History NightmareFuel / TheDarkKnight

** The police finally arrest him and want him tried like any other mafia enforcer? They find ''nothing'' on him. No fingerprints, no dental work, no trace of any identity. Like he [[DiabolusExNihilo just appeared]] out of thin air. ** Batman busts out his aggressive interrogation tactics to find out Harvey Dent's location? The Joker laughs in his face and mocks him despite the heavy blows hitting in the head. Batman, much like the cops, has nothing to threaten him with. Joker makes it very clear that he's in control, not The Bat.

** What’s worse: we see the terrified reaction of the crony at the moment of Gambol's apparent death...but [[NothingIsScarier we don’t actually see what the Joker does to Gambol...]]

-->'''The Joker:''' How about a magic trick? (''slams a pencil into the table, point first'') I'm gonna make this pencil disappear... (''Gambol's crony stands up and goes to attack him. In one swift motion, the Joker then slams the man's head onto the pencil, forcing the entire pencil -- eraser first -- through his eye socket; the crony collapses to the floor, dead, taking the pencil with him'')
-->'''The Joker:''' [[FauxAffablyEvil TA-DA! It's, ah, it's gone]].

-->'''Joker''': You see, this is how ''crazy'' Batman's made Gotham! You want order restored, Batman must take off his mask and turn himself in. Oh, and every day he doesn't, people ''will'' die. Starting tonight. '''I'm a man of my word'''. (''laughs psychotically as he drops the camera; Brian screams, footage abruptly cuts out'')
** And then you get to a moment later on in the film, when Joker burns his half of the money: one of Wayne's employees, Coleman Reese, has decided to go on to [=GCN=] and publicly reveal Batman's identity... only for Joker to call in and state he had [[FalseReassurance a "change of heart"]] concerning Batman's identity.
--->'''Joker''': (''on the phone'') I had a vision... of a world without Batman. The mob ground out a little profit, and the police tried to shut them down one block at a time. And it was so... [[VictoryIsBoring boring]]. I've had a change of heart. I don't want Mr. Reese spoiling everything, [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves but why should I have all the fun?]] (''[[OhCrap Reese becomes mortified]]'') Let's give someone else a chance. [[KickTheDog If Coleman Reese... isn't dead... in sixty minutes, then I blow up a hospital]].

* Two-Face. [[SarcasmMode Don't worry if you really wanted to see it.]] Yes, it’s seriously scary that it is shown to represent the NightmareFuel section of a movie ''full'' of nightmare fuel. Let that sink in.
--> '''Wuertz''': Dent? Jesus... I thought you were dead.
--> '''Harvey:''' ''Half.''

-->'''Alfred:''' A long time ago, I was in Burma, my friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never found anyone who traded with him. One day I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.
-->'''Bruce:''' Then why steal them?
-->'''Alfred:''' Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. [[ForTheEvulz Some men just want to watch the world burn.]]

-->'''The Chechen:''' Look what your drugs did to my customers!
-->'''Scarecrow:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Buyer beware]]. I told you my compound would take you places. ''[[ExactWords I never said they'd be places you wanted to go.]]''

---> '''Harvey:''' You can't. You can't give in. ''YOU CAN'T GIVE IN!''
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqS7HIJ6oog Agent Of Chaos]], the music that plays when the Joker is being interrogated only to escape and Batman is trying to save Rachel, while at the very end, it slips into {{Tearjerker}} territory to parallel her death, the vast majority is very intense, chaotic and adrenaline filled, hinting at a great and terrible danger. It truly feels like it could be a second {{Leitmotif}} for the Joker himself.

* Two-Face. [[SarcasmMode Don't worry if you really wanted to see it,]] Yes, it’s seriously scary that it is shown to represent the NightmareFuel section of a movie ''full'' of nightmare fuel. Let that sink in.

-->'''Alfred:''' Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. [[ForTheEvulz Some men just want to watch the world burn.]]

* Though Scarecrow only shows up in one scene, he's still making his horrifying fear toxin, and now evidently contaminating recreational drugs with it. When the Chechen brings a victim of the toxin to Scarecrow to show him, the poor victim can be heard screaming, ''"Please! They're crawling in my mouth! Get them off!"''

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqS7HIJ6oog Agent Of Chaos]], the music that plays when the Joker is being interrogated only to escape and Batman is trying to save Rachel, while at the very end it slips into {{Tearjerker}} territory to parallel her death, the vast majority is very intense, chaotic and adrenaline filled, hinting at a great and terrible danger. It truly feels like it could be a second {{Leitmotif}} for the Joker himself.

