It’s been 10 years since the last of Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ Trilogy and whilst the box office takings for the final instalment surpassed its predecessor, the film itself didn’t get quite the same reception after the intitial hype died down. At the time of viewing in the IMAX of Glasgow’s Science Centre, I remember the sheer thrills and scale of the film as it tried so very hard to up the ante on ‘The Dark Knight’. And whilst the emotional heft was certainly there, the structural heft wasn’t. Even when viewing for the first time, certain narrative beats and sub-plots seemed off but were dismissed for the sake of wanting to see how everything wrapped up.

And it did wrap up. The Bruce Wayne/Batman arc did come to a close so ‘Rises’ did do its job of giving the main character a good sendoff. But did it have to be so jarring?

A number of alternatives were whirring through my head back in 2012 as to how to make a film that should have been monumental actually be that. Yes, it had epic set pieces but many fell flat – the truck chase at the end being one such example.

But I must also factor in the pressures director, Christopher Nolan, would have been facing whilst writing and filming the third instalment of a hugely popular franchise. Chief among them would have been the untimely death of Heath Ledger. Rumour has it that the original script for ‘Rises’ was going to have The Joker in it (there’s a trilogy poster with all the villians in different poses which is all the pictorial evidence I can find to support this), but when news of Ledger’s death surfaced, Nolan would have had to quickly write in another villain. I can’t find anything to suggest that Bane was going to be the original villain all along or if he was pencilled in after Ledger’s death.

The second source of pressure I know of was that Nolan was reimagining Superman whilst suffering writer’s block for ‘Rises’. It’s one thing to take on one of pop cultures major icons, but to take on two titans of the comic pantheon and reimagine them in a realistic manner for cinema is quite something. His script ended up going to Zack Snyder who then gave us 2013’s ‘Man of Steel’.

And the third source of pressure I know of was that Warner Bros. were wnating Nolan to head up the DC Extended Universe of films and serve as overseer of the narrative to ensure each entry fitted in just like Joss Whedon was tasked with at Marvel. Problem with asking an independent filmmaker to latch himself to one genre of films for ex-number of years is that he’s no longer independent and will quickly lose interest in the genre no matter how much you pay him. In the end, Nolan stuck to his guns and gave us Interstellar instead followed by Dunkirk and Tenet. He’s no longer with Warner Bros. for his next film – ‘Oppenheimer’.

Back to the topic. I’m going to tidy up ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ as I strongly believe it needs it and, if I were in Nolan’s shoes minus the pressures, I would have written things quite differently. However, I’m not making up any old crap. I will be using elements from the film itself and the previous two entries to ensure a cohesive narrative. Elements may be removed but any added in must be from the previous two films. I’m not in the business of second-guessing Christoper Nolan so any amendments to the story will be in keeping with the established narrative.

Off we go then.

Prologue – As much as Quantum of Solace wasn’t a patch on Casino Royale, Nolan should have taken a page out of that film’s book and started ‘Rises’ straight after ‘The Dark Knight’. Batman has lost his childhood friend and romantic interest, Rachel; seen off two SWAT teams; taken down the Joker; saved Commissioner Gordon’s son from Harvey Dent but failing to save Dent himself; taken a literal fall after saving Gordon’s son then a metaphorical one by taking the heat from Dent and putting himself in the firing line for Dent’s killings. He’s broken, beaten, battered and tired. And he still has to ride home and evade capture from the police.

By having ‘Rises’ start here, the audience doesn’t need a refresh of what happened in ‘The Dark Knight’. They already know which is why they’re going to see this film. It cuts a lot of time out and allows it to be used to build up new characters like Bane and Selina Kyle.

So, how would this look? I’ve always imagined this scene following Batman on the Batpod as he’s heading back to the makeshift Batcave. Along the way, the lights are knocked out and the audience hears the crash of the Batpod against something hard and the thud of Batman hitting the tarmac. Some temporary lights come on and there stands a hulking masked man surrounded by a small army of his followers all armed to the hilt. Behind them are two giant military trucks blocking the road.

Where ‘Rises’ takes about 45 minutes to reintroduce Batman and over an hour before he fights Bane for the first time, here the first fight takes place within 5 minutes. It’ll take the audience by surprise and throw them into despair knowing that Batman has just been through a lot and is not in any shape to take on one menacing brute let alone a group.

