Apparently, according to detractors, The Dark Knight would have been a miserable failure if Heath Ledger hadn't passed away, all hype about the movie prior to his death to the contrary.
I'm sorry, I loved the movie and Heath Ledger was awesome in his role, but that movie would have been nowhere near as scuccesful/award winning/beloved by all if he hadn't died.
Most of the pre-death hype was either A - on par with the first movie, or B - going on in comic book / gamer circles. It wasn't until after he died that the movie hype reached epic proportions. In fact, before news broke that heath ledger died, most conversations about the film among non-hardcore fans went something like this:
Person A: "Hey, what do you think of the new Batman movie?"
Person B: "Me and my friends are probably going to go see it. The first one was pretty good."
Person C: "You hear that the guy from Brokeback Mountain is playing the joker?"
Person B: (Obligatory gay joke)
Person B's Girlfriend: "Hey, I liked 10 Things I Hate About You! He was good in that!"
Person C: "Yeah, I just can't see him as the joker, you know? I mean nobody can top Jack as the Joker"
(Followed by an argument about people's favorite Joker, with someone inevitably learning for the first time that Mark Hamill did the voice of the Joker in the Animated Series, and the person who says Cesar Romero getting things thrown at them.)
Then Heath Ledger died and every conversation about the movie went like this:
Person A: "Hey, what do you think of the new Batman movie?"
Person B: "Me and my friends, family, and children already have tickets. This is going to be the greatest cinematic event of our lifetime."
Person C: "We just rented Brokeback Mountain from Netflix. I didn't watch it when it first came out because it was overhyped, but I really think it set Heath Ledger up to be the perfect Joker."
Person B: (Obligatory gay joke about Jake Gyllenhaal)
Person B's Girlfriend: "Hey, 10 Things I Hate About You is now and has always been my favorite movie. I cut Heath Ledger's name into my arm when I heard he died!"
Person C: "He was born for that role. I haven't even seen it and I know he's going to win an oscar for his brilliant performance. I think he's the one person who can top Jack as the Joker."
(Followed by an argument about people's favorite Joker, with someone inevitably learning for the first time that Mark Hamill did the voice of the Joker in the Animated Series, and the person who says Cesar Romero getting things thrown at them, but pretty much everyone agreeing that Heath Ledger is the best Joker ever even though the movie hasn't been released yet.)