the Joker is one of pop culture's most
iconic villains and many actors have
gotten the chance to take on the role
we've stacked the Joker's against each
other before but there have been a few
groundbreaking interpretations of the
character since then that we have to
talk about
keep watching to see how a keen Phoenix
holds up against Heath Ledger Jack
Nicholson and the rest as we rank the
Joker's worst the best despites coming
in dead last on our list the version of
the Joker that appeared on the new
scooby-doo movies isn't unforgivably
terrible
he's just flat-out boring which might be
an even bigger problem plus he's a
complete failure as he can't manage to
even scare scooby-doo a character
defined by being terrified of everything
[Music]
the only thing that's worth mentioning
about him is that he was voiced by
veteran comedian and actor Larry Storch
and let's be real here
that's only interesting if you're the
kind of person who likes to get into
some hardcore trivia about the cast of F
Troop if you want to develop a whole new
appreciation for Batman the Animated
Series take some time to head back to
1977 for the new Batman adventures which
features some of the worst character
redesigns ever amazingly the Joker who
was voiced by Lenny Weinreb managed to
escape that particular flaw in the show
but he looks a lot like he does in the
comics is about the only good thing you
can say about him his major
accomplishment during the show's entire
16 episode run was losing an election
for president of criminals when the
penguin invented a mind-altering
substance called crime slime
if you can't win an election against the
penguin what are you even doing in all
honesty we only include a Dee Bradley
Baker 's Turner's two Joker on this list
in order to be as thorough as we can
that's not - not the guy but as the
Joker's appearance and son of Batman is
limited to appearing as a shadow on a
wall and the letting out one laugh but
it was a nice laugh at least
the superfriends saga ran for eight
years and the various titles but the
Joker only ever appeared once when the
show was commonly known as the super
powers team in 1985 so wildcards where
he was voiced by Frank Welker
unfortunately his appearance was both
minor and bizarre with the Joker turning
up as part of the playing card themed
supervillain team at the Royal Flush
gang he's not the team's Joker though
he's actually disguised as the ace if
your story calls for a chalk-white
villain named after a playing card to
dress up as a different chocolate
villain named after a playing card
things are getting a little needlessly
complicated you know those memes where
they intentionally makes a bunch of
geeky franchises in order to induce nerd
rage well the Young Justice version of
the Joker feels a lot like that ladies
and gentlemen we interrupt your
regularly scheduled me he's the Joker
but he looks like David Tennant as the
doctor and is voiced by brent Spiner
from Star Trek The Next Generation it's
not exactly terrible but it's
overshadowed by just about every other
version of Joker ever here's the weird
thing about steve blues performance as a
joker it's really only here on a
technicality that's not a knock against
bloom as an actor but rather has a lot
to do with all those games used to be
structured see the original gag with the
storylines of the lego games is that
since they were adapting incredibly
popular franchises the developers
figured everyone playing the games
already knew the story that gave them
the freedom to present their versions as
a slapstick pantomime but all the
dialogue the players already knew by
heart for place with incomprehensible
muttering and the occasional wordless
reaction
Lego Batman on the other hand that was
the first time the franchise had dipped
its toes into an original story but they
kept the pantomime stylings for the
first outing as a result - Bloo lent his
voice to both Batman and the Joker but
they don't wind up doing much more than
a few grunts an appeal or two of an I
call a fter in the role to say the role
of the Joker in an animated version of
Frank Miller's classic The Dark Knight
Returns presented a challenge as putting
things pretty mildly the characters arc
went from catatonic to insanely
murderous requiring a ton of range
Person of Interest star Michael Emerson
gave it two shots but played it just a
little too flat during the first parts
of the Joker's journey at the end he
ramps up to a satisfying fever pitch but
this one is a little too uneven to rank
any higher doesn't matter I win I made
you lose control and they'll kill you
for it
if you enjoyed the big screen Lego
Batman movie then we have good news and
bad news the good news is there's
already a second Lego Batman movie you
can watch and in fact it's been
available on a home video since 2013 but
here's the bad news it's really just an
extended adaptation of the storyline
from the Lego Batman 2 video game really
though that's only bad news if you
already played the game if you haven't
the actual storyline is really fun with
the Joker and Lex Luthor teaming up to
terrorize Gotham City with a laser beam
that can deconstruct anything made of
like Lego bricks like say everything
that Batman Oh hoots Christopher Corey
Smith who also played the Joker in the
second and third Lego Batman games once
that moved to a fully voiced story mode
is really just turning in a pretty
standard rare for the Mark Hamill's
Joker it's perfectly good and highly
enjoyable but it's not quite the
original
[Music]
presidential candidate in supermans
least-favorite bald person when you're
hiring someone to play the Joker it
stands to reason that two of the most
important qualifications are going to be
a morbid sense of humor and an insanely
creepy laugh if that's the case you
could do a hell of a lot worse than just
going out and getting the guy who played
the Cryptkeeper
on Tales from the Crypt that's exactly
what happened in 2010 when John Kassir
lent his voice to a series of shorts
packaged with Fisher prices line of
superfriends toys Casilla does a good
