotham). Unfortunately for Bruce, The Joker switched the location causing both Bruce and Harvey to lose the woman they loved. We saw how Harvey dealt with the pain. Bruce still had to deal with the Joker until the end of the movie, so he didn't have much time to think about his loss. Now we should see how much he was really affected.
How should this affect things: With Rachel gone, Bruce really has no hope for happiness. Outside of Batman, Bruce really has nothing to live for. Like I pointed out, when Joker gave him the choice, he chose Rachel over the fate of Gotham (Harvey). He takes his responsibility as Batman seriously, but he doesn't intend on doing it forever. He wanted to bring Gotham to a point where it no longer needed Batman so he could live his life. At this point he would probably be feeling a mixture of depression and anger at the direction his life has taken. This would lead him to throw himself more into his work as Batman and abandon his normal life as Bruce in an effort to deal with the pain. We saw how furious he was when he realized the Joker put Rachel in danger. He was more brutal than ever! It would make sense for this anger and brutality to carry over into the way he fights criminals. He wouldn't cross the line but he would push it pretty far. I'm not sure how you top dropping a guy out of a window and breaking his legs, but Batman would figure out a way.
I know some people would find the concept of him grieving on film to be unappealing and prefer that they just skip over to the point when Bruce has fully gotten over Rachel's death, but I feel very strongly that it should be explored.
For more of an idea on how this could play out, check out this excerpt about Martin Riggs from the Lethal Weapon series.
"In 1984, Riggs' wife of 11 years, Victoria Lynn, dies in a car accident, sending him into a deep depression. Driven to the brink with grief and anger, he regularly puts himself (and anyone else near him) in harm's way, secretly hoping someone will put him out of his misery by killing him, while unable to do that himself with suicide. The factor which initially gave Riggs the edge is that because of his wife's death, he was so suicidal that he didn't care whether he lived or died, and this gave him a definite advantage in showdown situations."
I'm don't think they should do that exactly, but something similar could work well.
With the combination of Batman being hunted and Bruce's hope for the future gone, I think it would be fitting to take the character to a very dark place and tell the story of his recovery. While there's a main plot, Bruce has to have a story arc over the course of the movie and I think this would be a pretty strong one.
Check out the video version of this article here: