10 Best "All Hope Is Lost" Moments In Movie History
4. Rachel Dies, Dent Gets Burned - The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight does a fantastic job of epically stacking the deck against Batman (Christian Bale) and Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), enough that even when the duo have The Joker (Heath Ledger) locked up, it's really just another part of his plan (not that he's a guy with a plan, of course).
And the most defeating moment for Batman comes when the Joker reveals that he's kidnapped both Bruce Wayne's love interest Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and Gotham's heroic "White Knight" Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart).
More to the point, each is held in a separate building rigged to explode, forcing Batman to pursue one while Gordon and the GCPD chase down the other.
Batman picks Rachel, only to arrive and find Dent instead - as it turns out, the Joker switched their positions for kicks.
Moments later, both bombs detonate, killing Rachel and leaving Dent severely injured, as triggers his transformation into villain Two-Face.
Oh, and to rub salt in the wound, the Joker has escaped from jail, and Wayne Enterprises accountant Coleman Reese (Joshua Harto) is now trying to blackmail Bruce after figuring out his superhero alter-ego.
Bleak isn't even the word, and while Batman neutralises the Clown Prince of Crime in the end, The Dark Knight still concludes on a seriously sour note for the hero, as he takes the fall for Dent's murderous actions and disappears into the night.