Ledger fans demand the Joker retired from film

[kingdom warrior]

That's Ridiculous!!! Ledger was good but not the way I Imagine the Joker as a scary Psychotic Killer....Ledger at no time in the movie scared me. They can sign whatever petition they want it's not happening.

[HardyGirl]

I love Heath Ledger, but I'm not a fan of his version of The Joker.

That said, I do think these fans are taking this too far. They compare retiring Michael Jordan's number from the Chicago Bulls. Well, no, it's not the same thing, b/c the Bulls can do that b/c someone owns the team and made that decision. Heath Ledger, his family, friends and fans do NOT own the rights to the character of The Joker, or any other Batman character.

When Christopher Reeves died, did fans demand Superman be taken from any other incarnations of this character? Of course not.

Petition or not, I think this will go over like a lead balloon.

(and BTW...Cesar Romero is the only Joker for me!)

[Vortigern99]

Hear hear. Besides which, "the number 23" isn't a beloved character with decades of history in various mass media. The Joker IS. Limiting the portrayal of the character to only those actors who have portrayed him before, regardless of how good those performances were, is absurd.

[Cosmicman]

The rumor about Mark Hamill taking over the Joker's roll in the next movie has been going around for quite some time. I can see some of these Ledger fans being upset thinking that Mark Hamill is going to pop up dressed up in the Ledger/Joker style fashion.

But....the Joker was around way before Heath Ledger. Can't stop making Superman films because George Reeves and Christopher Reeve is dead.

Move on...

[Meule]

I do agree we should move on to other villains, because we've already had two Jokers, time to see some others.
But if one day someone wanted to make a Batman film with a psychotic and demented Joker, by all means, go right ahead

[ctc]

So....

Does this mean that Batman fans have passed Trekkies on the "social misfit" scale? THis whole thing is sad on SOOOO many levels. Sad that they're so wrapped up in one dude's performance. (Although I remember people losing just as much fluid over Nicholson's Joker back in the day....) Sad that they'd dedicate time and effort to propegating this whole thing. (Although it DID say they work for the marketing agency that handled the film, didn't it?) And sad that Batman has to fight the same bad guys over and over, in every incarnation! SERIOUSLY! The guy has like, 70 years of built up bad guys! Pick someone new! Hell; MAKE UP someone new just for the next movie! (Like maybe that dice guy from the Cracked.com article on obsessive collections....)

Don C.

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

That's just crazy imo.

[thunderbolt]

So....

Does this mean that Batman fans have passed Trekkies on the "social misfit" scale? THis whole thing is sad on SOOOO many levels. Sad that they're so wrapped up in one dude's performance. (Although I remember people losing just as much fluid over Nicholson's Joker back in the day....) Sad that they'd dedicate time and effort to propegating this whole thing. (Although it DID say they work for the marketing agency that handled the film, didn't it?) And sad that Batman has to fight the same bad guys over and over, in every incarnation! SERIOUSLY! The guy has like, 70 years of built up bad guys! Pick someone new! Hell; MAKE UP someone new just for the next movie! (Like maybe that dice guy from the Cracked.com article on obsessive collections....)

Don C.

Its not even Batman fans, its the idiotic Teen Beat Ledger fans.

[Hector]

Mark Hamill, lol...that's just fanboy fantasy...the dude is just way too old now.

...and just because he does a killer Joker voice for the animated version...does not mean he's going to translate well on screen in person.

[Bizarro Amy]

I thought Ledger's Joker was awesome in Dark Knight. But the main reason that it worked was because it was in Christopher Nolan's version of Batman. The combination of Nolan, Christian Bale, and Heath Ledger all worked together to create this incarnation. However, Ledger was not the definitive Joker by any means. I don't know if we'll ever find that, although Mark Hamill voicing the animated version comes pretty close. I like the point that Christopher Reeve (and George Reeves to some extent)were much more comic-accurate and "definitive" in their portrayals of Superman/Clark Kent than Ledger could ever be as the Joker, yet I don't recall any petitions to keep Brandon Routh and any subsequent actors from wearing the red cape.
I don't really care to see another Joker as the main villain the the Nolan Batman movies though, maybe just pan past him in Arkham. There are too many other great Batman villains that haven't been explored on film yet.

