Who Is John Blake?

The Dark Knight Rises. It's coming. Some lucky people have already seen it, but so far I've been able to avoid the spoilers. I really want to enjoy the twists and turns I want to know if Batman dies.I want to know if Bane breaks his back. I want to know if Anne Hathaway is as bad a choice as I'd expect, or if she'll surprise me.

But there's one big question I'm tempted to find the answer to right now: Who is John Blake?

For those who don't know, John Blake is a (sorta) new character for Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. All we know about him so far is that he's a Gotham City cop who will have a major role in the story. The fact that such an important character is being introduced at the tail end of a trilogy has lead to a ton of fan speculation concerning the role he'll play. I'll give you my guesses below

One thing before I do, though: I want to be clear that this list isn't literal. I'm not saying that "John Blake" is some sort of code name meant to throw us off the trail. I'm assuming for now that John Blake is, in fact, his real name and that we won't find out that he was actually [insert well-established character here] the whole time.

Each guess is more about the role John Blake will play in Nolan's pretty, little universe.

Also, this list isn't in any particular order. I tried to come up with some sort of ranking system, but I failed. Sorry, but I'm just not perfect. Just almost.

Okey-dokey. Here we go:

Dick Grayson, Robin

Nolan's trilogy has featured almost every important character (and even some previously unimportant characters) in the Batman mythos—Batman, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, The Joker, Two Face, Catwoman, etc. There's one character who's been missing, however, and that's Robin.

There have been many different Robins over the years, but the first was a character named Dick Grayson, created by the same guys who created Batman. He was a young acrobat who, after the death of his parents, was taken in by Bruce Wayne. He eventually became Batman's teenaged sidekick.

Robin appeared on film in the '90s. He continues to be a very important character in the comic book universe in which the Batman movies are based. Yet, there has been no mention of him in Nolan's movies as a superhero or as a civilian.

There are a few good reasons not to include Robin, though. The notion that any responsible adult would put a teenager in harm's way night after night is laughable at best. Robin's introduction is also considered to be the beginning of the end of a previously good series. Oh, and Nolan has stated that he won't be introducing Robin in his series, opting instead to concentrate on his central character.

There are ways around each of them, though. Batman training and working with a "Dick Grayson" who is already a capable adult (Gordon-Levitt is 31) makes a lot more sense. It's reasonable, and Nolan loves that sort of thing. Also, as a cop, he's a man who already puts himself in harm's way, so there's that. And speaking of the fact that he's a cop, Grayson trained to be a cop in the DC Universe.

As far as series pollution goes, I'd say Nolan trusts himself not to Bat-nipple his franchise. And he can always contend that he never introduced Robin into his movies, as long as he doesn't call him that.

And then there's this.

So I'd say it's possible that we might see Bruce to take on a partner to help fight Bane, or that we might see a last-frame hint that Bruce will take John under his Bat-wing and make him into someone who can fight crime in a way only they can. The stakes will be higher this time around. The villains will be stronger. It makes sense.

Dick Grayson, Nightwing

After fighting crime as Batman's sidekick for a few year (a few decades in our time), Dick struck out on his own and became a new superhero, Nightwing. He patrolled a different city, made his own enemies, and became his own man.

Same person, but I'm listing him again. Remember, we're talking about roles here. It's entirely possible that instead of working with Bruce he'll work as his own new hero inspired by Batman. Whether Bruce is alive or dead at that point wouldn't be an issue. He might decide to fight crime in Gotham, Blüdhaven, or somewhere entirely new. Still doesn't matter. What would be important is that John would become an extension of Batman without taking on the name.

Grayson became Nightwing at the age of eighteen. Levitt's character is already an adult, so skipping the Robin phase and jumping right into the black and blue costume would make sense. Also, this would allow the Batman movie universe to continue under some other director without requiring another Batman movie. That would be a perfect route for Nolan to take, since he obviously wants to give us a nice, neat ending to his trilogy (and perhaps his main character).

Jean-Paul Valley, Azrael/Batman

Whu?

To best explain Jean-Paul Valley, we should probably mention a few other guys first:

Bane is the big baddie of The Dark Knight Rises. In the comic books, however, he has had a bit of a sordid history. Much like this guy, Bane has been treated very differently by different writers who have often tried to reinvent him, give him more (a better) backstory, and generally make him more than the closest thing the hero will have to having the Incredible Hulk as an enemy. Also, the biggest thing either character has ever done was temporarily end the hero's career in one move.

For Doomsday, it was a Superman-killing punch. For Bane, it was an over-the-knee back breaker that quite literally "Broke the Bat" and left him a paraplegic.

So Bruce Wayne was stuck in a wheelchair, unable to fight crime. But the criminals kept being criminals and Gotham needed a new hero. One obvious choice was Nightwing, but Bruce chose someone else instead.

You see, a few months prior, a new character, Jean-Paul, was introduced into the Batman mythos. He was a man who'd been born in a test tube and subconsciously raised to become a great assassin. After fighting Batman and rejecting the whole assassin thing, he began a career in Gotham as Azrael, Agent of Batman.

Which brings us back again to Bruce...in a wheelchair. Instead of choosing the more experienced and stable Nightwing, Bruce chose Jean-Paul to take his place as Batman and gave him explicit orders not to fight Bane.

Similarly, if Bane breaks Batman's back in Rises, ending Bruce's career, Bruce might choose John Blake as his immediate replacement, the next Batman.

This would fall in line with the comics, and we already have a few indications that the movie might be working to do that. The Knightfall story in which Bane breaks Batman's back and Jean-Paul takes the mantle, includes a scene where Bane breaks the prisoners out of Arkham Asylum and unleashes them on the city. And while I'm linking to Youtube videos, we've already seen a scene in the movie where a large number of police officers engage a large number of presumably bad men. It's not a stretch to imagine that the bad guys are escaped prisoners.

Having someone else take up the mantle of the Bat after Bruce is rendered incapable would fit.

Also, John sounds like Jean.

Michael Akins, Commissioner of Gotham

Apparently, Commissioner Gordon's goes through a lot in Nolan's movie, but that's nothing new for the character.

You see, in the comic book universe, everything bad has happened, including Gotham being hit by an earthquake. And so began No Man's Land and the fight to bring order to the ruined city. More bad stuff happened, especially to Gordon and his wife. The latter was killed by the Joker, and Gordon nearly killed the Joker in return. Instead he shot Joker in his knee. Then one of Gordon's own officer's tried to kill him. Then he retired.

Michael Akins was the man who took his place. He wasn't a nice guy either. He eventually outlawed all masked vigilantes, making things a lot harder for Batman (on account that he's a masked vigilante). Yeah, he was a dick.

Perhaps the Batman trilogy doesn't end with Batman dying or being forced out. Maybe, just maybe, the trilogy ends with Gordon's fall. It's quite possible Gordon will have to come face to face with the lie he's propogated for so many years, and pay the final price. If that happens, someone will have to take his place. Maybe it will be a certain character we already know is a police officer. And maybe he'll blame Batman for a lot of what's happened and make wearing a mask in Gotham a very bad thing, once again raising the stakes.