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The Dark Knight Saga: Difference between revisions
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* [[All Your Base Are Belong to Us]]: Bruce Wayne has bad luck when it comes to his homes. The League of Shadows burn Wayne Manor to the ground in the first film, the Joker and his henchmen invade his penthouse in the second, and Bane and his men ransack the new Wayne Manor in the third.
* [[Animated Adaptation]]: ''[[Batman: Gotham Knight]]'', a direct-to-DVD [[Animesque]] anthology that bridges the gap between the first two films.
* [[Appropriated Title]]: ''Batman Begins'' has two sequels, both under the ''Dark Knight'' name, in what has become known as [[The Dark Knight Saga]].
* [[Artistic License Physics]]: Microwaves do not work that way! And neither do cell phones! Or police procedures! ''And neither for that matter does sonar!'' [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|But]], [[MST3K Mantra|no one really cares]].
* [[Art Shift]]: As each sequence in ''Gotham Knight'' is animated by a different studio, they each have a notably different art style.
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* [[Composite Character]]: The movies' versions of Loeb, Flass, and Ducard. The movies' Flass resembled the dark-haired, unshaven, overweight Harvey Bullock more than the comics version of Flass, who was blonde, clean-shaven, and muscular, though movie Flass did retain his comic counterpart's corruption. Likewise, the movies' Loeb only shares the name of the comics' character, resembling Michael Akins in both looks and personality (African-American, young, and honest) more than the comics' Loeb (Caucasian, old, and extremely corrupt). Then there's Henri Ducard {{spoiler|, which is only an alias for Ra's al Ghul in this continuity.}}
* [[Continuity Nod]]: {{spoiler|Scarecrow's}} appearance in the first act of ''The Dark Knight''.
** Loeb, Jim Gordon's immediate superior, first appears in the flashback to the Waynes' murder in ''Batman Begins'', {{spoiler|and eventually meets his end in ''The Dark Knight''.}}
** A more subtle one in the first movie is Zsasz the mob hitman who gets shipped off to Arkham on an insanity plea. During the mass-breakout at the end of the movie, you get to see him with his shirt off, displaying the same habit as the comics version of marking each kill by adding an extra scar to his body.
** There is also a [[Continuity Nod]] between one scene early in Begins and another late in Dark Knight, {{spoiler|Alfred Pennyworth brings Bruce Wayne a meal, Bruce at first doesn't say anything but says "Alfred?" just as Alfred is about to walk away, and then Bruce begins to blame himself for acts of violence committed by others, while Alfred tries to reassure Bruce that they aren't his fault.}}
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* [[Darker and Edgier]]: The films in ''The Dark Knight Saga'' are arguably the darkest adaptations of Batman to date.
* [[Deconstruction]]: Especially in ''The Dark Knight''. Batman is operating in the real world, where superhero armor has trade-offs between protection and flexibility. Gotham is as real a city as Hong Kong and doesn't have overly intimidating architecture. Ultimately the film can be seen as asking whether heroes (and human beings themselves) are motivated by abstract principles (Batman) or have no principles at all (The Joker). This is basically the same question that Watchmen asked ("What would motivate a real life Superhero?"), albeit ''The Dark Knight'' gives the opposite answer.
** Arguably, the armor and architecture examples are more a [[Reconstruction]] than a [[Deconstruction]].
** The criminals apparently simply ''compared notes'', have figured out Batman doesn't kill, and have gotten sneakier. By that point he's not an evil presence lurking in the night to them, just a really formidable opponent.
** [[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?]] Well, he sneaks them through his multi-billion dollar corporation's R&D budget, that's how...oh, but wait, someone who isn't in on it has got to run the numbers and wouldn't you know? He figured out what was going on!
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* [[Doing in the Wizard]]: The movies discard many supernatural and/or unrealistic elements of the comic, offering plausible [[Techno Babble|pseudo-scientific]] explanations instead. For example, most of the technology employed by Batman could become accessible in a decade or so.
** Ra's al Ghul's {{spoiler|immortality is a simple succession trick. Whenever the apparent Ra's dies, another similar-looking man takes his place and claims to be the original Ra's. This is made easier by the fact that the apparent Ra's is actually just a stand-in for the real leader (e.g. Henri Ducard) who pretends to be a subordinate. All of this is a big change from the comics, where Ra's achieved immortality by supernatural means.}}
** According to [[Word of God]], Bane's mask supplies him with anesthetic to help him cope with an injury, likely meaning that is strength comes from natural sources, as opposed to [[Super Serum|Venom]].
*** Or it could very well be [[Blatant Lies]] on his part. There's nothing discounting the possibility that Ra's is indeed using the Lazarus Pits aside from the general toning down of any supernatural elements in the saga.
* [[The Don]]: Carmine Falcone and his successor Salvatore Maroni are old-school [[The Mafia|Italian mafiosi]] who are slowly put out of business both by The Caped Crusader and [[Rogues Gallery|his psychotic enemies]].
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** [[Truth in Television]] for Maroni. It's possible for anyone to work for the "mafia" (they don't actually call themselves that) and even become quite influential. The limitation is that only Italians (or half Italians) can become Made Men.
* [[Evil Is Hammy]]: Played straight with Joker in ''The Dark Knight''. Interestingly, [[Liam Neeson]] is remarkably non-hammy as the main villain in ''Batman Begins'', and [[Cillian Murphy]] starts chewing scenery only when his character becomes [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|criminally insane]] after {{spoiler|having been poisoned by [[Hoist by His Own Petard|his own fear toxin]]}}.
