For a movie that wants to be realistic, this is an interesting stance. His entire mission is to destroy how we think of heroes. What sets the Joker apart and makes him a memorable villain is that he's an agent of chaos. Losing his one love makes retiring worthless because Bruce lost his reason to live. That pain allows Batman to retire, but it's too late.
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Taking the heat for one man's actions.Īs he runs off into the darkness at the end of the movie he knows that the people of Gotham now know how to act because Harvey Dent showed them, but the cowl and mantle of the bat must be hung up with disgrace.
The answer, of course, is that Batman must retire ignobly. If the people only know how to act heroically because they have a Batman, and the symbol Batman was going to use to replace himself is now evil, how can he ever retire? This juxtaposition not only centers Batman as the people's champ, but it creates a conundrum for Bruce Wayne. We see their need and want for heroes, but in the last set piece, we see how quick they are to damn other people to save themselves.
This internal struggle is also echoed in the people of Gotham city. Sure, the Joker is the main bad guy in this story, but the real heart of The Dark Knight script is Batman and Bruce duking it out for their right to exist. Not to get overly into the Dark Knight script analysis, but the other thing that sets this script apart from other blockbusters is that the character of Batman has to struggle with Bruce Wayne.