The Joker's 10 Most Sickeningly Twisted Moments

6. 'Wanna Know How I Got These Scars?'

The Dark Knight The Joker Batman Heath Ledger
Warner Bros. Pictures

A change of format finds the Joker in as twisted a form as ever. Christopher Nolan's critically acclaimed 2008 sequel to 'Batman Begins' steps up the pace with the introduction of the vigilante's number one nemesis. Played to perfection by the seemingly unlikely Heath Ledger, this Joker is a very different prospect to his live action predecessors Caesar Romero and Jack Nicholson.

Bursting onto the scene with an incredibly tense bank robbery, Ledger's Joker forever changes the course of Batman's war on crime, giving the Dark Knight a foe to be reckoned with. The Joker's contributions to the Nolan-verse are many, but chief among his achievements has to be bringing Bruce Wayne one of his darkest moments (the whole shot parents thing notwithstanding) to date. After dropping poor Rachel Dawes from a window and trying his darndest to get District Attorney Harvey Dent killed, the Joker has them both kidnapped and locked away in a pair of death traps.

After a brutal confrontation between himself and Batman, Joker reveals their locations - not, granted, in the correct order - sending Batman speeding away to rescue his love, Rachel. In what might be the film's most shocking scene, we see Rachel blown to smithereens and Dent transformed into the monstrous Two-Face. Why? Humble butler Alfred Pennyworth said it best, in the movie's most quotable scene: "some people just want to watch the world burn."

Heath Ledger Joker Nurse The Dark Knight
Warner Bros. Pictures

Doing so, apparently, while totally rocking a nurse's uniform.

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Contributor

A film critic and professional writer of over ten years, Joel Harley has a deep and abiding love of all things horror, Batman and Nicolas Cage. He can be found writing online and in print, all over the Internet and in especially good bookstores.