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* CompleteMonster: [[TheJoker Who else?]] Even with that, HeathLedger's portrayal is considered to be one of the most monstrous interpretations of the character in history.
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* CompleteMonster: [[TheJoker Who else?]] Even with that, HeathLedger's portrayal is considered to be [[UpToEleven one of the most monstrous interpretations of the character in history.]]
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* ItWasHisSled: Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face. Seriously people, the character has existed since 1942. There's a statute of limitations on this sort of thing. Of course, there ''was'' the question of whether he'd do it in this film or it would be saved for a future installment.
to:
* ItWasHisSled: Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face. Seriously people, the character has existed since 1942. There's a statute of limitations on this sort of thing. Of course, there ''was'' the question of whether he'd do it in this film or it would be saved for a future installment. [[spoiler: And, in a subversion, the real twist comes when he's unexpectedly killed off about half an hour after getting his burns]].
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* GeniusBonus: The conversation between Harvey and Rachel in the fancy restaurant takes on a completely different meaning if you know your Roman history. Though no one in the scene says this outright, the figure in the Roman government that Harvey was referring to was known as a "dictator" (he was saying, in essence, "Maybe Gotham needs a dictator").
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* FoeYay: As usual, Joker gets his fair share in with Batman, but his scenes with Rachel and Harvey garner a little as well.
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** [[MultipleChoicePast Assuming the Joker was telling the truth]], the Joker's father was a scumbag as well for abusing both his wife and son, killing his wife, and carving up the Joker's mouth.
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* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Harvey Dent's mental and physical breakdown into becoming Two-Face, and how he lashes out against Gotham afterwards, would've made an interesting story, but alas...
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* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Harvey Dent's mental and physical breakdown into becoming Two-Face, and how he lashes out against Gotham afterwards, would've made an interesting story, story on its own, but alas...
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* AwardSnub: A superhero movie was always going to have difficulty cracking into the Oscars, but this was made worse by the fact that most of the nominated movies (including [[SlumdogMillionaire the eventual winner]]) didn't receive nearly the amount of critical or public acclaim as ''TheDarkKnight'' did, and yet ''TheDarkKnight'' wasn't even nominated. It's said that the resulting outcry is at least partly responsible for the Academy deciding to nominate ten movies for Best Picture in 2010 instead of the traditional five.
to:
* AwardSnub: A superhero movie was always going to have difficulty cracking into the Oscars, but this was made worse by the fact that most of the nominated movies (including [[SlumdogMillionaire the eventual winner]]) didn't receive nearly the amount of critical or public acclaim as ''TheDarkKnight'' ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' did, and yet ''TheDarkKnight'' ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' wasn't even nominated. It's said that the resulting outcry is at least partly responsible for the Academy deciding to nominate ten movies for Best Picture in 2010 instead of the traditional five.
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* EndingFatigue: At a little over two and a half hours, ''TheDarkKnight'' wears some viewers out in the final third. This is partly due to [[spoiler:the Harvey Dent/Two-Face subplot being wrapped up ''after'' the defeat of the Joker, the BigBad, in a sequence that is dialogue-driven as opposed to the action in the Joker's.]]
to:
* EndingFatigue: At a little over two and a half hours, ''TheDarkKnight'' ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' wears some viewers out in the final third. This is partly due to [[spoiler:the Harvey Dent/Two-Face subplot being wrapped up ''after'' the defeat of the Joker, the BigBad, in a sequence that is dialogue-driven as opposed to the action in the Joker's.]]
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* EvenBetterSequel: Batman Begins is widely seen as a great reboot to the Batman film franchise. But the quality of The Dark Knight, with its writing, and Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning performance as TheJoker means The Dark Knight is widely seen as superior, and it also ended up being one of the highest-grossing films of all time.
to:
* EvenBetterSequel: Batman Begins is widely seen as a great reboot to the Batman film franchise. But the quality of The ''The Dark Knight, Knight'', with its writing, and Heath Ledger's HeathLedger's Oscar-winning performance as TheJoker means The ''The Dark Knight Knight'' is widely seen as superior, and it also ended up being one of the highest-grossing films of all time.
