Hello all! This is the third regular update of this week! We wrap up the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy in this new chapter of Avengers and Movies, with:
The Dark Knight Rises
Thank you to all who reviewed the updates for Avengers and Pranks, and Real Life Videogames, for this week. Personally, I loved doing the Tron crossover. Next chapter of Real Life Videogames, we will have the light cycle battles!
I'm thinking of doing a slight Avengers/Tron crossover. Let me know your thoughts on that in a review of any of my fics.
So far, we have had no entries for the contest (See most recent chapter of Avengers and Videogames)I had hoped we'd have at least a few entries- send me the link to your Deviantart account, if you have one, or via my personal email:
annabellegatehouse
I also made a facebook page, with the name Melting Angels. The profile picture for that is the same as it is here, on fanfiction.
You have till Sunday the 21st April to submit entries!
Good luck, and enjoy this new chapter of Avengers and Movies! Sorry it's a day late!
But hey, it's a long chapter! 3672 words!
A day or so after playing real life Tron Disc Battles, the gang assembled once again in the living room, the comfortable area set up, ready for yet another epic movie night. Everyone wore Christian Bale Batman onesies, and the start screen for the blu-ray edition of The Dark Knight Rises shone on screen. As the lights dimmed, everyone took their seats on the sofas, or on one of the many beanbags. Everyone squirmed in excitement as the movie started.
BLACK SCREEN.
"Harvey Dent was needed. He was everything Gotham has been crying out for. He was...a hero. Not the hero we deserved - the hero we needed. Nothing less than a knight, shining..." Gordon spoke.
The sound of cracking. Splintering. A shape appears, in ice.
The shape of a BAT. The ice disintegrates...
EXT. GOTHAM STREET - DAY
Gordon stands before a massive picture of Harvey Dent.
"But I knew Harvey Dent. I was...his friend. And it will be a very long time before someone inspires us the way he did." Gordon's voice was full of sorrow, no doubt finding it hard to speak about the man who nearly murdered his family, and drove Batman from Gotham.
Gordon, choked with emotion, gathers the papers of his eulogy.
"I believed in Harvey Dent."
And we FADE TO BLACK.
"Poor Gordon." Jane gasped.
"Speaking about the guy who nearly killed his family in such a way." Pepper agreed.
"I feel for this mortal." Loki mused.
"I too, brother." Thor nodded.
CIA Man turns to the Third Prisoner. Shuts the cargo door.
"Wiseguy, huh? At least you can talk. Who are you?" the CIA man asked.
"We are nothing. We are the dirt beneath your feet. And no one cared who I was until I put on the mask..." the third prisoner spoke.
CIA Man, wary, approaches the Third Prisoner - pulls off his hood, revealing a dark mask with a breathing apparatus. The eyes behind it are cold. Still. This is Bane.
"Holy shit." Steve gaped.
"WOAAAHH!" Clint gasped.
"BANEE!" Tony cheered.
Everyone took a moment of silence to admire the awesomeness that is Bane, before continuing with the movie.
"Who we are does not matter. What matters is our plan." Bane spoke.
"If I pull this off, will you die?" the CIA man asked, fascinated.
"It would be extremely painful." Bane answered.
"You're a big guy -" the CIA man started.
"For you." there was a hint of smugness to Bane's voice.
"Was being caught part of your plan?" the CIA man was unnerved.
"Of course. Dr. Pavel refused our offer in favor of yours. We had to know what he told you about us." Bane explained, eyes terrifying.
"Nothing! I said nothing!" Dr Pavel protested.
"Why not just ask him?" the CIA man asked.
"He would not have told us." Bane stared.
"You have methods." the CIA man mused.
"Him, I need present no such problem." Bane spoke.
CIA Man laughs for the Special Forces' benefit. A heavy bass tone is rising. The Sergeant looks out the window.
EXT. SKIES OVER MOUNTAIN RANGE
The commuter plane is dwarfed by a massive transport plane looming over it, dangerously close...
INT. MAIN CABIN, COMMUTER PLANE
The plane lurches. The noise is building.
"Sir?" the Sergeant enquired.
"Well congratulations, you got yourselves caught. What's the next step of your master plan?" the CIA man smirked.
Bane looks up.
"Crashing this plane..."
"This Bane character is most intriguing." Loki mused.
"I agree. I've heard of Bane, but wow..." Bruce gasped.
"This mortal seems unusual." Thor nodded.
"Packs plenty of muscle." Natasha started.
"Like me." Thor puffed up his muscled chest.
"But with a high degree of intellect. He has a smart plan." Natasha continued.
"Not like Thor, then." Loki grinned.
"LOKIIII!" Thor whined.
Clint high-fived the trickster.
"Guys...can we just watch the movie now?" Steve moaned.
