In the first mayor scene of The Dark Knight, we see that The Joker is robbing a bank with his gang. We are all focussed on the gang and the fact that all men are killing each other, and then there is the bank manager.
When I watched the movie in the cinema for the first time, I imidately recognised him as William Fichter. Quite a known actor. At the end of the robbery. We get introduced to The Joker. He leaves Fichter at the bank with a granade in his mouth. Frightend to death, he discovers it's only a smoke granade.

At the end of that scene, I thought that Fichter was playing quite a big part in The Dark Knight, but I was proved otherwise. He was only in that scene, we leave him after the heist, that's it. Goodbye Fichter.

Now, who exactly is The Joker stealing from? He takes a large amount of money that is owned by either someone or a group of people, but it's not from normal people. He isn't robbing the mob, they still have their money a little later in the movie. He is also not robbing Bruce Wayne, if he was, we would know that.
Who is The Joker robbing, and is Fichter playing one of the compagnions of the man being robbed? Fichter is still alive at the end of the movie, is there a chance we see him in Batman 3?

This probably wouldn't make any sense if the bank manager wasn't played by Fichter, but his face is too rececnisable for a part that small...

that bank handled most of the mob's money

thats who he was referring to


the goons that joker hired for the job confirm it, they say he's crazy for going after the mob's money "i guess he's as crazy as they say"...and the scene when the joker does the magic trick confirm it "oh and the suit aint cheap, you outta know...you bought it"

The Joker was stealing money from the mob. The bank was "owned" by the mob and the manager was working for the mob. This was stated by one of The Joker's henchmen in the beginning of the film and again later when the mob meets to discuss their financial situation. This was obviously done purposely to set The Joker's plans in motion by getting the mob on his side.

Both of Nolan's Batman films have cast actors in small parts based on the films they were directly inspired by. Batman Begins was reportedly influenced by Blade Runner, thus the casting of Rutger Hauer who played Roy Batty in Blade Runner and was cast as Mr. Earl in Batman Begins. The Dark Knight was heavily influenced by Heat, thus the casting of William Fichtner who played Roger Van Zant in Heat and the bank manager in The Dark Knight.