Dark Knight Rises was a sham.
Batman doesn't retire. Batman certainly doesn't retire off to jet-set around with world with Selena Kyle while leaving Gotham in the worthy hands of Robin Blake.
Nolan stated he didn't like the Robin angle for his "new, gritty" Batman, AND goes to great lengths to give all the characters in his movie their "real" comic names, so why does he both ADD in Robin when he said he wouldn't and then invent him as a new character? Da fuq?
Why even have Bane in the movie, show his physical prowess and NOT use it as a device to heal Bruce Wayne's back? I'm not talking about something overt like Venom or anything, but ANYTHING to tie Bane's power to fixing Batman's back. Sloppy and wasteful.
Catwoman deus-ex'ing Bane at the end was a waste of Bane's character. He was best part of the movie, and to have him reversed-jack-in-the-boxed by a barely-there Catwoman is cheap.
The fucking scene with Wayne at the hospital being "mortalized" is obscene with how Nolan handles Batman's physical abilities through out the movie. The no ligaments in the knee thing is retarded as no one can overcome that kind of injury. No electric leg brace, no wall-breaking, no walking, no nothing. The scene should have never been in the movie.
The hovering Bat-thing is dumb.
Again, Batman doesn't retire. He is just as psychotic as Joker, Two-Face, etc; it's just that he uses it for good. Batman doesn't retire. He may go underground a-la DKR, or train an heir when he gets too old, a-la Batman Beyond, but he doesn't hang it up and become Bruce Wayne again.
Bruce Wayne is the mask Batman wears to facilitate what Batman needs.
Batman doesn't do what Batman does for Batman. Batman does what Batman does because Batman is Batman.