This one is a long a time coming my friends, and this is a great time to do it being Halloween and all. I talked about Lex Luthor’s live versions a long while back, and if there is any DC villain bigger and more popular than Luthor it’s Joker. The Joker is the perfect enemy for Batman, since Joker is all about chaos and anarchy. Joker has evolved over the decades, going from silly in The Sliver Age to playfully psychotic in the Bronze Age to just plain sadistic in more modern times. And as you can imagine, he has been brought to life several times in TV, movies, and animation.
So since the new movie has come out I figured it would be fun to finally run down the actor’s who have brought the Clown Prince of Crime to life. Here is a run down of The Joker in media. This is not a “top 10” list, because there’s no point, just an overview. No cameos, just full on screen appearances and yes I know I’ll be leaving a lot off with all his video game and direct to dvd appearances out there.
Cesar Romero (Batman TV show)
I’ve said before that Romero’s take is under appreciated. He really put his all in it and made the character popular again (he had faded in the comics). Who doesn’t know that iconic laugh? There are two big problems with this Joker. One is unavoidable, that Joker is not a killer. No on one this show is. The other is there nothing persona; between him and Batman. In the show he is just another one of Batman’s wacky villains, which kind of hurts the character. In fact in the Batman movie Joker basically becomes a henchman for Penguin, though still getting in a few good lines.
Ted Knight (The Adventures of Batman & Scooby-Doo)
Yeah this one probably has you guys scratching your heads. Hanna Barbara used this character in two Scooby Doo movies, played by Ted Knight who had plays the character in some Filmation Batman cartoons on th 60’s. Was he any good? The character wasn’t bad (rooted in the Silver Age version but not still not bad) but the voice…eh, was never fan. No disrespect to Knight but the voice never fit the character which is probably why for years I never really had a proper voice for Joker in my head. Speaking of Hanna Barbera, that’ is another long overdue article!
Jack Nicholson (Batman 1989)
Nicholson brought the character into the 80’s. By taking Romero’s wacky Joker and dialing him nit a notch, in a way only Nicholson could! The make-up was pretty amazing for 1989 too. However there is one big problem with this version that bugs me. When he we fist meet Jack Napier (his alter ego in this version) he is waayyy to normal. In order for the character to work he needs to be a tragic figure before anything pushes him over the egd. In this version is perfectly reserved, so in hindsight is flipping out after the change is a little harder to believe. Does this mean this is a bad version? Oh hell no. Nicholson set a new standard for The Joker which last for a couple decades and led to a reinvention of the character's portrayal in comics.
Mark Hamill (Batman The Animated Series)
It was Luke Skywalker himself who truly gave The Joker a personality. You could argue every Joker in animation that has come after him is modeling what Hamill did. Because he found the perfect balance for when the Joker has to be off the wall nuts and then when he has to be down to Earth to plot and scheme. Hamill’s voice was the one that finally worked for me, at last the Joker had a decent a voice in a cartoon!!
Cameron Monaghan (Gotham)
I went back and forth on this, and decided to mention it. As was standard for this we are never told if this is really The Joker, but he sure acts like. He acts like a young Joker who hasn’t really hit his stride yet. And I guess that was the point.
Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
What can I say, Ledger didn’t posthumously win an Academy Award for nothing. He takes Joker from the campy comic books and grounds him more into reality. But that doesn’t mean he’s serious and never laughs, oh far from it. This Joker is just as crazy as Nicholson’s but he has a mission to unleash anarchy on Gotham and this is the one Joker you feel might have just pulled it off.
Troy Baker (Arkham Origins)
Baker played the Joker in the video game Batman: Arkham Origins and the animated feature Batman: Assault on Arkham. I don’t play video games but I hear he was enough to give Hamill a run for his money. It seems like he is a “New 52” Joker, being psychotic to the point that he is just scary!
Zach Galifianakis (Leggo Batman)
Uh, sure. This seems to be a callback to the sillier Filmation version I discussed above. Makes sense, this was a kids movie. Can’t lie the voice was pretty decent.
Jared Leto (Suicide Squad)
I really didn’t think this movie was god awful. But I sure thought Leto’s performance was! What in the world was he doing here? I still don’t get it! Joker is psychotic of course but he isn’t supposed the sadistic torturer he was played as here. That’s not the Joker’s style! There’s supposed to be a sense of fun with the guy, which even Ledger’s version remembered in certain scenes.
Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)
So now we Joaquin Phoenix and his role is…dark. I’ll probably never see the movie but at least he gives a new take on the character. He seems to have bits of all the other versions in there, except maybe the Heath Ledger version which will probably always stand out as the best for being so original while staying true to the comics. But Joker was a monster hit making it easy to see that just like Batman isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, neither is his greatest enemy! In fact next year will the grinning ghoul’s 80th anniversary. That’s not bad!
Which is your favorite version? Comment and let me know.
