zombie84 said:

Warbler said:

DominicCobb said:

I'm paraphrasing here, but a wise man once said "an immature man dies nobly for a cause. A mature man lives humbly for one." In TDKR, Bruce Wayne is prepared to die to save Gotham. But then he matures.

I feel if he kept fighting or died it would have left his character unchanged, which is usually considered to be an element of bad storytelling.

"and I spear by the spirits of my parents to avenge their deaths by spending the rest of my life warring on all criminals. "

That's also the comic where Batman runs around with a gun in a leotard.

Clearly you can't hold to these details so harshly. Bruce became Batman for as long as he realistically could.

I don't hold on to all of the details, harshly, but I do hold harshly to that oath.