9. The Dark Knight - Batman Becomes The Villain
The Film: Christopher Nolans undoubtedly phenomenal Batman revival brought us a darker, more visceral world of gritty realism and harsh repercussions. In The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolans contribution to the super sequel phenomena, we are introduced to Heath Ledgers brilliant Joker and the often overlooked Harvey Dent/Two Face, Aaron Eckharts sublime dual performance as the heroic attorney turned coin flipping psycho.
The Plot: The Joker runs wild in the city of Gotham for two hours, maniacally and blissfully manipulating gangsters and blowing up police cars while doing battle with Batman and disturbing people with his speeches. After killing Bruce Wayne (Batman, in case you didnt already know) and Dents mutual love interest Rachel and turning Dent into the villainous, revenge fuelled Two Face.
The Cliffhanger: After The Jokers main plan turns out to be a distraction for Batman, the caped crusader arrives to find Two Face threatening top cop Jim Gordon and his family. Coins are flipped and evil villains are thrown from rooftops, but both the heroes realise that the good work that pre-psychotic Dent did cannot be tarnished by his post-psychotic bad work. Batman takes the fall for Dents murderous rampage and the city is left unsure of its dark knight.
The Result: Seven years later and Gotham is fixing its wounds without Batman. Some curse his name; others still hold hope for him. Cue Bane - formidable, brutal, unintelligible. When Bane begins the destruction of the unluckiest city in the world for the third time, Batman is brought back into action and everyone, for the most part, seems to sweep the Harvey Dent murders under the rug. Theyve got their bat back, who cares?