Heath Ledger's Joker Intro Was an Homage to Cesar Romero's Joker Intro
I love learning new things about movies that I love! You may have already known this, but I was completely oblivious to it until just recently. Heath Ledger's introduction of The Joker in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight was an homage to Cesar Romero's introduction in the 1960s Batman TV series.
I discovered this little tidbit of information on The Gothamite, and it came with the following comment:
To the left is Cesar Romero as The Joker in the very first appearance in Batman 66'. This is how the character was introduced to the audience. 42 Years Later, we are reintroduced to a new version of The Joker in The Dark Knight, played by Heath Ledger, wearing a similar mask. This is a little known homage to the 66 Batman show and, had you been familiar with the mask, would have tipped you off about who is Joker BEFORE the mask reveal!
I haven't watched the original Batman series since I was a kid, so this is something I would have never caught unless I rewatched them or spent so much time on the internet looking to find cool stuff to post on the site.
Is this something you were already aware of, or is this a new bit of trivia for you as well?