Los Santos, TLC Theater.
The Dark Knight was finally in theaters.
Stewart was the owner of a small comic shop. The shop did not make much money, but he enjoyed talking about comics with the customers who came in.
Not long ago, the popularity of Spider-Man had caused Marvel comic sales in his store to rise sharply.
As a devoted DC fan, Stewart felt a little complicated about it.
He was grateful for the boost in business, but deep down, he still hoped Batman could climb out of his slump and return to his former glory.
After Batman Begins was released, Batman's popularity had picked up a little, but not by much.
This time, he heard that Xu Can would be playing the Joker in The Dark Knight.
Stewart had waited in line at the ticket window all night before finally getting premiere tickets. He had brought his new girlfriend, Katie, hoping to introduce her to the comic world he loved.
Unfortunately, Katie did not seem very interested in superhero films.
"This movie won't be as popular as Batman Forever, right?"
"I don't know. The trailer was pretty good."
"I feel like superhero movies are all the same. They fight back and forth, then the hero defeats the villain."
Katie pouted casually.
"Suspense films made by great directors are still better. I prefer movies with depth."
On this point, Stewart found it difficult to refute her.
The previous Batman movies had indeed been disasters.
Batman Begins could only be considered good, and even Stewart himself did not have absolute confidence in The Dark Knight.
"If you don't believe in Nolan, how can you not believe in Xu Can?" Stewart said seriously. "He can definitely bring surprises."
At that moment, the theater suddenly darkened.
The IMAX logo appeared.
Everyone immediately fell silent and waited for the movie to begin.
[Produced by Warner Pictures]
[DC Comics]
[Co-produced by Galaxy Pictures]
Tick-tock.
Tick-tick-tick.
At the beginning of the film, Hans Zimmer's score created a tense and uneasy atmosphere.
The sound was like the accelerating movement of clock hands, pulling tighter and tighter at the audience's nerves.
The camera slowly advanced toward a building.
Boom.
The glass shattered.
The movie began.
A robber wearing a clown mask fired a grappling hook.
On the other side of the street, an oppressive figure stood quietly, holding a clown mask in his hand.
The camera moved closer and closer. His back grew larger on the giant IMAX screen, making the audience feel as though the air in the theater had become heavier.
Five masked robbers moved separately, entering the bank from different places and preparing to carry out a robbery.
Judging from the masks alone, everyone already understood.
The man behind this plan was the Joker.
One of the robbers mentioned him.
"Why does everyone call him the Joker?"
"I heard he wears strange paint on his face, like war paint. To intimidate people."
The masked robber swaggered into the bank lobby and fired a burst of bullets at the ceiling.
"Raise your hands. Bow your heads and kneel down. Don't move."
"We're here to withdraw money."
The robbers quickly took control of the lobby. At the same time, the men on the roof cut the circuit and interrupted the alarm.
Unexpectedly, the technician had just finished his work when the robber behind him shot him dead.
The movie had only just started, yet it had already given the audience its first surprise.
In the lobby, while the robbers were controlling the civilians, the bank manager suddenly picked up a shotgun and killed one of them.
"Whose money do you think you're robbing?"
This was not an ordinary bank.
The power behind it was connected to Gotham's underworld.
Unfortunately, the bank manager's shotgun jammed. The robbers immediately shot him down.
The robber responsible for opening the vault successfully unlocked the door, only to be shot dead by his accomplice from behind.
It turned out that the Joker had told each robber to kill the next man after his part of the job was done. That way, the remaining people would each receive a larger share of the money.
Such a sinister plan made the audience's eyes widen.
The Joker had not even appeared yet, but his evil had already begun to overflow from the screen.
Finally, after several large bags of cash had been packed, only two robbers remained.
One of them was clever. He pointed his gun at his accomplice.
"The Joker told you to kill me too, didn't he?"
Just as he was about to shoot, a school bus burst through the wall and knocked him to the ground.
The driver was also one of the Joker's accomplices. He got out and tried to help load the money, but the final surviving robber shot him too.
Then the robber in the clown mask walked over to the fallen bank manager and placed a grenade in his mouth.
"I believe whatever doesn't kill you…"
Most people knew how that saying was supposed to end.
Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
But the line that came out was different.
"…makes you stranger."
The robber slowly removed his mask.
A low gasp spread through the entire theater.
The Joker.
It was the Joker himself.
Xu Can's face was painted in a strange, distorted way. His smile was creepy, crooked, and unforgettable.
Ever since Warner announced that Xu Can would play the Joker, the media had been discussing whether he was qualified.
In the first Batman film, Jack Nicholson's Joker had already become a screen classic.
Many critics did not believe anyone could surpass that version.
Even some of Xu Can's own fans wondered whether he could truly challenge an Oscar-winning performance.
But at this moment, the instant Xu Can's Joker officially appeared, everyone forgot the old version.
