David Betancourt ranks the best portrayals of the Clown Prince of Crime we’ve seen on the screen.
5 Cesar Romero, Batman TV series (1966-1968)
The first live-action Joker arrived in this campy Adam West series. He could escape a prison baseball match with an exploding baseball or challenge Batman to a surfing contest. But nothing is funnier than Romero’s refusal to shave off his moustache under his Joker makeup. All the powder in the world can’t make his lip look hairless.
4 Jack Nicholson, Batman (1989)
Typically, so much of a Joker performance is the actor’s transformation, but what makes Nicholson’s turn so iconic is that it appears he’s just being himself. You almost get the feeling his Joker is still celebrating the Los Angeles Lakers back-to-back championships of the late ’80s (his jacket is purple, after all).
3 Joaquin Phoenix, Joker (2019)
No movie featuring the Joker has ever given such an in-depth look at the man before he becomes a monster. We’ve seen the Joker be lethal before, but never so gruesomely. Phoenix’s version is both hero and villain, in a battle with himself. His face always seems to be carrying the burden of mental and physical pain, even when forcing a smile.
2 Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (2008)
Never had the Joker been more horrifying on screen. Gone is the chemically whitened face from the comics, replaced with raccoon black eyes and melting war paint. The big smile? Signified by the long, self-inflicted scars on his cheeks. Director Christopher Nolan keeps his Joker alive at the end. But Ledger’s untimely death shortly before the film’s release means we’ll never get the rematch with Batman everyone wanted.
1 Mark Hamill, Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995)
For all of the Batman live-action achievements, there is no greater love letter to his comic book mythos than this ’90s TV show. Most on-screen Jokers are set on one emotion. Hamill’s Joker has them all: angry, sad, scary and funny.