Heath Ledger Is Not the Best Joker
I never really “got” the whole Heath Ledger thing. In his breakout role as aloof heartthrob Patrick Verona in 10 Things I Hate About You, he channeled about as much depth of character as Luke Perry playing Dylan McKay…just with longer hair. Ledger was so bad in The Patriot he actually distracted from Mel Gibson’s hammy performance and the usually-solid Jason Isaacs’ best (worst?) Snidely Whiplash imitation. Ledger was completely one-dimensional in the laughably awards-pandering Monster’s Ball, and he displayed an abject lack of comedic timing in The Brothers Grimm.
While Brokeback Mountain bored me so much I never finished watching the movie, I can’t complain about Ledger’s work in the film. Guided by the inconsistent Ang Lee, I finally saw in Mr. Ledger a glimpse of the charisma and talent so apparent to everyone else. But given his history of okay-to-bad performances in crap movies, I was pretty disappointed that director Christopher Nolan cast him as the Joker in The Dark Knight. Of course, I was the only one disappointed, it seemed, as everyone and their mother blogged about how great Ledger was going to be. But not me. I didn’t drink the Kool-Aid. I didn’t buy the hype.
I defy you to tell me I was wrong to question casting this man as a homicidal clown criminal genius
Well, internet…I admit it. I’m stupid. You’re smart. I was wrong. You were right. You’re the best. I’m the worst. You’re very good-looking. I’m not attractive.
Heath Ledger was amazing as the Joker. It was the best performance of his life. The best performance of any actor in a supporting role that year. One of the best performances of a villain ever put on film. But it wasn’t the best Joker of all time. Not even close.
The Dark Knight
Ledger deserves a great deal of praise for his portrayal of the Joker. However, he must share that praise with the wonderful part written for him by David S. Goyer, Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan. The script was very obviously influenced by important works in the Batman comics canon. Notably, TDK‘s Joker publicly announces his intent to assassinate public servants, then follows through. This is spot-on the plot of the Batman #1, which also happens to be the Joker’s first appearance.
During the course of TDK, the Joker relates multiple different origin stories, leaving the viewer ignorant of how the Joker evolved into the monster he is. This echoes the Paul Dini one-shot Mad Love (1994), as well as issue #85 of the Robin series, “Fools Errand” (2001) by Chuck Dixon.
And perhaps the greatest influence on TDK‘s Joker – as well as the overarching themes of the film itself – is Alan Moore’s legendary 1988 one-shot Batman: The Killing Joke
The Joker, as seen in "The Killing Joke"
In very similar fashion, TDK‘s Joker is out to prove a point: he wants to prove that the people of Gotham can be just as ruthless as he is under the right circumstances. He tears down Gotham’s White Knight, Harvey Dent, in brutal, spectacular fashion. He challenges the citizens of Gotham to kill citizen Coleman Reese to spare their own lives. And finally, he pits a boat full of prisoners and a boat full of citizens in a deadly game of chicken against one another.
Yes, Goyer, Nolan and Nolan did their homework. They drew upon the well-established Joker canon to create a complex, multi-layered Joker. Their Joker is a man who plans extensively in order to fulfill his mad intentions – be it a bank robbery, a hostage situation or the aforementioned boat scenario – but can convincingly ask his prey, “Do I look like a man with a plan?”
Ledger dove into the role, filling out the complex character with 40% Charles Manson, 40% The Crow (1994 movie version), 10% Rain Man and 10% Groucho Marx. The character is dark and murderous, with nervous ticks, gallows humor and enough charisma to mesmerise even the most jaded cinemagoer. He’s fascinating…like crime-scene photos or that horrible car crash on the 405 you pass by a little too slowly, hoping to catch a glimpse so you can later regret seeing something that can’t be unseen.
Tragically similar, explosive performances
There are two big problems, though, with TDK‘s Joker. The first problem is that Goyer, Nolan and Nolan cherry-picked elements of the Joker that fit into their grim, “realistic” take on the world of Batman. Their Joker is an amazing character, but their Joker can only exist in the world of Batman that they’ve created.
The second problem is that the Joker from “The Killing Joke” sucks. That’s right, fanboys. Go ahead and piss your pants. “The Killing Joke” sucks. Even Alan Moore knows it, calling his lauded work, “clumsy, misjudged, and [devoid of] real human importance.” The fact is that a Joker who beats Robin to death with a crowbar, a Joker who tries to patent disfigured fish, a Joker who acts on violent impulse is a compelling Joker, a Joker who reflects the pitiful nature of man’s desires and plans. A Joker who actively strives to reflect the pitiful nature of man’s desires and plans is just another pitiful man with pitiful desires and easily-thwarted plans. When the Joker understands his purpose, the subtext that makes him so compelling becomes text. Taking away the Joker’s subtext makes him a shallow character, good for nothing but shock value. That’s one reason why Moore’s “The Killing Joke” rings hollow to him.
