15 Best Quotes From The Dark Knight Rises That Will Never Get Old

More than a decade after Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy ended, there still hasn’t been a solo Batman movie. The DCEU gave us another version, played by Ben Affleck, but his solo project was, of course, canceled. In that time, appreciation for The Dark Knight Rises has only grown. Somewhat divisive on release – mostly because it wasn’t as good as its predecessor – it remains hugely entertaining.

The Dark Knight Rises doesn’t get enough credit for being one of the most quotable Batman movies ever made. And that’s saying a lot. It may not have been perfect, but it presented huge ideas, wrapping up Nolan’s trilogy in a satisfying and memorable way. And in Tom Hardy’s Bane in particular, and Michael Caine’s broken, emotionally battered Alfred, it had two quote machines. These are The Dark Knight Rises quotes that have stuck with us for more than a decade since its release.

15 “Save Yourself. You Don’t Owe These People Anymore. You’ve Given Them Everything”

Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle

Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle obviously ends up as Bruce Wayne’s happy ending, rebuilding his heart after Rachel’s death broke it into pieces. After their initial friction, she sees Batman for who and what he is, which is exactly why their relationship develops so quickly. She’s also the reason he quits, and this line underlines exactly why he makes the decision. Ironically, it’s best considered as the full-stop to Alfred’s entire arc of pleading with Bruce.

14 “You Do Not Fear Death. You Think This Makes You Strong. It Makes You Weak”

Uri Gavriel as Blind Prisoner

One of the best things about The Dark Knight Rises is the way it challenges the idea of Batman. This is not a reinforcement of the concept of the Dark Knight as a God, and his weakness is a rich vein running through the threequel. And while it’s Bane who breaks the Bat physically, it’s Bruce Wayne who has to break hsi alter-ego down properly in order to win. And it all starts with a blind prisoner.

Blind Prisoner:
You do not fear death. You think this makes you strong. It makes you weak.

Bruce Wayne:
Why?

Blind Prisoner:
How can you move faster than possible, fight longer than possible without the most powerful impulse of the spirit: the fear of death.

Bruce Wayne:
I do fear death. I fear dying in here, while my city burns, and there’s no one there to save it.

Blind Prisoner:
Then make the climb.

Bruce Wayne:
How?

Blind Prisoner:
As the child did. Without the rope. Then fear will find you again.

13 “A Hero Can Be Anyone, Even A Man Doing Something As Simple And Reassuring As Putting A Coat Around A Young Boy’s Shoulders To Let Him Know The World Hadn’t Ended”

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne

While The Dark Knight Trilogy is Batman’s story, it simply wouldn’t work without Jim Gordon. He is arguably a bigger hero than Batman, because he operates alongside the corruption unprotected. He makes a stand when it could endanger him, and it’s very simply because he is a good man. And in Bruce’s reminder of that, when he reveals who he is, we get a beautiful reminder of everything Gordon made a stand for.

12 “Innocent Is A Strong Word To Throw Around Gotham”

Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate

The contradiction of Batman’s desire to save Gotham City has never been lost in Batman movies. His ability to see any good in arguably the worst city ever written in DC lore is not so much a superpower as a blind-spot. And Talia al Ghul presents that painful truth to Batman when her true identity is revealed. And frankly, it’s hard to argue with her, but that’s what makes Bruce’s commitment all the more admirable.

Batman:
He was trying to kill millions of innocent people

Talia al Ghul:
‘Innocent’ is a strong word to throw around Gotham, Bruce. I honor my father by finishing his work. Vengeance against the man who killed him is simply a reward for my patience…

[Talia twists the knife in Batman’s side]

Talia al Ghul:
You see, it’s the slow knife… the knife that takes its time, the knife that waits years without forgetting, then slips quietly between the bones… that’s the knife that cuts deepest.

11 “There’s A Storm Coming, Mr. Wayne…”

Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle

The most compelling villains are the ones whose evil plans are rooted in truth. In The Dark Knight Rises, it’s Selina Kyle who sets up Bane as that type of villain (before the twist undoes the image of him saving Gotham from itself). This quote is the perfect summary of what Gotham has become: a cesspit of self-serving corruption and capitalism where the rich get fat and the poor get screwed. It’s also a reminder of just how successful Bruce Wayne’s disguise is.

