Forum: scifi.stackexchange.com
Tags: <dc><batman><nolan-batman-trilogy><the-dark-knight-rises>
Title: What, if any, storylines did The Dark Knight Rises borrow from?
Question: The Dark Knight Rises sees Batman fight    Bane and Talia al Ghoul, who are part of a plan to finally complete R'as al Ghoul's mission of burning Gotham to the ground.   What, if any, storylines in the comicbooks did The Dark Knight Rises borrow from?

Answers:
sents: text: It pulls elements from multiple Batman arcs, like the other Nolan Batman films have.
text: The obvious one is Knightfall .
text: This storyline introduced Bane to the comics, who proceeds to wear down Batman by freeing all the occupants of Arkham Asylum and eventually confronting him personally.
text: During that confrontation, Bane famously breaks the Bat.
text: This leaves Bruce a paraplegic, who spends a chunk of the storyline recovering, while having someone else take the mantle of Batman.
text: The next storyline that it pulls from is
text: The Dark Knight Returns , which has an elderly Batman return after a decade of being retired.
text: The last one is No Man's Land .
text: Following a devastating earthquake in the storyline leading in to No Man's Land , the government evacuates Gotham and abandons those who choose to remain.
text: It's sealed off, and all bridges into the city are blown up.
text: People are then forbidden from entering or leaving the city.
text: Inside the city, Jim Gordon and some cops remain, and they struggle to maintain order.
text: Batman and allies fight the gangs who are battling for control over Gotham.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 22
sents: text: The obvious influence is the Knightfall story arc.
text: This introduces Bane and includes the part where Bane injures Batman's back.
text: A link could be drawn between the prison breaks in both movie and comic, but that is tenuous given the standard of prisoners released.
text: Batman has a romance with Talia Al-Ghul in the Son of the Demon story arc but with a significant difference - Batman is aware of who Talia is in that.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/4056/dlanod
score: 7
sents: text: He might have borrowed from the Death of Batman story arc as well, where Batman presumably dies from an explosion at sea.
text: In the comics it is a helicopter, the movies it's a nuclear blast.
text: He doesn't really die in either, but it's a fun little coincidence.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/8146/justin
score: 5
sents: text: Knightfall, No Man's Land, Legacy, Batman: The Cult, Dark Victory, The Dark Knight Returns...
text: Honestly thats not even all of them.
text: Chris and Jonathan Nolan very obviously read the entire Modern Age run (which I've been trying to do) and took things, even sometimes almost unnoticeable things from many storylines.
text: People don't usually mention The Cult, but it is just as much of an inspiration as Knightfall, NML, and DKR are once you read it.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/13328/user13328
score: 3
sents: text: Having Bane as the main antagonist of the film, his comic origin story 'Vengeance of Bane' was sourced.
text: The story details how he was born in a prison for the crimes of his father and would escape as an adult.
text: The iconic moment of Bane breaking Batman over his knee, was paid homage to from the pages of 'Batman #497' (Knightfall).
text: Having said that Bane's actions in the film, mimic those mostly of the villian Deacon Blackfire.
text: He features in 'The Cult', which seems to have influenced the film the most.
text: Gordon is hospitalised and visited by Batman, an underground army of homeless rise from the sewers to take Gotham by force in a uprising lead by the charismatic leader.
text: Batman is imprisoned underground too.
text: Many more elements from this comic feature in the film.
text: 'The Cult' is as much as an inspiration 'Year One' is to Batman Begins or 'The Long Halloween' is to The Dark Knight.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/71796/Clint
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
The Dark Knight Rises takes elements from multiple  Batman stories. The obvious one is  Knightfall, however, it may also be influenced by story arcs from No Man's Land, Legacy, Batman: The Cult, Dark Victory, The Dark Knight Returns and Death of Batman.
The Dark Knight Rises is borrowed from Knightfall, among other possibiliies.