The Dark Knight, the second installment in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, is widely hailed as one of the greatest comic book movies of all time. But actor Michael Jai White still has a major question about his character.
Appearing in the 2008 film as the mob boss Gambol, White's character quickly ran afoul against Heath Ledger's Joker. In retaliation for Gambol putting a bounty on his head, the Clown Prince of Crime attacked Gambol directly, cutting open the mobster's face with a knife, presumably leaving him dead for the remainder of the film. Over a decade later, White hints that his character's on-screen fate would've seen him survive the grievous injury before the mobster was simply dismissed as the Joker's latest murder victim.
"The intention was that's all that was supposed to happen: He had his face cut. That's why in a movie that is that perfect, we're now sitting here wondering what the hell happened to it," White tells CBR. "That shows you that was a bit of a mistake because that character was intended to go on. If the death of the character was intended, you know a guy like Christopher Nolan would make that very clear as far as good storytelling. My guess is that because of the unfortunate fate of Heath Ledger that I think maybe there were some things altered to preserve most of his performance and I think maybe the bookend of where Gambol was supposed to go kind of went to the cutting room floor."
Ledger went on to posthumously win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the Joker, passing away while the film was in post-production after completing his performance. With the critical acclaim holding up for the film twelve years later, The Dark Knight was recently added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.