31 Most Iconic Lines From Batman Movies

26. Harvey Dent: Justice Bad-Ass

The Quote: "The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming."

It's no accident that Harvey Dent talks in T-shirt slogans and sound-bites, because Chris Nolan's trilogy consciously plays with the idea of what defines a superhero or a villain, and there is no doubting that Dent is the only real superhero in the Captain America/Superman terminology within the trilogy. It is he, and not Batman who is the extreme end of the good side of the force in Gotham, which is why he is injected with a near-JFK-like worthiness, which is obviously an important element in his later characterisation as a villain marked by extreme contradictions.

25. How To Administer Justice

The Quote: "If someone stands in the way of true justice, you simply walk up behind them and stab them in the heart."

The monologue that Ducard delivers to Bruce Wayne is arguably the single most important trigger in the genesis of Batman, not only because it compels him to take up arms to protect Gotham, but also because it reinforces the idealism of his parents and thus his blood duty to the city. Like Alfred - who turns Ducard's primal message into something more justifiable and sanitised - Wayne's former mentor gives him the tools to exist outside of the conventional restrictions of the law, and in his threat, Batman sees his ideological armoury to turn against men like Ducard for the good of Gotham.