Superhero movies wouldn't be what they are today were it not for the Dark Knight trilogy. In revamping the masked vigilante for the mainstream, filmmaker Christopher Nolan elevated a pedestrian genre to the realm of high art, earning universal praise and the genre’s first Oscar-winning performance with Heath Ledger's Joker. The performances did not stop with Heath however, as the overall cast brings many famous characters to life.
Nolan’s mastery of emotion, epic scale, and neo-noir tropes has aged incredibly well since The Dark Knight Rises wrapped things up in 2012, and the trilogy continues to be the superhero golden standard. The series set an unprecedented representation of Gotham, that many filmmakers have failed to achieve throughout the years.
That being said, the films themselves aren’t perfect. For every masterful decision that Nolan made, there was the occasional misstep, missed opportunity, or choice that simply didn’t align with what fans expect from Batman. Although the decisions are, in majority, fitting and necessary, those missteps take some of the magic out of these iconic films, leading the audience to confusedly stumble around at times.
Here are 10 Things Christopher Nolan Got Right About Batman (And 10 Things He Ruined).
Right: Batman’s Impact on Gotham
No superhero is as personally invested in their hometown as Batman is. His love for Gotham, his desire to see it free of crime and poverty, are crucial as to why he put on the mask in the first place, and Nolan does a fine job of illustrating that throughout.
In Batman Begins, the titular hero rejects his mentor’s attempt to cleanse the city, maintaining that there are still people worth saving. In The Dark Knight, Bats goes as far as to assume the mantle of villain, so that the people of Gotham have someone to unite against.
The fact that his actions are so intrinsically tied to the city he loves gives the films an emotional foundation that other iterations lacked. Tim Burton’s Batman always seemed more invested in his foes than he did Gotham, and Zack Snyder’s Batman seems too jaded to care about anything. Nolan’s is the only one that makes explicit the character’s urge to defend his home turf.
Ruined: Bruce Wayne Going Bankrupt
Bruce Wayne’s wealth is an integral part of the Batman story. Were it not for the billions he inherited from his parents, he would not be able to afford the gadgets needed to fight crime. Stripping away his wealth would be a gutsy decision, but one that could, ostensibly, add emotional depth to the character. Unfortunately, Nolan’s decision to bankrupt Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises doesn’t achieve that - it doesn’t change him as a person, nor does it force him to cope without gadgets or the Batsuit.
It creates plot holes that wouldn’t have otherwise been there. When Bruce escapes the pit that Bane left him in, how did he have the funds to travel back to Gotham? How can he afford to vacation with Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) at the end of the film? In a trilogy characterized by sharp writing, it feels like the bankruptcy angle was simply crammed into the larger narrative and then discarded when inconvenient.
Right: The Batsuit
The Batsuit has gone through some awkward phases over the years. As menacing as Michael Keaton’s suit looked, the poor guy couldn’t move his neck to save his life. George Clooney is still getting flack for sporting nipples on a Batsuit, and Ben Affleck’s Batman v Superman armor lost authenticity by veering a little too far into Iron Man territory. This leaves Christian Bale’s suits, as they evolve over all three films, as the quintessential live-action example.
Bale’s suits are easily the most functional, doing away with the flaws of past models. A scene in The Dark Knight addresses it head on, Wayne states: “You want to turn your head?” “It would sure make backing out of the driveway easier.” Bale is actually able to move with the speed and agility of someone who spends their nights scrambling on rooftops, a crucial distinction to be made in Nolan’s semi-realistic world. It doesn’t hurt that the actor looks fantastic to boot, covered in all black and chiseled body armor.
Ruined: Batman Is Only Active For One Year
Yes, technically Nolan took inspiration from Frank Miller’s seminal graphic novel Batman: Year One, but Miller never specified Batman was only active for literally one year. And yet, that seems to be what happens between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The consensus is that the latter film takes place about six months after the events of Batman Begins, meaning that Bats was still relatively wet behind the ears when he ran into the Joker and a scarred, vengeful Harvey Dent.
This condensed timeline may be the result of Nolan wanting to keep the films as grounded as possible, but when you step back with that in mind, it loses a little dramatic weight. When Batman considers retiring to spend time with Rachel, it’s coming from a guy who’s been on the job for half a year! A small issue perhaps, but one that doesn’t seem fitting of the Batman persona.
Right: Batman’s Use Of Gadgets
Seeing as Batman is a normal guy and not some indestructible superhuman, it makes sense that he would need to rely on gadgets. While we’ve seen this trait used for laughs in the 1960s TV series and the Joel Schumacher films (unintentional laughs, but laughs nevertheless), the Dark Knight trilogy strikes arguably the finest balance between ordinary and practical coolness.