The hulked menace would introduce himself as Bane and his group as The League of Shadows. If you take a lot of the events of ‘Rises’ first fight between these two and transpose them here, you can achieve a greater effect because it’s being done right at the start of the film. Batman gets his back broken and is taken out of the game straight away.

And how would Bane know about Batman’s identity? One character that wasn’t used in ‘Rises’ but had a linchpin role in ‘The Dark Knight’ was Colman Reese. The man who attempted to blackmail Lucius Fox over the identity of Batman. Here, after having actually broken Batman’s back, Bane could introduce Reese as a member of the The League of Shadows which would tie back to ‘Batman Begins’ where Ra’s Al Ghul stated Gotham was so corrupt that they had infiltrated every level of its infrastructure. It would not be improbable for The League to have someone snooping around Wayne Enterprises.

The League could have killed Bruce there and then but, given how adamant he was on saving his city, Bane elects to make him suffer. Having throughly humliated his opponent, Bane leaves Bruce on the road. When the trucks leave, Bruce calls Alfred who comes and collects him. All-in-all this is 20 minutes of the film and Bruce Wayne is broken in every sense. This would set up the eight years since Batman was last sighted from ‘Rises’ as well as the storyline of Bruce Wayne becoming a recluse, however, the reason for that could be over the death of Rachel as well as that of Harvey Dent.

The Beginning – With Batman out the picture and his identity confirmed, Bane targets Wayne Enterprises as first to be brought down. Bruce, meanwhile, is crippled in Wayne Manor and has fallen into a deep depression over his failure as Gotham’s protector. Despite being unable to do anything, he still reads up on news every morning with a newspaper and keeps Gotham News (which would reveal the official reason for Bruce Wayne becoming reclusive to being a skiing accident resulting in a broken back) on all the time. Alfred becomes concerned that his master is resorting to a form of torture to punish himself.

By having an action setpiece right at the start doing the heavy lifting, the film would have more time to delve into the machinations of Bane and Selina Kyle. With the audience knowing Bane’s plan, the focus could be on Selina Kyle as an apathetic figure to highlight the gradual destruction of Gotham. Keeping true to the comics, she could be a cat burglar taking advantage of the current situation Bane has put the city in. With the elites scared, she could have several identities and occupations (at service level) where she gains access to the homes of wealthy families and gets to work. The film would then have the time to let the audience see her as a Robin Hood figure where she takes from the rich, gives some to the poor and keeps the rest for herself. These would be the intimate street-level sections intersplicing with Bane’s high-level masterplan sections with occasional flips to Bruce to let the audience know he’s not been forgotten about. But the first hour could easily focus on letting Bane and Selina get fully entrenched in the audience’s mind.

One thing I think would show urgency would be removing the passing of Harvey Dent at the start of ‘Rises’. Instead, Bane puts Commissoner Gordon in front of a camera and forces him to tell the city exactly what happened on the night Batman was last seen. Gordon, under duress, tells Gotham what happened and reveals Harvey Dent, not Batman, as being behind the killings from ‘The Dark Knight’. While this hurts Bruce emotionally, what he doesn’t realise is that, secretly, the people are hopeful that their guardian hasn’t abandoned them. But this is the first year of The League’s martial law.

The Middle – Over the next hour, we would get advances on Bane’s plan as he becomes more and more tyrannical. After forcing a confession from Commissioner Gordon, the police start to crumble as they fall to their new master. The Department of Justice falls too after hearing of Dent’s criminal acts. The kangaroo courts from ‘Rises’ can make an appearance here as the audience is shown more of Bane’s mental prowess; that he’s far more than a thug for hire. Scarecrow is brought back, but rather than have him mask-less, he’s in full mask and been granted the means to conjure up all the psychotropic drugs he wants. As presiding judge, the audience watches as Scarecrow psychologically tortures each member of the elite class being brought up for judgement.

