8 Iconic Movie Moments You Didn't Realise Were Taken From Other Films

4. Christopher Nolan Copies (And Corrects) Tim Burton's Batman For The Dark Knight's Finale

The Iconic Moment: Heath Ledger's Joker was great. I don't think much more needs to be said (I've written lengthily on the subject in the past already). Anyway, as you'll remember from countless rewatches, the Clown Prince of Crime's rein of terror comes to an end when the righteousness of Gotham's citizens and criminals trumps his catch-22 problem and he's (presumably) captured when Batman tosses him off a high-rise, only to catch him and leave him dangling for the Gotham PD. Now, normally elements taken from another movie within the same franchise tend to be little more than easter eggs for eagle-eyed fans, rather than anything of thematic worth (for a great example of this see Jurassic World). But normally films aren't directed by Christopher Nolan. The Film It's Taken From: That whole "throwing the Joker off a tall building" schtick was used at the end of Tim Burton's Batman, which is quite clearly Nolan's inspiration here; he even went as far as replicating the fateful falling shot to amplify this. However, the moment wasn't referenced without some adjustment. The big problem with Burton's end, obviously, is that Batman doesn't kill, something Nolan cheekily corrected to leave us with a much more morally conflicting climax. Of course, over the course of the trilogy Bruce Wayne actually does kill quite a few people (he may be able to justify not saving Ra's al Ghul, but he definitely is responsible for the immortal's daughter's death), but let's not let that sour the mood.