* [[Expansion Pack Past]]: Alfred seems to have led several very diverse lives.
* [[The Faceless]]: In ''The Dark Knight'', Gordon's daughter Barbara (who becomes Batgirl in the comics) appears, but her face is never seen (she was on-screen briefly in ''Begins'', as well, but doesn't even get credited as her real name).
* [[Five-Bad Band]]: The loose collaboration between the League of Shadows and the Gotham Mob in ''Batman Begins.''
** The [[Big Bad]]: Ra's al Ghul
** [[The Dragon]]: Scarecrow
** [[The Brute]]: Flass
** [[The Evil Genius]]: Carmine Falcone
** [[The Dark Chick]]: Mr. Zsasz
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* [[Kill It with Fire]]: Attempted {{spoiler|by Crane, on Batman,}} and done successfully {{spoiler|by Joker, on mob accountant Lau.}} It's horrifying both times.
* [[Knight in Sour Armor]]: Jim Gordon, especially in the first movie.
* [[Messianic Archetype]]:
** The unselfish Bruce Wayne of this universe. Somehow, this doesn't stop him from maintaining the [[Jerkass Facade]] of being a [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]] at the same time. Probably he acts like he ''wants'' to when he's Bruce, and as he feels he ''should'' when he's Batman.
** Flip that: he acts like he ''wants'' to when he's Batman, and as he feels he ''should'' when he's Bruce. Remember, he'd do nothing but cave in bad guy heads all day long if he could.
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{{quote|'''Joker:''' If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be [[Multiple Choice Past|multiple choice!]]}}
** Grant Morrison's ''Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth'' was another reported inspiration. It contains a scene in which the Joker, on the phone with Batman, tricks him into thinking he's stabbed a nurse in the [[Eye Scream|eye with a sharpened pencil]] (It is actually an April Fool's Day prank, to help hasten Batman's arrival at the asylum).
** Joker's story about his abusive, alcoholic father seems to recall the story he told his then-therapist Dr Harleen Quinzel in the story ''Mad Love'' from The Batman Adventures, that was later adapted into an episode of the animated series.
** Joker's line 'Let's Put A Smile on That Face of Yours' is incidentally said, more or less verbatim, by a member of the Jokerz gang from [[Batman Beyond]].
** Many scenes in ''The Dark Knight'' are adapted from ''[[The Long Halloween]]'' (though their context or outcome is often very different): The mob's savings [[Money to Burn|going up in flames]], the ploy of transporting a target in police custody to draw out a would-be killer, Harvey Dent getting attacked in court by his own witness, the slogan "I Believe in Harvey Dent".
** Batman's eyes when using the sonar become hidden behind a white glare. In most depictions in the comics, the character's eyes are never seen when he's in costume, replaced by white slits.
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*** And speaking of, the Tumbler was inspired by the hulked-out tank of a Batmobile featured in ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]''.
** When Joker is having his [[Money to Burn]] moment, he says, "Everything burns," a line which parallels Mr. Freeze's line in ''[[Batman and Robin (film)|Batman and Robin]]'': "Everything freezes."
** The people who are strung out out Crane's fear gas beating on Batman is very similar to a scene in the third episode of ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]''.
*** So is the scene where Crane gets shot with his own fear poison and sees Batman as an inhuman monster.
** The interrogation scene with Batman and the Joker from ''The Dark Knight'' seems to be inspired by an interrogation scene from an episode of the [[Batman (TV series)|60s TV series]] called ''The Penguin Goes Straight'', oddly enough. Of course, the 60s version is a hell of a lot campier, but in both cases the police turn the lights off in the interrogation room and Batman (along with Robin in the TV episode) appears in the dark to intimidate the crook. The (double) episode even has Batman hunted by the law, which also happens in ''The Dark Knight'' and will carry over into ''The Dark Knight Rises''.
** Batman will have a conversation with Gordon, then disappear in the middle of it, followed by a snarky comment from Gordon when he realizes Batman's gone (subverted the first time when Gordon almost catches him). This happens in other Batman works, especially [[Batman: The Animated Series|the animated series]].
** There is a scene with Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle dancing at a masquerade in ''The Dark Knight Rises'' where her dialogue cryptically hints at her nature and intentions. Tim Burton's ''[[Batman Returns]]'' also had a scene with both at a masquerade, dancing, in which {{spoiler|they reveal their secret identities to each other.}}
** Selina Kyle's Catwoman outfit in ''The Dark Knight Rises'' is very similar to those of the Catwomen from [[Batman (TV series)|Batman]] '66, only it doesn't have golden necklaces or belts and the cat-ears are actually hi-tech goggles.
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Just like in the comics, Bruce Wayne downplays his intellect and behaves like a [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job|stereotypical eccentric billionaire]] so that no one would suspect he is really Batman.
** After Bruce puts his lamborghini in between the big truck and the police SUV, he acts like this to Gordon.
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* [[Order Versus Chaos]]: Played exactly backwards between the two films. To the League of Shadows, Batman represents chaos because he lets thieves and murderers ''live.'' The Joker represents chaos no matter what, and anybody who tries to stop him stands for order by default.
* [[Playing Against Type]]: [[Gary Oldman]] is known for his great acting range, but is often [[Typecasting|typecast]] as a villain. In these movies, he plays a heroic Jim Gordon, and avoids [[Large Ham|going overboard]] with his acting.
