The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - Quotes

A Fire Will Rise

Taglines: A Fire Will Rise

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The Conclusion of an Iconic Saga

Taglines: The Legend Ends

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A Name Exchange in The Dark Knight Rises

John Blake: Blake, John.

Clerk: [after checking a list] Nothing here.

Blake: [hands her an ID card] Ah. Uh, try my legal name.

Clerk: [gives him a suitcase; [W:Robin (superhero)|Robin] You should use your full name. I like that name. "]".

Blake: Thanks.

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The Legacy of the Batman's Sacrifice

Jim Gordon: I can't change your mind about quitting the force?

John Blake: What you said about structures becoming shackles? You were right. I just can't take it. I mean, nobody'll ever know who it was that saved an entire city.

Gordon: They know. It was the Batman.

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The Nature of Heroism in Darkness

Jim Gordon: I never cared who you were

Batman: And you were right.

Gordon: But shouldn't the people know the hero who saved them?

Batman: [[Heroes|hero; flies off with the bomb under the Bat] A ] 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.

Gordon: [Looking at the Bat as he remembers putting coat around a young Bruce Wayne; catches on] Bruce Wayne?

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A Conversation on Sacrifice and Redemption

Selina Kyle: I blow that tunnel open, I'm gone.

Batman: There's more to you than that.

Selina: Sorry I keep letting you down. Come with me, Bruce. Save yourself. You don't owe these people any more. You've given them everything.

Batman: Not everything, Selina. Not yet.

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The Burden of Moral Choices

John Blake: So, all those men locked up for eight years in Blackgate and denied parole under the Dent Act, based on a lie?

Jim Gordon: Gotham needed a hero.

Blake: It needs it now more than ever. You betrayed everything you stood for.

Gordon: There's a point, John, far out there, when the structures fail you. When the rules aren't weapons anymore, they're shackles, letting the bad guy get ahead. One day, you may face such a moment of crisis, and in that moment I hope you have a friend like I did, to plunge their hands into the filth, so that you can keep yours clean!

Blake: Your hands look plenty filthy to me, Commissioner.

Bane: We take Gotham from the corrupt!

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Truth and Corruption in Gotham City

Bane: [holds picture of Dent] Behind you stands a symbol of oppression: Blackgate Prison, where a thousand men have languished under the name of this man, Harvey Dent, who has been held up to you as the shining example of justice!

John Blake: Commissioner, we need to keep you moving until we can get you in front of a camera.

Bane: [tears up picture; prisoners roar with approval] You have been supplied with a false idol to stop you tearing down this corrupt city! Let me tell you the truth about Harvey Dent- from the words of Gotham's police commissioner, James Gordon. {{mono|"The Batman didn't murder Harvey Dent. He saved my boy, then took the blame for Harvey's appalling crimes so I could, to my shame, build a lie around this fallen idol. I praised a madman who tried to murder my own child. But I can no longer live with my lie. It is time to trust the people of Gotham with the truth, and it is time for me to resign."}} And do you accept this man's resignation? And do you accept the resignation of all of these liars?! Of all the corrupt?!

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The Nature of True Punishment

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: Torture?

Bane: Yes, but not of your body. Of your soul.

Bruce: Where am I?

Bane: Home! Where I learned the truth about despair, as will you. There's a reason why this prison is the worst hell on earth: hope. Every man who has rotted here over the centuries has looked up to the light and imagined climbing to freedom. So easy. So simple. And like shipwrecked men turning to sea water from uncontrollable thirst, many have died trying. I learned here that there can be no true despair without hope. So, as I terrorize Gotham, I will feed its people hope to poison their souls. I will let them believe they can survive so that you can watch them clambering over each other to stay in the sun. You can watch me torture an entire city, and when you have truly understood the depth of your failure, we will fulfill Ra's al Ghul's destiny. We will destroy Gotham and then, when it is done, and Gotham is ashes, then you have my permission to die!

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Confrontation Among Heroes and Villains

Selina Kyle: I had to find a way to keep them from killing me.

Batman: You made a serious mistake.

The Riddler: Ah, not as serious as yours, I fear.

