The Dark Knight Rises goes back to the beginning. The main villain is Bane, an outcast from the League of Shadows, also known as the place where Bruce Wayne learned to be Batman. At the end of Batman Begins Batman kills his former teacher the leader of the League of Shadows, Ra's Al Ghul. The importance of the League of Shadows is that they fight for what they consider the greater good. In the past by attempting to destroy a city that they thought had fallen beyond repair and into corruption. Batman, doing what he does best, stopped them. However, just as Batman is a symbol and a legend that cannot die, the death of Ra's Al Ghul did not destroy the League of Shadows. A new heir, the daughter of Ghul, leads the assassins, with the help of her friend and bodyguard Bane. Just as the torch passed for the league, it also passed for Batman (more on that later).
Christopher Nolan takes the concept of the greater good and brings it crashing into reality with the Taking Wall Street movement. Bruce Wayne, being one of the only comic-book super heroes to truly be in the one percent is the perfect character for this message. In fact the entire first part of the movie is dedicated to Bruce Wayne losing everything. After an attack on the stock exchange and some fraudulent deals made in his name, Wayne loses every penny of his fortune. His fall from grace as a symbol has now been mirrored on his public life and it also shows the idea of the one percent becoming the ninety-nine percent. Falling even lower, Batman's back is broken by Bane in an ill-fated sewer fight, and Bane finally drags Bruce (his mask now shattered) back to the hellish prison Bane himself came from.
The prison is a very deep pit with an open air top and a climbable wall. As Bane says, "people need hope so that they can truly suffer." The climb to the top features a nearly impossible jump that no one had ever succeeded at before, except for one child. In this prison Bruce Wayne is nursed back to health and eventually climbs his way out. By the time he returns to Gotham, Bane has already trapped nearly three thousand policemen underground and taken control of the entirety of Gotham with a nuclear bomb. Bane, having come from literally nothing, and representing the ninety-nine percent, gives the city to it's citizens. Some take up refuge in their homes and hide while others seek to punish the wealthy business owners, CEO's, and stock traders who have lived off the sweat and blood of the working class.
The citizens, lead by none other than Scarecrow from Batman Begins, form a makeshift court of the people to sentence those who have bankrupted the good people of Gotham to either exile or execution. Even public displays like hanging the wealthy on the streets are seen from the outraged workers. But, the League of Shadows still intends to destroy Gotham, turning a nuclear fusion reactor that was designed to provide free, clean energy to the people of Gotham, into a bomb that would wipe out the city.
Cat Woman on the other hand was a poor, beggar who got in deep with the wrong people and had to become a master thief to survive. Her story arc is much more archetypal: selfish to selfless culminating in making the final choice of saving herself or going back to save the city. Cat Woman's character is not all that interesting; it's just a vessel to provide another side of the ninety-nine percent: to be a foil to Bane. What is interesting about Cat Woman is that she becomes Bruce Wayne's love interest and eventual wife (as far as we can guess anyway, they're shown together at the end of the movie) and this seems to mirror Sherlock Holmes (a fad that seems to have been popping back up in modern culture recently thanks to Dr. House). Batman, once known as the worlds greatest detective (Adam West anyone?) falls in love with a thief, just as Holmes was in love with Irene Adler, another master thief.
Finally, Batman returns to Gotham just in time to, with the help of Commissioner Gordon, free the trapped policemen and form an army to take on Bane and the League of Shadows. Batman rises from hell to save the people, sacrificing himself to the bomb instead and ascending into legend. But, he doesn't sacrifice himself and manages to survive, changing his identity and forming a new life with Selina Kyle (Cat Woman). He passes the torch onto a new hero, Robin, and leaves Gotham forever.
That's everything I can think of for now. I'm absolutely sure I missed plenty more symbolism but unfortunately I won't be able to re-watch it again and catch anything else for quite a while.
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