“There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”

10 “I Never Wanted You To Come Back To Gotham…”

Michael Caine as Alfred

Long before the ending showed Alfred discovering Bruce had faked his death, Batman’s happy ending was set up perfectly by Alfred’s heartbreaking revelation that he knew his surrogate son was always better off staying away. It’s as if Alfred knew the substance of Bruce, and that he’d never be able to escape his trauma.

“Remember when you left Gotham? Before all this, before Batman? You were gone seven years. Seven years I waited, hoping that you wouldn’t come back. Every year, I took a holiday. I went to Florence, there’s this cafe, on the banks of the Arno. Every fine evening, I’d sit there and order a Fernet Branca. I had this fantasy, that I would look across the tables and I’d see you there, with a wife and maybe a couple of kids.

You wouldn’t say anything to me, nor me to you. But we’d both know that you’d made it, that you were happy. I never wanted you to come back to Gotham. I always knew there was nothing here for you, except pain and tragedy. And I wanted something more for you than that. I still do.”

9 “The Idea Was To Be A Symbol. Batman Could Be Anybody, That Was The Point”

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne

The Dark Knight Rises‘ ending controversially introduced the idea that Batman was never limited to Bruce Wayne as an idea. This was, initially, difficult to take, because Wayne’s trauma was exactly why he’d taken up the cowl and cape as Gotham’s protector.

He was a symbol precisely because he was extraordinary, unconventional next to the city’s criminal filth, but just a Superman was a symbol of hope, Batman being a symbol of guardianship was a compelling new take. It’s also a reminder of Bale’s origin speech from Batman Begins:

“People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy, and I can’t do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man, I’m flesh and blood. I can be ignored. I can be destroyed. But as a symbol, as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting.”

8 “I Won’t Bury You. I’ve Buried Enough Members Of The Wayne Family”

Michael Caine as Alfred

Alfred’s arc in The Dark Knight Rises is one of pain – a theme Nolan embraced wholeheartedly. He is, essentially, a reminder of the cost of heroism, and the reason why Batman only works if he doesn’t have personal connections. Alfred is Batman’s tragic collateral damage, and by this point, he’s bene through so much that he defies his sense of duty to tell Master Bruce straight.

7 “No One Cared Who I Was Until I Put On The Mask”

Tom Hardy as Bane

Disguise has always been an important part of Batman’s mythology, and something the movies have explored head on. In this line from Bane, he’s reinforcing their similarity in the same perverse way the Joker did in The Dark Knight. He’s discussing the power of symbolism and conviction, which is ultimately what helps Batman have his epiphany that leads to his retirement. Even without saying it to Batman, he sets the tone perfectly.

6 “I’m Still A Believer In The Batman. Even If You’re Not”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake

JGL’s John Blake is the wholesome moral heart of The Dark Knight Rises: an incorruptible force who faces the greatest challenge to his faith when he learns that Jim Gordon covered up Harvey Dent’s crimes for the greater good. In one lengthy speech to Bruce Wayne, Blake confirms himself as everything Batman believes he needs to save in Gotham.

And Blake’s confrontation of Wayne is also a huge step in the latter’s decision to choose the cop as his replacement. He recognizes himself in Blake, and someone who can finally take over his duty.

“Uh, he doesn’t know or care who you are; but we’ve met before. It was a long time ago, I was a kid, uh, Saint Swithin’s used to be funded by the Wayne foundation; it was an orphanage. My mom died when I was small; it was a car accident, I don’t really remember it. But, uh, my dad got shot a couple years later over a gambling debt. And I remember that one just fine.

Not a lot people know what if feels like to, uh, be angry… in your bones. I mean, they understand, your foster parents, everybody else understands… for a while. But then they want the angry little kid to do something he knows he can’t do. Move on.

So, after a while, they stop understanding. They send the angry kid to a boys’ home. I figured it out too late. You got to learn to hide the anger. Practice smiling in the mirror. It’s like putting on a mask.

So, you showed up this one day in a cool car, pretty girl on your arm. We were so excited! Bruce Wayne; billionaire orphan! I mean, we used to make up stories about you, man. Legends. And, you know, with the other kids, that’s all it was, just stories, but… right when I saw you, I knew who you really were. I’d seen that look on your face before. It was the same one I taught myself. I don’t know why you took the fall for Dent’s murder, but I’m still a believer in the Batman. Even if you’re not.”