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* HarsherInHindsight: The actions TheJoker took during this movie become a lot darker after the events of the Aurora Colorado theater shooting during the midnight showing of ''TheDarkKnightRises'', where the shooter in question made it clear that he based his actions on TheJoker, even rigging several buildings with boobytraps just as Joker was implied to have done in the movie.
to:
* HarsherInHindsight: The actions TheJoker took during this movie become a lot darker after the events of the Aurora Colorado theater shooting during the midnight showing of ''TheDarkKnightRises'', ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', where the shooter in question made it clear that he based his actions on TheJoker, even rigging several buildings with boobytraps just as Joker was implied to have done in the movie.
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** [[TheDarkKnightRises The sequel]] might have surpassed it in the darkness factor....
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** [[TheDarkKnightRises [[Film/TheDarkKnightRises The sequel]] might have surpassed it in the darkness factor....
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* DroppedABridgeOnHer: Whether or not you liked Rachel, her death is so stupid and pointless, they might as well have just had a literal bridge fall on her.
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And The Fandom Rejoiced Sugarwiki only
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* AndTheFandomRejoiced: Rachel was [[TheScrappy never terribly popular]] with many fans. Some theaters apparently burst into cheers when she blew up.
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*** Not to mention with [[spoiler: Harvey Dent's death, after he's only been Two-Face for about half an hour]]. What, you thought [[spoiler: he was going to live to be the villain in the sequel]]? Guess again.
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* CompleteMonster: [[TheJoker Who else?]]
to:
* CompleteMonster: [[TheJoker Who else?]]else?]] Even with that, HeathLedger's portrayal is considered to be one of the most monstrous interpretations of the character in history.
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** Also, Alfred's early throwaway line to Harvey Dent takes on a much different meaning after [[spoiler:Rachel's death]]. "You've known her her whole life, haven't you?" "Not yet." ''Ouch.''
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** Also, Alfred's early throwaway line to Harvey Dent takes on a much different meaning after [[spoiler:Rachel's death]]. "You've known her her whole life, haven't you?" "Not yet." ''Ouch.'' ''
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** [[TemptingFate "I think you and I are destined to do this forever..."]].
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** It's even older than the above, it comes from a scene in ''Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth'', where the Joker bluffs Batman into entering Arkham by pretending to blind an orderly with a pencil.
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** In-universe too, if peoples' divided views on Batman at the start of DKR are any example.
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The majority of his black targets were a black mafia gang.
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* UnfortunateImplications: TheJoker kills at least eight[[note]]the bus driver, the {{mook}} who gets a pencil in his eye, two of Gambol's bodyguards, Gambol, Brian Douglas (the fake Batman), the cop at the beginning of the car chase, and the cop who was guarding Harvey Dent at the hospital[[/note]] people (three[[note]]Richard Dent, Patrick Harvey and Davis (another cop at the hospital)[[/note]] more are ambiguous/{{implied}}) in person. Of these, six are black guys.
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* UnfortunateImplications: TheJoker kills at least eight[[note]]the bus driver, the {{mook}} who gets a pencil in his eye, two of Gambol's bodyguards, Gambol, Brian Douglas (the fake Batman), the cop at the beginning of the car chase, and the cop who was guarding Harvey Dent at the hospital[[/note]] people (three[[note]]Richard Dent, Patrick Harvey and Davis (another cop at the hospital)[[/note]] more are ambiguous/{{implied}}) in person. Of these, six are black guys.
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* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: HeathLedger's untimely death certainly didn't hurt the film's performance at the box office. It even got him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
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* AndTheFandomRejoiced: Rachel was [[TheScrappy never terribly popular]] with many fans. Some theaters apparently burst into cheers when she blew up.
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* SpecialEffectFailure: When the truck is flipped over during Batman's batpod chase with Joker, gas from the discharge of the launching mechanism can be clearly seen.
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** The posters featuring The Joker with "Why so serious?" written in blood became extremely disturbing after Heath Ledger's sudden death.
