There's been some outcry about Heath Ledger being cast as the Joker in The Dark Knight. Let me put it this way. Before you actually heard Mark Hamill as the Joker, would you have believed Luke Skywalker would make a credible, let alone perfect, Joker? Director Christopher Nolan has a history of outstanding casting decisions, so I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt here. An interesting casting rumor for the film is Ledger's Brokeback Mountain co-star Jake Gyllenhaal as a candidate to play Harvey Dent (aka the future Two Face).

Speaking of Hollywood directors, I'm very excited by the recent announcement that Richard Donner, director of Superman: The Movie and much of Superman II, will be co-writing Action Comics (for non-fans, this is a Superman title, indeed it's the title Superman debuted in way back in 1938) starting in October. His co-writer will be his former assistant, Geoff Johns, one of DC's best writers (JSA, The Flash, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Infinite Crisis, 52). This has the potential to be the most iconic representation of Superman in comics in a very long time. If that's not enough, Andy Kubert will be the artist.

Despite a somewhat disappointing result for Superman Returns at the US box office, Bryan Singer has been talking about his plans for another Superman film, saying he wants to "go Wrath of Khan on it" (some sources speculate the villain will be Brainiac). Superman Returns is exceeding expectations internationally and should have strong DVD sales, so a sequel isn't out of the question.