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In The Dark Knight, after Batman left MCU to save Rachel, Joker makes a phone call in order to detonate a bomb he put in the abdomen of a culprit. In that blast, everybody dies who was standing there when Joker threatened to kill the officer with a knife.

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Joker didn't have any kevlar or anything to protect from the blast, then how did he survive that blast? Was it a goof or implausible?

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    I never thought they all died, I thought they were just knocked out (since the bomb was in a different room), and that the Joker was simply better prepared and just ducked. I'm pretty sure some of them appear later in the movie (almost definitely the detective he's holding).
    – Walt
    Commented Oct 23, 2016 at 17:19
  • Bomb was very powerful. Since we don't see them again, it is possible that they all died. Joker didn't have any protective gear on, therefore he should have knocked out or be dead as well like others.
    – A J ♦
    Commented Oct 23, 2016 at 17:25
  • Stephens definitely appears later in the movie, BTW.
    – Walt
    Commented Oct 23, 2016 at 17:28
  • He could have survived because Joker was behind him and the blast wave came from the backside of Joker.
    – A J ♦
    Commented Oct 23, 2016 at 17:34
  • And well, as ridiculous as it may appear sometimes, duck and cover is still a thing. But I agree that the scene never seemed that logical.
    – Walt
    Commented Oct 23, 2016 at 17:37

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If you watch the entire scene, (starting at about 1:00) it is fairly easy to see why the Joker did not die during the explosion. Although the bomb was powerful, the joker and all of the people in the room with him were not directly exposed to the bomb.

The factors to consider are:

  • The culprit that had the bomb implanted in his abdomen was in another part of the building when the bomb was detonated. The joker knew that the culprit would be in a holding cell of some sort.
  • The joker made sure that when he took Detective Stephens hostage that he moved him into another room that was far enough away from the culprit with the bomb in his abdomen.
  • While the four people standing over the culprit with the bomb in his abdomen obviously died (along with the culprit himself), there is no reason to believe that the people that were in the same room as the joker died.
  • We obviously know that the joker survived. As @Walt explained in the above comments, Detective Stephens also survived. He is shown later in the film watching the news beside commissioner Gordon with a bandage on his neck. The bandage is from the wounds he sustained while having a piece of glass put to his neck by the joker. There is no sign of him even being injured by the explosion:

He is seen later on in the film, with a bandage on his neck, watching the news beside Gordon as Joker makes his threat to blow up a hospital. Stephens also appears when Gordon destroys the Bat-Signal.

  • Aside from Detective Stephens, there was really no reason for the other police officers to be in any more scenes in the film. This could be the explanation why we don't see them again. It is fair to say that if the joker and Detective Stephens survived the explosion that everyone else in that room did as well.
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