Batman Comics Just Stole 'The Dark Knight Rises' Ending
Future State: Dark Detective #4 ends almost the same exact way as Christopher Nolan's final installment in his Dark Knight Series did.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Dark Detective #4.
The last chapter of DC's latest Batman epic - Future State: Dark Detective - just concluded almost the same way as Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises did, sans the fusion-reactor-core-gone-decaying-neutron-bomb bit. But there's still a massive explosion, complete with the open-ended question as to whether or not Bruce Wayne perished in the blast. And there's even a character who learns of Batman's identity right at the end (but it's not Jim Gordon).
In Dark Detective #4, written by Mariko Tamaki with art by Dan Mora, Bruce Wayne is out of time and no longer has the luxury of hiding out in Noah's basement after his forced retirement. Up until this point, the Magistrate had mistakenly believed that Peacekeeper-01 had successfully killed Bruce and, by extension, the Batman. But thanks to the nano-tech surveillance stolen from Wayne Enterprises, the Magistrate learned that Bruce is very much alive and where he's been hiding. So Batman needs to act fast, and he does.
After planting bombs on the roof of the Magistrate's headquarters, Batman confronts Peacekeeper-01 in an epic showdown but not before saving Noah's daughter who just downloaded all of the Magistrate's secrets onto a hard drive. Rather than escaping as Batman commands, Noah's daughter watches from the sidelines as Batman and Peacekeeper-01 duke it out in brawl for the ages. And she just so happens to be close enough to hear Peacekeeper-01 call Batman by his real name before the entire building erupts into flames, but not close enough that she dies, presumably.
Much like in the film, a Batman ally learns of his true identity just moments before the Caped Crusader seemingly dies and disappears forever. Also like the movie, in order to to defeat the Magistrate, Batman must not only emerge from, but destroy the very shadows that he once lurked within to protect Gotham, the same shadows that the Magistrate had taken from him to "rule" in his stead. Remember, the Magistrate had stolen technology from Wayne Enterprises to surveil the people of Gotham to help their organization stay in control and dominate Batman's city wholly and completely, just like Bane did in Rises.
Of course, Christopher Nolan's Batman also left behind the protection of the shadows when he chose to fly Talia al Ghul's bomb away from Gotham and an important distinction between the comic and film is that unlike the Magistrate that wished to rule Gotham from the shadows, Talia al Ghul from The Dark Knight Rises simply wished to destroy Gotham (thus eliminating everything, including the shadows). Regardless, both renditions convey a sense of finality to their respective stories.