Has Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s DARK KNIGHT RISES Character Finally Been Revealed?

Comic Book Movie is claiming they’ve discovered the identity of Joseph Gordon Levitt’s THE DARK KNIGHT RISES character John Blake (who, up until this point, has only been identified as a rookie Gotham beat cop) hidden away in some promo material for the TDKR HeroClix role-playing game. Cue the SPOILER ALERT!!!

Here’s what his figurine bio says:

A hard-nosed young Gotham beat cop who is assigned to a special task unit to take down the vigilante known as “The Batman” becomes an unlikely ally to the Dark Knight. When the mercenary known as “Bane” breaks the prisoners out of Blackgate Prison, the city becomes overrun and Blake takes the codename of “Azrael” to help Batman stop Bane.

Okay. Take all of what you just read with a huge grain of salt. Could be true, could be false. We won’t know until Warner or director Christopher Nolan drops the official word so stay tuned.

If you want my opinion, I think everything leading up to the last ten words of that descriptor is probably true. Sounds logical. Sounds like it might work in Nolan Bat-verse. But I think everything from the phrase “the city becomes overrun” is pure bunk made up by whoever leaked this scoop to Comic Book Movie. Like maybe he knew he had something interesting but decided to punch it up with a little fanboy fire to get the masses chattering.

I mean, seriously, Azrael? I highly doubt Nolan, a director who has nearly eighty years worth of Batman history at his fingertips to pick and choose from for his cinematic vision, would opt to include one of the worst characters to ever run across the Caped Crusader in his big Bat-finale.

Yes, I realize main baddie Bane (Tom Hardy) and Azrael were two of the main characters in the KNIGHTFALL storyline Nolan appears to have borrowed heavily from for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. And yes, I realize that a Nolan version of Az probably wouldn’t be all that bad and if anybody could successfully pull of bringing this character to the big screen it would be him and …you know what, I don’t care. Azrael f**king sucks. Dude, solid Levitt performance or not, doesn‘t need to be anywhere near this flick. Just saying.

For those who don’t know who I’m talking about, here’s a pic of Azrael:

Oh and here’s of pic of Az from his brief run as Batman:

Yeah. That guy is going to appear in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. I don’t think so.

USELESS KNOWLEDGE: For those confused about the “Azrael was once Batman” comment I made a moment ago, Jean-Paul Valley (AKA Azrael) played a pivotal role in the "Knightfall" story arc, in which he stood in as Batman after Bruce Wayne was defeated and paralyzed at the hands of Bane.