"Fine." everyone grumbled.
They returned to watching the movie.
Wayne glances around at the sumptuous party.
"There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little to the rest of us." Selina hissed in Wayne's ear.
"Sounds like you're looking forward to it." Bruce mused.
"I'm adaptable." Selina smirked.
"These pearls do look better on you then they did in my safe..." Bruce started.
Wayne rolls her into his shoulder - reaches up to the back of her neck, unclasps the necklace.
"But I still can't let you keep them."
The pearls slide off her neck into his other hand. Selina looks at him. Angry. Then kisses him, hard, and disappears into the crowd. Wayne's cane reappears.
"Selina is intriguing." Loki mused.
"I agree." Steve nodded.
"Enjoying it, Cap?" Tony asked.
"I am." Steve grinned hugely.
"WE HAVE CONVERTED HIM!" Tony, Clint, Bruce, and Loki cheered.
Natasha rolled her eyes, whilst Pepper and Jane laughed. Thor looked confused, but he too was enjoying this movie.
"What were they going to do with them?" Batman asked.
"I don't know. But Daggett seemed pretty interested in that mess at the stock market." Catwoman mused.
Batman considers this. A police chopper sweeps past, searching. Batman turns to it. Then turns back.
"Miss Kyle -?" Batman started.
But she is gone.
"So that's what that feels like."
Thor and Loki snorted with laughter, whilst everyone burst out laughing.
"What does it mean, Alfred?!" Bruce demanded.
"It means your hatred. It means losing the person I've cared for ever since I heard his first cries echo through this house. But it might also mean saving your life. And that is more important." Alfred explained.
Wayne looks at Alfred. Furious. Summons the worst thing to say and says it quietly and calmly.
"Goodbye, Alfred." Bruce whispered.
"Goodbye, Bruce." Alfred spoke quietly.
Wayne mounts the stairs...Alfred watches him go. Turns.
"Bastard!" Loki blurted out.
Everyone jumped at the sudden noise, and turned to Loki. Who was crying again.
"Bastard, how dare you turn Alfred away?!" Loki cried.
"I know man." Clint huddled in a corner of the sofa with the trickster.
"ALFREDDDDDD!" Tony cried dramatically before joining the manly nerd-huddle.
"WHY!?" Bruce sobbed. He also joined the huddle.
Pepper and Jane had tears streaming down their faces.
Natasha remained stoic, although a tear dripped down her face. Steve and Thor were positively bawling.
"Leave us." Bane ordered.
"You stay right there! I'm in charge!" Daggett called.
Bane places a gentle hand on Daggett's shoulder.
"Do you feel in charge?" Bane sounded amused.
Daggett is taken aback. Stryver leaves.
"I would NOT feel in charge." Steve shuddered.
"Me neither, Steven. Bane seems quite the formidable foe." Thor agreed.
"Alfreddd..." the manly nerd-huddle still mourned the absence of the butler.
"I've paid you a small fortune -" Daggett spoke.
"And that gives you power over me?" Bane asked, amused.
Daggett considers the heavy hand on his shoulder. Nervous.
"What is this?" Daggett hissed.
"Your money and infrastructure have been important. Till now." Bane spoke.
"What are you?" Daggett gaped.
"Gotham's reckoning. Come to end the borrowed time you've all been living on..." Bane mused.
Bane gently takes the terrified Daggett's head in his hands...
"You are true evil..." Daggett shook.
"I am necessary evil." Bane glared.
Stryver, on the steps outside the living room, flinches.
"Oh god." Steve shook.
"Bane is fucking awesome!" Loki cheered.
Everyone stared.
"What?" Loki pouted, having morphed so he was wearing the Stitch onesie. Because it was comfortable.
"Too cute!" Pepper glomped him.
"Release me, mortal!" Loki shrieked.
The others simply laughed at him.
"You've made a serious mistake." Batman spoke.
"Not as serious as yours, I fear." Bane's voice echoed.
Batman turns. Bane emerges from behind the waterfalls.
"Bane." Batman growled.
"Let's not stand on ceremony here, Mr. Wayne." Bane marched towards Batman.
Catwoman hears the name. Less sure of what she's done. Batman moves at Bane - strikes powerful blows - Bane catches his fist.
"Peace has cost you strength. Victory has defeated you." Bane stated.
"Holy fucking fuck! This is going to be so fucking awesome!" Tony cheered.
"Language." Steve warned.
"HOLY SHIT THIS IS EPIC!" Clint and Bruce cried in unison.
Loki nodded his head in agreement.
"This mortal movie is most interesting. I am looking forward to this confrontation between Bane and Batman." Thor mused.
"ANOTHER IS CONVERTED!" Tony cheered.
Steve rolled his eyes, whilst Pepper, Jane, and Natasha laughed fondly.
