First it was the Riddler. Then Robin. Then Alberto Falcone. Then Robin. Now it's...wait for it....Azrael. The mysterious character who recently made an appearance in the wildly popular Batman: Arkham City game. Yeah, the guy in the crazy samurai-like outfit. If John Blake does turn out to be some sort of Azrael, I highly doubt he will be wearing an outfit like that. Personally, I think this rumor of him somehow having a code name or whatever it is that has to do with Azrael is the best possibility of John Blake's character turning out to be anything other than a "Gotham City beat cop assigned to special duty under the command of Commissioner Gordon." He still might be just a cop but there are a few possibilities here as to what Joseph Gordon Levitt's character will be doing as Azrael.
Possible Spoilers Ahead- When Bane and his crew take over Gotham City and turn it into a war zone, it has been rumored that he forces any type of law enforcement into exile, as we've seen set photos and videos of cops rising out from the subway/sewer; we've also seen a flash of them in the sewer/ subway in the second trailer. The part where there are Tumblers and Bane's mercenaries fight the cops could be right after the cops finally break out from the subway/ sewer, or wherever they have been exiled to. As some of you may have noticed about a month ago when a wanted poster showing Gordon appeared online, describing him as a "fugitive". It was quickly taken down, so that all but confirms that it was legit. JGL could also be a "fugitive cop", as we've seen set videos of him sneaking around Gotham and marking a symbol on a wall with another fugitive cop. My point is that the cops who are wanted could have code names for each other, and John Blake's would be "Azrael". Or it could be his code name for when he becomes Batman's ally, as he could be a useful partner on the ground, since Alfred and Lucius certainly aren't suitable for that (or they could be dead?).
Blake might don the Batsuit while Batman is recovering from whatever injury it appears he is going to have/had. If you are familiar with the Knightfall storyline, Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael, took over as Batman for awhile while Bruce was injured from Bane's attack on him. Valley started to go over-board, as he was much more violent than Bruce. This scenario could possibly happen and Blake might have to fight Bruce at sometime. Or another possible scenario is that Blake doesn't go crazy with killing and goes back to being a cop, but still an ally to Batman, maybe as a messenger from the Police to Batman and have the nickname of "Robin" (messengers->birds->robin). One last Azrael possibility could be that he is undercover for the League of Shadows, and Azrael is his alter-ego, as Henri Ducard was Ra's Al Ghul, Miranda Tate' alter-ego will most likely be Talia Al Ghul, and Bane could be an alter-ego for something else...
I guess we won't know for sure until July 20th, but it sure as hell is interesting to look at some different possibilities! Share your theories on who/whatmyou think Joseph-Gordon Levitt's character will turn out to be...