Timeline

Italics denote a Joker-related aspect of the ARG.

2007

March

• March 18, 2007 - A Showfax, Inc user finds casting sides that likely pertain to The Dark Knight.

April

• April 1, 2007 - A second batch of casting sides is found at Showfax, but their authenticity is questioned. One of the sides has a hidden message: "See you in December."

May

• May 11, 2007 - Thedarkknight.warnerbros.com, the movie's official site, opens.

• May 17, 2007 - Clicking on the batsymbol on Thedarkknight.warnerbros.com links to Ibelieveinharveydent.com, a Harvey Dent campaign website.

• May 18, 2007 - An employee in a comic book store in Southern California reported that defaced Joker cards have appeared in the shop, with "I believe in Harvey Dent too! Hahahaha!" rubber-stamped all over them.

• May 19, 2007 - Ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com is found, leading to the first game in the ARG. A defaced image of a Harvey Dent poster is shown, as well as a prompt asking people to submit their email addresses. After enough people register, the Dent poster is replaced with the first official picture of Heath Ledger as the Joker.

• May 21, 2007 - Ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com is replaced with a "Page not found" error containing the hidden message "See you in December."

July

• July 26, 2007 - At the San Diego Comic-Con, "Jokerized" $1 bills are found that lead to Whysoserious.com, a page advertising for jobs as Joker henchmen. The page includes coordinates to a location near the convention center and a countdown clock set to go off the next morning at 10am.

• July 27, 2007 - Hundreds gather at the time and place listed on Whysoserious.com. At 10am, a phone number is written in the sky, launching the game. Collaborating with friends online, the assembled crowd (now wearing Joker face paint) is sent on a scavenger hunt throughout the city. After solving all the clues, a fan was selected to be abducted and killed in place of the Joker. The participants at San Diego were given clown masks as a reward, while online players were rewarded with the first teaser trailer for The Dark Knight.

• July 30, 2007 - Whysoserious.com is shut down and replaced with Rent-a-clown.com, a clown rental company whose "employees" are the fans from Whysoserious.com. The page contains the message "made you look" hidden in its source code.

October

• October 17, 2007 - Whysoserious.com is reactivated, with a Halloween theme - a single pumpkin lit by a candle, with the mouth carved in the shape of a bat. The pumpkin carving resembled the jack-o-lantern from the graphic novel "The Long Halloween" by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.

• October 31, 2007 - After watching the pumpkin rot (only on the left-hand side, a metaphor for Two-Face and a second reference to "The Long Halloween") and the candle burn out over the course of a few weeks, at the stroke of midnight Whysoserious.com updates with a workbench linked with 49 locations.

November

• November 1, 2007 - The community uploaded images of 49 different letters onto the Whysoserious.com website, spelling out the message "The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules". Clicking on the solution played a clip of the Joker saying "Tonight, you're going to break your one rule," followed by a new image of the Joker.

  • Clicking on the image led to a new website, RorysDeathKiss.com, challenging participants to take photographs in clown make-up by major national landmarks in groups.

• November 18, 2007 - At midnight, the end of the deadline for photo submissions, Rorysdeathkiss.com was updated with a new note indicating that all who had submitted a photo would receive something in the mail shortly after Thanksgiving.

• November 21, 2007 - Community members who uploaded photo submissions to the Rorysdeathkiss website receive copies of The Gotham Times.

  Within the newspaper is an email address used by the Joker: humanresources@whysoserious.com

• November 23, 2007 - Based on the content of The Gotham Times, new websites are discovered: Thehahahatimes.com, Wearetheanswer.org, Rememberinggina.org, Gothamcab.com, Gothampolice.com, Gothamcityrail.com, Gothamnationalbank.com, GVAFoundation.org, Acmesecuritysystems.com, Gothamusd.net and Saintswithunschurch.org.

  • A puzzle on Thehahahatimes.com leads to Whysoserious.com/Personalityprofile.

• November 27, 2007 - A new clue was sent to participants who emailed humanresources@whysoserious.com, revealing Whysoserious.com/mausoleum.

