2. The Dark Knight
It’s hard to imagine another Batman movie dethroning The Dark Knight’s influence on culture. Nolan’s 2008 movie is thrilling and painful; the Joker (Heath Ledger) terrorizes Batman’s love interest Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and her love interest, the district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), and then anyone else he can set on fire. As Alfred (Michael Caine) famously says in one scene, “some men just want to watch the world burn.”
And that’s what makes The Dark Knight incredible, how much Heath Ledger sells that idea. We’re almost two decades removed from his performance, and still no other Joker has been able to replicate the effortless depravity Ledger found in caked face paint and nervous energy.
