Possible plot summary for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’? [Update]

Ever since the news that Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard were in talks to join The Dark Knight Rises fans have been speculating what roles they’d be playing. Now, Badass Digest is claiming that “a good source near the Batcamp” has details on their characters, as well as a basic plot summary. If what Badass Digest is reporting is true, it’s certainly not shocking. It almost mirrors what fans have been speculating the basic plot of The Dark Knight Rises would be. However, since this is unofficial I’m going to mark it as a spoiler — continue reading if you choose.

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Update: BOF is claiming on their Facebook page that this plot summary is real.

SOURCE: Badass Digest

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Everitt/1031768422 Daniel Everitt

    Not sure about that seems rather lame tbh. I’m not buying that plot

    • http://batman-news.com Batman-News.com

      Yeah seems a bit too predictable doesn’t it? Fans have been talking about something like this for a long time now. With Nolan, we should always expect the unexpected.

    • http://www.chaosjester.blogspot.com Manos Jester

      Well , I read those weird psychology books and they’re right in one thing.It’s not what you say ,but how you say it. Read the rumor plot again. The movie is probably going to be exactly THAT. Catwoman is good, Bane allies other villains and femme fatales etc. But it’s written without soul and it’s very dry here. So I think the rumor plot is true.

  • http://twitter.com/cothero Rogerio Martins

    … Meh.

  • http://twitter.com/Lando81 Landon VanBuskirk

    Fake. Plain and simple.

  • http://www.chaosjester.blogspot.com Manos Jester

    Interesting rumors.
    Also, please maintain this “spoiler policy” even for official news. It’s more playful and what the heck, maybe some of us wouldn’t like to know anything more, other than watching the trailer or other “harmless news”. I know it’s difficult for me when I frequent this joint 2 times a day, but I want to avoid all the plot related stuff. Even if I read them eventually, I want it to happen when I decide it.
    Whatever,thanks anyway.

    • http://batman-news.com Batman-News.com

      Don’t worry, I’ll always use this spoiler tag whenever I post something like this. And I’ll be leaving MAJOR spoilers off the site completely. When Warner Bros. releases an official press release with the plot summary, I probably won’t use the spoiler tag though. Just make sure you read the headlines first. I’ll always provide a good summary in the headlines, and I’ll NEVER include a spoiler in a headline.

      • http://www.chaosjester.blogspot.com Manos Jester

        “And I’ll be leaving MAJOR spoilers off the site completely.”
        You’re the hero the Internet deserves AND needs.

  • Anonymous

    Its vague enough to be true, but I’m not buying it for now.

    The thing is, Bane as Talia’s love interest has been done in the comics so that part is quite cool…

  • http://twitter.com/SHotMBlog SuperherooftheMonth

    I’d not call this weak. I think the description is so basic, there’s a LOT to fill in!

    I mean, we all knew the Batman/Joker fights would be epic…half the fun is watching how it all happens!

  • James

    I’m a little bit mixed on this. I still feel like Talia isn’t exactly a strong character, and that Nolan can do something more than just a revenge plot. But this is also a REEEALLY simple plot line, so if it turns out to be true, there’s still quite a bit of room to maneuver with.

  • Rossjg

    It’s too much of a re-tread of Begins, especially if Batman’s enemy is the League of Shadows (ergo Gotham’s enemy, too). I know this is the final film in the Nolanverse trilogy, but it’s not necessarily good storytelling to make the series so circular. You don’t need to come back to the actual plot skeleton of the first to reach a conclusion – only its ideas are necessary for that. Which is one of the reasons that I don’t feel comfortable with the appearance of Talia, either (should she actually make an appearance).

    I feel introducing her in a revenge plot against Wayne is fine. I mean, okay, that’s a personal struggle for Bruce Wayne and one well-established enough to have legs, but it shouldn’t be the spine of the plot. I do hope Nolan introduces Bane in an intriguing and thoughtful manner, and not as some lackey to a femme-fatale character with a serious grudge. Bane should compliment the nature of the ending…

  • J3sus18

    blackmask anyone ??

