Who's played the best Joker in the Batman MOVIES???

[The Joker]

This is actually quite tough. To say Ledger's version of The Joker is better than Nicholson's, or vice versa, is like saying a banana is better than a giraffe.

The greatest criticism of Nicholson’s Joker I've read is that it’s Jack playing Jack… but for me, Jack's role as the Joker was a timeless classic. I really do not think that anyone else could have pulled that off at the time but him. He was comical at times which made it fun to watch, and the times when he was creepy, he was really creepy. I remember reading Bob Kane actually had wanted Nicholson to play the Joker waaay back in 1980 after viewing, The Shining. Nearly a decade later, he finally got his wish, and Nicholson's performance was indeed extremely entertaining that actually made me a life long fan.

Heath, though, was magnetic. I believe one of the reasons why Ledger chose to play the role in the first place, was that of the realism he played off of, real fears that modern society has. Ledger was pretty much the Devil, the epitome of all evil and perfectly suitable as the top Batman villain. In the comics, if Batman could kill one man, it would most certainly be the Joker. Needless to say, it's come very close. Especially in the "Hush" arc. Heath portrayed evil so well you could see the dilemma Bats was going through, trying to restrain from delivering the killing blow. Which for me, added to the overall effect of the film itself.

Needless to say, both were great Jokers that totally stole the movie from the guy playing Batman.

‘Cuz that’s how Joker rolls. :thumbsup:

P.S. And who doesnt love Cesar Romero’s performance as the Joker in the Batman TV series from the 60s, and in Batman:The Movie? Sporting a mustache under the makeup was nothing but pure gold.

 

[D-rock]

Like other people have said, it isn't a fair comparison because they play two very different types of Jokers. I do like the classic Joker better than the completely psychotic Joker that is around now, but the actors have nothing to do with that.

 

[Supafly]

I am voting Nicholson - but Cesar Romero was a milestone in the late sixties

 

[mrtrebus]

I am voting Nicholson - but Cesar Romero was a milestone in the late sixties

Yep, he couldn't even be bothered to shave his moustache off!!
What a guy!! :hatsoff:

 

[J. Friday]

Jack

 

[JakeSnake]

Heath Ledger.

 

[slasher]

Cesar Romero

:thumbsup:

Of the choices in the poll give me Jack Nicholson.

 

[Ray Ecks]

Heath Ledger.

Jack is still the man though.

 

[Ozmanks]

Heath Ledger although I though I didn't like the Dark Knight. Everyone was heaping praise on it and I thought that it would be mind blowing, instead it was an overrated drawn out predictable film.

 

[Alyssa Rose]

Heath hands down! Even as the creepy joker he still made my panties wet


(If your a heath fan watch the movie Candy, its really really good ) Sorry to jack your thread there for a second

 

[Ravenholm]

The better actor, that's who.

Jack Nicholson.

His version is not overrate and overhyped. Jack's version is the way the Joker should be. Jack looks mad enough to play the insane Joker, and that be the reason he got the role, probably.

 

[lechepicha]

Ledger for me

 

[GregCentauro]

http://doesitallmatter.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/pelosi-joker.jpg

 

[Member 1098]

Heath Ledger

 

[nelmes69]

Jack Nicholson :thumbsup:

 

[User13]

Mark Hamill IMO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJeIG07wY3A

yeah, it's not a live-action Batman movie, but he's the first one who comes to mind when I think Joker.

Mark Hamill

You're darn right, guys.

Being that the entire franchise was born out of a very dark and serious comic book going back several decades, I die a little whenever anyone gives credibility to the Burton/Schuhmacher movies as being any sort of definitive representation of Batman. The Christopher Nolan films of this decade are very close to Bob Kane's original vision, and Heath Ledger's portrayal (much of it based on his research of source material like the "Arkham Asylum" graphic novel) is the closest that we've seen to a live-action version of that vision. That being said, the on-screen version closest to Bob Kane's intent would have to be the Animated Series of the 1990's, including the "Mask of the Phantasm" movie. As any live action comic book movie tends to lose something in the translation, the animated series did a great job giving motion to the comic book premise without drastically changing any of the aesthetics. Therefore, it was much easier for them to stay true to the characters as originally presented on the printed page.

I don't mean to discount Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker, either. It was superb, but I think that there are several actors who could have pulled it off just as well, since the character was written correctly for the first time in a live action presentation.

 

[Shadowfax 10]

I have to say Jack Nicholson.

 

[~~whimsy~~]

Jack Nicholson of course :hatsoff:

 

[DJCowboy]

I remember when it was first announced that the Joker was going to be in the next batman, I immediately thought "well whoever it is has some big shoes to fill after Nicholson'. Then it was announced it was Ledger and I was severely disappointed because I was just thinking of his teen movies and thought they were just casting the good looking guy.

Then I saw the movie.

I was completely blown away by his performance. Every time the Joker was on screen and then left, I was just anticipating his next scene. If I would have never known it was Ledger, I wouldn't have had a clue who was behind the makeup. Probably would have assumed it was somebody that had never been known before. A couple months ago I watched it with my mom and she said that the Joker was giving her chills and she doesn't really get into movies at all.

To me, though, they are fairly different. Jack's is modeled more after the comic books while Heath's is modeled more after the graphic novels. In the real world, if someone acted the way the Joker did, it would probably be more like Heath's.


I'm gonna have to go with Ledger's simply because I believe that's how somebody would really act if they were that messed up. That's not to say Jack did a bad job at all. The only thing I didn't like was how everyone attributed Ledger's death to the role saying that he got "too into character". That was not true. They were done with filming his scenes in batman when he died. The reason it was so opened at the end as to what happened to the Joker was because Nolan apparently was going to have the Joker in the 3rd one again.

 

[turtle825]

IMO, there's really no answer for this; comparing Heath Ledger's Joker to Jack Nicholson's Joker is like comparing Jack's Joker to Cesar Romero's Joker - they all play different versions of the Joker, and I find it rather unfair to compare these versions to each other. They were all great in terms of their acting and portrayal of their characters, and I am satisified with all three versions in general.