The Joker is a monumental villain in comics and in cinema. He is an embodiment of chaos, a true enigma, and the purest opponent of Batman. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight arguably features the greatest portrayal of the Joker on screen. Jack Nicholson’s version in 1989 set a high bar and Joaquin Phoenix gave audiences an in-depth origin of the criminal mastermind. Neither were able to represent the spirit of the character as well as Heath Ledger did in 2008. In fact, there is one specific scene that clearly and unequivocally defines Heath Ledger’s Joker as the authentic expression of the villain.
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy set the tone for superhero movies for the next decade until the MCU blossomed supreme. From 2005’s Batman Begins to 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, fans were treated to a version of Batman never seen, that of real and gritty. It eschewed the comic book trappings in favor of explainable and practical narratives. How then, were they to incorporate a character like the Joker? The Joker is a notorious madman, full of fatal comedic energy and a vibrant colorful theme. Instead of playing into the chemical mishap used in one of the Joker’s origins, they turned to the psychological and to the philosophical.
Armed with mania and principle (of a sort), Heath Ledger’s Joker dominated the scenes he was in and elevated The Dark Knight. He won a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. The demonstration of the core philosophy of Heath Ledger’s Joker is found in the scene where he burns a pyramid of money. There are several reasons why this is such an enthralling scene.
The movie begins with an elaborate bank heist. The Joker plotted with other robbers to steal money from the mob while also killing each successive robber until only he remained. He then uses his newly ill-gained fortune as leverage over the mob bosses. He says to them that in exchange for keeping half of what he stole, he will kill the Batman. They reluctantly agree.
This sets off another elaborate plan filled with assassinations and ultimatums to force Batman to reveal his identity. A Wayne Enterprise accountant claims to know who Batman’s secret identity is, but the Joker switches the ultimatum to protect the identity and kill the accountant. As this is happening, the Joker torches the money he stole from the mob. His initial bank heist is seemingly made pointless. All the effort and murder that went into the heist goes up in flames, unless of course, this was the purpose all along. It was always meant to be a devious plan, one that only the Joker could concoct.
Throughout the movie, the Joker makes statements to the effect that he is an agent of chaos, he is a dog chasing a car, and that he is an unstoppable force. This scene perfectly exhibits the philosophy of the Joker’s anarchy. He works with the mob only so far as he uses them as tools. In this scene, he is actively working against them, as ridding them of their fortune will destabilize the criminal underworld.
The act of burning all the money, in a way, helps the police. His chaos is so pure that all sides, all “orders,” must crumble down into the baser primitive instincts he believes humanity conceals. He was never in it for the money. If he were, he would have fled Gotham City after the successful robbery at the beginning of the movie. He literally has billions of dollars in that warehouse. His heist plan, his ultimatums are all a setup for the burning of the money – his greatest punchline. Everything the Joker does afterward is a test of Batman’s principles and a test of society’s sanity.
Due to the PG-13 nature of the movie, they had to edit out some shots in the money-burning scene. The gruesome result, however, is implied to the keen-eyed. The money burning scene starts with the Joker at the top of the pyramid tying up the corrupt accountant Lau. After some teasing and taunting by the Joker, the camera never shows Lau again – even as the pile of money ignites. Not only did the Joker strike the criminal underworld by torching their fortune, but he burns the Triad accountant alive. He also kills the mob boss next to him, the Chechen, and allegedly feeds him to dogs.
Jack Nicholson was a clownish but devilish Joker, as seen in his graffiti pranks and toxic parades amok Gotham City. Joaquin Phoenix was a damaged and emotionally challenged Joker, as expressed through his violence and delusions. Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight was a chaotic anarchist, who held to that principle even when he could have taken the easy way out and escaped with billions of dollars. In torching the money, he stated that he was above the lure of money, and that his actions were driven to higher goals.
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