* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** The ending gets a lot of this from fans. [[spoiler:Batman kills Harvey Dent/Two-Face in the act of saving Gordon's son after going to great lengths to ''not'' kill the Joker just to prove the Joker couldn't corrupt him etc., which on the surface makes him look a tad hypocritical, especially considering he left Ra's Al Ghul to die at the end of ''Film/BatmanBegins''. Anyway, the great debate pivots on whether or not Batman went in expecting and intending to kill the crazed Dent if necessary or if he simply meant to overpower Dent and lost control in the scuffle, thus making Dent's death an accident]].
** ComicBook/TheJoker:
*** Did Joker really not have a plan or was he lying to enhance his mystique? Depends on whether or not you consider a prank to be a plan.
*** One fan theory about the Joker's origin is that he is a ShellShockedVeteran from one of the United States' conflicts in the Middle East. Being an ex-soldier would explain his familiarity with guns and explosives, including more military grade weapons like the RPG he uses during the truck chase scene. Despite his claims that he isn't a "guy with a plan", there's no denying the Joker executes his operations with extreme efficiency and tactical ability, like his elaborate and borderline-perfect bank heist or his escape from jail. He also demonstrated knowledge of honor guard ceremonies during the attack on Commissioner Loeb's funeral. He had to get his horrible facial scarring ''somewhere'', and considering Heath Ledger was a very handsome man and the Joker is pretty ugly, his rage and resentment could be tied up in battle scarring. Finally, his strong belief in anarchy and chaos, and hatred of authority and "schemers", is further evidence that he suffered a HeroicBSOD at some point in the past over being a soldier in a geopolitical squabble. This possible origin also fits in nicely with the movie's post-9/11 world view, which interpreted the Joker as more of a terrorist than a criminal or mobster, and featured electronic surveillance and panic over the Joker's actions as key plot points. Full article [[http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/03/26/is-the-dark-knight-s-joker-actually-a-war-veteran-2811973?lt_source=external,manual here]].
** The Burmese bandit in Alfred's story. The clear interpretation that we're supposed to walk away with is that he, like the Joker, commits crime for sport, because he throws the jewels he stole away. However, another possible interpretation is that he was opposed to the Burmese government uniting the local tribes, or even the British government's intervention aiding them in the matter--the jewels were meant to function as a bribe for the tribal leaders. As such, he would have no actual interest in the gems themselves, but would be stealing them for political motivations.
** In hindsight, Jim Gordon's [[spoiler:DisneyDeath]] can bring up a lot of this.
*** Did Jim [[spoiler:plan on faking his death to catch the Joker once things got out of hand? Or did he decide to play possum in the heat of the moment?]]
*** Assuming Jim did [[spoiler:plan on faking his death, was Detective Stephens in on this? He was the only cop in Gordon's unit he truly trusted, as well as the one checking Gordon's vitals after he took a bullet for the mayor, meaning he knew he was alive. Yet he played along as if Gordon had truly died.]]
** Two-Face contemplates turning his gun on himself before making an attempt on Gordon's son, but feels no joy when the coin toss favours his life. In all likelihood he may have been hoping that suicide would keep him from murdering an innocent child.
** The prisoner on the boat who [[spoiler:throws away]] the detonator. Did he do it [[spoiler:out of [[EveryoneHasStandards a moral principle, refusing to take life to save his own]], or simply because he [[NoHonorAmongThieves refused to believe the Joker’s terms]] ([[ExcellentJudgeOfCharacter most likely correctly]], given [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo how the latter handled the kidnapping of Harvey and Rachel]])?]]
** In the film itself, Thomas Schiff comes as a classic example of InsaneEqualsViolent. Creator/DavidDastmalchian, however, has stated he played Thomas as having been forced to work for the Joker and genuinely wanting to tell Harvey the information he needs, but being prevented by his own mental illness.
* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Idolatrizing figures is a mistake. People need to take responsibility as a community and as a society to improve their lifes. Not to depend of the actions of certain individuals. Even if good, individuals are people, with their defects and their flaws. There are no perfect figures, and their images won't stay perfect. A society can't depend of the image of an individual to keep its hope for a better future.
** Contrasting Batman and Dent. Batman in a way upholds his flaws (he is a vigilante), and knows he isn't perfect. He is the one who remains true to his ideals. Dent is seen as perfect by everyone, and he is as good person... but he has flaws. Sadly, they explode in the worst possible way.
