Penn Jillette Names Batman as Ultimate American Magician

Penn Jillette's favorite movie about magic may surprise you.Jillette is one-half of the famous [...]

Penn Jillette's favorite movie about magic may surprise you.

Jillette is one-half of the famous Penn and Teller comedy and magic act. The Washington Post asked him what his favorite movie about magic was.

"You have to be careful when you use the word 'magic," Jillette cautioned. "The word has two very strong meanings. The meaning I don't care about is anything to do with the supernatural — so I don't care for movies like The Illusionist, or The Prestige, or Harry Potter. The magic I think is beautiful is the magic of trickery. What I love about Batman is he doesn't have any supernatural powers."

It may be surprising to know that Jillette named The Dark Knight as his favorite movie about magic.

"In The Dark Knight, with the Joker and Batman, you really have two magicians running scams," Jillette explains. "I love the intellectual interest of the boat scene [where there are two boats laden with explosives, and a philosophical debate about who should survive]. When you talk about modern American magic, it's not supernatural, it's the playful study of epistemology. It's how we attain information, and how we attain what is true. In the boat scene, it's: How people perceive morality, coupled with an impossible trick.

"The ultimate American magician is Batman."

Batman may be the ultimate American magician. The Joker may not be so much. According to science, at least one of the Joker's magic tricks wouldn't work the way you think.

The Dark Knight currently has an 89.1 ComicBook.com Composite Score. That's the highest ComicBook.com Composite Score of any comic book movie.

The Dark Knight also has a 4.47 out of 5 ComicBook.com User Rating. That's the highest ComicBook.com User Rating of any comic book movie.

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