Batman: 6 characters Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy got right

Batman: 6 characters Christopher Nolan’s movies got right

PERTH, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 12: Film goers watch The Dark Knight featuring Heath Ledger during a public tribute outdoor movie night to the late actor at Burswood Park on February 12, 2011 in Perth, Australia. Australian actor Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker in the movie The Dark Knight. Ledger died from an accidental toxic combination of prescription drugs on January 22, 2008. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images) /

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3. The Joker

It’s interesting to think that Christopher Nolan was able to deliver a Joker who was completely different from any iteration we’ve seen on the big screen before, yet simultaneously gave us a perfect adaptation of The Joker lifted from the comics.

Although the trilogy’s version of The Joker was different in appearance and even in origin from his comic book counterpart, Nolan was able to nail the root of who The Joker has always been regardless of the medium he’s portrayed in (film, video games, comics, etc). In fact, Joker said it best in a scene during The Dark Knight: “I’m an agent of chaos.”

As an agent of chaos, The Joker wants to watch the world burn. In his manic ruthlessness, he rarely goes into any situation with an A to Z plan, but he has always been driven by an end goal. In the movies and often in the comics, that goal is to systematically and mentally break Gotham’s finest – Batman and Harvey Dent – to prove a point that even good men resort to evil when pushed far enough.

He cannot be swayed by morals or bullied into submissions. He is a menacing lunatic and in portraying him as a screen-commanding master of psychological warfare, Nolan did a perfect job.

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