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** The posters featuring The Joker with "Why so serious?" written in blood became extremely disturbing eerie after Heath Ledger's sudden death.
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** The posters featuring The Joker with "Why so serious?" written in blood became extremely disturbing after Heath Ledger's sudden death.
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** Of course it didn't work out quite as well as they hoped...
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** [[Film/TheDarkKnightRises Of course course, it didn't work out quite as well as they hoped...]]
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-->'''Bruce Wayne''': I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They've crossed a line.
to:
-->'''Bruce Wayne''': Targeting me won't get them their money back. I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They've crossed a line.line.
** In fact, the only mobsters who ''don't'' cross the MEH are Sal Maroni, who only refuses to rat the Joker out to Batman because he's truly scared of the Joker ("Have you met this guy?"), and Gambol, who knew from the start that the Joker was bad news not just for Gotham but for its organized crime community as well and actually stood up to the freak.
** In fact, the only mobsters who ''don't'' cross the MEH are Sal Maroni, who only refuses to rat the Joker out to Batman because he's truly scared of the Joker ("Have you met this guy?"), and Gambol, who knew from the start that the Joker was bad news not just for Gotham but for its organized crime community as well and actually stood up to the freak.
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* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Harvey Dent's mental and physical breakdown, and how he lashes out against Gotham afterwards, would've made an interesting story, but alas...
to:
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Harvey Dent's mental and physical breakdown, breakdown into becoming Two-Face, and how he lashes out against Gotham afterwards, would've made an interesting story, but alas...
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* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Harvey Dent's mental and physical breakdown, and how he lashes out against Gotham afterwards, would've made an interesting story, but alas...
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* XMeetsY: ''TheLongHalloween'' meets ''TheKillingJoke''.
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* HarsherInHindsight: The actions TheJoker took during this movie become a lot darker after the events of the Aurora Colorado theater shooting during the midnight showing of ''TheDarkKnightRises'', where the shooter in question made it clear that he based his actions on TheJoker, even rigging several buildings with boobytraps just as Joker was implied to have done in the movie.
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* AwardSnub: A superhero movie was always going to have difficulty cracking into the Oscars, but this was made worse by the fact that most of the nominated movies (including [[SlumdogMillionaire the eventual winner]]) didn't receive nearly the amount of critical or public acclaim as ''TheDarkKnight'' did, and yet ''TheDarkKnight'' wasn't even nominated. It's said that the resulting outcry is at least partly responsible for the Academy deciding to nominate ten movies for Best Picture in 2010 instead of the traditional five.
** It's even more blatantly egregious than that: if you look at the WGA, DGA, Producer's Guild and other awards, the movies other than ''TheReader'' (a movie that tanked at the box office and received middling reviews... but with OscarBait content up the gazoo) are there along with ''The Dark Knight''. Theories range from the Academy's elderly contingent weighing in to Academy higher-ups deliberately meddling to keep their artistic cache. Either way, it backfired.
** Although this was at least partially averted with Heath Ledger's shoo-in win for Best Supporting Actor. He was the first actor ever to do so by starring in a superhero film.
** It probably helped, though, that Joker has no superpowers to speak of...save perhaps for his unique psyche. Of course, [[DeadArtistsAreBetter Ledger's death]] didn't do his chances any harm.
* BrokenBase: The ending. All of it.
* CompleteMonster: [[TheJoker Who else?]]
* CrazyAwesome: Again, the Joker.
* CrossesTheLineTwice: The Joker spends the whole movie dancing back and forth across this line while laughing maniacally, amused by the fact you think there's a line in the first place.
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome:
** Too many to name. The Joker himself is one big CMOA.
** CrowningMomentOfFunny: Bruce pretending to be a playboy is always good for a few laughs, particularly when he and Harvey are competing over Rachel.
** Any scene with The Joker.
** Alfred Pennyworth of course. "[[DeadpanSnarker If you can tell me the Russian for apply your own bloody suntan lotion]]."
