re: #198 danarchy

I don’t think he needs to make us forget Ledger, he just has to make the character his own. The Joker in the comics has taken many forms over the years, from a serial killer in the golden age, to a trickster in the silver age to something in between now. Nicholson was clearly the trickster Joker and Heath was more the homicidal maniac Joker. The problem with this new Joker is that it is a new character, in none of the origin stories was the Joker ever actually a clown.

From what I’ve read, this film seems to be influenced by Alan Moore’s “The Killing Joke”, which has to be one of the most influential one-shot comics ever written. It influenced Tim Burton’s original Batman and it definitely influenced Heath Ledger’s take on the character.

This new film is an origin story flick, which could be interesting if done right. One thing I genuinely liked about Nolan’s perspective on the Joker is that in The Dark Knight, he has no background story at all - nothing. He’s a pure enigma.