EXT. GOTHAM BRIDGE – CONTINUOUS 291
Blake races back. Father Reilly has the boys in a huddle, praying –
BLAKE
Father! Get the boys on the bus –
FATHER REILLY
But there’s nowhere to go, son.
EXT. GOTHAM STREETS – CONTINUOUS 292
The Bat spins down in front of the black truck, forcing it into a hard right turn …
INT. TRUCK – CONTINUOUS 293
Talia watches the navigation screen.
TUMBLER DRIVER
(over radio)
They’re trying to force us onto Grand –
TALIA
Pushing us to the entrance of the reactor. They’re going to try to reconnect the core.
TUMBLER DRIVER
(over radio)
Can they?
Talia smiles …
INT. REACTOR PLANT – CONTINUOUS 294
Fox runs to a ladder. Alarms sound, As he hits the ladder he turns. A massive rumble builds – water smashes into the reactor, flooding in from both directions.
EXT. GOTHAM STREETS – CONTINUOUS 295
Catwoman comes up behind the lead Tumbler. She blasts it again and again – it flips diagonally into the path of the black truck, causing the truck to lurch onto its side. Both vehicles careen into the mouth of the tunnel.
INT. REACTOR PLANT – CONTINUOUS 296
Fox loops his arm around a rung of the ladder and braces as a wave smashes into him, painfully …
EXT. TUNNEL ENTRANCE – CONTINUOUS 297
Gordon jumps out of the truck, opening the rear doors to expose the glowing core. Catwoman pulls up on the Bat-Pod.
GORDON
Give me a hand!
The Bat lands at the tunnel mouth. Gordon moves in to try and grab the core, but it is too hot.
Let’s get a cable on it and drag it out! Come on, we’re almost there –
Laughter. Gordon turns. Talia, lying half out of the truck. Dying.
TALIA
Fox showed me how to operate the reactor core. Including the emergency flood –
INT. REACTOR PLANT – CONTINUOUS 298
Fox pulls himself above the rising whitewater –
EXT. TUNNEL ENTRANCE – CONTINUOUS 299
Gordon looks down at Talia. Batman is at his side.
TALIA
There’s no way to stop this bomb. Prepare yourselves … (Looks up at Batman.) My father’s work is done.
Talia smiles as her eyes flutter closed. Gordon turns – Batman is at the core, plunging his hands into its heat to attach a hoist from the Bat.
GORDON
What’re you doing?
BATMAN
Two minutes. I can fly it out over the bay …
Catwoman is at his side as he works.
CATWOMAN
Rig it to fly out over the water, then bail –
BATMAN
No autopilot.
She takes this in. He stands to face her.
CATWOMAN
You could’ve gone anywhere. Been anything. But you came back here.
BATMAN
So did you.
CATWOMAN
I guess we’re both suckers.
She puts her arms around his neck. Kisses him. Batman moves to the Bat, Gordon alongside.
GORDON
So this is the part where you vanish, only this time you don’t come back?
Batman opens the canopy.
EXT. GOTHAM BRIDGE – CONTINUOUS 300
Blake grabs at the smallest boys, shoving them onto the bus.
BLAKE
Come on! On the bus!
FATHER REILLY
What’re you doing?
BLAKE
Protection from the blast –
FATHER REILLY
It’s an atom bomb –!
Blake turns on Father Reilly, furious.
BLAKE
You think they need to hear that in their last seconds? You think I’m going to let them die without hope?
EXT. TUNNEL ENTRANCE – CONTINUOUS 301
Gordon puts a hand on Batman’s arm.
GORDON
I never cared who you were –
BATMAN
And you were right.
GORDON
But shouldn’t people know the hero who saved them?
BATMAN
A hero can be anyone. That was always the point.
Batman sits into the cockpit, then looks again at Gordon.
Anyone. A man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a little boy’s shoulders to let him know that the world hadn’t ended …
The canopy closes – and as the Bat fires up Gordon remembers –
Insert cut: Gordon, in uniform, wraps the overcoat around the Young Bruce’s shoulders, his eyes reassuring, loving.
Gordon looks up to the cockpit –
GORDON
Bruce Wayne?
– but is dusted by downdraft as the Bat rises. Gordon leaps out of the way as the core is dragged along and out of the tunnel mouth.
The Bat struggles with the weight of the smoking core … A building is in the way – Batman fights the controls but there’s no power to get over it.
EXT. GOTHAM BRIDGE – CONTINUOUS 302
Blake shouts into the bus –
BLAKE
Heads down! Heads down, now!
FATHER REILLY
Blake, they need to make their peace.
