Recast, if it is necessary to bring the character back. The Joker hides behind so much make-up that the only thing that would distract from re-casting would be a weak performance. Otherwise, leave it be.
I agree. If Nolan needs to bring Joker back then he should bring Joker back. I appreciate what Ledger did but his wasn't such a great performance that none could follow. Shit it felt like Johnny Depp portraying a psychotic Ed Wood in clown makeup.
The actions of the Joker in TDK will definitely have lasting repercussions in Gotham. He killed all the major crime lords in the city and took over their organization, though with entirely different goals. It would be impossible not to acknowledge this and have it serve as a jumping off point for the story. However, I think the Joker should only be mentioned specifically once or twice in passing, a la Carmine Falcone's shout-out in TDK. Anything else would be distracting.
Could go either way. He was a major character in the last film and in general, representing Batman's opposite and worst enemy, so there could be a recast (Paul Bettany looks close enough and could make the character his own while still a continuation; Michael Pitt has the looks but I don't know about acting skills). Or they could go in more of a new direction. It depends a bit on how long after TDK the third story takes place.
idea: just as how in real life, even though the Joker is a villain, people would dress up as him for Halloween or like the internet hoodlums from 4chan have taken him for a living Saint.... "copycat Jokers" just as there were copycat Batman. There's always some nutcases who think the Joker was cool.
*****i got it: do the thing I said before where you've got him in a straightjacket with long hair and his face obscured, thrashing about violently, and they just walk by his padded cell's door. ...then the camera zooms in on his face to reveal that, Hannibal Lecter-style, the Joker has simply carved up another inmate's (or guard's) face and left him a bloody mess in his cell, while the Joker has escaped! (the guards just assume the Joker hurt himself or something)
Just pushing for that "shark jump" aren't you? Luckily, Batman's utility belt is equipped with a can of aerosol shark repellent. (As shown in the Adam West Batman movie) If they need the Joker, recast Johnny Depp in the role. Get him away from Tim Burton and show him what a REAL Batman director can do! Seriously though, Depp could pull off the role in a similar take to Ledger's as well as a similar look. Yet I could also see him coming in and making a mark on the role all his own even given all of Ledger's marks he has to follow.
While I don't think anyone could match Heath's Joker I don't think they have to try to. Simple to do "their" Joker. If Nolan requires the Joker for the story of the Third film then I think it's ok to recast. A camo just wouldn't cut it after his powerful presence in TDK.
I was thinking...if they need to bring Joker in the next movie, they can always use Curtis Base from the comics. That way, it's a recast, but not really.
Well, the very nature of the Joker is that he changes; this was played on in TDK as the Joker came up with a different story for his scar every time he told it. The producers can use this as long as the change isn't completely off the wall. Just give the new Joker actor a different hair cut; different make-up applications; a different build (i.e. lost or gained weight while in Arkham); all of those changes are believable, realistic and can make someone look almost unrecognizable. Just look at the difference on Christian Bale as he lost all of that weight in "Rescue Dawn".
"You won't kill me because of some misguided sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because you're just too much fun! I think you and I are destined to do this for a long time." That kind of foreshadowing practically DEMANDS follow-up. I don't see how the Joker can possibly NOT be a major character in the next film. I say re-cast. The great thing about the Joker is that he's chaos and destruction incarnate; there's no actual need for the next actor to play him the same way that Ledger did, because the character is an inherently chaotic one whose behavior may shift from day to day. (Goodness knows his own accounts of his past do.)
It's not foreshadowing for more appearances by the Joker it's foreshadowing for the storied history we know that Batman and Joker have in the comics, TV, movies, etc. It's a "wink at the auidence" about the legendary rivalry between The Joker and Batman not "foreshadowing" for more movies. We've only a handful of movies in this Batman series and Batman has a pretty big and diverse rouges gallery. I don't think we should be doing repeats. Leave the Joker gone. Maybe a chuckle in Arkham, a name drop, stuff like that but no story focusing on him again in this movie series. Nevermind that you're not going to find *anyone* for the next movie to live up to Ledger's performance and whomever you pick is just going to just come across as trying to best/match it but it'll also tarnish Ledger's "legacy" with the character. -Not to mention the corniness of recasting characters in movie franchises. The Joker story has been done, time to move on to Catwoman, The Penguin, The Riddler, The Mad Hatter, Ivy, Clayfast, Harley Quinn and so many others.
Bring in Harley Quinn and have her be just as insane. It's time a Batman film had a complete homicidal female role. Catwoman is too "gray" of a character to have her be a "big bad"