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: When the citizens on the boats refuse to blow each other up. Cue almost-VillainousBreakdown for The Joker and Batman smugly telling him "What were you trying to prove? That deep down everyone's as ugly as you? No. You're alone." Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
* DroppedABridgeOnHer: Whether or not you liked Rachel, her death is so stupid and pointless, they might as well have just had a literal bridge fall on her.
* EarWorm: The Joker's theme.
* EndingFatigue: At a little over two and a half hours, ''TheDarkKnight'' wears some viewers out in the final third. This is partly due to [[spoiler:the Harvey Dent/Two-Face subplot being wrapped up ''after'' the defeat of the Joker, the BigBad, in a sequence that is dialogue-driven as opposed to the action in the Joker's.]]
* EnsembleDarkhorse: The black guy on the ferry. He's an ''unnamed'' character that is on the screen for less than 1/20 of the movie, yet his scene is one of the most remembered ones.
** It doesn't hurt that the character is played by Tommy Lister.
* EvenBetterSequel: Batman Begins is widely seen as a great reboot to the Batman film franchise. But the quality of The Dark Knight, with its writing, and Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning performance as TheJoker means The Dark Knight is widely seen as superior, and it also ended up being one of the highest-grossing films of all time.
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: The film ends with Alfred, Bruce, and Gordon all concluding that sometimes a symbol matters more than the man behind the symbol, even if you have to take ethically troublesome steps to protect its power.
** Of course it didn't work out quite as well as they hoped...
* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Hong Kong actor Edison Chen, the man you can hear asking Lucius to hand over his mobile phone in the beginning of the Hong Kong scenes. Chen had just been involved in a RealLife scandal, where the people repairing his laptop [[SarcasmMode went the extra mile]] to upload his PornStash to the internet - including nude photos of several of his ProductionPosse. Bear in mind that the ending of ''The Dark Knight'' involves a city-wide breach of privacy...
** Also, Alfred's early throwaway line to Harvey Dent takes on a much different meaning after [[spoiler:Rachel's death]]. "You've known her her whole life, haven't you?" "Not yet." ''Ouch.''
** The entire saga is ''filled'' with moments of this nature.
* HellIsThatNoise: The Joker's leitmotif, an incredibly creepy rising whine of PsychoStrings.
* ItWasHisSled: Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face. Seriously people, the character has existed since 1942. There's a statute of limitations on this sort of thing. Of course, there ''was'' the question of whether he'd do it in this film or it would be saved for a future installment.
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: [[spoiler: Jim Gordon's "death", especially considering we all know him as "Commissioner Gordon" and he hadn't actually become the commissioner yet.]]
** And subverted, rather brutally, with [[spoiler: Rachel's death.]]
* MagnificentBastard: The Joker. Hoo boy, ''the Joker''.
* MartyStu: Subverted in the person of Harvey Dent, a handsome-as-hell, lantern-jawed, blue-eyed, blond-haired ''manly'' man's man who waltzes into the movie to steal both Bruce Wayne's girlfriend and Batman's crime-fighting thunder. He's quick-witted, fearless, and willing to continue examining a witness who's just tried to kill him in open court. The subversion kicks in (and hard) when [[spoiler:Dent incurs a traumatic loss similar to the one that created Batman. Unlike Bruce, [[FaceHeelTurn he doesn't react in the most constructive fashion]], and [[RedRightHand loses his Marty Stu polish accordingly]].]]
* MemeticBadass: The Bank Manager, strangely enough.
* MisaimedMarketing: While not as bad as the ''Batman Returns'' fiasco, it's still jarring to see toys for kids being sold as tie-ins for ''The Dark Knight'', a movie whose PG-13 rating is extremely ''lenient''.
* MoralEventHorizon: Good luck guessing which of [[CompleteMonster The Joker's]] [[KickTheDog numerous evil deeds]] was his MoralEventHorizon, but the organized crime community as a whole arguably crossed this by [[spoiler:hiring the Joker in the first place]], as was implied by one of Bruce Wayne's lines following [[spoiler:the deaths of Loeb and Surrillo]], a line used in one of the earlier trailers...
-->'''Bruce Wayne''': I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They've crossed a line.
