Batman raises the stakes in his bourgeois war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker.

Batman raises the stakes in his bourgeois war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker.

After seeing his performance in
Thank You for Smoking (2005), Christopher Nolan thought that Aaron Eckhart would be perfect for the role of District Attorney Harvey Dent.

This is the first Batman feature film that doesn't incorporate the word "Batman" in its title.

The false title given to the film during production, Rory's First Kiss, was named after Christopher Nolan's son, Rory. When filming began in April 2007, the production was code-named to thwart onlookers and...

After seeing his performance in
Thank You for Smoking (2005), Christopher Nolan thought that Aaron Eckhart would be perfect for the role of District Attorney Harvey Dent.

This is the first Batman feature film that doesn't incorporate the word "Batman" in its title.

The false title given to the film during production, Rory's First Kiss, was named after Christopher Nolan's son, Rory. When filming began in April 2007, the production was code-named to thwart onlookers and trespassers. All over downtown Chicago, fliers were posted with this pseudonym (alongside an "RFK" logo) and also listed the address for the film's production offices.

Despite endless speculation on which actor had been chosen to portray The Joker, Heath Ledger had always been Christopher Nolan's one and only choice for the role. When asked the reason for this unexpected casting, Nolan simply replied, "Because he's fearless." He later said that the two had met up to discuss it before there was even a script for the film.

Actor/musician Dwight Yoakam turned down two different roles in this film. One was for the part of Det. Wuertz (later played by Ron Dean), as well as the small part of the Gotham National Bank manager (portrayed by William Fichtner) featured at the very beginning.

Even though Christopher Nolan offered her the part, Katie Holmes decided not to reprise her role as Rachel Dawes. Instead, she opted to co-star with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah in
Mad Money (2008) that same year. Isla Fisher, Emily Blunt and Rachel McAdams were all considered for the role before Maggie Gyllenhaal stepped in.

One of the featured extra's military uniforms bears the name Philo. This is a nod to Joan Philo, the Illinois-based casting director for extras.

On Thanksgiving weekend, 2007, fake four-page tabloid-size Gotham Times newspapers were distributed at various public events. Headlined City at War - Batman Saves Entire Family, every article teased events in the film, and everything in the handout was geared toward the film, including the weather ("Gloomy and overcast...") and advertisements for Gotham National Bank, the Gotham Girl Guides and recruitment for the Gotham Police Department.

In preparation for his role as The Joker, Heath Ledger hid away in a motel room for about six weeks. During this extended stay of seclusion, Ledger delved deep into the psychology of the character. He devoted himself to developing The Joker's every tic, namely the voice and that sadistic-sounding laugh (for the voice, Ledger's goal was to create a tone that didn't echo the work Jack Nicholson did in his 1989 performance as the Joker). Ledger's interpretation of The Joker's appearance was primarily based off of the chaotic, disheveled look of punk rocker Sid Vicious combined with the psychotic mannerisms of Malcolm McDowell's character, Alex De Large, from
A Clockwork Orange (1971).

Christopher Nolan and his co-writers, Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer, made the decision very early on not to explore The Joker's origins. This was so the character could be presented as an "absolute".

For the first time in feature filmmaking, IMAX cameras were utilized. Christopher Nolan had wanted to shoot in the IMAX format for years, thus using this film as his opportunity to do so. Six major action-heavy sequences, along with various high-altitude shots, were filmed on the IMAX ratio. (These sequences are available on the Bonus Disc of the 2-Disc DVD Edition.)

Off-duty Chicago police officers along with officers from Elyria OH; Hammond IN; Buffalo Grove, IL and Joliet, IL played Gotham police officer extras.

Elaborate, interactive marketing campaigns were launched in the months leading up to the release of this film. One of these was an event at the 2007 San Diego Comic-con called Why So Serious, which involved fans following clues hidden around the city. The legions of Joker-painted fans ended up congregating in the street across from the convention center, where one of their numbers was welcomed into a black Escalade (with Gotham license plates) that had just pulled up. After a moment the fan started screaming and the SUV sped away. Later that day, a Gotham City newspaper was circulated reporting that a man believed to be the Joker was found beaten to death. Included were crime scene photos of the fan who had gotten into the Escalade, and a mention that he was found with a playing card in his hand, on which was scribbled "See you in December."

The Gotham City license plates were directly modeled off of Illinois license plates.

