'The Dark Knight' Is Now Streaming on Netflix

For Batman fans, it's a happy New Year indeed. Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is now streaming on Netflix.

One of the highest-grossing superhero films of all time -- it is, as of this writing, sitting at the number five spot behind The Incredibles 2, Marvel's The Avengers, Avengers: Infinity War, and Black Panther according to Box Office Mojo -- The Dark Knight's arrival on the streaming service was announced last month as one of several big name films hitting Netflix January 1.

Directed, co-written, and co-produced by Nolan, The Dark Knight was first released in theaters in July 2008. The film is the second installment of The Dark Knight Trilogy after 2005's Batman Begins and before 2012's The Dark Knight Rises. The Dark Knight saw Christian Bale reprise his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman along with Michael Caine returning as Alfred, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. Maggie Gyllenhaal replaced Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes while Aaron Eckhart joined the cast as Harvey Dent. Perhaps the most notable performance in the film, however, belonged to Heath Ledger as The Joker. Sadly, Ledger died before the film's release and his still-talked-about performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

For the tenth anniversary of The Dark Knight's release last year, Nolan spoke with BBC Radio 1's Movies That Made Me about Ledger's work on the film, specifically how in crafting his take on the iconic Batman villain Ledger kept much of his approach to himself.

"A lot of what Heath did he would discuss with me, he'd sort of give me hints of what he was going to do and we'd talk about it a bit and I would try to be an audience for him, sort of gauge with him what he was doing, but a lot of it was about unpredictability and I think he wanted to play his cards a little close to the chest," Nolan said.

Nolan further explained that Ledger didn't reveal his take on The Joker all at once, either. Instead, Nolan said Ledger's villain developed a piece at a time and much of the time even he as a director didn't know what to expect.

"He would very gradually reveal to me the voice and the way he was going to do things, but not in one go, not 'here's the Joker,'" Nolan explained. "We sort of watched him develop it with the wardrobe and the makeup and everything. I got to be a part of that creative process which was great fun, but on set there were always moments like that clapping or things he would do with his voice. His voice was always so unpredictable."

Will you be checking out The Dark Knight on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below.