# It's Simple, We Kill The Batman The Joker's stammered line from Christopher Nolan's 2008 film The Dark Knight became one of the most quoted villain moments in comic book cinema. Delivered by Heath Ledger to a room of Gotham crime bosses, the phrase spread into image macros starting in 2011 and turned into shorthand for absurdly simple answers to complicated problems. ## Origin The line comes from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, released in July 2008, during a scene in which the Joker (Heath Ledger) crashes a meeting of Gotham's crime bosses[5]. After a short monologue about Batman, one of the mobsters asks what he suggests they do, and Joker replies with the now-famous stammered proposal[5]. An Urban Dictionary entry by user Inco33 appeared just weeks after the film's theatrical run, on August 30, 2008, defining the phrase as "the solution to all of life's problems"[6]. - **Platform:** Film (The Dark Knight) / Tumblr and Reddit (viral spread) - **Creator:** Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan (screenwriters); line delivered by Heath Ledger - **Date:** 2008 ## Overview The phrase works as a caption template for image macros that portray a subject as a scheming or ridiculous strategist[5]. Editors typically pair a still or photo with a bolded caption riffing on the Joker's cadence, often swapping "kill" for another verb to push the line into absurdist territory[3]. The most recognized variation is "it's simple, we eat the batman," but food, violence, and romance swaps are all common[3]. Part of what makes the macro stick is that the original delivery already reads as bathos, with Heath Ledger stammering "we, uh, kill the Batman" after a menacing buildup to a room of hardened mobsters[5]. That mismatch between grand villain energy and a one-sentence dumb plan is the joke people keep reaching for. ## How It Spread The catchphrase found its second life as an image macro in mid-2011. On June 19, 2011, an Imgur user uploaded a photo of socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein, nicknamed "Cat Woman" for her heavily altered face, with the caption "It's simple. Kill the Batman"[4]. Four months later, on October 16, 2011, the Tumblr blog "money, guns, apples, dicks" posted a photo of a heavyset man in clown makeup captioned "it's simple, we eat the batman," and the post pulled about 28,000 notes over the following three months[3]. The same image hit /r/funny that same day under the title "It's simple, we eat the batman"[2]. The subject of that photo, Josh Fonner, sat for a Washington Post interview on January 11, 2012, discussing his accidental fame as the face of both the "eat the batman" macro and the earlier "fat emo" image[1]. The interview cemented the macro's place in the early-2010s image-macro canon. ## How to Use The template pairs best with a photo of a subject who looks either menacing or ridiculous, captioned in the same rhythm as Ledger's line. A common convention is swapping "kill" for another verb ("eat", "feed", "date") to push the plan into absurdity, or splicing the phrase into an unrelated scheming context where the proposed solution is obviously stupid[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is It's Simple, We Kill The Batman? It is a catchphrase from the 2008 film The Dark Knight, spoken by Heath Ledger's Joker, that turned into an image macro format for scheming characters[5]. ### Where did It's Simple, We Kill The Batman come from? The line comes from a scene in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight in which the Joker pitches a plan to a room of Gotham crime bosses[5]. The first Urban Dictionary entry followed on August 30, 2008[6]. ### What does It's Simple, We Kill The Batman mean? It is used to frame a comically simple or dumb solution to a complicated problem, mirroring the Joker's stammered one-line plan[6]. ### How do you use It's Simple, We Kill The Batman? Typically you caption a photo of a scheming or absurd-looking subject with the phrase, often swapping "kill" for another verb like "eat" or "feed"[3]. ### Is It's Simple, We Kill The Batman still popular? It is a classic 2010s image-macro line that still gets pulled out as a reference, with the "eat the batman" variant staying the most recognizable version thanks to the Josh Fonner photo covered by The Washington Post in 2012[1]. ## References 1. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/an-interview-with-josh-fonner-whose-photo-was-used-for-two-popular-memes/2012/01/11/gIQAcXX9qP_blog.html]() 2. [https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/lmhvo/its_simple_we_eat_the_batman/]() 3. [https://moneygunsapplesdicks.tumblr.com/]() 4. [https://imgur.com/gallery/its-simple-kill-the-batman]() 5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/its-simple-we-kill-the-batman]() 6. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=it%27s+simple+kill+the+batman]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/its-simple-we-kill-the-batman Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library