The Dark Knight Rises

Bane:
Oh, you think the darkness is your ally, but you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but blinding! The shadows betray you, because they belong to me. I will show you where I have made my home, whilst preparing to bring justice. Then, I will break you. Your precious armoury, gratefully accepted. We will need it. Ah yes, I was wondering what would break first. Your spirit, or your body.

Alfred Pennyworth:
Do you remember when you left Gotham? Before all this, before Batman? You were gone for seven years. Seven years I waited, hoping that you wouldn't come back. Every year, I took a holiday. I went to Florence, there's this cafe, on the banks of the Arno. Every fine evening, I'd sit there and order a Fernet Branca. I had this fantasy, that I would look across the tables and I'd see you there, with a wife and maybe a couple of kids. You wouldn't say anything to me, nor me to you. But we both know that you'd made it, that you were happy. I never wanted you to come back to Gotham. I always knew there was nothing here for you, except pain and tragedy. And I wanted something more for you than that. I still do.

Jim Gordon:
[eulogy at Bruce Wayne's funeral] I see a beautiful city.... and a brilliant people, rising from this abyss..... I see the lives, for which I lay down my life - peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy..... I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence..... It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known......

John Blake:
[to Bruce Wayne] Uh, he doesn't know or care who you are; but we've met before. It was a long time ago, I was a kid, uh, Saint Swithin's used to be funded by the Wayne foundation; it was an orphanage. My mom died when I was small; it was a car accident, I don't really remember it. But, uh, my dad got shot a couple years later over a gambling debt. And I remember that one just fine. Not a lot people know what if feels like to, uh, be angry... in your bones. I mean, they understand, your foster parents, everybody else understands... for a while. But then they want the angry little kid to do something he knows he can't do. Move on. So, after awhile, they stop understanding. They send the angry kid to a boys home. I figured it out too late. You got to learn to hide the anger. Practice smiling in the mirror. It's like putting on a mask. So, you showed up this one day in a cool car, pretty girl on your arm. We were so excited! Bruce Wayne; billionaire orphan! I mean, we use to make up stories about you, man. Legends. And, you know, with the other kids, that's all it was, just stories, but... right when I saw you, I knew who you really were. I'd seen that look on your face before. It was the same one I taught myself. I don't know why you took the fall for Dent's murder, but I'm still a believer in the Batman. Even if you're not.

CIA Agent:
A lot of loyalty for a hired gun!

Bane:
Or perhaps he's wondering why someone would shoot a man, before throwing him out of a plane.

CIA Guy:
At least you can talk. Who are you?

Bane:
It doesn't matter who we are. What matters is our plan.[Removing Bane's head cover] No one cared who I was 'til I put on the mask.

CIA Guy:
[pointing to Bane's mask] If I pull that off, would you die?

Bane:
It would be extremely painful.

CIA Guy:
You're a big guy!

Bane:
For you.

[In the cave, Alfred looks as Bruce Wayne prepares to go out as Batman once again after an eight-year absence]

Alfred:
If you're seriously considering going back out there, you should hear the rumors surrounding Bane.

Bruce:
I'm all ears.

Alfred:
There is a prison in a more ancient part of the world. A pit where men are thrown to suffer and die. But sometimes a man rises from the darkness. Sometimes the pit sends something back.

Bruce:
Bane.

Alfred:
Bane. Born and raised in hell on earth.

Bruce:
Born in a prison?

Alfred:
No one knows why, or how he escaped. But they do know that once he did, he was trained by Ra's Al Ghul, your mentor.

Bruce:
Bane was a member of the League of Shadows?

Alfred:
And then he was excommunicated. And any man who is too extreme for Ra's Al Ghul is not to be trifled with.

Bruce:
I didn't realize I was known for trifling with criminals.

Alfred:
That was then. And you can strap up your leg and put your mask back on. But that doesn't make who you were.

Bruce:
If this man is everything that you say he is, then the city needs me.

Alfred:
The city needs Bruce Wayne. Your resources, your knowledge. It doesn't need your body, or your life. That time has passed.

Bruce:
You're afraid that if I go back out there, I'll fail.

Alfred:
No. I'm afraid that you want to.

[A masked Bruce Wayne visits Commissioner Jim Gordon in the hospital]

Gordon:
We were in this together, then you were gone.

Bruce:
The Batman wasn't needed anymore. We won.

Gordon:
Based on a lie. And now there's evil rising from where we tried to bury it. The Batman has to come back.

Bruce:
What if he doesn't exist anymore?

Gordon:
He must... He must...Batman must come back...

[Bruce Wayne leaves a party and the valet seeks his ticket]

Bruce:
Must've lost my ticket.

Valet Attendant:
Your wife said you were taking a cab home.

Bruce:
[surprised] My wife?!?

[Cuts to Selina Kyle driving away in Bruce's car; Alfred fetches him]

Alfred:
Just you, sir? [Bruce remains quiet] Don't worry, Master Wayne. Takes a little time to get back in a swing of things.