  • Calling the Gotham Cab company Gothamcab.com at 1-877-530-2227 and entering extension 6773 will play a hidden message, leading to Bettyshouseofpies.com.

• November 30, 2007 - Participants who submitted a phone number with their tip to Wearetheanswer.org receive a threatening phone call from a corrupt police officer. He divulged the existence of an important document, which was then found on Gothampolice.com/secureinternaldocuments.

  • Other viral sites led to the revelation that a GPD wiretap was going to occur at Bettyshouseofpies.com on December 1 at 3PM EST.
  • A note was added to the fourth page of Thehahahatimes.com, leading the participant to a new puzzle, Whysoserious.com/theperfectgetaway. By finding a hidden message formed by the streets of Gotham City, participants discovered Whysoserious.com/outoftime.

December

• December 1, 2007 - A GPD wiretap operation headed by Gotham Internal Affairs officer Glenn Barhyte at Betty's House of Pies is streamed live at GPDIAD.com at 3 PM EST. The clip depicts GPD internal affair dept officers arresting Karl Breitup and Jason McCree, the two corrupt cops who fled the scene of Gina Tortericci's murder.

• December 3, 2007 - A new email was received by participants from humanresources@whysoserious.com, leading to Whysoserious.com/Steprightup. A timer on the page counts down to 12 PM EST on December 4.

• December 4, 2007 - A carnival-themed scavenger hunt was revealed at Whysoserious.com/Steprightup, urging participants to pick up a package at 22 different addresses around the country. After location of the packages (which turned out to be cakes with cell phones inside), two rewards were found at Whysoserious.com/Steprightup/Pairofjokers: the teaser poster for The Dark Knight and a registration page for free IMAX movie tickets, for select participants to view the short prologue that will be attached to IMAX screenings of "I Am Legend."

  • A new email was also sent out from Wearetheanswer.org, essentially letting partipants know not to expect anything new from that side of the viral marketing until the New Year. A new audio file was also released on Gpdiad.com, featuring a confession from Jason McCree after the sting operation at Betty's House of Pies.

• December 6 and 7, 2007 - Free screening dates for The Dark Knight's IMAX prologue, for registered participants as part of the their first "caper" with the Joker.

• December 9, 2007 - A new story is posted on Rememberinggina.org.

• December 14, 2007 - Atasteforthetheatrical.com is found by decoding a message on a TDK poster. The site hints at the release of a new trailer.

• December 16, 2007 - The first theatrical trailer becomes available for downloading on Atasteforthetheatrical.com.

2008

January

• January 14, 2008 - Participants with cell phones from the cake hunt receive text messages from humanresources@whysoserious.com.

• January 24, 2008 - 2 days after actor Heath Ledger's (The Joker) sudden passing, a small black ribbon is added to Whysoserious.com.

• January 30, 2008 - The Joker cell phones from the cake hunt have their accounts renewed until March 29, 2008, indicating that the Joker games will continue sometime in the future.

February

• February 29, 2008 - Ibelieveinharveydent.com is updated to allow participants to submit contact information, presumably as a starting point for a Harvey Dent-related game.

March

• March 7, 2008 - Ibelieveinharveydent.com is changed to a campaign effort page. Participants are encouraged to print out and display/distribute flyers and submit photos/video of their efforts. Deadline for submission is March 26 at noon (presumably EST). Those who had submitted their phone numbers on the previous version of the site received a phone call from 000-000-0000, describing Harvey Dent's crusade and advertising the website.

• March 11, 2008 - The Dentmobile campaign page has been updated with dates and locations.

• March 12, 2008 - Participants who submitted photos or video to Ibelieveinharveydent.com start to receive Gotham City voter registration cards. An update email was also sent out from Ibelieveinharveydent.com, advising NYC-local participants that they might be televised on the Today Show if they attend the campaign stop at Rockefeller Center 6am-9am on March 13.

• March 13, 2008 - The first Dentmobile campaign stops! Participants are able to pick up free swag at the locations.

  • The sites Gothamcityclerk.com and Gothamelectionboard.com are also found.

• March 15, 2008 - People who are affiliated with other ARG companies, forums, and websites are receiving FedEx packages containing campaign materials and a letter about the Harvey Dent grassroots campaign.

