The last film Australian actor Heath Ledger completed was “The Dark Knight” and it is precisely this film, to be released July 18, that pays a special tribute to the late actor who lost his life prematurely.

There had been talk while filming was still unrolling regarding Heath Ledger’s intense, wild portrayal of villainous character The Joker and the toll it had taken on his mental and emotional state.

The talk only intensified when a shocked Hollywood, and the world along with it, learned of the actor’s premature death on January 22, of an accidental prescription drug overdose, as everyone tried to find some shred of sense in the demise of the young man.

The end credits of “The Dark Knight,” sequel to 2005’s “Batman Begins,” pay a fond tribute to Ledger, as well as to special-effects technician Conway Wickliffe, who was killed last September in a stunt-car accident.

The tribute included in the credits, which appeared Thursday on the Warner Bros. publicity website, endearingly reads, “In memory of our friends Heath Ledger & Conway Wickliffe.”

The super hero film has been wildly anticipated for months now and the bits and pieces the studio has shared with the public, some of them quite consistent and juicy, have only helped to fuel curiosity and excitement.

Christopher Nolan reprises helming duties for the sequel, while Christian Bale dons the dark super hero suit once again.

Co-stars Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) and Gary Oldman (Lieutenant James Gordon) are also returning, while Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent / Two-Face), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Batman’s love interest Rachel Dawes) and Cillian Murphy (Dr. Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow) are new cast members.

Among material released to incite moviegoers is a trailer that enticingly presents the Joker’s unnerving madness, Two Face’s sick logic and Batman’s unrelenting opposition to crime.

While “The Dark Knight” is merely weeks away, the project Ledger had been filming at the time of his death, Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” is now slated for a 2009 release, with actors Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell stepping in to help Gilliam finish the movie, as multiple incarnations of Ledger’s character in the film.