It was as though the Joker was supposed to look exactly like this.
The Joker jumped onto the school bus with the money and drove out of the bank.
Outside, there was already a line of school buses moving together.
He blended into them perfectly and escaped right under the police's eyes.
From the opening of the movie until now, only six minutes had passed.
Yet the entire robbery plan had been watertight, ruthless, and meticulous.
The Joker's image stood up completely.
Many viewers even forgot for a moment that this was supposed to be a Batman movie. All they could think about was the Joker's performance.
On the roof of the Gotham Police Station, James Gordon turned on the Bat-Signal, and Batman's logo appeared in the night sky.
That was how he summoned Batman.
However, Batman was busy dealing with criminals.
The Scarecrow was making deals with gangsters, while ordinary citizens dressed up as fake Batmen and tried to enforce justice themselves.
In the end, both groups were tied up by the real Batman.
The audience had thought the Scarecrow, the villain from the previous movie, would make another big scene. They did not expect him to be subdued so easily.
Because in The Dark Knight, Batman's true opponent was far more difficult.
The Joker.
During the pursuit, Batman dropped from a great height and landed heavily on the roof of a car, subduing the criminal with brutal impact.
The visual force of the shot hit the audience directly.
"Handsome."
"Yeah. Batman. Batman."
This might have been one of Batman's few highlight moments in the entire film.
Bruce Wayne returned to his base to treat his wounds.
Rachel, his childhood sweetheart, now had a new boyfriend.
Gotham City's Bright Knight.
District Attorney Harvey Dent.
The actress playing Rachel was still Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise's wife from Batman Begins.
In Xu Can's previous timeline, she had stepped away from acting because of pregnancy and family life.
Since she was still active in the industry this time, the role of Rachel had not been replaced.
At the court hearing, the righteous Harvey Dent was calm and confident. He chatted and smiled while preparing to send a group of gangsters, including Sal Maroni, to prison.
Unfortunately, the witness suddenly turned hostile, and the trial was temporarily suspended.
That night, several gang leaders gathered in an underground meeting, trying to find a way to deal with Batman.
Just as they were at a loss, a strangely dressed man suddenly broke into the room.
"Ha ha ha…"
That emotionless laugh sounded like mockery.
"I thought my jokes were bad."
"Who the hell are you? Do you think I won't twist your head off?"
"Don't get excited. I'll show you a magic trick."
The Joker took out a pencil and planted it upright on the table.
"Do you want to see me make this pencil disappear?"
One man could not hold back and stepped forward to teach him a lesson.
The Joker grabbed his head and slammed it down onto the table.
"Ta-da. It's gone."
After appearing for only thirty seconds, the Joker once again became the focus of the audience.
His crazy yet thoughtful image drove people almost insane.
If Jack Nicholson's Joker still carried a trace of comedy, then Xu Can's Joker was pure chaos.
His micro-expressions, the tone of his voice, the small movements of his shoulders and eyes, everything made the character feel alive.
A villain had created an irresistible personality charm in only two scenes.
The film critics present were stunned.
Was this really the Spider-Man everyone knew?
Had they secretly replaced the actor?
"I know why you don't dare go out at night and leave your games during the day…"
"Because of Batman."
"I can help you kill Batman."
The Joker left his business card and walked away.
The gangsters could do nothing to him.
Even the underworld had rules, but the Joker had none.
No rules.
No bottom line.
Because the Gotham police had an insider, they could not track the gangs through the money.
The person in charge of the Lau family had fled back to Hong Kong Island.
Gordon and Harvey Dent had no choice but to ask Batman to go to Hong Kong Island and arrest him.
With the Skyhook plan, an aircraft flying over Hong Kong Island could quickly pick up a target and escape before the enemy could surround it.
Bruce Wayne arrived in Hong Kong, sneaked into the Lau Group building, and secretly placed a high-tech sonar device at the front desk.
With it, he could scan every corner of the building and locate the target.
Hong Kong actor Edison Chen also appeared here in a small role.
Later, Batman attacked at night. Using high-tech equipment, he broke into Lau's building, captured Mr. Lau from the top floor, and escaped handsomely into the air.
It was like taking the enemy general's head from among thousands of troops.
After Mr. Lau was delivered to the police station, Harvey Dent finally obtained the evidence he needed and successfully struck down Sal Maroni and the other underworld forces.
Gotham's prison could barely hold them all.
Just when everyone thought peace might finally return to Gotham, the Joker appeared again.
He captured a fake Batman and used cruel methods to force the real Batman to show himself.
Even when the Joker was not physically on screen, the audience could feel his madness through the video.
It was chilling.
"Are you Batman?"
"Why do you look the same as Batman? Oh, hahahaha."
"You see, right? Can Batman really make Gotham better?"
