History Fridge / TheDarkKnightTrilogy

* WordOfGod has stated that, as far as this trilogy is concerned, "Bruce Wayne" is a mask, a false persona, while Batman is the true person. But that doesn't really hold up. Watch Batman when he's in costume, talking to others with the Bat-Growl, and you see that Batman is just as much an act as RichIdiotWithNoDayJob Bruce Wayne. Bruce acts like an immature, uninformed idiot when out among Gotham's elite, and like a terrifying, on-the-edge-of-losing-control violent vigilante as Batman. The real Bruce Wayne, calmly intelligent and witty, is only really seen by Alfred, Lucius, and Rachel (and the audience in the scenes where he's interacting with those characters).

*** One poster had the Bat appear in the form of a skyline seen from above, as seen [[http://www.impawards.com/2012/dark_knight_rises.html here]], representing the pit Bane throws Bruce into that Batman must come from. * Bane's treatment of Talia whilst they were both in the pit raises an interesting question: Did Bane choose to blow up the Gotham Rogues as play started because it would be more dramatic or did he hold off so that the child with the "lovely, lovely" voice wouldn't be killed?

The idea of Batman as a symbol is explored in-universe and in the trilogy’s film posters/title sequences:
Batman Begins has the Bat symbol appear as a cloud of bats.
The Dark Knight has the Bat appear from blue flames, the flames representing the Joker’s desire to watch Gotham burn.
One poster had the Bat turn into a Joker grin, seen [[http://www.impawards.com/2008/dark_knight.html here]]. As an anarchist, the Joker loves the humor in perverting symbols of order.
Another poster had the Bat appear from a bombed building, seen [[http://www.impawards.com/2008/dark_knight_ver5.html here]].
The Dark Knight Rises has the Bat appear from cracking ice, the ice representing the winter setting and Bane capturing the world in a frozen tyranny.
One poster had the Bat appear in the form of a skyline seen from above, as seen [[http://www.impawards.com/2012/dark_knight_rises.html here]], representing the pit Bane throws Bruce into that Batman must come from.
* Bane's treatment of Talia whilst they were both in the pit raises an interesting question: Did Bane choose to blow up the Gotham Rogues as play started because it would be more dramatic or did he hold off so that the child with the "lovely, lovely" voice wouldn't be killed?

* Notice that the movie posters are showing progressively less of the actual Batman and more emphasis on his logo, showing his transition from more a mere man to a symbol. ''Film/BatmanBegins'' has batman taking up most of the image, and the symbol is a tiny thing hovering above the title. ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' shrinks Batman down to half the image and puts TWO much larger bat symbols OVER the batman. ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' Is just the symbol appearing out of the collapsing city, showing that he's now become an intangible construct of your Batman fearing mind. The same is done with Gotham city, being incorporated more and more into the poster.

