skylar inning: 'Dark Knight Rises': Who Is Joseph Gordon-Levitt Really Playing?

Is John Blake the next Dark Knight, Robin or someone else entirely? We discuss in The Weekly Rising.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Joseph Gordon-Levitt films a scene of "Dark Knight Rises"
Photo: Getty Images

Who the hell is John Blake?

It was the question most of us asked when Joseph Gordon-Levitt joined the cast of "The Dark Knight Rises" last year. The little bit Warner Bros. told us labeled Blake as "a Gotham City beat cop assigned to special duty under the command of Commissioner Gordon." It's not exactly the kind of character description you'd expect from such a big-name actor in one of Christopher Nolan's Batman films.

Such a nondescript character begs the question: Who is he really? We did the same last week with Marion Cotillard's Miranda Tate, and this week, we're taking a deep dive into just who this mysterious man in blue might be.

A short while after Warner Bros. revealed John Blake as a character in "The Dark Knight Rises," hard-core comic book nerds did their due diligence and found the one trace of the name that dates all the way back to 1942. Little Johnny Blake appears in an issue of "Batman," where Joker goes around making the people of Gotham cry, one citizen at a time. Poor Johnny Blake had just received a great report card, but the Joker comes along and snatches it. Now Dad will never believe him!

If we're going to speculate, it's safe to assume that Nolan won't surprise everyone with a gritty, realistic take on the whole "stolen report card" story line. There's no hard evidence other than the shared named that Gordon-Levitt's John Blake has anything to do with the unfortunate, terrorized little boy from the comics.

With the source material more or less a dead end, that leaves the vague official character description and two of the Internet's favorite theories. One posits that Blake will be a much more rugged Robin. Another hypothesizes that he will don the Batman cowl after Bruce Wayne dies or retires.

Fans have been quick to cry "Robin!" since "Batman Begins." (What's the Dark Knight without his young ward, after all?) But there is nothing that Nolan has been as adamant about as his conviction to never feature the Boy Wonder in his Batman films. Yet, Robin champions abide, even finding false clues of his presence in the "Dark Knight Rises" trailer. Nolan said he won't include Robin, so there's little reason to suspect him of doing anything else.

More daring theorists guess that Blake will go through the majority of the movie as the beat cop he's described to be but eventually become the new Batman once Wayne is out of the picture, either due to injury or — gulp — death. Supporters of this theory point to Bane's legacy of destroying Batman and Wayne's use of a cane in the trailer.

I find myself not only favoring the second theory, but actively hoping that it comes to fruition. So much of the lead-up to the film has centered on the idea of "the legend." Ra's Al Ghul speaks in the trailer about Wayne becoming more than a man. "The Legend Ends" even adorns the most recent poster, yet the two messages directly contradict each other. If Wayne commits himself to an ideal, he'll become an unstoppable legend, and the entire concept of Batman demands that the legend cannot end. What better way to prove that point than to break Wayne, remove the man and yet have the legend continue?

Gordon-Levitt's inclusion in the cast essentially requires Blake to play a major role, more than any official description would allow him. Bet on Blake being a big part of the film, but what the role may entail will only be answered in July.

What would you like to see from Joseph Gordon-Levitt in "The Dark Knight Rises"? Let me know on Twitter via @KPSull!

Check out everything we've got on "The Dark Knight Rises."

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