Film references

Casting sides

The casting sides that were discovered in March 2007 contain plot points that all appear in the film.

Characters

The following characters appear in the film, according to IMDB.

• The Joker
• Batman/Bruce Wayne
• Harvey Dent
• Lt. Jim Gordon
• Rachel Dawes
• Police Commissioner Gillian Loeb
• Lucius Fox
• Salvatore Maroni
• Gambol
• The Chechen
• Mike Engel
• Albert Rossi
• Brian Douglass
• Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow

Plot-related references

• Participants voted Harvey Dent as Gotham City District Attorney, the title he holds at the start of the film.

• Harvey Dent is referred to as "Gotham's White Knight."

• Joker is seen wearing a Dent support sticker at one point in the film.

• The slogan "I believe in Harvey Dent" is said by Bruce Wayne when showing his support for Dent, and is later given a deeper meaning at the end of the film, when
  Batman takes the blame for the murders that Two-Face committed, so that Dent's legacy as Gotham's "White Knight" will remain.

• It is mentioned in several areas that Bruce Wayne has moved into an exclusive penthouse in Gotham's downtown area after Wayne Manor has burnt down.

• Citizensforbatman.org evolves from a support site for Batman into a full-fledged community of vigilantes who emulate Batman.
  They appear in the film as Batman copycats, complete with crude Batsuits, although they can be differentiated from the real Batman by their unabashed use of guns.

• Gothamusd.net mentions the bus line being rerouted in District 22, and in the TDK IMAX prologue, the Joker is seen escaping the bank heist in a yellow school bus conspicuously marked "District 22."

• The sixth episode of Gotham Tonight, which became available on July 11, has a breaking news segment referring to the bank robbery that takes place during the opening sequence of The Dark Knight. As mentioned in the Gothamusd.net June 20 update, there is a field trip on July 11. This might explain how the Joker is able to escape the robbery within a line of yellow school buses.

• The kidnappings (and later murders) of Maroni men Stevie and Romeo allow the Joker to find which bank held most of the mobs' money, in order to make the most powerful statement during the bank heist prologue.

• Ballerina Natascha Patrenko appears in the film
  as Bruce Wayne's date at a fancy restaurant, where he is introduced to Harvey Dent. Bruce Wayne also takes the entire Gotham ballet company on an impromptu yacht trip as part of a Batman-related alibi, causing the ballet performances to be canceled.

• There is a plot point involving Wayne Enterprises technology where
  Batman uses a new wireless technology system to secretly monitor all cell-phone users in Gotham, which threatens his relationship with Lucius Fox.
  Various characters are also seen in the film using Nokia phones.

• It is revealed that Dent's extensive Internal Affairs investigations
  led to MCU officers giving Dent the nickname "Two-Face."

• Corruption in Gotham PD
  trickles even into the MCU, when corrupt cops help Joker kidnap Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes.

• Mike Engel is shown as host of various episodes of Gotham Tonight several times in the film. The seventh episode of Gotham Tonight, alluded to in the sixth episode, partially appears, when Mike Engel can be seen interviewing Mayor Anthony Garcia. Mike Engel is later
  taken hostage by the Joker and presumably killed.

• Brian Douglass appears in the film as the head Batman copycat, and is
  taken hostage by the Joker, then killed and his body (complete with crude Batsuit) publicly displayed.

• Albert Rossi appears
  as a witness testifying against Sal Maroni, then pulls a gun on DA Harvey Dent, but it misfires and he is taken into custody.