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[[folder:General]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Batman Begins]]
* Horse:
** It seems odd that Jonathan Crane was able to get on a panicked horse and make it run through very narrow streets and rear up for him. It initially seems like the filmmakers just wanted to throw in a version of the iconic comics image of Scarecrow on a black horse and were city boys who had absolutely no idea about horse's behavior. However, in ''Scarecrow: Year One'', Crane grew up on a farm in Georgia. No actual horses, but it's possible he would have learned to ride. The filmmakers for ''Batman Begins'' probably knew exactly how damn hard it would be to get a horse to do that in that situation - they were hinting that it wasn't Crane's first rodeo.
** It's more than likely that its a ShoutOut to ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' in which an impostor Scarecrow escapes from Arkham via horse.
** Also, it's implied that he didn't take just any horse, it was a ''police mount'' from one of the officers sent to the Narrows. In all likelihood, that horse was trained to be at least somewhat calmer in chaotic conditions.
* In ''Begins'', the incident with the League was probably what caused Batman to start his no-killing policy. Before, he had no problem trying to kill bad guys, like Joe Chill, but when presented with an uninterrupted chance to kill a murderer in cold blood, he choked, and bought down the entire building trying to escape. That's not a plot hole, that's character development. Also, ''Bruce Wayne'' may have killed people, if in a combination of panic and self-defense, but ''Batman'' doesn't.
* Listen to the notes that have to be played on the piano to open the Batcave in ''Batman Begins''. Unless you're completely tone deaf, you'll notice that they're horribly discordant, do not work next to each other in that order and never could under any circumstances. Basically, they're horrible. The FridgeBrilliance is that since they're so incompatible musically, it's highly unlikely that anyone will ever play those notes in that order except to open the Batcave, preventing the Batcave from being opened by accident while someone plays the piano or whatever.
* What little criticism ''Batman Begins'' received was about the jump-cut-heavy fight scenes, which made the action a bit too frenetic for some. FridgeBrilliance: Nolan stated he had a pragmatic reason for this, wanting to show Batman as a scarily fast attacker where the targets could not make heads or tails what they were being overwhelmed with. Nevertheless, he used more tracking shots for ''The Dark Knight'''s action scenes.
* Wayne Manor is a metaphor for the legacy of Thomas Wayne. Near the start of the film, Bruce is considering killing Chill to avenge his parents, which goes against what his father stood for, and will probably result in him being thrown in jail, preventing him from pursuing his father's work. At this point, he tells Alfred that if he had his way, he'd tear the Manor down, brick by brick. Later, when the League of Shadows comes to destroy Gotham, rendering Thomas and Marta Wayne's efforts to save the city useless, they burn Wayne Manor down. Finally, at the end, Bruce has saved Gotham and decided to become its protector, continuing his father's work. Thus, he rebuilds Wayne Manor, brick by brick.
* The League of Shadows isn't just an {{Expy}} of The League of Assassins/The Demon from the comics. It's also an EvilCounterpart to the Justice League. Bruce Wayne was the TokenGoodTeammate for the LoS, but is frequently depicted as the TokenEvilTeammate for the JL. The LoS members all wear black uniforms and share the same skillset, while the JL members all wear different multicoloured outfits and have unique abilities. The LoS wants to destroy corruption, while the JL wants to empower and repair. The LoS operates in secret, using underhanded tactics like diseases and economics to get the job done, while the JL operates out in the open, using its members' powers. Both Leagues also had to deal with their share of stubborn enemies that they have to keep fighting (The JL has an assortment of super villains, while the LoS has Gotham) and the leaders of both go up against Batman.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Dark Knight]]
* During the Batman/Joker discussion in the cell. At one point, the Joker says/quotes the Jerry Maguire line "You... ''complete'' me!" At first it just sounds like a throwaway line for a cheap laugh until you consider the source: in the movie, Jerry Maguire, until the scene that line comes from, almost always gets around with a rictus ''grin'' on his face - DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything? Also, Jerry Maguire's meant to be seen as an antihero - again, probably how the Joker sees himself.
* Two pieces of Alfred's dialogue within ''Batman Begins'' and ''The Dark Knight'' are very similar. The first happens just after Bruce's parents die in ''Begins'', and the second after Rachel dies in ''Dark Knight.''
-->'''Alfred:''' I thought I'd prepare a little supper... (Bruce looks out his window, silent). Very well, then.\\
'''Alfred:''' I thought I'd prepare a little breakfast... Very well, then.
* Hiding:
** In the opening, Joker hides among the bank robbers working for him. During the car chase scene, Gordon hides among the cops. There's a recurring theme of hiding things, all though the movie.
** Not just hiding, but hiding in plain sight. Both those examples, as well as Joker hiding among the cops during the assassination attempt, are all hiding in plain sight.
** And in ''Begins'' both Ducard and Batman made a tactic out of hiding amongst identically dressed ninjas during Batman's initiation into the League of Shadows.
** It's even present in the ''first shot'' of the film. Remember the film starts with the Joker having his clown mask ''off''. He doesn't remove it at any point to put his makeup on during the opening sequence, with the conclusion being he had it on the entire time he was just standing there in the middle of the street, quite openly, for everyone to see his face. He is hiding right there in plain sight.
** Batman reverses this trend. Even his enemies can tell him apart from numerous vigilante copycats--because for Batman, the cowl ''isn't'' a disguise.
* The Joker says he doesn't make plans, but this obviously isn't true. Because he's lying. He's a consummate liar, remember? He says whatever would twist the knife more. For someone like Harvey, who has dedicated his life to LawfulGood, saying he's ChaoticNeutral is an excellent way to hurt him.
* The Joker and Bruce at the party:
** Many remember the scene of the Joker crashing Bruce's party, entering with: "Where. Is. Harvey. Dent?". However, shortly before that scene, where Bruce himself joins the party he asks "Where is Harvey-" and cuts off as he sees him, implying he may have been about to say Dent. Coincidence, or an attempt to draw parallels between Batman and Joker? Probably the former.
** Both of them show up late, make big dramatic entrances, surrounded by a group of people, and immediately ask where Harvey is. It's entirely to subtly show parallels, and the contrasts; both of them are costumed people, Batman works outside of the police to help them deal with an enemy who has them on the ropes, using theatricality and manipulating emotions to win, and the Joker does the exact same thing for the mob. In both cases each of them sees Harvey Dent as the person that will carry on their mission.
* When Two-Face grills Wuertz about what the mob did to him and Rachel, Wuertz responds with "I didn't know what they were gonna do to you!" Harvey then spins his coin and says "Funny, because I don't know what's gonna happen to you." It seems like a better line would be "Funny, because I don't know what I'M gonna do to you." But when Two-Face uses the coin, he abdicates responsibility for his actions, so Harvey would never use that line. To Harvey, the coin killed Wuertz.
* Title:
** Remember the dinner scene between Harvey, Bruce, Rachel, and Bruce's Russian ballerina date? How the ballerina holds a piece of ''white'' paper over Harvey Dent's eyes, suggesting he could be Batman. The point being: Harvey is Gotham's ''white'' knight, with a ''white'' mask, at that point, while Batman's is unremittingly dark.
** Also, remember Dent's speech before he 'reveals' himself to be the Batman, where he says, "The night is always darkest just before the dawn." 'The Dark Knight' can also be interpreted as 'The Dark Night', the dark night being the reign of terror on Gotham being perpetrated by the Joker.
* The bank managed played by William Fichtner tell the Joker that "The criminals in this town used to believe in things: honor, dignity...". As a manager of a mob bank, he was working ''for'' some high-ranked criminals and probably came up with the whole "honor and dignity" thing to justify his actions to his own consciousness. Organized crime generally tends to have their own code of honor, preferring to think of themselves as businessmen than crime. The higher in the mob you go, the more detached from the down-and-dirty acts of crime you become, and the more you can hold yourself to loftier ideals. Plus, this was said in the context of a ludicrously extreme case of backstabbing that it's ''very'' easy to believe even the mob would hold themselves above.