• March 19, 2008 - An update email is sent from the Dent campaign, acknowledging the police action toward the campaign stops.

• March 26, 2008 - Envelopes containing new issues of The Gotham Times and Harvey Dent campaign materials are being received by those who submitted media to Ibelieveinharveydent.com. This issue was later uploaded to Thegothamtimes.com.

  • New websites are discovered: Danaworthington.com, Maidenavenuereport.com, Citizensforbatman.org, Rossisdelicatessen.com, and Gothamcablenews.com.
  • Existing websites updated: Gpdiad.com, Gothamcab.com, Gothamcityrail.com, GVAFoundation.org, Gothamusd.net, Gothampolice.com/secureinternaldocuments (with a new document) and Saintswithunschurch.org
  • In addition, owners of the Joker cell phones received a new text message promising that a new event will begin before April 1 (April Fool's Day).

• March 28, 2008 - Thehahahatimes.com is updated with a parody of the new issue of The Gotham Times. Solving the puzzle led to taunting messages from the Joker and no new information.

  • Gothamcityclerk.com is updated with links to Danaworthington.com and Trustgarcetti.com.

• March 30, 2008 - Owners of the Joker cell phones are called and each are given a "secret letter." These letters were descrambled and led to Clowntravelagency.com. The site has a note saying it will update on April 1.

  • Harvey Dent calls his supporters asking for help, and Ibelieveinharveydent.com is updated, referencing the group "Concerned Citizens for a Better Gotham." The group's website, Ccfabg.org, is discovered. The website for the founder's law practice, Josephcandoloro.com, is also found. Various voicemail messages were discovered as well.
  • Saintswithunschurch.org, Gothampolice.com, Gothampolice.com/secureinternaldocuments (with a new document) and Maidenavenuereport.com are updated.
  • Trustgarcetti.com, Roger Garcetti's campaign page, is discovered.

• March 31, 2008 - Ibelieveinharveydent.com participants start to receive a CCFABG package containing a Dent button with the left side of Dent's face burned (an allusion to Two-Face).

April

• April 1, 2008 - Ibelieveinharveydent.com, Trustgarcetti.com, Danaworthington.com, Josephcandoloro.com, Citizensforbatman.org and Maidenavenuereport.com are updated.

  • Clowntravelagency.com is updated with a new scavenger hunt. Participants are directed to bowling alleys around the world to collect green-and-purple bowling balls and a new Joker phone. When the game concludes, the Joker leads his followers to Acmesecuritysystems.com/delos. There, once the participant submits their information, their phone is called by James Gordon, who lets them know that they must now work for the GPD or risk jail time.

• April 4, 2008 - Gpdmcu.com, the website for the Gotham Police Major Crimes Unit, is now active.

• April 6, 2008 - From a clue sent from Wearetheanswer.org regarding corruption of GPD officer Francis Notaro, new documents on the GPD SID are found, implicating that Albert Rossi, Joseph Candoloro, and Francis Notaro are covering up an investigation that also involves Garcetti's DA office.

  • A wiretap in the SID and new voicemails on Candoloro's account also imply that Rossi and Candoloro have been using Notaro to attack Harvey Dent's campaign.
  • Maidenavenuereport.com is updated with references to a video clip of Rachel Dawes giving her support to Harvey Dent, as well as an interview with Francis Notaro. Both files are found on Thegothamtimes.com/media/jlevine/public.

• April 9, 2008 - A new email is sent from Ibelieveinharveydent.com saying that Harvey Dent is still in the race. The site itself is updated with news that the campaign will hold a press conference on April 13 at 3 PM EDT, with audio streaming live on the site.

  • Trustgarcetti.com, Danaworthington.com, Gothampolice.com, Josephcandoloro.com and Maidenavenuereport.com are updated. The latter's update leads to the discovery of Gcferries.com and Kinslytravel.com.
  • Citizensforbatman.org is updated with an active forum that spoofs Superhero Hype.
  • Logging into Gothampolice.com/secureinternaldocuments as Glenn Barhyte now gives access to his webmail.

