The Dark Knight

In Yahoo News today "Batman" Goes for "Brokeback".

Batman has a new adversary from Down Under.

Warner Bros. confirmed Monday that Heath Ledger will be playing The Joker in The Dark Knight, the next installment of the rejuvenated Batman franchise. Uh. huh.

"I'm excited to continue the story we started with Batman Begins," director
Christopher Nolan, who has also signed up for the sequel, said in a statement. "Our challenge in casting the Joker was to find an actor who is not just extraordinarily talented but fearless. Watching Heath Ledger's interpretation of this iconic character taking on
Christian Bale's Batman is going to be incredible." Yeah, it's going to be incredible, all right. *snort of sarcasm inserted here*

Ledger, 27, was nominated for an Oscar this year for his role in Brokeback Mountain and he also scored an invite earlier this month to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Speculation that Ledger might be tapped for villain duty first surfaced three weeks ago in advance of Comic-Con, but Warners declined to comment at the time.

First of all, let me say that I've seen all the Batman movies and Batman Forever is my all-time favorite. I think Val Kilmer made a friggin' awesome Batman ("The Bat Signal is not a beeper") It was all about the lips. Batman and Robin was complete and utter trash. I'm ashamed to say that I paid money to see it. George Clooney did not a good Batman make.

HOWEVER, when I heard they were bringing back the franchise, and Christian Bale was coming on board as the Black Bat, I was stoked. I was actually looking forward to seeing Batman Begins when it came out and I wasn't disappointed. I liked the darker, edgier plot and knew Christian would make a good Batman (it's all about the jawline). So I was glad when I read this:

So obviously Bale is back on board as the man in heavily armored tights. (Not that it was a surprise, he inked a standard multi-film deal before shooting Batman Begins.)

But right about now, I'm feeling a little skeptical in Heath's ability to play a villain. In all the movies he's been in--and I've seen all but two (Brokeback being one of them)--he's been the good guy. From rebel to romantic lead, he's been the good guy. No hint of evil whatsoever. So when my man sent me this--who in turn got it from his best friend--I was like "You've got to be kidding." I said the same thing when they chose Daniel Craig as the new Bond (yeah, that's a whole other blog post right there).

But here's the main point: No one portrays The Joker like Jack Nicholson.

I'm just sayin'. He's good at being the villain. Hell, he even looks evil with his arched eyebrows and snarky grin. Heath's going to have some big shoes to fill.

I can see the reviews now. A critic who just watched A Knight's Tale decides to use one of the movie's tag lines as his review:

"You have been weighed. You have been measured. And you have been found wanting."

Don't screw it up, Heath.