The fate of Bruce Wayne is the most hotly debated topic when it comes to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, and after a good round of discussion among our editors, 
we’re almost unanimously convinced that Christian Bale will finally hang up his cowl at the end of this film, leaving Gotham in the hands of a younger vigilante. Now, I’ve always thought that Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character John Blake would inherit that role, and a recent leak seems to confirm it.
Take this with a grain of salt, because this is the internet after all, but according to the good folks at DKN, it appears that John Blake is none other than Azrael, the Caped Crusader of the early 90’s. Just think about this for a moment, and you’ll see that it makes a good deal of sense. Azrael came to the forefront of comics during Batman’s Knightfall story line, which is one of the primary inspirations for TDKR. In that tale, Bane cripples Bruce Wayne, allowing a particularly vicious do-gooder known as Azrael to fill the void. Here’s the reportedly leaked Hero-Clix bio that’s started this whole rumor…
“A hard-nosed young Gotham beat cop who is assigned to a special task unit to take down the vigilante known as “The Batman” becomes an unlikely ally to the Dark Knight. When the mercenary known as “Bane” breaks the prisoners out of Blackgate Prison, the city becomes overrun and Blake takes the codename of “Azrael” to help Batman stop Bane.”
For what it’s worth, I don’t think Nolan will completely indulge in Azrael’s comic book origins. After all, I can’t imagine that they’d allow John Blake to develop into the villain he became in the comics (and yes, he was a villain… after a while, that is). What do you guys think? Is this true? False? Potentially awesome? Sound off!
SOURCE: DKN
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