Why Wasn’t Joker Recognized By Other Bank Robbers: Dark Knight Plot Hole?

The Dark Knight opens with a bank robbery planned and led by the Joker, and after rewatching the movie various times, viewers have pointed out that he should have been recognized by some of his fellow robbers, potentially creating a plot hole. After many ups and downs since the 1940s, Batman got a new chance on the big screen in 2005 with Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, the first entry in what would become known as The Dark Knight trilogy, completed by The Dark Knight in 2008 and The Dark Knight Rises in 2012.

Batman Begins introduced the audience to Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne and explored his origin story and transformation into Batman, and The Dark Knight saw him as the already-established vigilante of Gotham City. This time, the villain to defeat was none other than the Joker (Heath Ledger), who arrived at Gotham to mess with the mob, kill Batman, and create chaos all over the city with his complex plans. Throughout The Dark Knight, the Joker escaped from the police and Batman a couple of times and came up with all types of plans, and the movie lost no time in showing how calculating and dangerous he was, opening with a bank robbery led by him.

The Dark Knight begins with a gang of criminals wearing clown masks robbing a bank in Gotham City, and it’s quickly established that the one behind the whole plan is the Joker, as the robbers talk about him. What they didn’t know was that part of the plan was having all of them killed by their fellow robbers, leaving the Joker, who was among them, as the last one standing and thus taking all the money with him. Although all of them, including the Joker, were wearing clown masks, viewers have pointed out that at least two of the robbers should have recognized the Joker, who was wearing his signature makeup and put his mask on right before getting in the car.

The Joker’s very first appearance in The Dark Knight is when he’s waiting for two of the robbers to pick him up in a corner, but all that the audience can see is his back, with him holding a bag for the money and his mask. When the car arrives from behind, he walks towards it without the mask and puts it on right before opening the door, so there were a few seconds there where the robbers should have seen his face, and it was surely odd to see a man in clown makeup putting a clown mask over it. Although this seems like a plot hole, it can actually be explained in different ways, the most obvious one being that the robbers weren’t paying attention to the face of the guy waiting on the corner, as they were just following orders. There’s also the fact that, at that point in The Dark Knight, the Joker was still a “nobody”, so no one really knew there was a man in messy clown makeup creating chaos all over Gotham City.

Surely, even if the Joker was still an unknown face at the time of the bank robbery, it should have been strange for those who saw him while he waited on the corner (fellow robbers or passersby) as it’s not a normal thing to see a man in washed-up clown makeup, menacing posture, and holding a clown mask just casually waiting for a ride. While this isn’t a “plot hole” that significantly changes The Dark Knight, it does add to an already complex and at some points flawed plan and opening scene.

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Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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