Greetings, intrepid readers! M. H. Barton here with another blog entry on the art and craft of storytelling. Today, we’ll be delving into how to write a truly unhinged and insane villain. To do that, I’m going to look at perhaps the most insane villain of them all: Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime. He’s such an archetype that he has been reinterpreted in many different ways over the years. While his comic book iterations remain definitive, I think we can learn more by looking at how others have sought to portray this character across different mediums. I’ve done the research and will be counting down the top ten actors’ interpretations of Batman’s greatest foe over the years. In addition to the ranking, I’ll also be picking that actor’s defining moment as the Joker. I’ve looked at live-action, animation, film, TV, direct-to-video, and even video games. There are far more versions of the Joker than you may realize, and some of these picks may seem a bit obscure. Nonetheless, I hope this ranking encourages you to look into these various works as you plot your own stories. With that said, let’s get started!
Number Ten – Kevin Michael Richardson
The 2004 animated series The Batman is a bit of an awkward one, as it rebooted Batman following the massive success of the DC Animated Universe. While not the best series overall, one of the high points is definitely Richardson’s Joker. He’s got the voice acting credentials and a deep and menacing range, so I can definitely see how he got the job. He isn’t a true standout on this list, hence him only being number ten, but his Joker ably ran the gamut from zany to terrifying on this show.
Defining moment: The episode “The Rubber Face of Comedy” has this Joker at his most sadistic. Mad that the Gotham Police have deemed Batman a bigger public threat than him, Joker goes on a rampage. Eventually, he kidnaps officer Ethan Bennett and proceeds to give him “that one bad day,” torturing him with a substance called Joker Putty which turns Bennett into Clayface.
Number Nine – Cameron Monaghan
The live-action TV show Gotham began in 2014 and ran for five seasons. During its run, Monaghan portrayed two characters, twins Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska. Though each shows glimpses of the quintessential Joker at times, it still feels pretty rough for much of the show’s run. After all, it’s usually accepted that Batman’s presence in Gotham gave rise to the Joker, meaning the show’s writers had to tread lightly, never once referring to either character as the Joker. Nonetheless, Monaghan’s performance gets much stronger in later seasons, making him a worthy entry on this list.
Defining moment: The fifth season episode “Ace Chemicals” has a lot going on. On the anniversary of the deaths of Bruce Wayne’s parents, Jeremiah hires a pair of doppelganger actors to portray them and warp Bruce’s mind. As well, Wayne Manor is destroyed and Jim Gordon nearly dies foiling Jeremiah’s plot to poison Gotham. All of this leads to Bruce chasing Jeremiah into the Ace Chemicals building, where they fight on a catwalk over a vat of chemicals and Jeremiah eventually falls in, turning him into the madman Gotham will eventually come to fear. It’s an intense episode and is particularly noteworthy for being only the second live-action portrayal of Joker’s origin.
Number Eight – Zach Galifianakis
Various iterations of the Joker are often either psychotic or silly, but the Joker found in 2017’s The Lego Batman Movie is perhaps the only tongue-in-cheek Joker. This version both plays into the typical Batman/Joker tropes while managing to make fun of them at the same time. Here, Joker is intensely dependent on his adversarial relationship with Batman, but rather than try to force Batman to break his One Rule like in other versions, his goal is simply to have Batman acknowledge that he’s as dependent on their relationship as Joker is. That, plus the fact that Galifianakis absolutely nails what a Lego Joker should sound like puts him higher on this list than I thought he’d rank.
Defining moment: Joker’s first appearance at the opening of the movie is memorable and hilarious for any longtime fan of Batman. Not only is Joker made fun of for hijacking a plane (It’s just like the two boats!) but he also proceeds to name every other villain he’s working with from Riddler all the way down to Condiment King. The fact that he namechecks some of the most ridiculous and obscure Batman villains of all time instantly sets the tone for what to expect from the Joker in this film.
Number Seven – Michael Emerson
The direct-to-video animated film Batman: The Dark Knight Returns brought one of Batman’s darkest and grimmest stories to life. Michael Emerson steals the show with his Joker portrayal, whose story arc takes him from catatonic to feigning remorse for his past crimes and finally to the sadist who knows he’s on the verge of defeating Batman for good. Though Emerson is definitely helped by the stunningly gritty visuals, his voice is definitely one of the creepiest and most unsettling in the history of the character.
