I don’t think spoiler alerts are still necessary, but if you somehow haven’t seen The Dark Knight Rises yet, then I’m sorry for my title.
But yes, Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s character, Detective John Blake, ends up kind-of turning into Robin at the end of the film. The actor was recently on Jimmy Kimmel Live where he talked about Robin and the potential for a Dark Knight Rises sequel.
When Kimmel first refers to his character as Robin, Gordon-Levitt first insists that he is simply “John Blake, Gotham City Police Department,” but then he concedes that “It’s pretty awesome though, right?”
When asked about the ending setting up a sequel, he had this to say:
I don’t think it’s necessarily a set-up. I think it is a great ending for that trilogy. Even if you go back to Batman Begins, he’s talking about how Batman is more than a man, it’s a symbol, and a hero can be anybody, and we all have heroes inside of us, and that’s a theme that runs throughout the entire trilogy.
Christopher Nolan would be beaming with pride if he heard that answer. Though that is definitely what the ending was supposed to accomplish, it certainly did (as all great movies do) leave fans wanting much more. At least Gordon-Levitt didn’t give the Christian Bale ultimatum of saying he wouldn’t do the role with anyone other than Nolan.
To be honest, I still haven’t decided what I think is the right next step for the Batman franchise. It is inevitable that there will be more movies about The Caped Crusader, and someone will need to play Bruce Wayne now that Bale is done, but I can’t decide whether the next film should be a sequel with Robin or Nightwing, if they should reboot the entire series, or they should just have Batman’s next appearance be in the Justice League film.
Regardless of what happens, Gordon-Levitt’s performance, and the way Nolan handled his character, was one of the best parts of The Dark Knight Rises. Blake added a dimension to the film that was especially essential during the time Batman was missing. I would love to see Gordon-Levitt continue that role, but I obviously wouldn’t want it to happen in a way that takes away from, or doesn’t live up to, what The Dark Knight Rises accomplished.
Check out the interview and share your thoughts below.
