Ra's al Ghul's scheming in Batman Begins was an amazing take on the character, as it tested Batman and his strict personal rule of not killing, which was then further tested by Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight. Related: Nolan's Best Gotham Wasn't In The Dark Knight Trilogy As such, the main critique of The Dark Knight Rises' plot is its referral back to the al Ghul's assassins' guild, the League of Shadows. Furthermore, the reveal that Bruce's lover Miranda Tate was actually Talia al Ghul, the daughter of Liam Neeson's Ra's al Ghul from Batman Begins, risked retreading much of the ground covered in the first movie. While Tom Hardy's role as the nefarious strongman Bane has become highly-recognizable many years after the film's release, despite the blatant changes that were made to his strength and abilities, his attributes made him a much more straightforward and two-dimensional villain than others in the Rogues' gallery. A plot featuring the Court of Owls as the primary antagonists would have arguably been much stronger than the plot of The Dark Knight Rises.