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“It’s like the Empire Strikes Back of Batman films…” - Andrew

On this week’s massive episode, we’re finally talking about one of the biggest blockbusters of all time, The Dark Knight! How amazing was Heath in this? Could these fake Batman losers find some… employment in 2025? Would a drug dealer slinging Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin actually have repeat customers? Does the CGI on Two-Face hold up? How awesome is all the vehicular carnage in this movie? And who among hasn’t wanted to WHOOP in the theater watching the semi-truck sequence? PLUS: The Nolan Brothers hit up White Castle!

The Dark Knight stars Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllengaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Monique Gabriela Curnen, Ron Dean, Cillian Murphy, Chin Han, Nestor Carbonell, Eric Roberts, Ritchie Coster, Anthony Michael Hall, and Heath Ledger as the Joker; directed by Christopher Nolan.

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Original cover art by Felipe Sobreiro.

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Comments

Vio Darc

Oh no the wrong name

Papa Taylor

I still remember the first viewing experience

MarkNM

Boy, I hope somebody gets fi--

Vio Darc

They said the k was silent but this is ridiculous

Brad Mull

Hey guys isn’t it knight with a K?

Busiris

Any time I can tell an episode is an instant classic in the first 10 minutes, I'm a pretty happy listener. Unfortunately, tonight's rewatch might be the last time I watch it where I don't "WHOOP" during the truck flip.

Chris

The Dar kNight

TheToad

“It ain't a fit night out for man or beast!” - W.C. Fields

Watch_N_Rewatch

A 3 hour tour! Saw this 7 times in theaters and the IMAX viewing was pretty, pretty, pretty amazing. Still can't believe we got a Nolan Batman movie that hits so damn hard, love it. Cheers 🍻

Scmods

“Were you here on Wednesday?” already becoming one of my favourite bits.

Robert

That Gaddafi joke was something else…

Serg Beret

Already a classic. I’ve been whooping the entire time.

Miguel Sanchez

Shout out to Essence Magazine. Made me Goofy laugh🤣

Jan

Dare i ask if tenet is a We hate movie eps? Because it’s clearly a w❤️m eps.

shinsvark

love "The Dark Night" so much, had me thinking it was some 80s trash i'd never heard of

John Locke

😂 Thank you for making me feel better because I had the same thought when I saw the title.

Tim O'

I saw this opening weekend in a kinda trashy theater with a very rowdy crowd. People were losing their minds. I missed a bit of the dialogue, but it was so much fun.

Tim O'

People were whooping! I guess they weren't there on Wednesday.

Hobbes Roy

“Everything in my life is jealousy”- Eric . 🤌

Infinite Terror

Not only is it a nod to Heat but I am almost positive he shoots on the same rooftop as Caan and Prosky's meeting from Thief. Saw this in a sold out Lincoln Square screening when it came out. Near the very middle of the aisle. Amazing. I knew Heath would be great, but not that great. I still miss him.

ediblegenius

I really wish they stuck to practical effects for 2 face. Just give him a gross bandage on half his face.

Rod

Oh I ‘m gonna make a killing on these AI-generated Joker, Scarface, Rorschach, and Tyler Durden version of the dogs playing poker posters

Adam Lewis

AWWWWWWWWW YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

WarOfTheBees

2008 was truly a time to be alive. My first viewing of this was a bootleg Iraqi DVD with like Malaysian subtitles.

I.C. Weiner

I saw this movie seven (silently mouths the word seven) times in theater.s I then bought it on Blu-Ray and did what Chris said was possible and watched it non-stop with friends. This rewatch was the first time I noticed that the fat batman gets really self-conscious when real Batman says he's not wearing hockey pads. Also, at all my screenings of this movie, no one ever whooped at the trailer flip but instead at the motorcycle wall turnaround, which I always thought was weird

I.C. Weiner

It took me seeing this movie 3 times before I could hear the "Tada" after the magic trick

Tala Hobballah

Excited to listen to this. I remember liking the movie ok when I saw it...then the TDK Fandom made my life hell on message boards at the time lmao.

Johnny Collins

"Uh who plays Harvey Dent opposite me in this movie...?  "Aaron Eckhart sir."  "...OHHH MYYY GOD..."

Infinite Terror

Accidentally left this comment on the Hooper episode of Action Boyz but luckily realized my error.

Ed Harris

My third favorite Batman film (the two Keatons will always have the top two slots). Had a blast seeing it in the theater though. Bale's Batman voice still takes me out of the film every time he opens his mouth though.

