What The Batman Got Right That The Dark Knight Didn’t: A Tale of Two Endings



There’s an interesting symmetry in the ending of The Batman and ANOTHER of the World’s Greatest Detectives iconic endings, one that Christopher Nolan gave us in The Dark Knight. But for all the obvious comparisons to be made, we think The Batman might’ve done it better.

Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson took almost 3 hours to tell the story of the early years of the caped crusader and his first super villain encounter in the form of Paul Dano as the Riddler. But the real story is told with the film’s use of light and dark, charting The Batman’s course from a monster lurking in the shadows to a symbol of hope for Gotham City. Nowhere is the impact of the work of Matt Reeves, Cinematographer Greg Fraser, and colorist David Cole more apparent than the film’s final shot. Here is why the visuals of the ending work so well in The Batman, better in fact, than how they worked in The Dark Knight.

This video essay was written by Siddhant Adlakha and edited by Kalani Newman.

For more near Batman experiences, subscribe to CineFix – IGN Movies & TV and check these out in the meantime!

How Batman and Bond Perfected The Gritty Reboot – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG-BP035T8s

How Jim Carrey Unsanctioned Buffoonery Saved Batman Forever – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JcAXPUFlVk

Why Batman Begins Tumbler Chase Is The Best Bat-Chase Ever – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na9q0T1YnEg

Heath Ledger as The Joker and the Top 10 Oscar Winners of All Time – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKkwBYZ96Dk

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29 thoughts on “What The Batman Got Right That The Dark Knight Didn’t: A Tale of Two Endings”

  1. Na dude. For Nolan to get something wrong on the dark Knight he'd have had to be trying to do it your way…. He wasn't. He was trying to make what he made and I love his masterpiece. The Reeves version was not that fun for me.

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  2. I just unsubscribed from Cinefix. I thought this was a channel for real cinefiles, your focus and inclusion of comic book movies really hurts your reputation. The Batman was not a good film, non of the Marvel films are any good, they are all formulaic and shallow. You can include the Nolan films and the Shyamalan films because they are more art films, but I will not support your channel anymore since you have sullied your own reputation. It is very obvious that you are pandering to the masses in order for you to get more views and this is lessening your artistic integrity. I dont trust you guys anymore.

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  3. Nice to see you guys still turn out a quality video once in a while. Even if it is too short.

    Pattinson's Batman was decent, but his Bruce Wayne was just a little too Vampire Bill for my taste. And once you see that, you can't unsee it.

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  4. What a pointless comparison just to get views, because if you get people mad about comparing two films they will click on it. There's no right ending for a Batman film, it's not a recipe. Ending is the closing of a story, and you can't compare when it's two completely different stories. There's no point in comparing the two of them, and the slight dig about The Dark Knight when it comes to the detective side when in The Batman, the batman is not a very good detective that's why Falcone died. If you gonna point to flaws, do it for both sides.

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  5. I think The Dark Knight’s ending was kinda undermined by the sequel. Gordon’s inspiring speech seems to imply that this is the beginning of the Batman’s true myth in this universe, the first battle in his eternal struggle against evil (while before he still believed there might be a way out). This is where he realizes his is not just a surface level skirmish against some thugs, a conflict that can be won once and for all, but rather an everlasting war against a much deeper type of evil. Bruce’s destiny is to be the unmovable object against the Joker’s unstoppable force, forever.

    …except he retires that same night.

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  6. The difference is The Dark Knight’s theme is well written and conveyed through dialog, characterization, and excellent pacing…while your argument is the message is sold through the cinematography of The Batman…

    We’ll see how Reeves finishes up his trilogy with the next two films but, so far, it’s not even in the same league as TDK trilogy, nor saying anything original that hasn’t been covered better elsewhere.

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  7. Gorgeous video. Really nicely explored.

    One of the things I took from the film is that Batman's narration isn't really what's going on with him. It's just the story he's telling himself. Reeves talks about working with Jungian archetypes, and we can see how, as Batman tries to embody the shadow of the city, the Riddler ends up embodying Bruce Wayne's shadow, which is to say, the darkness within Bruce that he doesn't want to look at. Bringing consciousness to the darkness is what Jungian shadow work is about. It's not about banishing darkness, but making it conscious. I think the Batman's narrative, his "Gotham Project," is his conscious awareness, failing to understand the darker motivations under his surface. He tells himself a story that he's trying to fix things. But his actions reveal a different story.

    Beneath the moralizing, Batman's priority is violence. He's not saving people, he's punishing them. It's not fixing anything. The film's journey takes him to the heart of his own darkness, where he confronts the mirror self that is the Riddler, and is shamed by what he sees. And before he can even reflect on what he's learned, something shifts deep inside him. It's only afterward that he realizes what it is that he's found, a possible path to healing, both for himself, and for the city.

    So I actually enjoyed the fact that he "makes the decision" to be a beacon of light only after he's already transformed into one. Ultimately, our conscious selves are always bringing up the rear, long after the real sea change has happened far below the surface.

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  8. This is just silly. There is no "right" when it comes to making a film. Plus, I have to say that The Batman doesn't feel like a film, it feels like "content". No one gives a shit about the film on its own, not really. All people care about is the sequel. By the end of The Dark Knight we didn't know there would be a sequel and we were happy with that, the film was over, a complete story from start to finish that makes sense even without Batman Begins. It's completely self-contained. There wasn't a need to know where the characters came or where they were going after. That shows the power of that film. This is all compared to people only seeing The Batman as a pilot for a long expensive TV show/fillm/comic universe designed to suck all of the money and attention from people with addiction issues. Like The Batman, well get ready for three TV shows, two sequels, 19 spin-offs and a Fortnite crossover with The Minions. As Scorsese rightfully pointed out: that's not cinema.

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  9. The ending of the TDK could not be better and epic and the ending of The Batman could not be more dissapointing and lame. The Batman has grat moments and scenes and ideas but is not glue togheter completely well. I hope the next one improve over the flaws of this one, almost all are in the script.

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  10. The Dark Knight has a fuzzy moral compass because Batman rides into the light after taking the fall for Harvey Dent and saving the city. It's totally wrong. He should be riding into the darkness, because now he's bad. What are you talking about? The Batman doesn't have a fuzzy moral compass, after Batman considers engaging in crime with Selina? Bale's Batman is straight as an arrow. You're really going to compare an above average movie to one of the greatest, most near perfect films of all time, because of some lighting choices? I'm so sick of all these pretentious channels going on about The Batman and how great it looks while they crap on Christopher Nolan's masterpiece trilogy, which, by the way, blows The Batman out of the water. Maybe you should think of the story instead of whether Batman is riding next to streetlamps or not. Please, please just shut up.

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  11. All these comments regarding who is the most accurate batman just makes me sad. At least there is one close to the comics. Meanwhile I am stuck here as a super diehard fan of Sherlock Holmes, and all I get is HORRIBLE movies and spin series that portraits Sherlock as a f**** retard comical relief.

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  12. "I'm what Gotham needs me to be"

    The ending of The Dark Knight is perfect, because despite Joker basically destroying Harvey Dent and all the hope Gotham has left, Batman still manages to win. Although through lying, he still manages to save Dent's image, thus saving Gotham city. It doesn't matter what people think of him. We, the audience, see him as the true, ultimate Hero. That's why he's represented that way.

    I think you missed the point completely. Or you deliberately misinterpreted the ending of TDK to make this video. I don't know which one is worse.

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