  • TheDarkNight4ever

    Rossjg,

    What possible alternate storyline could you come up with that would top the aforementioned? It’s a trilogy and part of the structure of a trilogy is going back to the beginning. The idea of Batman Begins was about ascension through fear whereas TDKR is more than likely going to be about redemption and Batman being physically tested as opposed to mentally and morally. The League of Shadows is already established as an ideal and imposing threat in the Batman/Nolan universe, re-introducing them and bringing about the possible physical destruction of Batman in TDKR is about as imposing as you can get.

    I think Bane working with and alongside Tali with the League of Shadows is trenched in a more realistic nature then Bane simply showing up to Gotham on his own and hunting Batman for fun. It’s just my personal opinion but I can’t see any other way for Batman to be more physically tested then going up against the likes of the League of Shadows + Bane + Talia.

    I’m sire there is much, more, much more to the plot than this if it’s even true to begin with.

  • http://twitter.com/cothero Rogerio Martins

    I strongly doubt the League of Shadows will be showing up. Working on previously used stories isn’t exactly Nolan’s sort of thing.

    • Antrozous

      That´s funny, where did Nolan ever worked on the same story previous to Batman? Never. What about Scarecrow? Did he returned for the second film? What about the Joker? Wasn´t the plan bringing him back for the third one?

      I´m totally down with Talia coming to avenge her father´s ideal and of couse that involves The League of Shadows. It doesn´t need to emulate Batman Begins,Nolan can present a new kind of menace to Gotham this time around. On the other hand I always said that Catwoman wouldn´t be a villain…

      Oh and Jett from BOF is stating this info is the real deal folks so I will trust his word on it.

      • http://twitter.com/cothero Rogerio Martins

        Scarecrow only makes a cameo in the beggining of TDK and the Joker wasn’t really planned to be put on TDKR, cuz Nolan didn’t even wanted to work on another Batman movie after TDK. You know the rest of the story, Warner came with his “ok, give us another” thing ($).

  • Amartblue99

    makes sense! but its too cliche. double romance? then taking on bane and the league of shadows? the legue of shadows again? i just saw an interview for chris nolan and said the thing about a sequel is that you can’t do the same thing again. yes it would have been but it brings people back to batman begins, the thing about the dark knight was that it shares the same canon as batman begins but is totally different and at the same time ties in with the first movie very good! i’m not calling fake on this one because i bet joseph gordon is playing an antagonist. i just think it looks too cliche. and i don’t think batman need an ally i mean he has gordon. but thats just my opinion. i don’t care i think nolan will do a great movie like always!

  • alx.

    The League of Shadows? Oh,…No.

  • Guano Man

    BOF said it was true?
    Oh great, in a week Jett will say he was just stirring the pot.
    Even if it turns out to be true. BOF has turned up some weird stuff in the past months.

  • Rocky

    Now this may sound a little bland, but (assuming that this is true, which is yet to be proven) let’s try doing the Dark Knight in a similar fashion to this:

    “Two Face isn’t as prominent as a villain as opposed to the arc of Harvey Dent, who teams up with Batman and Gordon. And who are they teaming up to take out? The Joker. Initially employed by Sal Maroni and various other gangsters, but who later goes off on his own. Scarecrow will be back.”

    That really says nothing about what the film was like, is themes and actual synopsis, so don’t be surprised that should this turn out to be true, it’ll seem nothing like the actual film.

  • Mroiman94

    Levitt needs to play Joker

  • Anonymous

    O.K , NOT GONNA COMMENT ON THE BANE , TAILIA,LEAGUE OF SHADOWS BECAUSE WE KNOW IT WILL BE A LOT MORE COMPLEX ,THAN IS PRESENTED IN THAT SUMMARY ! WHAT INTRESTS ME THE MOST IS WHO JGL WILL PLAY AS AN ANTAGONIST ! MY FIRST THOUGHT IS ALBERTO FALCONE , BUT THAT WILL BE WAY TO CLOSE TO BB IF A FALCONE CRIME BOSS DOES A DEAL WITH THE LEAGUE OF SHADOWS ! BLACK MASK POSSIBLE ! I DONT KNOW WHY I VE JUST ALWAYS HAD THIS FEELING IT COULD BE PENGUIN !