Batman: Bane?

Bane: Let's not stand on ceremony here, Mr. Wayne.

Bane: Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you.

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A Conversation About Loss and Apology

Selina Kyle: Mr. Wayne? I'm sorry they took all your money.

Bruce Wayne: No you're not.

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Corporate Tensions Amidst a Grand Scheme

John Daggett: What the hell is going on?

Bane: Our plan is proceeding as expected.

Daggett: Oh, really? Do I look like I'm running Wayne Enterprises right now? Your hit on the stock exchange, it didn't work, my friend, and now you have my construction crews going around the city at 24 hours a day. How exactly is that supposed to help my company absorb Wayne's?

Bane: [to Stryver] Leave us.

Daggett: No. Stay here. I'm in charge.

Bane: [reaching for Daggett's neck; Stryver exits] Do you feel in charge?

Daggett: I've paid you a small fortune!

Bane: And this gives you power over me?

Daggett: What is this?

Bane: Your money and infrastructure have been important until now.

Daggett: What are you?

Bane: I'm Gotham's reckoning, here to end the borrowed time you've all been living on.

The Daggett: You're pure evil!

Bane: I'm necessary evil.

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The Struggle Between Duty and Moving On

Alfred Pennyworth: I'll get this to Mr. Fox, but no more. I've sewn you up, I've set your bones, but I won't bury you. I've buried enough members of the Wayne family.

Bruce Wayne: You'll leave me?

Alfred: You see only one end to your journey. Leaving is all I have to make you understand. You're not Batman anymore. You have to find another way. You used to talk about finishing, about a life beyond that awful cave.

Bruce: Alfred, Rachel died knowing that we had decided to be together. That was my life beyond the cave. I can't just move on. She... She didn't. She couldn't.

Alfred: What if she had?

Bruce: She-- I mean, I can't change that.

Alfred: What if before she died, she wrote a letter saying she chose Harvey Dent over you? And what if, to spare you pain, I burnt that letter?

Bruce: How dare you use Rachel to try to stop me.

Alfred: I am using the truth, Master Wayne. Maybe it's time we all stop trying to outsmart the truth and let it have its day! I'm-- I'm sorry.

Bruce: You're sorry? You expect to destroy my world, and then think that we're going to shake hands?

Alfred: No. No, no... I know what this means.

Bruce: What does it mean?

Alfred: It means your hatred, and it also means losing someone that I have cared for since I first heard his cries echo through this house. But it might also mean saving your life, and that is more important.

Bruce: Goodbye, Alfred.

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Misunderstandings in Bruce Wayne's Return

Bruce Wayne: Must've lost my ticket.

Valet Attendant: Your wife said you were taking a cab home.

Bruce: My wife?

Alfred: Just you, sir? Don't worry, Master Wayne. Takes a little time to get back in a swing of things.

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Impending Change and Adaptability

Selina Kyle: You think this can last? 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.

Bruce: You sound like you're looking forward to it.

Selina: I'm adaptable.

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The Return of Batman Amidst Rising Evil

Jim Gordon: We were in this together. Then you were gone.

Bruce Wayne: The Batman wasn't needed anymore. We won.

Gordon: Based on a lie. And now there's evil rising from where we tried to bury it. The Batman has to come back.

Bruce: What if he doesn't exist anymore?

Gordon: He must. He must...

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The Rise of Bane from Darkness

Alfred Pennyworth: If you're seriously considering going back out there, you should hear the rumors surrounding Bane.

Bruce Wayne: I'm all ears.

Alfred: There is a prison in a more ancient part of the world. A pit, where men are thrown, to suffer, and die. But sometimes a man rises from the darkness. Sometimes the darkness sends something back.

Bruce: Bane?

Alfred: Bane. Born and raised in hell on Earth.

Bruce: Born in a prison?

Alfred: No one knows why, or how he escaped. But they do know that once he did, he was trained under Ra's Al Ghul, your mentor.

Bruce: Bane was a member of the League of Shadows?

Alfred: And then he was excommunicated. And any man who is too extreme for Ra's Al Ghul is not to be trifled with.