* Joker molding Batman:
** The Joker was very skillfully manipulating Batman into the person that the Joker wanted him to be. Thinking over the hostage bit, when Gordon and the police were on their way to save Dent, or so they thought, both Gordon and Batman believed the Joker when he told them where he was holding Harvey and Rachel. This had two possible outcomes, with Batman in the position of making a SadisticChoice either way. If the locations hadn't been switched, and Batman successfully saved Rachel, that would leave Gotham without its White Knight, which would pave the way for a new era of crime and corruption in the city - just what the Joker promised the mob guys earlier in the film. However, the second way, as had occurred in the movie, was also immensely profitable to the Joker. With Rachel dead, there's nothing standing in the way of Batman devoting himself to fighting crime, and the Joker would have his opponent. Not to mention, he STILL takes down the White Knight side of Dent by exploiting his bitterness at surviving. [[XanatosGambit Either way, the Joker wins.]]
** It runs a little deeper than that. The Joker has affectively put Batman in the same position he gave the two boats, he simply hasn't informed him of it. Either he condemns the DA to death in order to save the girl, then has to face the D.A. knowing that he was ready to throw away his life for personal gain, or he condemns the woman he loves to die in order to save the D.A., only to have to face her knowing he made that choice. No matter what happens, everyone loses; Batman gets to live with knowing that whichever one survives, he made the choice to let them die. Likewise, the survivor gets to live knowing that Batman ''allowed their lover to die''. Honestly, whichever gets blowed up was probably the most merciful outcome of the three.
** Imagine what would have happened if Batman didn't swerve at the last minute and just plain killed the Joker outright. The plan to take Harvey and Rachel was obviously already in effect before the chase. If the Joker had died, the police would have had nobody to tell them the whereabouts of Harvey or Rachel in time to save either of them, then and both would be dead, and you guessed it, Batman would have been at fault and would have had to live with the guilt of what betraying his principles led to for the rest of his life.
* The Joker's declaration that "I think you and I are destined to do this forever". He's not talking about a rematch! He no longer cares if he gets imprisoned forever or even executed for his crimes. He ''already'' won when Batman ''failed'' to rescue the woman he loved. The Joker ''knows'' that Batman is the sort of person who would obsess over every mistake he made, wondering if he could have done something different and saved her. That's why they two of them will be battling ''forever''.
* Why didn't Joker tell Harvey a scar story? Because he would've already heard one from the people at the party, especially Rachel. He does, however, tell him a different lie; that he's entirely Chaotic evil without any real plans whatsoever. For someone like Harvey, who has lived his life by ThePlan, the idea that one lunatic could do so much damage hits him right in the soft spots.
* Batman taking the charge for Dent's killings gave Dent 2 "faces": one is the face of a hero, as viewed by the city, and the other of a villain, as viewed by Batman and Gordon. Harvey had truly become a "two-faced" person, not just a nickname.
* For the first half of Dent's vigilante spree, the coin seems fair and balanced. Let's look at the verdicts and whatever evidence may be present:
** SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker: Implied to be guilty, but considering how Dent was holding his gun, he wouldn't have been able to kill the Joker anyway except under two conditions. He's the one that rigged the warehouses, and he's the one who knew where both Harvey and Rachel were being held, so he was probably the one who gave Dent's warehouse to Wuertz and Rachel's warehouse to Maroni's driver. And yet, he considers what happened to both of them to be just business.
** Detective Wuertz: Guilty as charged. The guy's statements to him at the bar are contradictory: first, he mentions that he thought Dent was dead, and then that he didn't know what the Joker's goons were going to do to Dent. This makes it clear enough that he willfully assisted the Joker in trying to murder Dent. Plus, he refused to rat the other corrupt cop on Gordon's force.
** Sal Maroni: Not guilty. It's hinted that he never really wanted to hire the Joker in the first place, and when Rachel is killed his doubts are confirmed; right before the Joker attacks the hospital, he rats the clown to Gordon, something he earlier wouldn't do even at the urging of the Batman (mainly because at the time, he was too scared of a vicious and violent reprisal against the Falcone crime family). Whether he survived afterwards, though, is up for debate, because the verdict for...
** Maroni's driver: Guilty. It's hinted that he's one of two drivers that take Rachel and Dent to the warehouses to face imminent incineration unless Batman and Gordon picked them up before the warehouses went up in smoke. And yes, it's entirely possible that ''he'' was completely willing to assist the Joker, unlike Maroni.
** Detective Ramirez: Not guilty. Her statements when confronted by Dent indicated that she was coerced into handing Rachel over to the Joker's goons and that she didn't want either her mother or Rachel to perish.
** That said, only when Dent kidnaps Gordon's family does it become completely obvious just how twisted he's become due to the Joker's machinations; Batman is judged guilty and tagged, and Dent is judged not guilty. However, after Batman tackles Dent to try to subdue him but winds up inadvertently killing him instead, it's revealed that James Jr. got judged not guilty, just for symbolism's sake.
* Several of the Joker's origin stories as presented in other media portray his creation as the end result of him being poisoned. Maybe the truth of the matter is that he got hit by the fear toxin (a concentrated dose, even!) during the climax of ''Begins'' and went from a mild-mannered actor to a batshit crazy psychopath in one night...
* Some people have pointed out that it is strange that the Joker seemingly gets offended when people call him a freak but he has no problem calling himself and Batman freaks. The Joker isn't offended by the word 'freak,' but HOW it is used; the mob calls him a freak like it is a bad thing. He knows he is a freak and Batman is a freak but sees both of them as the next step, above the people. They are freaks because they are better than normal. Being a freak isn't bad... it is the only way to survive.
* The Joker's goal throughout this film is to spread anarchy and chaos. During the ferry scene, the ordinary citizens decide to vote on whether they detonate or not. Then it was decided on a vote 396 out of 536 that they should (which is a 74% majority), but they still don't do it. Voting is a democratic process. So as a whole, they democratically voted to blow up the ship. But they decide not to do it anyway. Everyone turns their back on the decision the group made as a whole, and that, by extension, is anarchy. Even so, that they decided not to do it anyway (in unison, at that!) proves that the Joker only succeeded at half (there's that word again) of his goal, because though it was an act of anarchy, no chaos occurred in the process.
* In the hospital scene with Dent and Gordon, Dent at one point says, "Why should I hide who I am?" FridgeBrilliance: As he turns around to say that, the camera effectively hides what he has become a mere second before showing his NightmareFace. Irony and VisualPun combine gloriously here.
* The defining word for this movie has to be '''half'''. Let's look at the examples, whether invoked, Brilliance, or metaphorical:
