Indy and the Joker Fully Revealed!

By Katey Rich

Maybe I've thought too much about how to write "I love you" on my eyelids, or maybe I've seen the Indiana Jones show at the MGM theme park in Orlando one too many times, but the new images from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull give me a thrill that I can't quite place. The pics showed up on Ain't It Cool News, and unlike the teasing previews of the Joker from next summer's Dark Knight, they give us a full view of both Harrison Ford in his Indy getup as well as new kid Shia LaBeouf, playing an intrepid young fellow explorer who may or may not be Indiana Jr.

Here are the photos, which get bigger if you click 'em:

Sure, it's a little strange to see Indy with more wrinkles and gray hair, but you can't deny that Harrison Ford still fits that costume better than any other actor possibly could. Just look at that powerful stance in the second photo! I'm wary about Shia LaBeouf's trace of a weird mustache, but I'm willing to accept the word of those who saw Transformers that he's a worthy player in the series.

But speaking of that pesky Joker, Ain't It Cool also seems to have the full image of the Joker that this promotional website has been revealing bit by bit over the last few days. It's clearly the same image, so it looks like the cover of Empire magazine just showed up a bit earlier than the promotional mavens behind Dark Knight intended. Still, what an impact: the previous sneak peeks at the Joker (like this one or this or this) didn't indicate the same level of, well, fun in the character. For the first time you can now see Heath Ledger digging into this role with the same kind of maniacal glee that Jack Nicholson did back in 1989. It's been a while since we saw Ledger so much as crack a smile on-screen, so getting a glimpse of that cracked smile is like a breath of cold Gotham air.

It's hard to believe it's already time to get pumped up about next summer's testosterone-heavy releases, but the marketers behind both of these films are doing a great job of drumming up the interest. Let's just hope Shia's facial hair and Joker overload don't sink both enterprises before May comes along.