In case you haven't heard yet that The Dark Knight is going to be the Darkest! Batman! Ever! (complete with a mourned actor doing all kinds of posthumously hype-worthy things that no one will shut up about), Aaron Eckhart showed up in the LA Times's summer film preview Sunday to reinforce the company line that "people will be surprised" at the bleak turns his own Harvey Dent character endures en route to becoming Two Face:

[Eckhart] did say that the wounds are structurally deeper than in the comics: "There are fans on the Internet who have done artist's versions of what they think it will look like, and I can tell you this: They're thinking small; [director] Chris [Nolan] is going way farther than people think."

There were plenty of name actors lined up hoping to get the role of Two-Face, but in the end Nolan went with Eckhart because of his "complexity and this aura he has of a good man pushed too far," Nolan said. ... "The difference between Batman and Two-Face is how far they are willing to go and how they make their point," Eckhart said. "Otherwise, we're talking about vigilante crime-fighting. That's what Batman is all about. He has a strong sense of justice. And Harvey Dent has an extremely strong sense of justice. His fiancée is killed. He's horribly injured. But he is still true to himself. He's a crime fighter, he's not killing good people. He's not a bad guy, not purely."

Anyway, the new trailer online features a brief shot of Eckhart's good side, which as seen above, reveals none of the pitched grimness that we've been looking for since Nolan, Christian Bale and now Eckhart have been talking it up. In any event, we're still too emotionally wounded from last week's viral fanboy stampede to get worked up for this. The nightmares can't possibly get any worse; just give us time, Eckhart. We need time.

• Not just another pretty face in 'The Dark Knight' [LAT]

Tags: aaron eckhart | christian bale | christopher nolan | downers | heath ledger | the dark knight