Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.
This movie contains 50 potentially triggering events.
Bruce Wayne uses his surveillance equipment to view a romantic interest's activities. This is commented on and it is implied that he also acts based on questionably gathered information to actively sabotage her interactions with an implied romantic rival. It's actually pretty creepy.
Though not brutalized, Rachel Dawes is held against her will and ultimately killed in a bombing. This is more or less done for both positive and negative character development for Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent (respectively)
The Joker gives varying stories about how he got his scars that could serve as an explanation for why he does evil things. However this is only talked about and not shown, and it’s possible that the joker made it all up.
In the beginning of the movie, a man who bought drugs from the Scarecrow is seen in distress. Don't use the Scarecrow as a dealer, his drugs take you places, but not places you want to go.
In the beginning of the movie, one of the Scarecrow's victims is shown. The person unknowingly took some nasty hallucinogens from the Scarecrow. The Joker also poisons a man's drink.
Harvey Dent's severely burned face is gruesome. There is exposed muscle and his teeth are visible through his damaged cheek. It also looks like his eyelid was burned.
Invasion of the Middle East and 9/11 analogies were pervasive in 2000s media and this is no exception, Joker exploding buildings in Gotham City draws from the September 11th attacks.
Commissioner Gordon defends his hiring of criminals as police officers, as far as I could tell he wasn’t portrayed as being in the wrong. A corrupt cop is one of the few people spared by Harvey (although who he kills is decided entirely by a coin flip). Gordon has Batman help him do the “good cop, bad cop” routine which involves torturing Joker and one cop nearly beats up The Joker while he’s imprisoned and (at this point) nonthreatening. If this lessens it for you, it’s worth noting that the film humanizes at least one prisoner by having him take the detonator from a cop and dispose of it in the “two boats” scene (saving the people on both boats).
The Joker is predatory (but not sexually) and crossdresses in a nurse outfit and wig in one scene, fooling one person into believing he’s a woman nurse before killing him. However, it’s clear that The Joker isn’t trans.
No mental institution is shown, but the in-universe Arkham Asylum is mentioned when talking about the character Thomas Schiff, a paranoid-schizophrenic and one of the Joker’s men.
Joker tells a story about how he got his scars, saying that his wife was carved by a mugger and was heartbroken. To make his wife feel better, he carved a smile onto his face. It’s unclear if this is true or not, but it is disturbing nevertheless.
A S.W.A.T. van full of officers drives itself off a ledge and falls into water, no one is actually seen drowning and there's no assertion that anyone even died from it though.
Joker’s goons, as well as gangs and the police, all use guns. A memorial service scene includes the Joker and his men disguised as soldiers, who shoot into crowds.
1 comment | Add comment
Become a Supporter!
Filter triggers to only show "Yes" or "No" answers.
DoesTheDogDie, LLC. gives a portion to charity: raised so far!
Support as many triggers as you like simply by pinning them. More paid supporters means the trigger will get answered faster.
Only Supporters get to vote on new trigger ideas.
Help us pay our moderators.
Help this trigger get rated faster. Become a supporter!
Support as many triggers as you like simply by pinning them. Your triggers will be given priority for answering.