# Can "The Dark Knight" be watched as a stand alone film? **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-dark-knight-be-watched-as-a-stand-alone-film/508278 **Category:** Cafe Society **Created:** [August 30, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-dark-knight-be-watched-as-a-stand-alone-film/508278 "2009-08-30T19:31:44Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 21
### Author: ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman) #### Post date: [August 31, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-dark-knight-be-watched-as-a-stand-alone-film/508278/21 "2009-08-31T14:50:22Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > I bought a copy of “The Dark Knight” for 99 cents a few days back, and was going to watch it tonight. The first and only Batman film I have ever seen was the original with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson back in the early 90’s… > > Will “Dark Knight” make sense without seeing all the other Batman movies? > > (if not, I am probably not going to bother, so if someone wants my copy of DK, let me know, I will be happy to mail it out, my pleasure) The original Batman movie is _not_ the one with Michael Keaton. The original Batman movie was made in 1967, and featured 4 supervillains (the most in any Batman movie). It also featured the Bat-Boat and Bat-Cycle. Ooops…got off track… You could see DK as a standalone. Just understand that Rachel was the girl next door (when Bruce Wayne was growing up)and she knows who Batman is. Heath Ledger’s perfomance as the Joker is stellar and worth the price of breaking the seal. He isn’t manic like Cesar Romero’s version He isn’t a bad-ass psycho like Jack Nicholson’s version --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-dark-knight-be-watched-as-a-stand-alone-film/508278)._