Characters: The Dark Knight Saga

Characters: The Dark Knight Saga

A rundown of major and supporting characters appearing thus far in the Batman films directed by Christopher Nolan.

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Bruce Wayne/ Batman

This particular incarnation of Batman is unique from other live-action movie portrayals in that we actually see him begin as an inexperienced vigilante before becoming the veteran crimefighter we all know and love. Played by Christian Bale.

• Anti Hero: Type III on the Sliding Scale Of Anti Heroes. At one point he drops someone off a building as part of an interrogation, has resorted to the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique on many occasions, caused a lot of collateral damage on many occasions, and in his Bruce Wayne persona seems somewhat dickish and anti-social.
• Badass
  • Badass Biker: Becomes one in The Dark Knight thanks to the Bat-Pod.
  • Badass Normal
  • Heartbroken Badass
• Cool Car/Tank Goodness: The Batmobile Tumbler.
  • Cool Garage: The Batcave throughout much of Batman Begins, but when Wayne Manor is set aflame towards the end, Batman uses a literal garage as his base of operations in The Dark Knight.
• Crazy Prepared: Though not quite as much as his comic or DCAU counterparts—yet.
• Crimefighting With Cash
• Good Is Not Nice: From his Jack Bauer Interrogation Techniques to his willingness to make decisions he is hated for, the Batman of these movies is a MAJOR example of this trope.
• Honor Before Reason
• Hurting Hero
• Messianic Archetype
• Narm: The Batman voice at certain times, unfortunately.
• Not So Different: Subverted: Shortly after Batman attempted to interrogate a mob boss about the Joker's location, the Mob Boss stated that he realizes now that the Joker is actually more deserving of fear than Batman since the Joker is perfectly willing to kill, unlike Batman.
• Obfuscating Stupidity
• Order Versus Chaos: Represents Order against the Joker's Chaos
• Parental Abandonment: HIS PARENTS ARE DEEAAAAAAAD!
• Rich Idiot With No Day Job
• The Stoic
• The Woobie
  • Iron Woobie
• You Killed My Father: Subverted—he notably never gets any closure with Joe Chill, his parents' murderer.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: (Deconstructed. It results rather badly by the end of The Dark Knight)

Alfred Pennyworth

Bruce's ever faithful butler. Played by Michael Caine.

• Cool Old Guy: Oooh yeah.
• Deadpan Snarker: In The Dark Knight, though less so in Begins, where he still had his moments.
• The Mentor
• Retired Badass
• Servile Snarker

Rachel Dawes

Bruce's childhood friend turned attorney.

• Alas Poor Scrappy: One of the Most Triumphant Examples.
• Canon Foreigner
• Hello Attorney
• The Other Darrin: Played by Katie Holmes in Batman Begins, then by Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight.
• The Scrappy
  • Rescued From The Scrappy Heap: The recasting had this effect (for some) - unfortunately, it was just a prelude to being Stuffed Into The Fridge.
• Shallow Love Interest: To Bruce and Harvey.

Lucius Fox

Bruce's go to guy for crimefighting tech. Played by Morgan Freeman.

• Cool Old Guy
• Deadpan Snarker: Arguably the most triumphant example in either movie.
• Gadgeteer Genius
• Magical Negro: Technological magic, mind you.
• The Smart Guy

Sergeant/Lieutenant/Commissioner Jim Gordon

A cop who promotion in the ranks was partly due to Batman. Played by Gary Oldman.

• Badass Normal
• Commissioner Gordon: Of course.
• Fair Cop
• Knight In Sour Armor: Big time.
• Reasonable Authority Figure

Henri Ducard/ Ra's al-Ghul

The leader(s) of the League of Shadows. Played by Liam Neeson.

