The Dark Knight Saga/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • All-Star Cast: All three feature Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman. The first also features Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, and Rutger Hauer; the second also features Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Eric Roberts; the third also features Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Marion Cotillard. Enough said.
  • Approval of God: In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Christopher Nolan said he saw The Lion King parody of The Dark Knight Rises trailer and thought it was epic.
  • The Character Died with Him: It is unclear how his absence will be addressed (or if it will be addressed), but, on account of Heath Ledger's death, Word of God has confirmed that the Joker will not be returning.
  • Cool Car: Bruce's Lamborghini Murciélago LP 640, bonus is the fact that Murciélago is Spanish for "Bat".
  • Development Gag: When Fox is asked for improvements to the Batsuit, he remarks, "You want to be able to turn your head." Prior to the Dark Knight Trilogy, no physical implementation of the Batsuit allowed the actors to turn their heads.
  • Directed by Cast Member: Heath Ledger directed and shot the two home videos the Joker sends to the media (both the one where he tortures and kills the fake Batman, then the one where a captive Mike Engel is forced to read a script of the Joker's demands).
  • Fake Americans: In the first movie, Katie Holmes and Morgan Freeman are the only actual Americans, amid the Welsh Christian Bale, the English Gary Oldman and Tom Wilkinson, and the Irish Cillian Murphy (and Liam Neeson, but Ra's isn't American anyway). There are more real Americans in the second film, but the Joker is played by Australian Heath Ledger. (We can't be sure of the Joker's nationality, but he speaks with a Chicago accent).
  • Fatal Method Acting: While Heath Ledger is not an example (he died after his parts were done), the stuntman who crashed the Batmobile during pre-production of The Dark Knight is.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!:
    • Batman has God working with him, and Richard Alpert is the mayor of Gotham City. Said mayor is also, in a Shout-Out, Batmanuel.
    • Gambol is only bitter because he has a bad history with clowns.
    • The Joker just can't quit you.
    • William Fichtner's cameo as the bank manager.
    • The Scary Black Man on the ferry at the end is Deebo from Friday.
    • Michael Cutter is Thomas Wayne, Batman's father.
    • Anthony Michael Hall as Mike Engel.
    • Eric Roberts (the guy in the music videos for "Mr. Brightside," "It's Like That," and "We Belong Together") is Sal Maroni!
    • Holtz is now Gotham PD. Oh damn, The Joker's holding him hostage.
      • He also loves to assume control.
      • And it's good to see that Profit's machinations didn't eventually leave him wearing a hair net and asking, "Would you like fries with that?"
    • How could any mention of Hey, It's That Guy! be complete without a reference to Henri Ducard being played by Liam Neeson? He's the same guy who plays Qui-Gon Jinn from Star Wars, which seems quite fitting, especially earlier on in the movie, althought it becomes more so ironic later in the movie.
    • The old homeless guy that Bruce gives his coat to in Begins is Boris the Bullet-Dodger.
    • And the boy he rescues from Zsasz (along with Rachel) is Joffrey.
    • Gerald seems to be doing very well for himself for a while.
    • Look carefully at the cops in the convict ferry. One of them is the original Jack Harkness!
    • Lieutenant/Commissioner Gordon is also a certain wizard Sirius Black!
    • Clearly, something went wrong with Robert Fischer's inception...
    • Nolan is taking this Serial Escalation with the finale: It doesn't look like Eames will be calling Arthur "darling" anytime soon, Mal is back as well but who knows what she's up to, Mia appears to have gotten over her self-confidence issues rather well, Anne of Austria is living on the streets for now while the Winklevoss twins (or at least their body double) will eventually grow up to be Ra's Al-Ghul, and yet ANOTHER Joker is popping up in Gotham
    • Detective Stephens, Gordon's Lancer in the GCPD is HARBINGER!! Yes, that's right, the Joker managed to Mind Screw a Reaper.
    • Apparently Ebenezer Scrooge took his oath to be compassionate to his fellow man to heart and became the Waynes' Butler Alfred Pennyworth.
    • Does that old guy who says "We are not intimidated by thugs" to The Joker in The Dark Knight look familiar to any Vermonters? He should because its US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), a lifelong Batman fan who also provided a voice in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Showdown" and an even briefer cameo in Batman and Robin.
    • Mr. Zsasz in Batman Begins is played by Tim Booth, lead singer of the popular Britpop band James.
    • Fans of old-school Mortal Kombat oughta look closely in the background of the scene where Maroni and the Chechen are eating. Richard Divizio, AKA Kano and Baraka is an extra in that scene.
    • Mayor Tommy Carcetti, Miles from 12 Rounds, Petyr Baelish and Stuart became a CIA agent.
    • Wow, Shinzon really packed on some muscle!
  • Hey, It's That Voice!:
  • Lzherusskie: The Dark Knight has Beatrice Rosen (French-American) as the Russian prima ballerina who lectures Harvey Dent, and Richie Coster (English) as the Chechen gangster (not Russian in the strict sense, but Coster portrays his character as a stereotypical Russian mafioso).
  • Method Acting: To prepare for the part of the Joker, Heath Ledger spent six weeks in a motel room in seclusion to delve deep into his intended portrayal of the Joker's psychology.
  • The Other Darrin: Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight, replacing Katie Holmes from Begins.
  • Playing Against Type:
    • Gary Oldman is known for his great acting range, but is often typecast as a villain. In these movies, he plays a heroic Jim Gordon, and avoids going overboard with his acting.
    • The casting of Heath Ledger as The Joker raised quite a few eyebrows as he had never played a major villainous role like this before, let alone a psychotic murderer. He defied all expectations giving the most powerful and remembered performance in the film.
  • Promoted Fanboy: Thanks to an online competition run by Hans Zimmer and UJAM, thousands of lucky fans will be doing the Ominous Latin Chanting in the final cut of the film.
  • Reality Subtext: Bruce Wayne requesting a new Batsuit from Fox so that he can turn his head and be more agile, was the result of Christian Bale complaining about these problems with his Batsuit from the first movie.
  • Recursive Adaptation: Elements of Ledger's Joker were incorporated into the comics, most notably the scars. There may have been an abortive attempt to make him closer still, with someone drawing a line at killing Harley.
  • Star-Making Role: Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman. While American Psycho was a cult hit, Batman Begins is the film that made him a bona-fide star.
  • Throw It In:
    • Joker's clapping after Jim Gordon is promoted to Comissioner. As well as the Joker having trouble with the explosives at the hospital not going off. According to Christopher Nolan, Ledger knew something had gone wrong, but he didn't want to ruin the take by going out of character unless Nolan called "cut," so he improvised the repeated button-presses until the effects guys got the charges to fire.
    • The rumor is that he didn't know the main explosions was going to be delayed so that he'd have a chance to get away on the bus before they started.
    • A lot of the Joker's mannerisms were developed when Heath Ledger was getting his makeup done, and would scrunch up his face to create different textures for the makeup. The creepy way in which the Joker sucks on his cheeks was one of these.
  • Typecasting: Ron Dean playing Mike Wuertz, one of Gordon's detectives. He behaves similarly to his performance as Detective Kelly in The Fugitive.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • Among those who auditioned for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman? Cillian Murphy.
    • A video game tie-in to The Dark Knight was listed as "In Development" for several months before and after the movie came out, and Gary Oldman even discussed it in an interview with G4, but it was ultimately scrapped. The developers may have felt that releasing a video game with a recently deceased actor's likeness would be in poor taste.
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