The Dark Knight trilogy retrospective: How 9/11 shaped the most iconic superhero films of all time

September 11th, 2001 was a date that horrified and shocked not only Americans, but the entire world. 9/11 ushered in the war on terror in the middle east, a war that in years since, has proven un-winnable.

The un-winnable nature of the war, as well as the unknowable and random nature of the enemy that America faced, led to a whole new world of fears for the American public. Terrorism, like communism in the McCarthy-era, was used as a tool to drum up fear in the American public to war-monger against foreign lands, but this time it was different. This time, we could see the effects of terrorism on our soil.

American culture and art, subsequently, had more of a right-wing slant to accommodate America’s very pro-war and nationalistic stance in the 2000s. Music, television, celebrities and film were all banging the war drum of American imperialism, in support of the war in the middle east to find and kill those who had wronged us.

Christopher Nolan is one of the most successful and highly acclaimed directors to emerge in the early 2000s, with films like Memento, The Prestige, Inception and Interstellar on his resume.

However, the films that are the most notable in his filmography in terms of post-9/11 2000s cinema, are his trilogy of Batman movies, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises. Nolan’s Batman trilogy in total grossed roughly 2.5 billion dollars in the box office, with both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises bringing in over a billion each. All three are on IMDb’s Top 250 of All Time List and are certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with at least 80% positive critical rating. What makes these films resonate so much with audiences, specifically in the historical and cultural context of a post-9/11 America?

Batman Begins was released in 2005, to universal critical acclaim and over 300 million dollars at the box office. The film, unlike previous Batman movies made by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher in the 1980s and 1990s, was decidedly grittier and darker in tone. Where Tim Burton’s sets were exaggerated and gothic, and Schumacher’s were a reminiscent of a musical or theater, the production design of Batman Begins is trying to replicate the real-world as much as it could, instead of being in a comic book fantasy land like the older films. Attempting to recreate the real world as much as possible is central to the main core of the film, which is trying to imagine Batman in the real world, solving real world problems instead of comic-booky schlock like before. A likely explanation for this shift in design, tone and story was so that the filmmakers, as well as the audience, wanted to imbue the world with a sense of maturity in the topics that it would be dealing with, in order to make the film as effective as possible.

Batman, in this entire trilogy, is a power-fantasy for the American public. Bruce Wayne, played by Christian Bale, is shown through the entire first act of the film, training to become a vigilante to fight criminals in the crime-ridden Gotham City. He is motivated to do this because his parents were murdered in the streets, much like how the United States was motivated to go to war in the Middle East to avenge the destruction of the twin towers.

The film’s climax would likely have not played terribly well amongst audiences only a few short years after 9/11 if it had been played more comically and not taken itself seriously as seriously as the film takes it.

The climax of the film is a cabal of assassins called the League of Shadows trying to destroy Gotham City because it has been vaguely corrupted. Their plan is to hijack a train and drive it through the city with a device on it to evaporate the water supply of Gotham City, which has been contaminated by toxins that would cause hallucinations in Gotham’s populace. It is a silly premise, but the film takes itself so seriously, evoking the notion of a terrorist cell that was attacking a city, that audiences were able to buy into it.

The Dark Knight was released three years later in 2008 to massive critical, audience and financial success, raking in over a billion dollars at the box office. In the 13 years since its release, it has remained one of the most acclaimed films of the 21st century, with an impressive 9.0 rating on IMDb, and is #4 on the websites list of 250 best films of all time, one of only four films with a rating at or above a 9/10. Clearly, it is a film that has resonated with comic book fans and general audiences alike.

While Batman Begins was much more realistic in its environment than previous Batman films, The Dark Knight doubles down on the realism. Instead of creating building and alley sets to create the aesthetic of Gotham City, Nolan filmed the second entry in the trilogy in the streets and buildings in Chicago, further engraining the realism that he had begun in the previous film. With this change in filming locations, he was able to make the antagonist of the film, The Joker, feel like a real-world threat in a way that was not achieved in Batman Begins.

