Warner Bros. Pictures

The Dark Knight trilogy is an award-winning film series directed by Christopher Nolan. These superhero actions consist of Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). All three films were widely successful. Batman Begins earned $372,710,015, The Dark Knight garnered $ 1,023,045,358, and The Dark Knight Rises surpassed its predecessor with a total of $1,081,041,287. 

All three were in the top ten as the highest-grossing films for their respective dates. Additionally, each of the trilogy actors and actresses, Christian Bale (The Batman), Michael Caine (Alfred), Gary Oldman (Commissioner Gordon),  Cillian Murphy (The Scarecrow), and Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) appeared in all three movies.

Batman Begins is the first movie in this series and begins with the origin story of the protagonist, Bruce Wayne, who is also the superhero Batman. Bruce is a billionaire who lives in Wayne Manor, near Gotham City. He owns Wayne Enterprises, where he eventually meets Lucius Fox (played by Morgan Freeman), who helps him design all of Batman’s gadgets and suits. Bruce Wayne’s path to becoming a superhero is difficult as his fate is to fight crime. The story starts with Bruce as a kid playing with his childhood friend Rachel (Katie Holmes). While playing with Rachel, Bruce falls into a cave and is petrified as hundreds of bats rush at his face. He later is scared by bat-like actors in a play he watches with his parents on a night he will never forget. Due to Bruce’s fear of bats, the Wayne family decides to leave the play early, but they are quickly met by a robber who ends up murdering both of Bruce’s parents. Bruce becomes an orphan and is raised by the family butler, Alfred. This tragedy sets up Batman’s ideals of justice and chiroptophobia (fear of bats). He channels his fears in an ironic twist, which inspires his quest to become Gotham’s protector. As the movie progresses, we see where he meets his main antagonist, Ra’s al Ghul, played by Liam Neeson.

Ra’s al Ghul and his group, the League of Shadows, train Bruce and help him conquer his fears through brutal tactics. Later in the cinema, Bruce and the Commissioner of Gotham Police are introduced to other villains like the Scarecrow and crime bosses like Carmine Falcone. Unfortunately for Bruce, Batman is still pinned as a vigilante and is hunted by the police. Later, Ra’s al Ghul reveals his main evil plan, which is to spray the Scarecrow’s fear-inducing hallucinogen onto all of Gotham and also release all of Gotham’s criminals from Arkham Asylum and collapse the entire civilization. The movie’s climax occurs when Batman fights Ra’s al Ghul on a monorail and releases the Scarecrow hallucinogen onto the city. Commissioner Gordon counters the fear-inducing toxins by releasing an antidote, and Ra’s al Ghul is left for dead in the train that explodes by Batman. The movie ends with an Easter egg peek at the next villain when Commissioner Gordon shows Batman a Joker card left at a crime scene. 

The second movie, The Dark Knight, is arguably the most popular film in the trilogy as Heath Ledger (playing Joker) earned an Oscar posthumously, for best performance by an actor in a supporting role. Sadly, Ledger died from a drug overdose before the movie was released or Oscar awarded. His tragic death led to even more interest in the film. The film begins with Batman´s struggle to contain the overload of crime in Gotham City. However, there is a ray of hope, as Rachel Dawes (now played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) and Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart), a smooth district attorney, help lead the fight against the city’s criminals. The two are a charming power couple, unknowing that Bruce Wayne has had feelings for Rachel since their childhood.

Harvey’s success at putting criminals behind bars allows Batman to believe that he will eventually be able to retire. When the Joker starts going after high-profile targets he demands that Batman reveal his identity to stop the bloodshed. Harvey then takes the fall for Batman and reveals he is “the Batman.” His sacrifice of Batman’s identity is later able to lead to the capture of the Joker by Commissioner Gordon and Batman. The Joker then reveals that he captured Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes and gives out both locations. This creates a tragic dilemma for Batman who has to choose which one of them to save. Batman grapples with this and decides to save Rachel but, he is played by the Joker and arrives only to find he is sent instead to Harvey Dent’s location. Rachel is then killed by an explosion and Batman narrowly saves Harvey. The explosion leads to half of Dent’s face getting severely burned and the Joker escapes during the chaos. Harvey Dent’s trademark is his two-sided coin, which he uses to make decisions. The Joker then infiltrates the hospital that Harvey is in and turns him into a villain. Harvey even says, “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” which foreshadows his becoming the villain two-face.

