History Film / TheDarkKnight

''The Dark Knight'' (2008) is the second entry in Creator/ChristopherNolan's Franchise/{{Batman}} film trilogy, ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy''.

** Two-Face was more cartoony-looking in the comics. In the film, the scarred side of his face is given ''much'' more detail.

* VigilanteMilitia: Batman's activities have unfortunately inspired several copycat vigilantes to take on the criminal underworld of Gotham. At least some of these are working together, as seen when two or three of them try to take down Scarecrow's operation. Bruce is not happy about this, as these average citizens don't have the same resources he does and are more likely to get themselves killed. [[spoiler:Indeed, the Joker starts targeting them in his hunt for the Batman and brutally murders one on camera.]]

** [[JokerImmunity And why doesn't anyone shoot the Joker?]] Because the good guys know that IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim, and when the bad guys are in the same room as him he's covered in Dead Man Switch grenades.

** While we know from the beginning that [[CommissionerGordon Gordon will eventually take his rightful place as Police Commissioner]], the movie has him skipping over the rank of Captain in the process. While he would likely be a city-wide hero after [[spoiler:TakingTheBullet for the mayor and helping capture the Joker]], explaining why the average police officer wouldn't care, higher-ups would take notice and likely bring him back down to Captain.

** Batman is bouncing the Joker off the walls of his cell. The cops cast a worried look at Gordon.

''The Dark Knight'' burst OutOfTheGhetto, receiving an overwhelmingly positive critical reception as a serious drama, thanks in large part to the ''tour de force'' performances of its cast -- notably Ledger as the Joker. While Ledger's performance and commitment to the role earned praise on their own, [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead public opinion was also undoubtedly informed by his untimely death]] while the film was in post-production.

At its peak, the film was the second-highest-grossing film of all time in the United States (behind ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'') and the fourth-highest worldwide (behind ''Titanic'', ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' and ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest''). It also became the first comic book film to win an acting UsefulNotes/AcademyAward when Ledger was posthumously given the honor of Best Supporting Actor.

!! You wanna know how I got these tropes?:

* AxCrazy: ComicBook/TheJoker is the ''epitome'' of this. True to his twisted behavior, Joker is a horrific {{Sadist}} who's very open to the idea of senseless violence, and frequently kills or tries to kill people over petty excuses or just ForTheEvulz. When he's searched by the police, they find a whole lot of things that are already knives.

* BadassBystander: In one of the bank robbery's gags, the mob bank manager sitting in the background is startled when the Joker, Grumpy and Chuckles come in and Chuckles shoots the ceiling. After Chuckles pistol-whips a guard and starts waving his gun menacingly, the bank manager slowly takes off his glasses, picks up a SawedOffShotgun, and fires a single round through the glass window, hitting Chuckles in the back. He pumps the weapon and goes after the Joker and Grumpy. The Joker (as Bozo) tricks the manager into using his last shell to hit Grumpy in the shoulder before taking him out.

-->'''The Joker''': "Fuh-reek?" Why don't we [[DisproportionateRetribution cut you up into little pieces and feed you to your pooches]]? And then we'll see how loyal a hungry dog ''really'' is!

-->'''Joker''': See, I'm a man of simple tastes. I like dynamite... and gunpowder... and gasoline! Do you know what all of these things have in common? They're cheap!

'''Lucius''': Like a submarine, Mr. Wayne. Like a submarine.

** The Joker is given no backstory, and the only explanation we get for why he's doing what he's doing is simply a desire to push Gotham to the brink. When he's caught by the Gotham P.D., they aren't able to find any evidence to identify him.

'''Lucius Fox''': Like a submarine, Mr. Wayne. [[DeadpanSnarker Like a submarine]].

-->'''Joker''': Oh, and by the way, the suit? It wasn't cheap. You ought know, you bought it!

** The defective gun Wilmer Rossi brings in a courtroom trying (and failing) to assassinate Harvey Dent is made of carbon fiber, and not metal. This is so that the gun could pass through the metal detectors without any trouble, as practically every courthouse in America have metal detectors.

--->'''Loeb:''' Gordon, you're unlikely to discover this for yourself, so take my word. The police commissioner gets a lot of threats. I found the appropriate responsjudge
e to these situations a long time ago. ''[sets down a glass of Clyburn whiskey, and drinks]''\\

** The Joker has a clean, cartoon-ish appearance in the comics and some of the other adaptations, but in the film, he gets a dirtier, creepier appearance that gets worse over the course of the film.

** Most of Joker's seen victims, which make his crimes more palatable. In short order: [[spoiler:all the bank robbers who are tricked into murdering each other for money, Gambol and many of his gangsters (a noteworthy example included a pencil), Lau and Chechen. Ironically Maroni would be known as the man who successfully escaped the Joker only to become a victim of Two-Face joining Wuertz.]]

** Bruce Wayne drives a Lamborghini Murcielago... [[StealthPun Murcielago being Spanish for "Bat"]].

** [[ScaryBlackMan Ginty]], on the prisoner ferry boat, is a OneSceneWonder because of this. He tells the warden that he knows the warden doesn't have the guts to blow up the other boat in order to save his own life, even though he doesn't want to die. Then he tells the warden that if he gives ''him'' the remote he'll "do what you shoulda did ten minutes ago". [[spoiler:The warden caves in and hands Ginty the remote--and he throws it out the window into the water.]]