Heath Ledger's sudden death on January 22, 2008 prompted immediate speculation over the film's state. Soon after Ledger's tragic passing was announced, Warner Bros. Pictures issued a statement that verified that Ledger had finished all of his scenes in principal photography, as well as post-production fulfillments (i.e., looping), thus making The Joker his final, completed film role.

It's Sir Michael Caine's opinion that Heath Ledger beat the odds and topped Jack Nicholson's Joker from
Batman (1989): "Jack was like a clown figure, benign but wicked, maybe a killer old uncle. He could be funny and make you laugh. Heath's gone in a completely different direction to Jack, he's like a really scary psychopath. He's a lovely guy and his Joker is going to be a hell of a revelation in this picture." Caine bases this belief on a scene where the Joker pays a visit to Bruce Wayne's penthouse. He'd never met Ledger before, so when Ledger arrived and performed he gave Caine such a fright he forgot his lines.

Aaron Eckhart described his portrayal of Harvey Dent as simultaneously coming from and being apart from the same world as Batman (Dent is the white knight of Gotham, as opposed to the Dark Knight). His challenge was "looking for the similarities and the tension between the two; to find what's similar to Batman and then what's opposite to him." Eckhart prepared for his role by studying split personalities.

Bruce Wayne develops and wears a new Batsuit in the film. This Batsuit was an improvement on the outfit from
Batman Begins (2005), and made Christian Bale more comfortable and agile in his performance. It was constructed from 200 unique pieces of rubber, fibreglass, metallic mesh, and nylon (producing an impression of sophisticated technology), with elastic banding added for tightening the costume to fit Bale. The gauntlets had their razors made retractable and able to be fired. The suit's cowl was based on a motorcycle helmet and separated from the neck piece, allowing Bale to move his head left/right/up/down, and comes equipped with white eye lenses for when Batman turns on Bat-sonar.

The Joker make-up was composed of three pieces of stamped silicone, which took less than an hour to apply to Heath Ledger on each day of shooting. Ledger described it as "new technology which is much quicker to apply than regular prosthetics"; he felt he was not wearing any make-up at all.

Once she knew Heath Ledger had been cast as The Joker, costume designer Lindy Hemming based the character's attire off of an eclectic line-up of clothing styles, ranging from Vivienne Westwood to John Lydon to Iggy Pop to Pete Doherty to Alexander McQueen. Hemming's aim was to modify The Joker's familiar appearance with "a younger, trendier look", in order to represent Ledger's generation.

An explosion was filmed at the Battersea Power Station in London. The fireball created calls from panic-stricken local residents, who assumed a terrorist attack had occurred at the out-of-use station.

Nestor Carbonell who plays the mayor coincidentally also played "Bat Manuel", a parody of Batman, in the comic-based live action
"The Tick " (2001) TV series. And Michael Jai White who played the Batman-inspired character Spawn in
Spawn (1997) plays a gangster.

Jerry Robinson, one of the original creators of the Joker back in 1940, was hired as a consultant on the film (the Joker is to be portrayed according to his first two appearances in the comics, which Robinson was involved in). His "Batman" co-creator Bob Kane had earlier been hired as a consultant for
Batman (1989).

David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan collaborated on the story of the film. The script itself was written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan. After watching
The Dark Knight (2008), Goyer stated "I can't believe my name is on a movie this good".

The Batman theme is heard only twice in the film, as Composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard decided that a heroic theme that a viewer could hum would ignore the complexity and darkness of the character. Hearing the tune only twice would create what Zimmer calls "a musical foreshadowing."

Cameo:
[US Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont
. the older gentleman that confronts the Joker at the party thrown by Bruce Wayne for Harvey Dent. Senator Leahy is a huge Batman fan and arranged an early showing of the movie on July 12th as a fund-raiser for the children's section of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier, Vermont, the state's capital. He has also appeared in
Batman & Robin (1997) and as a
"Batman " (1992) cartoon voice.

This film currently holds the box-office record for the largest opening weekend of all time. It made $158,411,483 in its first weekend of release. Another superhero sequel,
Spider-Man 3 (2007), formerly held that record the previous summer.

Along with
Spider-Man 3 (2007) and
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man x27;s Chest (2006), this film reached the $100 million mark the fastest, in only two days. Since it had a larger opening day than those two blockbusters, it reached the milestone even sooner.

