To me, Heath Ledger IS the Joker. That picture of him saying "Evening, Commisioner" reminded me of every clown-induced nightmare I had as a kid. I felt my stomach physically clench. I love Nolan's films, because unlike Shumaucher and even Burton to a degree, he takes this universe serious. Not serious to the point it isn't entertaing, but serious to the point its realistic, that it could conceivably occur in our world. Make-up and a grimy scarred smile makes the Joker more menacing to me than a chemical bath could. No city-wide release of poison perfume gas from giant floats, no horrible rap number in a museum, no over-the-top gizmos and gadgets that the Nicholson Joker had, just pure pale-face horror. I love what Gordon says in the trailer "No ID, no nothing. Just custom-clothes, lint and a lot of knives." No frying hand-buzzer, no boxing-glove gun, just back-to-basics Joker, stripped down his his mentally unbalanced core. The Joker isn't supposed to make you laugh like Nicholson's Joker tried (and failed) to do, he's supposed to make you so terrified of his uncompromising chaotic view of the world that you sleep with a night-light on.

On top of all this, a few years ago I may have joined you in being skeptical about Ledger but he's proved his acting chops with "Brokeback Mountain." He's come a long way since his teen movies from the late 90's. I don't see Nicholson in his performance at all. I see someone with the potential to be a better Joker than Nicholson ever was. In Nolan I trust.