Batman climbs to his feet, swaying. Bane approaches.
"I wondered which would break first- your spirit..." Bane's voice was low and menacing.
Batman SWINGS at him - misses - Bane GRABS him, lifts him HIGH.
"...or your body." Bane seethed.
"Holy shit!" Steve swore, tensing up, clutching a cushion.
"FIGHT ON, MAN OF BATS!" Thor cheered.
Then there was silence.
Bane brings Batman down onto his knee, BREAKING his back with a horrific CRACK.
"OH MY GOD!" Loki jumped.
"Holy mother of...oh my god..." Bruce muttered.
"NOOO!" Pepper and Jane cried.
Natasha swore something in Russian, mumbling dark curses in the foreign language.
In the shadows, Catwoman looks on. Shocked. Bane crouches to pull the broken cowl off the broken Wayne. Mercenaries lift Wayne's body and carry him off... Bane stares into the hollow eyes of his trophy...
Catwoman slinks back into the shadows, and we -
FADE TO BLACK.
The entire room was silent, everyone's jaws hanging open after witnessing the breaking of Batman.
"Well," Loki gulped. "Shall we continue?"
Bane drops the burning picture.
"Let me tell you the truth about Harvey Dent. In the words of Gotham's Police Commissioner, James Gordon..." Bane spoke.
INT. BLAKE'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS
This gets Blake's attention. Gordon watches, uneasy...
EXT. BLACKGATE PRISON - CONTINUOUS
Bane unfolds the pages of Gordon's undelivered speech...
"The truth about Harvey Dent is simple in only one regard - it has been hidden for too long. After his devastating injuries, Harvey's mind has recovered no better than his mutilated face. He was a broken, dangerous man, not the crusader for justice that I, James Gordon, have portrayed him to be for the last eight years. Harvey's rage was indiscriminate. Psychopathic. He held my family at gunpoint, then fell to his death in the struggle over my son's life. The Batman did not murder Harvey Dent - he saved my boy. Then took the blame for Harvey's appalling crimes, so that I could, to my shame, build a lie around this fallen idol." Bane read with power.
"The truth is revealed!" Thor crowed.
"But not in the right way, brother. This will cause chaos in an already mad time." Loki mused.
"Dude, this is epic!" Clint gaped.
"Wowwwww..." Steve breathed.
INT. BLAKE'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS
Blake stares at the TV, Gordon's face lowers into his hands...
"I praised the madman who tried to murder my own child." Bane continued reading.
EXT. BLACKGATE PRISON - CONTINUOUS
The crowd is silent, stunned, as Bane continues to read.
"The things we did in Harvey's name brought desperately needed security to our streets... But I can no longer live with my lie. It is time to trust the people of Gotham with the truth, and it is time for me to resign." Bane carried on.
Bane folds the papers. Looks out to the stunned crowd.
"Do you accept this man's resignation?" Bane asked the crowd.
Individuals in the crows start shouting 'Yes!
"Oh my..." Pepper gaped.
"This will cause problems." Thor nodded.
"No kidding." Jane shook her head.
"He kept that bottled up for 8 years, for the sake of the people of Gotham. I admire Commissioner Gordon for that." Loki smiled.
"Stop being cute! You're killing me with your cuteness!" Pepper pouted.
"I am far too cute. I cannot simply turn this off. I am just good-looking all the time." Loki smirked.
Tony snorted whilst taking a gulp of cola, thus making the fizzy foam stream out of his nose. The sight made Clint and Loki fall about laughing, Tony struggling to breathe whilst laughing and choking and snorting on the sugary drink.
Steve and Natasha simultaneously facepalmed.
Wayne puts some scraps of bread into a rough coat which he folds into a makeshift shoulder pack.
"Supplies for your journey?" a prisoner smirks.
Prisoners nearby laugh. Wayne moves to the cliff face. The Prisoner follows, intrigued by Wayne's new demeanor. The Tattooed Prisoner offers him the rope. Wayne refuses. Starts to climb. Prisoners gather around as word spreads. Wayne makes his way cautiously up the treacherous rock face. Down below the Prisoners start a low chant. As Wayne hoists himself up onto the precipice something EXPLODES from the cliff face. Wayne flinches - BATS... They circle up to the opening above... Wayne closes his eyes. The chant RISES. Wayne takes a breath...opens his eyes...looks down at the drop...up again...then he jumps.
Time skips a beat as the Prisoners stop breathing.
The room was silent as everyone leaned foward, all of them joining in the chant, hoping desperately for Bruce to make it out and get back to save Gotham.
And Wayne GRABS the ledge above.
The Prisoners go WILD as Wayne hoists himself up onto the ledge. The Blind Prisoner nods. Wayne climbs to FREEDOM.