* [[Police Are Useless]]: Pretty much, though they [[Take a Level In Badass]] in the second movie, particularly when Jim Gordon takes command. The police in Hong Kong are quick on the scene, but they pretty much watch in stunned helplessness as Lau is taken away by Batman in awesome fashion.
* [[Porn Stache]]: Sported by Jim Gordon.
* [[Race Lift]]: Commisioner Loeb (Caucasian in the comics, African-American in the films) and Bane (Hispanic in the comics, Caucasian in the films).
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* [[Rule of Symbolism]]: The logo for ''Batman Begins'' is raw and unfinished metal. The logo for ''The Dark Knight'' obscures the light. The teaser poster for ''Rises'' has the logo as a hole, representing {{spoiler|the void left behind by Batman's "retirement".}}
** Additionally, the logo in ''The Dark Knight'' is fire, representing the destruction the Joker brings; and the logo for ''The Dark Knight Rises'' is atop buildings, with the camera looking up, to symbolize that Batman will rise (from the ashes).
* [[Save the Day Turn Away]]:
** Inverted in the first film. It's as if Ms. Dawes is saying Bruce's lines.
** The second film ends with a classic example of the second type of Turn Away.
* [[Save the Villain]]: Played straight with Ducard, then later [[The Dog Shot First|subverted]]. Played straight with {{spoiler|The Joker}}. Played straight ''and'' subverted with {{spoiler|Two-Face}}
* [[Science Hero]]: Nolan's vision of Batman perfectly fits the trope, as Bruce Wayne relies on his company's cutting-edge technology to create his superhero persona and provide himself with useful gadgets. Also, Lucius Fox, an [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist]] responsible for creating Batman's gizmos.
* [[Self-Proclaimed Knight]]: [[Batman]] in general, but especially how Commissioner Gordon tells it at the end of The Dark Knight. “He's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector, a dark knight.”
* [[Sequel Hook]]: Joker's calling card in the final scene of ''Batman Begins'', and the fact {{spoiler|Batman's a wanted criminal}} at the end of ''The Dark Knight''.
** ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' offers a surprising subversion. When {{spoiler|Two-Face}} makes his big appearance near the climax, most viewers naturally assumed that he was being set up as the villain of the third movie. Nope. {{spoiler|He dies less than an hour after he's introduced}}.
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* [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]: Crane, one of the main villains from ''Batman Begins'', was reassigned in the sequel to the head Mook of the [[Batman Cold Open]]. On the other hand, [[The Joker]] ends up being worse than ''the entire mob'' put together!
* [[Status Quo Is God]]: Averted in [[Batman Begins]] and [[The Dark Knight]].
** In [[Batman Begins]], {{spoiler|Ra's Al Ghul, AKA [[Evil Mentor|Henri Ducard]], invades Wayne Manor and burns it to the ground, leaving Bruce to set up his Batman persona and gadgets in a penthouse during [[The Dark Knight]]. Arkham Asylum and The Narrows, a massive slum in Gotham, is driven insane by Scarecrow's fear toxin; putting Arkham Asylum out of the plot in [[The Dark Knight]] as well. Also, after Batman and Gordon blow up the monorail track to save the rest of Gotham from Ra's, Batman glides to safety...while Ra's Al Ghul is left to be killed in a crash and explosion.}}
** In [[The Dark Knight]], {{spoiler|Batman's primary love interest is [[Killed Off for Real]] midway through the film. Two-Face follows her after one dramatic confrontation at the end of the same movie--meaning he doesn't live to become one of Batman's [[Rogues Gallery]]. By contrast, the Joker survives the second film, but [[Word of God]] indicates that he won't appear at all in the third movie--meaning he doesn't become Batman's [[Arch Enemy]]. Perhaps most shockingly, the second film ends with Batman charged for murder and on the run from the law, apparently planning to put his superhero escapades on hold}}.
* [[Stealth Expert]]: Do we even have to say it?
* [[Stealth Hi Bye]]: Used multiple times in both movies, and lampshaded in ''The Dark Knight'' by Gordon. "He does that."
* [[Take My Hand]]
* [[Theme Music Power-Up]]: Don't ya notice everytime Batman is about to do something utterly awesome in ''Batman Begins'' {{spoiler|Like taking out the Swat Team, the highway chase in Begins...}} ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZst_2xJHAI Molossus]'' plays?
** Also subverted: whenever the Joker is about to do something...no music plays. Joker's theme is an outstandingly creepy rising whine. Even when you know it's happening it's still marvellously disturbing.
** Listen to the music as the man on the civilian ferry is about to blow up the convict ferry - Joker theme in full-force. {{spoiler|Then as the man hesitates and puts down the remote, the Batman theme overtakes the Joker theme, which fades and disappears.}}
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* [[Affably Evil]]: Jonathan Crane usually speaks in a calm and gentle tone of voice, {{spoiler|except towards the end when under the influence of his own drug}}, and is easily more likeable than the [[Smug Snake|condescending]] [[The Don|Carmine Falcone]] or the [[Knight Templar|insanely self-righteous]] [[Evil Mentor|Henri Ducard]].
* [[All There in the Manual]]: Ra's Al Ghul is mentioned to have a daughter, Talia, in the novelization. Comic fans know Talia Al Ghul is the "Daughter of the Demon" in the comics.
* [[Anachronic Order]]: Most of Bruce's backstory up until his final exam with The League of Shadows is told non-linearly through a series of flashbacks.
* [[Ancient Conspiracy]]: The League of Shadows
* [[Armor-Piercing Slap]]: Rachel delivers ''two'' of these to Bruce after he shows her the gun with which he planned on murdering Joe Chill before an assassin hired by Falcone beat him to it.