Alfred:
I'll get this to Mr. Fox, but no more. I've sewn you up, I've set your bones, but I won't bury you. I've buried enough members of the Wayne family.

Bruce:
You'll leave me?

Alfred:
You see only one end to your journey. Leaving is all I have to make you understand, you're not Batman anymore. You have to find another way. You used to talk about finishing, about a life beyond that awful cave.

Bruce:
Rachel died believing that we would be together; that was my life beyond the cave. I can't just move on. She didn't, she couldn't.

Alfred:
What if she had?

Bruce:
She didn't. I can't change that.

Alfred:
What if, before she died, she wrote a letter saying she chose Harvey Dent over you? And what if, to spare you pain, I burnt that letter?

Bruce:
How dare you use Rachel to try to stop me?

Alfred:
I am using the truth, Master Wayne. Maybe it's time we all stop trying to outsmart the truth and let it have its day. I'm sorry.

Bruce:
You're sorry? You expect to destroy my world and then think we're going to shake hands?

Alfred:
No... no, I know what this means.

Bruce:
What does it mean?

Alfred:
[voice breaking] It means your hatred... and it also means losing someone that I have cared for since I first heard his cries echo through this house. But it might also mean saving your life. And that is more important.

Bruce:
Goodbye, Alfred.

Jim Gordon:
Lose the uniform, you're working for me now. We could use some hotter heads around here.

John Blake:
Sir, that could all just be a coincidence.

Jim Gordon:
You're a detective now, son. You're not allowed to believe in coincidence anymore.

Bruce:
Why didn't you just... kill me?

Bane:
You don't fear death. You welcome it. Your punishment must be more severe.

Bruce:
Torture?

Bane:
Yes. But not of your body... Of your soul.

Bruce:
Where am I?

Bane:
Home, where I learned the truth about despair, as will you. There's a reason why this prison is the worst hell on earth... Hope. Every man who has rotted here over the centuries has looked up to the light and imagined climbing to freedom. So easy... So simple... And like shipwrecked men turning to sea water from uncontrollable thirst, many have died trying. I learned here that there can be no true despair without hope. So, as I terrorize Gotham, I will feed its people hope to poison their souls. I will let them believe they can survive so that you can watch them clambering over each other to stay in the sun. You can watch me torture an entire city and when you have truly understood the depth of your failure, we will fulfill Ra's al Ghul's destiny... We will destroy Gotham and then, when it is done and Gotham is...ashes... then you have my permission to die.

[Commissioner Jim Gordon and John Blake watch Bane appear before Blackgate prison]

Bane:
Behind you stand the symbol of oppression. Blackgate Prison, where a thousand men have languished under the name of this man, Harvey Dent, [holds picture of Harvey Dent] who has been held up to you as the shining example of justice!

John Blake:
Commissioner, we need to keep you moving until we can get you in front of a camera.

Bane:
You have been supplied with a false idol [tears up picture] to stop you tearing down this CORRUPT CITY! Let me tell you the truth about Harvey Dent from the words of Gotham's police commissioner, James Gordon. [reads text of speech] "The Batman didn't murder Harvey Dent. He saved my boy, then took the blame for Harvey's appalling crimes so I could, to my shame, build a lie around this fallen idol. I praised the madman who tried to murder my own child. But I can no longer live with my lie. It is time to trust the people of Gotham with the truth, and it is time for me to resign." [calls to prisoners] And do you accept this man's resignation? [prisoners roar with approval] And do you accept the resignation of all of these liars?! Of all the corrupt?!?

Blake:
Those men locked up for eight years in Blackgate and denied parole under the Dent Act, based on a lie?

Gordon:
Gotham needed a hero.

Blake:
It needs it now more than ever. You betrayed everything it stood for.

Gordon:
[pained pause] There's a point far out there, when the structures fail you. When the rules aren't weapons anymore, they're shackles, letting the bad guy get ahead... Maybe one day, you may face such a moment of crisis. And in that moment, I hope you have a friend like I did! To plunge their hands into the filth, so that you can keep yours clean!

Blake:
[disgusted] Your hands look plenty filthy to me, Commissioner.

Bane:
We take Gotham from the corrupt, the rich, the oppressors of generations who have kept you down with myths of opportunity - and we give it back to you, the people. Gotham is yours. None shall interfere, do as you please. [one of Bane's tanks blows a hole in the prison's gates, allowing his followers inside] But start by storming Blackgate and freeing the oppressed! Step forward, those who would serve, for an army will be raised. The powerful will be ripped from their decadent nests, and cast out into the cold world that we know and endure. Courts will be convened. Spoils will be enjoyed. Blood will be shed. The police will survive, as they learn to serve true justice. This great city... it will endure. Gotham will survive.

Selina Kyle:
I blow that tunnel open, I'm gone.

Batman:
There's more to you than that.

Selina Kyle:
Sorry I keep letting you down. [pause] Come with me. Save yourself. You don't owe these people any more. You've given them everything.

