Trivia: Where Was The Joker In 'The Dark Knight Rises?'

Obviously, the Joker is not in The Dark Knight Rises because Heath Ledger tragically passed away before the release of The Dark Knight. However, in the universe Christopher Nolan has created, he's likely still alive because that's how Batman left him eight years ago. The Dark Knight Rises makes no mention of the character but, according to one site, he is specifically mentioned in the novelization. So, where was he?

After the jump, read the excerpt from the novel and see a fan's storyboarded interpretation.

Here's the quote from the novelization taken from the IMDB boards via Nuke the Fridge:

Now that the Dent Act had made it all but impossible for the city's criminals to cop an insanity plea, it (Blackgate Prison) had replaced Arkham Asylum as a preferred location for imprisoning both convicted and suspected felons. The worst of the worst were sent here, except for the Joker, who, rumor had it, was locked away as Arkham's sole remaining inmate. Or perhaps he had escaped. Nobody was really sure. Not even Selina.

This is from the section of the book where Selina Kyle is stuck in Blackgate before Bane breaks everyone out.

Next up, Movie Moron posted the below fan created storyboards with a source link to Reddit. (EDIT: They seem to be done by Sam Saxton.) Either way, this would have been a very cool way to include the character retrospectively.

Obviously, though the novelization is an official adaptation, it's pretty much equally as authoritative as the storyboards. Meaning, it's just one person's interpretation. It's highly unlikely that Nolan gave this key piece of information out and that in both cases, the author/artist just made an educated guess. Still, it's a tidy and believable take on this evil character's whereabouts, would you agree?