Here, Batman’s use of things like sonar and echolocation technology makes for some truly stunning set pieces, like the massive bat attack in Batman Begins or the abduction of Lao in The Dark Knight.
Other changes are more subtle, if not just as effective. The batarang becomes Batman’s calling card throughout the trilogy, and the forearm triangle blades are given an origin and a purpose beyond looking like a cool costume accessory. Again, if Batman were real, these are the ways he would use gadgets.
Ruined: The Batcave
While the gadgets in the Dark Knight trilogy are all fine and dandy, the Batcave feels like it gets the short end of the stick. We’re given a memorable introduction to it in Batman Begins, but it's quickly destroyed along with the rest of Wayne Manor and Batman is forced to move his operations elsewhere. The Dark Knight, the most beloved installment, features no Batcave whatsoever, and even after it's rebuilt in The Dark Knight Rises, very little of it is shown. All together, we get a handful of scenes scattered amidst an almost eight hour runtime.
Whether this is accidental or because of Nolan’s urge to shy away from things that could be seen as boring remains is unclear, but it would have been nice to see the Batcave become more of an established hub throughout the films-- especially given how impressive it looks in Begins and TDKR.
Right: Batman’s Alliance With Gordon
Prior to the Dark Knight trilogy, Jim Gordon was a useless character. As played by Pat Hingle in the Burton and Schumacher films, he was a goofy, ineffective policeman who seemed as though he wouldn’t be able to keep his job were it not for Batman catching all the bad guys. In Nolan’s hands, Gordon, portrayed by Gary Oldman, became a partner for Batman, an equal who could be counted on to help protect Gotham. We see glimpses of this in Batman Begins, but it's more obvious in The Dark Knight, where the two sacrifice their safety to put the mob behind bars.
Gordon’s arc over the three films is, in many ways, a parallel to Batman’s, showing the pitfalls of being decent men in an indecent time. At the same time, being someone in the public eye, Gordon is more vulnerable, and subsequently, a more tragically heroic figure. His relationship with Batman is one that’s pivotal to the trilogy, even as it largely goes unpraised.
Ruined: Batman Retired For Eight Years
Even more outrageous than the point about Batman being active for one year is that he retired for eight years after that. That’s a wildly unbalanced ratio, given the weary, aging Bruce Wayne angle that Nolan plays up in The Dark Knight Rises. The other characters in the film, from Selina Kyle to the Gotham police, speak of Batman as though he was this great beacon of hope, when really he fought crime for a few months, then disappeared following Harvey Dent’s death. It doesn’t seem as though it would be enough to warrant such praise.
Beyond that, Nolan kind of wrote himself into a corner with the end of The Dark Knight. The notion of Batman going ghost for the greater good was brilliant, but coming back and telling us that he’s been hiding out for eight years feels a tad contrarian to the driven, obsessively protective Bruce Wayne that we knew in the first two films.
Right: The Impact Of His Parents’ ing Away
Could there be a more depicted scene in superhero history? So many filmmakers and actors have taken it upon themselves to show the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents, and the emotional anguish that it caused him as an adult. The trick, however, as seen in Nolan’s films, is to let the tragedy inform the character without having it define him completely. Batman Begins is a superb instance of this, showing Wayne’s journey from vengeful young man to matured hero, using his pain to help others.
There are references to his parents throughout the series, particularly in The Dark Knight Rises when he struggles to climb out of the pit, but for the most part, Nolan doesn’t hammer you over the head with it. When compared to something like Batman v Superman, with its recurring flashbacks and groan-worthy “Martha” scene, it makes you appreciate Nolan’s tact and emotional taste even more.
Ruined: Batman’s Superhuman Healing Ability
Batman succumbs to plenty of injuries throughout the series, but in The Dark Knight Rises, his healing abilities become a little suspect. He starts the film with a limp, presumably from the fall he suffered eight years earlier, which is suddenly fixed in seconds through a brace that snaps his leg back into place. Then, he gets his back broken by Bane played by Tom Hardy, only to have it fixed by hanging from the ceiling and having his spine popped back into place. We aren’t doctors, but we assume that is not the ideal remedy for a broken back.
He manages to recover without any medical attention or nutritious food. Those repeated falls, tied to a rope that would almost certainly destroy a weakened spine, didn't help.
Kudos to Nolan for doing something as daring as adapting the Knightfall story arc from the comics and incapacitating his hero, but Batman’s recovery is so swift and convenient that it’s kind of hard to swallow.
