The Dark Knight Rises explanations

Are you a recent The Dark Knight Rises viewer? Want to understand the plot to answer your TDKR questions? We watched The Dark Knight Rises movie yesterday afternoon. Our iSpoilers.com, TwistEndings.com, FilmEnding.com, and PlotSpoiler.com all feature TDKR spoilers.

The Dark Knight Rises explanations will help you to understand the TDKR plot. If you haven't watched the movie yet, then beware this explanation is serving up spoilers that could ruin your viewing experience. 

***Movie Spoiler*** 

Bane plans the plane hijacking to take Dr. Pavel hostage. Every person onboard the Bane plane dies. Bane needs Dr. Pavel to activate an energy source into a 6 megaton atomic bomb. We hear it's nuclear often in TDKR, but nuclear bombs are more so packed with 10-150 megatons of explosives rather than 6 megatons. 

In nuclear test explosions prior to The Nuclear Test Ban Treat of 1963, The Soviet Union tested the largest nuclear bomb that packed 150 megatons. In the movie climax, the orphan director noted that this is an atomic bomb. Blake responds back that you have to at least try. It is accurate that this 6 megaton atomic bomb is powerful enough to wipe out fictional Gotham City. 

Why does Selina steal Bruce Wayne's fingerprints? Selina plans to sell the Wayne's fingerprints to Stryver, one of the Wayne Board members. Dagget and Stryver hire Bane to cause Bruce Wayne to lose a substantial fortune that is enough to make him completely broke. Bane accomplishes this task with using Bruce's fingerprints at the New York Stock Exchange to fraudulently place risky stock purchases, and then Wayne Board members would hold Bruce liable for the major loss. It is the plan all along to remove Bruce Wayne as chairman. Fox and Bruce trust Miranda because she kept Wayne projects afloat for the past 3-years.

Therefore, Miranda assumes control of the Wayne company, while Bruce Wayne and Fox try to sort things out. They introduce Miranda to the clean energy machine residing underground. This same energy machine is activated into a 6 megaton atomic bomb. Atom bombs of this size are capable of wiping out 2-4 square miles. Gotham City is basically a replication of New York City. Dr. Pavel is influenced to program the energy machine into an atomic bomb. Bane takes the core device out to use as an atomic bomb. We have two atom bombs ready to detonate in the movie. 

Selina turns on Batman to save her own hide. She wants to redeem his life. Her criminal past requires Clean Slate, a program that Selina is given to wipe her past clean in every database in the world. Selina has no clue Bruce Wayne is Batman. Bruce Wayne speaks of Batman as a superior friend, a higher hand that can help. Selina sets Batman up to fall. She makes deal with the Bane clan. 

Batman fights in an epic battle against Bane. Bane first appeared in Batman comics in 1993. Bane overpowers Batman, telling him he fights like a younger person. With the lights out, Bane senses Batman's location and appears to break his back. Bruce Wayne is held prisoner in an underground pit for months. He must regain the courage and strength to escape the hole. In there, he learns more about The League of Shadows, Bane, and how to overcome the fear of dying. 

Bruce Wayne is discovered to have a dislodged vertebrae. The physician pushes the protruding vertebrae into place, and this is the moment in which Bruce encounters a ghostly Ra's Al Ghul. Bruce thought Ghul was dead, but experiences the hallucinations due to the back injury.

Bane and his thugs rig the entire city. He detonates a series of bombs while attending a football event. Bane kills Dr. Pavel to give himself total access to the atomic bomb. Gotham police are trapped underneath the ground. In result, Gotham City is vulnerable to terrorist activity. Revolutions take place once a city infrastructure is taken down. 

Bane reads Gordon's true letter of Dent to free up the thousand prisoners locked up under the Dent Act. Releasing the prisoners are equipping them with weapons expose to Gotham to takeover. Essentially, the people form courts to exile and or to sentence a person to death. Stryker is sentenced to exile. He dies after falling into the cold frigid ice lake. On the opposing side, Gordon and his crew are sentenced to death by exile. Batman saves them from dying on ice. 

Alfred shares his cafe story with Bruce. He worries that Bruce will never have a chance to find happiness, that he will die protecting the city. Alfred hopes to see Bruce sitting at a cafe one day, smiling back to him. We will reflect on this notion revelation soon. 

Miranda showed interest in Bruce Wayne and renewable energy to avenger his father's death. Bane is not the child who escaped the pit. We figure this out once Miranda stabs Batman in the abdomen. She shares how she is Ra's Al Ghul's daughter. He had a daughter rather than a son. Bane protected Miranda to escape the pit. She made the jump to rejoin her father. Batman killed Ghul. Miranda's plan is to kill Batman and his beloved Gotham City. Miranda is the mastermind that planned the entire plot, even down to taking over as board member to activate the atom bomb. 

Selina rethinks Batman's request to help him save the city. She kills Bane with missiles from the Bat bike. Batman and Selina join together to stop Miranda. She ends up crashing the military truck into the lower level street. She explains that there is no way to deactivate the atom bomb. Miranda dies. 

