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Highlights
- The portrayal of The Joker in
The Batman
(2022) by Barry Keoghan is highly anticipated but has limited screen time in the film. - Jared Leto’s version of The Joker in
Suicide Squad
(2016) deviated from fan expectations and focused more on nightclubs and fast cars. - Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker in
The Dark Knight
(2008) was widely praised and considered one of the most unpredictable and terrifying versions of the character.
The Joker has been Batman’s greatest enemy in the comics ever since he first appeared in 1940. Therefore, it makes sense that this iconic DC Comics villain would appear in times when Batman is adapted for TV and movies. The Clown Prince of Crime has become an iconic part of comic books and live-action cinema as a result of all this exposure.
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Whenever a character like The Joker shows up in a DC Comics movie or TV franchise, he requires a highly dedicated actor to play him. The Joker is a wild and unpredictable force, who is hell-bent on getting Batman to break his one rule and kill him for the maniacal things he and his henchmen get up to. As such, plenty of people have played the iconic Clown Prince of Crime to varying degrees of success, proving that without Batman, crime has no punchline, and the two are the perfect duo of hero and villain.
7 Barry Keoghan
The Batman (2022)
The most recent portrayal of The Joker showed up in Matt Reeves’ The Batman in 2022. The character is played by the phenomenal actor, Barry Keoghan, and there is a lot to look forward to in this appearance. Sadly, The Joker is only seen in the film at the end and in one deleted scene that was released online.
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The Batman focused on Batman trying to unravel the mysterious clues left by The Riddler in Gotham. Therefore, The Joker is not seen much in this movie. What fans do get of the character in the deleted scene is a highly intelligent man, a villain that would fit neatly into this universe. However, there isn’t much else for fans to fall in love with here after so little screen time.
6 Jared Leto
Suicide Squad (2016)
Expanding the DC universe across multiple movies was a good idea. It was also a good idea to give the Suicide Squad a spotlight in their own movie and to cast a recent Academy Award winner in the role of The Joker. This is especially true given that Harley Quinn was going to be a big part of the team moving forward. Sadly, the way The Joker was used in the movie was far from what fans had in mind.
This version of The Joker has no screen time with Batman until Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and is far more focused on nightclubs and fast cars than creating chaos for the caped crusader to stop. Visually, it is weird seeing this Joker so twisted with tattoos and a toned body, and hearing the character talk about champagne or cashmere rugs doesn’t line up with the version of the character from the comics at all.
5 Caesar Romero
Batman (1966)
Times were very different when Caesar Romero took the role of Batman’s famous nemesis in the 60s TV series. Comic books were not taken seriously as an art form, and this show served as many people’s first glimpse into that world. As such, Romero gave a very comic-accurate performance of The Joker, which in itself has its pros and cons.
The Joker is played as the character who wants to cause the most issues for Batman; however, it is done in a very goofy way. Everything in this show is done in a cartoonish way which works for the time but may leave more modern fans confused. There is little nuance in this performance, although it is great to see an era where Batman can stop The Joker by beating him in a surfing contest. Plus, seeing the actor play The Joker by painting over his mustache is something that works well alongside the newer iterations of the character.
4 Cameron Riley Monahan
Gotham (2014 – 2019)
Gotham was a TV show that explored the city of Gotham before Bruce Wayne took up the role of Batman. As such, the writers had to do a lot of things differently when it came to including Batman’s primary villains. It took a while for the show to introduce The Joker properly, but when they did, it was unlike anything fans had seen before.
Cameron Riley Monahan first played the character, Jerome Valeska, as a violent serial killer who had an unhealthy obsession with Bruce Wayne. This character was who fans assumed would eventually be revealled as The Joker. Then this character was killed off, and his brother, Jeremiah, appeared as a more traditional version of the character played by the same actor. Jeremiah’s new version of The Joker was allegedly poisoned by his brother and had his skin bleached in a vat of chemicals, something that made him insane. Either way, both versions of the character worked as faithful adaptations of an earlier version of The Joker.
3 Joaquin Phoenix
Joker (2019)
Joaquin Phoenix won the Oscar for Best Actor Oscar at the 2022 Academy Awards for his portrayal of The Joker, and it is easy to see why. More traditional Batman fans may not like this adaptation of the character as it takes place in Gotham during the 1980s when Bruce Wayne was still a child. There is little conflict between the villain and his nemesis, and very little in the movie to suggest that he was involved in a superhero world at all.
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What the movie does instead is reveal an Elseworld origin of the Batman villain, by showing how poverty and mental health issues can push someone over the edge in an uncaring world. Joaquin does get time to shine as the more murderous version of The Joker, but he is far from the maniacal master criminal here. However, the more grounded approach to this film shows just how important a character like The Joker is and how he can fit into a variety of stories.
2 Jack Nicholson
Batman (1989)
When Tim Burton was tasked with putting Batman on the big screen in the late 80s, he wanted to stay as far away from the colorful camp 60s show as possible. The result was a much darker take on the character, one that had its toes somewhat in the real world. The city of Gotham was a gothic nightmare, and Batman no longer had access to every gadget under the sun on his utility belt.
To match this darker version of Batman, the movie needed an equally dark villain. As such, Jack Nicholson was cast as The Joker, and cinematic history was made. It was unheard of for an actor of this caliber to make a comic book film at the time, and Nicholson added some gravitas to this role. The Joker in this version is a comic-accurate clown who has an ax to grind with Batman. However, his mob boss origins give the audience a look into some of the world’s biggest fears at the time.
1 Heath Ledger
The Dark Knight (2008)
In the late 2000s, it was proven that superheroes could be taken seriously on the big screen. However, the hero that worked best in a real-world setting, Batman, had not been given much attention after the failure of Batman & Robin in 1997. However, Batman Begins came out in 2005 to prove that there was still life in DC’s flagship detective, but Batman needed a bigger threat to face in the sequel.
A bigger threat he got, as Heath Ledger portrayed the most unpredictable version of The Joker yet in 2008. The character took the spotlight in the movie and was all film pundits were talking about all year. Heath Ledger’s Joker was a mystery who used the audiences’ current paranoia about terrorism to become a truly terrifying villain. The actor did win a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar at the Academy Awards for his performance, and it is unlikely that anyone will top his turn as The Joker in the future.
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