Heath Ledger's performance of the Joker received widespread acclaim, earning him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced, and co-written by Christopher Nolan.

In the film, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) forms an alliance with Police Lieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to dismantle organized crime in Gotham City, but are thwarted by a criminal mastermind known as the Joker (Heath Ledger) who seeks to undermine Batman's influence and create chaos in Gotham.

The film also stars Michael Caine as Bruce Wayne's butler (Alfred Pennyworth), Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.

The Dark Knight also received a high critical acclaim, accumulating an approval rating of 94% on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

[4] Notably, the film's Best Sound Editing win prevented Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire from having a clean category-sweep.