Possible New Explanation For The Joker's Absence In "The Dark Knight Rises"

Possible New Explanation For The Joker's Absence In "The Dark Knight Rises"

Well, maybe not so much new, but I rarely ever see this named as a possible way to explain Joker's absence in Nolan's future films.

Editorial Opinion
By MarvelCinematicUniverse - Nov 03, 2010 03:11 PM EST
Filed Under: Fan Fic



After Heath Ledger's sudden death back in January 2008, approximately about six months before "The Dark Knight" was released, there was much controversy as to how this would affect Christopher Nolan's Batman films.

Before Ledger passed, it had already been acknowledged that The Joker would return in Batman 3, now officially titled "The Dark Knight Rises", so it rose a couple questions: "Would The Joker be recast?", "Would they somehow kill The Joker off with editing?", "How will they suddenly just downplay The Joker not being around?", and that is just some of questions that had been put forward.

Christopher Nolan, the director who was, and still is, heavy hit by Heath Ledger's death has confirmed there will be no recasting for The Joker and the character will not be returning for further installments. Good on Nolan for not tinkering around with what Heath left us.

With some thinking, I came to a new possibility for how to explain The Joker's absence that I have never seen mentioned. The nonchalant fanboy theory would be that The Joker would simply be put into Arkham Asylum, which does make sense, but come on... he is The Joker. You think they could keep that dog in there without him breaking loose somehow after what he pulled with the cell phone fiasco?

So here is my theory... I beleive The Joker was killed by the S.W.A.T team we saw confront The Joker in the last seconds of the character's screentime. Really, it would almost be ridiculous to think they would not just be done with him then and there.

The Joker caused so much anarchy on Gotham City, seeing him be treated as any other crook in Gotham would be just a tad bit off putting and it is reasonable to beleive the S.W.A.T team were given orders to kill him. At that point, WHY let this insane terrorist live who actually managed to outsmart even the Gotham PD? Even if locked up in Arkham, again, the cell phone incident comes to mind.

Another problem I see is that because of what we saw Joker was capable of, how would you explain him not breaking out eventually?

This just my idea, and knowing the genius of Nolan I could definantly see him pulling off some new and original way not yet brought to the forefront to explain The Joker's sudden absence from the films.
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Angelus
Angelus - 11/3/2010, 3:47 PM
Thats a nice pop shovit or whatever Mr. J is doing over Bats! Of course he stance is goofy!

BMP!
Ethic
Ethic - 11/3/2010, 4:15 PM
In fairness, leaving the joker completely out of the last installment doesn't really make sense if Nolan is looking to complete what they've started with the first two.

My guess is they'll have a hint at Joker in the end, maybe a darkened room in Arkham with a laugh to close the film. Obviously he would never tell people about it and logically would say there's no Joker.

Knowing Nolan though, he might make it work without at all showing/hinting Joker but i just don't think it's right for the story to be honest.
InSpace
InSpace - 11/3/2010, 5:41 PM
it'd be cool if they showed hugo strange being given a tour of AA and they show him a bunch of cells of famous bat villians,
Creature
Creature - 11/3/2010, 5:52 PM
Joker needs to be in this. "Fighting forever" BFF scene really says a lot on the relationship and priority conveyed. An instance of Joker, at least, should be in the last installment.
DudeOfSteel16
DudeOfSteel16 - 11/3/2010, 6:03 PM
@MarvelCinematicUniverse Yeah i agree that they should say the SWAT team killed him because, like you said, he was too dangerous to be kept alive.
NERO
NERO - 11/3/2010, 7:20 PM
One thing about the SWAT team killing Joker; well a few actually.

The biggest issue: Gordon would not stand for it. The whole team would have been tried for murder with him as commissioner.

Second issue, as disappointing as saying he is locked away in Arkham is I can't imagine Joker being killed in such an ignominious way as an off camera execution... It’s the Joker; he can't go out like that. You're basically asking them to give a line of diolog like, "What that guy? HA! No they shot his ass." Really?

The Joker arc did seem fairly well wrapped up at the end of TDK, it sucks we won't see him in TDKR, but did we really need to? Come on, this is the last Nolan Batman and probably the last solo Batman film we will see for at least a decade with DC/WB working on the other heroes and Justice League and we all know how slow WB is. Let’s end it with characters heretofore unseen, give us new blood for the finale, Joker has been done move on.
ALmighty1080
ALmighty1080 - 11/3/2010, 8:32 PM
hes in jail, problem solved!

i still would love to have one scene where gordon or batman is at arkham and you can hear jokers laugh in the background in his cell.
writernick
writernick - 11/3/2010, 8:34 PM
recast the joker with Joseph Gordon Levitt!
There I said it!
Wadey09
Wadey09 - 11/3/2010, 9:02 PM
i actually think that the GCPD may have handed him over to a higher federal authority.
think in reality:
TDK describes Joker as a terrorist.
i'm sure Nolan has heard of the Patriot Act. the gov't has a NO TOLERANCE of terrorists.

i'm sure there may be a news cast that will mention Joker's execution date or something.

even though i would KILL to hear Joker's maniacal cackling while Batman is stalking the halls of Arkham!
Vafrous
Vafrous - 11/3/2010, 9:16 PM
The Joker should be in Arkham, its where he belongs...at some point in the future they should recast...
ThunderCougarFalconBird
ThunderCougarFalconBird - 11/4/2010, 1:50 AM
In Arkham heavily sedated, simple as that. Arkham isn't simply a cell at the local cop shop! Even a high security prison would take MUCH more work than the cell phone trick to escape from. Arkham is a max security facility that not only locks inmates in a secure room, in a secure wing of a secure building. they have the authority to keep patients comatose!
jeevmon
jeevmon - 11/4/2010, 7:20 AM
Ditto Chris McLellan. Films are not comics, and don't really need to keep characters' deaths ambiguous for the purpose of re-using them five issues later or whatever. The Joker is the iconic Batman villain, but there are other rogues, and there's no real need to re-use an old one, especially when (as here) it would involve inevitable comparisons to the very talented dead actor who played the role last time.

