10 Reasons The Dark Knight Is Still The Best Comic-Book Movie Ever
4. The Supporting Cast
With the amount of buzz that Heath Ledger's performance received, most of the other supporting players in The Dark Knight went underappreciated. It's sad to see that, because unlike in so many other comic-book movies - where the supporting cast are used as plot devices rather than 3D characters - The Dark Knight gave everyone a pivotal role in the story, and the actors excelled.
Just look at The Avengers, where Hawkeye is used as a mindless puppet, or X-Men: Apocalypse, which restricted Psylocke to the eye-candy, or even The Dark Knight Rises, which seemingly only included Talia Al Ghul so there could be a big third-act reveal. On the contrary, every chess piece on The Dark Knight's board had an important move to make, and that made every scene feel important.
Harvey Dent's story is the emotional backbone of the film - he isn't just a random villain, like Talia. Gordon was the one who arrested Joker after the truck chase, and Fox was critical in helping Bats capture the Clown Prince atop Prewitt Building. In a way, the supporting cast were the foundations of this rock-solid skyscraper - without them, it would have crumbled.