A soldier dressed and wearing face-paint like Batman villain The Joker was shot and killed by police in the Shenandoah National Park after he pointed a loaded shotgun at them after a chase, an FBI affidavit says.

Heath Ledger won the supporting-actor Academy Award on Sunday for his demented reinvention of Batman villain the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” becoming only the second actor to win an Oscar posthumously.

Heath Ledger has won the supporting-actor Academy Award for his demented take on Batman villain the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” becoming only the second performer to win an Oscar posthumously.

The Oscars are at a crossroads and Batman is standing right in the middle of the road.

Harvey Milk and Benjamin Button each came into Thursday’s Critics’ Choice Awards with eight nominations, but Batman or an unlikely millionaire was liable to swipe the night’s big prize.

Batman is angling for top honors from the American Society of Cinematographers.

Pat Hingle, a veteran actor whose career included a recurring role as Commissioner Gordon in several Batman movies in the 1990s, has died. He was 84.

The Batman epic “The Dark Knight,” the political biopic “Milk” and the gritty drama “The Wrestler” were among critical favorites that landed on the American Film Institute’s list of the year’s 10 best movies.

Batman has a shot at an Academy Award for musical score, after all.

It promises to be a colorful Academy Awards season when films featuring Richard Nixon and Batman could go toe-to-toe for best picture.