** While the Joker wants to prove the only reasonable way to live in modern times is “without rules”, there are multiple times in the movie where his plan progresses as intended because the cops neglect to follow their own rules. In particular, had the cops given the prisoner complaining of stomach pains immediate medical attention instead of dismissing him, they would have found the cellphone bomb before the Joker could set it off. Also, had Detective Stephens opted not to assault the Joker in custody, he wouldn’t have gotten close enough for the Joker to take him hostage and set off the bomb in the first place. [[spoiler: And of course, the Joker's plan to psychologically decimate Harvey Dent succeeds only because several cops were willing to sell him out for what they thought were good reasons.]] As such, the movie can have an unintended Aesop of “the rules are in place sometimes for a good reason.”
* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** You'd be forgiven for assuming that Skyhook, which Batman uses in Hong Kong a) was never invented for the CIA to get their agents out of tight spots and b) wouldn't work if it was. In fact, it was and it did. In fact, it's actually pretty ''old'' - it was in use in 1958, and was only 7 years old when it was seen in the James Bond film ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''.
** Likewise, the use of lightly-irradiated bills to trace money is an old trick, used by the East German Stasi among others, though not used now due to concerns about NoOshaCompliance.
** Not only is the Joker's [[EyeScream pencil "magic trick"]] possible (even if the eraser end is used), it has happened in real life and ''people have survived it''.
* AwardSnub: This film appeared on more critics' top ten lists than any other film of 2008 except ''WesternAnimation/WallE'', and more critics named it "best film of 2008" than anything else released that year. None of this was enough to overwhelm the Comic Book Movie ghetto; it was not nominated for an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture. Neither was ''WALL•E'', as it happens. But it's believed that the resulting outcry over those two snubs is at least partly responsible for the Academy deciding to nominate ten movies for Best Picture in 2010 instead of the traditional five. On that note, while Heath Ledger did a fantastic job as the Joker and very much deserved his Best Supporting Actor award, it's hard to deny Creator/AaronEckhart had a heart-wrenching performance as Harvey Dent.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The Joker's theme. Made even more impressive in that it consists of merely *two notes* used in many different ways.
* CommonKnowledge: A widely circulated rumor about the scene where the Joker blows up Gotham Hospital argues that the gap in the explosions was due to a malfunction and Creator/HeathLedger improvised the bit where [[WheresTheKaboom the nonplussed Joker]] does some PercussiveMaintenance on the detonator. The gag was in fact pre-planned: the gap in the detonations was needed to allow Ledger to get to a safe distance.
* CompleteMonster: [[Characters/TheDarkKnightTrilogyTheJoker The Joker]] is a self-described "[[ChaosIsEvil agent of chaos]]" out to give Gotham a "[[EvilerThanThou better class of criminal]]". Introduced by killing each of his goons after a bank robbery, the Joker proceeds to exploit the mob's desire to be rid of [[Characters/TheDarkKnightTrilogyBruceWayne Batman]], casually murdering henchmen, politicians and police to force Batman to unmask himself. He also makes the lawyer attempting to unmask Batman a target; ties a crime boss to a pile of money which he then burns; kills a gangster by [[EyeScream making a pencil disappear...eraser-end first]]; blows up a hospital; leads police into a trap where they will shoot innocent civilians before getting killed by his men; attempts a PrisonersDilemma scenario to get a boatload of civilians and prisoners to blow each other up; and, primarily by manipulating a SadisticChoice leading to Rachel Dawes's death, and then by [[MindRape mind raping]] an injured Harvey Dent in the hospital, is the driving force behind his transformation into [[Characters/BatmanTwoFace Two-Face]]. The Joker's main motivation is fun, but he also wants to show that anyone and everyone can and will become a monster if pushed far enough, or even if just given the chance. He's proven wrong, but doesn't care, just giving an annoyed shrug and attempting to blow the two boats sky high with his own detonator.
* CreepyAwesome: The Joker, especially when he's telling people how he got his scars while holding them at knifepoint. There's also the video where he kidnaps a Batman impersonator, proving that he's not some run-of-the-mill criminal that any random vigilante can stop.
* 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.
