Although each movie in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy had a different villain, the best-remembered one is the Joker (Heath Ledger), whose chaotic plans began in Batman Begins, as proven by one subtle detail. After going through a rough patch in the 1990s with Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, the Caped Crusader returned to the big screen in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, in 2005. Batman Begins introduced Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and marked the beginning of a beloved trilogy following Batman in a realistic but dark and corrupted Gotham City.

Batman Begins explored the origin story of the title hero, from the death of his parents to his physical and spiritual journey that led him to become Gotham City’s vigilante. In this first adventure, Batman came across Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson), Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), and Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson), with Scarecrow being the only villain to appear in all movies in the trilogy. However, Batman Begins ended with a tease of the sequel’s villain: the Joker. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) handed Batman one of the Joker’s cards, and there’s one genius detail in it that confirms the Joker’s Dark Knight plan began in the first movie.

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J. Kerr Is A DC Comics Easter Egg

Batman Begins Joker card

At the end of Batman Begins, Gordon shows Batman the new Bat-Signal and tells him that he started chaos in Gotham. Gordon then hands him a plastic evidence bag with a Joker card, telling Batman that “this guy” committed “armed robbery, double homicide” and “has a taste for the theatrical”, just like him. The Dark Knight had the Joker as its main villain and followed his messy plans to bring chaos to Gotham City and destroy all hope that Batman and Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) could have given the citizens. Batman Begins revealed that the Joker was already committing crimes across Gotham, but the name of the policeman that recovered the card, as shown in the evidence bag, proves that the Joker’s plan had already been put into motion.

The name is J. Kerr, and it’s one of the many aliases that the Joker has used in the comics. The Joker’s backstory has always been a mystery, as DC Comics has either changed it or they have simply decided to never share it with the audience. The Joker’s real name is unknown in most versions of the character, so he uses various variations on his villain name, as are Joe Kerr/J. Kerr and Dr. J Reko, and he’s also known as the “Clown Prince of Crime” and “The Ace of Knaves”. J. Kerr, then, is a subtle but fun DC Comics Easter egg in Batman Begins but also shows something very important about Nolan’s version of the Joker: he had already infiltrated the Gotham City Police Department, and this also proves his hypocrisy.

Batman Begins' Card Proves Joker's Hypocrisy

The Joker hanging from a police car in The Dark Knight

In The Dark Knight, the Joker described himself as an agent of chaos, who thrived on unpredictability and enjoyed seeing the citizens of Gotham City losing their minds over his actions. The Joker famously claimed to not be a guy with a plan and even described himself as “a dog chasing cars” who wouldn’t know what to do if he caught one, but The Dark Knight proved this was all a lie – and, ironically, this might have even been part of a plan. All of his major actions in The Dark Knight – the bank robbery, the kidnapping of Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and infiltrating the mob, among others – were all carefully arranged, and most of the time, he was one step ahead of the police and Batman. Even if the Joker’s plan was all about chaos, it required careful planning, and for all of it to work, he had to infiltrate the GCPD, which as shown at the end of Batman Begins, he had already done.

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