MOVIES · STORY NOTES

The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan, and the story with David S. Goyer. Set eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, it follows a retired Wayne being forced to resume his role as Batman to save Gotham City from nuclear destruction at the hands of the terrorist Bane (Hardy).

Description adapted from Wikipedia contributors, The Dark Knight Rises · CC BY-SA 4.0. Text adapted for this entry.

FULL SPOILERS AHEAD

The story, including the ending.

These write-ups discuss major events and outcomes for this listed work. Each source and its coverage are identified below.

Source plot synopsis — includes the ending

Bane, a former member of the League of Shadows, leads an attack on a CIA plane over Uzbekistan to abduct nuclear physicist Dr. Leonid Pavel. Meanwhile, eight years after the death of Gotham City district attorney Harvey Dent and the arrest of the Joker, organized crime has been eradicated in Gotham by the Dent Act, legislation that gives expanded powers to the police. Commissioner Jim Gordon has kept Dent's killing spree a secret and allowed the blame for his crimes to fall on Batman. Bruce Wayne, still mourning the death of Rachel Dawes, has become a recluse.
Bane conspires with Wayne Enterprises board member John Daggett to take over the company by obtaining Bruce's fingerprints. Burglar Selina Kyle steals them from Wayne Manor for Daggett, but he double-crosses her, prompting her to alert the police. Bane's henchmen capture Gordon in the sewers but he escapes and is found by John Blake, an orphaned police officer who has deduced Bruce's secret identity. Blake persuades Bruce to resume his vigilantism. Bane attacks the Gotham Stock Exchange and uses Bruce's fingerprints to verify fraudulent transactions, leaving him ousted from his company and bankrupt. Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce's butler, resigns out of fear that Bruce will get himself killed fighting Bane, revealing that Rachel and Dent had intended to marry. Bane kills Daggett, while Bruce and Wayne Enterprises' new CEO, Miranda Tate, become lovers.
Selina agrees to take Batman to Bane, but instead leads him into a trap under Wayne Tower. Bane gloats that he intends to fulfill Ra's al Ghul's mission to destroy Gotham City before he brutally cripples Batman in combat. He takes Bruce to an ancient underground prison in the Middle East, where Bruce learns that Ra's al Ghul's child was born and raised there, but had a protector who helped that child escape. Back in Gotham, Bane detonates explosives to trap the police forces in the sewers, destroys all but one bridge surrounding the city, kills Gotham mayor Anthony Garcia, and forces Pavel to convert the fusion reactor core owned by Wayne Enterprises into a decaying neutron bomb before publicly killing him. He exposes Dent's crimes to the city and releases the prisoners of Blackgate Penitentiary, effectively taking over Gotham. He also has Gotham's elite exiled and killed in proletarian kangaroo courts presided over by Jonathan Crane.
Five months later, Bruce, now healed, escapes the prison. As Batman, he returns to Gotham and frees the police, and together they war with Bane's militia. During the battle, Miranda stabs Batman, revealing herself as Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia. Bane was her protector who had helped her escape the pit, becoming mauled in the process. Talia activates the bomb, but it fails due to Gordon blocking the signal. Selina kills Bane and helps Batman pursue Talia, hoping to return the bomb to the reactor chamber, where it can be stabilized. Talia's truck crashes, but she remotely floods and destroys the reactor chamber before dying. With no way to stop the detonation, Batman reveals his identity to Gordon, and uses his aerial craft, the Bat, to haul the bomb over the bay, where it safely explodes.
In the aftermath, Batman is presumed dead and honored as a hero. Wayne Manor becomes an orphanage, and Bruce's estate is left to Alfred. Gordon finds the Bat-Signal repaired, while Lucius Fox discovers that Bruce had fixed the Bat's malfunctioning autopilot. In Florence, Alfred discovers that Bruce is alive and in a relationship with Selina, and they acknowledge each other with a smile. Blake, whose legal first name is revealed as Robin, resigns from the police department and receives a package leading him to the Batcave.
Sources and content license

Source and revision history ↗ · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, The Dark Knight Rises. Section headings and formatting adjusted. · Content license