Christopher Nolan's trilogy about the Dark Knight of Gotham City has left an indelibly imprint on superhero cinema. These films are special for many reasons, including the introduction of Ra's Al Ghul and Bane to DC's cinematic universe. The Dark Knight earned the late great Heath Ledger an Oscar for his portrayal as the Crown Prince of Crime before Joaquin Phoenix matched Ledger with his own Oscar-winning performance.
But besides carrying Nolan's signature suspense style of filmmaking to our favorite caped crusader, the twists and turns really makes these films stand out. The plot twists over the course of the whole trilogy had truly shocked moviegoers in the best way possible.
10 Bruce Wayne Cheats Death & Lives In Florence
This twist might not have been a huge surprise to a savvy viewer. Around the beginning of The Dark Knight Rises, Alfred discloses to Bruce that whenever he takes a vacation to Florence, he dreams he'll see Bruce there. Alfred is imploring Bruce to leave Batman's crusade for justice behind and just live his life.
This slightly foreshadows the end of the movie for those paying close attention. Batman stops Bane and Talia Al Ghul and seemingly dies as he flies away with the bomb on the Batwing. At the end, fans are pleasantly surprised that Alfred sees Bruce and Selina Kyle, alive and well, enjoying lunch in Florence.
9 How Harvey Dent Becomes Two-Face
Harvey Dent transforming into the iconic villain known as Two Face shouldn't have been a surprise to even the causal fan of Batman. The name Harvey Dent is synonymous with Gotham's living embodiment of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Although, the Harvey in Tim Burton's Batman universe never became Two Face, so it wasn't necessarily a foregone conclusion that this one would, either.
But what Nolan did in The Dark Knight came as a shock as it put a twist onto a familiar origin story, most commonly involving Harvey getting acid thrown on his face in a courtroom. However, in Nolan's version, Batman saves Harvey after the Joker traps both Harvey and Rachel Dawes in separate warehouses full of explosives. Batman saves Harvey's life at the last minute but he can't stop the fire of the bombs from scarring Harvey's face.
8 Joe Chill's Death
In terms of Batman's origin, Batman Begins may be the most accurate interpretation of Bruce's backstory during the Golden Age of Comics due to the appearance of a character named Joe Chill. Joe Chill murders Bruce's parents in a robbery gone wrong after a night at the opera. The twist to this story however is that Bruce attends Chill's parole hearing with the intent to kill him.
As moviegoers held their breath watching Bruce approach Chill with a gun, a hitman of mob boss Carmine Falcone shoots and kills Chill in retaliation for snitching. This twist on a universal origin story may have shocked die hard bat-fans.
7 The Ferry Prisoner's Choice
The most underrated twist in The Dark Knight is the ferry dilemma. When two ferries evacuate Gotham, one carrying citizens and one carrying prisoners, The Joker announces that he put explosives on both ferries and gives both of them the detonator to each other's boat. The Joker threatens to blow them both up unless one ferry detonates the other one first.
While chaos ensues, one prisoner tells the warden he'll do it because he's killed before. After being handed the detonator, the prisoner instead throws it out into the water, leaving it up to the other boat to decide. This is a powerful scene that allows the viewer to explore an ethical conundrum.
6 The Joker's Pencil Trick
Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight made a mark on Batman fans for several reasons. Perhaps the Joker's pencil trick may have been the most alluringly grotesque mark. When The Joker walks into a meeting of Gotham's crime bosses and begins to taunt them, one unsuspecting boss asks why they shouldn't kill him. The Joker shows them a "magic trick" by placing a pencil firmly in the table and quickly slamming the bosses head into the pencil, killing him instantly.
Nolan filmed the scene using a real pencil which reportedly drew gasps from viewers upon it's first showing. It's not easy to make a Batman fan squeamish.
5 Ra's Al Ghul's Appearance
Batman Begins was not only the best cinematic origin story of Batman but it gave a fresh new look to Ra's Al Ghul. Originally introduced to Bruce in a foreign prison as Henri Ducard, a spokesman for Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Shadows, the audience finds out that Ducard was Ra's Al Ghul all along.
The film lulled the viewer into a false sense of security as Ducard trained Bruce Wayne with the skills he would need as Gotham's Dark Knight. After Bruce escapes the League of Shadows, it's safely assumed we've seen the last of him. It's not until Ra's Al Ghul reveals his plan to destroy Gotham at Bruce's benefit that fans get to experience the satisfying plot twist.
4 Talia Al Ghul's Appearance
Miranda Tate slipped through everyone's grasp. Neither Bruce nor his trusty associate, Lucius Fox, ever conceived that Miranda Tate was anything but an ally to Wayne Enterprises. She appeared as a business woman who desired social change. Miranda even becomes a love interest for Bruce, filling the void of Rachel Dawes. She did not give the audience any hint that she would end up betraying Bruce.
The biggest reveal at the end of The Dark Knight Rises was that Miranda Tate was actually a secret identity for Ra's Al Ghul's daughter, Talia Al Ghul. Talia Al Ghul literally stabs Bruce in the back and confesses that she's a part the League of Shadows, revealing Bane's backstory as well.
3 Bane's Origin
The reveal of Talia Al Ghul's true identity goes hand in hand with the reveal of Bane's true backstory in The Dark Knight Rises. When Bruce finds himself in a Middle Eastern prison dubbed The Pit, he learns that Ra's Al Ghul had a child who escaped the very same pit. Most assume that the child is Bane. However, the twist is that the child was Talia and that Bane protected Talia while he was an adult prisoner of The Pit.
Even though there are clues to exposing Talia's and Bane's true past, it probably came as a surprise that an international terrorist who starts coups around the world and wants to destroy Gotham actually had a soft spot for children and was capable of self sacrifice.
2 Joseph Gordon Levitt Revealed As "Robin"
Joseph Gordon Levitt's character, Detective John Blake, shared a lot in common with Bruce. Both were orphans that had a passion for justice, with Blake telling Bruce of growing up at Bruce's boys home and how excited the kids would get when they would come by.
This and other actions must've made an impression because once Bruce "died" he left the Batcave to Blake, whose full name is Robin John Blake. Comic book fans may not have been crazy about this conclusion, but Joseph Gordon Levitt believes the ending is perfect as it implies that Robin Blake would be the new Batman. He didn't have the name of any of the comic Robins, but it would've still been an example of a "Robin" becoming Batman.
1 Rachel Dawes' Death
It would be hard pressed to find a twist more shocking as this one in the Dark Knight trilogy. Rachel Dawes, an assistant district attorney who knew Bruce since she was a child, became a tragic causality an hour or so into The Dark Knight. The irony of Dawes is that she broke up with Bruce when she found out his secret identity out of fear of seeing him get hurt.
After The Joker trapped Rachel and Harvey Dent in a warehouse of explosives, Batman believed he could save them both rather than having to choose between Harvey and Rachel. Ultimately Batman saved Harvey while the audience witnessed Rachel's last moments of life. The twist was that Joker lied to Batman about which person was at which location, and Batman had actually chosen to save Rachel himself and let Gotham P.D. save Harvey, but when he arrived he realized it was the other way around.