Fans have been excited for a while over Heath Ledger’s involvement as The Joker in The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins. Not everyone, it would appear, is as thrilled, however. On the “not very excited list” is a former Joker, Jack Nicholson, who told MTV Movie Blog’s Josh Horowitz that he’s not happy to hear Joker is returning without Jack behind the makeup.

”They never asked me about a sequel with the Joker.” Nicholson fumed. ”I know how to do that! Nobody ever asked me.” The mourning of the lost part then led into mourning over the entire franchise, which Nicholson felt the studio (Warner Brothers), ”kind of drove… into the ground.”

I can understand Nicholson’s frustration over the loss of the Burton franchise, especially considering his high regard for Burton as a filmmaker. But these are separate movies – a completely different entity, frankly. While I have a lot of appreciation for Nicholson’s Joker character, I don’t see how that character could possibly fit into Christopher Nolan’s depiction of the Batman world. It’s too outlandish, even if it is in a malevolent way. I think most fans want a Batman flick that doesn’t demystify Batman’s rogue’s gallery the way Burton did The Joker (I still hate that whole Jack Napier storyline, even though I do like Burton’s Batman).

From Nicholson’s comments, it seems Nolan won’t need to reserve a front seat for the sunglass-wearing Jack, since the actor doesn’t appear interested in even seeing another actor’s portrayal of the character. That’s fine, though. It’s another seat a real fan can fill instead of a somewhat conceited actor who doesn’t see his characterization doesn’t fit in the revived franchise.