I don't know how many people have kept up with the viral marketing plan that Seattle-based 42 Entertainment has implemented on behalf of Warner Bros. for the upcoming "Batman Begins" sequel "The Dark Knight," but it's quite an undertaking.

Everything began with an intense scavenger hunt at Comic-Con in San Diego (while the rest of us were inside at the lame WB panel hoping for something -- anything -- from the film).  A new website devoted to -- devotees -- launched at that time and many a Dark Knight geek was in wonderland.  Personally, I thought the whole process yielded a lame outcome, but hey, a lot of work went into it.

Now, following a nation-wide scavenger hunt yesterday, the process has become more involved and -- yet again -- yielded a lame result...a new image of Heath Ledger as the Joker.  Oh yeah, and yet another website.

Anyway, my woes are my own regarding this viral marketing (which probably deserves an award unto itself for sheer depth), but in any case, I actually have a point for bringing this subject up on an Oscar blog.

Jack Nicholson got a lot of awards attention in 1989 for his zany, iconic portrayal of the Clown Prince in Tim Burton's "Batman," including nominations for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical (weird placement, I know) at the Golden Globes and Best Supporting Actor at the BAFTAs.  Ledger's portrayal is sure to be a much more sinister characterization that will draw on great works like "The Long Halloween" and the classic Joker stories of the 1940s that were extremely dark.  But I'll just get to the question...

If the performance and the character separate themselves from the fray in as definitive a manner as Nicholson did in 1989, could Ledger be an awards contender next year for "The Dark Knight?"  Stranger things have certainly happened.

Ledger will also potentially be visible elsewhere in 2008 in Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life" opposite Sean Penn, should production get a move on in time.