** ComicBook/TheJoker wants to expose the other '''half''' of people for them to do bad.
** Joker wants '''half''' of the mob's money.
** '''Half''' of Harvey's two-headed coin is burned.
** '''Half''' of Harvey's face is burned.
** Joker burns '''half''' of the mob money.
** By the end, Batman has corrupted '''half''' of his image; adults despise and/or fear him, but he is adored by children, who hope for his eventual return.
** The only burning my '''half''' Brilliance in regards to Harvey's condition.
** The poster for The Dark Knight shrinks Batman down to '''half''' the image.
** For the first '''half''' of Dent's vigilante spree,the coin seems fair and balanced.
** The Brilliance of the Joker only succeeding at '''half''' of his goal with the civilian boat: Anarchy, but not chaos.
** Natasha covers '''half''' of Harvey's face with a white piece of paper when thinking that he could be Batman.
** Gordon's son gets the same chance Rachel had. '''Fifty-fifty''', or '''half'''. This extends to Joker, Wuertz, Maroni, his driver, Ramirez, Batman, and Dent himself.
** Dent tells Wuertz that he's '''half''' dead.
* The League Of Shadows could have funded the Joker to destroy Gotham, and this can be valid for several reasons. One, because the personification of Ra's Al Ghul varies widely from version to version. For this Brilliance, I'm fastforwarding to [[WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood one movie that involved Joker and Ra's on a large scale.]](Warning: Spoilers) In UTRD, Ra's is perfectly willing to hire the Joker as a distraction for Batman, but he underestimates his control over him when he kills Jason Todd. This Ra's is saddened to the death of him, and becomes TheAtoner. Now, go back to this film and look at Joker's actions. MultipleChoicePast? Something someone working for a secret mastermind would do. Chaos? What Ra's wanted in the first film. Destruction? His ultimate goal for Gotham. Like Ra's, the Mob underestimated their control over him, and he let loose in the [[WhamEpisode wham scene]] across each film. Something Ra's isn't afraid of, because he brings chaos and destruction, which will only go higher with the Joker's escalating acts of terrorism. The League might not be present in person, but in a metaphorical way, in a madman no one would see coming.
* Harvey and the Joker's speech:
** ''Of course'' Harvey falls for the Joker's speech about how he didn't mastermind the Rachel and Harvey bomb setup. Harvey is a prosecutor who goes after organized crime. And the guys out on the street, doing the grunt work in organized crime, aren't in any position to make decisions, they aren't the masterminds. So when Joker users some WeaselWords, starts talking up the "schemers", and saying that for the Joker, it was NothingPersonal, that fits right in line with Harvey's already established mode of thinking. He automatically reverts to thinking of the Joker as being in the same role as a gang enforcer: just someone doing the bidding of a superior. "The Joker's just a mad dog, I want the one who let him off the leash."
** This also fits in with other themes the movie has run with before including that people don't really understand the Joker, because his worldview is too alien to them, (how well can someone who does want something logical like order, money, and control understand the man who just wants to watch the world burn) and Joker exploits that misunderstanding and underestimation to his benefit. Because Harvey will believe his lies, Joker can turn Harvey into the FallenHero and crazed psychopath, just like Batman consistently is one step behind the Joker, or the SWAT team can be tricked into targeting innocent doctors instead of the thugs they're after. The Joker's greatest weapon is being an OutsideContextProblem, and being able to hide just how far outside of context he is to fool people who wouldn't imagine what he's really like and really up to.
* The novelization provides one of the most powerful quotes to describe Joker's methods of corruption compared to the movie. It's especially poignant when considering Two-Face.
-->'''Film Joker:''' I'm only burning my half.\\
'''Novelization Joker:''' I'm only burning my half. Of course, your half will burn with it. Nothing to be done, I'm afraid.
* Joker: "It's not about the money; it's about sending a message." Two-Face: "It's not about what I want! It's about what's fair!" What does it mean? I'm not sure. It's not an indication of Two-Face drawing influence from the Joker, since the former was not present when the latter said his line. It could be Nolan's why of making clear that neither of these villains are pursuing the normal, often cliched motivations. It could be a nice contrast between the two, while still highlighting their similarities. It's up for grabs. The lines provide a contrast between the two; the Joker wants to serve only himself, whereas Two-Face wants to serve only cold-blooded justice according to coin flips. The Joker throws away money in favor of his own interests, whereas Two-Face throws away his own interests in favor of justice.
* Every other incarnation of the Joker is, first and foremost, a killer prankster. As deadly as they are, most of his traps and crimes are set up as jokes and gags. Heath Ledger's Joker dispenses with the pranks in favor of being as terrifyingly effective as possible using the simplest of methods. He hides bombs rather than gift-wraps them. He prefers knives over guns because mutilating someone with a knife is more personal and terrifying than simply shooting them with a gun...although he's not averse to shooting if it's more efficient. Every gun he handles in the film is a real, working weapon that fires actual bullets--no "BANG!" flags here. He's a [[StealthPun practical Joker]], you see.
* The Joker's lip-licking CharacterTic is due to Creator/HeathLedger being annoyed by the prosthetic makeup and unconsciously licking at it and it being worked into the movie, but just as people can't seem to help picking scabs or tonguing a missing tooth or other mouth injury, the idea of the Joker licking his lips and the sides of his mouth as the facial wounds healed and scarred up and this becoming a habit is completely plausible.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Dark Knight Rises]]
* Bruce is retired largely because of a leg injury. A leg injury he suffered when he killed Harvey at the end of the Dark Knight. Bruce can be seen limping when he runs away.
* The [[ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames non-use]] of the name "ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}" during the movie makes more sense when you notice that this incarnation of Selina Kyle isn't trying to hide her identity (apparent from her minimalist mask); instead, she's simply trying to erase her past criminal record. And out-of-universe, it may have been also to sever ties with the much-maligned ''Film/{{Catwoman}}'' movie. In fact, in this respect, Selina can be considered a BizarroUniverse counterpart of Patience Philips: while Selina captures the entire essence of Catwoman ''except'' the name (and even still uses it in merchandise and stuff), Patience uses Catwoman's name and has little else to do with the character.
* In Rises, John Blake makes a joke about mutant crocodiles in the sewers. Fridge Brilliance because, in the animated film [[WesternAnimation/BatmanGothamKnight Gotham Knight]], Batman fought Killer Croc. It makes sense that rumors of the battle floated around the GCPD.
* What is the absolute last thing the Batman is seen doing in ''The Dark Knight Rises''? He's ''rising'' into the air, taking the bomb with him. Likewise, the final shot of the film is Blake on that platform in the Batcave, rising into the air and out of frame.
* Everything Bane says about hope being poisonous? Talia spent the entire movie doing exactly that to Bruce.
* Selina's stilettos are her equivalent of Batman's gauntlets, except hers, fitting with her personality, are show-offy as well as practical.
* The reason Bane is pretty much a NoSell during his first fight with Batman? His mask provides him with pain-numbing gas. It's not that Batman can't hurt him - it's just that Bane doesn't feel it.
* By the time Rises rolls around, Batman has, quite literally, become a symbol.
* That monologue that Bane gives in during the fight in the sewer about how he "was born in darkness" and "didn't see the light until [he] was already a man" becomes a lot more resonant when you realize that Bane protected Talia Al Ghul in the Pit and that she escaped thanks to him, Talia was the single ray of purity and innocence in that hellhole.
* It's no surprise that Ra's al Ghul has no faith in prisons as a form of justice and punishment: they did nothing to curb the criminality of the inmates who murdered (and likely raped) his wife and would've killed his child too.