The Joker
In the 70 years since the Joker was first created, hundreds of comic book writers, artists and editors have helped shape the character. On screen, a handful of actors have been given the opportunity to bring the character to life. So many different portrayals of the character across so many different eras of American pop culture make it impossible for anyone to claim a “definitive” version of the Joker.
Take, for example, Joker’s appearance in Batman #2 (1940), where he is a murderous jewel thief, medieval weaponry expert and head of Crime Syndicate, Inc. Or think about Julius Schwartz and Denny O’Neill’s nine-issue Joker series (1975) which features a nearly harmless Joker playing tag with Two-Face and breaking open a gumball machine to steal the pennies inside. Or what about Jim Starlin’s Joker – from the storyline “A Death in the Family” (1989) – who accepts a role as the Iranian ambassador the U.N. only to attempt to assassinate the entire U.N. Security council?
Jim Starlin & Jim Aparo's take on the Joker
While each of us comic book fans might prefer one version of the Joker over another, each version of the Joker – no matter how different – makes a valuable contribution to the Joker myth.
Batman: The Animated Series
In 1992, Batman: The Animated Series debuted on Fox. If you’re nerdy enough to be reading this article, then you probably don’t need to be told how utterly AWESOME this program was. Who cares about the Emmy awards it won? Who cares about its commercial success? It was simply bad ass. The artistic design paid deep homage to the classic Max Fleischer Superman cartoons, yet mixed goth, gothic and art deco styles with a pulpy, film noir tone to create an aesthetic sensibility all its own. The scripts were kid-friendly while maintaining adult themes consistent with – and often inspired by – the darker, grittier Batman comics. And then there was the voice acting.
All of the voice acting in Batman: The Animated Series was excellent, but Mark Hamill’s portrayal of the Joker stood out like the moon in a night sky filled with stars. On the surface, his cartoony voicework seemed more akin to Caesar Romero’s portrayal of the Joker in the classic, campy 1966 TV series Batman. This was a slapstick Joker, a Joker that didn’t curse or kill. This was a Joker that rode roller coasters for fun and pouted when he didn’t get his way. But beneath the surface, this Joker was a homicidal maniac.
Kid-tested, mother-approved?
Have you seen The Silence of the Lambs? Do you remember the scene where Hannibal Lecter meets with the senator whose daughter has been kidnapped by Buffalo Bill? Do you remember how Hannibal Lecter tells the senator, “Love your suit!” with delicious malice? Foppish, humorous, completely inappropriate in tone and context, but not at all vulgar or offensive out of context. That is Hamill’s Joker.
Hamill’s Joker locked Batman in a trashcan, stabbed holes in the trashcan with a 12-inch blade, then kicked the trashcan into Gotham Bay. Hamill’s Joker kidnapped the mayor’s son not with brute force, but with charisma and charm, only to reveal his murderous intentions when Batman showed up to rescue the boy. Hamill’s Joker has the ability to convincingly and effortlessly shift from harmless prankster to horrible psychopath and back again…all in a few moments. He may spend much of his on-screen time skipping and singing his own theme song, but he does so while leading his enemies into death traps.
But there was something missing from Hamill’s Joker: true horror. While Batman: The Animated Series consistently pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in a children’s cartoon, Hamill’s Joker was nonetheless relegated to PG-13 status.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Reprising his role in Batman: Arkham Asylum, Hamill’s Joker finally got the opportunity to dive into Alan Moore territory. Arkham Asylum‘s Joker kills in cold blood. He sells out his henchmen, openly rooting for Batman to crush them. He tosses off vulgarities. He frees the whole of Arkham Asylum’s inmate population from their cages for no purpose other than to effect disaster on the world.
What is truly impressive, though, is how Hamill’s performance in Arkham Asylum doesn’t at all deviate from his performance in TAS. His voice inflections, his sudden shifts from whimsy to anger…they are exactly the same. Hamill’s Joker is just as comfortable pandering to censors and 10 year-old kids as it is indulging comic book geeks’ darkest fantasies. Hearing Hamill’s voicework in the context of an R-rated Arkham Asylum game reveals how R-rated his performance in TAS truly was. Arkham Asylum doesn’t really free Hamill from his kid-friendly shackles so much as it frees our understanding of his Joker from our minds’ kid-friendly shackles. And that’s scary. Imagine as a kid you saw Anthony Hopkins play Hannibal Lecter on Sesame Street and offer Big Bird some KFC. As a kid, you probably wouldn’t really get it. As an adult, you’d watch Silence of the Lambs and think, “Wow, that episode of Sesame Street was fucked up.”