Selina Kyle, however, is busy getting in a little too deep as she poses as a new maid for the newly restored Wayne Manor. Like in ‘Rises’ where she’s asked to take food upstairs and leave it on a small table outside Bruce’s room, a similar instruction is given, only Selina sees the door slightly open. Taking her chance, she enters the room and finds it empty. She sees stacks and stacks of Gotham newspapers. The TV is left on the news channel but the media looks very different under Bane’s rule. Rather than reporting the news, it’s turned into a full-blown propaganda machine. She sees weights, computers, documents and all sorts lying around. The master bedroom has become a makeshift Batcave since Bruce has been unable to make it down to the actual Batcave.

Selina, feeling she’s chancing things too much, becomes intrigued by a number of articles that are sitting near his bed. One about the capture of the Joker; one on the death of Rachel; and one on Gordon’s confession which unmasked Harvey Dent. Rachel, she could understand, but the other two, she wasn’t so sure of. She starts to look around the room some more and finds a pile dedicated to the remaining two alongside a pile dedicated to Batman.

As she rifles through some of the papers in the ‘Batman’ pile, she sees a small article about Bruce Wayne having entered into a period of mourning following the death of his childhood friend, Rachel Dawes. She sees the article was printed eight years ago. She rifles through some more papers but goes to the very first one at the bottom. She becomes visibly harassed at the potential information she may be about to uncover. The first paper has the headline ‘Will Batman Return?’ and is printed a month after his last sighting which the article mentions. She puts the two together and gasps. Then a hand grabs her shoulder. It’s Bruce Wayne. And he’s alot better.

Selina tries to escape but Bruce doesn’t let her. She drops the maid act and goes full Cat on him, but Bruce, despite not being at full strength, doesn’t let her get away. Quite quickly, he subdues her. It’s there the hints of attraction show as Selina realises she’s finally met someone like her – wrestling with inner demons as well as those in Gotham but where she mostly takes, she knows Bruce has been giving everything to save Gotham as Batman. Over time, Selina stops going to Wayne Manor as a maid but as herself. Eventually, she’s shown the Batcave and is entrusted with the knowledge that Bruce intends to go back out as Batman and take out Bane. Both Selina and Alfred, who have developed quite a surrogate father-daughter relationship, try to convince Bruce that he should be running for Mayor and using the resources of Wayne Enterprises to overthrow Bane’s corrupt regime. But Bruce is adamant that going back out as Batman is what the city needs. that,He promises that. if he survives, he’ll run for Mayor as the city won’t need Batman.

The End – With the full eight years now passed, Bruce Wayne is back to full health but has spent the time grieving, getting over his grief, deepening his relationships with Alfred and Selina and learning about Bane and planning his strategy on removing him and the league permanently from their tyrannical rule. In the brief sections in the second act, we see Bruce speaking to various people on the phone. It turns out one of them was Lucius Fox. Now CEO of Wayne Enterprises, he’s not only been running the company but he’s still been commissioning special R&D projects for his old boss. One of which is the Bat.

What we would then have is a repeat of the opening but flipped in Batman’s favour. Bane is in an armoured car flanked by tanks and armoured trucks as he’s making his way from one place to another. Above, he has two helicopters and snipers placed at strategic locations along the route. Whilst travelling under the cover of darkness is generally safer, it doesn’t prove so tonight. The snipers are being taken out by Selina with the aid of a nifty portable zipline and guidance from Batman in the Bat hovering silently high above the helicopers. When the snipers are clear, the Bat descends and comes in behind the two helicopters. One is struck with a grappling hook followed by an EMP. Disabled, the helicopter drops but is held by the Bat. Batman lowers the helicopter on the top of a building then repeats for the second one.

The Bat descends further and neutralises the tanks and armoured trucks. A weaponised sleeping gas is released knocking out the occupants with the exception of Bane whose mask filters it out.

At this point, Batman seriously considers pulling the trigger on his missiles and blowing up Bane’s terrorist group, ridding Gotham of the tyranny that’s plagued it for almost a decade. Instead, he goes down to the ground and leaves the safety of the Bat. Selina, still up on the skycrapers, watches in disbelief as the man she loves is about to get himself needlessly killed.

People living in the surrounding buildings start stepping out to see what’s going on. Something tells them it’s safe to go out tonight. What they see is Batman stepping out the Bat ready to take down Bane. The crowd gathers behind Batman in the distance whilst Bane has his unconscious army. Both are alone. Neither are scared.