* DracoInLeatherPants: The Joker, largely due to Creator/HeathLedger's rendition of him as an anti-authoritarian anarchist who wants to watch the world burn, and the fact that some of his speeches taken out of context (especially his speech to Harvey Dent in the hospital) actually makes sense in terms of its argument and rhetoric. Unlike the other versions of Joker (Creator/JackNicholson, Creator/JaredLeto, Creator/MarkHamill--even Creator/JoaquinPhoenix's [[Film/Joker2019 most recent take]]), he doesn't have the tendency of romantic fixation and DomesticAbuse of women and children that always kept fans from entirely rooting for Joker. There's also those who are so fascinated with his philosophy about anarchy and argue that his ideals are the only way humans should live. This is ignoring the fact that he is a mass-murdering madman who also clearly adds sadism to his motives and whose goals would only create a miserable world (a world not-so-much better than the corrupt one he claims to be against). Not only this, but he believed that people deep down are just as bad as he is, which is proven to be wrong right in front of him. Last but not least, he's so over-the-top that he's often played around for memes or sarcastic humor on the internet, even by people who haven't watched the movie yet.
* EndingFatigue: At a little over two and a half hours, ''The Dark Knight'' out wears some viewers 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 in a sequence that is dialogue-driven as opposed to the action in the Joker's.]]
** On first viewing, it’s easy for someone to assume that the movie is winding down once the Joker is caught after the climatic convoy attack only to realize ''there’s still an hour of movie left'' and we’ve only gotten started.
* EnsembleDarkHorse:
** The 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, or that it represents [[spoiler: one of the most gleaming moments of affirmation and light in a very dark film]].
** Brian Douglas, the gun wielding HeroicWannabe whose part of a Batman inspired VigilanteMilitia. In his two scenes he manages to both get some fairly impressive moments of courage and convey how [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing unprepared the average person is to try and act like Batman.]]
* EpilepticTrees: The film's refusal to give Joker a definite origin has not stopped people to speculate. One theory that has become popular is the notion that Heath Ledger's Joker is in fact a ShellShockedVeteran from the Iraq War. This theory [[WriterInducedFanon was openly floated]] [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/05/new-hints-to-the-jokers-past-and-a-possible-robin-connection in the Dark Knight manual]] while still maintaining MultipleChoicePast. [[http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/articles/3-fan-theories-might-change-way-you-look-dark-knight-trilogy Other fan sites]] have also discussed this theory.
* 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 Creator/HeathLedger's Oscar-winning performance as ComicBook/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 as well as one of the most critically acclaimed superhero movies of all time.
* EvilIsCool: The Joker and Two-Face, but especially the Joker. They may be murderers, but plenty of their victims were established as criminals, corrupt or simply fall into AssholeVictim territory. Given that Batman's response to criminals was to let them live long enough to adapt to his prescence and come back for revenge, it's up to the Joker and Two-Face to bring the catharsis.
* FandomRivalry:
** Due to the insane popularity of Heath Ledger's Joker, die-hard fans of Creator/MarkHamill's Joker from the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse aren't as kind on Ledger. The same can be said for die-hard fans of Jack Nicholson's take on the Joker which still remains popular in the hearts of many old school fans and aren't kind to the rabid fans of Ledger.
** With fans of ''The Godfather'' after ''The Dark Knight'' knocked it off the top of the IMDB top 250. Both fanbases went to the other films pages and 1-starred it either to keep the other from regaining the top spot or to regain it, and also attacking the films on their message boards. Ironically, the 1-starring war between Batman and Godfather fanboys allowed ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'' to [[DarkHorseVictory sneak into the top spot]], where it has remained to date.
* FountainOfMemes: ''At least'' half of the movie's most quotable lines come from the Joker.
* FranchiseOriginalSin:
** While Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is still legendary in its own right, [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/why-best-joker-was-worst-thing-superhero-films/ some have pointed out]] that it inspired a slew of subpar villains in later superhero movies. The off-kilter mannerism and ambiguous motivations in Ledger's Joker worked because the is meant to be a force-of-nature villain who represents the violent, chaotic impulses of humanity. Warner Bros. would then then try to replicate the odd mannerisms and aimless motivations via Creator/JesseEisenberg's [[LargeHam performance]] as ComicBook/LexLuthor in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', which was critically-panned as [[FollowTheLeader a shallow attempt]] at recreating Heath Ledger's Joker, as the character has long been established as a brilliant and cunning CorruptCorporateExecutive who occasionally dives into melodrama.
