The film stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, alongside Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Michael Caine.

The film, set eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, follows a retired Wayne being forced to resume his role as Batman to save Gotham City from nuclear destruction at the hands of the terrorist Bane (Hardy).

Filming took place from May to November 2011 in locations including Jodhpur, London, Nottingham, Glasgow, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, and Pittsburgh.

Bane conspires to help Wayne Enterprises board member John Daggett take over the company, and they begin by trying to buy Bruce's fingerprints.

The henchmen capture Gordon and take him to Bane, but he escapes and is found by Gotham City police officer John Blake, an orphan who has deduced Bruce's secret identity and persuades him to resume his vigilantism.

Fearing Bruce will get himself killed fighting Bane, his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, resigns in the hope of saving him after admitting to burning a letter that Rachel left for him saying she was going to marry Dent.

With no way to stop the detonation, Batman, after revealing his identity to Gordon, uses his aerial craft, the Bat, to haul the bomb far over the bay, where it safely explodes.

Several members of the Pittsburgh Steelers have cameo appearances as members of the fictional Gotham Rogues football team in the film, including Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Willie Colon, Maurkice Pouncey, Mike Wallace, Heath Miller, Aaron Smith, Ryan Clark, James Farrior, LaMarr Woodley, and Casey Hampton,[52][53] and former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher as the head coach of the Rogues.

[56] A deleted subplot from The Dark Knight involved Michael Jai White's Gambol surviving his encounter with the Joker to enable Jai White's character to return in a future film to try to take Gotham City over, but these plans were scrapped after Ledger's death and the film was edited to delete Gambol's subplot and have him killed off in the scene where the Joker originally simply mutilated him.

[71] Following the success of the Joker in The Dark Knight, studio executives wished for the Riddler to be included as the primary villain as he was considered a similar character and encouraged the casting of Leonardo DiCaprio.

[97] Principal photography commenced on May 6, 2011, in Jodhpur, India, at the Mehrangarh Fort[98][99][100] before moving to Pittsburgh, where it operated under the working title Magnus Rex to reduce the visibility of the production.

[117] A stuntman parachutist later crashed through the roof of a home in Cairngorm Gliding Club, Feshiebridge in Scotland, and became wedged there after a failed landing during a skydiving stunt; he was not seriously injured.

[119] A second accident took place in Pittsburgh when the truck carrying the then-unidentified vehicle later termed "the Bat" went off-course and crashed into a lighting array, damaging the model of the aircraft.

[120] Shortly before Christmas of 2011, Christopher Nolan invited several prominent directors, including Edgar Wright, Michael Bay, Bryan Singer, Jon Favreau, Eli Roth, Duncan Jones and Stephen Daldry, to Universal CityWalk's IMAX theatre for a private screening of the first six minutes of The Dark Knight Rises, which had been shot on IMAX film and edited from the original camera negative.

"[121] Costume designer Lindy Hemming explained that Bane uses a mask to inhale an analgesic gas, which, in director Christopher Nolan's words, "keeps his pain just below the threshold so he can function."

Taking inspiration from a Swedish army jacket and a frock coat from the French Revolution, it was designed to make Bane look equal parts dictatorial and revolutionary.

[8] Chris Corbould described the Bat's size and shape as presenting a major challenge for filming given Christopher Nolan's emphasis on practical effects over computer-generated imagery.

In order to make the Bat "fly", it was variously supported by wires, suspended from cranes and helicopters, and mounted on a purpose-built vehicle with hydraulic controls to simulate movement.

[8] Another set was designed at Cardington as an "underground prison", a rough-hewn labyrinth of stone cells in a vast abyss with a 120 foot (37 m) vertical shaft leading to the surface.

[140][141][142] Critics noted political undertones with dialogue foreshadowing the theme of income inequality and an what they consider an "Occupy Gotham" campaign within the world of the story.

"[155] Viral marketing campaigns for the film continued as magazine companies Empire and Wired received "CIA documents" concerning a "Dr. Leonid Pavel", with its mugshot connected to actor Alon Abutbul.

The premise of the campaign starts when the mayor of Gotham City "redoubles" the effort to capture Batman and anyone supporting his return in preparation for the upcoming "Harvey Dent Day".

[160] In January 2012, six months prior to the film's release, tickets for midnight IMAX showings in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles went on sale and sold out immediately.

[167] Warner Bros. partnered with Mountain Dew to do a cross-promotion that included a special paint scheme on the number 88 Chevrolet Impala owned by Hendrick Motorsports and driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

On July 20, 2012, during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises at the Century 16 cinema in Aurora, Colorado, a gunman wearing a gas mask opened fire inside the theater,[186] killing 12 people and injuring 58 others.

The web site's critical consensus reads, "The Dark Knight Rises is an ambitious, thoughtful, and potent action film that concludes Christopher Nolan's franchise in spectacular fashion.

[249] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times thought the film was "potent, persuasive and hypnotic" and that it was "more than an exceptional superhero movie, it is masterful filmmaking by any standard.

"[251] The Playlists Todd Gilchrist wrote "A cinematic, cultural and personal triumph, The Dark Knight Rises is emotionally inspiring, aesthetically significant and critically important for America itself – as a mirror of both sober reflection and resilient hope.

"[252] IGN gave it a 9 out of 10, noting similarities in tone and theme to Batman Begins over the trilogy's second installment, The Dark Knight, but also describing Bane as "that bit less interesting to watch" than Ledger's Joker, despite praising his "menacing voice" and "body language-driven performance".

"[268] In contrast, commentator Jonathan Chait opined in New York that "What passes for a right-wing movie these days is The Dark Knight Rises, which submits the rather modest premise that, irritating though the rich may be, actually killing them and taking all their stuff might be excessive.