How would you bring Bale's Batman back?

[Paul (ral)]

OK, so I'm not thrilled about tying the Nolanverse into new JL movie (and by association Man of Steel), but if its true there's not much we can do about it...

...so, what do you think would be a good way to bring back Bale?

[BatmAngelus]

It's funny, just the other day, I was talking about a friend about this and saying, if this is true, would he really mess over his ending to TDKRises as the "end of Bruce Wayne's story?"  It seems like he'd be ruining the idea of Bruce finding peace and letting go of his pain and of Batman if he returned to the cowl...again.  It'd really render a lot of the final five minutes pointless.  While people like me can say, "Who cares?  I'd rather forget it didn't happen anyway," it's tough to believe Nolan would feel the same way about his own ending.

So, for speculation's sake, my friend and I entertained the question:

What if Justice League gets set between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises? 

He's last spotted in Gotham at the end of TDK, as Blake mentions in Rises, but something comes up outside of the city that calls his attention and he joins the Justice League and fights off the threat.

Yes, there'd be a fair amount of retconning going on here, but it wouldn't the first time that a franchise did a midquel (i.e. Fast and the Furious, Final Destination).

It could also help explain the status quo for Bruce at the beginning of Rises, if they wanted it to.  Let's say he helped stopped the major threat of Darkseid/whoever.  He comes back home to Gotham City.  The Dent Act's been put into effect when he's gone, and Batman isn't needed in the city anymore, leading him to hang up the cowl.  This makes a lot more sense to me than if he quit the same night that Harvey died, since he'd actually be able to witness that "Batman wasn't needed anymore" before making his decision.

You could also get his leg messed up during the fight (either here or, if they use Bale in a trilogy of JLA films, JLA 3), which provides a better explanation to me than the fall from TDK.

[riddler]

It's funny, just the other day, I was talking about a friend about this and saying, if this is true, would he really mess over his ending to TDKRises as the "end of Bruce Wayne's story?"  It seems like he'd be ruining the idea of Bruce finding peace and letting go of his pain and of Batman if he returned to the cowl...again.  It'd really render a lot of the final five minutes pointless.  While people like me can say, "Who cares?  I'd rather forget it didn't happen anyway," it's tough to believe Nolan would feel the same way about his own ending.

So, for speculation's sake, my friend and I entertained the question:

What if Justice League gets set between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises? 

He's last spotted in Gotham at the end of TDK, as Blake mentions in Rises, but something comes up outside of the city that calls his attention and he joins the Justice League and fights off the threat.

Yes, there'd be a fair amount of retconning going on here, but it wouldn't the first time that a franchise did a midquel (i.e. Fast and the Furious, Final Destination).

It could also help explain the status quo for Bruce at the beginning of Rises, if they wanted it to.  Let's say he helped stopped the major threat of Darkseid/whoever.  He comes back home to Gotham City.  The Dent Act's been put into effect when he's gone, and Batman isn't needed in the city anymore, leading him to hang up the cowl.  This makes a lot more sense to me than if he quit the same night that Harvey died, since he'd actually be able to witness that "Batman wasn't needed anymore" before making his decision.

You could also get his leg messed up during the fight (either here or, if they use Bale in a trilogy of JLA films, JLA 3), which provides a better explanation to me than the fall from TDK.

Yeah I never liked the way the injury was dealt with; he showed no signs of it in the dark knight and yet by rises he can barely walk. Now one logistical difficulty over your idea is that undoubtedly someone would realized he resurfaced (wheras all of gotham seems to believe he hasn't been around in 8 years during the events of rises).

I still haven't seen rises since opening day and forget... i know Gordon finds out Bruce Wayne was batman but does all of gotham know? That kind of undermines the character if that's the case.


I want to know how they incorporate "everything  must be grounded" in a world with the Green Lantern and the Flash?

[BatmAngelus]

Now one logistical difficulty over your idea is that undoubtedly someone would realized he resurfaced (wheras all of gotham seems to believe he hasn't been around in 8 years during the events of rises).

An inconsistency that comes with the retconning territory, I'm afraid, but I don't think audiences will find it hard to swallow that he participated with the JLA while Gotham recovered from Joker's attacks and Dent's death, as long as it's clear that it's set years before Rises.

Especially compared to the trilogy's own inconsistencies with numbers (TDK- Joker: "You let five people die." Minutes later, Stephens says to Joker, "You killed six of my friends."  Not to mention the infamous "Five dead.  Two of them cops" that sparked debates online on how many people Two-Face killed onscreen vs. offscreen, etc.). 

I still haven't seen rises since opening day and forget... i know Gordon finds out Bruce Wayne was batman but does all of gotham know? That kind of undermines the character if that's the case.

Gotham doesn't know.

I think there are more issues in bringing Bruce back to the cowl, post-Rises, than simply setting JLA in between the two movies. 

Besides the fact that Rises would no longer be "the end of Bruce's story," you'd have to explain what would get Bruce back into the cowl again and out of retirement this time.  Then, is he going to get the Batcave back from Blake?  What about the orphans upstairs now?  Is he going to need to get a new suit from Fox?  What about bat-vehicles?  Who knows what Catwoman did with the Bat Pod and the remaining "Bat" is at Wayne Enterprises, so maybe he'd "borrow" the latter.  Also, does Bruce Wayne have any money left either that can help fund the JLA activities like in the comics?  He lost most of it to Bane's crimes and Alfred's been using up the remainder in trips to Italy.  How's he going to have his company bankroll the JLA if he's legally dead? 

I mean, there are ways to explain these, but I think it's much simpler to integrate Nolan's Batman into the JLA when Bruce still had his fortune, his house, his Batsuit, and the Batcave/Batbunker with all his wonderful toys.

I want to know how they incorporate "everything  must be grounded" in a world with the Green Lantern and the Flash?

The way I see it, they shouldn't.  They should just let The Dark Knight Trilogy be the Iron Man of their universe where they're set in the "grounded reality."  Let the other DC heroes (i.e. Man of Steel) open up the universe to the more sci-fi, fantasy elements (The "Aliens exist!"/first contact approach in Man of Steel could serve as a nice bridge).  In other words, bring the Nolan Batman into the comic-type world and don't bring the more comic book-based characters into his "real" world.

Some may cry foul and say it's tough to believe Superman fits into the world established in the Nolanverse, but personally, I didn't find the Iron Man movies any less "real world" than the Dark Knight trilogy, yet audiences clearly didn't have issues seeing Tony Stark go toe to toe with a Norse god in a forest or arguing with a supersoldier who was frozen for over sixty years or falling through a portal after throwing a nuke at aliens in space.

Again, this is me theorizing what the best case scenario would be if the rumors about Nolan and Bale are true.