Nolan's Batman is pure Neocon propaganda:

- Tortures criminals to get information out of them.
- Portrays government officials as corrupt or incompetent.
- Invades a foreign country all by himself to extradite and torture a suspect.
- Villains are devoid of logical motivation.
- Preaches the necessity of invasion of privacy.
- Citizens are all ungrateful and/or mindless.
- Wayne Corp is nothing but ethical, from top to bottom.
- Says Thomas Wayne caused his own death by being peaceful.
- Bruce Wayne uses his money to fight criminals instead of improving lives.
- Characterizes vigilantes as heroes, and everyone else as eventual villains.
- Everyone is either purely good or purely evil.

Compare this to Marvel's equivalent character, Iron Man:

- Morally grey character realizes that war profiteering has real consequences for innocent people.
- Government figures are individuals, from idealistic but wrong (Sen. Stern) to principled and competent (Rhodey).
- Warmongering characters treated as villains with rational but misguided motives.
- Promotes the use of technology for peace instead of destruction.
- Depicts the free market as both a tool for good and for evil.
- Humanizes "collateral damage" as actual human beings with feelings and lives.
- Stark stops war profiteering, taking a principled stand against greedy shareholders.
- Transparently reveals himself so that he can be held accountable for his errors.
- Promotes clean, renewable energy.
- Stark's original design, and the resulting illness, show the self-destruction of personal power.
- Refuses to let his

Batman Begins was so much better than The Dark Knight (AKA "When's the Joker coming back on screen?"). It had a clear narrative, was devoid of convoluted and preachy political undertones, and Batman himself was the central motivating character. He drove the plot.

The Dark Knight was little more than an advertisement for Neoconservative ideology, and Batman himself played no active role... He wasn't self-motivated, he was simply reacting to the actions of other, more driven characters.

Based on the synopses I've read, it seems like TDKR doubles down on the flaws I saw in TDK. Preachy political undertones, Batman as a plot-driven character, but without the iconic foil that is the Joker. I probably will go to see it, but if it's anything like The Dark Knight, I will be very disappointed.

I genuinely doubt it. Without the Joker, and without the media storm over Heath's iconic portrayal, I just don't see your casual crowd going to see this in numbers as large as they did for The Avengers.

People go to Marvel movies for the heroes. People go to Batman movies for the villains. As much as I love Bane, I can't imagine that he's going to draw the same size audience as the Joker did. Heck, that's about the only reason I went to TDK to begin with.

NO way, the only reason the last movie did so great at the box office. Was because of the Heath Ledger's unexpected death & his fans. Who wanted to see his last performance. It'll be lucky to make half what the last movie made.

I'm Catman! LOL

Avengers Assemble!!