HEY KRISTINA HERE!
Have you seen The Dark Knight Rises TV spot #7? If you have not, go back and check it out first before you enter this Roundtable. This conversation might either peak your interest or scream your head off in a rant about the when, where, why, how, and who the hell?
Throughout all of the TV spots, we see the bridges exploding. One by one, as all three bridges are taken down. The question that is left handing is the significance of the bridges. Why does Bane really destroy the bridges? One of the fellow Dark Knight News editors, Stephen shed some light on the bridge explosion scene with me:
Stephen: What do you think of the new Tv spot?
Kristina: Tv spot was cool, the Harvey Dent Act is coming out slowly, in my opinion. What did you get from the Tv spot?
Stephen: I found it interesting to learn that the bridge scene is more than we thought it was. It is not just Bane blowing up the bridges to keep people from leaving or coming from/to Gotham. Rather, it is a scene where John Blake is standing on the bridges to greet the military to Gotham.
Kristina: Tell me why do you think Blake is waiting to greet the troops in his civilian clothes?
Stephen: Probably as the calivary arriving type of scene. Only to watch the military coming into the city, all killed in one amazing explosion scene! I found that to be the coolest thing about the new Tv spot!
It really shows that Bane is extremely intelligent. Rather than blowing those bridges early on, he waits until there is a reason to blow
them up, and on top of blowing up the bridges, crippling the hopes of Gotham, killing the military coming into the city, he is also making a statement to the leaders of the milltary that Gotham is off limits and not to mess with the city. It also gives a reason as to why the jets are flying overhead a shattered Gotham City.
Kristina: Possibly. It does appeal to the crippling of Gotham.
Stephen: Plus, blowing up those bridges like that… I am willing to bet that with the military force dying the way they are in one swipe and bringing Gotham at a new low. THAT this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and the straw that makes Bruce Wayne come back as Batman!
Kristina: It is basically, the crippling effect of losing the defense where people see this and just lose it. This makes Batman come out to the rescue because he has become the last resort to Bane’s madness.
Stephen: I am willing to bet anything that Bruce is not dressing up for a bit, thinking that the military can take care of Bane and that he doesn’t need to be Batman for Bane to be taken down. But after he sees that fail, he then realizes that Batman has to come back. What do you think about all that awesomeness? Think Nolan is doing that?
Here we have two big bangs. One, the bridges being blown up and two, the military crossing the bridge and being blown up with the bridge. The theory proves to have a valid standing point. As Stephen stated, maybe The Dark Knight Rises is similar to Batman Begins where Bruce is not in 
suit for most of the duration of the movie. Probably due to the fact that the movie is trying to fill in the blanks of the eight year gap between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. The only way Bruce would ever wear the cowl again is when Gotham is at their knees, in which Bane has the city on their back side, dead and lifeless. As he cripples every last drop of hope and faith they have in their city and their government who can not do anything to save them. I mean Bane is a terrorist and he is certainly living up to the title of being one. He brings on the fear and the helplessness that we as a world understand. Since terrorism is not as large as it was years ago, it is still a threat. This would relate to my opinion article, Nolanverse Imitating Life, where I dig into the act of terrorism and how Nolan is capitalizing on this. As a terrorist, one would have to be very intelligent to make sure they cover all their bases and beyond those bases. Bane does more than this, he demoralizes the people and the military by sending a message that he owns Gotham like a beast marking his territory. If blowing up bridges with military and civilians does not send a message to the task force trying to rescue Gotham, I do not know what other better message there could be. In fear of not angering Bane to further destroy Gotham even more, they send two jets instead. It is like military is saying, “Look, see we’re not coming over just scoping out the place hahaha. Don’t hurt the children.” So, now how will Gotham be rid of Bane? Cue the 60’s Batman theme song, BATMAN!
Any way, the explanation of the eight year gap in the movie would be quite helpful. It might shed some knowledge on Bruce’s mental and emotional on how he is coping with just being Bruce, and not being Batman. Batman is part of Bruce’s identity and I think the cane is a metaphor. When Bruce is being Batman, he is healthy and fit. When he is not being Batman, part of his identity is missing hence the cane. However, the use of the cane could be from an accident from fighting Bane. I am not sure, but I think the cane is a metaphor for his identity. Maybe Bruce really hangs up the cowl and he stops the production of the Batcave after The Dark Knight. Is it possible that we may not even see the 
Batcave in this movie? Or our ever loving Alfred secretly establishes the finishing of the Batcave under Bruce’s nose, which would be just movie magic at work here. However, Nolan will give it a nice quick explanation that we can say is plausible.
Theory below or on DKN Facebook about what you think of Bane’s reason for blowing up the bridges. Is it just the fact he wants to see the bridges be blown up for fun? Does he want to close off, cripple, and mark Gotham as his city? What do you think Bruce’s cane is for? His identity or does Bane really beat the crap out of him and the cane is for physical use only? Do you think Stephen’s exciting theory is what Nolan is going to do in the movie?
-Kristina
