Timeline of Nolan's trilogy.

[CJ]

I've seen this topic come up once or twice in TDK General Discussion thread, so I thought I'd make an official topic for it.

What years do the Nolan trilogy take place in?

According to TDKR Weapons Manual, TDK takes place in 2004. However, in the movie, a security photo of The Joker is dated: 7/18/2008. Just an Easter Egg or the actual date of events?

If TDK took place in 2004, then TDKR takes place in 2012.

If TDK took place in 2008, then TDKR takes place in 2016.

When did Batman Begins take place?

[TDKR2012]

i thought in the manual or something, TDK takes place in 2008?

I think BB takes place 6 months before TDK,


BB Summer 2007
TDK Spring 2008

?

[The Joker]

Joker: "A year ago these Cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross any of you"

[JackWhite]

Originally Posted by The Joker

Joker: "A year ago these Cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross any of you"

I always took that as a year gap between BB and TDK.

[TDKR2012]

Originally Posted by The Joker

Joker: "A year ago these Cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross any of you"

right, but that doesn't mean Batman Begins took place one year ago,

it's just like saying " a year ago you could get a cheeseburger for $1" and the price might have gone up 6 months ago..

It's just a general statement of time, imo

but it could refer to the BB timeline of course

[SneakyPenguin]

“The Dark Knight” took place in the summer of 2008. The security camera showing the Joker have a timestamp saying they were taken on July 17, 2008 and the court documents in the RICO conspiracy case confirm that this trial is also held in July 2008. I would say that the events of “The Dark Knight” likely stretch at least into August.
Now, when the Joker is talking to the mob (I propose we kill the Batman), he instructs them to recall a year ago, before Batman, which sets a maximum time-elapsed between the two films of approximately one year. Most people estimate 6-9 months, which would be consistent with the fact that Bruce’s birthday is in February and his birthday party is seen in “Batman Begins.” This means Batman Begins either took place in the second half of 2007 or early 2008.

[Anno_Domini]

Batman Begins was in 2007

The Dark Knight was in 2008

The Dark Knight Rises is in 2016.

Imo, I don't take the weapons manuel thing as in-canon, but if you want to, then your dates for the film's timeline may in fact be different than mine.

[Excelsior.]

^^^^ Dat

[Anno_Domini]

It definitely referred to BB being set last year of TDK.

[Yurka]

Trying to put an exact date on it will just give you a headache.

BB

1 year later: TDK

8 years later: TDKR

[MrWayne]

BB is definitely set at least a year before TDK. They tie into each other. Harvey Dent being the new DA after the last went missing in BB.

But the Jokers "Let's rewind the clock's. A year ago..." line was pretty straight forward of an indication of time.

Let's see if we can get a glimpse of anything in this movie that might give us an indication of what year this takes place in. I doubt we will ever get an official timeline from Nolan.

[intothevoid]

I thought Nolans stated that BB and TDK are only 6 months apart

[Mr.Clay]

Judging by the timeline established by the Gotham Times, Begins and TDK are a little less than a year apart. The first issue of Times has a story about a family dealing with a recent resurgence of the Fear Toxin only "weeks after" the initial attack. The second Times issue also mentions some event that will "run through the end of summer", so I'd say 6 months time between the two movies, with TDK taking place during the summertime, isn't unreasonable.

Now with TDKR there's this shot from the NYC shoot:


This is supposed to be like a promotional poster for a Gotham City museum exhibit. Despite the gorilla blocking our view, exhibits like this tend to run for a few months, so let's assume the dates are October 22, 2013 - March 12, 2014. They shot scenes with both artificial rain and snow, and there was plenty of on-location scenes that had neither, so the length of time TDKR takes place in is long enough to see changing seasons. Let's then assume the movie begins within the early run of this exhibition. TDKR in late 2013 - 8 = TDK taking place in late summer/early fall, Begins takes place late winter/early spring 2005...

...maybe lol

[Alex Logan]

Originally Posted by CJ

I've seen this topic come up once or twice in TDK General Discussion thread, so I thought I'd make an official topic for it.

What years do the Nolan trilogy take place in?

