Heath Ledger fans petition studio to retire the Joker from future films

Heath Ledger's flawless acting, and tragic passing, immortalized his portrayal of the Joker in Christopher Nolan's Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight. But should Ledger's killer clown be the last Joker to grace the big screen?

That's what the fanboys over at a new site called The Ultimate Joker are arguing. They've launched a petition calling for studios to withdraw the character for good from any future Batman movies, a somewhat strange request given all the actors who have stepped into the Joker's murderous shoes on screens large and small.

"We truly believe Ledger's performance as Joker is the best an actor could ever do," the site's team leader, Fer Barbella, told Wired.com in an e-mail interview.

"Any other performance will be below expectations for sure, so we want to forever keep Ledger's Joker as the one," added Barbella, who launched The Ultimate Joker site last week with his colleague Nico Pimentel.

From Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero to Larry Storch, Mark Hamill and the underrated Kevin Michael Richardson, Batman's nemesis has been brought to life by some serious talent. Banning Joker from the silver screen might seem like an unreasonable request on its garish face, but the team at The Ultimate Joker is standing by it, and no doubt will be aided if Ledger takes home a posthumous Oscar later this month for his portrayal.

In addition to the online petition, The Ultimate Joker site operators have fired up an Ultimate Joker Flickr pool and posted downloadable web graphics to let others show their support.

Barbella says his crew is only interested in film portrayals, though.

"Television and animation is off our radar," he says. "And we like Jokers like Cesar Romero or Jack Nicholson, and even the voice of Mark Hamill. But we think this psycho in scarred whiteface is the best ever. No one can improve it. So please, Hollywood, use other enemies in the sequels to come."

It is perhaps a plea that Hollywood will ignore in pursuit of profit. After all, the buzz created by the conundrum of who will follow in Ledger's footsteps could be worth hundreds of millions on its own.

But it's a fair question: Should Hollywood retire the Joker from film? Was Heath Ledger the greatest Joker of all time? Why so serious? Shoot us your thoughts in the comment section below.
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