20 Things You Somehow Missed In The Dark Knight Rises
7. Why So Serious, Batman?
While Chris Nolan may not have outright referenced the face-painted elephant in the room that was the late great Heath Ledger's captivating Joker in his follow-up to The Dark Knight out of respect for the gone-to-soon star, that's not to say that the director refrained from lacing in absolutely any nods to the iconic Clown Prince of Crime.
In the scene that sees Gotham unveil a statue in Batman's honour in light of his apparent demise, the camera slowly pans over the room to reveal what appears to be a rather creepy clown-like smile thanks to the way the chairs and aforementioned Bat-figure were plotted.
Simply put, while The Joker was very much missing physically throughout, Nolan still found a way to put a smile on the face of this tribute to his arch-nemesis.
Well played.