The Dark Knight’s Most Famous Line, Explained By The Guy Who Actually Wrote It

Casual Christopher Nolan fans might not realize how integral Jonathan Nolan has been to his brother’s career. The British director, whose “Oppenheimer” absolutely dominated the 2024 Oscars, has collaborated with his brother numerous times, with Jonathan co-writing “The Prestige,” “Interstellar,” and, of course, “The Dark Knight.” In the latter’s case, after “Batman Begins” scribe David S. Goyer hammered out a story, Jonathan Nolan set to work on drafting the script over six months, checking in with his brother, who was working on “The Prestige” at the time, throughout. Chris Nolan then stepped in and the brothers refined the script together.

One small element Christopher didn’t have any input on, however, was the “see yourself become the villain” line. As we know, the director didn’t understand the line at the time, which is pretty surprising given this is the man who bought us the time-bending action of “Tenet,” which even a seasoned filmmaker like Quentin Tarantino couldn’t understand. Thankfully, Jonathan has now provided us all with more insight into the line itself. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the “Westworld” co-creator said:

“It came later in the script. We’ve done a version or two of the script where we were looking for something that would distill the tragedy of Harvey Dent, but that would also apply to Batman.”

The tragedy of Harvey Dent in “The Dark Knight” was, of course, his slow transmogrification from Gotham’s upstanding “White Knight” defender to depraved villain bent on revenge. Meanwhile, Batman takes the fall for Dent’s post-transformation crimes, thereby becoming a villain in the eyes of Gotham’s citizens. In that sense, when Dent delivers the line earlier in the film, it’s a grim portent of things to come for both he and Bruce Wayne/Batman.