Here are a few pics of the new Joker action figure from Batman: The Dark Knight, created by Hot Toys, which is about to hit the market … I’m just amazed at how much this little figure looks exactly like Heath Ledger. I mean, I know that action figures are supposed to look like the actors who play their characters but that isn’t always the case … in this instance, the likeness is uncanny:

Hot Toys is releasing a 1/6th scale figure of The Joker in “Bank Robber” mode. The figure stands 12-inches tall, features 32-points of articulation, and comes with a choice of two removable heads, one with a huge grin, the other with the slicked back hair. Accessories include a removable clown mask, handgun, a bigger gun, duffle bag, smoke and fragmentation grenades, playing cards, gotham city money and more.

Click HERE to see more photos of this action figure, it’s really very remarkably made. I have a pretty good feeling that Heath would’ve gotten a real kick out of this action figure had he been able to see while he still lived. I think it’s a pretty cool tribute to the chilling character that he portrayed in The Dark Knight. Well done.

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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 … (more…)