The Joker has been portrayed in many movies over the years.
As time marches on, more cinematic takes on the Joker are created,
and new rules for the character's silver screen portrayals are established. But despite these
different interpretations, these are the rules Batman's nemesis has to follow in every film.
The Joker is known for many things: Dating his psychiatrist, killing Robin,
and even attempting to copyright fish. Yet there's still one thing that makes the Joker really stand
out on the grim streets of Gotham: His look. The criminal mastermind is known by fans for wearing
purple with green hair - a color combo that appears at least once in each film portrayal.
Some Batman villains are also recognized for their wild style, like the Riddler,
the Mad Hatter, and Polka Dot Man. But as the years have gone on, Gotham's bad guys have come
to favor monochromatic tactical armor and subdued gangster suits, in keeping with the noir aesthetic
established in the early comics. By contrast, the Joker bursts off the page and onto the screen in
colors rarely worn by villains, especially in movies. When the Joker is on screen with Batman,
the audience's eyes are inevitably drawn to the circus-y tableau that is the Joker's hair, suit,
and garish makeup. To do the legendary villain justice, a film portrayal of the
Joker requires a get-up so loud, it takes away attention from the guy the movie's named after.
The Joker's sense of humor not only gives the character his name,
but also defines his crimes. The Joker may have failed as a stand-up comedian,
but he still builds entire evil plots around punchlines, puns, and one-liners. Sure,
he might be looking to kill you, but the Joker is also definitely out to make you laugh.
Each new Joker actor is tasked with finding their unique take on the Joker's particular sense of
humor. Heath Ledger's portrayal in 2008's The Dark Knight is a sterling example of an actor blending
abhorrent behavior and comedic timing to draw some genuine, if regretful, laughs from the audience.
Whether it's the dry delivery of a quip after he brains a criminal with a pencil…
"I'm gonna make this pencil disappear."
"Ta-da!"
...or the dark physical comedy Ledger brings to the Joker's frustration with a detonator,
the beloved actor set the bar. It's twisted comedic beats like these that
give the character his staying power. When he's on screen, no one knows whether to be ready for
something hilarious, something horrific, or the Joker's own blended brand of both.
Any worthwhile villain needs a theme song. Vader has "The Imperial March," the shark in
Jaws has John Williams' "Theme From Jaws," and characters in any Martin Scorsese movie
have The Rolling Stones. These songs alert the audience that the villain has arrived.
With the special exception of Jack Nicholson's art-defacing dance party in 1989's Batman, set
to the tune of Prince's "Partyman," the Joker's theme isn't a song - it's his devilish cackle.
The laugh, which hits an octave that immediately registers as maniacal, is so iconic that The New
York Times published an entire feature on the pressure actors feel to get it right on screen.
Most of the performers who've played the part over the years credit one man with
mastering the Joker laugh: Mark Hamill, who voiced Joker in Batman: The Animated Series.
As Hamill revealed to the Times, his audition script bore an explicit command:
"Don't think Nicholson."
So he drew inspiration from Amadeus, the Blue Meanies from 1968's Yellow Submarine,
and Dwight Frye's 1930s Dracula movies. Hamill's performance may only be vocal,
but he set the benchmark for what audiences think a Joker laugh should be.
The '80s was a formative decade for the Joker and Batman. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and
Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland gave the Caped Crusader a new and gritty
edge that would come to define his corner of the DC universe. Miller's work focuses on the dark,
long-term relationship formed between the two men, having them fight to the death
in a Tunnel of Love ride. Moore and Bolland's tale explores the insanity these characters share:
Where Batman stares unblinkingly into chaos, the Joker has flung himself straight in.
These depictions didn't just give audiences an interesting new conflict - they also turned
Joker into a nigh-perfect Batman villain, who is the hero's opposite in nearly every sense. This
dynamic has vividly colored how movies portray the relationship between these foes. No matter
who plays him, the Joker will do anything to sow chaos, and Batman will do almost everything to
stop him. Even in 2019's Joker, Arthur Fleck has a conflicted connection with young Bruce Wayne.
While the villain acting as the hero's dark mirror is a well-worn trope, it's rarely done
so perfectly. Audiences are always entertained when, as Ledger's Joker says in The Dark Knight,
"...an unstoppable force meets an immovable object."
While the Joker might not be able to bring himself to kill the man behind the cowl,
he'll certainly knock off the people closest to the Caped Crusader. Even when he's not targeting
Batman, it's the Wayne family he's after, such as the grudge he holds against them in 2019's Joker.
Ever since comic fans voted for the Joker to kill Jason Todd in 1988,
movie adaptations have heavily leaned into the personal toll he exacts upon his foe. In 1989's
Batman, the Joker is the man who murders Wayne's parents. In 1993's Batman: Mask of the Phantasm,
the Joker almost kills the love of Batman's life. In 2000's Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker,
it's revealed that he kidnapped Tim Drake, comic’s third Robin, and brainwashed him as a child to
grow up to be the next Joker. Most famously, in 2008's The Dark Knight, the Joker kidnaps Batman's
childhood friend and old flame, blows her up, and in the process, makes Harvey Dent into Two-Face.
At this point in the filmography, Joker is the grand marshal of Batman's tragedy parade.
The movie franchise has explored many tones, from camp to thriller noir to pure action.
The characters need something to ground them through these many fluctuations - something
audiences can immediately grasp. The Joker threatening Batman with the loss of loved
ones is intimately recognizable to anyone, no matter who's in the director's chair.
