The trilogy of the Caped Crusader comes to a close this Friday, where the film The Dark Knight Rises brings a climactic end to Nolan’s vision of Batman. Christopher Nolan rebooted the film series in 2005 with Batman Begins, and took people by surprise.

“No one expected Batman Begins to be good” said Rob Josephson of Mayhem Collectibles. “We thought it was just another Batman movie”.

Nolan struck gold again with the release of The Dark Knight in 2008, which received praise from critics and fans alike, and broke box office records for its time. But will The Dark Knight Rises do better, especially in the wake of such hits like The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man?

“The Dark Knight was a lightning strike of a movie.”  Josephson said. ”[The] script was fantastic, [as well as] Ledger’s Joker. It’ll be difficult to surpass. Box office-wise, it’ll do well. It’ll probably get close to Avengers number, but not plateau as well.”

Chris Pellack, of Old Curmudgeon Comics, has the same train of thought. “I don’t think it’ll reach The Avengers level.” says Pellack. “I think it’ll reach (the level of) The Amazing Spider-Man, and that did very, very well. I think it’ll surpass Spider-Man, but not Avengers. There was so much hype involved.”

After this trilogy is over, what’s next in store for Batman? “You’ll definitely see a reboot… What you may see is what Marvel has done.” Says Pellack, hinting to the avengers, and the possibility of a Justice League movie. “You may see references to Superman in the next reboot. DC may have learned from what happened with the Avengers… So you may very well see references to Superman, Justice League, and such. WB has been very adamant in the past about each of their franchise being separate with no interaction with each other, but now Marvel has shown that it can be done.”

“WB is definitely looking at the numbers that Avengers has made at the bo and saying ‘let’s do this’.” Says Josephson of Mayhem comics. He also tells us that WB is possibly doing the reverse of what the Avengers has done. “What I’ve read is that they feel don’t have enough time to introduce each character singly and getting to the justice league movie. What I’m hearing, and this is totally rumored, is that they want to do the Justice League franchise, and then spin the characters off on their own movies.”

The Batman finale begins this Thursday night at midnight. Instead of having to wait for hours in line, Movies 12 will be doing a wristband system. Starting Thursday at 10 A.M., people can get a wristband with their ticket. The wristband will have a number on it, indicating a seat will be saved for you in the theater.

And if you’re looking for a place to eat before going to the movie, look no further than the theater parking lot. Old Curmudgeon Comics will be grilling brats and more at 5 P.M., free of charge. 

Although this may be the final film in the Batman trilogy, it really has opened the gates for more possibilities of Batman movies to be made and taken seriously, as opposed to it’s campy counterparts in the 90s. Another reboot is bound to happen, and if The Amazing Spider-Man is anything to go by, it’s that reboots can definitely happen and be welcomed to fans and casual viewers alike.