Who was the better Joker?

[Amethyst Wind]

I quite like Brent Spiner's Joker myself.

 

[VeryOddGamer]

Ledger's Joker was the best live-action one. Sure, he wasn't very funny or clown-like, but he was just so terrifyingly insane. But Mark Hamill is still better, because he gets the funny part done really well. So yeah, for me, it comes down to what I'm looking for in the Joker.
He's a Faux Affably Evil character, so Mark is the Faux Affably part and Ledger is the evil part.

 

[Mithcha]

Heath Ledger did a good job from an acting point of view, but to me he wasn't the joker. He was just a nutter in make up.

For me Jack Nicholson did the best once, but then I liked Batman a bit silly, somewhat camp and overall daft as all hell. Jack Nicholson was like that.

As good as Heath Ledger was, I do think he gets overly praised because he died soon after just like I think the film gets overly praised, it was ok but nowhere near as good as people say it is.

 

[Starik20X6]

Apples to oranges. They're such radically different versions of the same character it almost feels wrong to compare them. If you were to swap them over to each other's films, they'd feel so out of place. But they work in the films they appear in.

 

[Jarek Mace]

Every single one of Nolan's 'Batman' films felt more like "Nolan's dark gritty action hero series" and he just slapped on a Batman label to attract a larger audience. The Joker didn't feel like The Joker at all - I'm not saying Ledger is a bad actor, he was amazing, but the sort of personality they wrote in for The Joker in The Dark Knight felt like... well... this:

"I'm a murderous maniac with no clown elements to me at all, I just laugh now and then and put on some make up. But wait, I'm saying deep philosophical things! Maybe I'm not insane, maybe I'm just being completely honest! WOOAAAH! BE IMPRESSED AUDIENCE, THIS IS SO DEEP." He didn't feel like The Joker or anything like The Joker, just a maniac who took thought about human behaviour for a few minutes.

Ledger hits the exact right spot between killer and clown perfectly, and hell, Nicholson was pretty good in his own right too.

 

[Sexy Devil]

Ledger was a far better Joker than Nicholson IMO. As brilliant an actor as he is I just don't think he suited it all that well, but that's just me.

Overall though Hamill just blows them out of the water. He's so maniacal with it and he just fits it perfectly.

And DAT LAUGH. It's chilling.

Don't really like Hamill's performance in TAS, honestly. I mean it's good but it always seemed so downplayed so that it wouldn't be disturbing as shit to the kids. But I absolutely loved his performance in the Arkham games, he really didn't hold anything back with that.

Though my favourite is still Heath Ledger. I mean that's just one of the best performances I've ever seen, sucks that he died.

 

[Artemis923]

Mark Hamill.

Bag 'em and tag 'em, this thread's a wrap.

Heath was a great Joker, but his performance is hyped to the point where I don't want to acknowledge it. I'm sorry Heath is gone...but that doesn't mean any Joker besides him needs to be shat on.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I really liked Ledger, but I don't think the Joker was originally intended to be that way.

Still I really liked it, he brought out a fascinating portrayal of a psychopath.

 

[Depulcator]

mark hamill > Ledger> Jack

 

[The White Hunter]

Mark Hamill.
Yeah, I know he wasn't there, but I've only seen him and Ledger.

While Ledger is good and creepy, he really lacks in the funny department. That's big for me when I'm talking about the Joker. Hamill's Joker is scary as all fuck at times but has made me laugh out loud on many occasions.

I was about to say Mark Hamill by a looooooooooooooong way.

I personally prefer Nicholsons Joker to Ledger though, I'm not 100% sure why, he just seemed so much.. um... idk, he seemed to enjoy life more and seemed more real than ledgers joker, which i don't put down to ledgers performance more me having a lower limit for suspension of disbelief than others.

Also:

<youtube=h28ftIM929w>

 

[TheFederation]

i thought heath ledger was far more scary than jack, but jack was alot more 'jokey' in a way that the joker is

 

[anthony87]

What, no love for John DiMaggio's Joker?

 

[Something Amyss]

Would it be out of order to say that Heath Ledger's Joker is rated so highly due to the hype around his death soon after he finished filming for The Dark Knight, to the point that it may even be overrated? Not that I think it was; I think it was a great performance, but it wasn't groundbreaking like many claim.

I don't think him being alive would make that much difference. His death certanily added some impact to the role, but the actor himself was phenomenal at it.

Nicholson, on the other hand, played Niocholson in clown makeup. He was a terrible Joker who shouldn't even be in the same league. Mark Hamill, however, should be in the same league. If you want to compare Jokers, Hamill's work is far more on Ledger's level. And the thing is, Hamill's alive, so it's not just putting the dead above the living. Jack simply wasn't playing a part, and Ledger was. Victory: Ledger.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

What, no love for John DiMaggio's Joker?

You're in the wrong thread. This one is for explaining why Mark Hamill's Joker is better than Heath Ledger's. Over and over again, with occasional mentions of Jack Nicholson.

Call me a hipster but I do have a soft spot for underdogs, so...

 

[Swyftstar]

Gotta go with Hamill. It's a shame that he was tied to a kids cartoon, because the darkness that Ledger nailed is still there in Hamill's version, but it had to be toned down for kids. Thankfully you get to see a lot more of that darkness in the games.

The level of insanity that Hamill's version portrays is so damn funny too. I watched an episode recently where he sets himself up as a judge, and then randomly uses a rubber chicken as a gavel as the scene ends. And then there's Harley Quinn, who is an awesome character.

He got to be a bit more menacing in the movies Mask of the Phantasm and Return of the Joker. In those, you really did believe that he was a psycho and would kill anybody for any reason at the drop of a hat. So, I have to go Hamill too. TV series, animated movies and two games. He is what I think of when I think Joker.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Mark Hamil.


I liked Ledger's Joker as an alt or even new character(mabye call him the killing joke) but as far as the Joker goes I will side with Mark Hamil.

 

[FolkLikePanda]

Cesar Romero = DAH BEST!

But to be fair I preferred Ledger's Joker, but Good ol' Jack and Marks' Joker's were good.

 

[Kyrian007]

I'd say at least one mention has to be made to the actor who's portrayal of a different character altogether inspired Bob Kane to create The Joker. Besides if you can find a copy of 1928's "The Man Who Laughs," Conrad Veidt's performance not only resulted in the creation of the joker; but was really amazing considering he could not talk (silent movie) and he could not move his mouth (character's mouth branded and sewn into the famous "joker grin."

But as far as Ledger, Jack, and Mark... I'd agree that it's apples and oranges.

 

[Bobic]

In fact, I would go as far as to say that the entire film has been hyped up due to his death. Neither are anything spectacular.

Can we please stop this line of logic? People like different things, that's fine, but don't go around saying that peoples opinions are wrong and that they only like the movie due to factors outside the actual movie. Lot's of people think it was an awesome movie, they were not tricked into liking it by his death, they genuinely enjoyed it. Just because you didn't think it was all that doesn't make everyone else wrong, don't try to find excuses for them, they don't need excusing. Again, people like different things.

 

[Elate]

I like all of them.. I guess my favourite would have to be Hamill's from the Arkham games, but each had their perks..

Hamill's was creepy and psychotic.
Ledger's was pretty much insane.
Nicholsons's was more traditional "man pushed to his limits." which despite what people say, I think suited the back story.

captcha: call me, and I had just gotten that out of my head...