The Dark Knight Rises How long did Nolans Batman actually fight crime?(SPOILERS)

[the_monk]

Since you said "fight crime," I could make an argument that 8 years could be added on, if you view the years Batman sacrificed his own image preserving Harvey's name and thereby lowering crime in Gotham. And I bet Nolan would agree with that idea.

If you mean, "active," then it's lower.

 

[TheDarkKnight08]

I read somewhere that it must've been about 5 years that he had the BB suit. I think it was in one of the art books. It was a note "Bruce" wrote, saying that after 5 years with the BB suit, he needed something more flexible, hence the TDK suit.

So, assuming this can be considered canon, it's 5 years, and a few months, considering the events of TDK and TDKR. Plus, Blake mentions Harvey Dent day being 8 years later of Batman's last "confirmed" sighting, so maybe Bruce was prowling the streets anyway, taking down smaller criminals?

 

[shauner111]

Id like to get my hands on this manual. So he returns to Gotham in 2003, debuts as Batman soon after (03 or 04 was it?), is active as Batman til 2005 where he saves the city from Ra's. Keeps the suit for 3 more years fighting crime until 2008. Joker builds his reputation during this time as well.

They meet in 2008, he changes his suit. During the summer is when the ending happens with Dent. Batman dissapears for 8 years. And you know how that ends.

Just typing it out quickly, is that correct?

This changes A LOT! You can do many stories with different mobsters and other freaks before Joker comes into play. Alberto Falcone, Black Mask, Deadshot, Hush? Penguin? Mad Hatter if you make him a child kidnapper or something. Killer Croc if you make him a big black dude with a skin condition working as the muscle to either Maroni or Sionis.

 

[Just_Human]

Well, in BB, he clearly says that he just wanted to inspire Gothamites

Then he is forced to keep "batmaning" because someone has to stop the Joker
Then he reaches his goal in TDKR

So at the end of the day, he wasnt supposed to be Batman forever, even though Harvey (mantle blabla) and Alfred advised otherwise

 

[the5timechamp]

Its nice to see these lines of reasoning that explain that perhaps he spent more time in the suit...all things considered its a shame that TDKR didnt choose a more effective or useful way to fill in the gap for the 8 years...

TDK ended with " we will hunt him cause he can take it"...TDKR seems to imply that he didnt feel like taking it and chose to retire instead..

 

[shauner111]

So with this new information it seems like Nolan decided to use the most essential parts of Bruces journey as the Batman. Between his first appearance where he caught Falcone and the train fight with Ras, that's a year or two of unseen stories. Between Ras and Joker it's another 3 years. Then X amount of months during Rises. 5 to 6 years as the Batman. During the span of 13 or 14 years.

That surely beats the hell out of a year and a half, which is what the world is thinking at the moment.

 

[JackWhite]

Its nice to see these lines of reasoning that explain that perhaps he spent more time in the suit...all things considered its a shame that TDKR didnt choose a more effective or useful way to fill in the gap for the 8 years...

TDK ended with " we will hunt him cause he can take it"...TDKR seems to imply that he didnt feel like taking it and chose to retire instead..

lol, there was nothing to "take" or "endure" because organized crime/freaks were not an issue in Gotham anymore.

Why can't some people understand the setup of the 8 year gap in TDKR?

 

[JackWhite]

Its nice to see these lines of reasoning that explain that perhaps he spent more time in the suit...all things considered its a shame that TDKR didnt choose a more effective or useful way to fill in the gap for the 8 years...

TDK ended with " we will hunt him cause he can take it"...TDKR seems to imply that he didnt feel like taking it and chose to retire instead..

quoted the wrong person, lol.

 

[JackWhite]

Well, in BB, he clearly says that he just wanted to inspire Gothamites

Then he is forced to keep "batmaning" because someone has to stop the Joker
Then he reaches his goal in TDKR

So at the end of the day, he wasnt supposed to be Batman forever, even though Harvey (mantle blabla) and Alfred advised otherwise

If Bruce had never met Harvey Dent, or another good willed politician, he would not have had a legit way out of being Batman in TDK.

The same thing can be said about Blake in TDKR. But with Blake, he was cut from the same mold as Bruce. Blake truly was incorruptible, and unlike Dent; could actually take up the mantle of "Batman", or Robin/Nightwing.

 

[darpavader]

wasn't the animated batman: gotham knight in the same continuity?

 

[JackWhite]

wasn't the animated batman: gotham knight in the same continuity?

Yes.

 

[Anno_Domini]

Since you said "fight crime," I could make an argument that 8 years could be added on, if you view the years Batman sacrificed his own image preserving Harvey's name and thereby lowering crime in Gotham. And I bet Nolan would agree with that idea.

