10 Most Tragic Deaths In The History Of Comic Book Movies
2. Rachel Dawes (The Dark Knight)
Christoper Nolan had a difficult task ahead of him when he came to direct The Dark Knight. Rachel Dawes had switched actresses (from Katie Holmes to Maggie Gyllenhaal), and he only had half a movie to invest audiences in this newer version of the character, to give her death scene added weight and gravitas.
Suffice to say, he pulled it off, and Rachel's untimely final moments ended up being incredibly emotional and poignant, possessing numerous tragic ramifications that impacted the rest of the movie and bled right into its sequel, The Dark Knight Rises.
The emotional core of The Dark Knight is the love triangle between Bruce, Rachel and Harvey, and this scene plays on that brilliantly, cutting between shots of the two lovers tied up in a warehouse and Batman racing to save them. Once Batman arrives at the location, Hans Zimmer's epic score reaches its crescendo before the vigilante bursts through a locked door and... silence. He's at the wrong warehouse. Harvey's desperate screams and cries will punch you right in the gut as Batman, ever so reluctantly, drags him to safety, but it's all for nothing.
Rachel's devastating end swiftly sets Harvey on his murderous rampage, and as a result, Gotham's White Knight falls from grace, becoming the villain of the piece and dying toward the end of the film. On top of that, Harvey's killing spree gives Bane and Talia ammo to use against Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, and it all stems from this one, simple explosion. Gyllenhaal's performance as Rachel was great too, and it's saddening that we never got to see her explore the role just a little bit more than she did.