An original stunt knife of the Joker (Heath Ledger) from Christopher Nolan's 2008 masterpiece The Dark Knight, widely regarded as the greatest superhero film ever made and the role that earned Ledger a posthumous Academy Award.
In the film, the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, forcing the caped crusader to confront one of the greatest psychological tests of his ability to fight injustice. A maniacal and enigmatic criminal mastermind styling himself an "agent of chaos," the Joker rises to dominant power by terrorizing the city and plunging it into anarchy — and while Batman has his gadgets, the Joker's weapon of choice is the knife, appearing in his hands throughout the film in many scenes. This is the Joker's main stunt knife, a Smith & Wesson Extractor 1600 out-the-front automatic knife. It was originally used to pin a Joker card to the body of a Batman impostor found hanging outside the mayor's office, though the knife was swapped for a safety pin in the final cut. Stunt versions like this one were used the majority of the time on set to protect the actors from the injuries a real blade could cause — meaning this is the knife that actually did the work in front of the camera.
The signature weapon of cinema's definitive Joker, from one of Heath Ledger's final and most celebrated performances, stands as a true centerpiece of film history.
