Christopher Nolan explained The Dark Knight trilogy's limited use of humor, and the MCU could follow Nolan's method to address recent complaints. The Dark Knight series is one of the greatest superhero trilogies ever made. While The Dark Knight is traditionally regarded as the best of the trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises and Batman Begins are still worthy films that provide gritty crime drama set in DC's Gotham. The trilogy is known for its darker, more mature tone, but humorous elements are sprinkled throughout.
Heath Ledger's Joker has several funny moments in The Dark Knight and there are a few quotable jokes like "I'm not wearing hockey pads." However, the humor is limited as the focus remains on Batman's battle for Gotham's soul. Nolan later explained the reasoning behind the trilogy's comedy, raising an intriguing point that could explain a recurring issue audiences have with the MCU.
Christopher Nolan's Decision Regarding The Dark Knight's Comedy Raises An Interesting Comparison With The MCU
The modern superhero genre is often mocked for having an imbalance of dramatic and humorous moments. While the stakes are often world-ending, a quippy joke by a comedic relief character could kill any dramatic tension. This wasn't the case for Nolan's trilogy as the tone was often humorless and morbid to build suspense and emotional stakes. In The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of The Dark Knight Trilogy documentary, Nolan shared that he and writers Jeff Robinov and Greg Silverman wanted humor in the films but knew it had to be limited since they're not comedies.
We’d have a lot of conversations about humor and how much humor would be in it. I’d say, “Well, you know, if you watch Raiders Of The Lost Ark or something, there’s a couple great gags in there, but they’re not - it’s not a comedic film.”
Nolan's rationale makes sense and his Batman films benefited from having limited humor that fit into different scenes. In comparison to the MCU, The Dark Knight films didn't go overboard with their comedy, a common criticism people have of Marvel Studios, especially in recent years. However, there are times when the MCU nails a perfect balance of drama and comedy. Typically, that's the recipe behind its best films.
The MCU's Most Well-Received Releases Mirror The Dark Knight's Approach To Comedy
In the past few years, Marvel's more comedic films haven't been well-received by audiences or critics. Thor: Love and Thunder was seen as a downgrade from Ragnarok, and The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania turned off many viewers with their overindulgence in humor, leading to poor box-office performances. (The Marvels' box office was also impacted by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023.) Leaning into comedy has worked for the MCU in a few instances, like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but James Gunn knows how to create emotional moments mixed in with humor.
The future might look a little brighter for the MCU as a positive Rotten Tomatoes trend spells good things for 3 upcoming Marvel movies.
Audiences and critics have gravitated toward the MCU films that know how to strike the proper balance of thrilling emotional stakes with the correct amount of humor. Avengers: Infinity War has many of the harshest moments in the MCU, but the film also has many of the most quoted jokes. Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War are praised for their captivating spy thriller narratives, but they still have good comedy that breaks the tension at the right moments. Hopefully, Marvel will hear Nolan's explanation from The Dark Knight and utilize it more in the future.
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