Fancast: The Big Picture

The Dark Knight - 7/18
Batman Begins was the wet dream of comic fans everywhere, taking a dark and gritty take on the mythos that the comics have reveled in for decades now and saving the Caped Crusader from a neon-nippled doom. Christopher Nolan's version of Gotham City only looks to escalate in quality and the second installment may prove wrong that old comic-movie maxim about how putting more than one villain in the mix bogs things down.

The late, great Heath Ledger's down and dirty Joker will be something entirely new and entirely disturbing (as a psychotic mass-murdering clown should be). The Clown Prince of Crime is said to be a tour de force, tearing through Gotham City with the kind of savage intensity that one would require when going up against Christian Bale's Batman, as Bale himself is the definition of intense - see 2004's The Machinist for disturbing proof of that. Then there's Aaron Eckhart, who will at last have the definitive take on altruistic District Attorney Harvey Dent, one of the most compelling and deeply, tragically flawed characters in Gotham's history that deserves Nolan's treatment to make up for what Joel Schumacher made Tommy Lee Jones do.

This is undoubtedly Iron Man's main competition for the best comic movie of the year, and possibly of all time. Some people will always argue Superman for that title, but neither Iron Man nor Batman will be going back in time by spinning the world backwards on its axis. We hope.

Watch a teaser for The Dark Knight.
Watch the trailer for The Dark Knight.
Watch the trailer for Batman Begins.
See what Joel Schumacher made Tommy Lee Jones do to Harvey Dent in Batman Forever.
See that aforementioned neon-nippled doom in Batman and Robin and thank your lucky stars for what we have now.