Zack Hansen

He's not driving through a mall it's millennial station

Jessica M

Absolutely banger of an episode

Hobbes Roy

Show some respect and capitalize it!

Vōclō

I’ve seen this movie maybe 100 times (bought the DVD then the blu-ray then the 4K). In 2008, I’d never seen a superhero movie, so I thought, “Oh, wow, I like superhero movies!” I eventually realized I love NOLAN movies and I actually hate superhero movies. I am ok with this and remain an unapologetic Nolan fangirl. 😏

Patrick caddy

This movie is so important to me. I remember the summer it came out it was the first time I saw someone dressed up for a movie

Zack Hansen

I'm at work, didn't proof read, sorry.

Zack Hansen

It's also the first/ last stop for the train they get on in those awful divergent movies.

Rob Brown

Nestor Carbonell was pretty great as the sheriff in Bates Motel, which the guys REALLY need to give an honest chance some day.

TJ Gaines

“DONNA MARTIN GRADUATES!”

Daryl Williams

"I wish I knew how to quit you!"- Batman to Joker

Patrick caddy

In the special features they say that Bales been batman for like 6-7 months by the beginning of the movie. I love how it's an ultra realistic batman to the fact that in the 3rd rhe Dr's like yeah your body is more scar tissue then man

James C Harris

The perfect thing to help me recover from this stroke

Lar

Just started the episode but my family and I went to Chicago on vacation the weekend the movie came out. I was up late at the midnight showing. We tried to watch it again while in Chicago but no surprise, every single movie theater showing was sold out. But it was neat that they were already showing the filming locations on the tours then.

Lar

Geez, hope you recover quickly!

Rose Esposito

That's funny, I saw it on a visit to Chicago too, though I think my friend & I deliberately planned it that way. And then we saw it a second time before the weekend was out, and my hosts took me to that one famous street where the truck-flip was filmed!

Rose Esposito

That Killing Joke adaptation is the ONLY time I can ever remember buying an advance ticket for something and then refunding it based solely on the terrible buzz I heard. And it still sounds like I was right to do it!

Patrick caddy

In the comics his son grows up to be a psychopath/serial killer. In the main continuity im Year One where Jim Jr is dropped from the bridge they say it caused brain damage and made him evil. And sometimes its like Jim is embarrassed he has a son

James C Harris

Its been rough but thankfully it was a minor one

John Edwards

Great episode on a great film. I liked Chris's point on Ledger's vulnerability, because one of the consistent choices he makes throughout is dropping the mask and letting his anger bleed through whenever someone accuses the Joker of being "crazy." It adds a pitiable dimension to the character: he's someone who genuinely believes in his warped philosophy, and is hurt that no one takes him seriously, and that humanizes him without having to resort to something more rote like a tragic backstory.

Paul

The Dark Knight Rises for the H feed. Request forthcoming in March.

Lar

Can’t believe they didn’t make this joke, kudos!

Lar

I think Chris is the only one of them who really likes it, but I could be wrong.

Robert

He’s also great in Shogun. Even won an Emmy for it

Jonathan Lyons

Every time I listen to the batman begins episode, I just wished that they talked about this one too. I'm gonna give a preemptive "good episode, guys" Cuz I already fucking know you guys are gonna kill it. I'll take the moe's "no funeral" sign down and save roulette for another day lol

I.C. Weiner

I believe at least one of them watched a good portion of it and hated it

Busiris

Will co-sign the Bates Motel recommendation. I think it actually gets really good once you get past the shaky first season.

Ed Harris

Saw that Joker sticker on the window of a car across the street from my apartment. Its been gone for a few weeks so maybe the guy was in So-Cal to visit someone before heading back east. Great episode as always.

Paul

Pat Hingle: Oh, I’m delighted to star in another Batman film. Tell me, who’s playing Harvey Dent? Other: It’s Aaron Eckart, sir. Hingle: O.My.God.

Dennis Stack

Alright, it's official. At least every fifth episode needs to cover a movie with a character named Ramirez so Steve can Connery it up on that pronunciation 😂

sandwichislandartist

hearing about mister reese gave me war flashbacks to when people were speculating he was gonna be the riddler

Jason

Andrew telling the story about the guy fist pumping for Pugh’s nude scene in Oppie….why didn’t you tell us you sat next to Bill Simmons? Did he give you any sweet 3 team parlays before the screening?