** The runaway success of ''The Dark Knight'' was in large part due to its grittiness and lack of camp, and that sort of tone is very well-suited to a character like Batman. Unfortunately, for several years Warner Bros. only learned the first half of that lesson, and many of their later films would be much less well-received by critics and general audiences due to being DarkerAndEdgier in the hopes of copying this movie's formula, without regard to whether that approach actually ''worked'' for the characters in question or not. Once again, Franchise/{{Superman}} is considered to have suffered from this the worst by a fair margin, with the harshest criticisms of the films of the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse being that Supes is barely ''recognizable'' as the character, as the films attempt to ape the tone of this one.
** Relatedly, while the film was a huge success in part due to its tone compared to previous superhero films (and especially older Batman films), it also worked largely because it was an intensely focused character study with a lot to say about the two men in the center. The DCEU films are often criticized for aping the film's "tone", but without the intense character focus to help throw the tone into relief and make it clear ''why'' these men are the way they are, Batman can just come across as a crazy rich man and the films lack any kind of message or thoughtfulness.
* 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").
** Also a bit HarsherInHindsight, if you remember what happened to Caesar after he assumed dictatorial powers. [[spoiler: Caesar went above the law and was killed, and Dent ...]]
** The scene with the [[spoiler:two boats being forced to decide to destroy each other]] is an example of the PrisonersDilemma. One of the boats is filled with ''actual'' prisoners (prison inmates, that is), which becomes a dilemma because [[spoiler: the terrified citizens immediately assume that the prisoners--being violent criminals--will kill them if they don't kill them first]].
** The Lamborghini Bruce Wayne drives is a Murciélago, which means Bat. So even when he's not in the suit, [[VisualPun Wayne is still driving a Bat-mobile]].
* HarsherInHindsight:
** The Joker's loftier or more abstract threats ("If I say that one ole little mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!" "When the chips are down, these 'civilized' people? They'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve.") all basically come to pass in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''. For that matter, Bane's ultimatum regarding the nuclear detonator is, essentially, a scaled up version of the boat scene (and, like with the boat scene, [[spoiler:control ultimately lays with him]]).
** The double-date between Bruce, a Russian ballerina, Harvey and Rachel leads to talk of authoritarianism being a sensible choice when things get out of hand. In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' we find out that a Gotham without Batman immediately turned to authoritarian measures to keep the crime rate down.
* HesJustHiding:
** While it’d been confirmed in interviews by [[spoiler:Creator/AaronEckhardt]] that [[spoiler:Harvey was KilledOffForReal]], fans still were not entirely convinced that [[spoiler:the fall at the end of the film actually killed him]].
** The slight ambiguity of [[spoiler:Rachel’s death]] as well had some fans considering that either the Joker faked it or someone else did in order to provide protection.
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Arguably one of the greatest examples in cinema history. While Heath Ledger was never doubted as an actor, with his [[Film/BrokebackMountain previous film]] before this one getting him an Oscar nomination, he received immense backlash from the critics and fans who believed that his casting as Joker was a terrible choice. The moment he showed up in the film, however, he completely blew away everyone away with how he brought the character to life, portraying him in an unnervingly realistic depiction of a nihilistic psychopath and bringing a terrifying dread of realism and morbidness that fit with the tone of the films, all the while still portraying the character as the chaos-loving anarchist he is, in a way no other actor can hope to match. Universally considered the best version of Joker, his portrayal not only set the bar for future Joker portrayals, but also won him a well-deserved (albeit posthumous) Academy Award.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** A tall, lean man, with long hair, who is [[TheDreaded feared by]] TheMafia kills a man with [[ThePenIsMightier a pencil]]. The Joker or Film/JohnWick?
** All of the references to the 'MCU' (in this case, 'Major Crimes Unit') are quite a bit more amusing after the advent of the ''other'' [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]]
** Ledger's StrawNihilist "agent of chaos" interpretation of the Joker was exploited for memes railing about how "we live in a society" and calling for people to "rise up", whether ironically or sincerely. The trailers for ''Film/{{Joker 2019}}'' appeared to line up with the memes at least in a superficial way, as society appears to spawn this Joker and mobs are causing civil unrest. The film itself confirms this with flying colors, as it showcases Gotham tormenting Arthur into a slow transformation into the Joker, to the point where Arthur ''actually says'' the word "society" prior to killing Murray Franklin, possibly resulting in an AscendedMeme.
** Creator/DavidDastmalchian appears as a henchman of the Joker. Years later he would eventually get to play Polka-Dot Man in ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'', who is traditionally one of Batman's many rogues.
