To continue the Dark Knight theme, I think that Heath Ledger passing away so young would have been like Jack Nicholson dying after making One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, which is such a breathtaking demonstration of acting ability. By this point in Nicholson's career he'd already received several major award nominations, as had Ledger, and each of these two movies (looked liked it) pushed each actor to their respective limits. Nicholson then went on to win several major awards, including the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in 'Cuckoo's Nest. Of course my comparison is not without its irony - Nicholson went on to play the Joker in Tim Burton's original Batman movie in 1989. Food for though.