Rabid Bat-fans in attendance at Wizard World Chicago 2007 got one of the ultimate treats recently: Not only were conventioneers given an advance viewing of some footage from The Dark Knight, but they also got to participate in a Q&A with several members of the cast and crew. Luckily for the rest of us, IGN Movies was there to share the news.

The article doesn't indicate how long the "sizzle reel" was, but does make it clear that director Christopher Nolan packed it with plenty of good stuff. A few of the highlights:

Much to the joy of those in attendance, the reel showed off a number of shots of Heath Ledger as The Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime was seen in a prison cell, dramatically speaking at the camera as if scheming some sort of diabolical plot. There were also several shots of Batman and The Joker fighting in what appeared to be an interrogation room -- in fact, the Dark Knight can be scene using "bad cop" interrogation techniques, throwing The Joker across a table. There is a scene of The Joker dancing with Rachel Dawes (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal), reminiscent of the way Jack Nicholson's Joker danced with Vicki Vale (played by Kim Basinger) in 1989's Batman. Finally, there are a number of shots showing a war-torn Gotham City -- a machine gun-toting Joker firing toward the camera.

In other words, the cilp sounds like it struck the perfect balance between priming the fanboy pump and giving away the farm. (On the other hand, there are those of us old enough to remember when you had to wait until a movie was actually finished before you got to see any of it in a theater, but whatever; we're probably just bitter that George Lucas never responded to our heartfelt requests for an advance screening of Return of the Jedi.)

In attendance for the Q&A were none other than Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, and Aaron Eckhart, along with writers David Goyer and Jonathan Nolan. For more details about the reel, and a prelude to IGN's Q&A coverage, click on the link below.

Source: IGN Movies