Sure, he has big expectations on him, but as long as he's careful, it's quite doable. There's so much to Batman that hasn't been done to its full potential. They've only hinted at his detective abilities, and while Batman Begins dealt with his fighting prowess, he was still new at it, and unrefined. Not to mention some of the villains that haven't been done.

Really, it wouldn't have to be an epically amazing movie - it could be "just" very good, and as long as it wrapped things up well, that'd be great.

And while I understand the fear of not meeting expectations, it seems like Nolan would be chickening out if he didn't finish this just because TDK did so well.

TDK wasn't a cliffhanger ending, but there were definite things that hinted at a 3rd movie.

And while Ledger was quite possibly going to be involved in the next one, I think it's also quite possible that he wouldn't be. It's a common sentiment among people that villains shouldn't be used in back to back movies, because it feels overdone.

I didn't say 'common sense'. I said it's a common sentiment. Two different things. I also didn't say that Joker wouldn't be good - I said some people wouldn't want him.

I would have no problem with the Joker being secondary like Scarecrow was, if he was only a secondary character, it would be easier for Nolan to rework things, and thus

Also, Joker rarely is a secondary character. He's the freakin' Joker. He'll usually find some way to steal the spotlight. Not to say it can't work, but it might be hard to do it without betraying Joker's character.

From what I've read and what I know about Nolan, I doubt he'll do a third Batman film. I hope he doesn't either. If Nolan doesn't think that he can make a sequel just as good if not better than the previous film than he won't do it.

Again, my take on TDK is very critical. I thought it could have been much better in many ways. I think there too many unexplained plot holes to call it "wrapped up"

Aside from that I don't think that they'll reuse any villains but I don't really know any other really good villains that could be used. I could see Catwoman and a few other possibilities but even they seem predictably week on screen.