According to TDKR Weapons Manual, TDK takes place in 2004. However, in the movie, a security photo of The Joker is dated: 7/18/2008. Just an Easter Egg or the actual date of events?

If TDK took place in 2004, then TDKR takes place in 2012.

If TDK took place in 2008, then TDKR takes place in 2016.

When did Batman Begins take place?

This should help:

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=392719

[Carnotaur3]

I think the problem is the production designers on TDK put 2008 on cars and **** and it confused everybody. I don't think they were even told a date.

[ZackBop]

Originally Posted by Alex Logan

This should help:

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=392719

This guy is right.

[ZackBop]

Can someone post Alex's timeline again. It's not working for me.

[ZackBop]

Can anybody help me out here?

[Pontillo]

I believe that when Nolan made TDK he did not have TDKR in mind so at the time TDK probably takes place a year or two after BB. But since he went ahead and put an 8 year gap between TDK and TDKR I think in his head and in theory as a service to the character he gave Batman a longer career and a bigger gap between BB and TDK (4-5 years or so)

There is a ton of evidence to support the idea that TDK takes place 4-5 years after BB (Gordon's kids, no mention of the Narrows, etc) When asked "why 8 years?" Goyer said something to the effect of "We wanted enough time to pass so that Batman's legend could be starting to fade. If he was only Batman for 8-12 month I don't know how much a legend he would be. Batman 4-5 years yes that's legendary IMO.

But at end of the day each movie is made to stand on its own and only geeks like us need to dissect things like the chronology and so forth.

[VenomShock]

Really, I think trying to assign the date takes away from the experience. I usually like to think that Begins takes place in 2004, then TDK in 2005, then TDKR in 2013, that way the eight year gap lines up from when Batman Begins was being made.

However, yeah, trying to assign a date takes the timelessness and fantasy away from it. Even when I'm watching Superman 1978, I'm still able to lock myself in the fantasy of the movie to the point where I don't really notice that it's from a different decade all-together.

[Alex Logan]

Originally Posted by Carnotaur3

I think the problem is the production designers on TDK put 2008 on cars and **** and it confused everybody. I don't think they were even told a date.

TDK took place in 2008.

Originally Posted by VenomShock

Really, I think trying to assign the date takes away from the experience. I usually like to think that Begins takes place in 2004, then TDK in 2005, then TDKR in 2013, that way the eight year gap lines up from when Batman Begins was being made.

However, yeah, trying to assign a date takes the timelessness and fantasy away from it. Even when I'm watching Superman 1978, I'm still able to lock myself in the fantasy of the movie to the point where I don't really notice that it's from a different decade all-together.

There is clear evidence in the films that your dates are a bit off.

Batman Begins - 2005
The Dark Knight - 2008
The Dark Knight Rises - 2016

And I don't think assigning a date takes anything away from the experience, if anything it only enhances it.

[Lord]

The Dark Knight takes place 6 months after Batman Begins, i remember that being referred a lot of times.

[Alex Logan]

Originally Posted by Lord

The Dark Knight Rises takes place 6 months after Batman Begins, i remember that being referred a lot of times.

You mean The Dark Knight? And no, The Dark Knight takes place 3 years after Batman Begins.

[Lord]

Originally Posted by Alex Logan

You mean The Dark Knight? And no, The Dark Knight takes place 3 years after Batman Begins.

Yeah, The Dark Knight, and no, it doesn't take place 3 years after Begins, Joker himself said that one year before there was no Batman so it can't take place so much time after.

[Alex Logan]

Originally Posted by Lord

Yeah, The Dark Knight, and no, it doesn't take place 3 years after Begins, Joker himself said that one year before there was no Batman so it can't take place so much time after.

Yes, it does. He never said there was no Batman. He said...

"Where do we begin? A year ago, these cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross any of you. I mean, what happened?"

I took Batman 2 years to make a dent in the mob and to build up a reputation in Gotham. The Joker did the same thing commiting random crimes and building up his own legend among the criminals. Things like that take time, they don't happen over night.

The Joker robbed the bank on July 18, 2008. When Bruce is watching the security footage of the bank robbery the date is shown on screen.

I've done hours of research on both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. I also wrote that timeline in the Batman Begins section.