With 4,366 locations, this film also holds the record for opening in the most venues on its release date. (
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World x27;s End (2007) opened in 4,362 movie houses the previous summer.)

Set a weekend box-office record for IMAX venues with $6.2 mil. Former record holder was
Spider-Man 3 (2007).

When it was released on July 18, 2008, this film made $67.2 million in a single day, the most lucrative opening for any film. Because of its pent-up demand, midnight showings all over the country were sold out, resulting in $18.5 million in late-night showings alone. The movie held the record for biggest one-day intake until
New Moon (2009).

This film reached the $400 million mark after 43 days of release, which is less than half the time it took
Shrek 2 (2004), the former record-holder, to reach.

This film reached the $200 million mark in only 5 days, quickly achieving another box-office record. This jumped to $300 million on the 10th day, setting yet another record

The film was delivered to some theaters under the name Oliver's Army.

While filming both the bank and police department scenes at the post office, an unrelated fire broke out in a top floor mechanical room and many onlookers believed that the smoke and fire was related to the filming.

Just as it was when filming
Batman Begins (2005), director Christopher Nolan oversaw every shot himself as there was no second unit.

Made more money than
Batman Begins (2005) entire domestic run in only 6 days of release.

Cameo:
[Buster Reeves, Christian Bale's main stunt double
a Joker thug. He appears in the trailer of the Joker's semi-truck, as he hands The Joker his weapons as he fires them at the police transport. He then rides in the passenger seat of the cab of the truck as The Joker drives.

The nine-minute suite composed for the Joker is based around two notes, D and C, named after DC Comics which publishes these characters.

The first film to be ranked 1 on the IMDb within two days of its theatrical release.

The serrated edges on the side of the Batman's gauntlets were inspired by the pulp character Tony Quinn, the Black Bat, whose origin (he was a district attorney victim of an acid flinging gangster) was borrowed for Two-Face.

Christian Bale got to keep the Batman mask from the movie, after filming. He wanted to keep the entire uniform but he did not have enough room for it.

Batman asks Alfred to find the names of any police officers who have family members staying in the hospital. Alfred texts Gordon with "Ramirez-Berg". Charles Ramirez-Berg is an acclaimed professor of radio-television-film at the University of Texas at Austin who, among other honors, was mentioned in Robert Rodriguez 's autobiography as his favorite professor.

The Joker's face paint was reportedly designed by Heath Ledger himself, who used white clown makeup and cosmetics from a drugstore. Once his design was approved, the makeup team was responsible for replicating the look each day for filming.

Gotham City's civic heraldry combines elements of New York City's and Chicago's municipal emblems. Examples include Gotham-area license plates (based on Illinois tags found throughout Chicago) and Gotham's garbage trucks (whose door emblems directly quote New York City's old Sanitation Department logo: a large red sans-serif capital letter S atop a medical caduceus, all within a circle with a text border).

Takes place six months after
Batman Begins (2005) ended.

Holds the record for reaching the $500 million mark the fastest, after 45 days. The former record holder was
Titanic (1997) (98 days).

Despite the PG-13 rating, blood is only ever seen three times on-screen (on the face of the civilian Batman that the Joker hangs), Harvey's pillow in the hospital, and on Batman's arm due to the dog attacking him; most of the violence either occur off-screen or is obscured by camera angles.

The Joker's distinctive tongue flip grew out of Heath Ledger's own habit of doing that.

The 70mm IMAX prints of the film each consisted of 45 reels, which once assembled, were roughly 9.5 miles long and weighed 450 pounds.

One of five films released in 2008 (and the only one still running in theaters when the voting took place) to be on Empire's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (September 2008). The other four are
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008),
Iron Man (2008),
Cloverfield (2008) and
WALL xB7;E (2008).

Voted 15 on Empire magazine's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (September 2008).

Shortly before the film's DVD debut, Warner Brothers were under legal action by the city of Batman, Turkey (pronounced "bot-min") in November 2008. Even though it wasn't used in the title, the character name of Batman was considered an infringement.

Other actors under consideration for the coveted role of Harvey Dent - pending Aaron Eckhart's availability - were Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, and Josh Lucas.

The console for the Bat Sonar resembles "The Listening Post", Mark Hasen and Ben Rubin's dynamic portrait of online communication, especially when Lucius Fox and Batman switch it off. The installation is currently on display at the Science Museum in London.