Only one is cage-free, but both are delicious
To be sure, Hamill’s performance in Arkham Asylum isn’t a tour de force of acting; it’s simply another addition to his breadth of experience playing the Joker. Arkham Asylum takes Hamill’s interpretation of the Joker and places it an a different context, and in doing so emphasizes the depth and nuance of his work on Batman: The Animated Series. I used to watch TAS and think, “Wow…I can’t believe that’s Luke Skywalker playing the Joker.” After playing Arkham Asylum, I watch Star Wars and think, “Wow…I can’t believe that’s the Joker playing Luke Skywalker.” Because Hamill’s interpretation of the Joker is versatile enough to fit comfortably in any version of the Joker yet written. Hamill’s Joker supersedes the art design that accompanies his voicework. Hamil’s Joker fits appropriately into any context. Hamill’s Joker is never limited by any creative director’s vision, but rather allows any creative director’s vision to inform his performance while simultaneously informing the creative director’s vision. Hamill’s Joker pays homage to nearly every version of the Joker while making its own unique contribution to the Joker canon.
To the Actors
Heath Ledger, you delivered a performance that will serve as a benchmark not only for all future Joker performances, but for all future comic book villain performances. Hell, you delivered a performance that will always be mentioned among the great performances in cinema.
But Mark Hamill, you are the voice in my head every time I read a line in a comic book delivered by the Joker. You transcend comparisons. You embody the spirit of the character. You. Are. The Joker.
Mark Hamill, the Joker
I am tired of hearing how Mark Hamill is the best joker. Yes, I LOVE his voice. And yes, I LOVE TAS but seriously? Heath Ledgers joker was a OVERALL performance. HE wore the makeup, HE had the gestures and walk, and HIS face was on screen. Mark Hamill contributed his voice. So when u say Hamill is the best joker, are u trying to say Hamill along with tthe brilliant creators and artists of TAS who wrote his lines and drew up the Joker we see in TAS and AA. Ledger WAS the joker. I cant watch TDK and see ledger as ledger. He is without a doubt the best joker ever. and if a billion dollars and a posthumous oscar doesnt do it, what will? And dear Hugo, FINISH THE MOVIE cuz u dont know what ur talking about. Everything was still a joke to ledgers joker just in his own sick and twisted mind. and if u ever read the comics, which i highly doubt, u would know ledgers interpretation is the closest to the comics. the perfect joker is the joker where u laugh bbut not cuz its funny but because its sooo twisted. its called black humour (pencil trick for example.) And hugo, mark hamill should now be somewhere in his 50s. hes fat and ugly with pot marks on his face so…ya….the perfect joker for nolan.
david, i completely agree with you. trying to compare a voice over to a REAL actor with REAL props and make up and stuff is like comparing peanut butter and jelly. THEY AREN’T THE SAME THING. sure, mark hamill’s VOICE OVER was good, but heath ledger actually acted the part to perfection. his performance was second to none. heath ledger was and still is the best joker. why? because he gave us what the comic book intended to give us. a dark , creepy, sadistical, psychotic, insane, over the top, slightly humourous and twisted joker. if you read all of the hundreds of comics that have the joker in them like i have, you will realize that not only did ledger play the part, he perfected it to the most perfect you can get. anyone who says his performance was boring, or not what the joker was intended to be like, i say, READ THE GODDAMN COMICS! jack’s performance as the joker in the 80′s was decent, but it wasnt quite perfect. it only portrayed the funny side of the joker, not the full joker. in the ORIGINAL comics, the joker is just as heath played it. jack on the other hand was about 99% funny and less than 1% twisted. on a side note, jim carrey as the riddler was a little more convincing than nicholson’s part. people have this view of the joker as a funny, care free villain who plays pranks and does “silly” things. that not the REAL joker. the real joker is what heath played. everything was a joke, but it was also real if you know what i mean. everything was funny to HIM, but to batman and gordon, and the audience, it was sick and twisted which is what made it even better. and lastly, a note to that Hugo asshole. you need to finish the movie, just as David said. a movie isnt supposed to kick off with the supreme action of the movie, it is supposed build and intensify and then some filler action along the way, all leading up to the climax of the movie. every good movie or novel is based on building up tension until the climax. Hugo, you obviously need to go back to school because i learned about story telling and writing in 7th grade, it’s simple stuff. if you watch any good movie such as said movie or lets say, “saving private ryan”. you will notice that the beginning is cool and then it builds and builds until they meet the real PVT. ryan and they defend the bridge and everything goes to hell in a blaze of testosterone filled action. or a novel such as the da vinci code, it keeps you on your toes the whole book and then wham! the climax comes. i want to leave you all with this, HEATH LEDGER IS THE BEST JOKER OF. ALL. TIME. PERIOD. NO COMPARISON. R.I.P. Heath Ledger, you left us with a legacy of great movies and performances, we thank you.
