MTV News:
Batman cannot die. Bruce Wayne laid that in clear language while riding on his jet with Alfred in "Batman Begins." "As a man, I'm flesh and blood. I can be ignored I can be destroyed, but as a symbol — as a symbol — I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting."

That view was never considered a radical change in Christopher Nolan's revisionist take on the Caped Crusader. That's always been Batman's mindset.

Comic book logic, however, refuses to let any major character truly, permanently die, and the light air of previous film versions would never have taken the character that far and risk ending a successful film franchise. But ending a series is precisely what Nolan intends to do with "The Dark Knight Rises." (Cinema, The Dark Knight Rises)