• April 13, 2008 - Ibelieveinharveydent.com sends out an email reminding Dent supporters of the press conference at 3 PM EDT. The press conference is canceled when Frank Notaro takes hostages at Rossi's Deli; however, Harvey Dent is able to peacefully end the situation.

  • Maidenavenuereport.com, Danaworthington.com, Ccfabg.org, and Rossisdelicatessen.com are updated. Participants can call into Rossi's Deli and be greeted by a real person.
  • A new thread is added to the Citizensforbatman.org forums, and new posts are added to other threads.
  • New emails are found in Glenn Barhyte's webmail.
  • New voicemails are found on Albert Rossi's phone, Joseph Candoloro's phone and the Gotham Cab answering machine.

• April 15, 2008 - New emails are found on Glenn Barhyte's account, revealing that participant interactions with the receptionist at Rossi's Deli on April 13 are collected into a wiretap document on GPD's SID.

  • Ibelieveinharveydent.com, Danaworthington.com and Trustgarcetti.com are updated. The latter two reveal that Mary Breitup was killed in the hostage situation on Sunday, but that she was not the hostage Notaro was holding.
  • A new voicemail on Joseph Candoloro's phone reveals that he plans to skip town.

• April 16, 2008 - Maidenavenuereport.com is updated.

  • A new thread is added to the Citizensforbatman.org forums, new posts are added to other threads, and one thread is closed.

• April 18, 2008 - Participants who submitted their phone number to the Harvey Dent campaign are called to take a push poll survey that attacks Dent. Typing in "164938" while on the phone results in a hidden message, asking any officers who were part of CCFABG to leave Gotham.

  • Those who tried to hack Acmesecuritysystems.com receive an email from Jim Gordon saying that he will contact them within the next week regarding an important investigation.
  • A new thread and new posts are added to the Citizensforbatman.org forums.
  • A new voicemail is found on Joseph Candoloro's answering machine.
  • Ccfabg.org is updated.
  • New emails are found on Glenn Barhyte's account.

• April 23, 2008 - The participants caught in the ACME sting are emailed by Jim Gordon and told to take part in "Operation Slipknot," which seeks to stop CCFABG's members from leaving the city. At Operation Slipknot's website, the informants are ordered to call the Gotham Intercontinental Hotel and get care packages that were supposed to go the corrupt cops mailed to themselves.

  • A new voicemail is found on Joseph Candoloro's answering machine.

• April 24, 2008 - The "Operation Slipknot" participants receive their care packages in the mail. Using the information in the envelopes, they are able to catch 27 of the 30 missing officers. They are rewarded with a phone call from Jim Gordon.

  • Ibelieveinharveydent.com, Danaworthington.com and Maidenavenuereport.com update regarding the collapse of CCFABG.
  • New emails are found on Glenn Barhyte's account.
  • A new text message from humanresources@whysoserious.com to the Operation Slipknot participants leads to Whysoserious.com/Itsallpartoftheplan. The site features vandalized pictures of various US currency-figurehead politicians, a countdown to April 28 and a new theatrical poster for The Dark Knight.

• April 25, 2008 - Whysoserious.com/Itsallpartoftheplan is updated with instructions to meet at certain coordinates in 12 cities at a certain time on Monday, April 28.

• April 28, 2008 - Whysoserious.com/Itsallpartoftheplan updates at 4, 5:40, 6:30 and 8:30 PM EST with instructions for the twelve events. On-site participants must search their surroundings for 3 2-digit numbers that can be used as a combination for an online safe. The safes contain information that leads them to a movie theater, where they are able to watch a new trailer for The Dark Knight. One person at each showing receives a vandalized film reel to share with the community. After all the events are complete, a secret code in the San Francisco safe led to the discovery of Whysoserious.com/Sittingducks. Finishing this carnival-style duck shooting game reveals Whysoserious.com/Happytrails, which promises to update on Sunday.

• April 29, 2008 - The Jokerized trailer reels begin to appear on YouTube.

