Some may say that the Dark Knight trilogy, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale, are perfect Batman films. Starting with Batman Begins, the trilogy got off to a great start before bringing in the Joker for the second part and perhaps the best of the three. The trilogy ended with The Dark Knight Rises and brought Bale’s Batman stories to a close.
Nolan and his writing team put everything into the trilogy, delivering a brilliant version of not only Batman, but his rogue’s gallery and the city of Gotham. All three films are filled with incredible details to find amongst all the action-packed set pieces, many of which can easily fly over your head. Here are some great moments that you may have missed when you watched.
An homage from Joker to Joker
When Heath Ledger’s Joker first appears in The Dark Knight, he’s wearing a rubber mask featuring an old-school clown design with a red nose, blue eyebrows, and blue beard. Of course, he pulls this off and reveals the scraggly green hair and make-up but that mask is actually a throwback to the 1966 Batman show featuring Adam West. The mask is an homage to one worn by Cesar Romero, the first live-action portrayal of the Joker.
A potential sidekick?
Appearing in The Dark Knight Rises, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a Gotham City cop called John Blake and we see him become a close ally of Commissioner Gordon, as well as Batman himself. In fact, Batman and Blake become so close that when the film ends and Batman is presumed dead, Blake inherits the Batcave. One lovely touch, and perhaps a hint to the future in this universe, is that Blake’s real name is revealed to be Robin. Perhaps in the Nolan universe Batman returns and takes Robin Blake as his sidekick.
Two Batmobiles
We’ve all seen the tumbler Batmobile that appears in the Nolan/Bale trilogy as it rockets through the streets of Gotham. However, Bruce Wayne drives his own Batmobile, technically. We see him getting out of a very swish, all-black Lamborghini when he’s not behind the cowl. An interesting note is that this car is the Lamborghini Murcielago, and ‘Murcielago’ is translated into English as the word ‘bat’ because of course, Bruce Wayne rides around in a Batborghini.
Hidden date
In The Dark Knight, Gordon reveals a photo of the man we later know as the Joker from the opening bank robbery. The image shows Heath Ledger’s painted face quite clearly, but it’s not the image itself that holds a little easter egg, but the text across the bottom of the photo. If you pause the film and look very closely, you can make out a date - 18 July 2008. This may not instantly have any relevance for you but it’s actually the release date of the film baked right into the footage shot.
Shakespeare is back
If you’re looking for more details that hark back to the original TV appearance of Batman then look no further than The Dark Knight Rises. There’s a scene in which we see Blake and in the background you’ll spot a golden bust of William Shakespeare. Why is this relevant? Well, back in the 1966 show, Adam West’s Batman would tilt back the head of that same statue and press a large red button to open secret doors that would lead down into the Batcave.
Introducing the Joker
As Batman Begins draws to a close we get wind of the next villain who will test Batman and the folks of Gotham. Lieutenant Gordon holds up an evidence bag holding a Joker card and says this new criminal has a “taste for the theatrical”. Once given to Batman, the hero flips the card over and we get a look at the written details on the bag. It seems the officer who filed it was called ‘J. Kerr’ which is a throwback to the comics where Joker had an alias of ‘Joseph Kerr’ or, of course, JoKerr.
DC Comics logo
In an odd addition, it seems that DC Comics, or at least its logo, exists within the Nolan Batman universe. DC in this version of Gotham don’t print and produce comic books though, they create telecommunication devices as spotted in one scene. The radios and communicators held by Gordan and police in The Dark Knight Rises are actually branded with an older version of the DC Comics logo.
Nolan’s influences
Christopher Nolan has built himself up to not only be a staggeringly good director, but he’s a student of the game, always being inspired by cinema’s greatest hits. Batman Begins was heavily influenced by Blade Runner, so much so that before shooting began Nolan hosted a screening of the film to cast and crew to give them an idea of his direction. While the follow-up, The Dark Knight, was influenced by HEAT, a gritty cops and robbers drama where each character holds a level of importance and relevance.
Topics: Batman, TV And Film, Warner Bros, DC Comics