This Theory Will Completely Change How You See 'The Dark Knight'

Is Joker really the Dark Knight that Gotham deserves?
Warner Bros.

Let's put a smile on those faces.

As of late, videos are going around painting all our favorite protagonists, Daniel LaRusso from "Karate Kid" and Harry Potter, as villains. Yep. That's all of our favorites.

But now, there's a theory going around about "The Dark Knight" that takes a different approach. Get ready, people of Gotham. This might change everything.

The theory: The Joker was actually the hero in "Dark Knight."

Houston Press writer Jef Rouner proposed the theory earlier this year. Later, MoviePilot got on board, and now it's picking up steam with the help of Reddit and BuzzFeed.

The theory basically lays out how Gotham was a pretty crummy place before the Joker. Organized crime was everywhere, officials were corrupt and there was even a crazy vigilante running around thinking he was a giant bat or something. (Hmm ... dude sounds pretty official.)

Redditor generalzee explains how the Joker then showed up and changed everything:

Along comes the Joker and by the end of a very short time, almost all organized crime was eliminated, many corrupt officials were imprisoned or dead, and the city's Vigilante even went into hiding for 8 years.

According to this theory, all the Joker's "chaos" in "The Dark Knight" was just a well-executed plan to rid the city of criminals and corruption, which it kind of did. Because of this, Gotham's real hero is that crazy clown guy and not the dude with the cool black motorcycle.

Wanna know how we got this conclusion?

The evidence:

The Joker starts the movie off by robbing a bank. Yeah, that doesn't sound too heroic, but remember it was actually a mob-controlled establishment, and he even killed a bunch of bank robbers in the process.

Rouner explains that in the movie the Joker also "wages a war against the institutions of law in Gotham," which means assassinating judges and commissioners. "That is clearly wrong," says Rouner, but the writer reminds us that the system in Gotham is corrupt. High officials are corrupt, cops are corrupt; it's everywhere. The Joker is cleaning up the streets in a way Batman and Harvey Dent never could.

So what about killing Rachel Dawes and scarring Harvey Dent?

The Joker is cleaning the streets of organized crime, but he still has that deranged bat guy running around. By scarring Dent and killing his boo, the Joker turned Dent into a villain who also started taking out corrupt officials. This eventually leads to Batman taking the rap for Dent's murders and going into an extended absence until "The Dark Knight Rises," aka vigilante problem solved.

Was the Joker the Dark Knight that Gotham deserves?

Following the events of "The Dark Knight," Gotham has years of peace. Redditor generalzee again explains it's not because of Dent, and it's not because of Batman:

What do you think? Could director Christopher Nolan really have made the Joker the hero of "The Dark Knight"? Is this totally crazy?

It's just a theory, Gotham. Why so serious?

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