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(Falcone smiles)
'''Falcone''': Yeah you do. }}
* [[Evil Is Stylish]]: Both Henri Ducard and Jonathan Crane wear sharp suits. And then there is the ninja attire of the League of Shadows.
* [[Evil Mentor]]: Henri Ducard{{spoiler|/Ra's al Ghul.}}
* [[Evil Versus Evil]]: This movie's various villains would probably be even more threatening if not for their rivalries among each other. Perhaps the clearest instance of [[Evil Versus Evil]] is when Falcone tries to [[Blackmail]] Crane, saying things like "I never go into business with a guy without finding out his dirty secrets" etc... and Crane gasses him with fear toxin then and there.
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* [[Finish Him!]]: Ducard's final test in ''Begins.'' Bruce, of course, refuses, and then {{spoiler|defeats a whole ninja school by himself}} in order to get away.
* [[Flower From the Mountaintop]]: The blue flower at the base of the mountain range, which Bruce must carry to the top (making it an inversion). More plot significant than most, as its powerful hallucinogenc effects become the source of Scarecrow's fear gas.
* [[Fly At the Camera Ending]]: Batman gliding off a rooftop and into the camera.
* [[Four Eyes, Zero Soul]]: Dr. Jonathan Crane.
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Henri Ducard expresses a potential candidate for this while still a mentor to Bruce Wayne, though whether it is true or not is left unclear...
{{quote|''I wasn't always here in the mountains. [[Harsher in Hindsight|Once I had a wife... my great love... she was taken from me.]] Like you, I was forced to learn there are those without decency, who must be fought without hesitation, without pity.''}}
* [[Funny Background Event]]: When [[Da Chief|Loeb]] is talking to Gordon during the climax, it's on a cop's chest-mounted radio and the guy's being dragged along behind him as he paces around.
* [[Fun with Acronyms]]: The music on the soundtrack is named after species of bat, containing six listed in order as;
{{quote|'''B'''arbastella, '''A'''rtibeus, '''T'''adirida, '''M'''acrotus, '''A'''ntrozous, '''N'''ycteris.}}
* [[Genre Savvy]]: When told that Batman had infiltrated Arkham, Jonathan Crane told his men to do "what anyone does when a prowler's around. Call the police." His plan was to lure Batman outside, where the cops would take care of him, reasoning that his own operation had gotten far enough that there was no way it could be stopped. It didn't work, but it was a much more intelligent decision than most villains tend to make.
* [[Graceful Loser]]: Henri Ducard. When he is beaten, {{spoiler|he just closes his eyes and accepts his demise after the battle in the monorail}}.
* [[He Knows Too Much]]:
** Joe Chill learned more about Falcone than the latter would have liked.
** Falcone himself got a Karmic Permanent Madness when he revealed how much he knew about Crane and his operation, and tried to blackmail him.
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* [[High Altitude Interrogation]]: Batman performs this on Det. Flass, repeatedly dropping him and lifting him back up from mere inches away from the ground with his batclaw.
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: {{spoiler|Ducard}} is apparently killed when the train, which he was trying to use to destroy Gotham City, explodes. And Jonathan Crane is poisoned with his own fear toxin.
** The first doesn't really apply, as the only reason he died is because Gordon {{spoiler|blew up the tracks, causing the train to do a nosedive into the ground.}}
* [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him]]:
** Subverted when Batman decides not to kill {{spoiler|Ducard}} but instead leaves him to die in a train crash.
** Played straight earlier in the movie though, when Bruce Wayne was ordered to kill a murderer.
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* [[Ivy League for Everyone]]: Given that Bruce Wayne is literally the richest man on the planet, it's no surprise that he attended Princeton, which he enjoyed, but noted that "they don't feel the same way."
* [[Kick the Dog]]: {{spoiler|A member of the league of shadows}}, disguised as a SWAT team member, pushing away a frightened child.
* [[Knight Templar]]: The League Of Shadows as a whole, really. Beyond [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|well-intentioned extremism]], their attitude leads them to dismiss all of Gotham as beyond saving, and to use this to justify {{spoiler|using Crane's fear-toxin to drive them to kill each other.}} Ducard claims they exploited Gotham's corruption in order to pull this off in the first place; at no point does it seem to occur to them that it probably would be a better idea to focus their efforts on simply confronting Gotham's criminal elements instead.
* [[Madness Mantra]]: Scarecrow... scarecrow...
* [[Mad Scientist]]: Dr. Jonathan Crane shares several traits of the trope.
* [[Master of the Mixed Message]]: Listen to Rachel Dawes. She'll talk about how she admired Bruce when he was young and then rebuke him, or give Bruce a gift of a childhood memory and then rebuke him, or kiss him and then rebuke him... It's like she [[Loving a Shadow|loves some idealized form]] of Bruce Wayne before his Batman years, and can't get over how he's not exactly like what she remembers. Though Bruce is not that bad at sending mixed messages himself.
** Its heavily implied that Rachel's feelings for Bruce Wayne stem from their growing up together and a mutual childhood crush. Rachel is likely in love with the fantasy of a life with Bruce Wayne that clearly ''could'' have been, but one which came crashing down the day his parents were murdered. Despite her claiming Bruce changed after he disappeared for several years and was thought dead, numerous scenes before this show his relationship with Rachel strained as he simply was never the same after his parents death.