** Creator/MaggieGyllenhaal plays a district attorney [[spoiler: who dies in an explosion at the hands of the Joker]]. Fourteen years later, her husband, Creator/PeterSarsgaard, would also play a district attorney in [[Film/TheBatman2022 another Batman movie]] [[spoiler: who meets the same fate at the hands of the Riddler]].
** Both Harvey Dent and Batman say the line "You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain". Fourteen years later, Creator/ChristianBale would appear in ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' as Gorr the God-Butcher.
* HoYay: Those three punks who helped the Joker sneak in to Gambol's HQ, the young African American one in particular, seemed a little too fond and admiring of the Joker.
* HypeBacklash: There are videos scattered on Youtube about why the film sucks. Even some people in forums who had no bad feeling about the movie at all felt that the hype is too high and people praising it simply because it's "Batman" and gritty, or simply resent its status as a SacredCow among superhero films generally when it's the "crime drama" flavor of superhero film not everyone prefers. It doesn't help that many parts of the film, the Joker in particular, have attracted a toxic MisaimedFandom that has turned many against it on principle.
* ItWasHisSled: Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face, since Dent has existed in various forms since 1942. Though there was the question of whether he'd do it in this film or it would be saved for a future installment.
* JerkassWoobie: [[spoiler:Anna Ramirez]]. Yes, she's a DirtyCop and yes, [[spoiler: she is directly involved in Rachel Dawes' death and thus, Harvey Dent's descent into madness and villainy]], but she was just trying to help her mother, and she felt much guilt from her actions.
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt:
** [[spoiler: Jim Gordon's "death", especially considering we all know him as "Commissioner Gordon" and he hadn't actually become the commissioner yet.]]
** 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.
* LoveToHate: Creator/HeathLedger's portrayal of the Joker is among the most revered and celebrated villains in both cinema and fiction, all thanks to Ledger's brilliant performance, the character's eccentric personality, pure evil, yet nihilistic motivations, and hard-hitting, yet impactful speeches. The fact that he technically wins at the end adds fuel to this.
* MagnificentBastard: {{Novelization}}, by Dennis O'Neil: [[Characters/TheDarkKnightTrilogyTheJoker The Joker]] is a brilliant, nihilistic madman who seeks to give Gotham a "better class of criminal". The Joker showcases his audacity and intelligence at the start of the story by staging the robbery of a mob bank, tricking all of his hired thugs into killing each other, then keeping the cash for himself while using a stolen school bus to cover his escape. After convincing local crime bosses to hire him to murder Batman, the Joker stages assassinations of public figures and the kidnapping of Batman's LoveInterest all in attempts to force Batman to unmask himself, and the Joker later allows himself to be captured by police just so he can stage an escape and kill a mob witness. Eventually deciding that his "game" with Batman is too fun to end, the Joker overthrows his ostensible bosses and continues to terrorize Gotham until his defeat at Batman's hands, which Joker accepts with laughing glee before revealing that his backup plan of corrupting Harvey Dent into villainy has nonetheless ensured victory for the clown. With a genuine belief in his chaotic code that his film counterpart lacked, which is best illustrated when he [[PetTheDog gives an elderly woman a hundred bucks on a whim]], the novel's take on the Joker manages to be an even more complex, intriguing villain than he is in the film.
* MemeticBadass: The Bank Manager, strangely enough.
* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Has its own page.]]
* MisaimedFandom: There's quite a few people who think that the Joker's view on humanity in the film is intended to be seen as the right one, even though it's ultimately proven wrong in the climax of the movie when the people on the two boats refuse to blow each other up.
* MisaimedMerchandising: 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''.
* {{Misblamed}}: A film example. Contrary to popular belief, Heath Ledger's method acting for the film wasn't what killed him. According to his family and Creator/MichaelJaiWhite, Ledger actually had a lot of fun playing The Joker (even doing impressions of him during his last dinner together with his family) and was looking forward to the potential sequel that Nolan was planning. It was reckless taking of various sleeping pills in an attempt to curb his insomnia that led to his death long after he has finished filming.
* MoralEventHorizon:
** The Joker's always been a psychopath, but he definitely crossed it when he [[spoiler:killed Rachel Dawes, which then led Harvey Dent to insanity]].
** The organized crime community as a whole crossed this by [[spoiler:hiring the Joker in the first place]] (and the Chechen crosses it by making the decision to hire him), 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''': 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.
