11 Great Films Ruined By Terrible Plot Twists

3) The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Story: In Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated trilogy-capper, Batman (Christian Bale) has laid dormant for eight years, having taken the fall for Harvey Dent/Two-Face’s crimes, when the arrival of cat burglar Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and powerful mercenary Bane (Tom Hardy) force him back into action. As Bane’s army topples Gotham City’s government and gains complete control of the city, Batman faces his greatest challenge yet in his attempts to protect the lives of Gotham’s citizens.

The Twist: After Batman escapes from a foreign prison and leads Gotham’s remaining police officers in a brutal battle against Bane’s mercenary soldiers, he finally throws down with the brawny revolutionary. After suddenly finding the strength to pummel Bane into submission, Batman attempts to force the location of a nuclear detonator from him. Enter Miranda Tate, executive member of Wayne Enterprises and Bruce Wayne’s main love interest. As you can see in the clip that we’ve included above, after a brief speech, she promptly stabs him in the abdomen and reveals herself to be the psychotic daughter of Batman Begins villain Ra’s al Ghul. It has been her all along, not Bane, who has been engineering Gotham’s destruction.

Why It Sucks: In less than a minute of screen-time, Nolan effectively neuters his main villain, transforming him from a brilliant criminal mastermind into a simple soldier acting out of puppy love for his commander. After proving a more-than-capable adversary for Batman for over two hours, the sudden reveal that he is just another puppet is both unsatisfying and highly dubious. As if to underscore that his aim was to pull the rug out from under his audience’s feet, Nolan then quickly kills Bane off by having Selina Kyle shoot him against a wall with a blast from the Batpod. If Talia al Ghul had been an interesting villain in the slightest, the twist would have worked better. As it was, pulling an unjustified switcheroo with his antagonists cheapened Nolan’s grand finale and only truly succeeded in irking fans.