The Joker, played by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, is unambiguously a terrorist, meant to replicate the fear and chaos that Americans feared from Islamic terror in the 2000s. The Joker is an almost omnipotent and omnipresent, unstoppable force; he is an elusive, intelligent, and scary force for nothing but pure evil in this film, similar to how Americans viewed the subject of terror. His deeper motives are unknown, simply cause chaos and hurt people, and show the world that Gotham City, the world’s greatest city, is nothing more than a house of cards that can be blown over at the slightest wind, much like how the terrorists on 9/11 attempted to show the weakness of the United States by causing terror and destroying its morale. What helps encapsulate these fears of terrorism is what The Joker uses as weapons in the film. Where the League of Shadows used swords and a comical microwave machine to evaporate water and release gas into the air, The Joker and his goons use bombs and guns to wreck-havoc and cause destruction in Gotham.

Often hijacking vehicles such as school buses, garbage trucks and ferries in the process of executing their plans, taking modes of transportation that are seen as innocuous in day to day life, and turning them into terrifying weapons of destruction, similar to how planes were used on 9/11. The Joker’s actions in The Dark Knight is obviously much more reminiscent of real-world terror attacks than in the previous film.

One of the most iconic images from the film is Batman standing in the rubble of a building that had been destroyed by one of The Joker's bombs, his head down in a moment of sorrow, as the explosion killed his love interest and childhood best friend Rachel, evoking imagery of first responders looking for survivors of terrorist attacks.

The film also endorses the United States use of domestic surveillance and world policing in the 2000s and into the 2010s as a means of suppressing terrorists and catching them before they are able to cause harm to civilians. In this installment in the trilogy, Bruce uses his reputation as a vigilante and billionaire to go outside of his jurisdiction to do what law enforcement cannot do within the confines of the law. He travels all the way to Hong Kong in order to bring a Chinese accountant who works for the Gotham City mafia to justice.

Later in the film, Bruce is given new technology from his company, specifically Lucius Fox, played by Morgan Freeman. This technology is brought back in the climax of the film, when Batman and Lucius Fox use everyone in Gotham’s cell phone cameras and microphones to locate The Joker. This is a clear allusion to, and possible endorsement of, The Patriot Act, since Batman’s actions are a success, and end up saving the day and capturing The Joker.

Another difference between Batman Begins and its two sequels is how it shows the impact of terror attacks on the police force, another aspect of the conservatism that permeated post-9/11 America was a surge in support for law enforcement. Both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises makes it clear that police are a key element when it comes to keeping the public safe from terrorism. A huge subplot in The Dark Knight involves the fear of The Joker attacking and harming more police officers, one yelling “No more dead cops!” at a press conference to thunderous applause.

The Dark Knight Rises was released in 2012 to similar acclaim to its’ predecessor, reaching over a billion dollars at the box office and an 8.4/10 rating on IMDb. The film continues the themes of policing and its role in the war on terror that The Dark Knight had put forward.

The Dark Knight Rises takes place 8 years after the events of The Dark Knight, and at the beginning of the film, principal characters as well as everyday citizens of the city can be seen commemorating the events of the previous film with “National Harvey Dent Day.” This holiday is a clear allegory to commemorating the events of 9/11 and those who died that day, as well as making a tradition out of it. There is a meta aspect to this as well, as the film was released about the same time frame away from 9/11 as it does in relation to the story it is telling.

The villains in the third installment are Bane and Talia al-Ghul, both leading members of the League of Shadows, who now attempt to destroy Gotham City once again, first by disposing of Batman by breaking his back and putting him into exile. In this film, the villains are even more overtly allegories for terrorism.

In The Dark Knight Rises, the police are drawn into a trap underneath the city to arrest Bane. This is integral to his plot, as once they are underground, he is able to trap them in the sewers and tunnels underneath, Bane is able to take over the city and hold it hostage with a nuclear bomb. Bane, at this point in the film, had disposed of Batman by breaking his back. The breaking of Batman’s back could be interpreted as the attempt to break the spirit of the American people with terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

Once Batman frees himself from the prison that Bane had placed him in, he returns to Gotham City, frees the police force from Bane’s captivity underneath the city, and leads the charge against him, showing that the police are an integral part in stopping domestic terrorism and terrorist organizations.

Batman himself in these movies represents how Americans viewed the necessity of patriotism. Similar to how Batman is the only thing that can stand up to the League of Shadows, The Joker and Bane, America wants to believe that patriotism and American values is the only thing that can stand up to what those characters represent in the real world.