** In fact, the only mobsters who ''don't'' cross the Horizon are Sal Maroni, who only lets the Chechen hire the Joker because of Lau's capture and only refuses to rat the Joker out to Batman because he's truly scared of the Joker ("Have you met this guy?"); 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; and the Gotham National Bank manager, who bravely stands up to the Joker during the bank robbery and ices Chuckles (and tags Grumpy in the shoulder), to say nothing of what he thinks about the endless backstabbing he witnesses throughout.
** [[spoiler: Harvey Dent]] crossed it when he moved from killing {{Dirty Cop}}s and mobsters to targeting Gordon's family, and sadistically threatened them one-by-one to figure out "which one Gordon loves the most" so he kill that one while Gordon watches, just so he will know the same pain [[spoiler:Dent]] feels.
* {{Narm}}:
** Commissioner Gordon verges on this toward the finale with the Joker, wailing '''"''I'' HAVE TO SAVE DENT!!"''', which is just a little bit too over the top. There are also some examples of the extras clearly not being in the same league as Bale, Ledger, Oldman and the assorted cast, which doesn't help when the Joker's final plot has scenes dealing heavily with them.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zja3pcPMszc "Things are worse than ever!"]]
** When Dent screams the word "FAIR!" towards the end of the film, the CGI on his mouth opens a bit too wide.
** "No more dead cops!"
** "You brought this craziness on us!" Extra silly when the camera pans up to show Batman perched above her doorstep, listening in.
** Speaking of Mrs. Gordon, her inarticulate, heart-wrenching cry when [[spoiler:Harvey puts a gun to her child's head]] is pretty effective. Her making the ''exact'' same noise again only a minute or so later... isn't.
** The cop riding shotgun with [[spoiler: the disguised Gordon]] only speaks in clichés and CaptainObvious statements.
--->"Lower fifth? We'll be like turkeys on Thanksgiving down there?"
--->"That's what I'm talking about!"
--->"You can't stop here, we're like sitting ducks!"
--->"That's not good!" ''(In reference to a helicopter crashing into the street right in front of them)''
** And of course, Christian Bale's "Batman voice", which can lead to odd pauses... in the middle... of a sentence, and the occasional inflection of a cartoon pirate. ("Someone KNOWS where 'e izzz!")
** In general, the fact that the film constantly shows ''brutal'' acts of violence but [[BloodlessCarnage without ever depicting any actual blood]], possibly stretching the audience's WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief a little too far.
** Harvey Dent telling the guy who tried to shoot him that he should have brought an ''American'' gun is worthy of some eyerolls. You half expect him to yell [[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries "In America!"]]
* NarmCharm: The Joker's "agent of chaos" speech is so compelling that you'll forget he's wearing a dress.
* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Heath Ledger's untimely death certainly didn't hurt the film's performance at the box office. [[PosthumousPopularityPotential It even got him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]].
* OlderThanTheyThink:
** The Joker [[EyeScream makes a pencil "disappear".]] [[Film/Batman1989 Sounds awfully familiar...]]
** It's even older than the above, it comes from a scene in ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth'', where the Joker bluffs Batman into entering Arkham by pretending to blind an orderly with a pencil.
** The HannibalLecture the Joker gives to Batman in which he claims that sooner or later, the people he helps will hate him, sounds like the lecture the Green Goblin gives in ''Film/SpiderMan1''.
** Many have pointed out a similarity between Heath Ledger and Brandon Lee's makeup as The Joker and Film/TheCrow, respectively.
** The Joker's Nietzche parody "what does not kill you makes you '''stranger'''" was previously used by Trevor Goodchild in the TV version of ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux'', although with "us" rather than "you".
** Harvey Dent not having multiple personality disorder before or after being disfigured is actually TruerToTheText. Before the 1980s, Two Face did not have multiple personalities, he simply rejected moral responsibility and used random chance to decide his actions. It was only his ComicBook/PostCrisis characterization that introduced multiple personalities, which became so popular it erased the first forty years of character development.
* 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 have done ten minutes ago". [[spoiler:He immediately throws the detonator out a window.]] Quite notably, after Lister's death this was one of the most frequently mentioned roles of his extensive acting career despite its brevity.
** 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 that SawedOffShotgun.
* QuestionableCasting:
** A lot of people filed off Creator/HeathLedger being assigned to play The Joker as the casting agency drawing a name out of a hat - especially considering that Ledger had recently made himself well-known for [[Film/BrokebackMountain playing a gay/bisexual cowboy]] - with many presuming that Ledger couldn't possibly be intimidating. Then the movie came out, and it turned out that [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct the casting worked a lot better than many of these detractors anticipated]] and Ledger's performance earned him a posthumous Academy Award.
