History NightmareFuel / BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns

There's a reason is one of the most famous and darkest Batman stories in comic history. The world has become a WretchedHive and Batman's become much more vicious in turn...

** The following scenes, [[spoiler: as the EMP pulse wreaks havoc across America, causing widespread power outages and plane crashes, including one plane plummeting down right into Gotham and setting an entire city block ablaze. For a few brief horrifying moments, Gordon thinks his wife has died in the fires.]]

** Expanding upon that, when he first enters it, he encounters a couple aboard a boat, and shoots the man, laughing all the while, and instead of shooting the female occupant, he merely boots her out of the boat, still finding it absolutely hilarious, because to the Joker, ''there is no difference between cold blooded murder, and a comedic pratfall''.

** The entirety of the fight between Batman and Joker in the Tunnel of Love. The former, losing blood and having blurred vision due to blood loss, had an imagery of seeing Joker going full KnifeNut, lumbering towards him, pinning him to the ground. The close look on his bloodied and battered face doesn't help.

[Proceeds to [[KnifeNut stab Batman repeatedly,]] all while [[LaughingMad laughing his head off]]]

** The following scenes, [[spoiler: as the EMP pulse wreaks havoc across America, causing widespread power outages and plane crashes, including one plane plummeting down right into Gotham and setting an entire city block ablaze. For a few [[AdultFear brief horrifying moments]], Gordon thinks his wife has died in the fires.]]

--->'''Joker''': Not quite how I imagined, but, we can still end this on a ''high note''.\\

--->'''Joker''': [[ThanatosGambit I win. I made you lose control.]] And they'll kill you for it. [[SeeYouInHell See you in hell.]] [[EvilLaughHAHAHAHA--]] [[NeckSnap [crack] ]]

--->'''Joker''': [[ThanatosGambit I win. I made you lose control.]] And they'll kill you for it. [[SeeYouInHell See you in hell.]] HAHAHAHA--[[NeckSnap [crack] ]]

* The Mutie leader in the film adaptation is this trope ''incarnate'', from his design that looks barely human as if he was a HumanoidAbomination, to his brute strength.

-->'''The Joker''': '' Be still, my heart.''

-->'''Batman (inner monologue):''' ''Stop laughing''.

* The Mutie leader in the film adaptation is this trope ''incarnate'', from his HumanoidAbomination design, to his brute strength.

* Let's just say pretty much every scene with The Joker. Creator/MichaelEmerson makes him utterly terrifying and he does it without ever raising his voice or even showing much emotion beyond amusement. It just shows how completely removed from any humanity The Joker truly is.

* The Mutie leader in the film adaptation is this trope ''incarnate'', from his design, to his brute strength.

** Batman's rematch against the Mutant Leader is Nightmare Fuel for how unflinchingly gritty, [[{{Squick}} gross]] and brutal it is. The two wrestle in a filthy mud-bath surrounded by the Mutant gang members and it's a pure slugfest that shows just how damn scary this Batman can be even without his gadgets or the element of surprise. Batman makes the Leader bleed like a faucet with a simple slash to the forehead, giving us the [[SarcasmMode wonderful]] mental image of blood mixing with the sludge. With surgical precision, Batman ends the fight by snapping the Leader's arm and leg before pummelling his face into the dirt, all with a [[BloodKnight sadistic smirk]] on his face. It's a miracle Batman didn't kill him.