Eight years after Harvey Dent's death and the defeat of the Joker, the Dent Act grants the Gotham City Police Department to organized crime. Feeling guilty for covering up Dent's crimes, Police Commissioner James Gordon writes a resignation speech telling the truth, but decides not to tell because it was not the right time. Batman has disappeared, with Bruce Wayne becoming an outcast. Cat burglar Selina Kyle steals Bruce's fingerprints from his home, kidnaps a congressman, then disappears. Selina hands Bruce's fingerprints to Phillip Stryver, an assistant to Bruce's business rival John Daggett, in hope of having her criminal record erased. Stryver double crosses Selina, but she uses the congressman's stolen phone to alert the police of their location. Gordon and the police arrive to find the congressman, then chase the criminals into the sewers while Selina escapes. A masked man called Bane who had escaped from a hijacked CIA Plane captures Gordon. Gordon escapes, and is found by John Blake, a patrol officer who grew up as an orphan and has known Batman's true identity from their similar backgrounds. Gordon promotes Blake to detective, with Blake reporting directly to him.