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* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Ra's Al Ghul translates in Arabic to "Head of the Demon". Ra's is obviously not one of the heroes with that name.
* [[Near Villain Victory]]: If Bruce hadn't been saved by Alfred from his mansion and Gordon hadn't been able to blow up {{spoiler|the monorail tracks}}; Gotham's citizens would have all been {{spoiler|driven insane or killed each other due to Scarecrow's fear toxin and Ra's Al Ghul's plan.}}
* [[Needle in a Stack of Needles]]: Ducard's training, where he hides amongst his followers.
* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: A lot of promotional material made Scarecrow look like he was the [[Big Bad]].
* [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]]: Carmine Falcone's [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] to Bruce Wayne gives him the idea of becoming Batman.
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* [[Save the Villain]]: Bruce saves Henri Ducard when {{spoiler|his lair [[Stuff Blowing Up|explodes]].}} Later, {{spoiler|Henri Ducard returns as Ra's Al Ghul to destroy Gotham}} and tells Bruce that he warned him about compassion. After {{spoiler|Ra's Al Ghul and Batman's last battle}}, Batman leaves {{spoiler|Ra's Al Ghul}} to die as the monorail crashes.
* [[Say Your Prayers]]: One could see {{spoiler|R'as/Ducard's}} [[Obi-Wan Moment]] as this as well.
* [[Scary Scarecrows]]:
{{quote|'''Crane''': Would you like to see my mask?}}
* [[Secret Keeper]]: Bruce ends up with {{spoiler|three}} of them by film's end.
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* [[Adopt the Dog]]: And train them to behave in ways that'll likely eventually force them to be put down.
* [[All There in the Manual]]: The novel clears up a few details about Dark Knight, such as Dent's [[Knight Templar]] tendencies. Bruce doesn't believe Dent could have a skeleton-free closet, and investigates. Turns out his dad was a cop who abused his mother, and whenever the police were called, they'd look the other way. Eventually, Dad killed Mom while Harvey was away at school. This gave Harvey an understandable dislike of dirty cops. Bruce eventually realizes he's been digging so hard because he's jealous. Etc.
* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]: You'd be forgiven for assuming that the Skyhook device Batman uses in Hong Kong a) was never made and b) wouldn't work if it was. In fact, it was and it did.
** Additionally, Two-Face not having any problems with his now-lidless eye. But then take a look at [http://chasenoface.blogspot.com/ Chase No-Face], a cat who lost his nose and eyelids in a car accident, and lives a normal life still while needing only a dash of eyedrops twice a day and a dark room to sleep in.
* [[Always Save the Girl]]: {{spoiler|[[Inverted]] hard. The Joker gave Batman a [[Sadistic Choice]] where he only had time to save Rachel or Harvey. Batman ''thought'' he was saving the girl. [[I Lied|The Joker switched the addresses.]]}}
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* [[Ax Crazy]]: The Joker is the living embodiment of this trope.
* [[Badass]]: Aside from the obvious, special mention goes to Harvey Dent, {{spoiler|pre-Two Face}}. A witness pulls a gun on him from the witness stand, and without missing a beat, Dent disarms him, decks him and recommends he buy his weapons American next time he wants to assassinate the DA.
* [[Bad Cop, Incompetent Cop]]: Discussed. Even with Jim Gordon in charge, the Major Crimes Unit (in a nice [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Gotham Central]]'') is still made up of mostly corrupt cops. But when Harvey Dent calls the lieutenant on this, Gordon points out that if he refused to work with such cops, he'd be working alone. This eventually comes back to haunt both of them, as {{spoiler|Wuertz and Ramirez turn out to both be on Maroni's payroll and eventually kidnap Harvey and Rachel}}.
* [[Bad Guys Play Pool]]: One of Gotham's major gangsters is seen playing pool before {{spoiler|[[Evil Versus Evil|Joker comes in and murders him]].}}
* [[Badass Bystander]]: The Bank manager in the opening gives us the page image. Despite being a Mob banker there are many people who enjoy his reactions far too much.
* [[Bad Boss]]: C'mon, now. It's the ''Joker''.
* [[Bald of Awesome]]: {{spoiler|Ginty, the Good Prisoner}} in the ferry boat scene.
* [[Ballroom Blitz]]: The Joker breaks into Bruce's cocktail party.
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* [[Chaos Is Evil]]: [[The Joker]], an unrepentant [[The Sociopath|sociopath]], gives a speech of how he wants the whole world to turn to chaos.
* [[Character Outlives Actor]]: [[Word of God]] says that The Joker was executed between the events of the second and third films, due to the [[Actor Existence Failure]] of Heath Ledger.
* [[Cheap Costume]]: [[Averted]] by the Joker.
{{quote|'''Gordon''': Clothing is custom, no labels....}}
** And [[Defied Trope|defied]].
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* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The spikes fitted on his gauntlets.
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: Wuertz and Ramirez.
* [[Chewing the Scenery]]: The Chechen. '''[[This Is Sparta|MY DOGS! ARE! HONG-RAY!]]'''
* [[Choke Holds]]: Bruce Wayne does this to Harvey Dent.
* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: When Lau, the accountant who tried to hide millions of dollars in mob money, was captured by the police, he gave them the names of all his mob clients as a means of softening his own punishment. Later in the movie, Lau was freed from his jail cell by the Joker... [[Kill It with Fire|only to probably wish he hadn't been]].
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** The Joker mockingly uses this on Batman, about how he let him kill people. "Even for a guy like me, that's cold."