  • Anonymous

    HOPE IF THIS IS TRUE ! WARNER BROS WILL GET A PRESS RELEASE OUT SOON COMFIRMING COLLTARDS AND JGLS INVOLVEMENT AND CHARACTERS !

  • http://Jaycificity.tumblr.com Jaycificity

    Too simple to be true.

    • http://batman-news.com Batman-News.com

      Thank you! I’ll post minor spoilers like this (always in the spoiler tags), but I’ll never post major spoilers like the ending of the movie, or any twists in the plot that Nolan is famous for. I don’t want to know any of that before I go into the theater on July 20th, 2012.

  • Anonymous

    O.K , HERE WE GO AGAIN ! JETT KNEW THIS WEEKS AGO ! I ACTULLY THINK JETT WATCHED THE MOVIE YESTERDAY ! IN A PRIVATE SCREENING WITH CHRIS NOLAN AND ADAM WEST ! O.K IF YOU DONT WANT TO GIVE SPOILERS AWAY DONT , I RESPECT THAT , BUT AFTER THE INFO IS OUT DONT SUDDENLY CLAIM YOU KNEW A DECADE AGO ! ALSO NOW ON FACE BOOK JETTS CLAIMING HE HAS INFO HE HOPES NEVER EVER GETS LEAKED ! WAY TO PUT ALL THE ATTENTION BACK ON YOU ! I THINK ITS THAT ROBIN WILLIAMS IS HUGO STRANGE !

  • FanOfNolan

    Someone should start a tally of how many times a given site is wrong about their supposed inside info. I would love to see sites like Comic Book Movie required to post those stats at the top of their page.

  • Bazman05

    If true, it doesn’t wow me in the slightest. My hatred of the “Catwoman” character aside, it seems like there would be too much going on here and having “Bane” relegated to just the muscle is what I was fearing for a while.

    And the league of shadows, common. People’s faith in Batman has been shattered and there should be a massive task force out to catch him. That alone should make up a lot of the movie and then a small matter of “Bane” wreaking havoc with that and it would be better if it was “Black Mask” working together possibly by JGL.

  • Mike

    I’m reading a lot of comments saying things like, “League of Shadows?! Come on!!” and “I’m not excited about this at all…”

    You just read a 3 sentence plot “outline” that, while likely true, explains almost nothing. Yes, we know that the League of Shadows is in the movie, but did the outline say anything about them being the ONLY thing in the movie. And yes, we know that Bane will serve as muscle for Talia and a possible love interest, but does that mean he’ll have a small part?

    Calm down, people. This movie is still 1.5 years away. In a few months we’ll have some set pics and then some official pics and then a poster and a teaser, etc. Then you’ll all get excited again. Nolan knows what he’s doing, as does Goyer. Goyer is a HUGE Bat-fan and he wouldn’t screw us with a boring story, especially after TDK was so good. Just have a little faith.

  • FanOfNolan

    I think people need to keep in mind that some ideas don’t always sound good on paper, but are brilliant once you see them brought to life. You also need to understand them in the context of the overall story. For example, when I first heard that Batman was going to confront some Batman impersonators in The Dark Knight, I thought it was a terrible idea. But when I saw the finished movie and how it fit into the overall story, I loved it. I particularly liked how Nolan had the The Joker make use of one those impersonators.

    People are already expressing concern about Bane being Talia’s henchman, which unfortunately brings back memories of Bane and Poison Ivy in Batman & Robin. But think back to Batman Begins. Scarecrow was working for Ra’s Al Ghul, but was Scarecrow just a mindless henchman? No. Did his working for Ra’s diminish his effectiveness or importance to the story? No. In fact, he emerged as one of the more memorable characters in the film.