Defining moment: Batman and Joker’s climactic fight at a carnival takes the cake with ease. This scene is brutal and gut-wrenching throughout and culminates with Batman being stabbed multiple times, resulting in him paralyzing Joker from the neck down. Joker’s final moments are disturbing, to say the least. Emerson’s voice gets more maniacal by the second as he realizes he’s finally won in making Batman lose control of himself. His laugh as the Joker commits suicide by finishing breaking his own neck still haunts me to this day.
Number Six – John DiMaggio
Another direct-to-video animated movie, Batman: Under the Red Hood tells the story of Jason Todd, the second Robin who was brutally murdered by the Joker. Acclaimed voice actor John DiMaggio brings out Joker’s gleeful side throughout the film, delighting in causing pain and suffering at every turn, yet always remaining unpredictable. His spot-on delivery is also good for more than a few genuine laughs for the audience, particularly in the scene where Joker negotiates a job with Black Mask. With DiMaggio voicing the character, there was no chance of a letdown with this Joker.
Defining moment: The film is filled with iconic Joker moments, but the winner has to be the climax. A resurrected Jason Todd captures the Joker and forces Batman to make a choice: Watch Jason kill the Joker or use deadly force to stop him. Joker only has a few lines in the scene, but his interruptions are witty and memorable all the same. Even better than his dialogue is the look on Joker’s face as Batman and Jason argue – he’s hoping against hope that Batman might finally break. This scene represents how a powerful character can command a scene without actively doing anything to impact it.
Number Five – Cesar Romero
The very first man to play the Joker was certainly one of the best. The 1960’s Batman TV show was unapologetically campy and the Joker was no exception. This was the Silver Age of comics, after all. Yet despite this being the silliest Joker iteration, Romero also manages to inject a measure of intellect into the character. Add this to the incredible ownership Romero takes of the role, and you have a Joker so iconic that he laid the groundwork for everything the character would eventually become. His style isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but modern Batman fans owe much to Cesar Romero.
Defining moment: The first episode to introduce the Joker is “The Joker’s Wild,” and Romero instantly makes the character his own. Though silly and theatrical from the start, Joker is also a thoughtful schemer, crafting his own utility belt to counter Batman’s after an embarrassing defeat. This turns out to be a smart move, as the Joker is eventually able to lure Batman and Robin into a trap and comes within a breath of unmasking Batman for the world. Though he ultimately lost to the Dynamic Duo, the Joker showed himself to be a criminal who Gotham would be dealing with for years.
Number Four – Jack Nicholson
Though Tim Burton’s Batman has a number of issues when viewed from a modern lens, nobody can deny how transformational it was for both Batman and the Joker. This is in large part due to Jack Nicholson’s performance. His Joker is equal parts zany, cunning, and terrifying. Though his Joker may seem cheesy to us in the 2020s, it was such a dramatic departure from Cesar Romero’s take on the character. Nicholson’s new Joker must have felt to audiences in 1989 much like Heath Ledger’s felt to me in 2008.
Defining moment: Lots of memorable scenes to pick from, but probably the most iconic is the scene where Joker vandalizes the Gotham Art Museum while Prince’s “Partyman” plays in the background. Nicholson goes from unhinged in his vandalism to respectful when he sees a work he likes in a matter of seconds. A minute later, he presents himself as cultured and refined in his meeting with Vicki Vale, only to then show his sadistic side by revealing he disfigured his mistress in the name of art. This scene hits every facet of the Joker, though I also have to give a shout-out to the later scene in Vicki’s apartment where we get Nicholson’s iconic line, “You ever danced with the Devil in the pale moon light?” Classic.
Number Three – Joaquin Phoenix
2019’s Joker gives us easily the most unsettling iteration of the character to date. Rather than a master criminal, Arthur Fleck is a mentally disturbed man yearning for acceptance yet also suffering from delusions of grandeur at every turn. While I do have personal disagreements with the film’s attempts to humanize the Joker, I can’t deny Phoenix’s incredible devotion to the role, even going as far as to lose a terrifying amount of weight to portray the emaciated Arthur Fleck. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and for good reason.
