10 Best Movie Secrets SHAMEFULLY Given Away By The Trailers
8. Gordon Fakes His Own Death - The Dark Knight
It's abundantly clear that Christopher Nolan has tight control over his movie's trailers and what they reveal to potential audiences, but his otherwise-fantastic trailer for The Dark Knight unexpectedly dropped the ball in one key area.
Mid-way through the movie, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) appears to be killed by The Joker's (Heath Ledger) cronies.
This would've been a supremely shocking twist were it not for the fact that the trailers freely spoiled Gordon's presence in two prominent scenes later in the film.
The iconic first trailer for the film memorably showed Gordon present after The Joker's capture, and also destroying the Bat-signal with an axe.
Considering how incredibly distinct these images in the trailer were, and how the trailer had been endlessly dissected and discussed for more than six months before the film's release, it was painfully obvious that Gordon was in fact faking his death.
Lo and behold, Gordon resurfaces a little while after his "death" to help capture The Joker, which despite being played by Nolan as a "holy s**t!" reveal, lands with a total whimper due to the inattentive marketing.
We're going to assume that this was the fault of Warner Bros. rather than Nolan, who didn't become a truly untouchable carte blanche filmmaker until after The Dark Knight's release.