The Dark Knight subverts the hero’s journey in a number of ways. While it can be crudely fitted into the generic narrative beats of the journey, one would have to ignore significant, meaningful portions of the film. For example, Joseph Campbell stated that the hero begins in equilibrium, that equilibrium is disrupted, and then eventually it is restored, the status quo having changed for the better. However, in The Dark Knight, Gotham’s equilibrium is disequilibrium, it is a city overrun with crime, despite Batman’s one man crusade for justice. The Joker enters Batman’s narrative and tips the tide of the city even further into chaos, but when he is defeated, Gotham is still a hive of crime and chaos; the disequilibrium is still intact, and the Joker has corrupted their one hope for a positive, legal, and just change. In essence, Batman’s hero’s journey is never completed, whereas the generic superhero’s always is.