The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, based on the DC Comics character Batman. The film stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Heath Ledger as the Joker, and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. It is the second installment of Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy, and the sequel to The Dark Knight (2008).
The Dark Knight was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, making it the first Batman film to be nominated for Best Picture. Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker posthumously won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him the second actor to win an Oscar for playing a comic book character (after Jack Nicholson). In addition, the film won two Golden Globe Awards, Best Supporting Actor (for Ledger) and Best Motion Picture – Drama.
The Joker is a fictional supervillain created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson who first appeared in Batman #1 (spring 1940). A psychopathic criminal mastermind with a warped, sadistic sense of humor, the Joker is considered one of the greatest comic book villains of all time and has been ranked #45 in IGN’s list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time.
Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight is widely regarded as one of the greatest performances in all of cinema. In a review for The Dark Knight, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said that “Ledger’s Joker is a flawless performance, a work of diabolical perfection.” A. O. Scott of The New York Times stated that “Mr. Ledger’s Joker is a great screen villain. His is a classic performance in the great tradition of screen villains.”
The Dark Knight grossed over $1 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2008 and the second-highest-grossing superhero film of all time (behind Marvel’s The Avengers).