Blake turns to him, furious.
BLAKE
They’re children! They have no peace to make –
An explosion from downtown Gotham. Blake looks across, startled, turns to the children on the bus.
Get down! That’s it!
The smallest of the boys stares through the window past Blake.
LITTLE BOY
No. That’s Batman.
Blake turns to see the Bat thundering out of the heart of Gotham, trailing smoke, the core hanging from it. It curves dangerously close to the bridge before heading for the mouth of the river … the bay … the ocean …
Until a point of light fires into an enormous nuclear blast – wind and light and dust blowing violently but harmlessly over the bridge, the tunnel mouth, all of Gotham …
As the nuclear dawn fades over Gotham, and we see its inhabitants start to raise their heads, and helicopters and boats converge on the island, we hear a voice. Jim Gordon.
GORDON
(voice-over)
‘I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss …’
Blake pulls out his badge. Throws it into the river.
GORDON
(voice-over)
‘I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy …’
EXT. GARDENS, WAYNE MANOR – DAY 303
Gordon is reading from A Tale of Two Cities. Opposite is Fox, arm in a sling, and Blake, grim. Another figure is there, whose face we do not yet see …
GORDON
‘I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done …’
Gordon closes the book, looking down at Bruce Wayne’s grave.
‘It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.’
Gordon looks up at the figure standing across from him …
Alfred. Tears streaming.
Fox places a gentle hand on Alfred’s shoulder, then leaves. Gordon and Blake follow. Alfred, alone with the Wayne family, turns to the grave beside Bruce’s – the grave of Thomas and Martha Wayne.
ALFRED
I’m so sorry. I failed you. You trusted me, and I failed you.
And the old man’s shoulders begin to shake with sobs.
EXT. FRONT ENTRANCE, WAYNE MANOR – CONTINUOUS 304
Gordon nods at Lucius. Blake is at Gordon’s side.
GORDON
Can I change your mi
nd about quitting the force?
BLAKE
No. What you said about structures. About shackles. I can’t take it. The injustice. (Gestures at gardens.) I mean … no one’s ever going to know who saved an entire city.
GORDON
They know. (Off look.) It was Batman.
EXT. PLAZA, DOWNTOWN GOTHAM – DAY 305
Gordon, on a platform with dignitaries, watches a statue being unveiled. The curtain parts: Batman, immortalized in granite. We move in on the stone face …
VOICE
(o.s.)
Mr. Wayne’s will was not amended to reflect his more modest estate …
INT. LAWYER’S OFFICE – DAY 306
The voice belongs to Wayne’s Lawyer, addressing a small group.
LAWYER
Nonetheless, there are considerable assets to dispose of … The contents of the house are to be sold –
He glances up to see someone slip into the room – Blake.
EXT. WAYNE MANOR – DAY 307
Movers carefully bring artworks and furniture out of the house, watched by a solitary figure. Alfred.
LAWYER
(voice-over)
– to settle the estate’s accounts. The remainder is left in its entirety to Alfred J. Pennyworth …
INT. LAWYER’S OFFICE – DAY 308
Blake shifts. Out of place. The Lawyer continues.
LAWYER
The house and grounds are left to the city of Gotham, on condition that they never be demolished, altered or otherwise interfered with –
EXT. WAYNE MANOR – DAY 309
Different movers carry bunk beds into the huge house.
LAWYER
(voice-over)
And that they shall be used for one purpose, and one purpose only …
A schoolbus pulls up. Father Reilly shepherds children towards the house. The children look up at the house, wide-eyed.
The housing and care of the city’s at-risk and orphaned children.
A sign reads:
THE MARTHA AND THOMAS WAYNE HOME FOR CHILDREN
INT. LAWYER’S OFFICE – DAY 310
People file out as the Lawyer stands.
LAWYER
My clerk will help anyone with the smaller correspondences and instructions …
Blake approaches the Clerk. She smiles.
BLAKE
Blake, John.
CLERK
(checks list)
Nothing here.
Blake realizes, offers her his driving license.
BLAKE
Try my legal name.
The Clerk glances at the license. Checks.
CLERK
Yup, here it is.
She reaches down behind the desk, sorting through various items, and hands him a sports bag. Blake takes it, curious.
CLERK
You should use your full name. I like that name … Robin.
Blake smiles, embarrassed. Leaves.
LAWYER
Any word on the missing item?
CLERK
No, not yet.
LAWYER
Well, they’d better leave no stone unturned … We can’t just put a string of pearls on the manifest as ‘lost’.
INT. APPLIED SCIENCES – DAY 311
Fox stands in front of the second camouflage rotor. Two Techs are examining the controls in the cockpit.
