Search results
Aug 23, 2024 · The varied interpretations of the Clown Prince of Crime have cast a pretty wide net from amazing to terrible, and we've ranked them all from worst to best.
- Harley Quinn
In 2009, Harley Quinn made some friends. That year saw the...
- Harley Quinn
- Heath Ledger. The performance by which all others will be judged, Ledger's final role was perhaps his finest. His Joker was both amusing and terrifying—the “disappearing pencil trick” encapsulates this perfectly—and more than any others, he posed a truly existential threat to Batman and Gotham City as he tried to turn citizens against each other, and turned Harvey Dent into Two Face.
- Cesar Romero. Imagine getting ready to don The Joker's white face paint, being asked if maybe you want to shave your mustache off first and then deciding, "No… no, I really don't."
- Jack Nicholson. Let's be honest: Jack Nicholson really isn't playing The Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman. Rather, Jack Nicholson is playing Jack Nicholson, only with a more pronounced appreciation for crime and make-up than usual.
- Mark Hamill. Yes, Mark Hamill's performance is animated and not live action, but his work as the voice of The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series created the canonical voice of The Joker for many of the folks at the Tom's Guide office.
- Joaquin Phoenix (Arthur Fleck) Where Heath Ledger’s Joker is essentially a guest in The Dark Knight, the antagonist to Christian Bale‘s protagonist, Bruce Wayne/Batman, Joaquin Phoenix is both the hero and the villain of Todd Phillips’ Joker.
- Heath Ledger (The Joker) We arrive at second place on our list, where a very difficult decision had to be made! It’s likely that these top two Joker actors occupy the first and second place for countless fans, but deciding which is the best is tricky.
- Cameron Monaghan (Jerome Valeska) Gotham might not be the best TV show in the world, but if you’re a fan of Batman’s extensive Rogues Gallery, the chances are that you’ll have a great time with this prequel-era series.
- Jack Nicholson (Jack Napier) There are many fans who still consider Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of The Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman to be the best, and up until Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, he was.
- 8 Cesar Romero
- 7 Cameron Monaghan
- 6 Jared Leto
- 5 Barry Keoghan
- 4 Joaquin Phoenix
The original Batman series
A matinée idol and quintessential “Latin lover” character actor with decades of film and television credits to his name, Cesar Romero may not be everyone’s favorite Joker, but he was thefirst to play the role on screen. A major recurring villain in the original Batman series from 1966 to 1969, Romero famously refused to shave his mustache for the role, and it can still be seen, slathered with white makeup. Future Jokers would bring new layers to the role, but if you watch carefully, you can s...
Gotham
Gotham began as a fairly gritty procedural series following incorruptible cop Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and his grizzled partner Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) as they navigate the increasingly insane streets of a pre-Batman Gotham City. The show mutated into something very different over time, going gleefully off the rails. Presenting its own origin stories for classic Batman characters like Catwoman, The Riddler, Poison Ivy, the Penguin, and Bane, Gotham also introduced multiple potential Jok...
Suicide Squad
There are plenty of fans who likely want to forget about Jared Leto’s performance in David Ayer’s much-maligned 2016 Suicide Squad altogether. Heath Ledger’s brilliant performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight was eight years old by then, yet remained burned into the minds of just about everyone. Leto’s Joker veered so far from Ledger’s take on the characterthat it left some audiences seething. Still, despite Ayers’ heavy-handed and tonally inconsistent approach to the Bat-verse established...
The Batman
Right now, Keoghan's version of the Clown Prince is more promise than it is product. We've seen little more of the Irish actor's turn in the role than a brief scene shared between him and Paul Dano's Riddler in the closing moments of Matt Reeves'swirling, epic take on the Dark Knight. However, in those quick moments (and a deleted scene), Keoghan still offers something rather tantalizing — a Joker that is smart, snide, psychologically manipulative, and perhaps a bit less titanically unhinged...
Joker
Director Todd Phillips' Joker film proved to be divisive and surprising, delivering an Elseworlds-style alternate-universe take on the character. Like Gotham, Joker exists in a pre-Batman Gotham City. Like the Joker of Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck is a failed comedian who becomes a criminal. This is where Joker leaves the comic book source material behind, becoming a dark psychological thriller in the mold of its two main inspirations, Martin Scor...
Oct 4, 2024 · So, in celebration of the classic villain, we've rewatched all the DC movies in order and ranked each iteration of the character from worst to best, including Heath Ledger, Mark Hamill, Joaquin...
Jan 13, 2024 · The Joker has been adapted on film numerous times, so let’s go over how every major movie portrayal of Batman’s arch-nemesis rank against each other.
People also ask
How many live-action portrayals of the Joker are there?
Is the Joker a good character?
Is the 'animated series' Joker worth watching?
Is the Joker a good villain?
Is the Joker the greatest comic book villain ever created?
Does the Joker appear in every Batman movie?
Oct 9, 2024 · There have been many live-action portrayals of Batman's nemesis, Joker, but not all have been great. Here's our ranking to find the best.
