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1. The point of the coin coming up heads is that Harvey wouldn't have shot the boy. Batman tackled Dent during the flip of the coin. And Batman did this not to kill Dent but to save the boy, although yes you could say that Batman's actions did unintentionally result in Dent's death.

2. They did in fact check Dent's pulse, in his neck. Then they left him there, talked, and then Batman runs off while Gordon stands watching, leaving Dent still lying on the ground. They check his vitals, then stand around talking for a while, never making any attempt to revive him or call for medical help for him.

3. Batman says he will take responsibility for the FIVE deaths, and that number includes Harvey Dent.

4. While looking down at Dent's body, Batman recalls Dent's remark about "dying a hero or living long enough to see yourself become the villain", and he says Gotham needs Dent to have died a hero. This was pretty straight-forward, I think, and not intended to mean Dent "needed" to die to be a hero.

5. There is a memorial service or funeral (not sure which it was, and definitely unsure why anyone is asserting with certainty that there was no body present or that it was definitely a wake, I don't recall anything showing either way in that scene), which would be pretty hard to "fake" since a large number of cops showed up at the scene where Dent's body was on the ground.

6. Gordon's faked death was much easier to pull off - he was shot and taken to a hospital first, and his recovery was kept secret even from the police (easy enough to do, get the doctors at the hospital in on it, and only a couple of cops he really trusted plus Batman need know). Dent's body was there on the ground for all those cops to see, and would have to have been transported to a hospital while alive, so too many witnesses involved there. Yeah, a lot of them were running after Batman - but not all of them, and do you think while they were gone Gordon dragged Dent off somewhere? The place was surrounded by cop cars, SWAT, etc. Any suggested situation where Gordon hides Harvey from all the cops, or just leaves Dent to get up and escape (??) etc make little sense to me.

7. I don't know why anyone thinks they saw Dent breathing, but I had already heard the leak about him dying and so I was watching very closely exactly for that sort of thing - breathing, eyes fluttering, facial movements, etc. I saw nothing at all, and have seen only a couple of people say they saw him breathing. Sorry, I just don't agree at all and will say that I definitely saw him NOT breathing.

8. Harvey Dent dying fits completely and perfectly into the overall story and into his own specific story arc. It fits much better than a surprise "he actually lived" sort of thing where everything surrounding the events has to be a double meaning and where the actions of everyone else present have to be extremely unreasonable (leaving him lying there without any attempt to revive him or get medical attention while talking at length about him in ways noting he is dead - people don't, in such moments, take the excess and unnecessary step of speaking in sort-of riddles about someone being dead etc and leave them without medical attention when they are alive after a long brutal fall).

9. The only things they could've added to make it more overt that he was dead would be a funeral scene - which people could then assert was also faked, of course - or an autopsy sequence - which would be rather unnecessary and gruesome. They could've had Batman say "Gotham needs him to have died a hero - because he is dead, we checked and he has no pulse, right Jim?" They showed him fall, showed him lying lifeless, showed Gordon feel his pulse in his neck, showed Batman refer to him as dead, showed Batman refer to a body count that includes Dent, showed a memorial/funeral for Dent. I think it was handled as clearly as possible without adding dialogue or scenes that would have clearly been only used to make sure fans don't try to read more into it than was there. I don't want them to feel it necessary to always have to add extra moments just to make sure fans get the message, it would detract from the impact of such moments. I mean, we didn't see Rachel actually "die" either, could they have found her alive and injured - having tipped her chair over at the last second and rolled towards a door where she was blown out of the building at the moment of the explosion? Sure, it's "possible" but it's also very implausible and would seriously detract from the impact of the death scene.

10. It appears from what I've read that Aaron Eckhart only signed on to play Dent in one film, TDK. If there is any article/source/etc that says he signed up for more than one film, someone should post a link.

11. The stories in the comics, what's cannon, etc has no bearing on the matter. Dent being alive in the comics has nothing to do with this film. But if we are to consider other mediums, the novel version of this film - perhaps the ONLY other medium with any remote bearing on this question - says he died.

