Not everyone gets to wear the cape, but they’re still important.
While there have now been several iterations of the Batman franchise, Christopher Nolan’s gritty reboot trilogy easily stands as the most influential and complete. After the failure of Batman & Robin suggested a dour future for Gotham City’s caped crusader, Batman Begins was able to tell an interesting origin story that solidified Chrisitan Bale in the role of Bruce Wayne. Nolan was able to complicate the narrative within both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, but not every character in The Dark Knight trilogy was given the proper arc that they deserved.
Nolan’s films were certainly not lacking in great performances; Heath Ledger famously won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker, and Aaron Eckhart’s performance as Harvey Dent was just as deserving of praise. Despite the inventive depiction of many beloved Batman characters, The Dark Knight trilogy wasted some great actors in insignificant parts with little screen time. Here are ten characters that The Dark Knight trilogy didn’t do enough with.
10 Talia Al’Ghul
Played by Marion Cotillard
One of the most shocking twists in The Dark Knight Rises is that Marion Cotillard’s character was in fact Talia, the daughter of League of Shadows leader Ra’s Al Ghul (Liam Neeson). While the revelation helped bridge a stronger connection with Batman Begins, Cotillard was not given enough time to sufficiently explore Talia’s motivations. Her references to a romance with Bane (Tom Hardy) are a distraction considering how packed with action the third act of The Dark Knight Rises already was.
While he has many strong qualities as a writer, Nolan has frequently struggled to develop strong female characters. Wasting an actress of Cotillard’s acclaim was particularly disappointing, especially since she had done much better work with her villainous role in Inception. Talia has a rich backstory in the Batman comics, and could have easily been one of the franchise’s best villains.
The Dark Knight Rises
- Release Date
- July 16, 2012
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Cast
- Tom Hardy , Christian Bale , Anne Hathaway , Liam Neeson , Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Gary Oldman
- Runtime
- 164 minutes
9 John Daggett
Played by Ben Mendelsohn
Ben Mendeslohn is one of the best actors working today, with roles like his work as Danny Rayburn in the Netflix family drama series Bloodline proving that he is capable of elevating even weak material. While it was exciting to see that he was joining the stacked cast of The Dark Knight Rises, the character John Dagget is little more than a pawn in Bane’s plan to take over Wayne Enterprises. It’s suggested that Daggett is a rival of Bruce’s, but the film never takes the time to detail Mensolohn and Bales’ on screen interactions.
The Dark Knight Rises is the longest and most complicated installment of the trilogy, and the storyline involving Daggett is simply not very interesting. His motivations are purely superficial, and Daggett shows nothing but ignorance when selling his soul to the League of Shadows. He’s ultimately more of an annoyance than an actual villain.
8 Sal Maroni
Played by Eric Roberts
While it obviously draws from the superhero genre, The Dark Knight is an epic crime saga that draws inspiration from the films of Michael Mann. It made sense that The Dark Knight would delve into the criminal underbelly of Gotham City, but the character of Sal Maroni is overshadowed by the Joker. Maroni’s schemes involving a series of Gotham City bank heists are ultimately thrown off course when the Joker takes control of the local crime gangs, and uses them in his attempt to make Batman reveal his identity.
Maroni’s relatively minor role in The Dark Knight is disappointing, as Eric Roberts is a talented actor who deserved better material. Anyone who has seen his haunting performance in the Bob Fosse classic Star 80 knows he is capable of playing a manipulative and shady character; unfortunately, Roberts was negated to the background in The Dark Knight.
The Dark Knight
- Release Date
- July 18, 2008
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Cast
- Christian Bale , Heath Ledger , Aaron Eckhart , Michael Caine , Maggie Gyllenhaal , Gary Oldman
- Runtime
- 152 minutes
7 Peter Foley
Played by Matthew Modine
All three installments in Nolan’s trilogy analyzed the complicated dynamic that Batman has with Gotham City’s police department; despite a strong working relationship with Commissioner Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), Batman doesn’t trust many of the cops due to rampant corruption within their ranks. The Dark Knight Rises introduced the character of Peter Foley (Matthew Modine), a cop who initially gives up his duty after Bane takes over Gotham City. Unfortunately, Foley doesn’t play a significant role in the story until The Dark Knight Rises’ final battle.
While there was an opportunity to develop a unique character arc, The Dark Knight Rises doesn’t take the time to show Foley’s redemptive arc. His death feels largely inconsequential when it should be devastating; considering that Modine is an acclaimed actor who worked with Stanley Kubrick on Full Metal Jacket, he certainly deserved a more fleshed out and substantial role.
