When it comes to villains, Batman undoubtedly has some of the best nemeses ever. From the Penguin to the Riddler and Two-Face, the list of Batman’s adversaries stretches from psychopaths to professional evil gamblers to powerful supervillains.
And the Best Performance by a Villain goes to… the Jokers! We have chosen the top 4 Jokers of all time: from movies, and TV shows, to animated series, and video games.
Cesar Romero
Fourth place in our list goes to Cesar Romero, who portrayed the first ever live action version of this character. Naturally, the popular villain has passed through arguably better and darker, transformations over the years, but we can’t forget that Romero was the one who started it all, his performance took the Joker from the original TV show to the first Batman movie.
Mark Hamill
The third place goes to Mark Hamill, whose voice has become synonymous with the Joker. Hamill has voiced this villain in all of the Batman animated series and films, and recently he was asked to give life to the colorful villain in the popular video game series of Arkham Asylum. Needless to say, his voice still sends shivers down our spines.
Jack Nicholson
Second place of the list is for Jack Nicholson. Probably the most popular Joker of all time, parents know him from the 1989 Batman movie and millennials know him for his legendary performance that has passed from generation to generation of Batman lovers. At that time, his portrayal of this crazy villain was claimed to be spectacular and the best one so far.
Heath Ledger
Undoubtedly, the greatest Joker of all time is Heath Ledger. This performance redefined everything that we knew about the Joker and everything the character stood for. He changed the idea of having this villain be a clown nemesis or a homicidal artist, he became an anarchist who wanted to destroy the essence of Gotham. Ledger’s performance was similar to Nicholson’s in the sense that they both stole the show from the Dark Knight or Batman. Ledger’s phenomenal performance was the first superheroes character in history to receive an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
As for Jared Leto’s Joker, it looks like everyone has high expectations for his role in Suicide Squad. So far, we’ve seen the trailers and we know he decided to be a method actor. But will he be able to deliver? Will he win his way into our list of the greatest Jokers? Maybe the top 4 will turn into a top 5, but we will have to wait for August to find out.