** The same goes ''double'' for the Mexican Spanish dub, as The Joker was voiced by Creator/JoseAntonioMacias, a voice actor well-known in Mexico and Latin America for being typecasted with voicing comedy roles, like [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} James]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} Icarus]], [[WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy Double D]], etc., and no one thought he could be a good choice on voicing a disturbing psycho like him. And just like Ledger, he did a ''helluvah'' good job voicing him.
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** Thomas Schiff, the henchman of the Joker that Harvey Dent interrogates, is played by none other than Creator/DavidDastmalchian in his first film role. Dastmalchian would later become known for his more prominent roles in other comic book movies, such as Kurt in ''Film/AntMan1'' and ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' and Abner Krill/Polka-Dot Man in ''Film/TheSuicideSquad''.
** The black bounty hunter who helps the Joker kill Gambol is played by Creator/DavidAjala, who would later play Cleveland Booker on ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery''.
* RonTheDeathEater: [[spoiler:Anna Ramirez]]: People like to say that she should have been killed and view her as a KarmaHoudini, never considering (or just not caring) that she was trying to help her mother, did not intend for anyone to get hurt or die, and was left feeling very guilty afterwards. See UnintentionallyUnsympathetic below however.
* SacredCow:
** '''The Joker'''. While he's always been one of the most iconic characters in American culture, Creator/HeathLedger's portrayal here set many ''very'' hard-to-reach standards for movies to come, as he's widely considered '''the''' best Joker (however, Creator/JoaquinPhoenix and Creator/MarkHamill are often tied with him or positioned just below him), one of the greatest movie villains, one of the most [[AndYouThoughtItWouldFail surprisingly amazing]] movie performances, and quite possibly one of the best movie performances ''period''. Those who say otherwise regarding both the character [[SpeakIllOfTheDead and Ledger]] will more often than not suffer the consequences.
** The film itself remains the most acclaimed Batman film and one of the most popular comic book movies ever, thanks to being the movie that gave the superhero genre new prestige. Almost 15 years after its release, it's still held up as a bar most subsequent superhero films have yet to reach, and every subsequent ''Batman'' film, for good or ill, has been compared to it.
* SequelDisplacement: The success of this movie has completely overshadowed [[Film/BatmanBegins its predecessor]] that ''the whole series'' has gotten dubbed ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy''. Interestingly, though, [[Film/TheDarkKnightRises the next film]] would take more cues from the first film than this one.
* SignatureLine: Probably the single most quoted line from the movie "Why, so, serious?", is considered by many people to be [[NeverLiveItDown the Joker's catchphrase in the film]]. In actuality, the line is only used in one scene, as part of one of the Joker's (admittedly terrifying) "backstory"/threat monologues. Granted, this was a very memorable scene and the line does neatly sum up the Joker's entire character. And the marketing of the movie widely revolved around "Why so serious?"
* SignatureScene: Everything to do with Joker:
** The opening bank heist scene is considered among the best not only in superhero films but the genre as a whole, complete with the byzantine nature of betrayals and Joker's final reveal.
** Joker's pencil trick, his prison escape complete with gloating shaking of his head out the window like a dog, the interrogation scene between him and Batman, Joker at the party, and Joker setting the money on fire.
** The chase scene between Batman and Joker across the city, with Batman using the Batpod to flip over the giant truck and ending with Joker firing a gun in the middle of the street as he dares Batman to "hit me", with Batman dodging at the last moment.
** Joker in the nurse outfit at the hospital with Harvey Dent, where he uses {{Gaslighting}} to turn his victim and mortal enemy into his accomplice, and then walking out while still in the outfit and blowing up the building.
** And on a thematic level, the scene where the Joker is [[spoiler: finally proven wrong by the prisoners and patients trapped on the explosive-rigged boats, refusing to turn on each other even when threatened with death.]]
* 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. It is possible that this was intentional (given the comparative ease with which it could have been edited out and the obviousness of the gas fumes) to show the audience that yes, they really did flip an eighteen wheeler.
** Some have pointed out that after [[spoiler:Harvey's DisneyVillainDeath]], you can briefly see him breathing in the background.
** When Grumpy is run over by the bus in the bank heist, it's very obvious the stunt actor is several feet away from the bus before being yanked backward. While obviously you don't want anyone getting hit by a bus for real, one would've hoped that they would've found a better camera angle or edit to keep the illusion.