May

• May 4, 2008 - The second theatrical trailer for The Dark Knight becomes available for viewing on Whysoserious.com/Happytrails.
• May 7, 2008 - Gothampolice.com, Gothamcityrail.com, Josephcandoloro.com and Gpdiad.com are updated.
• May 27, 2008- Joker phone holders receive a text message, indicating their phones have been prepaid for another period of time, "VZW-FREE-MSG: 30.00 has been posted to your account. Your new balance is XX.XX. Your next payment is due before 07-26-2008."

June

• June 9, 2008 - A new text message is received by participants with Joker cell phones

• A new email from the Harvey Dent campaign is received, and the campaign page is updated.
• New emails in Glenn Barhyte's account
• Gothampolice.com, Gothamcityrail.com, Gothamelectionboard.com, Gothamcablenews.com, Gothamusd.net, Gpdiad.com, Maidenavenuereport.com, Citizensforbatman.org, Danaworthington.com, and Trustgarcetti.com are updated.

• June 13, 2008 - Comcast subscribers are able to watch the first episode of Gotham Tonight. In it, host Mike Engel reveals that Harvey Dent has been elected District Attorney.

• A new issue of the Gotham Times is uploaded to its website. Gothamcitypizzeria.com is discovered via an ad in the new issue.
• Albert Rossi's arrest report is discovered in the GPD SID via a clue in Gotham Tonight.
• New emails in Barhyte's account.
• Ibelieveinharveydent.com, Trustgarcetti.com, Danaworthington.com and Gothamcablenews.com are updated.
• Joker cell phone owners are contacted and given a puzzle involving various words and pictures. The solution seems to indicate that a Domino's Pizza commercial related to the game will air on June 16.

• June 16, 2008 - Gothamcitypizzeria.com is updated, allowing participants to have a Free pizza delivered depending on location. Based on notes found inside some of the boxes, the secret forum CFB Underground is discovered.

• Gothamcablenews.com is updated with the first episode of Gotham Tonight and a new subsection asking visitors to submit photos or videos of Batman.
• Gothamcitypizzeria.com is updated by the Joker with a hidden link to Whysoserious.com/Myhero, containing a first glimpse of Two-Face.

• June 19, 2008 - Joker cell phone owners are contacted with a letter puzzle that leads to Whysoserious.com/Laughtilithurts, which features a carnival game. Beating the game is rewarded with a link to Whysoserious.com/Laughtilithurts/Static.htm, a security camera video.
• June 20, 2008 - Gothamcablenews.com is updated with new articles and Batman sightings.

• New emails in Glenn Barhyte's account.
• Some "Operation Slipknot" participants receive an email from Jim Gordon.
• Gothamusd.net is updated.
• CFB Underground is updated with a new thread, welcoming new members.

• June 23, 2008 - The second episode of Gotham Tonight is added to Gothamcablenews.com.
• June 24, 2008 - Using information from the second episode of Gotham Tonight, Pasqualesbistro.com is found.

• Thehahahatimes.com is updated.
• New emails in Glenn Barhyte's account.

• June 25, 2008 - Joker cell phone owners are contacted and sent pictures showing various purple shapes on a green background. A complex cipher system uncovered a hidden message within the picture that eventually led to Whysoserious.com/Redballoons, another carnival game. Beating the game brings up a note from the Joker referring to the murder of two of Maroni's men.

• A clue from the Joker's note leads to the discovery of the password for the answering machine at Pasquale's Bistro.
• The Two-Face is clip is taken off Whysoserious.com/Myhero and replaced with a hidden cryptic message.

• June 27, 2008 - Gothamcablenews.com is updated with new articles, and the third and fourth episode of Gotham Tonight is made available to Comcast subscribers.

• From information gleamed from the fourth episode of Gotham Tonight, an investigative document on Brian Douglass was found in the GPD SID.
• A new email from Jim Gordon to Glenn Barhyte points to a new MCU wiretap in the SID, that possibly witnesses the murder of Maroni's men, the incident that the Joker was alluding to on June 25.

• June 30, 2008 - Participants who submitted to Batman Sightings on Gothamcablenews.com begin to receive promotional materials from Citizens For Batman. An event on July 8th is alluded to. Later a countdown timer is added to Citizensforbatman.org, counting down to 10PM EDT on July 8.