Similiar to ‘Rises’, I think this second face-off should have little to no words spoken. Both men know why they’re there and so does the audience. In fact, I think it would be more impactful to have no words at all as the dialogue in ‘Rises’ was clunky and detracted from the fact that both men were fighting over Gotham and their plans for it.

And so, a brawl ensues. The crowd don’t cheer. They stand quietly as they watch their guardian stand up to the one they could not. I think if we take Round 1 of Batman vs. Bane from ‘Rises’, minus the dialogue, and keep the tense anticipation, it would be a visceral, nail-biting and intimate way to bring the series to a close. Batman has studied Bane ever since he was crippled by him. He knows where to get him. He just has to be patient. At the same time, Bane hasn’t gotten lazy. He’s expected a comeback from Batman and has gotten bigger and sharper in the eight years since their last encounter. He knows Batman at full strength is very different to the one he crippled with relative ease.

So, we could mix in the elements from the second fight where Batman dislodges one of the pipes from Bane’s mask, leaving him temporarily vulnerable to pain. What we would see is two highly trained and experienced fighters carefully and precisely deliver their blows, trying to figure each other out. As they start to understand each other, both become more fierce and intense with their moves. We’d go from sparring to boxing to something more like MMA with intent to kill. Bane would have Batman on the ropes and deliver a jab to his lower back which would send him tumbling down. Selina arrives but hides in the shadows to look on as she sees Bane lift Bruce up ready to break his back again. The crowd looks on helplessly as they believe their saviour is about to fail when…a blinding light comes from the Bat. Batman is dropped as Bane is blinded by the intense light. Batman pounces to his feet, showing no sign of injury, then mercilessly lays into Bane, ripping the pipes off his mask with his bladed gauntlets. Bane, racked with pain, topples like a felled tree and begins to shrivel up as the the anasthetic wears off. The only sound aside from Batman;s heavy brething is the howl of agony from Bane.

Feeling assured their saviour has indeed saved them from their oppressive regime, the crowd slowly, cautiously make their way towards Batman. Selina stays in the shadows knowing the Bruce needs to know how much the people value him.

Unsure of what to do, the crowd intially stand silent. Eventually, one mother simply nods and thanks Batman. This is followed by another then another until the whole crowd is thanking him. Not loudly. They’re not cheering his name. They’re humbly expressing their gratitude for they know this man is of the shadows. The crowd disperses as armoured police vans arrive led by Gordon in a squad car. As Gotham police officers begin hauling the still unconscious mercenaries into the vans at gunpoint, Batman simply walks away towards the Bat. Selina emerges behind him and taps him on the shoulder. Batman turns round to be met his Selina’s lips locking against his. Neither smile for they know the kiss wasn’t about happiness. It was about having found that which was missing.

Both enter the Bat. As it begins its ascension, Gordon looks up and simply says ‘Thank you.’

Epilogue: A paper slams on to a desk. The headline says that it’s been a month since Batman defeated Bane. A smaller article shows that Bruce Wayne has reappeared and is committed to following following in his parents footsteps and engaging in philanthropy as he was unable to do so during Bane’s rule.

The desk was Bruce Wayne’s and he’s no longer in the master bedroom but one of Wayne Manor’s many offices. Alfred, who delivered the paper, begins asking questions about whether the philanthropy was a publicity stunt. Bruce assures him that it wasn’t and that he really does want to help regenerate the city without using Batman. Not completely convinced, Alfred leaves the room allowing Bruce to make a number of phones calls. A montage would start showing Bruce meeting with a number of affluent and influential people from businessmen to politicians to fellow socialites. Newspaper reels would start festuring more about Bruce Wayne and beginning rumours about his meetings with various public and corporate figures.

In the end, what was merely an off-the-cuff remark from Selina transpires to be Bruce’s new goal. He’s been building up to run for Mayor. With Bane and the League gone, we get snippets of the work Bruce has been doing to help improve and stabilise the city. Supplying Wayne Enterprises tech to hospitals and schools; funding children’s homes; setting up skills centres to get those who lost their livelihoods back on their feet. These acts show how serious and dedicated Bruce is to not only running the city but making it thrive again. He’s realised what he can do as Bruce Wayne now the need for Batman has gone.