Bruce: I didn't realize I was known for trifling with criminals.

Alfred: That was then. And you can strap up your leg and put your mask back on. But that doesn't make you what you were.

Bruce: If this man is everything that you say he is, then this city needs me.

Alfred: The city needs Bruce Wayne. Your resources, your knowledge. It doesn't need your body, or your life. That time has passed.

Bruce: You're afraid that if I go back out there, I'll fail.

Alfred: No. I'm afraid that you want to.

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Investigating the Batman's Disappearance and Legacy

Jim Gordon: What's your name, son?

John Blake: Blake, sir.

Gordon: You got something you wanna ask me, Officer Blake?

Blake: It's about that night — this night eight years ago, the night Dent died — the last confirmed sighting of the Batman. He murders those people, takes down two SWAT teams, breaks Dent's neck and then just vanishes?

Gordon: I'm not hearing a question, son.

Blake: Don't you wanna know who he was?

Gordon: I know exactly who he was. He was the Batman.

Identity and Purpose in a Masked World

CIA agent: At least you can talk. Who are you?

Prisoner: It doesn't matter who we are. What matters is our plan.

Bane: No one cared who I was until I put on the mask.

CIA agent: If I pull that off, will you die?

Bane: It would be extremely painful...

CIA agent: You're a big guy.

Bane: ...for you.

CIA agent: Was getting caught part of your plan?

Bane: Of course! Dr. Pavel refused our offer in favor of yours. We had to find out what he told you.

Dr. Pavel: Nothing! I said nothing!

CIA agent: Congratulations! You got yourself caught. Now what's the next step of your master plan?

Bane: Crashing this plane... WITH NO SURVIVORS!

A Wish for a Better Future

Alfred Pennyworth: [to Bruce] 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-I went to Florence. There's this cafe, on the banks of the Arno. Every fine evening, I would sit there and order a-a Fernet Branca. I had this fantasy that I would look across the tables and I'd see you there, with a... wife, maybe a-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.

Remembering a Fallen Hero

Jim Gordon: [eulogy at Harvey Dent's funeral] I knew Harvey Dent. I was his friend. And it will be a long time before someone inspires us the way he did. I believed in Harvey Dent.

Understanding Anger and Identity Through Adversity

John Blake: Not a lot people know what if feels like to, like... to be angry, in your bones. I mean, they understand. I mean, foster parents, everybody understands. For a while, at least. 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 gotta 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 use 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.

Bane's Inevitable Decision on Death

Bane: We both know I have to kill you now. I suppose you'll just have to imagine the fire.

Bane's Call for Gotham's Liberation

Bane: [one of Bane's captured Tumbler Cannons blows a hole in the prison's gates, allowing his followers inside] We take Gotham from the corrupt, the rich, the oppressors of generations who have kept you down with myths of opportunity, and we give it back to you, the people. Today, we turn myth to reward! We turn the water into wine and implore you drink deep of the cup. Gotham is yours. None shall interfere; do as you please. But start by storming Blackgate and freeing the oppressed! Step forward, those who would serve, for an army will be raised. The powerful will be ripped from their decadent nests, and cast out into the cold world that we know and endure. Courts will be convened. Spoils will be enjoyed! Blood will be shed! The police will survive, as they learn to serve true justice. This great city, it will endure. Gotham will survive.

The Appearance of a Notorious Figure

Bane: Speak of the devil and he shall appear!

The Nature of Darkness and Identity

Bane: Oh, you think 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!

Facing Fear in Critical Moments

Bane: Calm down, doctor! Now is not the time for fear. That comes later.

Wealth Disparity in Times of Crisis

Selina Kyle/Catwoman: The rich don't even go broke the same as the rest of us, huh?

Excommunication from a Gang of Psychopaths

Bruce Wayne/Batman: [to Bane] You were excommunicated by a gang of psychopaths!

Perspective on Tools and Weapons

Bruce Wayne/Batman: One man's tool is another man's weapon.

The Importance of Connection and Legacy

Bruce Wayne/Batman: There are always people you care about. You just don't realize how much until they're gone. The idea was to be a symbol. Batman could be anybody. That was the point.