Batman:
Not everything. Not yet.

[Selina and Gordon watch as Batman climbs into the Bat to carry the atom bomb out over the harbor.]

Gordon:
[To Batman] I never cared who you were...

Batman:
And you were right.

Gordon:
...but shouldn't the people know the hero who saved them?

Batman:
A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know the world hadn't ended.

[The Bat takes off, attached to the bomb. A flashback to Batman Begins is seen, as Gordon is putting his coat around a young Bruce Wayne.]

Gordon:
[Looking at the Bat] Bruce Wayne?

Gordon:
I can't change your mind about quitting the force?

Blake:
What you said about structures becoming shackles...you were right. I just can't take it. I mean, nobody will never know who it was that saved an entire city.

Gordon:
They know. It was the Batman.

The Legend Ends

A Fire Will Rise

Rise

Every Hero Has a Journey. Every Journey Has an End

The Epic Conclusion to the Dark Knight Legend

The legend ends. The Dark Knight rises.

Bane:
Theatricality & deception. Powerful agents to the uninitiated; but we are initiated aren't we, Bruce. And then, you betrayed us, didn't you, Bruce?

Batman:
And you were excummunicated by a gang of psychopaths.

Bane:
I am the League of Shadows! I am here to fullfill Ras Al Ghouls destiny!

Ahhh. So you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the darkness, I was born in it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, and to me it was nothing but blinding. Your shadows betray you, because they belong to me. I will show you where it is that I choose to call home. Then I will break you..

Your precious armory. Greatfully accepted. We will need it.

Ahh yes. I was wondering what would break first. Your spirit, or your body?

Bane:
Oh, you think the darkness is your ally, you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but blinding! The shadows betray you, because they belong to me. I will show you where I have made my home, I will be preparing to bring justice. Then, I will break you. Your precious armoury, gratefully accepted. We will need it. Ah yes, I was wondering what would break first. Your spirit, or your body?

[one of Bane's followers is preparing to leave the plane when Bane stops him]

Bane:
No! They are expecting one of us to be amongst the wreckage, brother.

Thug:
Have we started the fire?

Bane:
Yes. The fire rises.

Selina Kyle:
You think this can last? There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.

Bruce:
You sound like you're looking forward to it.

Selina Kyle:
I'm adaptable.

[Bruce goes to Selina's place, telling her that Batman wants to meet tonight]

Selina Kyle:
Mr. Wayne? I'm sorry they took all your money.

Bruce:
No you're not.

[Blake is claiming his bequest from Bruce Wayne's estate.]

Blake:
Blake. John.

Clerk:
[after checking a list] Nothing here.

Blake:
Ah. uh, try my legal name. [hands her an ID card]

Clerk:
[gives him a suitcase] You should use your full name. I like that name. "Robin".

Blake:
Thanks.

CIA agent:
If I take off that mask, will you die?

Bane:
It would be extremely painful...

CIA agent:
You're a big guy.

Bane:
… for you.

Jim Gordon:
What's your name, son?

John Blake:
Blake, sir.

Gordon:
You got something you wanna ask me, Officer Blake?

Blake:
It's about that night, this night, eight years ago. The night Dent died, the last confirmed sighting of the Batman. He murders those people, takes down two SWAT teams, breaks Dent's neck and then just... vanishes?

Gordon:
I'm not hearing a question, son.

Blake:
Don't you wanna know who he was?

[Gordon looks at the broken Bat-Signal for a moment]

Gordon:
I know exactly who he was. He was the Batman.

[Selina has brought Batman to a trap set by Bane]

Selina:
I had to find a way to keep them from killing me.

Batman:
You made a serious mistake.

Bane:
Ah, not as serious as yours, I fear.

Batman:
Bane?

Bane:
Let's not stand on ceremony here... Mr. Wayne.

[Bruce and Batman fight briefly before Bane contemptuously palms a punch from Batman]

Bane:
Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you.

Talia Al-Ghul/Miranda Tate:
You have a practiced apathy, Mr. Wayne. But a man who doesn't care about the world doesn't spend half his fortune on a plan to save it, and isn't so wounded when he fails that he goes into hiding. Have a good evening, Mr. Wayne.

Talia Al-Ghul/Miranda Tate:
I honor my father by finishing his work. Vengeance against the man who killed him is simply a reward for my patience. You see, it's the slow knife... the knife that takes its time, the knife that waits years without forgetting, then slips quietly between the bones... that's the knife that cuts deepest.

Bane:
Now, now, doctor, this is no time for fear. That comes later!

Bane:
Speak of the devil... and he shall appear!

Bane:
We both know I have to kill you now. I suppose you'll just have to imagine the fire.

Bane:
Calm down, doctor! Now is not the time for fear. That comes later.

Jim Gordon:
[eulogy at Harvey Dent's funeral] I knew Harvey Dent. I was his friend. And it will be a long time before someone inspires us the way he did. I believed in Harvey Dent.