* As Ra's Al Ghul tells Bruce in his vision: "There are many forms of immortality". Like continuing one's genetic line through offspring, for instance. That line is especially poignant because the vision of Ra's plants the idea that immortality can be attained through a successor. Bane and Talia are carrying on where Ra's left off, finishing his dream of destroying Gotham. Bruce always wanted Batman to be a symbol; eternal, everlasting, exactly as Ra's al Ghul already is. By putting the idea of immortality through successors in Bruce's head, the story is set up for Bruce to leave Batman to Blake at the end.
* Gotham is the Pit. Not literally, but what are they? Inescapable prisons offering a glimmer of hope that can never be reached. Bruce initially planned to return to Gotham until crime was stopped, and by Rises, he's resigned himself to the city, with no fear of simply dying. But Selina and Miranda both give him a glimmer of life beyond Batman and Rachel. In the Pit he learns that a fear of death is needed to succeed, which helps him escape the Pit and reach the hopeful outside. What happens in the end of Rises? He fears death and manages to escape the Bat before the bomb goes off, reaching the hope of a life with Selina.
* Many people complain that Bane's new, [[StiffUpperLip Jolly]] voice makes him much harder to take seriously as a BigBad than Heath Ledger's Joker. But Bane's not the Big Bad. [[BaitAndSwitchBoss Is he?]]
* Think about what John Blake goes through - finding himself crippled by the system he's been serving, then deciding to throw it off altogether and go full-bore into vigilanteism, thanks to some effort on Bruce Wayne's part. You've essentially got a rare POSITIVE version of what the Joker did to Harvey Dent. NotSoDifferent, eh?
* A throw away line about Bane's past indicates that his other major accomplishment as a mercenary was the overthrow of some small African nation. Where is the prison in which he was entombed located? Why is he now considered by the inmates of the prison to be in charge? It seems that Bane's first act was to knock over the country that was responsible for his imprisonment and the death of Talia's mother as well as Talia being raised in the pit. Also explains were a lot of his resources and recruits came from.
* Batman disappears for eight years after The Dark Knight, which has been mentioned several times on this page. But then one recalls that Harvey had put away most of the influential bosses before dying, and even more criminals were put away in the Dent Act so that Gotham was at its most crime-free in years. Even if Batman wanted to stop one-off crimes like thievery, the cops would just chase him instead of the criminal, or throw the case away due to involving a wanted fugitive. There was no need for Batman, and judging by how everyone switched gears to him instead of Bane, his presence would have just tied up the force with frivolous calls or chases.
* Batman never drops the voice while in costume, even after Catwoman disappears on him and to his knowledge there is no one watching. This could be explained by him being exceptionally paranoid. But it could also be explained by the fact that someone ''is'' still watching him: The audience.
* How could Bane smash through concrete like it was foam and paper mache? The pain gas he takes is actually ''venom'', the super steroid from the comics in a gaseous state. Thus the more he breaths in, the stronger he gets. And if his mask's damaged he loses the ability to regulate the venom, and if a pipe is popped it means its leaking out and he gets weaker. Exactly what happens on screen.
* Batman firing at a tumbler with Talia in it seems to be a disregard of [[ThouShaltNotKill Batman's one rule]]. Then you realize the tumbler itself didn't have a scratch on it until it fell. It makes sense that the Bat's cannons were designed to keep from harming Batman's other vehicles. He had most likely intended to stop Talia nonlethally, and if Batman hadn't forgotten she was driving over a bridge, she would have survived.
* Bane's mask is constantly feeding him anesthetic gas so he [[FeelNoPain feels no pain]]. He's high on some level constantly. It's also why he never seems to shout.
* How was Bruce's back was fixed so easily while down in the pit? Bane, and the League of Shadows, used the prison to store many of their other enemies. Now, if the Bane in this film is anything like his comic-book counterpart then breaking his opponent's back is probably his signature finishing move. So the reason that the doctor in the pit was able to fix Bruce's back so easily is probably because Bane has broken the backs of plenty of other prisoners down there, in the exact same way.
* When Bruce first left Gotham in order to train, his long absence made Earle declare him dead. He was outraged at such a thing back then. Now again, what is his ultimate plan, almost 10 years later? Goddamned Crazy Prepared Batman indeed.
* If you think about it, specially with the importance given to symbols and masks in this trilogy, what is the climax of both Bats vs. Bane fights? That's right, the destruction of their masks. Bane smashing Bats' cowl, destroying the symbol and leaving a broken man, and Bats punching and messing up his inhaler, destroying his near-invulnerability, and beating him up just like any other thug.
* The man who stands up to the Joker in the previous film with the line "We're not intimidated by thugs!" isn't named, and neither is the board member portrayed by the same actor. However, it's possible that Bruce rewarded the man for his bravery by giving him a position on the board. Might be worth noting that that "actor" is US Senator Patrick Leahy, a big Batman fan who's had several cameos in various Batman media.
* Though he's pissed off at Alfred for hiding the truth about Rachel, and Alfred considers leaving Bruce and, subsequently, his apparent death saving Gotham to be [[MyGreatestFailure his greatest failure]], Bruce didn't amend his will (the last time he amended his will was before he went on his seven-year odyssey nearly 10 years earlier) because in spite of it all, he wanted to reward Alfred for all his years of loyal service.
* According to legend, Bane was excommunicated from the League of Shadows for being too much of an extremist. Then Talia says he was excommunicated for his connection to the prison where she had been confined for the first years of her life and makes no mention of his extremist behavior. Now remember that Ra's al Ghul is not a fan of nuclear weapons, but Talia wants to nuke Gotham into oblivion, and Bane is in support of that plan. Therefore, Talia can deny it all she wants, but the truth of the matter is that Bane was excommunicated because he wanted to nuke a city targeted by the League.
* Bane's thing in ''Rises'' is giving people [[HopeSpot false hope]] before tearing them down anyways. [[NotSoDifferent And what did every one of]] [[NotSoDifferent Harvey Dent's]] [[NotSoDifferent victims have in common?]] They were all given false hope. They thought they could get the good heads of the coin toss, didn't, and died for it. This goes double for Maroni, who ''did'' get the good heads until Dent pulled the "your driver" trick.
* Many viewers complain about Bruce's off-camera return to a quarantined Gotham after escaping from the Pit. To do so, he would have had to fly in (unlikely, since Bruce probably didn't have access to an aircraft or an unobserved place to land within city limits, and since the military was monitoring the Gotham airspace), traverse the remaining undamaged, but heavily-guarded bridge, or cross the thin ice that killed everyone else who tried to do that. But in "Begins" he is constantly reminded by Ra's/Ducard to "mind his surroundings" and the lesson is driven home during a training duel on a sheet of cracking ice when Bruce initially seems to defeat Ra's, but then Ra's causes Bruce to fall through. Given the "adapt or die" nature of Ra's League boot camp, Bruce would have been forced to learn how to fight and move more effectively on thin ice. Ra's himself taught Bruce the skills necessary to cross the ice to re-enter Gotham.
* Selina is disgusted when she finds out that Bruce gets to keep Wayne Manor after his fortune is lost, saying that the rich don't even go broke the same way everyone else does. But with his billions out of reach, Wayne Manor would become a white elephant for him; he no longer has the staff to maintain it, he's still responsible for the property taxes, and he doesn't even have a key for the front door. And even if his creditors seized it, they wouldn't be able to do anything with the place either; the only one who could afford to buy it would be...Bruce Wayne, the week before.
[[/folder]]