job of mixing up his performance though
it's still instantly recognizable to
anyone who was a fan of the 80s HBO
anthology which probably did not include
any of the kids in the target audience
we hope the Joker were given in DC Super
Friends is pretty great if only because
of how much he clearly hates working
with the other super villains voice
actor Lloyd Floyd's audible eye-rolling
add some fun nuance to a performance
that's otherwise pretty much by the book
but hey he does get bonus points for not
copying Mark Hamill like so many others
have done you had no sense of humor all
card.you was a lab accident you have to
get past a design that starts with a
tattoo of the word damaged on his
forehead and that just spirals out from
there and city looks like he should be
performing alongside Dark Lotus at this
year's gathering of the Juggalos then
you have to get past all those stories
of Jared Leto going method and sending
his co-stars live rats dead pigs and the
used condoms what you're left with is
well not much of anything really
for all the hype surrounding letõs
appearance as the Joker in Suicide Squad
it pretty much amounted to about ten
minutes of screen time that were mostly
there for Harley Quinn's origin story
and some ill-advised fanservice when
Arkham City was announced as Mark
Hamill's final outing as the Joker there
was a pretty big problem as Batman's
arch nemesis the Clown Prince of Crime
was definitely going to be in the next
game which told the story of an
encounter much earlier in Batman's
career thus the role of the Joker fell
to Troy Baker and the problem here is
obvious he pretty much just did a
dead-on impression of Hamill's Joker for
the entire game to be fair he actually
does a really good job of it but a copy
is just never going to beat the original
[Music]
the people behind Gotham clearly know
that they can't really have the Joker
show up years before Bruce Wayne becomes
Batman on account of his origin story
being so tightly intertwined so they
just went ahead and created a guy who
isn't technically the Joker but is
definitely a maniacal supervillain with
a permanent rictus grin who dresses as a
circus clown and ones too so chaos
wherever he can
Cameron Monaghan's performances Jerome
Valeska is ridiculously compelling and
has made for some pretty wild television
first things first the Arkham franchise
has produced some of the best video
games in recent memory and without
question the best Batman games ever
unfortunately even though they got the
legendary Mark Hamill to do the voice
for three out of four they also ended up
giving us a joker who has what might be
the single stupidest master plan in the
characters 75 year history
seriously after perfectly executing his
scheme he unveils his ultimate master
stroke which is turning himself into a
giant drug monster and getting in a
fistfight with the greatest hand-to-hand
fighter in the world really dude dumb
things like this or while you never be
Batman I can take anything you throw at
me bats the redesign of the Joker for
the Batman is remembered as one of the
most divisive missteps in the history of
DC animation laboring under the shadow
of the legendary Batman the Animated
Series and stuck with the task of
incorporating the batwave gimmick of the
accompanying toy line designer Jeff
Matsuda decided to go as far in the
opposite direction as possible from
Bruce Tim's a sleek design from Batman
the Animated Series the result wasn't
very well received to put it mildly but
Kevin Michael Richardson stake on the
Joker actually had some really good
stories such as The Laughing but where
Joker becomes a vigilante and uses joke
venom to turn Batman into a bad guy so
he has a super villain to fight
that's pretty awesome graffiti
that's a pretty serious offense girls
but that's why I became a crime fighter
to take out garbage you sometimes the
Joker is a sinister psychopathic
murderer and then other times he's a
goofy and delightfully manipulative
weirdo who brings down an entire city
armed only with a spoon
Joker stories that are actually funny
are pretty rare these days so having a
version of the Joker was whimsical as
Jason speed sacks take on the character
is a rare treat and the fact that this
short also introduced his sidekick
Spoony it's a hilarious bonus spoonie
that's not even a real superpower
perhaps a demonstration for school Adam
West Burt Ward and Julie Newmar
returns to the roles of Batman Robin and
Catwoman in Batman return of the Caped
Crusader's that was great but the rest
of the cast was given the enviable task
of playing specific versions of
characters identified with actors who
had died years before for Jeff Bergman
that meant playing Cesar Romero playing
the Joker
it was a high-wire act as Bergman had to
be respectful of both Romero and Ramirez
take on the Joker but Bergman nailed it
in a performance that feels like a true
tribute from day one a Gotham has been a
show that wanted to have its cake and
eat it too and there's no character who
embodies that spirits more than Jeremiah
velasca
I want to be the star of the show Gotham
spent years being a Batman show without
Batman what a Riddler wasn't the Riddler
yet and the penguin wasn't the penguin
yet but all of the weirdest elements of
the franchise are the order of st. Dumas
and Professor Pig a present and
accounted for
in this context Jeremiah is the closest
we got to a proper Joker and he still
doesn't quite make the cuts not only is
he a double fake-out the twin brother of
the guy that we thought was going to be
the Joker before he died who then got
dunked in chemicals and took a liking to
purple suits he also comes as close as
you can possibly get to being the Joker
without actually stepping across the
finish line even in the series finale
he said fast he refuses to pay off to
set up instead referring to himself by
every J name in the book except the one
we want
Joseph John J and as frustrating as it
is that's also kind of great there's a
deliberate goofiness to the way he
dances around the Joker issue that's