u r fool
heath is outstanding as joker and this is performrnce of a decade……..
“READ THE GODDAMN COMICS” ??
) that is really dark. Maybe Ledgers performance was decent, but still it didn’t fit the character as it is in the comics (doesnt look like, doesnt act like, doesnt feel like)
I’ve read plenty of Comics with the Joker and there wasn’t even one portrayal like in TDK (OK, perhaps that Bermejo-thing, when it comes to the look, but even that one had way more fun beeing evil and even had white skin) The Joker always has been really vain and egomaniac, never at all suicidal (remember the scene in the hospital) and most of all the Joker should have fun doing what he does. Take a look at the Joker in Batman & Robin #13-16, there you have a quite “classic” Joker (he even is joking around
Mark Hamill IS the Joker. Heath Ledger is good, but can’t compare; Mark balanced fun-loving and muderous, but Heath just showed murderous with a joke here and then.
I found this article hypocritical. I’ve read it twice and still find it as such. you can’t discredit Ledger’s Performance from “definitive” status by saying theres never been one single Joker then go and say Mark Hamill is the Joker. Plus this entire article is pointless. you could have just said “Mark Hamill is the best Joker. i liked Heath Ledger, but mark is the best!” and called it a day. Also Alan Moore Hates everything he writes. If its turned into a movie. Killing Joke wasn’t directly adapted, but its used everytime The Joker’s been on screen. minus the 60′s Movie Adaptaion of the TV show. in the end i liked both Jokers for there reasons. The only Joker i can live without is the 60′s Joker. This article feels like a huge waste of time. Especially since its posted 2 years too late.
Nice picture at the end though.
Ledger’s Joker owed so much to the writing. Look, I get it, he died inside of at least one Olson twin, and everyone got a blind spot because we as a culture go retarded for dead famous people. But Cesar Romero was a better joker, given the awful writing he had to work with. Jack Nicholson was a better joker. And there is no doubt Mark Hamill could still be the best live action joker.
Even Curtis Armstrong showed a great deal of promise in that 30 second spot for onstar.
My dislike for Heath Ledger as the joker could be a reflection of my extreme dislike for Bale as Batman (ditto that for Nolan as the director/writer).
Then again, I still feel robbed that Billy Dee Williams never played two face (as opposed to Tommy Lee Jones as one-face).
Oh well… I guess I just have to wait for the reboot. At least they can’t make another one with The Worst Joker Ever.
There are so many things WRONG in your … views, I can’t even be bothered to rebut.
BUT it’s p’ssed me off enough to use 1 minute of my time to comment here.
Thank you so much.
I have a comic book freak of a coworker who went ledger crazy. I thought it bordered fangirl status when later he told me he loved 10 things i hate about you (terrible movie).
I sent him this article to explain my point. although i think you could have bashed on ledger more. I want to laugh like patrick bateman when im seeing a “NEW” “GRITTY” Joker, not be the only guy not laughing or making a sound when ledger follows through on his lame pencil trick. And where were the trick hands or utter amusement that was apparent in hamil when ledger was beating batman. Ledger looked like he was beating his wife, not kicking a man dressed like a bat (which should be pretty fucking funny).
The only way to save The Joker in Live Action is to force nolan to remake Mask of the Phantasm with hamil. Hot women (glad gylnhal is dead), deadly mob bosses, and manicle hilariously brutal (beats batman with log of meat) Joker.
Thank you!
i find it funny how people argue over opinions, i think ledger was not only the best joker, but gave one of the best performances ive seen in any movie, hes what the joker is supposed be…dark and twisted, all the others were too zany, and corny….but if you disagree i respect that because its an opinion
Now I’m no connoisseur of ‘bat-lore’ but I submit that ‘LEDGER’s JOKER was INDEED having fun being the JOKER. The only red-hering was his maniacal behavior. Think about it, he was indeed attempting to prove a point and to do so he needed to scare the shit out of people. The brilliance of the performance and the writing of that JOKER was the subtle glimpses of him toying with people and snickering in enjoyment (i.e. video footage). It is far more titilating to not see him all out in gleeful tantrum because it leaves your imagination turning at how demented and relishing the true horrors are for him behind the scenes (like so many known and profiled serial murderers i.e. The ZODIAC, Edward Gein (BUFFALO BILL), or Herman Webster Mudgett (Dr. Holmes) and many others).