"OH HELL YES!" Loki leapt up and cheered.
The others joined the emerald eyed trickster in a victory dance, the men, excluding Steve, starting up a thrustful thrusts contest in victory, running around and laughing like little kids on christmas morning.
They finally calmed down after a full half hour of celebrating.
Further out, Gordon stops - sniffs - looks down: a pool of liquid, beside it: a flare. Gordon picks it up, puzzled.
"Light it up." Batman spoke from the shadows.
Gordon, energized by the familiar voice, lights the flare - jams it into the liquid, sending a trail of FIRE across the ice - up into a building where it forms the shape of a BAT...
INT. FOLEY'S BROWNSTONE - CONTINUOUS
"Dad! Check it out!" Foley's kids cried.
"Honey, take a look!" Foley's wife gasped.
Foley moves to a back window. Sees the flaming sign.
"YESS!" Loki grinned.
"BATMAN RETURNS!" Thor cheered.
"That's the name of an old Batman movie." Loki blinked.
"There is more?" Steve gaped.
"Three versions. One we do not speak of...Michael Bay's Batman...uuuggghhh..." Tony shuddered dramatically.
"But this is the best." Clint nodded.
"I agree." Bruce smiled.
Gordon puts a hand on Batman's arm.
"I never cared who you were -" Gordon spoke softly.
"And you were right." Batman stated.
"But shouldn't the people know the hero who saved them?" Gordon protested.
"A hero can be anyone. That was always the point." Batman spoke.
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..." Batman's voice tailed off.
The canopy closes - and as the Bat fires up Gordon remembers
INSERT CUT: Gordon, in his uniform, wraps the overcoat around the Young Bruce's shoulders, his eyes reassuring, loving.
Gordon looks up to the cockpit -
"Bruce Wayne?" Gordon gaped.
-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.
"Nooo...Batman..." Loki sniffed.
"I know..." Tony bit his lip.
"MANLY NERD HUDDLE!" Clint declared.
Bruce, Clint, Tony, and Loki huddled, in another manly nerd huddle, all of them sniffing, for they knew Batman couldn't possibly make it out alive.
An EXPLOSION from downtown Gotham. Blake looks across, startled, turns to the children on the bus.
"Get down! This is it!" Blake called.
The smallest of the boys stares through the window past Blake.
"No. That's Batman!" the small boy gaped.
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.
"I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss..." Gordon spoke softly in the background.
Blake pulls out his badge. Throws it into the river.
"I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy..."
By this point, everyone had nearly lost it. Even Natasha started to cry. Jane and Pepper hugged the assassin, watching as Steve and Thor started to cry, mourning the loss of a great hero.
EXT. GARDENS, WAYNE MANOR - DAY
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...
"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 read with a voice full of sorrow.
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 concluded.
Gordon looks up at the figure standing across from him...
Alfred. Tears streaming.
"Oh..norns...why?!" Loki started crying properly, shoulders shaking.
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.
"I'm so sorry. I failed you. You trusted me, and I failed you." Alfred sobbed.
And the old man's shoulders begin to shake with sobs.
The room was silent, save for the sobs of the mourning Avengers. They had grown to understand and love Batman over the movies, admiring how he did not possess any superpowers, no supernatural abilities, yet he still became a saviour. A symbol to Gotham. A symbol that, no matter who you are, you too can be a hero. It's not about what you're born with.
It's about what you can become.
Who you choose to be.
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...
"He is recognised as the true hero that he is." Thor sniffed.
"SHUT UP THOR!" Loki cried. He then sniffed. "Let us mourn properly.
Thor was immediately silenced.
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.
"The clean slate..." Tony muttered.
"YOU BASTARD! MAKING ME BELIEVE YOU DIED! YOU FUCKING MADE ALFRED CRY!" Loki cried dramatically.
"Brother, calm down." Thor protested.
"I WILL NOT FUCKING CALM DOWN!" Loki sobbed.
INT. CAVE - DAY
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.
No one spoke.
Not a single word was uttered.
Because now, in Gotham, Batman would be forever remembered.
Revered as a hero.
But not just a hero...
A symbol.
I won't lie, I bloody cried so hard at the end of The Dark Knight Rises. As soon as Batman started flying the Bat out over the sea, I was starting to cry. But when Alfred cried, I absolutely lost it.
Thank you for this amazing film trilogy.
Actually, you see, what I like is that the Nolan Batman movies are not just good Batman movies. They are great action movies, one of the greatest trilogies of all time.
Batman...you have always been one of my favourite heroes.
Why? He has no superpowers, yet he saved an entire city and was immortalized as a symbol, an eternal watcher.
No joke, I actually bawled my eyes out when Alfred was crying.
Damn you for the feels, Christopher Nolan!
;_;
Damn you.
;_;