Question: Two questions: First, why didn't Dent kill the Joker in the hospital? Okay, he left it up to chance with a coin flip. But the coin was double-sided! So after all the agony, and all the crime busting Dent has been through and achieved, why let the Joker live? Secondly, and this is a pretty major thing, how is it the Joker knows every move that either Batman or the Police/Commissioner Gordon, etc., makes or has planned? It literally seemed like no matter what Batman did, the Joker correctly predicted his move and was already one step in front of the Batman. That seems a little ridiculously impossible to me, unless the Joker is one smart smart con man. Anyone else realize this?
Tailkinker
8th Aug 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
4th Aug 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Why does the mob boss keep reappearing in the movie? Wasn't he thrown in jail in the scene with Dent and Rachel in the courtroom and all the mobsters shouting at once? Does the joker set him free? But then why does Gordon not arrest him again in the hospital?
Answer: Nope, the trials never got to the stage where Maroni faced jail. The first time, the star witness changed his story on the stand (plus tried to shoot Dent). The second time, when all the mobsters were present, Maroni had the money to make bail, so he's out again. Then the judge was murdered, leaving nobody to try the case anyway. Maroni's walking the streets on entirely legal grounds - Gordon has no reason to arrest him when they encounter each other at the hospital. Plus Maroni may be his only source that could possibly lead him to the Joker; arresting him wouldn't exactly help with that.
3rd Aug 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Does the Joker win since Batman becomes the villain? And does the Joker have a plan even though he says he doesn't?
Answer: You could certainly say that the Joker won - he tore Harvey Dent down from a highly-principled man to an insane vigilante; he turned Batman into a villain in the eyes of the general population, he brought chaos to Gotham. As for a plan, not really. His aim in the world is pretty much to spread chaos and confusion around the place - as such, he'll come up with ways to do that, which are obviously plans of a short-term nature, but he doesn't really have any sort of long-term scheme, which is the sort of thing he's talking about when he refers to plans.
4th Aug 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Just wondering, does Jim Gordon realize in any of these two movies that Bruce Wayne is in reality the Batman? Because when Bruce and Gordon talk after Bruce crashes his Lamborghini, they talk as if they don't know each other.
Answer: No, there's no indication that Gordon has any idea.
Answer: In the first movie, he became a recluse then disappeared for several years. They never stayed in contact with one another. Even after Bruce returned they only spoke when he was Batman. While Gordon was trying to fight crime and corruption, Bruce was playing the boozy Playboy millionaire.
2nd Aug 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Colman Reese got on television to reveal Batman's real identity. Whatever happened with that especially since the police have a detective assigned to unmasking the Bat?
Answer: Even though Reese threatened to unmask Bruce, Bruce still came to save him from those trying to kill him, so Reese, in all likelihood, feels a renewed sense of loyalty to his boss. As such, it's likely that he would remain quiet and lie to the police, say that he didn't really know and was just trying to force Batman out into the open by pretending to know his true identity.
30th Jul 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Was that really supposed to be the Scarecrow (from Batman Begins) at the beginning of the movie? (I know Wiki says it is but I'm not convinced this is the case for the following reasons): 1) I would assume that he's in jail. 2) Part of me thinks that this was a Scarecrow impersonator (just like the Batman impersonators), because he did look slightly different when they took his mask off. 3)If I remember correctly, Scarecrow was really an arm of the League in Batman Begins, so I don't see what he would be aiming for now that Batman has defeated the League. Anyway, any ideas out there?
Answer: Yes, it's the Scarecrow. It's the same actor, the same mask, the same methods (drugs up the sleeve) and they state at the end of Batman Begins that they failed to recapture Crane after he broke out of Arkham. While Crane worked for the League, he has his own agendas too; with the defeat of R'as al Ghul, Crane's simply started working for himself again, supplying specialist drugs to the criminal underworld.
30th Jul 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Does Two-Face (Harvey Dent) die at the end? The film makers make it seem as if he does die from the fall, however, Two-Face is the main villain along with The Riddler in another film. Even if they don't plan on making another movie with Two-Face as the villain, they left the question of whether he's alive open.
Answer: The suggestion appears to be that Harvey dies - Gordon and Bruce talk as if he's no threat any more and certainly show no rush to call an ambulance or to restrain Harvey, as you might expect if he was still alive. You can ignore Two-Face's appearance in Batman Forever - the two franchises have no connection other than character.
30th Jul 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Why do Gordon and Batman say that Dent has killed 5 people? I only counted Maroni, his driver, Wuertz and possibly Ramirez.
Answer: I always assumed the fifth death was Dent himself... Batman just says "five deaths", he doesn't say "Dent killed five others"
Answer: Harvey himself killed Maroni, the driver and Wuertz. The Joker killed a second cop in Harvey's hospital room - as the police don't know that the Joker was there, they would assume that Harvey was responsible. That's four. The fifth is possibly Maroni's other guard - there's one by the car as Maroni gets in, and Dent presumably kills him so he can get into the car too.
