The story that Christopher Nolan has told with The Dark Knight Legend (or The Dark Knight Trilogy) is the pinnacle of storytelling. It is the greatest ever told and no great story is complete without rich and vibrant characters. The Dark Knight Legend easily offers some of the most incredible characters ever realized. The agenda of this list is simple, to pay respect to the awesome characters that make up the greatest story ever told. Here are my favorites.
10. Talia Al Ghul
Upon first meeting Miranda Tate you come to realize what a kind soul she is and how fitting it is for her to be Bruce Wayne’s love interest. By the end when hope prevails and Batman triumphs over the monstrous Bane. All hope is lost when the vindictive villain, Talia, reveals herself to the now heart-broken Bruce Wayne. She is daugher to Ra’s Al Ghul and wants nothing more than her fathers legacy fulfilled and Batman to perish.
9. Alfred Pennyworth
If you’re looking for the heart and soul of this entire dark and emotive legend, look no further than Bruce Wayne’s wise butler, Alfred J. Pennyworth. For whenever Bruce Wayne’s journey seems perilous, Alfred does what he can to keep our hero on the right path. It must be difficult for Alfred to watch someone he cares for like his own child go out and sacrifice himself every night. He deals with every situation as it comes with wisdom and grace.
8. Harvey “Two Face” Dent
The Dark Knight tells a flawless tale about good and evil. The prominent backbone of this powerful story is one of a man. Harvey Dent’s journey from charming and brave “White Knight” into the vicious killer “Two Face”. By the end of this story were made to believe that this hero goes on a murderous rampage and it completely works. Dent is broken down as a man and consumed by evil. He’s given every reason to turn wicked so it only makes sense that he does.
7. Ra’s Al Ghul
I could not comprehend better renditions of these characters and the same goes for Liam Neeson’s astounding portrayal of the leader of The League of Shadows, Ra’s Al Ghul. Even though he ends up being the prime antagonist in Bruce Wayne’s journey into becoming the greatest hero the world has ever known, he is the man responsible for training man who would become Batman. Where the two men differ is in the ways the choose to dispense justice.
6. Robin “John” Blake
From the moment he walks on screen to the final shot and defining shot of the legend, Blake epitomizes the idea of a man who can take up the cape and cowl of Batman. “You should use your full name. I like that name, Robin.” From that moment on it was fully realized that Nolan had done with the character, Robin, what he had done with every character he adapted from Batman lore. He captured the essence of the character while realistically applying him to his own legend as man who could take up Batman’s mantle.
5. Catwoman
Selina Kyle is the perfect love interest for Batman and though she’s never given the nomenclature in the film but, Selina Kyle is Catwoman. A thief by necessity, Catwoman loves this dark persona she’s created for herself and the life she leads, but the ground is shrinking beneath her. She needs a way to start her life of crime over, but Bruce Wayne sees the good in her and it’s love that proofs he’s right. She tries so hard to show this mysterious darkness in her, but at the end of the day she can’t deny the undeniable fact that she’s a hero.
4. Commissioner Jim Gordon
Since long before Bruce Wayne became the now legend that is Batman, James Gordon was fighting the good fight in a war on injustice. And ever since Batman Began, Gordon has been there with him on the battlefield. He is law and order personified and we watched him grow as we watched Batman grow, in Gordon’s case from Sergeant to Commissioner. Gordon was recruited by Bruce Wayne even before the man that would become Batman put on the cape and cowl and he’s been there since the end. Gordon and Batman represent a friendship based solely on two mens need to turn fear on those who prey on the fearful.
3. Batman
In becoming the legend known only as Batman, Bruce Wayne is the greatest hero ever crafted making him one of the greatest characters in film.”Anyone could be Batman, that was the point.” Not only as Batman, is Bruce on a quest against evil. He’s also a symbol for hope in a world filled with injustice and despair. Batman is good for the sake of being good and he does the right thing because it’s the right thing do and not only that, he will do everything in his power and battle until his last breath to do just that. This entire legend is a tale of heroism and though the journey was arduous the hero at the centre of this masterpiece is a knight and legend known as Batman.
2. Bane
Bane completely envelops the idea of despair and his name is incredibly fitting as he is the Bane of Batman. While The Joker is pure evil fighting against all that is good, Bane is battling to torture and extinguish the hero of our story who fights for all that is good. He was born in darkness and by the end of a battle between our hero he is consumed by animosity towards the hero of the story even to the point of denying the dying wish of the only person he’s ever loved. “We both know I have to kill you know. You’ll just have to imagine the fire,” he says before putting a shotgun to Batman’s head. Bane is an intimidating and emotionless brute force, one the greatest villains in film and one of the greatest characters in existence.
1. The Joker
The twisted, dark and chaotic anarchist, The Joker, is like Batman in the way that he is a symbol. There is an undeniable balance between Batman and The Joker in the way the way that while both fight for something, they are polar opposites. Whereas Batman fights to his last breath for all that is good, The Joker fights for and would die for all that is evil. Batman is a symbol for good and The Joker is a symbol for evil and the continuos battle between the two is poetic and beautiful.
The Joker is the epitome of evil and the greatest villain ever created. What Christopher Nolan has done is crafted a perfect and definitive story of an icon. With Heath Ledger at the helm, what is fully realized in The Joker is the greatest character of all time. A story is nothing without a conflict overcome and more often than not conflict is personified in one character we call a villain. Behind the quirks, charisma, entertainment that The Joker offers as the clown he is, no villain could ever be as purely evil as The Joker.