* [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones]]: {{spoiler|Dent}} threatens to kill Maroni's wife as revenge.
* [[Every Scar Has a Story]]: The Joker takes this quite literally, as he tells multiple differing accounts about how he got his.
* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]: And that is why {{spoiler|the Joker's "social experiment" fails.}}
** Evil cannot even understand lesser evil, apparently.
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* [[Face Heel Turn]]: {{spoiler|Harvey Dent --> Two-Face.}}
* [[Faux Affably Evil]]: The Joker has long thrived on being this, but the fact that he is still funny despite the sheer number of vile acts he commits here may set a new standard for the trope.
* [[Faking the Dead]]:
** Gordon's apparent demise.
** Then at the end, Batman pulls this when {{spoiler|Dent shoots him. He waits until Gordon's son is about to get shot, and then tackles him.}}
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* [[Good Is Not Dumb]]: Batman is portrayed as such; most of the plot revolves around the Joker trying to get Batman to break his moral code and prove that, deep down, everybody is just like him and that [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids|Batman's idealism is misplaced]].
* [[Goomba Stomp]]: In this case, Batman does it to a ''van''.
* [[Gory Discretion Shot]]:
** A tweaked example: "Wanna see a magic trick? I'm gonna make this pencil disappear!" We see how it's done, but to keep the PG-13 rating, the horrible turnout is done without the horrific bloodsplatter such a "trick" would warrant in actuality.
** A more traditional example occurs when the Joker kills Gambol. From a shot of the the Joker holding a knife in Gambol's cheek, we get a split-second cut to a henchman's horrified expression, then a shot from the other side of the room as the Joker drops Gambol.
*** Arguably the discretions are ''worse'' than being outright shown, allowing the audience to fill in the blanks themselves.
* [[Groin Attack]]: How Rachel avoids having a smile put on her face by the Joker. Disturbingly, the Joker smiles in response. He's pretty obviously [[Too Kinky to Torture|a major masochist]]. His response to pain is nothing like normal.
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* [[I Am Spartacus]]: When the Joker threatens to keep killing people until Batman unmasks and turns himself in, {{spoiler|Harvey Dent makes a public confession that ''he'' is Batman and surrenders to the police.}}
* [[I'm Not a Hero, I'm X|I'm Not A Hero. I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be.]]
* [[Indy Ploy]]: The Joker claims to be doing this, but it's really, really unlikely most of the time, considering the fact that he knew exactly how everyone in the city would react {{spoiler|right up until the grand finale,}} with Batman himself being the only wild card, and a minor one at that. Considering how well everything worked out, it's more likely he's falling back on the character's long standing similarity to Batman, doing what he can to plan ahead and making up what he can't.
{{quote|'''Joker:''' Do I really look like a guy with a plan?}}
*** YES.
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'''Salvatore Maroni:''' [incredulous] Friends? Have you *met* this guy? ... No one's gonna tell you nothin'. They're wise to your act. You got rules. The Joker, he's got no rules. No one's gonna cross him to you. }}
** Dent ain't so bad at this himself. He uses his flip-a-coin Russian roulette technique several times to get some answers. Although, because he uses a 2 sided coin, he doesn't exactly leave a man's life to chance. {{spoiler|Not for the first half of the film, anyway.}}
* [[Joker Immunity]]: Played ''straight'' here, despite being [[Darker and Edgier]] than the [[Batman (film)|previous film series]], which killed him off.
** Subverted between movies on account of [[The Character Died with Him]].
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** The Chechen too. [[This Is Sparta|My dogs! Are! Hungry!]]
* [[Laughably Evil]]: Again, the Joker.
* [[Let Me Tell You a Story]]: Bruce Wayne is trying to figure out [[The Joker]]'s motivations. Alfred tells him this:
{{quote|'''Alfred:''' A long time ago, I was in Burma, my friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never found anyone who traded with him. One day I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.
'''Bruce:''' Then why steal them?
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** It's not a terribly obvious one, but after Batman fails to hit him with the Batpod, the Joker mouths the f-word. Blink and you'll miss it.
** Later in the same scene, {{spoiler|Gordon says "we got you, you son of a bitch" when he (temporarily) captures the Joker.}}
* [[Preemptive Declaration]]:
{{quote|'''Joker:''' No no no, I kill the bus driver.}}
:and
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** The theme's feel could be compared to a swarm of wasps from hell trapped inside your brain and buzzing around for an exit. Or the screeching drone of an oncoming train. It still wouldn't do it justice.
** Hint: Listen to it with headphones or surround-sound.
* [[Punctuated!
** From the same speech: "Not. One. Bit."
** "LOOK! AT! ME!"
* [[Put the Laughter In Slaughter]]: [[Trope Namer]]
* [[Rank Up]]: Jim Gordon is promoted to Commissioner in the movie.
* [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]: It is possible that the ending of ''TDK'' was setting up Joker to return in the ''Rises'' (he doesn't die, he [[Lampshade Hanging|says they'll be doing this forever]], etc)... but then [[Actor Existence Failure|Heath Ledger died]]. It's since been confirmed Joker won't be in ''Rises'', and a lot of people suspect the lack of Joker in ''Rises'' was not part of the original plan.
* [[Reckless Gun Usage]]: [[The Joker]] ignores all gun-handling rules, but being ''the Joker'', he probably doesn't care at all if he accidentally shoots someone. Or himself, for that matter. Hell, he'd probably think it was ''hilarious''. In fact, there is a scene where he stumbles and accidentally sprays a burst of S&W M76 fire in a random direction.
