History Fridge / TheDarkKnight

* It's easy to view Coleman Reese's swift willingness to back down from his scheme is simply because Lucius Fox points out that the man he's planning to blackmail is both a powerful billionaire and a potentially unstable and violent vigilante. But there's a third reason. Fox specifically makes a point of noting that Batman beats up not just anyone, but "criminals". Reese is planning to blackmail Bruce Wayne. Blackmail is a crime. The Batman would thus come after Coleman Reese not just out of spite, or vengeance, or fear for his secret, or insanity, but because ''Coleman Reese was a criminal''... and thus a valid target for the Batman. No wonder he's so quick to not just give up on his scheme, but also give up the only evidence which would prove he was attempting to commit a crime.

* It's easy to view Coleman Reese's swift willingness to back down from his scheme is simply because Lucius Fox points out that the man he's planning to blackmail is both a powerful billionaire and a potentially unstable and violent vigilante. But there's a third reason. Fox specifically makes a point of noting that Batman beats up not just anyone, but "criminals". Reese is planning to blackmail Bruce Wayne. Blackmail is a crime. The Batman would thus come after Coleman Reese not just out of spite, or vengeance, or fear for his secret, or insanity, but because ''Coleman Reese was a criminal''. No wonder he's so quick to not just give up on his scheme, but also give up the only evidence which would prove he was attempting to commit a crime.

* It's easy to view Coleman Reese's swift willingness to back down from his scheme because Lucius Fox points out that the man he's planning to blackmail is both a powerful billionaire and a potentially unstable and violent vigilante. But there's a third reason. Fox specifically makes a point of noting that Batman beats up not just anyone, but "criminals". Reese is planning to blackmail Bruce Wayne. Blackmail is a crime. The Batman would thus come after Coleman Reese not just out of spite, or vengeance, or fear for his secret, or insanity, but because ''Coleman Reese was a criminal''. No wonder he's so quick to not just give up on his scheme, but also give up the only evidence which would prove he was attempting to commit a crime.

* It's easy to view Coleman Reese's swift willingness to back down from his scheme because Lucius Fox points out that the man he's planning to blackmail is both a powerful billionaire and a potentially unstable and violent vigilante. But there's a third reason. Fox specifically makes a point of noting that Batman beats up not just anyone, but "criminals". Reese is planning to blackmail Bruce Wayne. Blackmail is a crime. The Batman would thus come after Coleman Reese not just out of spite, or vengeance, or fear for his secret, but because ''Coleman Reese was a criminal''. No wonder he's so quick to not just give up on his scheme, but also give up the only evidence which would prove he was attempting to commit a crime.

* It's easy to view Coleman Reese's swift willingness to back down from his scheme because Lucius Fox points out that the man he's planning to blackmail is both a powerful billionaire and a potentially unstable and violent vigilante. But there's a third reason. Fox specifically makes a point of noting that Batman beats up not just anyone, but "criminals". Reese is planning to blackmail Bruce Wayne. Blackmail is a crime... which would make Coleman Reese a ''criminal''. And thus a valid target for the Batman. No wonder he's so quick to not just give up on his scheme, but also give up the only evidence which would prove he was attempting to commit a crime.

* It's easy to view Coleman Reese's swift willingness to back down from his scheme because Lucius Fox points out that the man he's planning to blackmail is both a powerful billionaire and a potentially unstable and violent vigilante. But there's a third reason. Fox specifically makes a point of noting that Batman beats up not just anyone, but "criminals". Reese is planning to blackmail Bruce Wayne. Blackmail is a crime... which would make Coleman Reese a ''criminal''. And thus a valid target for the Batman.

* In this version of the ''Batman'' story, the Joker starts out as a PsychoForHire for the Gotham Mob who eventually grows beyond their control, contrasting most other versions that present him as an A-List player in the Gotham Underworld who has more-or-less ''always'' acted alone. While that might just seem like an easy way of connecting the Joker to the Carmine Falcone story arc in [[Film/BatmanBegins the first movie]], it also greatly aids the movie's real world subtext by inviting comparisons to several historical "monsters" who started the same way. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, for example, was originally just [[FromNobodyToNightmare an angry firebrand who had no real power]] until Anton Drexler invited him to join the German Workers' Party, believing that his oratory skills could finally earn them some real recognition; UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden got his start when the CIA gave him weapons and military training, believing that he and the Mujahideen could be useful in driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan; and many, many of the 20th century's worst dictators rose to power as a result of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, when either the Soviet Union or the United States saw them as [[EnemyMine potentially friendly to their interests]]. In RealLife, truly evil people very seldom rise to power alone. More often, they only get there when already-powerful people try to use them as pawns in their larger struggles.

* The Joker's MultipleChoicePast isn't just a nod to TheKillingJoke, it lampshades the Joker's motivation as a WholePlotReference to the comic. Each of his backstories strongly implies he went mad due to having [[DespairEventHorizon one bad day]], and in the comic, the Joker outright states he feels that such a day would drive anyone to insanity. This is his motivation in the film, testing both Harvey Dent and Batman along such lines, but in the climax he pushes all of Gotham to this.

* In the {{ARG}} that ran before ''The Dark Knight'' there was a website called ccfabg.org (Concerned Citizens for a Better Gotham) run by corrupt cops and their mob connections, which was trying to smear Harvey Dent. If you sent in your email to the organization, you would get swag back from the organization as is customary for {{ARG}}s. One of the items was a pin button with a picture of Harvey on it, one side clear and the other side red and scaly. What seemed like a MythologyGag at the time actually has a valid explanation InUniverse. As explained by Gordon, Harvey's nickname was "Two-Face", so it would be a little inside joke for the corrupt cops to send out a pin like that.