* The defining moment for the Joker was standing in the street as the Batpod race towards him muttering [[TooKinkyToTorture "Come on, come on, I want you to do it, I want you to do it."]] He is utterly prepared to actually die just to corrupt the Batman. After that, you realize that there was really no stopping him.
* Christopher Nolan originally thought of bringing us a more terrifying, twisted and psychopathic Joker. [[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/new-concept-art-dark-knight-envisions-alternate-jokers/amp/&ved=2ahUKEwiQ5-CqmdnoAhWNI7kGHZLjC3oQFjAMegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw3yQ3qPb_sX1gBOk2CQqUdP&ampcf=1 Here]] you can find the original designs for this Joker. However, Christopher Nolan felt that this joker did not fit his "Universe" so he decided change something to the Joker.

-->'''Batman:''' You'd leave a man's life to chance?

--> '''Harvey:''' You can't. You can't give in. ''YOU CAN'T GIVE IN!''

* One of the most terrifying Joker-related scenes comes from when Batman interrogates him and the Joker reveals he's kidnapped Rachel in addition to Harvey, and they both have mere minutes to live. Batman [[UnstoppableRage goes berserk]] and [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique starts trying to beat]] their location out of the Joker, up to bashing his head against a reinforced glass window so hard the window actually cracks. All Batman's severe beating does to Joker? [[NightmareFetishist It only makes him laugh HARDER!]] It only gets worse when you think about the Joker's line, "You have ''nothing'', ''nothing'' to threaten me with. Nothing to do with ''all'' of your strength!".

* Two-Face. [[SarcasmMode Don't worry if you really wanted to see it,]] Yes, it is so scary that it is shown to represent the NightmareFuel section of a movie ''full'' of nightmare fuel. Let that sink in.

* When Alfred later finishes the story with how they caught the bandit, he flatly states, "We burned the forest down." In order to get the bandit, Alfred was forced to give the bandit exactly what he wanted and in the process become a man as cold and unrelenting as the bandit himself; a man who would burn everything around him to get at his objective.

%%* Three words: "Why so serious?"

----

[[caption-width-right:350:Why so serious?]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/two_face_5.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged DEAR GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?]]]]

* One minor tidbit about the money burning scene: Joker had gone out of his way to kidnap Lau from jail in order to figure out where the mob kept their money. He proceeds to take half of it and stack it up into a pyramid, with Lau being placed on top of the pile... [[MoneyToBurn and then has his guys set the pile ablaze]]. [[KilledOffscreen We never see Lau again for the rest of that scene.]]

* A fat lunatic complains of stomach pains and rants that the Joker told him that a light would come from his stomach in this high, childish tone. It comes out of his stomach all right... [[SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb in the form of a bomb]] the Joker ''[[WhyAmITicking implanted inside of him]]''.

* The worst part about Two-Face was when he kidnapped Gordon's family, and Commissioner Gordon, whom many tropers strongly identify as a father figure, cried and begged helplessly for their lives. The thought of a father (whose job is being ''a policeman,'' no less) being unable to protect his children is just pure NightmareFuel, let alone AdultFear at it's finest. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NdV7-rOt2Y The music]] in that scene, appropriately titled "Watch the World Burn", just makes the whole thing so much more intense. It starts off quiet, but gradually becomes louder to the point where it's ''unbearably'' intense. There's just something in there that truly and absolutely defines Harvey's SanitySlippage.

-->'''The Chechen:''' Look what your stuff did to him!

* A really horrifying scene is where the Joker tells Rachel the second scar story. Something about the whole scene reeks of sexual predation, and to make it even more horrible, there's the fact [[GroinAttack she knees him in the nuts, ]] and he actually LIKES it!

* As scary as Ledger's Joker and Two Face are in the film, [[http://www.flixist.com/never-before-seen-dark-knight-concept-art-is-horrifying-213955.phtml the early concept art]] is [[http://filmsketchr.blogspot.ca/2015/03/see-what-two-face-almost-looked-like-in.html really something else...]] The first iterations of Two-face were more realistic, with less extensive damage; test audiences actually found the more subdued, realistic damage to be so unsettling, to the point of unintentional NauseaFuel, that the Two-Face we currently see was used instead. The Joker pales in comparison to Two-Face's scar-ified half of his face. ''[[{{Squick}} What]]'' [[{{Squick}} is keeping his]] '''[[{{Squick}} EYEBALL]]''' [[{{Squick}} in the]] '''[[{{Squick}} SOCKET!?]]'''

--->'''Joker''': (''on the phone'') I had a vision... of a world without Batman. The mob ground out a little profit and the police tried to shut them down one block at a time. And it was so... [[VictoryIsBoring boring.]] I've had a change of heart. I don't want Mr. Reese spoiling everything, [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves but why should I have all the fun?]] (Reese [[OhCrap becomes mortified]]) Let's give someone else a chance. [[KickTheDog If Coleman Reese... isn't dead... in sixty minutes, then I blow up a hospital.]]

