Camilla Jessen
A series of storyboards for the canceled sequel have emerged – and they include the story of what happened to the Joker after the credits.
Batman has had many enemies over the years, yet one villain still stands in a class of his own with many movie fans: the Joker in The Dark Knight.
Christopher Nolan’s Batman film was a huge success, grossing over a billion dollars worldwide and setting a new standard for how serious superhero movies could be. It also gave audiences a Joker that is still debated to this day.
The question still arises among fans: Where on earth did he actually go afterwards?
The Joker who stole the whole movie
Heath Ledger had never played the role before, and expectations were high, to say the least. The result was a Joker who was equal parts creepy, chaotic, and completely unpredictable.
Audiences devoured the raw version of the character. Cosplay, memes, imitations, and quotes quickly began to abound. Ledger also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2009 – a rare feat for a superhero film.
The character also ended up overshadowing almost everything else in the film. Batman was the hero, but the Joker was the character people talked about afterwards.
The end of The Dark Knight shows the Joker captured by the police after his showdown with Batman, yet he does not appear in the final film of the trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises.
Director Christopher Nolan made it very clear why.
“We don’t address the Joker at all,” he said in an interview with Empire.
The primary reason for the emotional connection to that particular character in the film is found in the tragic outcome that followed the film’s release.
Heath Ledger was found dead of an overdose in his hotel room six months before the film’s premiere. And out of respect for Ledger, Nolan left the character alone.
“It was something I felt very strongly about in terms of my relationship with Heath and the experience I had with him on The Dark Knight. I would in no way try to explain or rationalize a tragedy from real life. It felt wrong to me.”
A forgotten video game has provided a clue
Fans love mysteries, so of course the speculation began.
A somewhat strange clue emerged from a project that was never finished. A video game based on The Dark Knight was in development at Pandemic Studios, but it was dropped.
Storyboard drawings from the game have now surfaced on Reddit, giving fans a glimpse into the Joker’s future.
The drawings show the Joker in a cell in Arkham Asylum, standing by the window watching Batman glide across Gotham. Other images show him wearing ankle chains behind bars.
Everything points to the classic explanation: the Joker was locked up in Gotham’s infamous mental hospital.
The novelization of The Dark Knight Rises, written by Greg Cox, also provides a hint, describing how most criminals were moved from Arkham to Blackgate Prison after the Dent Act.
However, rumors in the story claim that the Joker may still be in Arkham – all alone. Other rumors say that he may have already been released.
No one in Gotham seems completely safe.
In its own weird way, it actually fits perfectly. The Joker in The Dark Knight was designed to be a mystery. No backstory. No clear answers.
Just a man with makeup, a crooked laugh, and an extreme urge to watch the world burn.
Sources: Empire, Reddit, The Dark Knight Rises novelization, Filmz
