5. How Did The Joker Really Get His Scars In The Dark Knight?
Like many others, we consider The Dark Knight a cinematic masterpiece. However, we do have a slight issue with the fact that one of the film’s biggest recurring questions never gets an answer. Heath Ledger’s Joker delights in tormenting his victims with contrasting stories about the origins of his perpetual smile. But how exactly did he get those scars?
Over the course of the film, he tells a few different stories about the scars. In one, they came from an abusive father. In another, the scars are self-inflicted. Knowing what we know about the Joker, we can hardly trust either account.
Alright, the ambiguity is sort of the point, particularly as the villain himself has so many different origin stories. Still, The Dark Knight goes as far as to give us multiple explanations for the Joker’s scars, letting them cancel one another out. If that isn’t one of the cruellest ways to leave a question unanswered, we don’t know what is.