The Dark Knight Rises

[Fox]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pierre This was incredible. Such an awesome movie. Everything came full circle and I really enjoyed it Definitely delivered. SPOILER: show I saw the movie with a group of friends, and after the movie ended, everyone was split on the ending. Half of us (including myself) thinks Batman died in the explosion, and the other half believed he lived. I thought the scene at the end with Wayne and Selena was part of Alfred's imagination, because there's no way that Batman could have escaped that atomic bomb in 3 seconds over open water, as it was supposed to cover a 6 mile radius (I know it's a Batman flick, but Nolan doesn't like to pull "unrealistic" or fantasy magic tricks with Batman). Batman dying with the bomb just makes perfect sense to the story. After living a completely miserable/meaningless life for the past 8 years, he realized that his only purpose in life is to be Batman. This time though, it's apparent that he's physically and mentally beaten to where he can't continue to be Batman any longer. In Dark Knight he said "Batman has no limits," and he "can't afford to know them," but he finally realized that he had been pushed to the limit. The "life after Batman" that he wanted can't truly exist since Rachael died, Gotham (even though he saved it) is still in shambles, and his mind and body barely escaped Bane and Talia, as he was over matched in pretty much every way. As he was coasting over the open water with the bomb, I was just picturing him imagining all these things and realizing his fate was to die a hero. As for the whole "auto-pilot" thing, I felt that was told to the audience to let us know that Batman had the option to get out of the plane with the auto-pilot feature, but he chose not to. Just my thoughts. K I'm done. But wow, the movie was incredible. Loved it!

I think the ending was pretty straight forward.

SPOILER: show

Batman lived. He never piloted the Bat out into the ocean, but probably ejected well before it ever left the edge of the city. The scene after the burial with Lucius Fox discovering that Bruce had done maintenance on the Bat was meant to show that the auto pilot had been repaired, giving Batman a way out of the apparently "final" ending with the bomb. Follow that up with John Blake receiving the package and instructions to find the Batcave as well as Alfred physically seeing Bruce Wayne alive at the end makes for a pretty unambiguous ending: Bruce survived. Suggestions that Alfred may have imagined Bruce and Selina in the cafe at the end don't really hold up considering the fact that Alfred never saw them together and only knew that Bruce was tracking her to get back his mother's stolen necklace. It would make more logical sense for Alfred to imagine seeing Bruce with Miranda Tate, or with an unknown woman. The fact that it was Selina and Bruce pretty much confirms that it was reality. I've also heard the suggestion that the lost necklace was brought up again during the final will and testament of Bruce Wayne scene because it suggests that Alfred used the tracking device inside the necklace to find Bruce and Selina.