Friday morning’s tragic shooting at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises is the deadliest mass shooting in United States history and another chapter in a film series plagued with bad news.
Some are calling it the curse of the Dark Knight. And here’s a rundown of some of the things that have happened since Christopher Nolan rebooted the Batman franchise:
Heath Ledger, who played the Joker in The Dark Knight, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment in January 2008 after an accidental drugs overdose. Those close to Ledger said the actor had a hard time sleeping after playing the role, a role that won him an posthumous Oscar.
Morgan Freeman, who plays Lucius Fox in all three films, was seriously injured in a car accident in Mississippi in August 2008. The actor has yet to regain the full use of his left hand, four years after suffering serious nerve damage in the crash.
Conway Wickliffe, a New Zealand-born special effects technician, also died while working on The Dark Knight. Conway was riding in the back seat of a Nissan 4×4 when it crashed into a tree at 20mph. He had been leaning out of the window and operating a camera, which was shooting a stunt car traveling parallel to his vehicle.
Franchise star Christian Bale was taken into custody by police in July 2008 when he was arrested for allegedly assaulting his mother and sister shortly before the Dark Knight’s London’s premiere.
Liam Neeson who plays Ra’s al Ghul in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises, lost his wife in a horrific ski accident in 2009.
And a stunt double for Anne Hathaway, who plays Catwoman, reportedly crashed a motorcycle into an expensive IMAX camera while filming in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in August 2011.
