http://www.i-mockery.com/comics/longbox7/pics/goddamn.jpg

This is my theory …

It makes sense that when he initially began to be spotted around Gotham, he was referred to as “The Bat-man.” It’s a way to describe the mythical crime fighter in a costume. He was a man dressed like a bat, the name just makes sense.

Over time, it stands to reason that the nickname would stick and eventually people would drop the “the” and just refer to him as Batman.

But I completely agree with you about your theory that people who see him as a person call him Batman, while villains who fear him call him “The Batman.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phTqQebUcPY

The crowd watching the surfing competition repeatedly refers to “Joker” while watching him from afar.

Clearly, this is a product of The Joker being a far more human and less monstrous character than the Tim Burton or Chris Nolan depictions.

Now, were I to write a fanfic about him (no, I’m so not alluding to other posts), I’d use no “the,” but I’d let my characters do the “the”-ing for me where necessary. EX: When the love interest writes an editorial to the _Gotham Times_ defending his methods and ways, “the” would be used in said editorial; but when talking about him with people at, say, a lunch or something, and admitting her little crush, she’d omit it in what she says.

Bwahahaha.

His other names have “the”: the Dark Knight and the Caped Crusader. I speculate that this is because they are secondary and, theoretically, given to him by others. Superman is also known as THE Man of Steel, THE Man of Tomorrow, THE Last Son of Krypton, and THE Metropolis Marvel. Admittedly, I don’t know when each of those first showed up and how, but my guess is they came from citizens of Metropilis that were in awe of him and felt distance in light of his powers. He’s practically a god to them, and they feel humbled by him and revere him. The “the” on those makes him more of a symbol for them, much like how the “the” on Batman makes him a symbol for his fans or not-so-fans. The distance this “the” creates is demonstrated by the Joker in TDK, as you said. He wants to separate himself from Batman, bottom line (although yeah, there are probably myriad other lines, too). And note how during his monologue at the end, Gordon doesn’t say, “Dark Knight,” but, “A Dark Knight.” Not “the,” but the “a” serves the same purpose, albeit for a different reason.

Thanks for the link, though! It’s a tremendous script. I’d be curious to go through and see exactly what Heath Ledger improvised during shooting, if anything.

One line that’s NOT in this script:
“You’re crazy.” “I’m not. I’m… not.”
Simple, but Heath makes it kind of chilling.