5 “I’m Gotham’s Reckoning. Here To End The Borrowed Time You All Have Been Living On”

Tom Hardy as Bane

Right up until the moment Bane calmly delivers this line to Ben Mendelsohn’s slimy corporate criminal John Daggett, he believes he has all the power. But confronted with genuine evil, whose motivation is burning Gotham to ash, Daggett shrinks. And in a lengthy speech about his plans for Gotham, this line is the killer blow.

4 “You Think The Darkness Is Your Ally, But You Merely Adopted The Dark. I Was Born In It, Molded By It”

Tom Hardy as Bane

Bane might not have been the easiest Batman villain to hear, but most of what he said was delivered with the perfect theatricality you’d want from any member of the Rogue’s Gallery. Even in Nolan’s Batman universe, where realism tended to rule, Bane was super-real, and his own description of his origin is the stuff of legend. In one moment he relegates Batman’s whole ethos – the power of striking fear – to being a hollow performance.

“Oh, you think the darkness is your ally, but you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but blinding! The shadows betray you, because they belong to me. I will show you where I have made my home, whilst preparing to bring justice. Then, I will break you. Your precious armory, gratefully accepted. We will need it. Ah yes, I was wondering what would break first. Your spirit, or your body.”

3 “Feel The Fire Of 12 Million Souls You Failed”

Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate

The reveal of Cotillard’s Miranda Tate being Talia al Ghul may not have been the most positively received at the time, but in hindsight her brief time on-screen as an actual supervillain is very good. She is the realization of Alfred’s frequently-quoted “Some men just want to watch the world burn” line in The Dark Knight arguably even more than Heath Ledger’s Joker.

While he was chaos personified, and his defeat didn’t matter to him, her revenge is all-encompassing, and her motivation horribly compelling. She wants to destroy Gotham not just because, but because of what it would do to Batman: a fate worse than death for its protector. This line is a beautifully haunting offer of what his defeat would mean.

2 “Why Do We Fall? So That We Can Learn To Pick Ourselves Up”

Michael Caine as Alfred

Alongside Rocky Balboa‘s line about perseverance and the measure of a man being how hard he can get hit and keep moving forward, Alfred’s rumination on defeat is top tier philosophy. Eminently quotable as motivation, it is also a reflection of Thomas Wayne’s line to Bruce in Batman Begins, bringing the trilogy full-circle.

It’s also the perfect reminder of Alfred’s role in Bruce’s life in the wake of his parents. He is not just loyal servant, or the tech-support he has been in other Batman adaptations: he is a loving, supportive surrogate parent.

Alfred:
Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.

Bruce:
You still haven’t given up on me?

Alfred:
Never.

1 “When Gotham Is Ashes, You Have My Permission To Die”

Tom Hardy as Bane

The Dark Knight Rises offers a strange meditation on death, because it suggests both Bruce Wayne and Bane’s existence is pained. Nolan’s trilogy ender is all about pain, as Bruce wrestles with the aftermath of Rachel’s death, and Bane’s promise that he won’t be allowed to die until he sees Gotham fall is chilling because of that.

Batman wants death (either symbolically through release from his duty or actually), and Bane’s terrifying promise is incredibly loaded. He will kill Batman, but not before he makes sure he has nothing left to live for, as he actually explains to his enemy:

Bruce Wayne:
Why didn’t you just… kill me?

Bane:
You don’t fear death… You welcome it. Your punishment must be more severe.

Bruce Wayne:
Torture?

Bane:
Yes. But not of your body… Of your soul.

This quote is all the more impactful for Batman’s later reuse of it when he beats Bane. Asking him where the trigger is and getting no answer, Batman snarkily mocks the dying villain by saying “Then… you have my permission to die.” Mic drop.

The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises is the final chapter in the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy, with Christian Bale donning the cape and cowl once more to save Gotham City from certain destruction. Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Batman has left the public eye after taking the fall for the crimes committed by a twisted Harvey Dent. However, he is called back into action when a mysterious villain named Bane arrives to bring disorder to Gotham, forcing him to confront deeper, darker recesses of his past to be able to face a challenge he may not be ready for.

Release Date

August 16, 2012

Runtime

2h 45m