Why So Serious?

I of course had a ticket to the midnight screening of The Dark Knight. We showed up at the Barrie Cineplex two hours before the doors opened to the theater, we figured that would be plenty of time. When we showed up the line was almost down the stairs. By midnight all 1050 people were crammed in the lobby (3 theaters, with 350 seat completely sold out). Upon sitting down and waiting for the commercials and previews started, the atmosphere in the theater was almost electric. When the lights went out and they started playing the short milk commercials everyone started cheering, just because we were that much closer to seeing the movie.I must say, the hype and build up and standing in a hot sweaty geek ridden line for two hours was definitely worthy of this movie. It was AMAZING. Of course the cast was excellent (even Maggie Gyllenhaal who I am not a big fan of was good) but the most stand out performance was of course the late Heath Ledger. I remember watching Tim Burton's Batman religiously with my father when I was living in Germany almost ever night for the longest time. Jack Nicholson as the Joker was what I thought was the peak of what the Joker could possibly be. The only thing that ever bothered me about him was his perfect make up. How can someone constantly on the run from authorities have such excellently applied make up? When I first heard Heath Ledger was playing the Joker in the second installment of the revived Batman franchise I remember the blogs and posts about how bad of a decision the casting director made. I had been on a Broke Back Mountain kick because it is such an amazing movie and totally believed that someone who could put their own sexuality aside to play a role could pretty much do anything. In a way, I think the rest of the franchise might be doomed. If you haven't seen the movie yet I would advice you to stop reading now. So we have the ending of the movie; the Joker survives and is carted away to prison by the feds and Two Face has fallen to his demise. I think they did this because the realized Heath's character was what was selling the movie and hopefully the rest of the franchise (whysoserious.com, posters, commercials ex...), but what now? No more Joker? They wouldn't dare recast the Joker, that would be all 500 nails driven into their coffin all at once. No more Two Face right? The one possibly villain who could be carried over to the next movie can't be because Harvey Dent is dead... or is he? I could possibly foresee Harvey not actually being dead and come back to be the main villain in the next installment, some sort of faked death scam so he can regroup, gather up the resources and goons he needs for a proper assault on Gotham City. However, that still comes back to the fact that I think the franchise may be doomed. What's next? How can they possibly top Heath's performance? Not only was his performance legendary (I seriously believe it was) but the stigma of Heath playing such a deranged character and then ultimately meeting his mysterious demise makes this character really come to life through his death. I for one don't think that his death had anything to do with suicide or the role of the Joker taking over his mind, it was all just a mistake in moderation but regardless, it still adds a whole new level to the character. Believe me when I say that I am the first to hope that when the third installment comes out I'll be in the audience at a midnight screening eating my words with a side of popcorn and root beer, but I'm a pessimist through and through and will always be one. The death of such a talented actor is terrible especially when it was said he was in the prime of his career; I hope the franchise won't end up dying with Heath.