• Affably Evil: He's really quite polite and even regretful while explaining to Bruce exactly why Gotham has to die.
• Anti Villain: Extreme methods aside, the Shadow Warriors do want to fight for justice and make the world a better place.
• Body Double
• Big Bad: Of the first movie.
• Broken Pedestal
• Composite Character: In the comics, Ducard and Ra's al-Ghul are two separate characters.
• Dont Think Feel: Averted, he trains Bruce to fight rationally instead of being dominated by emotion.
• Face Death With Dignity
• Fallen Hero
• Heartbroken Badass: Reason he is where he is, unless you assume his Freudian Excuse to be a lie. (See main page for details.)
• Knight Templar
• Magnificent Bastard
• Not So Different
• Put Them All Out Of My Misery
• Utopia Justifies The Means
• Well Intentioned Extremist
• We Can Save The World Together

Dr. Jonathan Crane/ The Scarecrow

A corrupt psychiatrist with a penchant for studying fear. Played by Cillian Murphy.

• Affably Evil: More obvious than in Ducard's case, since he almost always speaks in a calm tone of voice and likes to use gentle phrases like "clear your mind" when about to drug people.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Depending on how you interpret some of his dialogue, he could be either a Complete Monster or a strong case of Even Evil Has Standards. When Falcone says there's "an answer" to idealistic prosecutors, Crane says he doesn't want to know. Is it indignation, or just fear of the potential consequences of knowing that information? When Ducard says that Crane thought the league's plan was to hold Gotham to ransom, does this mean he wouldn't have supported genocide, or that he only got involved because he saw something in it for him?
• Blue Eyes: Well, he is played by Cillian Murphy.
• Deadpan Snarker: A less obvious example than Lucius, but he has his moments.
• Draco In Leather Pants
• Evil Versus Evil: He claims to work for Ra's al Ghul, but is implied to be working for Falcone as well. Given Ra's al Ghul's expressed hatred for the kind of lawlessness Falcone stands for, this may create a conflict of interest.
• Four Eyes Zero Soul
• Mad Scientist
• Nightmare Fuel: Literally!
• Psycho For Hire: In some ways he's one himself, though he's a more subtle psycho than most. In other ways he creates them.
• Scary Scarecrows
• Scary Shiny Glasses
• Stoic Spectacles
• The Dragon
• Villain With Good Publicity
• Voice Of The Legion: His voice, and anyone else's, has a very creepy effect after you've inhaled his gas.

The Joker

A no name criminal that quickly turns into one of the biggest threats Gotham and Batman have ever faced. This particular version is notably less cartoony and much more subtle in his methods. Played by Heath Ledger.

• American Accents: He speaks with a Chicago accent.
• Ax Crazy
• Bad Boss
• Berserk Button: Does not take kindly to being called a "freak."
• Big Bad: Of the second movie.
• Card Carrying Villain: Literally, as he uses joker cards as his "signature". Apart from that, he styles himself an "agent of chaos" and embraces his status as an unapologetic Complete Monster.
• Chaotic Evil: Most Triumphant Example
• Crazy Awesome
• Crazy Prepared
  You always need an ace in the hole.
• Complete Monster: And proud of it!
• The Corrupter His goal is to prove that deep down, everyone is just as evil as he is.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy
• Darker And Edgier: He is without a doubt the darkest, cruelest, and most evil portrayal of the Joker ever shown on film or television.
• Deadpan Snarker: Apparently fills in for Scarecrow in the role of villainous snarker, such as with the page quote he provides for Unhand Them Villain...
• Draco In Leather Pants: Yes, even with the scars
• Evil Laugh: Pretty obvious.
• Evilly Affable
• For The Evulz
• From Nobody To Nightmare: Considered a small time hood by Batman at the start of the movie. But over time proves to be one of the deadlier threats around.
• Glasgow Grin: Instead of the comics chemically induced rictus grin
• High Octane Nightmare Fuel: A big provider of it.
• The Hyena: See Laughing Mad below.
• Knife Nut: Though he's fond of explosives too.
• Laughably Evil
• Laughing Mad: Right when Batman foiled him and threw him off the roof to certain death before saving him, he started breaking out into laughter. After yet another phase of his Villainous Breakdown is through, he starts up with the laughter again, and ends his final scene with it.
• Large Ham
• Mad Bomber
• Magnificent Bastard
• Manipulative Bastard
• Monster Clown
• Moral Event Horizon: .....Take your pick!
• Multiple Choice Past: He has several stories about how he got the scars on his face.
  • This of course being a reference to The Killing Joke (which, incidentally, is the Trope Namer)
• Nietzsche Wannabe: He even paraphrases a quote from Nietzsche: "I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you... stranger."
• Only Known By Their Nickname
• Order Versus Chaos: Represents Chaos against the Batman's Order
• Psycho For Hire: He starts out as one of these, but he doesn't really stay in the employ of the mob for long.
• Put The Laughter In Slaughter: He even Lamp Shades this by commandeering a circus truck while chasing Harvey Dent's armored vehicle, with the intention of killing him, that has it's logo, "Laughter is the Best Medicene", altered by spraypainting a red "s" right before "Laughter".
• Slasher Smile: Heck, it's even carved into his face in a similar fashion to a Glasgow smile.
• Too Kinky To Torture: He enjoys pain. When Batman tries the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique on him, he just laughs, and says: "You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength."
• Villainous Breakdown: A rather subtle one, but quite noticable. When both ferries refuse to use the detonators—pretty much proving his philosophy of all humans being bastards wrong—Joker gets visibly angry and whines about how people just aren't reliable before attempting to blow them both up. Interestingly, he says this in a rather calm tone, making this moment something of a reverse breakdown... guess that's what happens when your normal demeanor is over-the-top insane.
• Waistcoat Of Style
• Your Little Dismissive Diminutive: A frequent source of this.