• New emails in Glenn Barhyte's account imply that MCU administrative worker Atoz is getting fed up with being just a filer.
• New posts in CFB Underground reveal that Citizens for Batman founder Brian Douglass has now joined the ex-CFB members in becoming a vigilante.
• Whysoserious.com is updated with an "endgame" page listing every event and website in the game. A checklist reveals the Joker has three more tasks to accomplish before his mission is done: "be good to my guests," "gather all my fans" and "leave a big mark."

July

• July 1, 2008 - Joker cell phone owners are contacted with information that leads to Whysoserious.com/Operator. A game of "operator" between the cell phone owners begins, with one player calling another with a code word, that player calling another player, and so on. After a word puzzle on the site is solved, Whysoserious.com/Punkdrop, another carnival game, is found. Beating the game reveals Whysoserious.com/Stupidbats, which features a new poster for The Dark Knight.
• July 3, 2008 - On the Citizensforbatman.org forums, Brian Douglass reveals that Batfan73, who was working on an important part of next Tuesday's events, has been arrested for tresspassing and has left behind only the invoice number 38272899. Emails in Glenn Barhyte's account lead to the discovery of Maroniimports.com, which needs both an invoice number and a last name. After Gothamcityrail.com updates with the name of electrical engineer C. Craston, Batfan73's real name, an invoice with a software key is found. Inputting the software key into a text submission box on the CFB website reveals that there will be two events on July 8: one in New York City and one in Chicago.

• Citizens for Batman videos that were sent into Gothamcablenews.com were uploaded onto YouTube by a user named BriDog72, who is presumed to be Brian Douglass from the CFB forums.

• July 5, 2008 - The fifth episode of Gotham Tonight is available to Comcast subscribers On Demand.
• July 7, 2008 - Joker cell phone owners are contacted with a word puzzle. Solving the puzzle leads to Whysoserious.com/Bamboozle, a fortune telling machine. A code in the fortunes provides a way to access Whysoserious.com/Bamboozle/2l43kjsa892nn2.htm, and beating its puzzle leads to Whysoserious.com/Overture, depicting a bomb.
• July 8, 2008 - Gothamnationalbank.com/Admin, the webmail of the GNB bank manager, goes live from the information on the GNB deposit slips.

• Gothamhistorictrust.com goes live.
• The Citizens for Batman events in New York and Chicago began at 10 PM EDT, involving a short scavenger hunt and culminating in the presentation of a prominent batsignal shown onto the Woolworth Building (NYC) and Sears Tower (Chicago).

• July 10, 2008 - The bomb on Whysoserious.com/Overture goes off, causing the Jokerization of every site in the game (except for the Joker's websites and Gothamhistorictrust.com). Simultaneously, the live feed is reactivated on Citizensforbatman.org, showing that the Batsignal is being reprojected on the Woolworth Building and Sears Tower; it then turns into a "Joker signal" a short time later. Solving a puzzle involving the vandalized sites leads to Whysoserious.com/Kickingandscreening and a reward of free tickets to a pre-release IMAX showing of The Dark Knight.

• Gothamcablenews.com is updated with new stories, including the death of Glenn Barhyte. Updates on Citizensforbatman.org's forums and CFB Underground revealed Barhyte was killed by drug dealers being targeted by the failed CFB vigilante mission "Operation Raindrop".

• July 11, 2008 - Joker cell phone owners and players who used their phone numbers in the game receive a call from 000-000-0000. This call is mostly a mashup of other phone calls from the game, but features a new clip mentioning the Gotham National Bank.

• The sixth episode of Gotham Tonight, an interview with Harvey Dent, is interrupted with the breaking news that six men wearing clown masks tried to rob the Gotham National Bank, with five of them being killed and the sixth making off with millions of dollars.

• July 14, 2008 - Whysoserious.com is updated with the audio from the GCN/Joker phone call from July 11th.
• July 15, 2008 - Dark Knight screening events from Whysoserious.com/Kickingandscreening take place.

• Joker cell phone owners are contacted by hollywoodmoviemoney@yahoo.com amd receive free The Dark Knight tickets as a reward for their participation in the game.