The Dark Knight (2008) on Blu-ray disc features the IMAX version of the film. Any sequence filmed with the IMAX cameras fills up a widescreen TV at a 1:78:1 ratio, thus giving a grander view from the top to bottom. The rest of the film plays at a 2:35:1 scope ratio which delivers a panoramic view. It is only on Blu-ray that the film can be watched this way as on a 4:3 TV the transition would be too jarring, however the IMAX sequences can be viewed as a special feature on the DVD version.

Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago was closed every night starting at 7 PM during the summer of 2007 to accommodate filming. The street was open during the day, however, and the several Batmobiles and tumblers were visible just on the other side of the barricades covered only with sheets.

As of its release, the longest film Christopher Nolan has directed.

First Batman film with no live-action or CGI bats.

The date seen on Gordon's security camera photo of The Joker taken during the bank heist reads "2008/07/18", which was the U.S. theatrical release date of the film.

During the chase scene, when the Joker takes over driving the semi after his driver is killed, you can clearly see the bullet holes on the windshield form a smiley face.

The first film shot with IMAX to be nominated for an Academy Award for best cinematography and an American Society of Cinematographers Award.

The first Batman movie (both live action and animated) not to feature Bruce Wayne in a tuxedo.

The first Batman movie that does not feature Bruce Wayne's mansion, although it is mentioned. This is faithful to the comics in the sense that in the period from 1969 to the early 1980s, Batman had moved out of Wayne Manor and lived in a penthouse. However, that version was on top of his Wayne Foundation building and that building had a secret Batcave below which he could access through a hidden elevator connection to the penthouse.

39 vehicles are crashed, shot, blown up, bumped, or otherwise involved in some sort of violence in this film.

Whilst filming in Chicago,
Wanted (2008) was the neighboring production, and Morgan Freeman worked concurrently on both films. At one point, Wanted comic book writer Mark Millar visited the set but without permission. The security and Lauren Shuler Donner (who also visited the set at that time) caught Millar sitting on the Batpod. Millar was escorted away from the set.

Hong Kong actor Edison Chen can be seen escorting Lucius Fox from the helicopter into the building, and later when the police goes in for the raid at Lau's office. The Hong Kong scene contains a scripted set piece where Batman drops into the river harbor. However it was scrapped because environmental officials found out that the river was still polluted.

The IMAX cameras used in filming proved to be problematic for the crew. Dialog that was recorded on film is very noisy so it had to be replaced during post-production. An IMAX camera is very heavy and it cannot be used hand held. Instead, special mounts had to be created to support the weight. Finally, they had to get the shots right as it takes 5 days to process the negative instead of the conventional negative.

This is the fourth time a film based on a comic has been nominated for a best supporting actor Academy Award. The first was Al Pacino for
Dick Tracy (1990), but he didn't win. The second was Paul Newman, who was nominated for his role in
Road to Perdition (2002), which was based on a graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner. The third was William Hurt, who was nominated for
A History of Violence (2005), based on a graphic novel written by John Wagner and illustrated by Vince Locke.

Heath Ledger's posthumous Oscar nomination for best supporting actor as The Joker was coincidentally announced on the first anniversary of his death.

In the Italian version
Batman (1989), Jack Nicholson's voice was dubbed by actor Giancarlo Giannini. In "The Dark Knight" Heath Ledger is dubbed by Giannini's son Adriano Giannini, with the result that Italian audience felt a connection between the two Jokers since the voices are very similar.

The comic book film with the most Academy Award nominations (8).

Heath Ledger directed both homemade videos that the Joker sends to GCN himself. The first video involving the fake Batman was done under Nolan's supervision. Nolan thought Ledger had done so well with that sequence, he felt there was no need for him to be there when it came time to film the scene where reporter Mike Engel reads the Joker's statement. He put his trust in Ledger and let him do whatever he wanted, ultimately pleased with the result after he'd seen the outcome.

Like its predecessor, the film has no opening credits or titles.

While filming the chase scene with the Joker and the SWAT vans, one of only four IMAX cameras in the world at that time was destroyed.

Wally Pfister personally filmed most of the film's hand held shots.

On 20th February 2009, the movie became the 4th to have made more than $1 billion (US) worldwide.

The first comic book movie to ever win an Oscar for achievement in acting, specifically to Heath Ledger (posthumously) for his supporting role as The Joker.