6 Carmine Falcone
Played by Tom Wilkinson
The later great Tom Wilkinson was an acclaimed actor known for playing dynamic characters; prior to his tragic death, Wilkinson scored Academy Award nominations for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton. While the notion of an actor of Wilkinson’s caliber taking on the role of an iconic Batman villain was thrilling, Batman Begins didn’t devote enough time to Carmine Falcone. Falcone is portrayed as a generic thug who is ignorant to the League of Shadows’ manipulations; he’s ultimately taken advantage of by Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) before he takes on the guise of “Scarecrow.”
Batman Begins ignores the interesting comic book history of Falcone, one of the rare Batman antagonists that doesn’t have any supernatural abilities. Thankfully, John Turturro was given the opportunity to play a more well-developed version of Falcone when the character appeared as a primary antagonist in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
Batman Begins
- Release Date
- June 15, 2005
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Cast
- Christian Bale , Michael Caine , Liam Neeson , Katie Holmes , Gary Oldman , Cillian Murphy
- Runtime
- 140 minutes
5 Jen
Played by Juno Temple
The Dark Knight Rises took a surprising detour when it showed a positive female friendship between Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and the young woman Jen (Juno Temple). Although their friendship provided some insights into why Selina was so motivated to steal from the wealthy class of Gotham City, Jen is largely forgotten about towards the end of The Dark Knight Rises. Selina eventually loses track of Jen once she becomes complicit in Bane’s plan to capture Bruce and subject him to torture.
It’s a glaring flaw, as The Dark Knight Rises doesn’t take advantage of Temple’s comedic abilities. While Nolan’s films are typically light on humor, Temple could have added some cheeky comic relief to a story that risked taking itself a little too seriously; give how hilarious Temple was in the fifth season of Fargo, it’s unfortunate that her talents were wasted on such an inconsequential character.
4 William Earle
Played by Rutger Hauer
Rutger Hauer is responsible for one of the greatest monologues in film history in the classic science fiction noir thriller Blade Runner, a moment that was largely improvised. Unfortunately, Hauer’s character William Earle is little more than a tool of exposition in Batman Begins. Earle serves on the board of Wayne Enterprises, and suggests a lack of confidence in both Bruce and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). His involvement in the company ceases after it is taken public, and Wayne chooses to acquire the controlling shares.
The Dark Knight trilogy wasted an opportunity to bring back Hauer for the sequels, as it would have been interesting to see his reaction to the events of both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. While the trilogy certainly has its moments of spectacle, the subplots detailing the corporate espionage within Wayne Enterprises is easily its most underwhelming subplot.
3 Little Boy
Played by Jack Gleeson
While Joffrey Baratheon may be the most hated villain in all of Westeros, future Game of Thrones actor Jack Gleeson has a brief role in Batman Begins. He appears as a young boy who serves as one of Batman’s only friends; once the toxins released by Scarecrows are unleashed upon Gotham City, Gleeson’s character is taken under the protection of Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes). However, the boy’s name and fate are never revealed, which is odd considering his knowledge of Batman’s capabilities.
Showing Batman’s inspirational qualities was important, but the subplot involving Gleeson’s character is a little too saccharine for Batman Begins. The film was acclaimed because it presented a gritty, realistic version of the mythology that avoided overtly heartfelt moments; having Batman become friends with a small child felt lifted right out of the Adam West era of the franchise.
2 Gambol
Played by Michael Jai White
Nolan rarely fails to assemble impressive casts, and often manages to cast talented actors in smaller roles. Michael Jai White is an accomplished action star with many cult films on his resume, but the gangster Gambol is one of The Dark Knight trilogy’s least imposing villains. Gambol thinks that he’s among the most feared men in Gotham City, but he’s easily embarrassed and defeated by the Joker. In fact, it’s during Gambol’s death sequence that Ledger first utters his famous “why so serious?” line.
Given how terrifying Ledger’s performance was, it was hard for The Dark Knight to develop any of its supporting antagonists. Gambol is only in the film in order to emphasize why the Joker is one of the greatest screen villains in the history of cinema; his individual characterization leaves a lot to be desired considering White’s talents.
1 Mike Engel
Played by Anthony Michael Hall
While Anthony Michael Hall gained significant popularity thanks to his starring role in many of the classic “Brat Pack” films, he plays only a brief role in The Dark Knight as the television reporter Mike Engel. Engel ultimately has very little impact on the story of The Dark Knight, as he simply reveals information to the audience about the Joker’s plans. It was an odd expositional framing device considering that the films never delved deep into Gotham City journalism.
While Engel himself isn’t necessarily a poorly written character, the casting of an actor of Hall’s fame was very distracting in The Dark Knight. Audiences familiar with his roles in The Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles may have been taken out of the movie; it would have been far more effective if an unknown performer had been cast in the minor part.
This article was originally published on collider.com