The Dark Knight Rises Will be Joker – less

We’ve been wondering whether or not Joker will make an appearance in The Dark Knight Rises, and to help settle all of our fanboy disputes, the trilogy’s director Christopher Nolan has publicly declared NO!

Cue the collective heartbreak of geeks all over the globe.

No Joker? How can you do this to us!?!?!?

Well, I guess it shouldn’t be too big of a surprise. He’s alluded to such before, but never with as much certainty. Here’s what the great leader of the Nolanite army had to say for himself:

“We’re not addressing The Joker at all. That is something I felt very strongly about in terms of my relationship with Heath and the experience I went through with him on The Dark Knight. I didn’t want to in any way try and account for a real-life tragedy. That seemed inappropriate to me. We just have a new set of characters and a continuation of Bruce Wayne’s story. Not involving The Joker.”

SOURCE: Empire Magazine (via CBM)