"He will only make Gotham more chaotic."
"It's easy to change Gotham for the better. Batman must take off his mask and surrender."
"As long as he doesn't show up, someone will die every day. Starting with this poor man, I will keep my word."
"Ehahahahaha…"
How could such a villain exist in previous Hollywood crime movies?
The Joker kept stirring everyone's nerves.
Xu Can's acting had already reached a point where the audience no longer thought of it as acting.
At this moment, he was the Joker.
Christopher Nolan, sitting nearby, could not help glancing at Xu Can.
That scene had not been arranged in the script. Nolan had not requested it either.
This entire section had been designed by Xu Can himself and improvised on set.
That made it even scarier.
Nolan was suddenly afraid that Xu Can might go crazy in the cinema and stab him, too.
Was this Chinese guy's mental state really normal?
At night, inside the penthouse of the Bruce Wayne Building, Wayne held a fundraising dinner for Harvey Dent, hoping to convince the wealthy to invest in the Bright Knight's fight against crime.
At the same time, clues had been found on the fake Batman's body.
There were three different DNA traces.
They corresponded to Gotham's judge, Commissioner Loeb, and Harvey Dent.
These were the Joker's targets.
He was going to make big news.
Gordon's heart skipped a beat.
He quickly sent people to protect the three important figures.
However, the Joker was already one step ahead.
He had poisoned Commissioner Loeb's drink in advance, and Loeb died right in front of Gordon.
This time, Gordon truly became commissioner.
The judge was also hit by a car bomb and died shortly after.
Two important figures in Gotham's legal system were eliminated by the Joker with terrifying ease.
As for Harvey Dent, the Joker took action personally.
He led his men into the gathering of Gotham's celebrities in full public view.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen."
"I will entertain everyone tonight."
"Don't be nervous. I only have one question…"
"Where is Harvey Dent?"
The Joker casually grabbed a skewer of roasted food from the banquet table, looking more relaxed than someone eating in a cafeteria.
This charming villain, surrounded by his full aura of madness, formed a sharp contrast with the panicked celebrities around him.
This scene had also been improvised by Xu Can.
Nolan had been no less shocked on set.
Batman was busy hiding Harvey Dent and changing into the Batsuit.
Rachel was the only person at the scene who directly faced the Joker.
He grabbed her and pressed a knife near her mouth.
After seeing this scene again, actress Katie could still recall the fear she felt on set. She could not help but shudder.
During filming, she had truly been afraid that Xu Can might suddenly go crazy and hurt her with the knife.
Because of that, the suppressed panic in Rachel's eyes was not staged.
It came from her heart.
How could the bright and handsome Spider-Man become like this?
When it came to acting, Katie had to admit that Xu Can's performance had surpassed even her husband, Tom Cruise.
"You must be Harvey Dent's little lover, right? You're quite pretty."
"Are you nervous? Are you afraid of the scars on my face?"
"Don't worry. I'll tell you where they came from."
"I once had a wife who was as beautiful as you. She always said I was too gloomy. She said I should smile more…"
"Why so serious?"
"Why so serious?"
The Joker's low, strange voice sounded like a devil whispering in the ear.
It rang through the auditorium and made everyone shiver.
"Later, she was disfigured. I didn't care about the scars on her face. I only wanted to see her smile."
"So I took the knife and put it in my mouth… and just like that, I put a smile on my face."
"Do you know what happened? She hated my scars. She ran away with someone else."
"Now I always have a smile on my face…"
"Ohhhhh…"
At the critical moment, Batman's hoarse voice finally sounded.
"I'm afraid you won't be able to laugh again."
Boom.
Batman suddenly appeared from the darkness, knocked the Joker down with one punch, and faced many thugs alone.
The Joker did not fight with gorgeous moves like a traditional villain.
Instead, he fought in an extremely dirty and cunning way.
He constantly used Batman's openings to launch sneak attacks.
He even threw his own accomplices forward as human shields, hiding behind them while carrying out underhanded tricks.
This battle scene left the audience dumbfounded.
In Spider-Man, Xu Can had performed somersaults, triple kicks in midair, and all kinds of beautiful acrobatic moves.
In John Wick, he had smooth gun-fu, practical mixed martial arts, and the ruthless style of a thug in a suit.
But as the Joker, his fighting style was like that of a street gangster.
Messy.
Ugly.
Shameless.
Yet terrifyingly clever.
Batman could not do anything to him.
He was furious.
At the critical moment, the Joker grabbed Rachel as a hostage and dragged her to the edge of the high-rise building.
Batman warned him.
"Let her go."
The Joker smiled.
"Oh ho ho. That's what you said."
Then he let go without hesitation.
Rachel fell from the tall building.
The sudden turn made everyone in the audience widen their eyes.
Why did this villain never follow the routine?
He had completely stolen the spotlight.
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