Heath Ledger posthumously won a total of 32 Best Supporting Actor awards for his work on this film, including the Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG and Critic's Choice award. The only awards he was nominated for but didn't win were the Satellite Award (which went to Michael Shannon for
Revolutionary Road (2008)) and the London Film Critic's Circle Award for actor of the year (which went to Mickey Rourke for
The Wrestler (2008)).

IMAX camera technician/consultant Wayne Baker has a cameo that is the only close up actually shot in the IMAX format in the film. He sits on the loading dock and reacts to the Batpod emerging from the wreckage of the Batmobile.

In their face to face confrontations, neither Batman nor Joker refer to one another by name.

When Batman tests the fingerprint on the bullet lodged in the wall, the name given is Melvin White. This name is perhaps a reference to Mel Blanc, who voiced nearly all of the classic Warner Bros. cartoon characters (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, etc.) The word "blanc" means "white" in French.

The first four days of scheduled shooting resulted in no film being rolled. Instead, Christopher Nolan screened two films for the cast and crew with a break in between. The eight films were (in order):
Heat (1995),
Cat People (1942),
Citizen Kane (1941),
King Kong (1933),
Batman Begins (2005),
Black Sunday (1977),
A Clockwork Orange (1971), and
Stalag 17 (1953).

In one draft of the script, a reference to Robin being related to Rachel Dawes was considered. The character of Dick Grayson was not explicitly mentioned, however Rachel Dawes is revealed as being a relative of the Grayson family. Christopher Nolan had it removed because he didn't want to build hopes up about the Robin character appearing in a future film.

The Batman comic books The Long Halloween, The Killing Joke, The Man Who Laughs and the first two comics to feature the Joker character served as an influence on the film's storyline.

The ferries used for the ferry scene in which a boat of convicts and citizens are forced to detonate a bomb in the other boat, the ferries depicted are CGI models of the Molinary-class of Staten Island Ferry. The Staten Island Ferry, which is run by the New York Department of Transportation, offers a free 25-minute ride across New York harbor from St. George in Staten Island to South Ferry in Manhattan.

Both this film and its predecessor have one-word themes which are driving forces in the stories:
Batman Begins (2005) centers around Fear, while the focus of
The Dark Knight (2008) is Chaos.

The bus crashing backwards into the bank in the opening sequence was much harder to pull off than was anticipated. The bus had to be taken apart and reassembled inside the building (a disused post office), concealed behind a large false wall, and then propelled backwards with an air cannon.

Cillian Murphy reprises his role as Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow from
Batman Begins (2005) in this film. This makes him the first actor to reprise the role of a Batman villain in the whole film series.

Many cast members in this film have worked with the siblings of other cast members. Heath Ledger had previously worked with Jake Gyllenhaal in
Brokeback Mountain (2005). Maggie Gyllenhaal had worked with Julia Roberts in
Mona Lisa Smile (2003), as had Aaron Eckhart in
Erin Brockovich (2000).

Voted movie of the year by Empire magazine in 2008.

This is the first Batman movie where Batman operates outside of Gotham.

This film is seen by some critics as an allegory on the Bush Administration's prosecution of the "War on Terror" (Batman was willing to do "whatever it took" to bring in Joker - including torture and disregarding the law and civil liberties.) It should be noted in doing so, Batman could not see the Joker's true intentions (and real threat) with Two-Face being set loose and forced Batman into exile.

Trouble arose during a PR campaign before the movie's release,when a website related to the film sent out several cakes purportedly from The Joker, containing a cell phone inside which made the cake vibrate, and had wires sticking out, making the cake look like a bomb. One such news station which received one of the cakes, believed it to be an actual terrorist act, and the entire building had to be evacuated.

When Harvey Dent disarms the witness in court, he removes the magazine from the stock and holds it in his small finger. This is actually the correct procedure for emergency reloads and correcting malfunctions.

While the movie was filming a chase scene on Lake Street, the Chicago Police Department received several calls from concerned citizens stating that the police were involved in a vehicle pursuit with a dark vehicle of unknown make or model.

A video game adaptation was in production, but was canceled due to technical difficulties in development.

The infamous growl performed by Christian Bale was much rougher in this film than
Batman Begins (2005) and has been parodied countless times due to its extreme nature, however the common misconception is that Christian Bale was fully responsible for this voice. The real voice during filming was more toned down and then heightened to a rougher, grittier vibe during post-production under the decision of director Christopher Nolan.

The music used in the trailers for this film was reused from the
Batman Begins (2005) soundtrack.