    Assuming these spoilers are true, I think there’s a lot of potential for a great movie here. One of the things I love about Nolan’s Batman films is the idea of consequences. In Batman Begins, Bruce saves Ducard/Ra’s Al Ghul only to have it come back to haunt him. In The Dark Knight, Batman kidnaps Lau only to have the mob hire The Joker to get rid of Batman, which eventually leads to Rachel’s death. So to have Talia exact revenge on Bruce for her father’s death makes perfect sense and serves as a nice mirror to what Bruce experienced with his parents. Sure, it seems like a rehash to have Bruce once again face off against The League of Shadows. But I don’t view this as yet another Death Star. Chris Nolan isn’t George Lucas, meaning he doesn’t recirculate ideas when he can’t come up with anything new. I suspect that Nolan has a larger point to make here, just like he did with the ferry scene in The Dark Knight or the ‘kill Reese or I blow up a hospital’ bit. They all added up to something bigger. Bale is known in the comics as the guy who breaks Batman’s back. But what if Nolan’s wants to break Batman in a more figurative sense? Talia employs Bane to both mentally and physically exhaust Batman while she simultaneously plays the love interest and messes with him emotionally. Nolan seems like a filmmaker more interested in the psychological aspects of his characters anyway so this would be an interesting way to break the batman and then see him rise as the title suggests.

  • One-eyed Willie

    I think is a good plot, but nothing espectacular… Maybe Nolan will put some U turns here and there, ´cause for now sounds like a too convencional storyline for me.
    And yes, JGL will play Alberto Falcone.

    • http://www.chaosjester.blogspot.com Manos Jester

      Why are you sure about JGL as Alberto?

  • http://twitter.com/SHotMBlog SuperherooftheMonth

    BREAKING NEWS! Charlie Sheen chimed in on The Dark Knight Rises! He said “Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.”

    That’s how good this movie’s gonna be.

    • Anonymous

      LOL ! BANES GONNA NEED TIGER BLOOD !

      • http://www.chaosjester.blogspot.com Manos Jester

        He’s addicted to WINNING!!!!

    • http://batman-news.com Batman-News.com

      This is off-topic but I don’t care. Best website ever:
      http://www.livethesheendream.com/

      • Anonymous

        lol ! HAVE YOU LISTENED TO THE HOWARD STERN INTERVIEW ! BEST INTERVIEW I VE EVER HEARD ! I WANNA CHALLANGE MY BOSS TO A CAGE FIGHT !

  • http://twitter.com/lethargicj Jason Castleman

    I remember reading the entire script for Batman Begins before the movie came out and thinking it was pretty bland. Then the movie came out and it was amazing.

    I remember reading the plot outline for Dark Knight before it came out and thinking, wow, this is pretty simple. Then the movie came out and it was amazing.

    Stuff on paper can come off quite different when you have world class actors, directors and writers making it.

    And, oh, look, what a shock. BoF claims to have known about this for weeks but didn’t post it. The same thing he says after every story these days. What a joke.

    • http://twitter.com/SHotMBlog SuperherooftheMonth

      “Sorry, y’all! I’ve known for a few weeks they were making another Batman after THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, but y’all know I couldn’t say anything, ’cause y’all know I have WAY too much respect for the filmmakers to spoil anything! Y’all know it. Y’all.”

      There. I just saved you all two years worth of checking BOF for confirmation on a Batman film post-TDKR. Just get the info here.

      • Abc123

        Haha exactly. Well said superheroofthemonth.

        With that said, I hope this plot outline isn’t true, simply because it sounds a bit contrived and I also because I want Jett to be proved wrong.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Vimal-Jacob/759375647 Vimal Jacob

    well the plot seems okay … its how its gona be implemented tht matters ….

    remember dark knights plot … batman tries to stop the psychotic joker …… n look wht we got …

    this good be the actual breakdown of batman by bane and the league of shadows …. n batman beating their champion “bane”
    (holy graphic novels batman !! …
    could be influenced by frank millars TDKR … HEck they even have the same acronym ……….. the league of shadows could play the role of the powerful mutant army and bane their leader with talia on their side ….. and batman losing once … but eventually beating them … with selina kyle by his side instead of the female robin )

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MJTPX42RL23YISZHPYXWFM2KVE Drew

    Catwoman info shouldn’t be news to anyone who is familiar with Batman. The rest of it sounds like it could be good but I’m a bit over the League of Shadows.

