Though it's over a year old now, there’s still a debate raging as to the meaning of the conclusion of
The Dark Knight Rises. Did Bruce Wayne survive or was Bruce's uncanny appearance in the café mearly a figment of Alfred's imagination? Did John Blake become Robin or Nightwing or even a new Batman?
While there the answer to the first question will never be definitively settled, the answer to the second question is much more clear. Remember Wayne's quote from Batman Begins: "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." Clearly, Blake is intended to rise to fill Batman's shoes, validating the entire point of the trilogy.
Sadly, we're never going get to see Nolan's version of Blake's story, but director Brett Register has harnessed the fanatically following of Christopher Nolan's trilogy to create a fan film that offers up some closure. It's called
The Dark Knight Legacy, and it's fairly brilliant. Set one year after the events of
The Dark Knight Rises,
The Dark Knight Legacy follows John Blake's adventures as Nightwing, defending Gotham City from a new villain known as the Red Hood.
"Dark Knight Legacy is a fan film set one year after the Dark Knight Rises, following "Robin" John Blake's heroic journey to protect the symbol of Batman from the lethal, relentless attacks of a masked vigilante known only as the Red Hood."