The Joker then fights Batman for the final time, which ends in Batman capturing him. The Joker was almost able to convince two evacuation ferries rigged to explode to blow the other one up, or else he would blow both of the ferries up. Dent then kidnaps Commissioner Gordon’s wife and his son. Dent flips his coin on whether to kill Gordon’s son or not. Batman thwarts his intentions and Dent falls to his death. Since the city must believe Dent is still a hero, Batman takes the blame for Harvey’s death, which has the movie ending in an all-out manhunt for Batman.

The final movie in this trilogy is The Dark Knight Rises, which starts with Batman being reclusive and elusive as the police are still hunting him. A new villain, Bane (Tom Hardy), is introduced. Bane is a former member of the League of Shadows and ends up kidnapping a nuclear physicist. The criminal Cat Woman (Anne Hathway), who goes by the name Selina Kyle, steals Bruce’s fingerprints. Bane attacks the Gotham Stock Exchange, uses Bruce’s fingerprints to make fraudulent purchases, and leaves Bruce Wayne bankrupt. Catwoman then tricks Batman and lures him to Bane. Bane tells Batman that he will fulfill Ra’s al Ghul’s goal and then severely injures Batman. Bane then is able to take over Gothamn City and blows up all bridges except for one, the lead into Gothamn. Bane also reveals Harvey Dent’s crimes, which cause the release of the villain, and uses his kidnapped nuclear physicist to create a fusion bomb. Bruce Wayne recovers from his injury and, with the police, fights back against Bane. Catwoman kills Bane, and Batman defeats Ra’s al Ghul’s child, Talia al Ghul (Joey King and Marion Cotillard). The height of the movie is when Batman reveals his identity to Commissioner Gordon and uses his aircraft to lure the bomb away from Gotham safely. Batman is thought to be dead and is celebrated by Gotham’s citizens. Wayne Manor becomes an orphanage and is given to Alfred. One of the police officers is revealed to have the first name Robin and is given a package that leads to the Bat Cave. Batman can retire and is in a relationship with Selina Kyle.

 The Dark Knight series is an excellent trilogy with a series of plot twists, changes in characters, and ever-growing emotions. It perfectly shows Batman’s rise to become a hero and fight crime. It shows his journey of fighting other villains, criminals, or crime bosses who are also causing havoc.  In my opinion, Christian Bale is the best Batman as not only does he make the perfect Batman, but he also does a fantastic job as Batman’s alter ego, Bruce Wayne. The Joker, to me, is one of the best villains because of how creepy and in-character, Heath Ledger was able to go while becoming the Joker. Also, the Joker has no powers and uses his witt to cause mayhem and destruction. The sub-plots, on the other hand, end with a catastrophic tragedy, Batman learning from his mistakes, bringing down criminals, or providing a turning point in the main plot.

I like all of the villains as they are each different in how they bring about change to Gotham and how Batman has to take them down. I also like the transitions between Batman’s character and the humor he brings to an action film (when needed). The trilogy gives the viewer the origin of Batman; he faces his most challenging villains, and finally, when he is older, he has to fight one last supervillain. The quotes from all of the villains are unforgettable, and just how they challenge Batman is unlike any other superhero movie. The audience also gets a great background of the villains and how they came to be. Instead of just dropping in a villain and saying the hero has to fight him. I wish we could have kept the first Rachel Dawes, as I liked her better than the second one. It would have been cool to introduce a 4th Batman with a new Batman villain or allow Robin or Bat Girl to come in, as Robin was teased at the end of The Dark Knight Rises. So, overall, it was a fantastic series of movies made which gave us amazing amounts of action and allowed us to have an award-winning trilogy.