** Let's not forget [[spoiler: Harvey Dent threatening to kill Gordon's family in front of him at the end of the film.]]
* OneSceneWonder: Ginty, the ScaryBlackMan played by Tommy Lister on the convicts' barge who tells the guards to give him the detonator to the civilian barge, saying he'll "do what you should of done ten minutes ago". [[spoiler:He immediately throws the detonator out a window.]]
** Jonathan Crane early in the film too, despite having been a much more significant character in ''Begins''.
** The Bank Manager (William Fichtner) who very calmly reacts to robbers in his bank... by whipping out a shotgun.
* OlderThanTheyThink: The Joker [[EyeScream murdering someone with a writing utensil?]] [[{{Film/Batman}} Sounds awfully familiar...]]
* TrueArtIsAngsty: ''The Dark Knight'' is easily the darkest film adaptation of Batman ever made. It's also the most critically-acclaimed.
** [[TheDarkKnightRises The sequel]] might have surpassed it in the darkness factor....
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: ''The Dark Knight'' is rated PG-13, and many think the MPAA was too lenient with the rating. It is definitely ''not'' a children's movie.
* TheWoobie: Poor [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Harvey Dent.]]
** Also Rachel Dawes, due to her [[MaggieGyllenhaal new actress]] and ultimate fate.
** It's even more blatantly egregious than that: if you look at the WGA, DGA, Producer's Guild and other awards, the movies other than ''TheReader'' (a movie that tanked at the box office and received middling reviews... but with OscarBait content up the gazoo) are there along with ''The Dark Knight''. Theories range from the Academy's elderly contingent weighing in to Academy higher-ups deliberately meddling to keep their artistic cache. Either way, it backfired.
** Although this was at least partially averted with Heath Ledger's shoo-in win for Best Supporting Actor. He was the first actor ever to do so by starring in a superhero film.
** It probably helped, though, that Joker has no superpowers to speak of...save perhaps for his unique psyche. Of course, [[DeadArtistsAreBetter Ledger's death]] didn't do his chances any harm.
* BrokenBase: The ending. All of it.
* CompleteMonster: [[TheJoker Who else?]]
* CrazyAwesome: Again, the Joker.
* CrossesTheLineTwice: The Joker spends the whole movie dancing back and forth across this line while laughing maniacally, amused by the fact you think there's a line in the first place.
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome:
** Too many to name. The Joker himself is one big CMOA.
** CrowningMomentOfFunny: Bruce pretending to be a playboy is always good for a few laughs, particularly when he and Harvey are competing over Rachel.
** Any scene with The Joker.
** Alfred Pennyworth of course. "[[DeadpanSnarker If you can tell me the Russian for apply your own bloody suntan lotion]]."
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: When the citizens on the boats refuse to blow each other up. Cue almost-VillainousBreakdown for The Joker and Batman smugly telling him "What were you trying to prove? That deep down everyone's as ugly as you? No. You're alone." Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
* DroppedABridgeOnHer: Whether or not you liked Rachel, her death is so stupid and pointless, they might as well have just had a literal bridge fall on her.
* EarWorm: The Joker's theme.
* EndingFatigue: At a little over two and a half hours, ''TheDarkKnight'' wears some viewers out in the final third. This is partly due to [[spoiler:the Harvey Dent/Two-Face subplot being wrapped up ''after'' the defeat of the Joker, the BigBad, in a sequence that is dialogue-driven as opposed to the action in the Joker's.]]
* EnsembleDarkhorse: The black guy on the ferry. He's an ''unnamed'' character that is on the screen for less than 1/20 of the movie, yet his scene is one of the most remembered ones.
** It doesn't hurt that the character is played by Tommy Lister.
* EvenBetterSequel: Batman Begins is widely seen as a great reboot to the Batman film franchise. But the quality of The Dark Knight, with its writing, and Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning performance as TheJoker means The Dark Knight is widely seen as superior, and it also ended up being one of the highest-grossing films of all time.
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: The film ends with Alfred, Bruce, and Gordon all concluding that sometimes a symbol matters more than the man behind the symbol, even if you have to take ethically troublesome steps to protect its power.