I never thought of this. But I likey.

wasn't the animated batman: gotham knight in the same continuity?

One could place Gotham Knight into the continuity where it's between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but I don't.

 

[weezerspider]

Its nice to see these lines of reasoning that explain that perhaps he spent more time in the suit...all things considered its a shame that TDKR didnt choose a more effective or useful way to fill in the gap for the 8 years...

TDK ended with " we will hunt him cause he can take it"...TDKR seems to imply that he didnt feel like taking it and chose to retire instead..

Nope. He wasn't Batman for the 8 years because Gotham didn't need Batman. TDKR makes it pretty clear the Dent Act pretty much washed Gotham clean and negating the need of Batman. It also makes it clear Bruce would have gone out there IF Batman was needed. Evidence from the film showing Bruce would become Batman IF he was needed:

1. First scene in the Batcave- Alfred is surprised to see Bruce in the cave, saying that it has been a long time since he's been there. Evidence that his confrontation with Selina started to push him towards re-dawning the cape.

2. First scene with Blake and Gordon- Blake tells Gordon about the missing person to which Gordon replies "Thats a job for the police". Blake responds "When you cleaned the streets up, you cleaned them up good. Pretty soon we'll be going after over-due library books". This shows that the Dent Act negated the need for Batman and Bruce quit because Gotham didn't NEED him. Gordon didn't even feel the police were that needed. Once the big hostage situation went down at Wall Street, Bruce would have seen he is needed again and taken on the cowl. This is even told in….

3. Alfred's first speech to Bruce- Alfred tells Bruce that he's not living, he's just waiting, waiting for things to go bad again. He's simply waiting until Gotham needs Batman again. More evidence that once the Wall Street thing happened, Bruce would once again become Batman.

People seem to mis-translate the eight years thing. Bruce didn't just quit. He quit because Batman was no longer needed. The Dent Act wiped Gotham clean. As I've shown, the film continually hints that Bruce would go back out there if/when Gotham needed Batman again. Also, The Wall Street incident was the first major act of crime in Gotham since the night Dent died. Batman was needed for 8 years.

 

[Pontillo]

While it's strange that he rebuilt the batcave, I'm fairly convinced that Bruce has not been Batman since the end of TDK. Although they do leave things kind of ambiguous.

The Dark Knight Weapons manual states that Bruce was Batman for 5 years before changing suits.

While some things don't add up other things do i.e Harvey and Rachel wanting to get married. Obviously they had to have known each other for a couple of years to feel that way about each other.

Gordon's kids are a lot older in the TDK then they were in BB.

Also in TDKR during Bruce's dream Ras tells him "You spent years fighting decadence in Gotham yada yada."

The only thing that made me things TDK and BB were sort of close together was the Jokers "A year ago" line. But then again it could have only been in the last year that Batman has really broken the mobs back. Also the fact that Bruce is still living in the penthouse (How long does it take to rebuild a mansion?)

All of this makes me feel more satisfied about Batman's career in these films though of course it makes me wish I saw more of it lol.

5 years is a realistic amount of time for Bruce to be Batman and do the amount of damage to his body as seen in TDKR.

Don't know what the point of this post was but I hope you all enjoyed it.

 

[the5timechamp]

Nope. He wasn't Batman for the 8 years because Gotham didn't need Batman. TDKR makes it pretty clear the Dent Act pretty much washed Gotham clean and negating the need of Batman. It also makes it clear Bruce would have gone out there IF Batman was needed. Evidence from the film showing Bruce would become Batman IF he was needed:

1. First scene in the Batcave- Alfred is surprised to see Bruce in the cave, saying that it has been a long time since he's been there. Evidence that his confrontation with Selina started to push him towards re-dawning the cape.

2. First scene with Blake and Gordon- Blake tells Gordon about the missing person to which Gordon replies "Thats a job for the police". Blake responds "When you cleaned the streets up, you cleaned them up good. Pretty soon we'll be going after over-due library books". This shows that the Dent Act negated the need for Batman and Bruce quit because Gotham didn't NEED him. Gordon didn't even feel the police were that needed. Once the big hostage situation went down at Wall Street, Bruce would have seen he is needed again and taken on the cowl. This is even told in….

3. Alfred's first speech to Bruce- Alfred tells Bruce that he's not living, he's just waiting, waiting for things to go bad again. He's simply waiting until Gotham needs Batman again. More evidence that once the Wall Street thing happened, Bruce would once again become Batman.

People seem to mis-translate the eight years thing. Bruce didn't just quit. He quit because Batman was no longer needed. The Dent Act wiped Gotham clean. As I've shown, the film continually hints that Bruce would go back out there if/when Gotham needed Batman again. Also, The Wall Street incident was the first major act of crime in Gotham since the night Dent died. Batman was needed for 8 years.