There is ample evidence that he died, and the only real "evidence" that might even suggest there is the possibility that he lived is actual LACK of explicit scenes of his body in a coffin. Except I think even THAT wouldn't be enough to end speculation - Gordon could have sedated Dent or had a wax figure, then switch coffins before burial. Or what if it showed a closed coffin? Even if Batman or Gordon had explicitly said "He's dead", maybe the one saying it was trying to fool the other one so they could hide him away somewhere. In other words, even "clear 100% absolutely solid proof" that Dent was dead likely wouldn't be enough to stifle speculation.

Exactly. That's the entire point. The boy WOULD have lived anyway, that's not really debatable in terms of the coin since Dent DID flip the coin, and it DID come up heads. So whatever one thinks about the implications, that's what happened. So yes, Batman tackled Dent to avoid any risk that the boy would get shot, but the coin ended up falling heads-up meaning Dent likely would not have killed the boy. So yep, it resulted in Dent's death and saved nobody, which is the tragic point. Again, this is exactly what was shown so how we FEEL about it doesn't change whether it actually is what happened on screen or not.

It's not at all needless, it is in fact a huge point. Batman's attempt to protect the boy didn't depend on the result of the coin toss, the point is that Dent was leaving the boy's fate up to chance but Batman refused to do so. Then, cruel fate resulted in a coin toss that would've spared the boy's life anyway but Dent lost his own life because Batman could not leave the outcome up to chance. But in the end, Batman WILL feel guilty and responsible about what he did, even though he also had no choice but to try and rescue the boy. It's far from "didn't actually matter", in other words.

Not at all accurate, as I already noted in the above response. The boy's fate as determined by the coin is of great importance, even if I accept the notion that "who cares about whether the kid lives or dies", which I don't (the fate of Gordon's son is unimportant just because he's not a major character?? sorry, gotta disagree with that!). There was a LOT of reason to show the result of the coin toss regarding the fate of the boy.

I recall the close up on Dent's face as fingers check his pulse in his neck. And if they added a flashback showing Dent stirring, then yes I think it would be unthinkable since they showed so much seeming to clearly indicate his death, not to mention the extent to which his death was such a natural and necessary part of his story arc.

Not in my book. Batman is discussing dead people, not metaphorical deaths. To have him refer to four clearly-dead people and then lump in the metaphorical "death" of Dent would not be right, and I don't think Nolan would resort to that sort of plot device.

I do not think it is. And the idea that they will fake Dent's death and then just lock him away in secret certainly ignores things like "it's illegal to just lock someone up and cover up their crimes", "he can't be held if he's not accused of anything", etc. Will Batman build a special hidden cage under Wayne Manor in which he'll forever imprison Dent?? Will the cops and the mental hospital illegally hold Dent without charges for crimes that they publicly accuse someone else of committing??
And again, I don't think that in the midst of all the realism and otherwise literal and straightforward dialogue, Batman and Gordon decided to speak in symbolism and metaphor about Dent's death alone. The entire series of exchanges make more sense and are more directly fitting for the story when taken as straightforward as everything else they are saying, and that means Dent is literally physically dead.

5. There is a memorial service or funeral (not sure which it was, and definitely unsure why anyone is asserting with certainty that there was no body present or that it was definitely a wake, I don't recall anything showing either way in that scene), which would be pretty hard to "fake" since a large number of cops showed up at the scene where Dent's body was on the ground.

That depends on if they can be trusted. I think most people have stated that it would be a big cover-up with even the Mayor involved. Plus, most of these cops could be led away by Gordon, and considering the Batman's not far away they'd be pretty pre-occupied in chasing him. Lord knows they have before.

We only see a bunch of the SWAT guys chasing Batman. We also saw that the entire building was surrounded by cops and cars etc. I refuse to believe we should assume Gordon kept all of the cops away, that they all just ran off after Batman and didn't come over near Dent's body. But with a big cover-up including the mayor etc, there's still the huge number of problems regarding hiding a man NOT accused of any crime and keeping him locked up and faking his death (Gordon's own death was temporarily to protect his family and part of an ongoing police case to capture the Joker; Dent's would be to protect his reputation AFTER a case has ended and results in Batman being publicly accused and chased for the crimes). This is all just far too over-the-top and full of holes, and is not at all in keeping with the story arc and situations Nolan set up.

