Following Christopher Nolan's reinvention of the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins, he further changed the superhero genre with The Dark Knight. While there is a lot that makes this movie so great, one of the biggest examples is the thrilling relationship between Batman and Joker at the center of the story.
There have been plenty of phenomenal cinematic heroes and villains over the years, but it is a rare movie that is able to find two figures that are perfect sides of good and evil. It certainly made the face-off between Batman and Joker epic in The Dark Knight, but there are some other great movies with similarly iconic hero and villain duos.
The Dark Knight: The Legacy
It is impressive how enthralling the dynamic between Batman and Joker is in The Dark Knight given the fact that this is a match-up that fans had seen many times before. From comics to television shows to other movies, Batman and Joker have always been an iconic duo.
The legacy of the characters surely made it daunting to deliver, but Nolan and company also took advantage of that legacy. They presented a new and exciting take on this relationship that gave fans something new while also staying true to the roots of these characters.
Alternative: Vincent Hanna And Neil McCauley (Heat)
Michael Mann's crime epic Heat is known to have been a big inspiration for Nolan when making The Dark Knight. Part of that influence likely came from the two central characters who find themselves at opposite ends of this story.
Vincent Hanna is a dedicated policeman seeking to take down a crew of thieves, led by the efficient and cool-headed Neil McCauley. The fact that these two men are played by acting legends Al Pacino and Robert De Niro adds to the effectiveness of this duo, but the iconic coffee shop scene really explains why this is such a fascinating face-off. They simply see themselves as two professionals who are doing what they do.
The Dark Knight: The Performances
Heroes and villains can be written to be compelling adversaries, but that doesn't really matter if the actors cannot deliver with their performances. Following Batman Begins, Christian Bale had already proven himself as a great Batman. He was a darker, more serious take on the character than had been seen in any live-action Batman movie.
The big question with The Dark Knight was whether Heath Ledger would make a worthy Joker. Despite plenty of skepticism, Ledger proved his critics wrong with a terrifying and electric Oscar-winning performance. Once he and Bale shared the screen, sparks began to fly.
Alternative: John McClane And Hans Gruber (Die Hard)
While there were plenty of action movies that came before it, Die Hard really changed the genre and spawned plenty of imitators. It also helped to establish two archetypes for action movie heroes and villains that are still followed to this day.
John McClane was an everyman who finds himself in the midst of a situation, way over his head, and he is forced to step up and be the hero. Hans Gruber is the sophisticated and calm killer with a full-proof plan were it not for the unexpected intruder. Like Batman and Joker, this relationship is chaos versus order.
The Dark Knight: Different Personas
A fairly common critique of superhero movies is that the villains often tend to be evil mirror-images of the hero. This is certainly not something that can be said of The Dark Knight as Batman and Joker are perfectly opposite types of people, which makes it all the more exciting.
If brooding Bruce Wayne was facing off with another dark and serious villain, it would have been a much less interesting story. Instead, Joker is a madman who brings a dark sense of humor to the story and an unpredictability that is the perfect contrast to Batman.
Alternative: Harry Potter And Voldemort (Harry Potter)
To be fair, the Harry Potter franchise had eight movies to build the relationship between Harry and Voldemort but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. Watching Harry grow from a young boy into a hero while learning of Voldemort's role in his past is essential.
In terms of Voldemort, the fact that he is lurking in the shadows for so much of the franchise is also very effective. All of this, and the mythology of the world, build to a monumental showdown.
The Dark Knight: Testing Batman
The purpose of a villain in any story is to test the hero and Joker certainly does that. Nolan and company do such a brilliant job of taking what was established about Batman as a hero in Batman Begins and create Joker as a machine for breaking that apart.
Joker hones in on the weakness of Batman and exploits it. He pushes him to his limits, takes away his loved ones, and threatens to destroy the very city he is trying to protect. In the end, Batman has to become a new kind of hero in order to defeat Joker.
Alternative: Clarice Starling And Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs)
While it could be argued that the true villain of The Silence of the Lambs is Buffalo Bill, whenever one thinks of this movie, they undoubtedly think of Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter sitting down and having their conversations.
In that sense, the hero-villain dynamic of this movie is very different. There is no doubt who is the hero and who is the villain, but Hannibal doesn't want to hurt Clarice — he's intrigued by her. But they still represent the two sides of good and evil that sometimes are forced to share the same space.
The Dark Knight: Perfectly Opposing Forces
The relationship between Batman and Joker in The Dark Knight is best summed up by Joker himself who described it as "what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object." They are two powerful forces with perfectly opposing ideologies who clash in spectacular fashion.
When it comes to hero-villain duos, if one is not clearly defined or their motivations are weak, their relationship suffers. In this case, it's clear what they both want, why they want it, and how far they are willing to go.
Alternative: Luke Skywalker And Darth Vader (Star Wars)
Star Wars is one of the purest examples of a good versus evil story. While that can be a bit dull and predictable, it didn't stop Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader from becoming two of the most iconic movie characters of all time.
The idea of Luke Skywalker revisiting the temptation of the dark side and his father Darth Vader is a Shakespearean tale told in the most cinematic way possible.