Harvey Dent / Two-Face

A high powered district attorney that is trying to help bring down the criminal empire in Gotham. However a tragic incident caused by the Joker in the middle of the film changes his mindset. Causing Harvey to go after those he deems responsible for his misfortune. Played by Aaron Eckhart.

• Acceptable Hard Luck Targets: His signature quirk; when up against someone, always flips a coin to decide their fate. Heads, they're at least knocked out to some extent...or worse; tails, on the other hand...you're deader than dead.
• Badass Angster
• Badass Normal
• Beware The Nice Ones: Oh yeah. Revenge turns even the nicest person into something they never thought they would ever become.
• Draco In Leather Pants: Believe it or not. Due partially to being so tragic and partially to being played by Aaron Eckhart.
• Evil Counterpart: What Bruce could turn into if he ever lost his grip on sanity.
• Fallen Hero: As Two-Face.
• Hello Attorney
• High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Also Two-Face.
• I Am Batman: Did this to save Batman's skin in the middle of the film. Was eventually released after they found out he lied.
• Knight In Shining Armor: Subverted.
  • Knight Templar: As Two Face.
• Moral Event Horizon: Threatening to shoot Gordon's son in front of him and the rest of his family. What's sad is that he knew it wasn't right to do but thought it was fair.
• The Messiah: Subverted—hard.
• Took A Level In Badass: Big time.
• Took A Level In Jerkass: Bigger time.
• Nietzsche Wannabe: As Two-Face.
• Roaring Rampage Of Revenge: More like steatlhy rampage of revenge.
• Woobie Destroyer Of Worlds

The Black Guy On The Ferry

A large, intimidating criminal on the ferryboat. When told about the Joker's social experiment, he successfully intimidates the guards into giving him the detonator, then immediately throws it in the water to prove the Joker wrong. Played by Tommy Lister.

• Bald Of Awesome
• Bald Black Leader Guy: Well, he does take charge in his scene.
• Bald Of Evil: For some reason he is a convict.
• Badass
  • Badass Baritone
  • Badass Normal
• Ensemble Dark Horse: An unamed character that is on the screen for less than 1/20 of the movie, yet his scene is one of the most remembered ones.
• Even Convicted Criminals Have Standards
• Heroic Bystander
• Heroic Sacrifice: Fully expected to be making one when he threw the detonator away.
• Large And In Charge
• One Scene Wonder
• Scary Black Man