Who the heck are Miranda Tate and John Blake?

[johnnygobbs]

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/04/19/the-dark-knight-rises-marion-cotillard-joseph-gordon-levitt/

Has anyone ever heard of these characters or are they completely made-up, and is anyone else feeling a little disappointed that neither Cotillard nor Gordon-Levitt appear to be playing established Batman characters (although I realise that 'Miranda Tate' could be an alias for Talia Al Ghul)?  So much for Nolan's apparent fidelity to the comic-books.  At least Burton's Batman films featured love interests straight out of the comic-books, unlike Raxhel Dawes or this Miranda Tate...

[gordonblu]

I'd be surprised if Cotillard doesn't end up being Talia, but then again, I never thought Nolan would kill off Two-Face so quickly either.

[Silver Nemesis]

Has anyone ever heard of these characters or are they completely made-up

There was a John Blake in the comics, but I seriously doubt its him...



Joker stealing a kid's report card is far too horrific for a PG-13 film.

Offhand, I can only think of one prominent character called Blake in the Batman comics and that's Thomas Blake, aka. Catman. Catman was obsessed with Selina Kyle/Catwoman and copied her MO in the perpetration of his own crimes (interestingly, he believed his suit granted him nine lives – a belief adopted by Burton's Kyle in the movie).



In recent years Catman has been depicted as more of an anti-hero/vigilante. During the Battle For the Cowl story arc he even teamed up with Bane to try and maintain order following Batman's alleged death.
   


If JGL's character is based on Thomas Blake, then maybe he's an ally of Catwoman or Bane who's gone undercover in the police department. Or perhaps the leaked storyline about other heroes stepping up to fill Batman's boots is true, and Blake will be one of them. Or maybe the earlier rumours about him playing Alberto Falcone are true, and he's infiltrated the police department under the guise of an honest cop in order to get close to Gordon. It's too early to tell at this stage.

As far as Miranda Tate goes – I'm pretty certain she's Talia in disguise. I expect she'll be a bit like Jezebel Jet from the Batman R.I.P. storyline – ostensibly a supportive confidante for Bruce Wayne, but in reality an agent of the Black Glove (or in this case, League of Shadows) who infiltrates his innermost defences as part of a wider scheme to destroy him. She'll appear misleadingly good natured – perhaps presenting herself to Bruce as a kind of second chance for him to have what he missed out on with Rachel – but will ultimately prove to be the architect of his downfall.

Then again, this plot twist seems way too obvious. Perhaps Tate is merely a red herring and it's actually Hathaway's Selina that'll turn out to be Talia. Either way, I don't recall there being a Miranda Tate in the comics. At least not off the top of my head.

[The Dark Knight]

Disappointing news. It's so obvious that "Tate" is Talia. So very been there done that. I don't think Nolan has much more to offer, and the "coming full circle to BB" angle will prove to be a copout, I think. As for John Blake. Meh. Likely a Max Court type policeman.

[johnnygobbs]

On a related topic, does anyone here use the 'Batman' and 'Batman Returns' boards on the IMDb?  It seems that if anyone starts a thread so much as querying a particular aspect of Nolan's films on those boards they are immediately hounded by all and sundry and their thread is subsequently closed for being 'inflammatory', and yet there are half a dozen threads criticising Burton.  What a joke!  All I ask is for some parity.  I guess Andrew Collins wasn't kidding when he wrote this piece about die-hard Nolan fans: http://www.radiotimes.com/blogs/1011-christopher-nolan-inception-beyond-criticism-andrew-collins/

[The Dark Knight]

I do not visit those boards, but that is no surprise to me.

Thank goodness Batman Online is a haven for common sense and free speech.

[Grissom]

That was a good link there gobbs, for alot of people Nolan can do no wrong, and is he does, alot of people are not going to admit it.

[johnnygobbs]

That was a good link there gobbs, for alot of people Nolan can do no wrong, and is he does, alot of people are not going to admit it.

I think that link may have been posted elsewhere on these forums but I thought it was worth adding again.  Don't get me wrong, I like Nolan's films a lot, including TDK and Inception.  I just resent the fact that it seems fashionable to b*tch about Burton these days, yet even the slightest criticism of Nolan appears to be some holy taboo.

[DarkVengeance]

I'm really excited for this casting, JGL is the man and I'm sure Marion will be just as good as she was in Inception.

[Azrael]

Silver Nemesis, as usual, your posts are informative articles.

There's a side of me that hopes Cotillard's character is exactly what it says on the tin: Miranda Tate, and not an undercover Talia. It seems obvious that she might be Talia, but maybe a bit too obvious, so in the end it might be turn out that this is not the case. Also, I was quite happy that GJL (or JGL - I always mix up that acronym!) was not cast as Falcone.