The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Black Panther was the first comic book movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, with Todd Phillips’ Joker repeating the trick the following year, but the reason the organization widened the field from five films to anywhere up to ten in the first place is largely due to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
That’s why the Academy’s decision was informally labeled as ‘the Dark Knight rule,’ because many people believed that the second installment in the filmmaker’s Batman trilogy was grossly and unfairly overlooked for the top prize at the 2009 ceremony, especially when the underwhelming Frost/Nixon and The Reader landed nods for Best Picture.
It did win two gongs from eight nominations in total, though, including one for Heath Ledger’s iconic performance, and in the years since, The Dark Knight has been lauded as arguably the greatest movie in the history of the comic book genre. It’s also one of the most influential blockbusters of the 21st Century, not to mention the first superhero film to ever earn a billion dollars at the box office, something that’s now the bare minimum for the biggest titles to achieve.
The Dark Knight has found itself trending once again this week as fans continue to lend support to the claims that Nolan’s masterpiece is the best comic book movie ever, and you can check out some of the reactions below.
Straight up The Dark Knight is still the greatest CBM to date and no other has come close. #THEDARKKNIGHT pic.twitter.com/f3lkPjF2u6
— RabbitsINVINCIBLE (@RabbitSkwad) December 27, 2020
The Dark Knight, as always a Nolan masterpiece https://t.co/fyK413VRVm
— Ravi Mody (@ravimody_) December 28, 2020
The Dark Knight Is The Greatest Movie Of All Time https://t.co/ScfXG7Vzfv
— SIMP👽 (@Cum_Depository) December 28, 2020
The Dark Knight is The BEST https://t.co/2iZjvQFKAk
— Ryan II..Andre 3000 is the GOAT! (@SliceOfRyanII) December 28, 2020
https://twitter.com/ThorHjorth/status/1343540764840775681
The Dark Knight https://t.co/AVr2IBHNkg pic.twitter.com/HmDQjrhc8L
— Anna Young (@annayoung___) December 28, 2020
The dark knight suddenly trending after i watched it this has got to be my doing pic.twitter.com/2eR4gqjc4d
— robert pattinson's lice (@nolanfilmology) December 28, 2020
https://twitter.com/DeeNnnAee/status/1342773601800478722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1342773601800478722%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmovies%2Fnews%2Fthe-dark-knight-perfect-superhero-movie-trending-topic-twitter%2F
The Dark Knight is one of the best movies ever made. I will stand on that hill.
— fleez. (@Ron_Flair) December 28, 2020
hey good afternoon the dark knight is the best movie in cinema history. enjoy the rest of your day.
— MARS (@austinmarsdale) December 28, 2020
Whether you think The Dark Knight deserves the lofty status or not, you can’t argue that it isn’t at least one of the five greatest comic book adaptations ever made regardless of how you rank them, and it’ll go into the history books next year as just the second superhero movie to be added to the National Film Registry.
