6. Heath Ledger's The Joker
It is not often when a supporting character is potentially more difficult to recast than the lead protagonist in a franchise, but The Joker is no ordinary supporting character. He is widely considered the greatest comic book villain ever created. After Heath Ledger completely embodied the character and turned in a definitive portrayal in
The Dark Knight, The Joker was elevated to one of the greatest villains ever captured on film. Heath Ledger was a recasting himself, taking the role over from Jack Nicholson, who of course played the character in 1989's
Batman. Ledger took the role to a whole new level though, winning an Oscar and several other awards for his performance as The Joker. More than that, Ledger's Joker penetrated nearly every imaginable level of mainstream pop culture. Ironically, Ledger's complete disappearance into the role of The Joker is exactly what will make it so hard for audiences to separate it from him. Ledger's death prior to the release of
The Dark Knight is another obstacle to factor in. There is going to be a Batman reboot, though, so it is only a matter of time before the studio has to recast the franchise's signature villain. The best thing Warner Bros. can do is create as much distance between
TDK and The Joker's next silver screen appearance as the studio reasonably can. It would certainly help to not lead with The Joker as the villain in the first rebooted film. Bringing The Joker back in a second or third installment will place more than a decade between Jokers, when the audience's desire to see the character again might outweigh their loyalty to Ledger.