In the summer of 2012, a storm came in “The Dark Knight Rises” in the form of Bane (Tom Hardy), a juggernaut who broke the Bat in more ways than one. But the film finds the Bat already broken when Batman (Christian Bale) fell out of favor with the good people of Gotham when he decided to take the blame for the crimes that were committed by Harvey Dent, who fell from grace thanks to the Joker. Once the white knight of Gotham, prosecutor Harvey Dent became Two-Face.
Now it’s eight years later, and Gotham is free from crime thanks to the enforcement of the Dent Act. However, Bruce Wayne/Batman has been in hibernation during those eight years: losing everything from his parents Thomas and Martha to Rachel Dawes, his childhood friend, and is on the verge of losing Wayne Enterprises.
So, why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.
And that is Bruce Wayne must do to not only rise as the hero the people of Gotham needs and deserves, but be reborn as the symbol of justice and hope they believe in: the Batman, who must get back in the game in order to defeat Bane and free Gotham from his tyranny and oppression. He may be a lone caped crusader, but Batman is never alone in his fight thanks to loyal butler/father figure Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine), Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), GCPD commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman), beat cop John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Anne Hathaway).
“The Dark Knight Rises” shows that Batman can be anyone.
For instance, the character Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) in 2014’s “The Equalizer” and this summer’s “The Equalizer 2”, which comes out on the film’s sixth anniversary. He doesn’t wear a mask or have a cape, but Robert McCall is indeed a man on fire who rose to become a dark knight that stands for something against the criminals and the corrupt: protecting the innocent and serving justice for the helpless, the hopeless and the powerless.