Is this the end of Batman?

I didn’t find the fact that Oscar winner Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levett were reuniting with director Christopher Nolan for The Dark Knight Rises nearly as interesting as the fact the news release announcing the casting referred to the film as “the epic conclusion to the Dark Night legend.”

What’s with this “epic conclusion” business? Is Nolan, who is co-writing the screenplay from a story he co-authored, planning to bump off Batman? Is Nolan going to forever deprive Batman of a Robin? Everyone knows Nolan was not planning on directing another Batman film, but is he going to do his best to keep everyone else away as well?

I guess we’ll have to wait until July 2012, when the film is scheduled to open, to learn the answers.