"The shadows lurking in the darkness grow longer as the breeze hums a vacant rhapsody. Gotham City is sedated into slumber as moonlight pirouettes in its folds. Somewhere, the shadows shift silently and in their wake a caped figure emerges." No that's not a Batman spoiler but an ode to the epic series which has sent fans around the globe in a tizzy. This July, the third and final instalment in the iconic Batman trilogy - The Dark Knight Rises - is gearing up to capture the theaters.

The Dark Knight Rises is a follow-up to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, which were released in 2005 and 2008, respectively. The final film in the trilogy is one of the most-anticipated movies of 2012.

After an 8-year self-imposed hiatus, will our favorite superhero return to don the cape and the cowl? Will Gotham City see its blue-eyed boy Batman aka Bruce Wayne's proverbial return? Will the caped crusader face his toughest challenge yet in Christopher Nolan's final Batman film? Will the villainous ways of Bane, touted as "the Man who broke the Bat", be too much for the superhero to take on or will the feisty Catwoman help him in his crusade and help vanquish evil Bane?

Several questions abound and we may have the answer to a few. If you'd rather wait for the movie itself to tell you the tale, stop reading right away if you don't want us to rain on your parade. However, if you're made of sterner stuff and like a little bit of spice in your filmy curry, rejoice because the spoilers are on its way!

The Happily Ever After

The ending of the film has been dubbed the "café-scene" and TDKR apparently wraps up with the revelation that new character Miranda Tate is in fact Talia Al Ghul, the daughter of Ras Al Ghul (villain in Batman Begins). According to the ending published by comicbookmovie.com, while battling his antithesis Bane, Batman injures the villain and Talia kills him. The thrills don't end there with Batman putting a doomsday explosive in the Batmobile and to avoid Gotham City from being destroyed, the superhero flies it into the river. Remnants of the vehicle are left behind with no remains of Batman.

Time lapses and Alfred goes searching for Wayne. He chances upon a café in Paris and espies a man who resembles Bruce, in the company of a woman who bears semblance to Selina Kyle. Alfred, senses that Bruce has at last found his peace and continues on his way.The final scene shows cop John Blake searching for Bruce in Wayne Manor. He stumbles upon the Bat cave and lands up finding the Batsuit. Blake chucks his badge into the river and stares at the suit as the credits roll.

The conjectured end leaves room for further Batman franchises with a new beginning, sans the Christoper Nolan touch.

The Dark Knight Rises may not be a fairy tale, but the Warner Bros. epic has all the makings of a pot boiler. With Nolan standing firm about not giving away the ending, what the finale of The Dark Knight Rises has in store has left everyone speculating.