Chris Nolan spoke to The Los Angeles Times very recently and he gave one quote that will probably give quite a few Batman fans pause. Of The Dark Knight, he said:
"Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is a tragic figure, and his story is the backbone of this film. The Joker, he sort of cuts through the film -- he's got no story arc, he's just a force of nature tearing through. Heath has given an amazing performance in the role, it's really extraordinary."
So, that would seem to mean that The Joker is not strictly speaking the main villain of The Dark Knight. But let's think about this for a second before we throw up our arms in fury that we've been deceived. As anyone who's seen the IMAX prologue will know, when we first meet The Joker in the movie he has already become the clown prince of crime. So this won't be an origin story for him (unless we get a few Killing Joke style flashbacks).
That means we take Nolan's quote to mean that we'll see Harvey Dent go from upstanding citizen to tragic villain, while The Joker just runs amok through Gotham causing mayhem and bloodshed and helping push other characters' stories along. That would make the marketing of this movie even cleverer, since we've seen next to nothing of Two-Face, meaning we've seen very little of the plot.
We think we're just fine with the idea of this, since we trust Nolan not to sideline The Joker and use him as a gimmick (there are those rumours that - potential spoiler ahead! – he'll play a very important part in the creation of Two-Face). But what do you think?
P.S. The article also confirms that Cillian Murphy will reprise his role as Scarecrow, as was widely thought after pics were leaked apparently showing him as part of a gang.