!!FridgeHorror

[[folder:Batman Begins]]
* Remember the really cool scene riding the Batmobile over the rooftops with that girl inside? Got it? Now remember she was still under the influence of the Scarecrow's literal NightmareFuel and imagine what that ''already'' [[DrivesLikeCrazy scary]] ride must have looked like...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Dark Knight]]
* A bit of FridgeHorror from the comics. Harvey calls the coin his father's lucky coin. Seems like a random line until you realise that in the comics Harvey's dad would flip that coin to decide whether or not to beat Harvey. Heads he would; tails he wouldn't. Now what's unique about Harvey's coin...
* Which sounds more like the Joker: Steal a firetruck to set it on fire and use as a roadblock, or wait for a fire truck loaded with firemen to set on fire and use as a road block.
* "Five dead, two of them cops." That would mean that Dent managed to ice anywhere between one and three people offscreen and that there may have been at least one more corrupt cop in the GCPD besides Wuertz (who is confirmed dead) and Ramirez by the time ''TDK'' takes place.
* After the Joker tosses Rachel out the window in ''The Dark Knight'' and Batman leaps after her, we don't see what happens next. Presumably, the Joker made a getaway, but being who he is, it's very unlikely he did so without ''shooting as many people as he could'' to piss off Batman and Harvey first.
* Joker had a hospital and multiple random buildings rigged to explode, something that would take a lengthy amount of time to set up, yet claims to not have a plan. If he isn't lying about that, that means he's improvising, which would imply that there are even more locations all around Gotham set up to explode (or do something similar) that he doesn't wind up using. How many explosives and death-traps are just left waiting for someone to set off after the end of the movie? More so, with Batman not doing his thing for some time, who's to say anyone is capable of thoroughly looking into this?
* Some scenes with Gordon's son become somewhat creepy with the development in the comics that James Jr. grows up to be a psychopath.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Dark Knight Rises]]
* The GenderNeutralWriting surrounding Talia as a child makes sense in light of the fact that she was born in a prison, so there would have been [[PrisonRape very practical reasons]] for hiding the fact that she was female, and add to that the heavy implication that her mother was raped before the other prisoners killed her and it reaches a whole new level of FridgeHorror.
* This may not count as Fridge Horror, given how the initial situation was already horrible, but the ending of ''The Dark Knight'' is even sadder now that ''The Dark Knight Rises'' has been released and we know how that scene affected Gordon's family in years to come.
* Remember what the Joker said about ordinary people, how they will eat each other when things go bad? What happens in ''Rises''? The people go nuts and begin attacking each other. The Joker was right all along. He just failed to push the ordinary people hard enough.
* Jen might not survive very long without Selina's protection. She seems a little clueless generally and it is probably only a matter of time before she tries to rob the wrong guy - especially since ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' implies she isn't a very good pick pocket.
[[/folder]]

** Also - "rises". [[spoiler: [[{{Leitmotif}} Deshi basara,]] [[BilingualBonus deshi basara]].]]

** His disapproval makes even more sense as of the backstory revealed in ''Dark Knight Rises''. [[spoiler: Ducard failed to protect his wife and child when they were in prison. Of course that would shape his views on how a husband and father should act!]]

* A pattern in a few lines from ''The Dark Knight'' and ''The Dark Knight Rises'', all of which are part of a running theme of [[spoiler:the villains, like Batman, holding themselves up as symbols to higher ideals than money.]]

* In Batman Begins, Henri Ducard [[spoiler:Ra's al Ghul]] tells Bruce that he must become a wraith, a terrible thought or idea. What happens in The Dark Knight Rises? [[spoiler:Bruce encounters Ra's al Ghul as a hallucination, a haunting thought that exists in his own mind.]]
* While Dent has some similarities with Blake as a potential successor and ally to Batman, he's also a good foil with Selina Kyle(who can also be contrasted with Rachel). Both end up getting manipulated by the primary villains of their movies, and betray Batman at some point [[spoiler: Dent by succumbing to his rage over Rachel's death, and Selina selling him out to Bane]]. But their arc goes in opposite directions; Selina starts out as a thief who steals to get by and holds a vendetta against the wealthy, gradually understands the lengths Bruce actually goes towards, while Harvey, despite his initial support of Batman [[spoiler: falls to the Joker's manipulations and doesn't see the error.]]