28th Jul 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Exactly what is the significance of Harvey Dent using a two headed coin, before he becomes Two Face (other than to hint at his eventual transformation)? As Two Face, I understand it of course serves as a symbol of his duel mentalities and their constant clash for dominance, but as simply Harvey Dent what is it meant to represent?
Answer: It's something that he uses to put people off-balance a little. He appears to put chance into his decisions, however, as both sides of the coins are heads, in reality, he'll always get the answer he wants, simply by calling that option as heads. As a rule, Harvey doesn't take it terribly seriously, but it does illustrate his repeated point that there's no such thing as luck - that you make your own luck. By using a double-headed coin, he's doing just that.
28th Jul 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Commissioner Gordon's son, not the daughter, is featured as a Batman admirer. In the sequel, is there going to be a Robin that's the Commissioner's son, even though Joker's semi had the circus on the side?
Answer: There's no indication at all that the creators of the current film series intend to add Robin as a character and given the aim towards a certain realism in the film series, it's hard to see how they could realistically work the character into the film. Christian Bale, for his part, has stated that if they try to introduce Robin, he'll chain himself to something in his trailer and refuse to come out until they ditch the idea.
25th Jul 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Why does Fox tell Batman close to the end, that as long as the sonar machine (don't know the name) is there, he won't be?
Answer: Fox views the sonar machine, which can basically monitor the entirety of Gotham City, as an unacceptable invasion of privacy. He's gone along with Bruce's activities as Batman so far, but this, in his opinion, is overstepping the mark. As such, he tells Bruce that if Bruce keeps the machine, using it to spy on the people of Gotham, then he's no longer willing to work for him.
25th Jul 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Why did Batman ask Lucius to type his name into the sonar machine? And why did he walk away after typing it?
Chosen answer: It's a destruct code that Bruce set up in advance. He knows that using the machine is going way over the line, ethically speaking, but realises that that's what he has to do to catch the Joker. Fox also recognises the ethical implications of what Bruce is doing - he even threatens to resign over it once the Joker is captured. Bruce simply gives Fox the destruct code to use once the job's done. Fox types it in and walks away as the machine destroys itself.
25th Jul 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: I was just wondering if Lucius Fox is still the head of Wayne Enterprises or not? He tells Batman he's resigning because of the sonar machine. Then he says he won't stay as long as the machine is there. But at the end he destroys it. So is he staying or is he gone?
Answer: He's still there. He tells Bruce that he'll allow the machine to be used once, because of the threat of the Joker, but if he keeps it after that, he'll resign. Bruce tells him to type his name in once it's done - Fox does that and realises that Bruce has set up a destruct code in advance, showing that Bruce wasn't happy with the machine either and only set it up out of desperation. With the machine gone, the reason for Fox's intended resignation is gone too. Ergo, he stays.
19th Jul 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Has there been any information as to will happen to Joker's character who was not killed off in the film? Will it be retired or recast?
Answer: At the moment, no, there hasn't. Plans for a third film are only in the very early stages; while Nolan may have a few ideas about what he wants to do, it's highly unlikely that any detailed story proposal exists at this point. In all likelihood, Ledger's death will probably lead to the character's retirement, but, if using the character proves to be necessary for the story that they want to tell, I'm sure that they'll do their best to recast.
23rd Jul 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: Doesn't Batman show up only during the night? If I'm not mistaken, I believe he showed up during the day in the movie, no?
Answer: Batman shows up when he's needed. If that means appearing during the day, that's what he does. While, yes, he generally does his stuff at night, it wouldn't be terribly heroic of him to fail to save somebody or foil a crime just because the sun hadn't gone down yet.
21st Jul 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Question: The minor character of Mr. Reese sounds very similar to the word mysteries, could he be a future Riddler?
Answer: Unless the name Reese is subsequently revealed to be an alias, it's unlikely. The two films so far have been consistent with the comics with regard to the real names of characters; the Riddler's name in the comic universe is Edward Nigma (or Nygma).
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Answer: Harvey's coin isn't identical on both sides any more. One side is pristine, one side is damaged (scratched and scorched), so it's truly a fair coin flip now. Joker persuaded Harvey to leave it to chance - the coin came up undamaged so Joker lives. As for predicting their moves, that's precisely the point - they are predictable, because they live their lives according to rules, laws and ethics. Joker, as an agent of chaos, has the edge over them because he doesn't. He's smart enough to know that people react in predictable ways in particular situations. So it's not that he has some mystical ability to know ahead of time what people will do, he just anticipates the most likely course of action and prepares something to counter that course of action ahead of time.
Tailkinker ★