Saw this last night, and I would give it a 5 out of 5. It definitely cements this trilogy as one of the best ever. I will say that it wasn't as good as TDK, but Ledger's performance was a hard act to follow. Bane was a good villian, he was big as fukk but was still cunning and always seemed to be a few steps ahead of Batman for the entire film. That mask made it kinda hard to understand WTF he was saying sometimes though. I thought the first fight with Batman and his monologue scene on the tank were his defining moments. I also liked how they showed the toll that the events from TDK took on Bruce mentally and physically. Dude was just like "fukk this shyt...." for the first 45 mins of the movie. He hit rock bottom, had to watch his city get fukked up, and had to find his way back. It seemed like the time he spent in prison went kinda fast, and maybe it should have happened a little earlier, but that's a minor issue. Also, catwoman stole the show in my opinion. She was witty, quick on her feet, and played that "tweener" role well. The Talia 'Al Ghul plot twist was nicely done too, but I thought it was kinda late in the movie. Maybe should have been revealed to the audience earlier, but not to Bruce until the end. Nolan wrapped things up perfectly with this one. As for how it compares to The Avengers...I don't think it can. The tone of these two movies is completely different. The Avengers was a great action/popcorn movie. This was just a great film in general.