NOLAN REMOVES JOKER FROM BATMAN’S DECK

Showing his hand early, at least when it comes to casting the role of the Joker, director Christopher Nolan said Monday that the character will be eliminated in the next Batman movie, scheduled to premiere in July 2012. The character, who was portrayed on television by Cesar Romero and Mark Hamill, and in movies by Jack Nicholson and, in last year’s The Dark Knight by the late Heath Ledger — who won an Oscar for his performance — is being retired by Nolan, because, he told the Associated Press on Monday, “Heath was the definitive Joker. … It wouldn’t feel appropriate to readdress that character.”