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'''Bruce''': How?
'''[[Determinator|Alfred]]''': [[Kill It with Fire|We burned the forest down]]. }}
* [[Right Behind Me]]: "Don't tell me it's Wayne. The guy's a complete [[Curse Cut Short|f--]]"
* [[Right-Hand Attack Dog]]: The Chechen owns a pack of them. {{spoiler|After [[The Joker]] apparently [[Hoist by His Own Petard|feeds The Chechen to his own dogs]], he adopts the pooches and uses them against Batman in the final showdown}}.
* [[Rousseau Was Right]]: See The movie's a little too complicated to be summed as "People are really nice," but generally speaking, yep, you heard me right. ''Not all people are bastards''. In a [[Darker and Edgier]] ''Batman movie''.
* [[Rule of Three]]: The Joker's third "scar story" is subverted by Batman.
** Subverted... by Batman. Played straight... by the movie itself. And [[Double Subversion|double subverted]]... due to both. We never hear Joker's third story but Batman giving him scars makes the movie itself a third story. As a result somehow manages to fit all three.
{{quote|'''Joker:''' You know how I got these scars?
'''Batman:''' No, but I know how you got ''these''.
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** Even scarier is the prisoner on the ferry, who {{spoiler|offers to blow up the other boat, only to throw the detonator out the window.}}
*** Helps that the actor has basically made a career of playing the scary black man. Or, at the very least, the scary black comic relief.
* [[Scheherezade Gambit]]: Variant when {{spoiler|[[The Joker]] is captured by the police. Using only his words, he manipulates a police officer into attacking him, then takes the officer hostage.}}
* [[Screams Like a Little Girl]]: Salvatore Maroni as he's dropped from the second floor by Batman.
* [[Should Have Thought of That Before X]]:
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** Possibly also a reference to [[The Musical|that musical]] [[Vaporware|they never made.]]
** William Fichtner as the banker with the shotgun in the opening heist was an intentional [[Casting Gag]] by Nolan, who built the sequence as an homage to ''[[Heat]]''.
** The Joker's goons don clown masks during the opening scene as a reference to Stanley Kubrick's heist film ''[[The Killing (film)|The Killing]]''.
*** Joker's mask is also the same as the one the character uses in ''The Joker's Wild'', his very first appearance in the 60's series.
* [[Shown Their Work]]: The [[SWAT Team]]'s tactics when entering the building the Joker's minions have occupied are based on real-life SWAT procedure: the officers approach the suspects with weapons at the ready and identify themselves, demanding that the suspects surrender and put their weapons down. Until the suspects present a threat to either the officers or innocents, they have to hold fire. More than one reviewer [[Reality Is Unrealistic|questioned why SWAT wasn't opening fire, not realizing that this was how they really operate.]]
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* [[Smash the Symbol]] {{spoiler|This moment is after [[Batman]] said he would take the blame for Harvey Dent's murders; it's implied that people are smashing the bat-signal to symbolize their increasing disapproval of Batman. This is a somewhat unconventional approach to this trope, seeing as how rather than portraying it as destroying the symbol of a villain, it is instead destroying the symbol of a hero who is (willingly) being mistaken for a villain.}}
* [[Smug Snake]]: Maroni. [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/88/RobertsMaroni.jpg/250px-RobertsMaroni.jpg Just look at that smile].
* [[Spanner in the Works]]: The Joker is a self-proclaimed " Agent of Chaos" - he really doesn't plan, he just sizes up his enemies' plans and attacks the weak point that causes the most chaos.
{{quote|'''[[The Joker]]''': I just did what I do best — I took your little plan, and I ''turned it on itself''.}}
* [[The Spook]]: Both Batman and The Joker.
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* [[Throw It In]]: Joker's clapping after {{spoiler|Jim Gordon is promoted to Comissioner}}. As well as the Joker {{spoiler|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.
* [[Title Drop]]: {{spoiler|The final words spoken are the movie's title, at the end of Commissioner Gordon's monologue.}}
* [[Too Kinky to Torture]]: The Joker. Detective Stephens, who's in charge of watching him, even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] it:
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* [[Troll]]: What [[The Joker]] will resort to when his target has no other obvious flaw [[Mind Rape|he can utilize to get inside their heads.]]
* [[Two-Headed Coin]]: Played straight by Harvey; brutally [[Subverted]] when {{spoiler|he becomes Two-Face and the coin gets marked on one side}}.
* [[Under the Truck]]: Not a chase scene, since the Joker is coming at Batman head on in a truck, while Batman races towards him on the Batpod. However Batman fires two tow cables that hit the truck and then proceeds to weave in and out between the wheels of the trailer to tie it up. Because the Batpod is built low to the ground and the truck is quite high off the ground, he doesn't need to slide, just drive normally.
* [[The Unfettered]]: The Joker.
* [[Unflinching Walk]]: {{spoiler|Lucius Fox}}.
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{{quote|'''Joker''': Very poor choice of words!}}
* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: The Joker, naturally.
* [[Unwanted Rescue]]: {{spoiler|Harvey}}. "NO! NOT ME! WHY ARE YOU COMING FOR ME?!" Doubly so, {{spoiler|as Batman also wanted to save Rachel over Harvey. The Joker's just a bitch like that.}}.
* [[Viewers are Morons]]/[[Viewers Are Goldfish]]: One would assume that a room full of cops and lawyers knows what RICO is.
** When two corpses are discovered whose last names are Harvey and Dent, respectively, Ramirez has to remind us that one characters' name is Harvey Dent and that the dead guys' names are supposed to allude to him.
* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: The Joker has an understated version of this at the end of ''The Dark Knight'', in contrast to his usual over-the-top theatrics: {{spoiler|when the people of Gotham refuse to play his game and reveal themselves to have a core of decency, and it looks like his ultra-nihilistic view of the world might be wrong after all, he goes very, very still...}}
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* [[Villain Team-Up]]: Joker and Two-Face... [[Playing with a Trope|ssssssssorta.]] {{spoiler|Harvey hates Joker with a passion, but Joker ''is'' the one who pushes Two-Face into villainy, and Joker uses Two-Face to sow extra chaos and divert the Gotham PD's attention long enough to set up his next major "social experiment".}}
* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: Two-Face, and maybe even the Joker. Two-Face has simply given up on the law, while the Joker is trying to wake people up Tyler Durden style.
** He's not trying to wake them up, he's trying to break them down so they'll be at his level. Tyler thought he was at the top; [[The Joker]] knows he's at the bottom, ''and loves it''.
** [[The Joker]] also loves chaos, is definitely [[Ax Crazy]] and enjoys ruining lives [[For the Evulz]]; he isn't that well intentioned...he seems to want [[To Create a Playground For Evil]] and wants to break Gotham's hope; as he says so to Batman at the Prewitt Building. It's why he {{spoiler|drove Harvey Dent insane at the hospital}}. Judging by his [[Mind Rape|speech that broke]] {{spoiler|Harvey Dent}}; he probably wanted {{spoiler|Harvey}} to believe he's well intentioned, so {{spoiler|Two-Face}} would embrace both chaos and murder (effectively {{spoiler|making Harvey a [[Fallen Hero]]}} which if found out]]; would ruin Gotham's hope).
* [[Wham! Episode]]: The end of the second act, which ''starts'' with {{spoiler|Harvey and Rachel getting kidnapped}} and ends with {{spoiler|Rachel's death.}} ''None'' of the protagonists emerge unscathed.
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** And because as he demonstrated earlier in the film when he met the mobsters, [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|he might be covered in explosives.]]
* [[The Windy City]]: The film was shot on location in Chicago with many of the city's distinctive streets making an appearance.
* [[Would Hit a Girl]]: Two-Face knocked Anna Ramirez into unconsciousness, after his coin spares her life.
* [[Xanatos Roulette]]: The entirety of Joker's plan. He even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this, saying that he has no plan and that he's just doing things to see what happens.
{{quote|"You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it!"}}
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== The Dark Knight Rises ==
* [[Badass Boast]]:
{{quote|'''Bane''': I'm Gotham's reckoning.}}
* [[Bald of Evil]]: Bane.
* [[Be All My Sins Remembered]]: A leaked photograph, regarding a mention of Harvey Dent, reveals that Bane ends up exposing Dent's crimes to the public after eight years of secrecy.
* [[The Cameo]] / [[As Himself]]: Pittsburgh Steelers player Hines Ward cameos as himself, playing for the "Gotham Rogues". He outruns the imploding football field and drops the football in shock. McFarlane toys even made a special action figure of him in the Gotham Rogues uniform.
* [[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.
* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: [[Word of God|Tom Hardy]] described Bane's fighting style as this, less about a fair fight and more about caving your ribs in and crushing your skull.
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'''Bane:''' Your punishment must be more ''severe''. }}
* [[Flying Car]]: The Bat, à la the Batmobile from [[Batman Beyond]] or the more standard [[Cool Plane|Batwing]].
** [[Defied Trope|Defied]] in the third trailer:
{{quote|'''Catwoman:''' My mother warned me about getting into cars with strange men.
'''Batman:''' This isn't a car. }}
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* [[From Nobody to Nightmare]]: Bane asserts, "Nobody cared who I was until I put on the mask."
* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Bane, if the prologue and trailers are anything to go by. This is accurate to the comics, and a marked contrast to most adaptations which portray him as [[Dumb Muscle]]. See [[Never Live It Down/Comic Books|the relevant page]] for more.
* [[Handicapped Badass]]: Bane has been re-imagined as one of these. After receiving a bad injury in his backstory, he gets through the pain by wearing a mask that constantly supplies him with anesthetic gas.
* [[High Altitude Interrogation]]: To gain information on Bane, a CIA operative interrogates his mooks by threatening to throw them out the open door of a plane in mid-flight.
* [[Just Between You and Me]]: He pretty much exposits his plan to his enemies while captured. Justified, as he knew they wouldn't be able to live to talk about it, anyways.
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* [[Ripped from the Headlines]]: Even though writing and production took place well in advance of the headlines in question, a very common reaction to the release of the second trailer is that Bane and Catwoman sound like they're organising the Occupy Gotham movement. Nolan even thought about filming footage of the Occupy protests for ''Rises'', but ending up not doing so.
* [[A Storm Is Coming]]: Said by Selina Kyle/Catwoman to Bruce Wayne/Batman at the [[Masquerade Ball]].
* [[Tagline]]: ''The Fire Rises'' and ''The Legend Ends''.
* [[Tempting Fate]]: According to the trailer, Gotham's mayor plans to fire Gordon, simply because a decorated hero cop who made his name fighting crazed supervillains isn't necessary in the now-peaceful climate. Yeah, they're going to feel ''very'' stupid by movie's end.
* [[Time Skip]]: Takes place eight years after the previous film, [http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/121/1213032p1.html according to] [[Word of God]].
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