Winson Paine

This was an odd watch for me for a silly reason. In the first Nolan, they did a pretty good job of disguising Chicago and it was fine. In this one Nolan just stopped bothering and so many scenes had something instantly recognizable my brain was like HEY THEY ARE IN DALEY PLAZA or HEY BATS IS STANDING ON TOP OF THE SEARS or whatever. The two that really threw me were the above shot for the ferry sequence where HELLO NAVY PIER kicked in and when he rides his batbike through the "mall" that was the pedway (Chicago has an underground foot path through the loop area so you can get to your train or job without dealing with tourists and/or weather) and he rode it through the station that I walked through every friggin morning. It made me WHOOP, legit. Side note when they were shooting this I worked in the Aon Center (the big ugly square stripey building in the skyline) and we would get notices in the mail of HEY THOSE DUDES ON THE OTHER ROOF WITH MACHINE GUYS AND BODY ARMOR ARE JUST SHOOTING A BATMAN or HEY THE ENTRANCE TO LOWER WACKER BY US IS CLOSED SO THEY CAN FILM SHIT.

Winson Paine

Also the Hospital they blow up is the old Brachs candy factory that I always wanted to sneak into and urban explore but Nolan fucking blew it up

Winson Paine

Also the difference between y'all doing Jonathan Nolan and y'all doing James Belushi is like one thin ball hair wide

Matt

A crippling hangover, wishing I was dead, and the How I Met Your Mother theme blaring hit WAAAAY too close to home from about 15 years ago

Rose Esposito

Oh, and the "MY DOGS ARE HONGRY" Chechen is played by Ritchie Coster, who's been in 10 million things and played Claudius to Oscar Isaac's Hamlet onstage at the Public a few years ago. I briefly said hi to him outside the theater afterwards and I just 🤩🤩🤩

Matthew Lloyd

Apparently when Dent does the coin flip to the joker the joker has his thumb in-between the hammer and the striking surface.

MarkNM

The playing cards should have Art the Clown on them.

Zach Bernard

I'm the guy who sent Eric the Zapruder MadTV sketch on Twitter! (I was rimjiggleman back then) I'm so glad to hear it mentioned lmao. Love this episode and loving WLM month as always

MarkNM

Not the butterscotch disks!

Paddy O'Rourke

Nolan is still giving those 80s lads a chance. James Remar in Oppenheimer.

Adam Lewis

I have pictures of my father with then-Senator Patrick Leahy at fundraisers but could never get him to ask the senator about Batman.

JK

I tried to keep my whooping to a minimum but this movie rules so goddamn much there was definitely still some whooping

Jonathan Lyons

I saw this for the first time at a drive-in. Double feature. Dark knight and get smart. Me and my date were blown away by the heist scene alone. And then you can guess what we did during get smart. Don't remember any of that part. Good memory. Whooping is ok for this.

Adam Ray

We need to complete the series

Adam Ray

I vividly remember being angry nerd about Ledger being cast as Joker. Especially after an interview he did where he said he didn't really know anything about the character or read the comics. I quite happily ate every single word after the first trailer came out. I'm 0 for 2 when predicting whether an actor will play the joker well because I thought Leto was going to pull it off strictly from his legitimate natural laugh. And again, after the trailer I was eating my words.

Craig

Brilliant

Craig

I kind of like when characters call him “The” Batman. There’s something about it that adds to his mythic quality. Like it’s the name they gave him, rather than a name he gave himself.

Matthew Lloyd

In the comics Gordons son is a serial killer.

I.C. Weiner

Watching TDKR, they confirmed at the beginning of the movie that Jim's wife took the kid with her to Cleveland

Adam Howard

Please call me Batman, ‘The Batman’ is my father’s name

Adam Lewis

I knew I was old when I first had to drop that line on some neighbor kids.

Darcy MacDonald

Saw this on opening day and I remember when the motorcycle stops on the wall the entire theatre let out a collective gasp, and several people jumped to their feet. I remember realizing like, holy shit, this thing hasn't let up once until now.

Darcy MacDonald

Joker voices become Giamatti about halfway through - not that I'm complaining

Jamie

"Things are worse than ever!" guy reminds me of the Steve clone from the "tables" ITYSL sketch. "This is the MADDEST I've ever been!!"

Jan

It would be INTERESTING to listen to whm’s take on TENET; it’d be great because it’s divisive & well observed crituque clash between a cabin & its tortured souls

Meara Brady

The craziest part of the “mall” he’s driving the Bat Bike through is a legit train station near Millennium Park which is somehow even cooler and more insane

Jules of Denial

Changing from “Pat Hingle as the great Jim Gordon” to “the great Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon” is the highest compliment Steve could pay.

Noura Sarayel

“Was anyone hurt in the explosion?” “Eckhart, sir.” “Oh my God”