The Joker: Ranking the live incarnations of the Clown Prince of Crime

1. Heath Ledger

How does one top Heath Ledger as The Joker? True, he may not be comic book accurate, given he wears make-up. There is also the long hair and the Glasgow smile. These are all not trademarks of the Joker’s physical character make-up. Heath Ledger’s portrayal allows us to table these little complaints though as purists.

Looking back, a problem of Jack Nicholson’s is his complete lack of fear he drives. We see plenty of this in numerous occasions of Heath Ledger in the role. Heath Ledger directs his own videos to the public as the character. When Batman throws him off the building he just laughs about it.

Michael Caine was stunned with such fear that he forgot his lines for one scene. We have more modernity, like Jared Leto. Yet, we drive away completely from the whole gangster/gangsta vibe completely. Instead, this Joker is this organized, terrorist under a propaganda of the deed motif. It is hard not to look back at Joker in every other form and try to imagine him in the dated, more traditional role.

The humor and jokes are downplayed. Better yet, they are traded in for more dark humor. For example, literally letting Rachel go as Batman asks, saying ‘very poor choice of words’. Under Heath Ledger, the real joke to him is society itself and their desire for control. The real joke in a way is the ending, in that the victory they achieve is a lie.  Here we have a villain, that truly drives the hero and our audience to think. The villain is not just some monster or basic plot device.

Next: 50 greatest super heroes in comic book history

Let us hope the Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix can churn in some excellent work. Do not expect more Heath Ledger. Again, prepare for a reinvention of the character yet again.