** In the shot where Bruce places his new gauntlet back in the drawer after accidentally launching the blades, the blades are back in the gauntlet in their retracted position. The shot even looks like a reversed shot of him taking the gauntlet out of the drawer.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Harvey Dent's mental and physical descent into becoming Two-Face, and his vengeful killing spree against Gotham, could have been a compelling story on its own. Due to the film prioritising the Joker, Harvey's downfall is mostly condensed into a few short scenes in the third act, which many felt robbed his final confrontation with Batman of some of its intended CatharsisFactor.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Realistically, Batman travelling to China to abduct Lao and take him back to Gotham would cause an uproar within the international community, which could have been a chance to put an interesting spin on Batman's status as a "superhero" and see how the rest of the world would react to one man deciding to put his city over the laws of citizens everywhere (keeping in mind this would have been seven years before ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' [[NoEndorHolocaust raised the question]]--then immediately followed [[[InvokedTrope and more explicitly discussed]]] by ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''). Unfortunately, the movie has too much to handle already and completely glosses over this, and neither Batman or Gordon face consequences for Lao's kidnapping.
* ToughActToFollow: Heath Ledger's Joker was so well-received that [[Film/SuicideSquad2016 rebooting the character a mere 8 years later]] would inevitably lead to negative comparisons, which Creator/JaredLeto found out the hard way. It's implied that the decision to romanticise the Joker was decided by ExecutiveMeddling, as Creator/ZackSnyder [[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague kept Jared Leto]] and [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap steered him a more accepted direction]] while still establishing him as a total bastard and Creator/DavidAyer has repeatedly stated that he always intended to make the Joker a HateSink.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To the John Ford western ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance''. A menacing, outlandishly dressed, extremely violent criminal terrorizes a town/city, with the soul of the community/nation at stake. Can the clean-cut lawyer deal with lawlessness and disorder or is it down to the vigilante to just straight up murder the monster clown?
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The citizens of Gotham and [[spoiler:Ramirez, the hypocritical cop who had the gall to blame Batman for what was going wrong when she was playing for the bad guys all along and tried to blame it on her mother's hospital bills. Not to mention that she was responsible for the death of Rachel and Harvey's descent into madness that eventually led him to become Two-Face. And other than the fact that Harvey pistol whipped her she gets away with it unlike the other cop Harvey ended up killing. With that in mind, it becomes hard to see her as the JerkassWoobie the movie portrays her as and even harder to believe her guilt.]]
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical:
** Many have taken Batman's phone-tapping of every Gothamite's mobile phone as a [[{{Anvilicious}} heavy-handed]] commentary about [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror the Patriot Act]], with some arguing that it justifies the practice despite the film presenting counter-arguments addressing the questionable ethics of this type of technology. Though Batman tells Lucius to destroy it once they've located the Joker, in real life it continues to be used and abused by different organizations and individuals.
** While Batman relied entirely on fear and intimidation to interrogate criminals in the previous movie, he resorts to physically assaulting Maroni and the Joker this time around, which many compared to the idea of “enhanced interrogation” that was used to justify torturing political prisoners at the time. Though the film once again shows that these violent methods don't give Batman any advantage, as the criminals he attacks still fear the Joker more than him, and the Joker actually ''enjoys'' the pain Batman inflicts, which many see as a strong reflection of the real inefficiency of torture with certain people.
** When the United States is unable to legally extradite Lau from Hong Kong, Batman travels there himself, abducts him, and drops him off in Gotham City. This practice, known as "extraordinary rendition", was frequently used by the [=CIA=] during the war on terror.
* TheWoobie:
** James Gordon Jr. (James Gordon's son) from ''The Dark Knight'', is not really the AxCrazy SerialKiller maniac that we know in the ComicBooks[[note]][[NewerThanTheyThink The film predates when he was actually written into one by about 2-3 years]][[/note]]. On the contrary, he is one of the biggest Woobies in the film. At his young age, he is living very traumatic events such as the attempted murder of his father, the kidnapping of his family and the attempted murder on his life by Two-Face.
** Harvey Dent seems to be one, being a victim of so many events and tragic circumstances. However, processing of Two-Face, he becomes a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.
** Also Rachel Dawes, due to her [[Creator/MaggieGyllenhaal new actress]] and ultimate fate.

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->''How about a magic trick? I'm gonna make these examples disappear...'''TA-DAAAA!!''' [[WikiVandal It-it's...GONE.]]''
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