  • Anonymous

    Hmm, so BOF is saying this is actually true. Thats cool, I love me some League of Shadows anyhow.

    I wonder if the storyline “Bane of the Demon” might come up?

  • InfiniteMonkey

    Its all bloody fake. Until we hear it from the horse’s mouth, all rumours are just rumours.:D

  • Collin V.

    In Nolan I Trust

  • resudes

    It doesn’t sound too plausible to me that Bane would be just a henchman for the the league of shadows and a love interest for Talia because it sounds a bit cliched and convoluted.He was just a dumb henchman for Poison Ivy in that turd B&R. It hasn’t even been officially confirmed that Talia will be present. Also, I find it hard to believe that a story leak is possible.

    • FanOfNolan

      Good grief. I knew people would immediately think back to Batman & Robin. Do you really think Nolan will present Bane the same way Schumacher did? Of course not. The idea of Bane working for Talia seems completely plausible. Maybe she’s the one who springs him from prison, just like her father did for Bruce. And just because Bane is working for someone else doesn’t mean he’ll be a minor character. I doubt Nolan would’ve cast the role so quickly if it was a small role. I expect Bane’s role to be a lot like Scarecrow’s role was in Batman Begins. He was a major villain despite working for an even bigger villain.

  • Through The Key Hole

    At first I wasn’t really thrilled about this possible plot, I would like to see them cover new ground and not return to The League of Shadows, plus I’ve never really like the Al-Ghul’s in the comics. I trust Christopher Nolan, his interpretation of Raz Al Ghul has been my favorite so far. But last night I was thinking about Batman Begins and it occurred to me, the League of Shadows found Bruce Wayne inside of a prison and more or less recruited him. I know the prison Bane comes from in the comics is in South America, but I wonder if maybe he will be locked in some sort of European prison (explaining the locations in Europe they will be filming) and is found by The League of Shadows who sees his potential as some sort of assassin they send after Bruce Wayne. Venom could even be some sort of weapon-ized drug created by the League of Shadows. Just a thought… I was kicking around ideas while I laid in bed and this seemed like a pretty likely possibility of how this plot could play out in The Dark Knight Rises. What do you think?

  • Spawn2423

    Marion is playing Talia Al’Ghul, and Joseph Gordon is playing Dr. hugo Strange this is the final chapter of this portrail of batman and they are using birds of prey a lot in the Dark night rises,Oldman gave away Hugo strange being in the dark night rises, i mean who else is a epic villian way back in the comice beside the clown prince of crime, I beleive…… wait i know its Dr.Hugo Strange!!!!!!!!!

    P.S> No black mask hahahahahaha that would be stupid!!!!!!!!!

  • http://twitter.com/BuccoFan_4Life Sean

    If it weren’t for rumors, what would we be talking about? Looking for this film to be shot at my hometown of Pittsburgh!

  • Robertbarron75

    i think bane will break batmans back in sum way and catwomen will help batman thru out the film to fight the league of shadows, while hes injured, he cant take them all out by himself

  • Robertbarron75

    i think bane will break batmans back in sum way and catwomen will help batman thru out the film to fight the league of shadows, while hes injured, he cant take them all out by himself

  • guest

    Apparently Bane will be a result of a military experiment by the government to combat the increased crime etc. since the Joker, so he will have his own plot line.

  • ross courtney

    could joseph gordon levitt possibly make a good joker? who thinks, if this is not the case that he would be good as that character? i hope christopher nolan thought of this idea at least for a minute when casting and writing the script. 

  • ross courtney

    just a thought.