** Had Bane died as a result of the beating he took in prison, it would have been quite the HeroicSacrifice and he would have legitimately died a hero. Because he didn't, he lived, and eventually became a villain. Less obviously, [[spoiler:if anything had gone wrong with Talia's plan, and she died before Batman came back and she revealed her true identity, she would have been considered a hero or a martyr by people like Bruce, Lucius, Gordon, etc. Because that didn't happen, she was eventually revealed to be a villain.]]
** Batman himself was a hero to the people of Gotham until they came to see him as a villain due to him TakingTheHeat for Harvey's misdeeds. (In his own words, "I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be"–and if Gotham needs him to be the villain, so be it.) But that perception was wiped out when [[spoiler:he returned to Gotham... and ''appeared'' to die heroically]].

** It's more than likely that its a ShoutOut to ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' in which an [[spoiler: impostor]] Scarecrow escapes from Arkham via horse.

* Wayne Manor is a metaphor for the legacy of Thomas Wayne. Near the start of the film, Bruce is considering killing Chill to avenge his parents, which goes against what his father stood for, and will probably result in him being thrown in jail, preventing him from pursuing his father's work. At this point, he tells Alfred that if he had his way, he'd tear the Manor down, brick by brick. Later, when [[spoiler: the League of Shadows]] comes to destroy Gotham, rendering Thomas and Marta Wayne's efforts to save the city useless, they burn Wayne Manor down. Finally, at the end, Bruce has saved Gotham and decided to become its protector, continuing his father's work. Thus, he rebuilds Wayne Manor, brick by brick.

* Two pieces of Alfred's dialogue within ''Batman Begins'' and ''The Dark Knight'' are very similar. The first happens just after Bruce's parents die in ''Begins'', and the second after [[spoiler: Rachel]] dies in ''Dark Knight.''

** Many remember the scene of the Joker crashing Bruce's party, entering with: "Where. Is. Harvey. Dent?". However, shortly before that scene, where Bruce himself joins the party he asks "Where is Harvey-" and cuts off as he sees him, implying he may have been about to say Dent. Coincidence, or an attempt to draw parallels between Batman and Joker? [[spoiler: Probably the former.]]

** The Joker was very skillfully manipulating Batman into the person that the Joker wanted him to be. Thinking over the hostage bit, when Gordon and the police were on their way to save Dent, [[spoiler: or so they thought]], both Gordon and Batman believed the Joker when he told them where he was holding Harvey and Rachel. This had two possible outcomes, with Batman in the position of making a SadisticChoice either way. If the locations hadn't been switched, and Batman [[spoiler: successfully saved Rachel]], that would leave Gotham without its White Knight, which would pave the way for a new era of crime and corruption in the city - just what the Joker promised the mob guys earlier in the film. However, the second way, as had occurred in the movie, was also immensely profitable to the Joker. [[spoiler: With Rachel dead]], there's nothing standing in the way of Batman devoting himself to fighting crime, and the Joker would have his opponent. Not to mention, he STILL takes down the White Knight side of Dent by exploiting his bitterness at surviving. [[XanatosGambit Either way, the Joker wins.]]

* In the hospital scene with Dent and Gordon, Dent at one point says, [[spoiler:"Why should I hide who I am?"]] FridgeBrilliance: As he turns around to say that, the camera effectively [[spoiler:hides what he has become]] a mere second before [[spoiler:showing his NightmareFace.]] Irony and VisualPun combine gloriously here.

** '''Half''' of [[spoiler: Harvey's two-headed coin is burned.]]
** '''Half''' of [[spoiler: Harvey's face is burned.]]
** Joker [[spoiler:burns]] '''half''' of [[spoiler:the mob money.]]
** By the end, [[spoiler:Batman has corrupted]] '''half''' of [[spoiler:his image; adults despise and/or fear him, but he is adored by children, who hope for his eventual return.]]
** The [[spoiler:only burning my]] '''half''' [[spoiler: Brilliance in regards to Harvey's condition.]]

** For the first '''half''' of [[spoiler:Dent's vigilante spree]], [[spoiler:the coin seems fair and balanced]].

** [[spoiler:Gordon's son]] gets the [[spoiler:same chance Rachel had.]] '''Fifty-fifty''', or '''half'''. This extends to [[spoiler: Joker, Wuertz, Maroni, his driver, Ramirez, Batman, and Dent himself.]]
** [[spoiler:Dent]] tells [[spoiler:Wuertz]] that he's '''half''' [[spoiler:dead]]
* One troper noted above that the League Of Shadows could have funded the Joker to destroy Gotham, and this can be valid for several reasons. One, because the personification of Ra's Al Ghul varies widely from version to version. For this Brilliance, I'm fastforwarding to [[WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood one movie that involved Joker and Ra's on a large scale.]](Warning: Spoilers) In UTRD, Ra's is perfectly willing to hire the Joker as a distraction for Batman, but he underestimates his control over him when [[spoiler:he kills Jason Todd]]. This Ra's is saddened to [[spoiler:the death]] of him, and becomes TheAtoner. Now, go back to this film and look at Joker's actions. MultipleChoicePast? Something someone working for a secret mastermind would do. Chaos? What Ra's wanted in the first film. Destruction? His ultimate goal for Gotham. Like Ra's, the Mob underestimated their control over him, and he let loose in the [[WhamEpisode wham scene]] across each film. Something Ra's isn't afraid of, because he brings chaos and destruction, which will only go higher with the Joker's escalating acts of terrorism. The League might not be present in person, but in a metaphorical way, in a madman no one would see coming.

'''Novelization Joker:''' I'm only burning my half. [[spoiler:Of course, your half will burn with it.]] Nothing to be done, I'm afraid.

* Bruce is retired largely because of a leg injury. A leg injury he suffered [[spoiler: when he killed Harvey at the end of the Dark Knight. Bruce can be seen limping when he runs away.]]

* What is the absolute last thing the Batman is seen doing in ''The Dark Knight Rises''? [[spoiler: He's ''rising'' into the air, taking the bomb with him.]] Likewise, the final shot of the film is [[spoiler:Blake on that platform in the Batcave, rising into the air and out of frame.]]
* Everything Bane says about hope being poisonous? [[spoiler: Talia spent the entire movie doing exactly that to Bruce.]]

