When The Dark Knight Rises, the third in Christopher Nolans recent trilogy of Batman films, was entering the earliest stages of production, much of the fan speculation surrounded who would be taking the role of protagonist. Thats because The Joker had been set up not only as an unimprovable villain in the Dark Knight universe but also one of the best in cinema history, and using him in the follow up made narrative, artistic and business sense; tragically, though, star Heath Ledger had died not long before the film was out. Recasting was out of the question, so Nolan went in a different direction with Tom Hardy as the brutish Bane, and since then the idea of seeing another live-action Joker has been seen as both a bad idea and a little like bad taste. Its been almost six years since then, however, and DC look ready to move on. It seems like doing The Joker in a different context to a Batman movie would be a nice way of easing audiences back into the idea, and having him as a bad guy to a different group would also be pretty rad. Good thing theyre doing so in Suicide Squad, then.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