** Of course it didn't work out quite as well as they hoped...
* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Hong Kong actor Edison Chen, the man you can hear asking Lucius to hand over his mobile phone in the beginning of the Hong Kong scenes. Chen had just been involved in a RealLife scandal, where the people repairing his laptop [[SarcasmMode went the extra mile]] to upload his PornStash to the internet - including nude photos of several of his ProductionPosse. Bear in mind that the ending of ''The Dark Knight'' involves a city-wide breach of privacy...
** Also, Alfred's early throwaway line to Harvey Dent takes on a much different meaning after [[spoiler:Rachel's death]]. "You've known her her whole life, haven't you?" "Not yet." ''Ouch.''
** The entire saga is ''filled'' with moments of this nature.
* HellIsThatNoise: The Joker's leitmotif, an incredibly creepy rising whine of PsychoStrings.
* ItWasHisSled: Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face. Seriously people, the character has existed since 1942. There's a statute of limitations on this sort of thing. Of course, there ''was'' the question of whether he'd do it in this film or it would be saved for a future installment.
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: [[spoiler: Jim Gordon's "death", especially considering we all know him as "Commissioner Gordon" and he hadn't actually become the commissioner yet.]]
** And subverted, rather brutally, with [[spoiler: Rachel's death.]]
* MagnificentBastard: The Joker. Hoo boy, ''the Joker''.
* MartyStu: Subverted in the person of Harvey Dent, a handsome-as-hell, lantern-jawed, blue-eyed, blond-haired ''manly'' man's man who waltzes into the movie to steal both Bruce Wayne's girlfriend and Batman's crime-fighting thunder. He's quick-witted, fearless, and willing to continue examining a witness who's just tried to kill him in open court. The subversion kicks in (and hard) when [[spoiler:Dent incurs a traumatic loss similar to the one that created Batman. Unlike Bruce, [[FaceHeelTurn he doesn't react in the most constructive fashion]], and [[RedRightHand loses his Marty Stu polish accordingly]].]]
* MemeticBadass: The Bank Manager, strangely enough.
* MisaimedMarketing: While not as bad as the ''Batman Returns'' fiasco, it's still jarring to see toys for kids being sold as tie-ins for ''The Dark Knight'', a movie whose PG-13 rating is extremely ''lenient''.
* MoralEventHorizon: Good luck guessing which of [[CompleteMonster The Joker's]] [[KickTheDog numerous evil deeds]] was his MoralEventHorizon, but the organized crime community as a whole arguably crossed this by [[spoiler:hiring the Joker in the first place]], as was implied by one of Bruce Wayne's lines following [[spoiler:the deaths of Loeb and Surrillo]], a line used in one of the earlier trailers...
-->'''Bruce Wayne''': I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They've crossed a line.
** Let's not forget [[spoiler: Harvey Dent threatening to kill Gordon's family in front of him at the end of the film.]]
* OneSceneWonder: Ginty, the ScaryBlackMan played by Tommy Lister on the convicts' barge who tells the guards to give him the detonator to the civilian barge, saying he'll "do what you should of done ten minutes ago". [[spoiler:He immediately throws the detonator out a window.]]
** Jonathan Crane early in the film too, despite having been a much more significant character in ''Begins''.
** The Bank Manager (William Fichtner) who very calmly reacts to robbers in his bank... by whipping out a shotgun.
* OlderThanTheyThink: The Joker [[EyeScream murdering someone with a writing utensil?]] [[{{Film/Batman}} Sounds awfully familiar...]]
* TrueArtIsAngsty: ''The Dark Knight'' is easily the darkest film adaptation of Batman ever made. It's also the most critically-acclaimed.
** [[TheDarkKnightRises The sequel]] might have surpassed it in the darkness factor....
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: ''The Dark Knight'' is rated PG-13, and many think the MPAA was too lenient with the rating. It is definitely ''not'' a children's movie.
* TheWoobie: Poor [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Harvey Dent.]]
** Also Rachel Dawes, due to her [[MaggieGyllenhaal new actress]] and ultimate fate.