** Grumpy confronts Bozo (The Joker) about the doublecross exactly at the moment his own job was finished and thus the exact moment he surmised Bozo would assassinate him.

** Grumpy confronts Bozo (The Joker) about the doublecross exactly at the moment his own job was finished and thus he surmised that he'd be next.

** Bearing in mind that the Joker does things like this adds an extra twist to the scene with the two barges. What would have ''really'' happened if someone ''had'' pushed their detonator? Were they wired to their own barges, or was the one in Joker's hands the only working one?

* In the {{ARG}} that ran before the dark knight there was a website called ccfabg.org (Concerned Citizens for a Better Gotham) run by corrupt cops and their mob connections, which was trying to smear Harvey Dent. If you sent in your email to the organization, you would get swag back from the organization as is customary for {{ARG}}s. One of the items was a pin button with a picture of Harvey on it, one side clear and the other side red and scaly. What seemed like a MythologyGag at the time actually has a valid explanation InUniverse. As explained by Gordon, Harvey's nickname was "Two-Face", so it would be a little inside joke for the corrupt cops to send out a pin like that.

* In the {{ARG}} that ran before the dark knight there was a website called ccfabg.org (Concerned citizens for a better gotham) run by corrupt cops and their mob connections, which was trying to smear Harvey Dent. If you sent in your email to the organization, you would get swag back from the organization as is customary for {{ARG}}s. One of the items was a pin button with a picture of Harvey on it, one side clear and the other side red and scaly. What seemed like a MythologyGag at the time actually has a valid explanation InUniverse. As explained by Gordon, Harveys nickname was two-face so it would be a little inside joke for the corrupt cops to send out a pin like that.

** Bearing in mind that the Joker does things like this adds an extra twist to the scene with the two barges. What would have ''really'' happened if someone ''had'' pushed their detonator?

* FridgeBrilliance: Dent's coin, which is in fact a TwoHeadedCoin: He flips it several times, as if to make a decision based on the outcome (at one point conning Rachel into agreeing to go out with him if it comes up Heads). The coin always comes up heads because Harvey Dent [[IncorruptiblePurePureness always does the right thing]]. Tails ''isn't an option''. It's only [[spoiler: when he becomes [[LateArrivalSpoiler Two-Face]], and one side of the coin is defaced]] that any other outcome becomes possible for him.

* In the climax, Batman tells Harvey that Joker chose him because "he wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall". So, in other words, Joker wanted to bring one of Gotham's best people down to his level. [[TheKillingJoke Sound familiar?]] The only difference is that this time, TheBadGuyWins.

* In the {{ARG}} that ran before the dark knight there was a website called ccfabg.org (Concerned citizens for a better gotham) run by corrupt cops and their mob connections, which was trying to smear Harvey Dent. If you sent in your email to the organization, you would get swag back from the organization as is customary for {{ARG|S}}. One of the items was a pin button with a picture of Harvey on it, one side clear and the other side red and scaly. What seemed like a MythologyGag at the time actually has a valid explanation InUniverse. As explained by Gordon, Harveys nickname was two-face so it would be a little inside joke for the corrupt cops to send out a pin like that.

* Joker's GameOfChicken with the Batpod basically sums up why he's such an effective supervillain in one scene. Batman relies on fear and intimidation to beat criminals. But the Joker is something he's never faced before. The Joker is someone who's not afraid of him. While any other criminal would get scared and run, Joker just takes a gun and screams at Batman to hit him. Either because he know full well that Batman won't actually do it, or (judging by his reaction after Batman didn't do it) because he actually wants him to. Probably both.

* Joker's GameOfChicken with the Batpod basically sums up why he's such an effective supervillain in one scene. Batman relies on fear and intimidation to beat criminals. But the Joker is something he's never faced before. The Joker is someone who's not afraid of him. While any other criminal would get scared and run, Joker just takes a gun and screams at Batman to hit him. Either because he know full well that Batman won't actually do it, or because he actually wants him to. Probably both.

* Joker's GameOfChicken with the Batpod basically sums up why he's such an effective supervillain in one scene. Batman relies on fear and intimidation to beat criminals. But the Joker is something he's never faced before. The Joker is someone who's not afraid of him.

** Joker's GameOfChicken with the Batpod basically sums up why he's such an effective supervillain in one scene. Batman relies on fear and intimidation to beat criminals. But the Joker is something he's never faced before. The Joker is someone who's not afraid of him.

** That's not all. By doing so, [[spoiler: Joker indirectly made good on his promise of forcing Batman to break [[ThouShaltNotKill his one rule]]]].

* In the climax, Batman tells Harvey that Joker chose him because "he wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall". So, in other words, Joker wanted to bring one of Gotham's best people down to his level. [[TheKillingJoke Sound familiar?]] The only difference is that this time, TheBadGuyWins.

* During really tense moments (such as when Batman is interrogating Joker), the soundtrack takes on a [[HellIsThatNoise a high pitched tone]], automatically making the viewer nervous.

* During the scene where Batman interrogates Joker, Joker cautions him that striking the head first makes the victim fuzzy. Minutes (and several head-slams) later, he gives Batman the correct addresses, but mixes up the hostages. Though the Joker gave him a Sadistic Choice and intentionally mixed up the addresses, it could almost be Black Comedy. He did warn Batman that the victim's head gets fuzzy…

** A lot of critics referred to the film bordering on tragedy; the structure of the film makes a little more sense if you keep in mind the traditional five-act arc of Shakespearean dramas, in which the climax comes earlier than a traditional three-act arc and ends on a lengthy, melancholy resolution (in this case, [[spoiler: Dent holding Gordon's family hostage]]).