Gordon's body was not "dead", he was shot and taken to the hospital. I already explained how easy it would be to have merely the doctors and a small handful of cops aware of Gordon's actual survival. Dent's body is at a crime scene, where there are cops surrounding the place and running all over in it.

I mentioned him letting Dent escape because someone explicitly mentioned that as a way Dent could have survived without cops knowing it, fyi. But I do not think Gordon could or would drag Dent off: the place was surrounded, cops running everywhere, his traumatized family sitting up top, etc. Plus again the problem of "extraordinary rendition" of Dent when they aren't accusing him of crimes etc, plus the whole "they are standing around and talking about Dent like he's dead while he is laying on the ground and would need immediate medical attention if he's alive" issue, etc.

I think they did, and I also think that if they had outright belabored the point by saying "He sure is dead. Look at him laying there dead", couldn't you ask your previous question "what's to say they didn't assume that he was dead at that very moment"? So I think some folks would still argue that he's alive, with that exact same sort of theorizing.

Which I mentioned would be drawing it out rather than the much better, artful way they did the same thing by showing him laying there, having discussions about his being dead, and showing a quick shot of Gordon eulogizing him. Besides, the casket funeral I mentioned also included note that any number of theories could and likely would be raised to argue the funeral was faked as well.

Do you mean to say that you think Dent DIDN'T actually fall?? We see him go over the edge, we see him laying on the ground below, we see Batman is the one holding onto the wood sticking out of the building. Unless Dent can fly or grabbed a passing pigeon to slow his fall, we know he fell. I am at a loss to understand why folks are even making this point, to be honest.

Except that the results of the coin toss are all about Gordon's son, which I already discussed (it shows the coin flip, it shows Batman's tackle, then it shows the coin fall heads-up). I'd also note that the point you raise about the running time is also likely a factor in why they didn't include long explicit sequences to show Dent falling through the air or lying in a coffin and then being buried underground to make sure everyone knows he's dead. They had a series of very moving scenes, all of which are enough to demonstrate he's dead, and all of which in any other regular crime film would be more than enough for us to accept that the character is dead.

But we in fact did not literally see Rachel die, nor did we see her body. We are in fact "forced" to assume her death, and much more so than Dents: we did see Dent knocked out of the building, we see him on the ground where he fell (again, unless he floated down there, since Batman also went over the side and was holding onto the building), we see them NOT trying to revive him or call for medical help, we see them discussing him in the past tense and refer to his death, we see them holding a service for him of some sort. How much of ANY of that did we see for Rachel? None. We see her in the room right before we see it explode. That's it.

I don't think Lucas' remarks really matter, personally. Nor are the previous deaths in the first four films relevant in any way at all. Ra's death was nowhere near being "clearer", and in fact sets up a very overt chance for him to escape (he's able, has time, sees death coming, and then we don't see him personally when the train crashes, then there's time after the crash before it explodes, and this is a NINJA master on top of all that). Dent fell, they stand looking at his body talking about him being dead, they have a service for him, that's a clear death scene and after-scenes.

I just don't agree at all that there's less proof than usual, that it's less explicit than the Joker's near-death, or that we are told to assume anything. And I especially disagree with the statement that other characters don't attest to it: I think they very clearly do. I think they clearly show he falls, they clearly show his corpse, they clearly show Batman and Gordon not trying to help him, they clearly show Batman and Gordon discussing Dent in past-tense and Batman discussing the need for Dent to have "died a hero", they clearly show a service for Dent, and then all of the facts about why it's be nearly impossible to get Dent's body out of there in secret or keep him locked away without charges etc etc etc. There is more than enough evidence showing he died, and showing how hard it would be to come up with a plausible scenario for him living and being secreted out of there and hidden away indefinitely.