All that is well and good... despite that I still don't like the implication that he was waiting for something "major" to happen since a "petty" crime is what took his parents' life...It just comes off as odd that Bruce would only react to a major threat on the city as opposed to all threats...His lack of awareness of the disenfranchised orphans shows a lack of awareness, odd given that he was looking for an excuse to be Batman...

I guess its my fault for having expectations of the Nolan Batman to be similar to those of the Batman from the comics...

If anything Nolans Batman is more like Dark Warrior Duck....yeah I went there..

 

[DACrowe]

It's "confirmed" he fought crime for 1.5 years before retiring (roughly 18 months between BB and TDK).

However, I'd throw out there that Blake said to Gordon, "the last confirmed sighting of the Batman was eight years ago...." I tend to think that given the process of getting legislation passed and then enacted, that things didn't get better over night. And I do think there had to be some ind of "freak" escalation after Joker for at least a year or so (Riddler? Penguin or Black Mask trying to fill the organize crime hole Joker and Two-Face left? Who knows even an eco-terrorist named Pamela?). So, I don't think it's hard to imagine he continued his crusade for at least a year or two or even three before he finally retired for good. It would explain why he bothered to rebuild the batcave in its entirety and why Alfred notes he hasn't been here in years (as opposed to ever if he hanged it up for good the night Dent died).

So, it's at least 1 and a half years that become 2 years when you factor in the months of TDKR. If you think he did more before the Dent Act cleaned up the streets, it could have been more like a combined 3 or 4 years. I like to think so, simply because the age of freaks Joker ushered in should have come in some form. Even in this semi-realistic view of Gotham. That is my take.

 

[Bruce Malone]

Does anyone have any concrete proof on the timeline between Begins and TDK? I've watched the film a countless number of times and still don't know where people are pulling these dates from?

Are people just guessing here?

 

[Greens]

I don't think there's an official timeline. Wasn't there a date on the newspaper in the Fox-Bruce still?

 

[Doc Samson]

2014 is TDKR. Minus 8 years makes 2006. "One year ago" is 2005. I'll just stick with this. I don't think it really matters how long Bruce wore the cape and went out at night -- it feels like a long time and a long, torturous journey for him to endure.

This is how I compute it. And honestly, it feels right with this particular interpretation. I see criticism about Bane/Talia being derivative and things of that nature, but honestly, a large number of villains just wouldn't work in Nolan's universe anyway. At least not as anything close to their comic counterparts. You think Bane was bad? Maybe it's good we didn't get Mr. Freeze after all

Way I see it, in a grounded, plausible setting, this Batman was on the job probably longer than he should've been. We see how banged up he was after just his first night on the job in BB, and the damage just two years did to his body in TDKR. For this trilogy, I think being chased every time he took a step outside the cave would've took even more of a toll on him had he been active 10 years straight.

 

[Bruce Malone]

I don't think there's an official timeline. Wasn't there a date on the newspaper in the Fox-Bruce still?

Well i've seen numerous people spout off specific times from 1 year to 18 months to 8 months.

I think it's ambiguous it's certainly not a huge amount of time between begins and TDK like in TDKR but unless someone can prove me wrong i don't think anyone has the real answer.

 

[Slushy]

6 months LOL

 

[da3dl3us]

It's "confirmed" he fought crime for 1.5 years before retiring (roughly 18 months between BB and TDK).

However, I'd throw out there that Blake said to Gordon, "the last confirmed sighting of the Batman was eight years ago...." I tend to think that given the process of getting legislation passed and then enacted, that things didn't get better over night. And I do think there had to be some ind of "freak" escalation after Joker for at least a year or so (Riddler? Penguin or Black Mask trying to fill the organize crime hole Joker and Two-Face left? Who knows even an eco-terrorist named Pamela?). So, I don't think it's hard to imagine he continued his crusade for at least a year or two or even three before he finally retired for good. It would explain why he bothered to rebuild the batcave in its entirety and why Alfred notes he hasn't been here in years (as opposed to ever if he hanged it up for good the night Dent died).

So, it's at least 1 and a half years that become 2 years when you factor in the months of TDKR. If you think he did more before the Dent Act cleaned up the streets, it could have been more like a combined 3 or 4 years. I like to think so, simply because the age of freaks Joker ushered in should have come in some form. Even in this semi-realistic view of Gotham. That is my take.

Agree completely and that's how I'd like to understand it. Makes sense and opens the possibilities of different adventures between TDK and TDKR.

It's also consistent with his injuries and the development of a fully functional Batcave.

Remember, Alfred also said "You haven't been down here for a while", meaning he's used the cave post TDK. He never said, "You finally used this new cave" or something to that effect.

