10 Movie "Plot Holes" You're Getting Completely Wrong

4. The Dark Knight - How Did The Joker's Plan Work Out Perfectly?

The Dark Knight The Joker Heath Ledger
Warner Bros. Pictures

Heath Ledger's Joker turns Gotham City upside-down within a matter of days, killing high-profile individuals, committing terror attacks, and coming close to breaking the incorruptible Dark Knight himself.

And even though Ledger's performance is almost universally beloved, there are those who, fairly so, question the plausibility of the character's overall plan. From killing Rachel to blowing up a hospital to tipping Harvey Dent over the edge, everything seemed to go too perfectly, and over the years, the convenience of his scheme has been singled out as one of The Dark Knight's few narrative sticking points.

And while it might seem unlikely that everything goes the Joker's way, this is far from being a plot hole, because everything he does is well within his capabilities as a normal human man. Additionally, the character even states that he doesn't have everything planned out down to the letter, meaning that some of the events he instigates are simply happy coincidences.

While talking to Harvey Dent in the hospital, he states that he doesn't have a plan, that he's a "dog chasing cars", and that he's not a "schemer". The Joker doesn't have some stereotypical "bad guy endgame" like acquiring money - he simply sets some potentially-chaotic dominoes up (demanding Batman remove his mask, locking up Rachel and Harvey) and waits to see what will happen.

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Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!