Batman might defeat The Joker in all the Batman movies, but this time he doesn’t gain as much popularity as the bad guy.

A cause of this is certainly due to Heath Ledger’s death, but the anticipation for the movie began long before the 28-year-old actor’s death, since the film’s trailer was released at the end of 2007. The presence that impressed everybody the most was The Joker, who seemed to be crazier and more terrifying than ever, by a Ledger who is continually praised and remembered by all the members of the cast.

Well, if we think twice, Batman would have never gained his popularity if it weren’t for his wild and mentally disordered enemies.

Ledger’s terrific performance actually manages to surpass that of Jack Nicholson, something that no one could have ever imagined. As Joker himself says in the trailer, “this city deserves a better class of criminal.” And he has no efforts in solving that “problem.”

Like all the other actors in “The Dark Knight,” Ledger’s co-star Maggie Gyllenhaal said that what the talented actor did in the movie was “extraordinary and unusual and rare and special even for the most talented and experienced actors.”

With so much buzz going around The Joker, it’s no wonder rumors about a posthumous Oscar for Ledger started to spread.

“He makes the character hateful and odious, and yet somehow there is some level of charm though,” director Christopher Nolan said, according to CBS News. “When he comes on the screen, you're excited to see him again.”

Even though the movie’s most important action scenes are shot in IMAX film format and the film doesn’t lack expert special effects, Christian Bale defends it as a good drama, rather than action movie.

According to New York Daily News, Bale said he did not think “this is a great superhero movie,” but “a great movie, period.”

“The special effects and explosions don't mean crap unless they're in the context of really substantial drama,” he adds.

We’ll see if Bale speaks the truth or not on Friday, July 18, when the movie hits the theaters.