We’d move to election night. In total, a year would have now passed since Batman and Bane faced off. Bruce is sitting at his office desk, ruminating over that night whilst rolling a slim box in his hand. Selina knocks on the door and he snaps out of his thoughts to stand up and kiss Selina like a husband would his wife. They’re not married but the relationship has moved on significantly. They would gently but intently flirt then move on to evening’s events. Selina would make sure that Bruce had his speech. He would check his inside pocket and confirm he did. Alfred would drive the pair to the rally point where Bruce would step out to a huge cheer. He’d give his speech which would be humble yet powerful. The crowd would cheer louder at the end and the camera would fade out.

When it fades back in, we see Bruce sitting at a different desk. It’s a week later and he’s now Mayor Wayne. He’s holding that same box in his hand from election night. The door knocks and in comes Commissioner Gordon.

As Mayor, it’s part of Bruce’s duty to meet with all the departments in the city. He kept Gotham City Police Department to the end. Gordon would sit down somewhat awkwardly as he doesn’t feel particularly warm to the new Mayor. The pair talk about how their respective offices would work and that Bruce would be working closely with them to make sure the levels of organised crime remain at zero. Gordon starts taking potshots at Wayne Enterprises and wondering if he could get his financial crime guys in to take a closer look at the company’s books. Bruce says he could but there’d be no need. Gordon would be taken aback by such compliance.

The pair would chat more and, having reached a relatively amicable agreement on how they’d work, Gordon would get up to leave. He’d stop just before the door and clumsily fumble around his inside suit pocket to bring out a small, thin box. He’d walk back to Bruce’s desk, nervously put the box down and explain it’s a tradition that the force give the new Mayor a gift. Bruce thanks Gordon and proceeds to open the box which has a black and gold Mont Blanc fountain pen in it. Gordon would snidily quip that he should be getting used to signing bills rather than spending them; digging at the playboy. Bruce takes it on the chin and holds his arm out. Gordon looks and sees that the new Mayor is presenting him with a small, thin box of his own. When asked about why the Mayor is giving the Commissioner a gift, Bruce simply replies: ‘Assurance that the city’s in safe hands.’

Puzzled, Gordon goes to leave, but before he does, Bruce tells him that he’d best open the gift alone. Gordon leaves even more puzzled. The film would fade out.

On the fade in, Gordon would be finishing up for the night. As he’s switching lights off in his office, he walks back over to his desk realising he’s forgotten something. Mayor Wayne’s gift. He was that bewildred by it, he’d almost forgotten it. He sat at his desk and opened the top drawer to bring out the box handed to him earlier. Nervously, he opened it and, upon seeing what’s inside, begins to cry. The audience wouldn’t see why. Not yet although they know why. Gordon would breakdown and start hailing platitudes then curse himself. He’d pull the item from the box and reveal a Batarang. In the turmoil of emotion, all he’d do in the end is smile and let out a laugh. The film would end with Gordon leaving his office certainly assured that the city was in the safest hands possible.

And that’s it. That’s my interpretation of how I think ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ should have gone. I think this streamlines the story more and focuses more on the new characters of Bane and Selina Kyle whilst getting rid of side characters from the original that, I felt, muddied the plot, such as Miranda Tate, Officer Blake and Officer Foley. It gets rid of the generally pointless, albeit spectacular, plane sequence at the start whilst also removing the undewhelming nuclear bomb subplot that culimated in the mediocre truck chase.

Bruce Wayne gets a full arc with no real reason to use Batman anymore since he becomes Mayor. He’s fulfilled his potential, lived up to his family legacy, created one of his own and is deeply happy with Selina at his side. In the original, it was odd for Batman to ‘die’ and for Bruce Wayne to do so as well with no explanation on how Bruce came to die. Here, Bruce is legally alive and Batman ‘dies’ because Gotham no longer needs him. He was there at the city’s worst time and he got rid of the filth as it kicked and screamed its way out. With the city on its way to its best state, Batman isn’t needed by Gotham and Bruce certainly doesn’t need Gotham.

There are a number of other niggles I have with it, despite still enjoying it, but I won’t dwell on them here. Instead, I’ll let you read my thoughts on how the film should have gone and let you make up your own mind.