genuinely charming and fun he's the kind
of character that makes you wish the
entire series have been the spawn curse
from the beginning another show that had
to follow in the footsteps of Batman the
Animated Series was Batman The Brave and
the bold which decided to embrace the
characters lighter Silver Age phase from
the comics of the 50s and 60s this Joker
which was voiced by Jeff Bennett looked
a lot like the work of legendary Batman
artist that dick sprang and really
shined in stories like the alternate
world tale of earth 3 where a heroic
version of the Joker became the last
superhero on earth under the name of the
Red Hood whoever he is I hope my
counterpart on your world will have a
chance to repay you somehow that seems
unlikely
you've really have to give it to a keen
Phoenix for his performance in the title
role of 2019 s Joker he commits to the
part
Arthur Fleck is legitimately difficult
to watch there's the grating of his
compulsive laughter the body Horus shots
of his emaciated figure and spindly
limbs and the disturbing relationship
with his mother we watch him go through
a seemingly endless string of physical
and emotional beatdowns and felix has
nothing if not committed his shift from
the pathetic flag to the twisted Joker
is a masterful performance indeed
unfortunately that performance is in a
movie that doesn't deserve it no matter
how compelling you find Phoenix's
performance a lot of the
love will make you roll your eyes the
worsen of Joker though is that it strips
all of the mystery away from the
character that's what sets Joker apart
from other super villains and makes him
as compelling and scary as he is with
Arthur Fleck we get a meticulously
detailed report about his childhood
abuse miserable adulthood and how he got
his name explained a couple of times in
case you missed it Jack Nicholson's
performance as the Joker in Tim Burton's
1989 Batman movie is pretty fantastic on
almost every level he's certainly the
best part of the movie with Nicholson's
already creepy grin accentuated by caked
on makeup and some truly amazing fashion
choices and the scene where he trashes
an art museum might be the most baller
thing a super villain has ever done the
only problem with this version of Joker
is his alter ego Jack Napier in the
comics a big part of Joker's origins is
the idea that some fundamental change in
his personality occurred when he fell in
that vat of acid here though he's pretty
much already the Joker he even carries a
deck of cards with him and he's
obviously a criminal and that undermines
his Ark otherwise though it's totally
awesome even if you don't recognize his
name you're almost certainly familiar
with John DiMaggio from his roles as
bender on Futurama Jake the dog on
adventure time and Aquaman on Batman The
Brave and the bold in 2010 he landed the
role of the Joker in under the Red Hood
and he didn't disappoint delivering the
Joker who delivers every line as though
it is an actual joke giving you the
sense of someone who genuinely thinks
that beating someone to death with a
crowbar is hilarious it's memorable in
the creepiest of ways so let's try and
clear this up okay pumpkin
pretty much everything about Cesar
Romero's portrayal of the Joker on the
1966 Batman TV show is great from the
way he attacks every scene with Monica
scenery-chewing Glee - the way he twists
has painted on grin into a disappointing
scowl when he's inevitably defeated all
the way down to the fact that Romero
refused to shave his mustache for the
part instead taking on the clown makeup
and leaving it completely visible in
every episode there's a panache and even
a little menace to the role that makes
him one of
the show's most memorable characters
unfortunately the show's writers were
bigger fans of the penguin and Catwoman
and Romero often got stuck in boring and
forgettable stories which didn't allow
him to really shine a true shame of all
the Joker's appearances across movies
and TV who would have expected that the
one that really went into whether his
motivation stems from a twisted sort of
love would be the one based on building
block toys for tiny children and yet
here we are in a world where that's just
not acknowledged in the Lego Batman
movie but serves as a driving force for
the entire plot Zach Galifianakis nails
the voice work to making this modern
Joker one of the best ever you're
obsessed with me no I'm not yes you are
no I'm not who else drives you to one-up
them the way that I do Bane between the
massive initial hype and the outpouring
of grief of following the untimely death
of actor Heath Ledger it can be a little
difficult to judge his performance as a
Joker on its own merits but when you put
aside all the baggage and really look at
it the truth becomes clear it really is
that good The Joker of The Dark Knight
is both terrifying and genuinely funny
but more than that he's got an air of
mystery that's almost impossible for a
character so well known to cultivate
with virtually every line he delivers
turning out to be a carefully conceived
manipulative line he is one truth you
can bank on though Ledger's Joker is one
of the most influential and iconic movie
villains of all time but he's still not
the best Joker of all time when you get
right down to it Batman the Animated
Series did everything right
the slick stylish take on the Caped
Crusader boiled everything down to
essentials and no character benefited as
much as the Joker the Joker was
frightening and funny with a sweeping
theatricality that came directly from
Mark Hamill's amazing turn providing his
voice
[Music]
and the desire to give Hamill's Joker
even more to do directly led to the
creation of Harley Quinn who has gone on
to become one of DC's most popular
characters add it all up and the
animated series Joker remains the
definitive take on the character and
that's no joke check out one of our
newest videos right here plus even more
looper videos about your favorite comic
book characters are coming soon
subscribe to our YouTube channel and to
the bail so you don't miss a single one
[Music]