After several days of being in theaters it seems everyone has an opinion on The Dark Knight Rises and we here at The Daily SuperHero have one big one, besides the fact we were not a fan of Bane on-screen and his voice. We have a problem with not knowing anything about The Joker.
Christopher Nolan must have paid some form of respect to Heath Ledger by not talking about The Joker in The Dark Knight Rises but honestly, it would have paid the late actor even greater respect to reference to his character. At least once or twice in the final part of the trilogy, in our opinion.
(Here comes some SPOILERS from The Dark Knight Rises, as an F.Y.I.)
So Gotham is turned into a state of martial law, which is run by Bane, while the judge and jury is none other than Dr. Jonathan Crane, also known as Scarecrow. Seeing how Bane released Gotham's captives—this could explain how Scarecrow got loose again—one would have to think The Joker would've been let loose to cause more chaos too.
Yet there was absolutely no reference to The Joker. Maybe if there was a quick report on the television Bruce Wayne was watching while imprisoned with a newscaster saying something like, "With martial law now in Gotham, some of the city's deadliest people have been released by Bane, including The Joker." Or say he died and there you have it. A quick and easy reference to The Joker and fans of the trilogy would have been more satisfied.
Sadly, there was no reference at all.
We understand how leaving The Joker out of the final chapter is a good gesture but at the same time when you are making references about the first two movies, you should really be a bit more thorough. Pay homage to the one man who made The Dark Knight one of the most successful superhero movies of all-time.
Nolan had his chance for full closure by mentioning something about The Joker but he didn't.