The Dark Knight is one of the best films of all-time, and certainly one of the best superhero films.

Honestly I don’t know how Heath Ledger didn’t throw out his back from carrying the film, as his performance of The Joker is awe-inspiring and one to be remembered forever.

Ledger brought us a genuinely distressing Joker, who’s shrouded in mystery and exhibits strange behaviour even for the clown prince of crime.

One of his “ticks” if you want to call it that is how excessively he licks his lips throughout the film, often when he’s delivering one of his monologues to one of the characters.

While you could brush this off as just Joker being Joker there is apparently a genuine reason why Ledger did this, but it has nothing to do with the character himself.

According to the documentary I Am Heath Ledger, the actor licked his lips during dialogue to present the prosthetic makeup on his face from peeling off.

Joker in The Dark Knight has scars all around his mouth, which are never fully explained, and apparently they didn’t always stay on during scenes.

While it’s a practical solution it also doubled as yet another weird trait the Joker had in the film, and added to the tension in scenes where he’s delivering one of his potentially made-up origin stories.

There are theories out there that his origin stories are actually all true, and when put in the right order tell the story of his life, but that’s never been confirmed and I don’t think I’d ever want it to be.

Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker was one for the ages, and it’s just so sad that he passed away so young into his life and career as it’s clear he was destined for greatness, just an unbelievable amount of talent.