** In the scene where Harvey reveals himself, his face is obscured by the pillow but you can see the black charring and the blood on the cloth. All you can think is [[NothingIsScarier "Oh God, I'm not ready for what he looks like under there."]] And yeah...[[FaceRevealingTurn you're not]].

* A fat lunatic complains of stomach pains and rants that the Joker told him that a light would come from his stomach in this high, childish tone. It comes out of his stomach all right...[[SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb in the form of a bomb]] the Joker ''[[WhyAmITicking implanted inside of him]]''.

--> ''Do you wanna know how I got these scars? My father was a drinker...and a fiend. And one night, he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn't like that. Not...one...bit. So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. He turns to me, and he says, "Why so serious?" He comes at me with the knife - "Why so serious?" He sticks the blade in my mouth - "Let's put a smile on that face!"

-->'''The Joker:''' How about a magic trick? [slams a pencil into the table, point first] I'm gonna make this pencil disappear...[Gambol's crony stands up and goes to attack him. In one swift motion, the Joker then slams the man's head onto the pencil, forcing the entire pencil--eraser first--through his eye socket; the crony collapses to the floor, dead, taking the pencil with him.]
-->'''The Joker:''' TA-DA! It's, ah, it's gone.
* One of the most terrifying Joker-related scenes comes from when Batman interrogates him and the Joker reveals he's kidnapped Rachel in addition to Harvey, and they both have mere minutes to live. Batman [[UnstoppableRage goes berserk]] and [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique starts trying to beat]] their location out of the Joker, up to bashing his head against a reinforced glass window so hard the window actually cracks. All Batman's severe beating does to Joker? [[NightmareFetishist It only makes him laugh HARDER!]] It only gets worse when you think about the Joker's line, "You have ''nothing'', ''nothing'' to threaten me with. Nothing to do with ''all'' of your strength!"

* One of the most NightmareFuel-filled moments was surprisingly one of the most low-key; when the Joker is videotaping/shooting his nightmare-porn of Brian the Batman Impersonator and orders Brian to "Look at me! [[SuddenlyShouting LOOK!]] [[PunctuatedForEmphasis AT!]] [[EvilSoundsDeep ME!]]" That scene gets worse when Brian is done delivering the Joker's message [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness and is of no more use to him.]] The camera cuts out just as Joker descends on the panicked hostage. The distorted sounds that are heard just before the tape ends, especially since we can't make out ''[[NothingIsScarier anything]]'' [[NothingIsScarier happening in the last bit of footage... ]] When the newscaster says, "Sensitive viewers, be aware. The image is disturbing," he's not kidding.
-->'''Joker''': Batman must take off his mask and turn himself in. Oh, and every day he doesn't, people will die. Starting tonight. ''I'm a man of my word''. *laughs; drops the camera as Brian screams; footage abruptly cuts out*

--->'''Joker''': (on the phone) I had a vision... of a world without Batman. The mob ground out a little profit and the police tried to shut them down one block at a time. And it was so... [[VictoryIsBoring boring.]] I've had a change of heart. I don't want Mr. Reese spoiling everything, [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves but why should I have all the fun?]] (Reese [[OhCrap becomes mortified]]) Let's give someone else a chance. [[KickTheDog If Coleman Reese... isn't dead... in sixty minutes, then I blow up a hospital.]]

--> "Do you want to know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick, you can't savor all the.....''little emotions''. You see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I knew your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were [[AintTooProudToBeg cowards]]?"

--> '''Wuertz''': Dent? Jesus...I thought you were dead.

** It gets worse. As Batman walks away and declares his intention to turn himself in, Harvey tells him he can't give up now. When Batman does not answer, Harvey [[SuddenlyShouting repeats himself abruptly and rather loudly.]] And as he does, [[Foreshadowing half his face is hidden in darkness.]]

-->'''Scarecrow:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Buyer beware]]. I told you my compound would take you places. I never said they'd be places you wanted to go.

* The Joker repeatedly claims through the film that he was not born a psycho, and states it only takes a day bad enough to turn a good man into something like him. It is never clarified if he is saying the truth or if he is just messing with people and makes fun of the whole concept of the FreudianExcuse which leads to the inevitable question: ''[[NothingIsScarier Did something]]'' happen to the man who would become the Joker and if yes then what was it?

--> "Batman must take off his mask and turn himself in. Oh, and every day he doesn't, people will die. Starting tonight. ''I'm a man of my word''." *laughs*