After the watching the recently released “Dark Knight Rises” teaser trailer, my curiosity of what the actual story arc will be has driven me to write a brief theory of just how the final Christopher-Nolan directed Batman film will draw out.
I have done some digging and am somewhat familiar with the new character’s and old comic story arcs for the dark knight so I believe I will guess right on at least a few things. After watching the trailer and considering the title “The Dark Knight Rises” this film will obviously revolve around the idea of Bruce Wayne’s decision to go into exile as Batman, a choice he seems to have made at the end of “The Dark Knight”. Also considering Bane seems to be the chief villain, combining that with the movie title, at least some or all of the story arc from the “Knightfall” series for Batman will be used. A story revolving around Batman getting his back broken by the vicious Bane and a new Batman working in place of him while he recovers. Or for a time there is no Batman at all when considering Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) stating that Batman must return. Also considering the intention of the Nolans to not show Bruce Wayne sitting by Gordon in the scene, that Wayne at that time may be in a wheelchair, still recovering from his injuries.
I believe in the beginning of the film it will open somewhat focused on character development for Bane. Bane in the comics is a maniacal but intelligent villain who grew up in a prison from the age of 8 on a fictional island in the Carribean known as Santa Prisca. In the series, he was imprisoned to serve out the time for his villainous father who fled the country. I have my doubts that the Nolans will opt to start this story for him at such a young age but one thing is for sure, Bane will develop some of his villainous ways in a prison. The reason I say this is two of the chief characters on the list on IMDB are Chris Ellis who plays a Priest, and Uri Gavriel who plays a Blind Prisoner. Both of these people are key characters in Bane’s story.
The Priest in Bane’s story is important in that Bane does not know where his father is or who he is exactly. And the Priest holds that information. In the comics, Bane’s father ends up being an international villain. Also in the comics, a father figure of sorts for Bane is Ra’s Al Ghoul, who eventually decides that Bane will be his replacement as leader of the League of Assassins (who are known as the League of Shadows in Film). It is very likely that since the Nolan’s opted to make Al Ghoul’s “More than a man” lines part of the first trailer, that Al Ghoul’s story will play a key role as well. And checking the character list on IMDB, Josh Pence is set to play the young Ra’s Al Ghoul. This would make sense in that the Bane story line could have been built before Bruce Wayne ever met Ra’s Al Ghoul. Quite possibly Bane will discover that Ra’s is his father (instead of the other villain in the comics). And Ra’s may be the person who introduces Bane to the “Lazyrus Pit”. These pits contain a special drug called Venom which has made Ra’s have the ability to live for hundreds of years. Bane’s access to this drug is gained through a number of tubes created that run directly to his brain. Bane will seek revenge on Batman, after learning he is his father’s killer. So he goes to Gotham City causing havoc trying to bring Batman out of exile (which leads to Jim Gordon’s lines about needing Batman again and in the teaser instantly cutting to Bane’s face, played by Tom Hardy). Which may then lead to the next character on the scene Miranda Tate.
Miranda Tate will be played by Marion Cottiland. Tate’s character is described as a member of Wayne Enterprise’s board who tries to guide Bruce back to his father’s philanthropic ways to save the city. Cottiland may be playing a double character though. It is highly likely that she is using Tate as an alias and she is actually Ra’s Al Ghoul’s daughter Talia. Talia in the comics is a conflicted character. She is one of Bruce Wayne’s closest loves and the mother of his son Damien. But she is also an extremist like her father at times and can end up on the villainous side. Not only that but in the comics, Talia is Ra’s choice to be wedded to his leader in waiting, Bane. Of course since they would be blood related this would not be the case in the film if my theory is correct. Talia may be a character who does believe in Bruce Wayne’s dream to bring the city back where his father once aided in keeping it. She may also know that Bane is the cause of the current chaos in the city and that he is following the path of his maniacal father. She may have chosen to use Miranda Tate to get close to Wayne, and aid him in his journey.
Of course, this could be the complete opposite, Talia could be working with her brother secretly to get close to Bruce Wayne to make a vengeful attack on him easy. This may include her pretending to be tied up and held hostage by her brother (which Wayne doesn’t know Bane is her brother) in the Bat Cave (which she gains access to as a result of her close relationship with Wayne, and in the comics the Bat cave is where Bane breaks Batman’s back). There Bane will attack Batman and leave him helpless and at least temporarily paralyzed. This may lead to a Batman replacement, who the leading person to take this role would be Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character John Blake. Blake’s character is described for the film as a police officer who does special secret missions for Commissioner Gordon. This would leave me to believe he would fill the Bat suit. In the comics, Jean Paul Valley is Batman’s replacement, and eventually defeats Bane by destroying his venom tubes and beating him mercilessly. More than likely Blake would do this in the end, leaving the Batman legend as just that. An everlasting legend to be filled by new men as it is in the comics where Bruce Wayne spends the remainder of his life as a mentor to the new Batman.
As far as other character’s go, Alfred will be more than likely the one who discovers Batman in paralysis and saves him. Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) may only have a smaller role starting out as a new villain and possible love interest of John Blake or Bruce Wayne. Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) may serve as a problem solver in aiding Blake or Wayne in figuring out how to defeat Bane.
These are all just theories though and I could be completely wrong, haha.
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