* TheMobBossIsScarier: People definitely see the Joker as being scarier than Batman, and Maroni spells out how no one is going to cross the Joker because they're too afraid of what cruel method he could devise to kill them (and he's personally afraid of a reprisal against the Falcone family should he cross the Joker), whereas all Batman can do is beat them up a bit. Particularly noteworthy in that the mob bosses acually think that the Joker is working for ''them'', and they're ''still'' too terrified to cross him.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: Invoked in-story by the Joker during the iconic interrogation room scene. Joker mocks the Mob for trying to get rid of Batman thinking Gotham City and their crimminal operations will go back to the way they were a year ago. They haven't, née ''cannot'' accept that Batman has changed Gotham ''forever'' and that there's no going back.

* ProductPlacement: A lot. One notable case is Bruce Wayne's driving a Lamborghini Murcielago. Also a BilingualBonus StealthPun: ''murciélago'' is Spanish for ''bat''.

* SiameseTwinSong: Notably, the closing notes of the soundtrack's 1st piece, "Why So Serious," (i.e. the soundtrack of the ColdOpen involving the Joker) leads striaght to the opening tones of the 2nd piece, "I'm Not a Hero" (the very first track directly themed to Batman--which plays in his encounter with the Chechen and Scarecrow).

** Bruce Wayne drives a Lamborghini Murcielago. [[BilingualBonus Murcielago is Spanish for "Bat".]]

--->[[spoiler:'''Ginty:''' Give it to me, and I'll do what you should've did ten minutes ago.]]\\

--->'''Loeb:''' Gordon, you're unlikely to discover this for yourself, so take my word. The police commissioner gets a lot of threats. I found the appropriate response to these situations a long time ago. ''[sets down a glass of Clyburn whiskey, and drinks]''\\

* SealedOrders: The Joker starts targeting the highest echelons of Gotham's judiciary system in rapid succession to prevent them from efficiently taking down the Mob. Judge Janet Surillo, the one who gave out most of the Mob's sentences, is found to be targeted next, a couple of cops go to her house and tell her she needs to move to a secure location. They handed her an envelope with the location as she gets into her car to drive. However, this is {{subverted}} because [[spoiler: it's a trap. The cops are stooges (not clear if they're on the Mob's payroll or the Joker's), the card just says her destination is "Up", and she gets about a second to process this before [[ExternalCombustion her car explodes]].]]

* BewareTheQuietOnes: Bozo is curiously mute for the length of the bank robbery. Then, once he kills the bus driver, he reveals himself to be the Joker.

* TwistedEchoCut: [[spoiler:Rachel tells Harvey her answer to his marriage proposal is "Yes." Batman then kicks down the door...to where Harvey is imprisoned, causing him to shout, "NO! NO! NO!" because he knows Rachel is going to die.]]

*** "You said you're a man of your word!" "I am -- I'm only burning my half."

** Dent also pulled this off once as well. See FalseReassurance.
** [[ScaryBlackMan Ginty]], on the prisoner ferry boat is a OneSceneWonder because of this. He tells the warden that he knows the warden doesn't have the guts to blow up the other boat in order to save his own life, even though he doesn't want to die. Then he tells the warden that if he gives ''him'' the remote he'll "do what you should have done ten minutes ago". [[spoiler:The warden caves in and hands the prisoner the remote--and he throws it out the window into the water.]]

* DoWrongRight: During a trial, Harvey prevents the witness (a hired gun) from killing him with a smuggled pistol. He is bemused when he notices that the pistol is Chinese, and snarks at the witness (and would-be killer) that if he wants to assassinate a public servant, then he should use an American gun.

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: This one actually pertains to ''grenades''; the Joker threatens the mob meeting with a coat featuring a bunch of grenades with their pins attached to a string. Grenade pins won't be able to be set off so easily; multiple steps are required in order to successfully pull the pin out, including holding down the safety lever and then releasing it after pulling the pin.

* BombThrowingAnarchist: One of the Joker's preferred methods of destruction, blowing up city officials, police cars and hospitals. Or, in the case of the ferries, setting the bombs and letting others decide whether to detonate them (and then being ready to do it himself if they balk).

** When Reese goes on national television to reveal Batman's SecretIdentity [[spoiler: the Joker calls the show and tells the audience that if Reese isn't killed in less than an hour, a hospital will blown up.]]

* BombThrowingAnarchist: One of the Joker's preferred methods of destruction, blowing up city officials, police cars and hospitals.

** RICO cases are all federal cases, meaning even if Harvey and Rachel's gambit to arrest all 549 criminals at once actually worked (which, while incredibly unlikely, is not completely impossible), the case would've been sent out of their jurisdiction almost immediately.

** The truck-flipping scene is a truly awesome practical effect, but the way Batman does it as seen in the film would be physically impossible[[note]]the effect was accomplished by using a piston rigged with TNT on the back of the truck to flip it over[[/note]]. Assuming Batman does exactly what we see regarding the cable, the truck would have just torn the cable out of the asphalt along with the lampposts, and barely been slowed. And if the cable's anchor held firm, the cable would more likely break. Failing that, the truck would simply, abruptly stop. In no case is it capable of generating the force required to make the trailer rise up and turn with the entire rig over its own front end. Further, the rig itself and the trailer are not a single, rigid piece as shown. The two pieces would form a "V" while doing the flip, due to the trailer lagging behind the tractor as it rotates over. Once bent beyond breaking point, the hitch would fail and the trailer would drop back on its wheels.

--->'''Gordon:''' Official policy is to arrest the vigilante known as "Batman" on sight.
--->'''Dent:''' Mm-hm. And what about that floodlight on top of MCU?
--->'''Gordon:''' If you've got problems with malfunctioning equipment, I suggest you take them up with maintenance, counselor.

'''Gordon''': Official policy is to arrest the vigilante known as Batman on sight.