TECH 1
Why worry about the stabilization software? This whole autopilot system’s obsolete –
FOX
Please, I just need to know what I could’ve done to fix it.
TECH 2
But, Mr. Fox, it’s already been fixed. (Types on panel.) Software patch … six months ago.
FOX
(confused)
Check the user ident on the patch …
Tech 2 types some more keys. Looks surprised.
TECH 2
Huh. Bruce Wayne.
Fox turns away from the rotor, an idea starting to form …
EXT. WOODS – DAY 312
Blake sits in his car looking at a GPS device, puzzled. Beside him, the sports bag, open. In it is a piece of paper with coordinates, on top of some climbing rope and shackles. Blake gets out of the car with the bag. Follows the GPS into the trees.
EXT. CAFÉ, FLORENCE – EVENING 313
Alfred, paper under his arm, heads to his usual table. Sits.
WAITER
Lei e solo?
ALFRED
Si, Fernet Branca, per cortesia.
EXT. WOODS – DAY 314
Blake finds a large waterfall … He checks the GPS, confused. Stares at the waterfall. Reaches for the climbing gear …
EXT. MCU – NIGHT 315
Gordon steps onto the roof with his pile of arrest reports …
EXT. CAFÉ, FLORENCE – DAY 316
As Alfred sips his drink, he glances up at a couple at the next table. Strangers. Alfred looks back down …
INT. CAVE – DAY 317
Moving in on the waterfall from inside … Blake bursts through, landing painfully on the shale inside. He gets to his feet, moving cautiously into the cave …
EXT. MCU – NIGHT 318
Gordon bangs his files against the air duct, straightening them. He stops. Sees something. The searchlight … fixed. Gordon runs his fingers across a brand new, steel Bat symbol … He looks up into the night …
INT. CAVE – DAY 319
Blake lights his torch … then ducks, crouching, as thousands of screeching creatures descend. Bats …
EXT. CAFÉ, FLORENCE – DAY 320
Alfred folds his paper. Pulls out his money. Then stops, seeing … across the tables, a familiar couple … Bruce smiles at Alfred, who nods. Bruce turns back to the pretty brunette in pearls. Selina. Alfred pays his bill, content.
INT. CAVE – DAY 321
Blake lifts his head, feeling the bats all around him … Blake rises, and is swallowed by the darkness of their wings, and we –
Fade out.
Credits.
End.
The Dark Knight Rises
STORYBOARDS
The Commuter Plane Sequence
Copyright
The Dark Knight Trilogy
An OPUS Trade Paper Original 2013
Published by arrangement with Faber and Faber Limited
Typeset by Country Setting, Kingsdown, Kent CT14 8ES
Printed in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
ISBN: 978-1-62316-001-2
Copyright © 2012 DC Comics.
Batman and all related characters and elements
are trademarks of and © DC Comics.
WB Shield: ™ and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
(S12)
The rights of Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer
to be identified as authors of this work have been asserted in accordance
with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Storyboards drawn by Martin Asbury,
James Cornish and Gabriel Hardman
Publisher’s Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
The dark knight trilogy : the Batman screenplays / Batman; storyboards drawn by Martin Asbury, James Cornish, Gabriel Hardman. — New York : Opus. (Opus screenplay series)
ISBN: 978-1-62316-001-2 (pbk.) ; 978-1-62316-000-5 (ebk.)
Contents: Batman begins / screenplay by Christopher Nolan
and David S. Goyer, story by David S. Goyer — The dark knight / screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer — The dark knight rises / screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & Davis S. Goyer.
1. Batman (Fictitious character)—Film adaptations. 2. Dark knight ( Motion picture) 3. Batman (Comic strip)—Film adaptations. 4. Comic strip characters—Film adaptations. 5. Vigilantes—Drama. 6. Criminal behavior—Drama. 7. Motion picture plays—2000–2010. I. Kane, Bob. II. Nolan, Christopher, 1970- III. Goyer, David
S. IV. Nolan, Jonathan. V. Asbury, Martin. VI. Cornish, James. VII. H ardman, Gabriel. VIII. Batman screenplays. IX. Batman begins. X. Dark knight. XI. Dark knight rises. XII. Series.
PN1997.2.D37 D37 2012
791.4372—dc23
1208
OPUS, a division of Subtext Inc., A Glenn Young Company
is distributed to the trade by The Hal Leonard Publishing Group
Toll Free Sales: 800-524-4425
www.halleonard.com
All other enquiries: opusbookpublishers.com
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY: The Complete Screenplays with Storyboards Page 38