The Joker's look from The Dark Knight

It is official – the Joker is the latest cinematic pin-up. Bat-fans are already crowding the Internet, asking where they can find clothes like those worn by the Joker in The Dark Knight (Boxwish of course, people!) There are websites popping up where fans recreate the look and offer it up for peer scrutiny. They ask for feedback, tips, advice – anything to help them improve their homage to the clown prince of crime. And it’s easy to understand the appeal of this new Joker.

The Joker has been absent from all cinematic Bat-capers since Jack Nicholson took on the role in Tim Burton’s 1989 effort. That’s nineteen long years and four subsequent films without Batman’s greatest nemesis and what did Nicholson and Burton give us? A hammy, goofy and much older Joker that was well-received at the time, but seems quaint and harmless by today’s standards. That villain wouldn’t stand a chance against the brooding Batman of 2005’s Batman Begins with his Keysi fighting and tank-like Batmobile. And so as the caped crusader was given a 21st Century makeover by director Christopher Nolan for the origins tale, so too is the Joker for its sequel, The Dark Knight.