Bat-blues continue...

I was asked by a fellow writer at my college paper to write a couple things on how' Heath Ledger's death will impact the Batman film and how it's viewed. Here's what I came up with:

Heath Ledger's untimely death will with out a doubt impact the Batman franchise. There was a lot of commotion in the geek community about whether the young actor could handle such an iconic role as the joker. In my opinion the Joker is one of the deepest and greatest characters in comics, probably one of the most intriguing characters in all of pop culture--not to mention easily recognizable.
Jack Nicholson played the role with gusto back in the 90s, under the direction of Tim Burton. His portrayal set the bar for the character. However, all of the press material and previews/sneek peeks that have been released pertaining to the Dark Knight have surpassed expectations vis a vi Ledger's portrayal.
Even before this tragic event, The Dark Knight was going to attract a lot of attention towards Ledger and, what has already been refered to as, his breakthrough performance. There's no doubt that if the title of the film (The Dark Knight--referencing Frank Miller's ((Sin City, 300)) sucessfull re-vamping of the caped crusaider) has any effect on the story of the film that Ledger's role, as well as his performance, will be the most pivitol part of the movie.
Though the previous Batman movies have swapped out villains with each new film, there was a chance that Ledger's performance could earn him a role througout the rest of the franchise. There have been so many amazing Joker/Batman storylines througout the enormous comic book history of the Dark Knight that fans would have enjoyed seeing said stories--i.e. The Killing Joke, Laughing Fish--on the big screen.
It's very likely that if there is another Batman film made by this current core of bat-players, the Joker will not be involved.