12 Most Notorious Batman Urban Legends

12. There's A Batman Curse

Batman The Joker Jack Nicholson
Warner Bros.

Verdict: Questionable, but there's evidence.

According to accepted wisdom, there's a hellish Batman curse that has killed and almost killed numerous people over the years.

Back in the 60s, Burt Ward was almost killed on the first day of shooting Batman 1969 (mostly because his stunt-man looked nothing like him and wasn't used, ridiculously), but it wasn't until the Dark Knight trilogy that things started to tumble.

Stuntman Conway Wickliffe was killed in a stunt on The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger died tragically while filming The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, Morgan Freeman was almost killed in a car wreck in 2008 and Anne Hathaway's stunt double was almost killed after crashing into cameras during The Dark Knight Rises shoot.

And finally, the plane used in TDKR prologue to transport Dr. Pavel crashed in Botswana almost a year after the film was released killing the pilot and co-pilot.

The case of sadistic killer James Holmes murdering 12 people and injuring 50 at the opening night of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado is often cited as part of the "curse" but that comes down to an unhinged individual with a dangerous agenda. Unfortunately, thanks to these tragic coincidences, the mythology of the curse will appeal to certain commenters who will continue to perpetuate it.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

WhatCulture's former COO, veteran writer and editor.