Secondly, unlike Tony Stark (who, lest face it, is Marvel’s version of Bruce Wayne), Wayne is not egotistical and flamboyant. He is quiet and reserved. The fact that he wears a mask is because at the heart of it, he is a mentally disturbed man haunted by his past. Of course he wears a mask to hide his true identity, but his identity doesn’t matter. Batman is more of an idea than a person so there that may be the reason he continues to wear the mask at the end instead of demoting the mythic legend of Batman to simpy a man in a costume.

Think of the Lord of the Rings. Everyone thought all three were great, but it wasn’t really until the Return of the King that it went all-out, with balls-to-the-wall critical acclaim and all sorts of awards. So maybe people were “holding out” after the second one (although Heath Ledger’s Joker was indeed great and got a lot of praise), just waiting to heap the praise on the third one. But in the end, the third one was OK, but suffered from various storytelling problems and other drawbacks that made it less-good than its predecessor. But since people were already prepared to go all-in on liking number three, they did. I know that I, for one, have a much higher likelihood of enjoying a movie if I go into it thinking I’ll enjoy it.

Who knows. Anyone else think this might have some credibility?

I wonder it this is how Return of the Jedi feels.