| “ | His name's Schiff, Thomas. He's a paranoid schizophrenic, former patient at Arkham—the kind of mind the Joker attracts. What do you expect to learn from him? | „ |
| ~ Batman prevents Harvey Dent's interrogation of Schiff. |
Thomas Schiff is a minor antagonist in the 2008 film The Dark Knight, the second installment of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. He was a paranoid schizophrenic and former resident of Arkham Asylum who worked for the Joker in the latter's reign of terror.
He was portrayed by David Dastmalchian, who also played Dwight Pollard in Gotham, Murdoc in the MacGyver reboot series, Abra Kadabra in The Flash, Polka Dot Man in The Suicide Squad and Piter de Vries in Dune .
History[]
After his release by Ra's al Ghul, Schiff came under the "employment" of the Joker. The Joker used Schiff as a calling card in his scheme to harm Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent.
He disguised himself as an Honor Guard during the funeral of Commissioner Loeb and was shot in the leg when he attempted to escape. Harvey Dent saw Schiff had a name tag that read "Rachel Dawes", his girlfriend's name, and kidnapped and threatened to shoot Schiff if he wouldn't tell him what was going to happen to Rachel.
Batman interceded, fully believing that Dent may kill Schiff if he flipped a coin in favor of it. Batman didn't realize the coin was a misprint and had two head sides. Dent used it only to scare a confession from Schiff but wasn't planning to actually murder him. Batman informed Harvey that Thomas was a paranoid schizophrenic, the type of person the Joker attracts, and probably couldn't reveal anything.
Psychological Profile[]
Schiff's laughter in a life-threatening situation—an inappropriate emotional response—is a characteristic of paranoid schizophrenia. Another symptom that may be inferred from his brief appearance is disorganized speech, which can occur in psychotic disorders.
Trivia[]
- Thomas Schiff is featured in Mad Magazine's spoof of The Dark Knight.
- David Dastmalchian would later appear in the Batman show Gotham during the third season as a character named Dwight Pollard. In that depiction, Pollard was a supporter of a character named Jerome Valeska, who ironically enough acts as a possible origin to the Joker.
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 Villains
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