The Dark Knight Rises Ethics of the ending

[Herofan]

It feels like TDKR, for the most part, tries to back off of the ending of TDK-Batman & Gordon lying about Dent's crimes led to Gordon losing a bit of his credibility with the public (and specifically the noble Blake) and to Batman being less effective when he first tried to stop Bane. The lie while noble seems overly distrustful of the public, the lie in itself can cause as much or more damage than the truth could have when the truth is revealed.

And yet, in the end, it's revealed that Batman faked his death, committing another, bigger lie to the public and also to his allies like Blake and maybe Gordon.

It's doubtful that lie could be discovered, but does it reverse the distancing from the decision of TDK? Does Batman have a right to lie, especially a noble fiction like he gave everything to the public? Is it not such a lie since he came close to doing so, was willing to do so, and really did give up a lot?

 

[Brother Jack]

It goes back to that plane ride scene in Begins where Bruce lays out his mission statement. Batman as a symbol meant to "shake people out of apathy", which in and of itself is a version of what Thomas Wayne, and his death, was to Gotham. So to ultimately cement that symbol there needed to be an ultimate sacrifice. Batman (and Bruce in a sense) dying the hero and allowing the legend to truly exist beyond the mortal coil of Bruce himself.

What I think is often lost with the endings of both Knight and Rises is Bruce's internal motivators. You could call both deceptive, and in a way they are, but they are choices born out of Bruce's own psyche. He takes the blame for the Two-Face murders because he feels responsible for them; for what happened to Harvey, Rachel, and all of what Joker did. And with the fusion reactor he saw a way to finish his mission, supplant his legacy, and move on with his life. In a figurative way Bruce and Batman did die in that explosion.