Let the battle begin.
With the arrival of director Todd Phillips' long-awaited Joker movie, a new challenger
has entered the arena in hopes of becoming the new Best Joker Actor Ever.
His name?
Joaquin Phoenix.
His game?
Well, doing his job and delivering the chilling kind of performance he knows is required of
him, but possibly also dethroning the late Heath Ledger in the process.
Since the announcement of Joker, fans have pit Phoenix and Ledger against one another,
placing bets on whether or not the newcomer could shock and scare audiences as the failed-comedian-turned-crazed-killer
Arthur Fleck as much as Ledger did through his turn in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight.
The debate over Phoenix and Ledger as the Joker began months ago, but with the world
finally able to see Phoenix strut his stuff in clown makeup and a tattered suit, the fight
is no longer theoretical.
So, now that Joker has landed in theaters, who played the character better: Joaquin Phoenix
or Heath Ledger?
Plenty of people were totally floored by the work Phoenix did in Joker, so much so that
they now consider him better in the role than the late Ledger.
Some even think Phoenix is the best Joker actor point blank.
"Are you having any negative thoughts?"
"All I have are negative thoughts."
One Twitter user wrote:
"With all due respect to previous Jokers and to the great Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix
is the best Joker.
He has everything it needs.
We finally have a proper actor playing the character in a very unfamiliar new shape.
If Ledger's a straight flush, Phoenix's a full deck."
Another fan tweeted:
"I thought it would take a long time before someone delivers Joker better than Heath Ledger.
As it turned out it only took 11 years and a certain Joaquin Phoenix."
This fan continued to gush over Phoenix's performance in another tweet, writing,
"Joaquin Phoenix should get an Oscar, a golden globe, an Olympic gold medal, a Nobel prize,
a ballon d'or, Knighthood, a champions league winner medal and a presidential medal of freedom
for his performance as the joker."
Bollywood news & gossip site KoiMoi.com aimed to settle the debate once and for all.
Their breathless verdict?
Phoenix wins, hands down:
"Phoenix's portrayal of Arthur Fleck is going to be remembered for a lifetime.
His portrayal is so powerful that after the film was over I was so sucked into his world
that I felt like I needed a good sleep.
Phoenix's performance makes you feel sorry for being a part of this society and hence
I say…Joaquin Phoenix'[s] Joker makes Heath Ledger's Joker even more badass than he was!"
But, alas, there can be no Phoenix-Joker-lovers without Phoenix-Joker-detractors.
In the outlet's comprehensive ranking of every Joker, Polygon placed Ledger several spots
higher than Phoenix, with Ledger coming in second place behind Mark Hamill, who voiced
the Ace of Knaves on Batman: The Animated Series, and Phoenix coming in fifth just ahead
of Suicide Squad actor Jared Leto.
Polygon's Susana Polo said of Phoenix's turn as the iconic comic villain:
"His Arthur Fleck is impossible to look away from, even when you desperately want to.
Phoenix sways, grimaces, shuffles, and delivers terrible, involuntary paroxysms of laughter
even as he openly weeps.
He just does it in service of a character who isn't particularly Joker-like, other than
in the most superficial ways."
Comparatively, Polygon's Patrick Willems wrote that Ledger delivered a performance, quote,
"so good it's worth forgiving it for all the terrible Halloween costumes and cosplays it
inspired."
"Wanna see a magic trick?
I'm gonna make a pencil... disappear."
On a different note, Jesse Hassenger of The Week wrote that Phoenix's version of the Joker
falls short of not only the magnitude of Ledger's iteration, but also that of the power of every
Joker actor who preceded him.
Hassenger wrote:
"Even an actor as gifted as Joaquin Phoenix struggles with this.
Todd Phillips' new Joker is a vastly more focused, disciplined undertaking than something
like Suicide Squad, with a committed and often mesmerizing performance from Phoenix.
Yet it still often feels more like a composite of influences than a real original...This
is all very well-performed by Phoenix; it's also more indebted to Jokers past than the
movie seems to understand.
The movie wants desperately to make the Joker feel real and resonant, and Phoenix does his
best.
But ultimately, this may mark another transition for the Joker: a turning point from prestige
role to party trick."
With so many different versions of the Joker in existence, no singular take on the iconic
villain can be universally heralded as the best.
There really is no "best" Joker actor, it's entirely subjective.
That said, being able to find even a little bit of greatness in each of them just shows
how iconic the Clown Prince of Crime really is.
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