Exploring the Ways That Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” Is Loyal to the Comic Book Franchise, Yet Still Realistic

We can all agree that the Christopher Nolan blockbuster ‘The Dark Knight’ is more realistic than all other Batman films; the ’super-villains’ are believable, nobody has ’super powers’ and it all revolves around serious crimes, rather than gimmicks and ‘world domination’.

However, despite how unbelievable the DC comic books may seem, ‘The Dark Knight’ stays faithful to them, and actually stays more faithful to the comic books than the Original Batman series (’Batman’, ‘Batman Returns’, ‘Batman Forever’, ‘Batman and Robin’) does.

The Kill Factor

Throughout the comic book series, nevermind what happens, nevermind who a villain may hurt or kill, Batman will NEVER kill anybody. When the Joker kills the second Robin (Jason Todd), Batman will still not kill him, he believes that if he ever kills a being he will become a villain, like those he has spent his life fighting against.

In ‘The Dark Knight’ it becomes quite clear that Batman will fight and he will attack, but he will never kill, no matter how much he wants to. The Joker taunts him about this ‘rule’ stating that he will ‘have to break his one rule’. Maroni also makes this clear whilst being interrogated about the Joker’s whereabouts stating that ‘Everyone knows you [Batman] has rules’. This theme plays a large part throughout the film, as Batman struggles whether or not to kill the Joker. As the viewer, we can visually see this struggle when he comes within inches of killing the Joker by hitting him with the BatPod.

Whilst it is clear that Nolan’s film stays true to the comic book in this sense, the same cannot be said for the earlier series. In ‘Batman’, ‘Batman Returns’, ‘Batman Forever’ and ‘Batman and Robin’, Batman seems to kill people on a whim, not worried about the consequences nor moral implications. We see him blow up the Joker’s entire factory in ‘Batman’ with his henchmen inside, see him blow away the clown quite literally in ‘Batman Returns’ and cause Harvey Dent’s death in ‘Batman Forever’.

The Joker’s Origin

In ‘The Dark Knight’ we are introduced to a new interpretation to Batman’s greatest enemy; the Joker. Whilst it is clear this Joker has not had his skin bleached as in the comic, there are subtle parts of the comic Joker we find in ‘The Dark Knight’. Throughout the comic book’s history, the Joker’s origin is portrayed in various, very different ways. The most common is that the Joker was a gangster, named Jack Napier, fell into a vat of chemicals that bleached his skin white, his hair green, and lips red, before plastic surgery on an injury gave him his infamous grin (this is the origin portrayed in Tim Burton’s 1989 ‘Batman). Another is that he was a villain known as ‘Red Hood’ who again fell into a vat of chemicals, and the final well-known origin is that he was a failed comedian, who, yes you guessed it, fell into a vat of chemicals. What is great is that the Joker himself does not know his own origin. He states in ‘The Killing Joke’ that he tells which ever story he feels he wants to at the time, and that he ‘can’t remember’ the truth. In ‘The Dark Knight’ the Joker tells multiple stories of his origin; of how he ‘got these scars’. None are confirmed; much like in the comic book, the Joker appears from nowhere to wreak havoc.

Relationships

Like in Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’, ‘The Dark Knight’ portrays Batman going up against his greatest foe; the Joker. Throughout comic book history, the relationship between Batman and the Joker has been, at best, a complex one. It is frequently hinted that neither one can exist without the other; that neither can, nor actually wants to kill the other, despite being sworn enemies.  In the comic book series ‘Emperor Joker’, the Joker, with supernatural powers, kills Batman, then brings him back to life ona daily basis, prompting Superman to believe that the Joker could not bring himself to kill his adversary permanently; that he could not live without him. This is also suggested in Frank Miller’s comic ‘The Dark Knight Returns’. With Batman seemingly retired, the Joker is effectively retired too. In Batman’s absence, the Joker seems to be sane with no plans to commit any crimes, however, when Batman comes out of retirement, so does the Joker; a smile runs across his face and he returns to his former ways. This is reflected in ‘The Dark Knight’; the Joker only appears to rid the mob world of Batman, yet admits that he does not actually want to kill the masked vigilante; he states in the now famous interogation scen ‘You complete me’ and then of course admits on television that a world without Batman would be ‘boring’. This suggests, that like the comic book series, the Joker NEEDS Batman.