However, there are still quite a few reasons why TDK 's success caught many by surprise. Here at filmwad.com, we're going to tell you what those are. Why? Because we care.

1. Heath Ledger – Ironically, Ledger's turn as the Clown Prince of Crime has become the benchmark for crazy for a whole new generation. He took a role previously played by Jack Nicholson and turned it into something more than just a hyperactive man-child in bad makeup. What's more surprising is that Ledger was best known to the public as “the dude in that gay cowboy movie.” It's a badly kept secret that Ledger will win the Oscar for best supporting role, which is a huge deal for a man who had basically one major role under his belt until now.

2. Darkness – Any illusions to TDK being a family friendly picture were dashed when the Joker showed off his special brand of magic. This was a dark, somewhat heartless film. Usually, during the summer months anything this dark ends up making the same amount quality films like The Hottie and the Nottie make. Congrats, Hollywood realized grown-ups watch movies during the summer too.

3. Three hours long – TDK was a long movie. For those of you wondering why this is a problem, imagine the misguided parent bringing their precious little snowflakes into the movie because they really like The Batman. Halfway through, not only are they trying to stab each other with pencils, but they all have to go to the bathroom. I guarantee you, some parents have to wait until the DVD for this very reason.

4. Superhero fatigue – Quick, think of the last summer that hasn't had a superhero movie dominating the theaters. Yeah, it's been awhile. People are getting sick of the genre, and with good reason. For every Spider-man 2, there is an Elektra. Batman may carry a bit more name recognition, but it doesn't change the fact that the backlash against the superhero flick is going to come and it's coming soon.

5. Solid summer release schedule – This summer has been full of movies that have all had the opportunity to make truckloads of cash yet none of them even came close to TDK. In this day and age movie executives are happy just to have their movies break even in theaters and to then turn a profit on DVD sales. For a movie to destroy sales records in the days of rampant pirating, speaks to the power of the film. Yet, big name movies with similar marketing schemes and name recognition flopped. I mean, sure Harrison Ford looks like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but did anybody really expect Indy IV to suck so bad? Yeah, bad example. It looked terrible.

   Standing next to TDK, all other summer movies look like duds, sales wise. Still, I doubt even Chris Nolan expected the level of popularity of his movie. I'm sure he's got heart burn trying to figure out how he's going to top himself. Maybe he can talk to Sam Raimi to figue out what not to do for a follow-up to a highly successful superhero movie. We can only hope, anyway.