* That monologue that Bane gives in during the fight in the sewer about how he "was born in darkness" and "didn't see the light until [he] was already a man" becomes a lot more resonant when you realize [[spoiler:that Bane protected Talia Al Ghul in the Pit and that she escaped thanks to him, Talia was the single ray of purity and innocence in that hellhole.]]
* It's no surprise that Ra's al Ghul has no faith in prisons as a form of justice and punishment: they did nothing to curb the criminality of [[spoiler:the inmates who murdered (and likely raped) his wife and would've killed his child too.]]
* As Ra's Al Ghul tells Bruce in his vision: "There are many forms of immortality". Like [[spoiler:continuing one's genetic line through offspring]], for instance. [[spoiler: That line is especially poignant because the vision of Ra's plants the idea that immortality can be attained through a successor. Bane and Talia are carrying on where Ra's left off, finishing his dream of destroying Gotham. Bruce always wanted Batman to be a symbol; eternal, everlasting, exactly as Ra's al Ghul already is. By putting the idea of immortality through successors in Bruce's head, the story is set up for Bruce to leave Batman to Blake at the end.]]
* Gotham is the Pit. Not literally, but what are they? Inescapable prisons offering a glimmer of hope that can never be reached. Bruce initially planned to return to Gotham until crime was stopped, and by Rises, he's resigned himself to the city, with no fear of simply dying. But Selina and Miranda both give him a glimmer of life beyond Batman and Rachel. [[spoiler: In the Pit he learns that a fear of death is needed to succeed, which helps him escape the Pit and reach the hopeful outside. What happens in the end of Rises? He fears death and manages to escape the Bat before the bomb goes off, reaching the hope of a life with Selina.]]
* Many people complain that Bane's new, [[StiffUpperLip Jolly]] voice makes him much harder to take seriously as a BigBad than Heath Ledger's Joker. [[spoiler: But Bane's not the Big Bad. [[BaitAndSwitchBoss Is he?]] ]]
* Think about what John Blake goes through - finding himself crippled by the system he's been serving, then deciding to throw it off altogether and [[spoiler:go full-bore into vigilanteism, thanks to some effort on Bruce Wayne's part. You've essentially got a rare POSITIVE version of what the Joker did to Harvey Dent. NotSoDifferent, eh?]]

* Though he's pissed off at Alfred for [[spoiler:hiding the truth about Rachel]], and Alfred considers [[spoiler:leaving Bruce and, subsequently, his apparent death saving Gotham]] to be [[MyGreatestFailure his greatest failure]], Bruce [[spoiler:didn't amend his will (the last time he amended his will was before he went on his seven-year odyssey nearly 10 years earlier)]] because in spite of it all, he wanted to reward Alfred for all his years of loyal service.

* Bane's thing in ''Rises'' is giving people [[HopeSpot false hope]] before tearing them down anyways. [[NotSoDifferent And what did every one of]] [[spoiler: [[NotSoDifferent Harvey Dent's]]]] [[NotSoDifferent victims have in common?]] [[spoiler: They were all given false hope. They thought they could get the good heads of the coin toss, didn't, and died for it. This goes double for Maroni, who ''did'' get the good heads until Dent pulled the "your driver" trick.]]

* Some scenes with Gordon's son become somewhat creepy with the development in the comics that [[spoiler: James Jr. grows up to be a psychopath]].

* [[spoiler:The GenderNeutralWriting surrounding Talia as a child]] makes sense in light of the fact that [[spoiler:she was born in a prison, so there would have been [[PrisonRape very practical reasons]] for hiding the fact that she was female, and add to that the heavy implication that her mother was raped before the other prisoners killed her and it reaches a whole new level of FridgeHorror]].

%% This isn't Troper Tales or a forum. Refrain from first person entries, speculation, and "replying" to entries. Administrivia/RepairDontRespond is in effect here as much as any other page.

!!Fridge Brilliance

[[folder:Fridge Brilliance]]

[[AC:General]]

[[AC:Batman Begins]]

[[AC:The Dark Knight]]

[[AC:The Dark Knight Rises]]

[[folder:Fridge Horror]]
* In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', remember the really cool scene riding the Batmobile over the rooftops with that girl inside? Got it? Now remember she was still under the influence of the Scarecrow's literal NightmareFuel and imagine what that ''already'' [[DrivesLikeCrazy scary]] ride must have looked like...
* A bit of FridgeHorror from the comics. Harvey calls the coin his father's lucky coin. Seems like a random line until you realise that in the comics Harvey's dad would flip that coin to decide whether or not to beat Harvey. Heads he would; tails he wouldn't. Now what's unique about Harvey's coin.....
* Some scenes in The Dark Knight with Gordon's son become somewhat creepy with the development in the comics that [[spoiler: James Jr. grows up to be a psychopath]]

* This may not count as Fridge Horror, given how the initial situation was already horrible, but the ending of The Dark Knight is even sadder now that The Dark Knight Rises has been released and we know how that scene affected Gordon's family in years to come.

* In ''Rises'', [[spoiler:the GenderNeutralWriting surrounding Talia as a child]] makes sense in light of the fact that [[spoiler:she was born in a prison, so there would have been [[PrisonRape very practical reasons]] for hiding the fact that she was female, and add to that the heavy implication that her mother was raped before the other prisoners killed her and it reaches a whole new level of FridgeHorror]].
* Remember what the Joker said about ordinary people, how they will eat each other when things go bad? What happens in The Dark Knight Rises? The people go nuts and begin attacking each other. The Joker was right all along. He just failed to push the ordinary people hard enough.

* Jen might not survive very long without Selina's protection. She seems a little clueless generally and it is probably only a matter of time before she tries to rob the wrong guy - especially since ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' implies she isn't a very good pick pocket.

* Every other incarnation of the Joker is, first and foremost, a killer prankster. As deadly as they are, most of his traps and crimes are set up as jokes and gags. Heath Ledger's Joker dispenses with the pranks in favor of being as terrifyingly effective as possible using the simplest of methods. He hides bombs rather than gift-wraps them. He prefers knives over guns because mutilating someone with a knife is more personal and terrifying than simply shooting them with a gun...although he's not averse to shooting if it's more efficient. Every gun he handles in the film is a real, working weapon that fires actual bullets--no "BANG!" flags here. He's a [[StealthPun practical Joker,]] you see.