Everyone in Gotham City is lining up to see the third and final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. It officially opens at midnight on Thursday—well, technically Friday—but tickets have been soldout since January. Why is all of New York agog over watching The Caped Crusader fight some relatively obscure villain from the D.C. universe?
Michael Bloomberg, of course. Think about it: Our own mayor is essentially Bruce Wayne and his vigilante alter ego. The mayor is the 11th-richest person in the United States, with a $22 billion net worth, while Mr. Wayne has a paltry $6.5 billion. (And that’s coming from an honest-to-God Forbes article about the hypothetical bank accounts of fictional characters, so you know it’s true.) They both operate giant eponymous corporate entities, though both Wayne Enterprises and Bloomberg L.P. are run by trusted advisers—Lucius Fox and Daniel Doctoroff, respectively.
Both fancy themselves crime fighters, though connecting with the people is neither’s strong suit. (They’re both a little too 1 percent-y.) And if you need a visual, just check out the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, where a giant mob scene was filmed right next to Zuccotti Park—during the Occupy Wall Street protests.
If this movie has Batman fighting a supervillain who can harness the power of 16 ounces of soda, we might start getting suspicious. After all, Mayor Bloomberg and the Dark Knight have never been photographed together. Or have they?