[Mikey]

The only problem was, he just didn't act anything like the Joker.
That's ok and bravo to him for portraying the Joker in a different way, but his not acting like the true Joker also works against him.

An example is James Bond.
Everybody likes this new guy ......
He does act quite differently as Bond then all the others .....
When he leaves, will Jame Bond be retired ?
No way....
For all we know, in the future we might someday see a "fun" Bond again like Roger Moore.

Somebody tried to compare this to Captain Kirk.
That comparison doesn't hold water.
Kirk was not a legend BEFORE William Shatner.
KIrk and William Shatner are one and the same.

[MIB41]

I think we should retire Heath Ledger fans...and if he were here, he would be the first to say it.

[darklord1967]

To be honest, I feel none of the actors who have portrayed the Joker are, IMO perfectly cast. Physically, I see him as very tall and skinny. I would have prefered someone like Jeff Goldblum, or even Adrian Brody.
Ledger had his own take, I liked the movie and his role, but I would have chosen a different look.
There, I've said it.....

Gosh! You are brave!!

I honestly can't say that I disagree with you. I thought Ledger was GREAT. But he is NOT who I would have cast as the character, nor is his portrayal what I would consider a definitive Joker.

As a purist of the comic book, I would have loved to have seen something closer to that (Killing Joke, etc.)

It has not happened in a live action film yet.

To me, the absolutely BEST Joker portrayal ANYWHERE so far has been Mark Hamill's vocal interpretation for the animated version of the character... especially in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Absolutely bone chilling.

[Mikey]

Call me crazy ...... but I think Ashton Kutcher would be a good Joker.

[darklord1967]

Somebody tried to compare this to Captain Kirk.
That comparison doesn't hold water.
Kirk was not a legend BEFORE William Shatner.
KIrk and William Shatner are one and the same.

No they're not.

An extension of that logic would be that William Shatner is Captain Kirk.

Try telling that to Shatner, an actor who has had a rich career playing many different roles, and who (like so many other actors) has fought against being type-cast as one high-profile character.

Leonard Nimoy, Anthony Daniels, Burt Ward, Nicholas Hammond, John Haymes Newton... they should all be so lucky!

Captain Kirk and Bill Shatner are NOT "one and the same".

Kirk is a two dimensional fictional character who exists solely on a TV or movie screen, or in the pages of a book or graphic novel. Nothing more.

Shatner is a real flesh and blood human being. A man with desires, tendencies, and experiences quite different from fictional Kirk's.

Even though no one else has played him before, that does NOT mean no one else should play him in the future.

There is no reasonable logic to that assertion beyond your emotional attachment to the classic franchise.

For something to survive it MUST grow, change, and adapt.
It is the natural cycle for something to be born, thrive, grow old, die, and be replaced by something new and different for the sake of continuation.

The alternative is total extinction.

Captain Kirk himself painfully grappled with that conclusion all throughout his career. It was the chief antagonist of his life... one that he resisted mightily (as you do) right up until the end.

Do you really believe that when Bill Shatner passes away that Captain Kirk as a character should also be made dead (if he had not already died on Viridian III in STAR TREK GENERATIONS).

Do you really believe that if The Batman had been created in 1966 to be portrayed by Adam West, that NO ONE else should have played him NOW in a film (other than Adam)... even though he is now 81?!

Come on, man.

Someone else playing Kirk and bringing their own interpretation to the character will not diminish, or cheapen Bill Shatner's portrayal in any way. His take on the character is there, recorded for all posterity, to be enjoyed, celebrated, and hopefully compared in the future to other portrayals.

There is nothing wrong with that. Why does it threaten you so?

Captain Kirk has only existed as a fictional character for a little over 40 years. When looked at in it's proper perspective, that's NOTHING!

There have been other iconic fictional characters (on stage and screen) that have existed far longer than that. Some of those characters were even initially created to be played by a specific actor. But virtually all of them were portrayed successfully by someone else many years later.

I don't know, dude. I just think that limiting something as fantastic and imaginative as the Science Fiction universe of STAR TREK to the rules and conventions of our own real world does a serious disservice to the growth of the Trek universe.