Many great actors have portrayed Bruce Wayne over the years,
but no matter how talented the performer in the batsuit might be,
whenever Batman and the Joker share the screen, the actor playing the Joker upstages
his pointy-eared counterpart. Take 1989's Batman: Jack Nicholson's manic charisma fuels
an iconic performance that draws attention from Michael Keaton's reserved Bruce Wayne.
When news broke that Heath Ledger would be cast in the role for The Dark Knight,
angry fans decried the decision, but later changed their tune. Upon the film's release,
legendary movie critic Roger Ebert described Ledger's Joker as,
"The key performance in the movie."
He followed that sentence by predicting Ledger's posthumous Oscar win.
The potential for prestigious actors to run away with the role has become so entrenched
in the zeitgeist that Todd Phillips built his entire standalone Joker film around
Joaquin Phoenix's bizarre, difficult, and ultimately Oscar-winning performance.
Unlike some beloved characters, the Joker's aesthetic and attitude
adjust to the current moment. By contrast, Batman may receive some suit upgrades,
but he retains roughly the same tabulation of grimaces,
batarangs, and tactical leather. The Joker evolves while Batman stands still.
Jack Nicholson's Joker dances to Prince, and his gang's coordinated berets, Ray-Bans,
and parachute pants give their enterprise a distinctly late-'80s sense of chic. In Batman:
Mask of the Phantasm, Hamill's Joker wears a sleek purple suit and a dangerously toothy grin,
in keeping with the retro noir aesthetic of the '90s cartoon.
Something interesting happened in 2008: Heath Ledger's Joker is notably grimy looking
and also adopts a criminal attitude that reflects the era's post-9/11 fear of terrorism.
Recently, the Joker's portrayals have shifted for a generation that grew up with the internet.
Jared Leto's Joker in Suicide Squad is a Patreon page away from being a criminal influencer,
while Joaquin Phoenix's Joker taps into societal fear of the sort of lonely, disenfranchised men
who have become closely associated with the darkest corners of the internet.
Part of the Joker's appeal is his status as the ultimate wild card;
he is likely to betray anyone and anything at a moment's notice. From comic appearances to the
small screen to the silver screen, portrayals of the Joker excel when he's acting unpredictably.
His status as a villain allows writers the freedom to have him make choices the hero never would,
while his reputation as a maniac keeps everyone, even his alleged allies, on their toes.
When he's not throwing his own henchmen into harm's way for self-preservation,
he's setting Two-Face loose on the same men who paid the Joker to kill Batman. Or, if he's keeping
it simple, he's burning mountains of cash. In an interview with the BBC, director Christopher Nolan
explained how the Joker's sporadic behavior was baked into every aspect of Ledger's performance:
"A lot of it was about unpredictability, and I think he wanted to
play his cards a little close to the chest."
That sort of mystique makes a villain instantly fascinating and
endlessly watchable - even if done through eye-shielding fingers.
Any cinematic portrayal of the Joker worth its salt features a grand entrance.
These arrivals aren't just cool - they also announce the Joker's presence in a grandiose way
that immediately raises the narrative stakes. For example, Ledger's entrance in The Dark Knight
is a tightly constructed double-cross. By the time the final bank robber realizes
that the Joker has instructed all the men on the job to execute each other,
the audience has a clear idea of the type of Joker they're dealing with. Ledger's Joker is a madman,
yes, but the opening robbery also demonstrates his ruthless intelligence and calculated plotting.
In Joker, Joaquin Phoenix's complete take on the character doesn't arrive until the third act.
When he does finally appear in full regalia, his entrance isn't punctuated with a fight
scene or a heinous crime. Instead, it's a dance number. Phoenix's Joker debut,
set to Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2," couldn't be more different from Ledger's reveal,
however, both entrances set new standards for grand Joker arrivals.
Humor alone does not, a good Joker make - he should also be terrifying.
While the Joker is an inherently vivacious and charismatic villain,
his staying power comes from the way he blends that charisma with horror.
Consider the hostage tape/snuff film the Joker sends Gotham news stations in the first act of The
Dark Knight. With its homemade style, purposefully amateurish editing, and its unmixed audio,
the terrifying tape appears to have rolled in from another movie. It's deeply disturbing.
Later, when Ledger's Joker holds a dinner party hostage on the hunt for Harvey Dent,
everyone on screen and in the theater feels their palms sweat as they become aware of
the Joker's intentions for his victim. It's moments like these that are essential to the
character's power over moviegoers. Plenty of villains have flair, many crack jokes,
and most have an army of dispensable goons who rarely receive first and last names.
But the Joker is one of those special villains whose bark is worse than his formidable bite.
The Joker's ability to evoke a visceral response from the audience whenever he's on screen
is what has ingrained the character in the public consciousness. Fans of every age
remember childhood hairs standing up on the backs of their necks when they hear his sinister laugh.
There's one fundamental rule movie portrayals of the Joker must follow that trumps all the others:
The Joker can never kill Batman. One of the most interesting things
about the Joker is his desire to keep his arch-nemesis alive.
He even admits as much in The Dark Knight's interrogation scene, saying,
"I don't want to kill you, what would I do without you?"
For most villains, this approach would really deflate the danger they present to the hero.
In contrast, the Joker's desire to continue the fight makes him seem even more dangerous.
The never-ending struggle between Batman and the Joker has become part of the franchise's appeal.
The Joker often remarks that life without Batman would be boring, and the audience can't help but
feel the same way. He is constantly finding ways to almost break the Bat, and thus, constantly
finding new ways to keep audiences interested. This homicidal will-they-won't-they dynamic makes
their relationship truly one-of-a-kind, and fans everywhere are grateful for it.
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