Defining moment: The final climactic scene where Arthur Fleck goes on comedian Murray Franklin’s talk show is the one that likely won Phoenix his Oscar. Between Fleck’s morbid jokes, insane ramblings about society’s treatment of him, and his shocking assassination of Franklin, this is the moment Fleck truly became the Joker. This is how a writer takes an ordinary man with no superhuman abilities and makes him one of the most terrifying things imaginable.
Number Two – Heath Ledger
Yes, yes, a curse on me and my house for only ranking Ledger second, but that’s not a knock on him, but rather a compliment to the winner. In any case, The Dark Knight’s Joker is probably the most iconic of them all – Ledger’s version is who most people think of when they hear the character mentioned. His Joker is everything great about the character. He’s funny and zany at times, yet also murderous and intelligent. Hell, he’s even a pathological liar, shown in his multiple accounts of his origin and his assertion that he’s not a guy with a plan. He absolutely is a guy with a plan. He’s the perfect post-9/11 Joker – a ruthless terrorist who plans every detail in order to better serve his ideology, chaos.
Defining moment: So many to pick from… the bank robbery, his introduction to the mob, and “Why so serious?” all come to mind. Still, the interrogation scene with Batman and Joker is one of the quintessential representations of their relationship. This scene has it all, from Batman’s intimidation tactics to Joker’s maniacal laugh, not to mention the intense philosophical undertones behind the scene. Batman’s interrogation style has worked so far, but can it work on one so deranged as Joker? Heath Ledger and Christian Bale are both so perfect in this scene, the unstoppable force and the immovable object. To top it all off, the scene concludes with Joker forcing Batman into an impossible choice of saving Rachel Dawes or Harvey Dent, and even then, Joker lies to try and break him further. This is such incredible storytelling.
Before we get to the winner, let’s do a few…
Dishonorable Mentions
Jared Leto: Poor Jared. Following in the late Heath Ledger’s footsteps was already impossible, but the direction of Suicide Squad didn’t help him either. There were some questionable design choices, resulting in a Joker that just tried too hard. Not to mention Margot Robbie completely overshadowing him as Harley Quinn.
Brent Spiner: This casting for the animated TV show Young Justice proves that star power does not necessarily make a good Joker. Spiner is an excellent actor in his own right, but he just couldn’t do justice to this role. In his few appearances, he came off as flat and boring. Joker is many things, but he can’t afford to be either of those.
Troy Baker: A renowned voice actor with lots of video game experience, Baker took on the role for the game Batman: Arkham Origins. Though he does a decent job, he suffers from a similar problem as Jared Leto. He ultimately only did an OK-ish impersonation of the guy he was replacing. Speaking of which, that leads us to…
Number One – Mark Hamill
Who’d have thought Luke Skywalker could so effectively portray one of the most iconic villains of all time? With respect to Heath Ledger, I had to rank Hamill atop this list for several reasons. For one, he’s played the Joker longer than anyone else – from 1992 until as recently as 2018. His Joker has stolen the show in the DC Animated Universe, the Batman: Arkham series of video games, and a few direct-to-video films. Most impressive of all is that this was all voice work! With nothing but his words, Hamill perfectly captures every part of the Joker’s character, from theatrical trickster to murderous psychopath. But most of all, he’s number one because I’d wager many readers of comic books, whether they realize it or not, are most likely to hear Hamill’s voice in their head as they read the Joker’s lines. And to think this role almost went to Tim Curry instead!
Defining moment: Hell, there are too many to choose from, but I think my favorite is the film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. This movie has so many classic Mark Hamill moments, but the best ones are the flashback scene showing the Joker’s death in the past and the climactic fight between a resurrected Joker and new Batman Terry McGinnis. Seriously, it doesn’t matter what kind of Joker you’re watching if Mark Hamill is doing his voice. Just sit back and enjoy perfection.
And that’s going to do it for this ranking. I hope this helped all my fellow authors with their own villains since Joker is such an enduring character. What did you think? Did I get it right? Which Jokers were too high or too low? Please let me know in the comments. Feel free to mention if you have any ideas or requests for future entries. I’ve got an active running list of ideas, but I’m always open to more. I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a like and share this post on social media. And to stay up to date on future blog posts, you can sign up for my monthly newsletter on my website. Until the next story!