There seems to be this view that there will be twenty Bat-films or something, but there won't. Not in this continuity. Nolan's doing three, and there may well be a reboot after that. While villain creep is always a problem in this genre, doing the opposite can be limiting as well. Look at Superman, where the films can't seem to move beyond Lex Luthor.

I say no Joker in the third film. No resurrected Two-Face. Let's go with someone else - Hugo Strange,
Gmoney84
Gmoney84 - 11/4/2010, 8:03 AM
Why can't he just be locked up in Arkham? Maybe they mention it briefly in the film. He's locked up. In Nolan's film he doesn't get out every other week like in the old comics and cartoons. Get over it. Joker's gone.
marvel72
marvel72 - 11/4/2010, 8:56 AM
they should just recast the joker,its not disrespecting heath ledger at all.

its time to move on,heath ledger died 2008 by the time another batman film comes out in 2012 he would of been dead four years.

how long are you gonna keep saying "to soon",just recast the role.

none of you will boycott the film you will all still go & see it with someone else playing the joker.
naterator
naterator - 11/4/2010, 10:28 AM
WHAT IF......in the Dark Knight they actually filmed more into what happened to the JOKER and simply didnt release it into the final cut of the film? The biggest surprise to be had in TDKR would be to actually see new footage from the last film with LEDGER in TDKR as JOKER....perhaps having him being escorted to ARKHAM. Have that be the opening scene to the film before the opening credits. YOu wouldnt need to re-cast. I wouldnt put it past NOLAN to do something like that and i also think that it would be a tribute to HEATH LEDGER.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 11/5/2010, 6:11 AM
My guess is that he wont even be mentioned in the next movie.
AlexDeLarge87
AlexDeLarge87 - 11/5/2010, 6:49 PM
Sad!:(... Heath died in the totally wrong time! God!... Life is unfair!

Bring Joker back!:) That would be great!
There is lots of great actors who can give him justice just like Ledger did! Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are my favorite choices to takeover the role!

Ror@ I think so too!
RaMan
RaMan - 11/7/2010, 3:37 PM
Re: recast the joker with Joseph Gordon Levitt!
There I said it!
writernick - 11/3/2010, 8:34 PM

I Always believed that Levitt was as close to a Ledger look-a-like as they come!!

Levitt for Joker!!
Ryden
Ryden - 11/7/2010, 4:09 PM
To be honest, I wouldn't be fussed if someone took over from Ledger. The Joker's too big of a character to just let go, just because Heath sadly passed away doesn't mean we should kill the character off. I agree with Alex, Hardy would make an EXCELLENT Joker. He's just as good an actor as Heath was, and he'd play a very intense and dramtic Joker. He doesn't need to do an impression the entire movie, let him do his own thing. People will understand.....eventually.

DukeAcureds
DukeAcureds - 11/9/2010, 6:23 PM
This is a bit leftfield, but what if The Joker was Harvey Dent's Tyler Durden? With Harvey dead, The Joker no longer exists. Watch Dark Knight with that in mind, for me, and see if it works. Because, to be frank, I can't be bothered to sit through it again, myself. I'd rather watch Batman Begins, again. In fact, I think I will. Dark knight sucks. Peace.
TesDaGreat
TesDaGreat - 11/12/2010, 7:51 AM
AC1
AC1 - 11/14/2010, 5:04 PM
Personally, I think killing the character off, especially off screen, would be a completely wrong decision, there are so many ways it could work
He could be locked up in Arkham, orchestrating events from behind the scenes (in the comics the Joker often stays in Arkham for extended periods of time despite knowing he could escape whenever he wants, because he actually seems to LIKE it in there). Theoretically, he could 'brainwash' Dr Quinzel to become Harley Quinn (similar to the Joker Blogs, which I thought were a brilliant continuation)
If they DID go down the route of announcing an execution on GCN or something, the film should end with Gordon telling Batman that the Joker escaped and killed the executioner and an entire courthouse or something, before Batman glides away, symbolising that he and the Joker will be important parts of eachother's lives forever. That's just two ways it could be done.
Also, IMO I'd LOVE to see a live action Batman Beyond as a continuation of Nolan's series, maybe even an adaptation of Return of the Joker where the original Joker COULD be played by someone by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, because the character would have changed physically during the time between TDK and his death in Return of the Joker despite the strong resemblance between the actors.
Heath Ledger wouldn't want his death to be a reason to kill of such an iconic character in such an insulting way to the character, I'm sure he'd prefer to see another, talented actor bring his role to life in new and exciting ways, allowing his legacy to live on
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