Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, in their roles as Batman and The Joker, are featured on the cover and in the pages of this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly … here is the magazine cover and an excerpt from the coverstory that contains no spoilers but gives you a good understanding of what the article is all about:

With The Dark Knight, Nolan and Bale return to Gotham City for a second, even moodier and more savage installment of the superhero franchise they revamped in 2005 with Batman Begins. The movie delivers on its promise, pitting Batman against the freaky new fiend in psychotic cosmetics who robs banks and blows up hospitals for the sheer anarchic kick of it. Most of the familiar faces (and one new Two-Face) are on board, including wry butler Alfred (Michael Caine), stalwart police detective Gordon (Gary Oldman), and lawyer-slash-love interest Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, taking over the role from Katie Holmes), as well as a new crusading district attorney named Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). The Dark Knight has everything fans expect from the series: gizmos like a sleek new ”Bat Pod” motorcycle, eye-popping stunts (most performed the old-fashioned way, with real stuntmen and real explosions), and, of course, the brooding Bale, arguably the best, certainly the most serious actor ever to growl under the cowl. Still, when the film opens July 18, Ledger will be Topic A. His turn in The Dark Knight would have been widely talked about this summer even if the 28-year-old actor hadn’t died of an accidental prescription-drug overdose last January. It might have even earned him another Oscar nomination (it still could, posthumously). Now the performance is shrouded in tragedy, though, and may well be Ledger’s last cinematic testament (it’s unclear what Terry Gilliam will, or can, do with the actor’s unfinished footage from The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus). And that loads The Dark Knight with a poignancy its creators never anticipated. Certainly one they never desired. Along with the grief it caused friends and family, Ledger’s death cast a shadow of uncertainty over the film. It had Warner Bros. reexamining its entire marketing plans for the movie, conducting taste tests on the appropriateness of Ledger’s clown face on publicity stills and in trailers. Hardly the way the studio had hoped it would be launching its biggest summer thrill ride.

To be honest, I haven’t even read the entire coverstory for fear of reading too much about the movie that is still over a week away from release. If you are so inclined, you can read the article online HERE and risk the spoilers for yourself (a new trailer for The Dark Knight ran in front of Hancock last night and I tried to cover my eyes … there’s just so much TDK stuff out there that I don’t want to see any more until the movie comes out on the 18th). Even still … there is a lot of cool stuff that I think we can see safely, without fear of spoiling the movie. After the jump, check out a photo of Heath Ledger wearing The Joker prosthetics on his face but without make-up … it’s kind of an eerie thing to see …

Apparently this photo originated in the forums at SuperHeroHype.com but ended up on THIS site, which claims that Heath had a part in the creation of The Joker’s make-up for the film:

[I]t was Heath who actually designed the make-up (NOT the make-up appliances which were designed by Conor). On the day of the make-up test he showed up with a very basic make-up kit consisting of store bought mascara, white grease paint and lipstick and and basically designed the make-up there on the spot — everyone loved it and it was the duty of the ‘Pro’ make-up artist to replicate it every day for the duration of the shoot

THIS site provides a bit more exposition explaining that altho Heath Ledger may have deigned the make-up look of The Joker, he was not responsible for the creation of the prosthetics that make up the Joker’s facial scars. Heath’s death is still such a tragedy, one that many of us will relive again and again over the coming weeks with the release of Batman: The Dark Knight, but we can still appreciate what an amazing actor … what an amazing man he was. I am not at all surprised to learn that he may have had a hand in the creation of the look of The Joker — I am confident he will deliver a stunning performance in the movie. From what I have surmised thus far from the little I’ve seen, Heath’s version of The Joker is by far the most psychotic portrayal of the character that has ever been seen in movies or on TV (a psychoticness more akin to the way The Joker exists in the darker Batman comic book titles). I hope all this talk of Oscar buzz isn’t off the mark … I would love to see the man be honored for his work, even if it has to be posthumously.

[Source, Source via Source]