According to Christopher Nolan, Bruce Wayne's reasons for needing a new Batsuit (to be faster and more agile) were, in fact, the real reasons why Nolan wanted the Batsuit to be redesigned for this film.

SPOILER: The film uses numerous elements of the Joker's first appearance in Batman 1, published in 1940. In both The Dark Knight and Batman 1, the Joker publicly announces his crimes before committing them, removes his make-up and disguises himself as a police officer to gain access to a person he threatened to kill, uses a powerful bomb smuggled into jail to escape, steals and kills not for personal gain but simply to create chaos and disorder, and infringes upon the city's old-fashioned mobsters.

SPOILER: There are many elements from various Batman graphic novels, either verbatim or slightly recast. In The Long Halloween, Batman, Gordon, and Dent fake Dent's death. In The Dark Knight, Gordon's death is faked. Also in The Long Halloween, Batman poses as a SWAT officer. In the movie, Gordon does. The Joker's reference at the end of the film to "pushing Dent over the edge" mirrors his social experiment with Gordon in The Killing Joke, in which The Joker attempts to drive Gordon insane by making him have a really bad day. A lot of the interaction between Batman and The Joker is taken from The Long Halloween, specifically the interrogation scene in the film. It's reminiscent of the end of The Long Halloween and also is similar to elements of The Dark Knight Returns. Finally, the copycat Batmen are clearly inspired by The Sons of The Batman from The Dark Knight Returns. In addition, in The Killing Joke the Joker explains if he "had a past, it would be multiple choice." This is referenced when the Joker tells two different stories about the origin of his scars.

SPOILER: Heath Ledger improvised when he started clapping inside his jail cell in a mocking and sardonic capacity as Gordon is promoted. The clapping was not scripted but Christopher Nolan immediately encouraged the crew to continue filming and the sequence was included in the film.

SPOILER: Aaron Eckhart enjoyed wearing the Two-Face makeup and warned: "When you look at him, you should get sick to your stomach. It's like you would feel if you met someone whose face had pretty much been ripped off or burned off with acid. There are fans on the Internet who have drawn versions of what they think it looks like, and I can tell you this: They're thinking small. Chris has gone way farther than people think."

SPOILER: Composer James Newton Howard composed an elegant and beautiful score for Harvey Dent, which would serve as a jarring contrast to Two-Face's persona.

SPOILER: Body count: 36

SPOILER: Early in the film, a witness on stand pulls a gun out on Harvey Dent (Two-Face) during the trial and tries to shoot him. This is a nod towards Two-Face's original origin story in the comics where in a similar trial scenario, crime boss Sal Maroni is on stand and throws sulfuric acid in Dent's face resulting in his scarring.

SPOILER: Christian Bale stated in an interview that during the interrogation scene, Heath Ledger wanted him to beat him as hard as he could to get the real feeling of what was required from the scene.

SPOILER: After his transformation, Two-Face flips his coin eight times. It comes up on the good side five times for the Joker, Sal Maroni, Detective Ramirez, Dent himself, Gordon's son (though Two-Face didn't catch that one) and the bad side three times, for Detective Wuertz, Maroni's driver and Batman.

SPOILER: During the hospital scene, when The Joker is dressed as a nurse, his name tag reads Matilda, after Heath Ledger's daughter Matilda Ledger.

SPOILER: There are at least two references to the fall of the Roman republic in the movie. The first is when Bruce meets Harvey at the restaurant and Harvey mentions how the Romans would offer unlimited power to a single citizen to guide them through a crisis. Rachel's character incorrectly states that the last person to get this mantle was Gaius Julius Caesar - in actuality, Caesar coerced the Roman senate to give him this power. The second reference is when the Joker mentions the location of Harvey and Rachel. He says that Harvey was at 250 W 52st. The other address was Avenue X and Cicero. We know later that he was lying and that Harvey was located at Avenue X and Cicero as the final scene takes place where Harvey lost his loved one, namely, 250 W. 52 St. Cicero was the Rome's most famous orator and statesman, and was a vocal opponent against Caesar and tyranny. Furthermore, in ancient times Caesar represented chaos (as evidenced by Lucan's civil war - where Caesar invokes fortune or chance before he goes crosses the Rubicon and goes to war against Rome) much like the Joker or Harvey later on in this movie. The analogy then is that Harvey, the gifted statesman and orator, is put against chaos and chance and ultimately fails, only to become the villain. A third reference to the fall of the Roman republic is the fact that Jim Gordon, Harvey Dent and Batman form an agreement. In modern times the agreement to control the senate by Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Crassus (the financier of the venture) was known as the first triumvirate. Batman, Gordon, and Harvey are similarly trying to control Gotham. As mentioned above Harvey represents Cicero at first (the model citizen) and then Caesar when he becomes a villain. Gordon is Pompey, the aging general who is trying to do good, and thinks this is the only way how. Batman is Crassus, as he brings together and finances the venture.