GROW UP GUYs or you’ll never get girlfriends…
And by the way both LEDGER and NICHOLSON have special places in my heart, they’re fucking movies people, ADAPTATIONS. If you die-hard fan-boys say a “TRUE” JOKER incarnate from the comics you’d all rais hell claiming “IT’S BEEN DONE BEFORE! GIVE US SOMETHING NEW!” Q.E.D. that there are too many people who just like to piss and moan.
I hate the Ledgers’s joker version, and I hate the Nolan’s Batman version. They are completly different from the comic version. The probleme is that they are presented like the “regular” version. I find the will to make a realistic version boring and the result is sometimes even more unrealistic than the comic book. Everything is here a question of vanity and of how the director seems to disdain the character and want to show that he can make something “adult” of this kid’s comic book (on his point of view). But the result lost its soul.
Thank you so much for writing this article. I’ve been saying this exact thing since the movie came out and no one has ever been on my side. I agree with you 100%. Hamill has always been, and will always be, the epitome of the Joker for me.
100% agreed, people keep telling me that no one could do a joker performance as well as ledger..but honestly people only value his performance THAT much is out of respect of his death…but, this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJtIPi0Nb60 does the same thing as ledger and totally does better, Why? you ask? because, he did what any actor did…he got more into character as the series goes on…but anyway…mark hamill forevah!
All of you who think there is another Joker besides Heath Ledger are silly. Saying that Mark Hamil, who does a VOICEOVER for the Joker, is better for that role than somebody who actually acted out the character is like saying that somebody who does good in Call of Duty is a better soldier in a real life combat situation than an actual soldier. Mark Hamil, while talented as the voice of the Joker, doesn’t have to fully encompass the role like Heath Ledger had to. And to the people that say Heath Ledger was only good as the Joker in the movie because of the script or whatever other nonsense I got news for you, Mark Hamil reads off a script too. I do respect other peoples opinions on this issue but unfortunately your opinions are wrong. To say that Mark Hamil is the real true Joker is in itself a horrible joke. I didn’t like any of Heath Ledger’s other perfomances, except for Brokeback Mountain, before TDK. I thought the idea of him being the Joker was a horrible decision and I thought it was going to bomb. I was utterly surprised and amazed by his performance and it will always be one of the best film perfomances I have ever seen.
pathetic.i stil believe ledger is the best joker and villian of all time.
Very well written article, seemingly well researched and you made some very strong points…BUT I have to disagree with you. Im a Batman FANATIC and I have studied his rogues gallery, each and every villian in it, and have even written papers on their psychological “problems” and, to date, Ledger’s performance as The Joker was, in MY opinion, by far, the closest to portraying what ALL of the writers of the Batman comics were setting out to do. He truly brought life to this psychotic character and I was completely blown away by his portrayal.
But, again, very good article.
Jack Nicholson is personal favourite Joker..
Personally I think you’re all wrong and frankly I’m appalled no one has mentioned Kevin Michael Richardson’s Joker. So what if The Batman’s Joker had green dreadlocks and red eyes?
If anyone got Joker right,it was him not Mark Hamill,him.It was the 2004-2008 animated Joker that said “Batsy,you complete me” first and while this Joker mostly did silly things like raid banks,or turn everyone he hated into cards,he did in fact almost word for word quote The Killing Joke,he kidnapped Ethan Bennett [The Harvey Dent stand-in],gave that lecture and horrifically tortured him an then exposed him to mutated silly putty.Then of course he did practically manipulate Harley Quinn similarly.
But they added some extra touches to bring home the point that something was seriously wrong with him,such as the straightjacket and lack of shoes.
Jack Nicholson was close,definitely where The Batmans Joker comes from,but he was a little too predictable and affable. But he was definitely creepier than Hamill or Ledger which when comes down it,is what the Joker should be whether it’s patenting fish (Hamill),masquerading as Batman and harshly punishing any evildoer with gas (Richardson),or electrobuzzing a guys head off (Nicholson).Ledger wasn’t creepy,his tongue hanging just made his performance disgusting and he never really made that many jokes.
It’s baffling how no one mentioned The Batman yet and it’s superior Joker,even if it does have green dreadlocks and red eyes