Changes

The film series was rebooted again in 2005, with ''[[Batman Begins]]'', a grittier, more realistic take on Batman.  In this film director [[Christopher Nolan]] took Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) halfway around the world in search of the answer to the riddle of criminality.  He learns to fight multiple opponents, conceal himself, and gains the will to act in defense of others.  Returning to Gotham after being declared legally dead, he deftly maneuvers himself back into the control of his murdered father's company and resolves to terrify the criminal element by making himself seem inhuman, choosing the mantle of a bat, because bats scare ''him''.

The film series was rebooted again in 2005, with ''[[Batman Begins]]'', a grittier, more realistic take on Batman.  In this film director [[Christopher Nolan]] took Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) halfway around the world in search of the answer to the riddle of criminality.  He learns to fight multiple opponents, conceal himself, and gains the will to act in defense of others.  Returning to Gotham after being declared legally dead, he deftly maneuvers himself back into the control of his murdered father's company and resolves to terrify the criminal element by making himself seem inhuman, choosing the mantle of a bat, because bats scare ''him''.

Several critically-acclaimed comic book stories - among them ''The Long Halloween'' and ''The Killing Joke'' - were used as in the most recent entry in Nolan's series, ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' (2008), which has thus far exceeded all expectations.  Almost universally lauded by critics and shattering numerous box-office records, ''The Dark Knight'' featured the final complete performance of [[Heath Ledger]] as a monstrous version of the Joker, a psychotic who thinks the only sane way to live [[anarchy|is without rules]] and wants to prove it to the world - and at the same time gave the artists and writers who penned the Batman stories a version of the Joker they thought was closest to their own.  Though the tone at the start of the film is hopeful - Batman has inspired citizens to stand up for themselves again and has organized crime in the city reeling - it quickly spirals downward, embodying the theme that Nolan chose for the movie: things have to get worse before they get better.

Several critically-acclaimed comic book stories - among them ''The Long Halloween'' and ''The Killing Joke'' - were used as well as in the second entry in Nolan's series, ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' (2008), which has thus far exceeded all expectations.  Almost universally lauded by critics and shattering numerous box-office records, ''The Dark Knight'' featured the final complete performance of [[Heath Ledger]] as a monstrous version of the Joker, a psychotic who thinks the only sane way to live [[anarchy|is without rules]] and wants to prove it to the world - and at the same time gave the artists and writers who penned the Batman stories a version of the Joker they thought was closest to their own.  Though the tone at the start of the film is hopeful - Batman has inspired citizens to stand up for themselves again and has organized crime in the city reeling - it quickly spirals downward, embodying the theme that Nolan chose for the movie: things have to get worse before they get better.

''[[The Dark Knight Rises]]'' was the third film in what has since been called ''The Dark Knight Trilogy''.  It was released on July 20, 2012.  Most of the cast from the previous two films returned.  New cast members included Tom Hardy as Bane, Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake, and Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul.  The film takes place eight years after ''The Dark Knight''.  Bruce Wayne has become a recluse after the past eight years.  A piece of legislation called the Dent Act has denied parole to convicts associated with the Mob, most of whom are placed in Blackgate Prison.

''[[The Dark Knight Rises]]'' was the third film in what has since been called ''The Dark Knight Trilogy''.  It was released on July 20, 2012.  Most of the cast from the previous two films returned.  New cast members included Tom Hardy as Bane, Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake, and Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul.  The film takes place eight years after ''The Dark Knight''.  Bruce Wayne has become a recluse after the past eight years.  A piece of legislation called the Dent Act has denied parole to convicts associated with the Mob, most of whom are placed in Blackgate Prison.