The Dark Knight Begins

"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" isn't the only comic book superhero movie getting underway with a fresh, cool title and fan favorite characters joining the cast list; the sequel to "Batman Begins" officially named "Dark Knight" has its Joker in Heath Ledger, and Christopher Nolan has already begun to drop hints that this Batman movie will live up to its ominous and legendary moniker.

Nolan specifically cited "The Killing Joke," one of the darker and more twisted Joker stories, as an inspiration for his vision of Batman's clownish and clinically insane villain. IGN.com quoted director Nolan as saying that the general theme for this next chapter of Batman maturing as the Dark Knight will be "about things having to get worse before they get better." This description makes "Dark Knight" sound like it will be the "Empire Strikes Back" of Batman films.

If "Batman Begins" blew you away, it's possible that this movie will be fan overload, still reaching for that essential despair and unwavering audacity in the face of that chaos that is Batman at his finest. All Nolan will do is drop hints for now, but expect much comic influence like with "Begins" and much darker subject matter, particularly with truly maniacal vision of the Joker coming into the picture.