SPOILER: The situation with the two ferries is a classic example from game theory, also known as the prisoner's dilemma. In the prisoner's dilemma, two suspects are arrested by the police. The police visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies (defects) for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. The unique equilibrium for this game is a Pareto-suboptimal solution-that is, rational choice leads the two players to both play defect even though each player's individual reward would be greater if they both played cooperatively. The same goes for the people on the two ferries. If one group decides to blow up the other, they go free (cooperation, so to speak, with the Joker) and vice versa. Otherwise, they'll run the risk of being blown up themselves. If neither group does anything, they'll both be blown up. The fact that neither group decides to blow up the other would be, according to game theory an irrational decision given the stated terms. The only reason it ends well is that the Joker doesn't succeed in detonating the device to blow up both ferries.

SPOILER: Two-Face's disfigurement was created through computer graphics rather than prosthetic make-up, as director Christopher Nolan felt that, no matter how good the make-up was, it is still inherently adding something onto an actor's face, when Two-Face's appearance requires part of his face to be burned away.

SPOILER: When Harvey Dent's face is on fire, the first frame reveals the Batman logo on his close-up.

SPOILER: The Joker says that Harvey is located at Avenue X and Cicero. Cicero is a prominent street in Chicago (where a lot of the movie was filmed) located at 4800 West (48 blocks from State Street).

SPOILER: The address of the building where Rachel Dawes is killed and where the final confrontation between Gordon, Batman and Two-Face occurs is 250 52nd Street. Sounded out, this address contains "Fifty-Fifty", a major thematic element in the film.

SPOILER: When the Joker tells Batman where Harvey and Rachel are being held, both addresses have hidden meaning. 250 52nd Street sounds like 50/50, an allusion to Harvey's coin flipping. Avenue X and Cicero alludes to the fact that the Joker figured out that Rachel and "Batman" used to be an item (Avenue X (ex)).

SPOILER: The Joker only looks at three of the people he kills in the film. He shoots the bus driver while looking back at the hostages. Two of Gambol's thugs he stabs while looking up. He kills Gambol while looking at another thug. He throws the cigar lighting Lau on fire and turns to talk to The Chechen as Lau dies. The two he looks at are the thug he kills with a pencil, the policeman stopping the semi-truck before the chase, and the policeman that is clearing the hospital out which he shoots with a pistol while in a nurse uniform. This character choice is a reference to the graphic novel The Man Who Laughs in which it is mentioned that The Joker "just opened fire and didn't even look at the people while he killed them".

SPOILER: The address 250 52nd Street where Rachel Dawes is killed, and where Harvey Dent brings Gordon's family is a palindrome: it's the same forwards as it is backwards. The way it's framed with a zero in the middle and the same numbers in opposite directions on either side suggests the opposite sides of Dent's favorite coin, the two sides of his face, and by extension the duality of his nature.

SPOILER: Harvey Dent's scarring in this film due to an explosion is not what happens in the comics but rather is closer to the
"Batman " (1992) episodes Two-Face Part I and II.

SPOILER: Christopher Nolan asked Aaron Eckhart not to perform any tics or slurping noises as Two-Face to make the character less "showy".

SPOILER: The camera angle shooting up at The Joker as he beats Batman with a pipe is reflective of the graphic novel scene in the Batman series A Death In The Family, in which The Joker kills Robin (Jason Todd) with a crowbar.

SPOILER: In one of the final scenes of the film where Harvey flips his coin for Batman, himself, and Gordon, the outcome of the flips foreshadows the future of each of the 3 characters. Batman received "Tails," the "bad" side; at the end of the film he asked Gordon to blame all of the city's troubles on him, resulting in the Batman's reputation being disgraced and scorned. On the other hand, both Gordon and Harvey received "Heads," the "good" side, and were both honored as heroes at the end of the film.