Selina attempts to stop Batman. She wants Batman to save himself, claiming that he has done enough to protect them. He accepts the responsibility to save Batman. Selina kisses Batman, knowing that he is on a doomed mission. Batman fate lies in saving Gotham. 

Batman attaches the atomic bomb to his Bat plane. Gordon tells him that he is a hero, even though he never learns of his identity. Batman indicates that a hero can be anyone doing a kind gesture. He mentions that a hero can be a man that puts a coat on another child.

Gordon remembers an obvious event a long time ago. As Batman flies up with the atomic bomb, there is a flashback. Bruce Wayne as a young boy at the police station. Could this moment represent Gordon putting a coat on Bruce Wayne as a young child to console him after his parent died?

Gordon probably worked as a detective, which he put a coat on Bruce to calm his fears. Bruce does mention in the pit that he fears death. Most fears come from tragic events, especially losing family members. As Gordon handled many cases over his police career, putting a coat on Bruce is something that stayed with him a long time. It is significant and important to shaping Gordon as a parent.

Batman does save Gordon's son from Two-Face in The Dark Knight. It is rather interesting that one line of dialogue is so powerful on many levels. Christopher Nolan is that great of a writer to make many people think about the coat and a young boy.      

Batman flies the Bat plane through the city. He shoots missiles at skyline buildings. Orphan children cheer on their hero. Blake is in shock. He knows Batman is making the ultimate sacrifice. The clock winds down on the atomic bomb. We see Batman's grim face that this is it. He knows his sacrifice is for the greater of good. 

Blake and the orphan children watch the atomic bomb detonate into a mushroom cloud. Batman dies. Blake holds back his emotions, throwing his detective badge into the water below. 

The city celebrate the victory. Bruce Wayne's final will and testament is read. He gives Alfred a portion of his fortune and the orphan children receive the Wayne home. Gordon honors Bruce Wayne as his grave site. Alfred is distraught. He feels he has failed the Wayne parents for allowing Bruce to die. Alfred has an emotional breakdown. 

Gordon tries to convince Blake to reconsider. Blake rejects the offer, choosing moral action over corruptness. Blake retrieves a red bag left for him. Fox discovers that Bruce Wayne signed off on the energy device 6 month prior. 

We see Alfred having a cup of tea. He sees Bruce and Selina dining. Bruce looks over at Alfred with a grin and nods. Alfred looks happy. We thought Bruce Wayne survived. After analyzing the scene more in detail, it is likely Alfred is dreaming and or maybe he is on a verge of passing after losing his Master Bruce. This scene is obviously a dream and or what a person sees prior to dying. The bright colors are different from previous scenes. We know that Nolan wrote and directed Inception. He admits to enjoying dream sequences. 

We conclude Batman is dead. There is no way possible that he survived the atomic explosion. His Bat plane is not quick enough to outrun a 2-4 mile blast in a few seconds. It is not possible. The Alfred scene is a dream sequence that is possibly his final moment as well.

Blake travels to the Bat Cave. He swings into the waterfall entrance with a rope attached to his body. Blake surveys the Bat Cave, almost in awe of the top secret headquarters that saved Gotham so often. The platform underneath Blake begins to rise. We believe Blake will assume a major role as Night Wing. We don't think he will become the next Batman, but you never know. 

Our conclusion is that Batman sacrificed himself the way Maximus did in Gladiator to turn over Rome to the Senators. It is the people who deserve the city. Batman and Maximus are told of dreams in the setup. They both make sacrifices to save cities. The Dark Knight Rises is a sacrificial movie about giving back for the greater of good. There was no other way to dispose of the atomic bomb. 

In our honest opinion based on the facts, Batman sacrificed his life to save the city. Alfred is dreaming and or is probably on the verge of dying. Blake is going to become the next major character. Bruce Wayne planned his demise months ago, changing his will to give back to the orphans and to honor Alfred as his best friend. He give Gordon a hint about his identity with the coat and child mention. Gordon tells Blake he knows who saved them all, it was the Bat-man. 

The TDKR ending explanation is that Batman sacrifices his life to save many people, including those who mean most to him. Based on David Letterman's spoiler, we can confirm that saying that Batman dies is true. The dream sequence and or the final moment resembles what is employed in Titanic with Rose dying in the movie ending to reunite with Jack. Bruce Wayne as Batman is dead. Batman dies. Blake is the next major character. Nolan shares he enjoys making movies about dreams and the inner mind. We know that the Bat plan is incapable of surviving an atomic bomb blast or even escaping the explosion in time. Batman dies.   

The end.

The Dark Knight Rises ending meaning

***The movie ending can be interpreted a number of different ways. It is like Nolan's Inception because he doesn't have all the answers for the Inception ending. I assumed Batman survived from the obvious. Multiple clues and the Alfred cafe scene is beginning to make me think otherwise whether Wayne actually survives.***