[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Spoiler!

Yeah, it kind of cheapens the ending of TDK. I suppose in universe you could reference The Dent Act allowing Gordon to have the power to clean up the streets. But I agree with you.

Spoiler!

His knee had no cartilage left, it likely had nothing to do with the fall he took. To wear down all the cartilage you need a significant knee injury that didn't heal properly and over time the cartilage wears away or you need to have overused the knee so much that your knee is now like a 70 year olds. My guess is that from all of the landings from the air, kicking, blocking, running Batman did he simply over used his knee and wore the cartilage away. Being Batman would be very hard on your body, look at all the bumps, cuts and bruises Bruce always had.

The Dent act allowed the cops and DA to put all the mobs in jail, other than the mob it was just regular crimes going on that Batman never had anything to do with anyway. With the mob gone, Crane (and possibly Joker) in jail, Two Face is dead so there was no criminals of Batman's "equal" to go after. It's not like Batman was going to go running around stopping B and E's or car thefts. Catwoman was flying under the radar, even though she was making news she wasn't more than a cat burglar so not enough to make Batman come back.