 

[Uroboric Forms]

Spoiler

Courtesy of Umair Dar on the facebook fan page:

2003 - Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City, has his first night out, begins prowling as the Batman.

2003 - Jimmy is a two year-old infant when Batman visits Gordon at home.

2005 - Batman defeats Ra's Al Ghul on the train. Remember this is on the SAME NIGHT that he has his 30th birthday party.

2005 - 2008 - Offscreen, Batman wages war on crime, working his way up to the big fish of the mob. Assuming this is true conveniently explains several things:

- (1) Like SnakeDoc suggests, it is not until a year before TDK that he is finally having an impact that is really hurting them and making them take notice.

- (2) All during this time, while Batman is building his reputation, Joker commits random crimes and builds up his own legend among criminals. This is where we get the "So why do they call him the Joker?" "I heard he wears makeup..to scare people...y'know, war paint" lines. It makes sense that it takes a while to build up that kind of rumormill/reputation. It also explains the "Two-bit wack job, cheap purple suit" line from Maroni and the "Him again" line from Batman. Joker wasn't wearing the purple suit during the bank robbery, so Maroni must have seen/heard of him before. Like Batman, dispite his crimes, he views him as just a minor nuisance to be dealth with later.

- (3) Guestimating this three-year gap between the films also neatly explains the line in The Dark Knight Manual that he was wearing the Original Suit for 5 years---he was---from 2003 to 2008.

- (4) Finally, this 3 year gap ages little Jimmy almost perfectly. If he is two years-old in 2003, then he is seven in 2008. It doesn't take much stretching in either direction to make him an 8 year-old, or to even just assume he is supposed to be seven in that film.

The Dark Knight Rises is eight years later.

2016 Now I know the Gotham Civil War poster contradicts this, with the date of the exhibit ending in 2014. But this is the only really hard-set date we know of (as of now anyway), and it's not really clear if it even appears noticeably on-screen or if a hard-set date of 2014 appears in the final film on screen, so I'm willing to overlook it. Also, I realize this is just an excuse, but that poster could be an "old" ad that was never taken down, or pasted over with something else newer that is peeling off. It certainly doesn't look like it's supposed to be in new condition. Just sayin'.

Working backward from the above dates, we can make the milestones in Bruce's life fit too.

2003 - Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham. Based on the above that he turns 30 in 2005, he turns 28 in 2003. Since we know he was away for seven years, he dropped out of Princeton at 21 (or 20, depending on his birthday) as an undergrad in his senior year, just shy of graduation.

Working farther back and using the casefile of the Wayne murders in The Dark Knight Manual

November 8, 1983 - The Waynes are gunned down. Bruce is 10 or 11 years old (again, depending on his birthday)

1972 or 1973 - Bruce Wayne is born.

This sounds good to me.

I read somewhere that it must've been about 5 years that he had the BB suit. I think it was in one of the art books. It was a note "Bruce" wrote, saying that after 5 years with the BB suit, he needed something more flexible, hence the TDK suit.

So, assuming this can be considered canon, it's 5 years, and a few months, considering the events of TDK and TDKR. Plus, Blake mentions Harvey Dent day being 8 years later of Batman's last "confirmed" sighting, so maybe Bruce was prowling the streets anyway, taking down smaller criminals?

I'm pretty sure Blake specified that the last confirmed sighting 8 years ago was the night Dent died.

Anyway, live action Batman can't be infinite without swapping around casts and crews like James Bond. I'm not bothered by him being forced to sit out for 8 years, or that he's only been Batman for 5-6 years prior to TDKR, when he's in his physical prime.

 

[Broker]

Does anyone have any concrete proof on the timeline between Begins and TDK? I've watched the film a countless number of times and still don't know where people are pulling these dates from?

Are people just guessing here?

Well i've seen numerous people spout off specific times from 1 year to 18 months to 8 months.

I think it's ambiguous it's certainly not a huge amount of time between begins and TDK like in TDKR but unless someone can prove me wrong i don't think anyone has the real answer.

In his first scene with the mob Joker says that -

"Let's wind back the clocks. A year ago these cops and lawyers wouldn't have crossed any of you"

ie. Batman.

 

[Broker]

Nope. He wasn't Batman for the 8 years because Gotham didn't need Batman. TDKR makes it pretty clear the Dent Act pretty much washed Gotham clean and negating the need of Batman. It also makes it clear Bruce would have gone out there IF Batman was needed. Evidence from the film showing Bruce would become Batman IF he was needed:

.....

People seem to mis-translate the eight years thing. Bruce didn't just quit. He quit because Batman was no longer needed. The Dent Act wiped Gotham clean. As I've shown, the film continually hints that Bruce would go back out there if/when Gotham needed Batman again.

Great post.