According to reports, actor Heath "Brokeback Mountain" Ledger, young enough to go the distance for anticipated movie spin-offs and sequels, has been offered the part of 'The Joker', for director Chris "Memento" Nolan's upcoming Warners sequel to "Batman Begins', "The Dark Knight", based on the DC Comics characters.Other wild card casting suggestions for the 'clown prince of crime' include:
Paul Bettany, noted as slick sadist 'Young Gangster' from "Gangster No 1", and as mad monk 'Silas' in the "Da Vinci Code";
Jude Law, filthy shutterbug 'Harlen Maguire' in "Road To Perdition";
Vincent Cassel, bestial 'Jean-François de Morangias' in "Brotherhood of the Wolf";
Crispin Glover, 'Andy Warhol' in "The Doors";
Published by DC Comics, the first appearance of the Joker character was "Batman #1" (Spring 1940), created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson.
Modeled after silent actor Conrad Veidt's character in the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs, the Joker was known by various aliases including 'Red Hood', 'Clown Prince of Crime', Harlequin of Hate', 'Jack Napier' and 'Joe Kerr'.
The Joker has been responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman’s life, including the murder of 'Jason Todd', successor to 'Robin', and the injury/paralysis of 'Barbara Gordon', aka 'Batgirl'.
Filmic interpretations of the character include actor Cesar Romero in the 1960's "Batman" TV series, Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton's 1989 feature "Batman" and Mark Hamill in various "Batman" animated series.
In a 1951 comic book origin story, the Joker was revealed as career criminal 'Red Hood' who jumped into a vat of chemicals to escape Batman, permanently scarring his skin chalk-white and hair toxic-green.
