Batman: 15 greatest Batman movie villains of all time

Photo: Batman/Warner Bros. Studios

2. Joker (Batman 1989)

Actor: Jack Nicholson

It all started with Jack Napier falling into a vat of chemicals and emerging as a completely different person. The once vain Jack now had a ruined face and a more psychotic look on life (at least now he did it with a smile).

Jack Napier took over the criminal empire and made it seem easy. With a bunch of goons on his side and nothing left to lose, the Joker thought he was now the hottest thing in Gotham City. Too bad Batman was the hottest.

Joker was furious that Batman was the talk of the town and not him. He had all the flair and pizzaz and Batman was just a guy in black tights.  It didn’t help that Batman helped create Joker.

Jack Nicholson was the first villain in a comic book movie to take the role to a whole new level. Nicholson still had the trademark Joker laugh, but he was much darker than we’d seen. The brightly colored suits and shenanigans like “improving” art couldn’t hide his murderous intention. He was killing people just because Batman was more popular than he was.

At the end of the movie, Jack Nicholson was looked at as the best villain in comic book movie history. Everything from his quotes like, “Have you ever danced with the devil…” to, “Where does he get those wonderful toys” made him the greatest. Then our number one hit the scene and that changed everything.

Memorable moment: “You ever danced with the Devil…”