By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

The Dark Knight Manual, a soon-to-be-released tie-in coffee table book for The Dark Knight Rises, offers some interesting allusions about the version of the Joker we saw in 2008′s The Dark Knight.

The book includes a police report from the events of the film. The report indicates  the department is no closer to discovering the Joker’s true identity. However, three theories are presented. The most notable of which reports that prior to the events of the movie, Haly’s Circus was in town for a two month run, and that they had connections with Sal Maroni (one of the film’s mob bosses). The report then suggests that the Joker was a Haly’s Circus performer with a grudge against the mob.

In the world of DC Comics, Dick Grayson, the boy who became the first Robin, was a performer for Haly’s Circus before his parents were killed my a mobster. This book indicates that Haly’s Circus does in fact exist in the world of Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, which creates a small allusion to the Dick Grayson character.

The book also suggests the Joker might have been an Arkham Asylum inmate at one time, or perhaps a former soldier angry with the government for sending him to war.

Interestingly, there has been a degree of speculation about whether John Blake, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character in The Dark Knight Rises, will assume a partner role akin to Robin. The book calls John Blake an orphan who “channeled his anger and pain … into his work serving and protecting the people of Gotham,” which is obviously much like what Bruce Wayne did as Batman.

In 2009, Heath Ledger earned a posthumous Academy Award for his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters on July 22.

Source: IGN

Ledger image from worldofpopculture.com. Circus image from dc.wikia.com.