[CaptainCrunch]

Not the card game, but the Joker from the DC/Batman lore. Batman's greatest foe, the two who were destined to fight for all eternity. There is no Batman without a Joker, and in terms of the Batman universe the Joker is the apex villain.


So who is the best joker? Who's the crowned clown prince of Gotham and why. As always I encourage and love to see people debating this thing. So feel free.



1) Mark Hamill's Joker (Animated series, Arkam games, The Killing Joke) - Mark Hamill's verbal portrayal of the Joker is iconic. When most people think of the Joker its with this one in mind. This is apex Joker who's must see on the screen. He is everything that the Joker was originally portrayed to be. A uncaring anarchist demon psychopath complete with goofy plans, a over the top laugh and hammy. But at the heart of this he's an unrepentant killer, that is doing this to torment Batman and get him to break his one rule. I've always felt that Joker's idea of the ultimate joke is to get Batman to break his one rule and kill him.






2) Heath Ledger - (The Dark Knight) -
I orginally had a lot of uncertainty going in to see Dark Knight. But this was a epic Joker, and the late Heath Ledger's Joker could very well be ranked number one. He borrows a lot of different elements to create a shattered mirror Joker. I always want to know how this Joker is created. The world is his lab and he's running experiments to see how people react to extreme fear and stress. Is he a former psychology student? Is he a damaged Gulf War Vet who's running his own psy ops and getting his revenge on the world? Is he an abused child born in the darkness and unleashed? We'll never know, even his stories on how he got his smile changed, but at the end of the day on the big issues, you feel that he's the most honest character in the movie. Its clear that he's brilliantly smart, a gambler, and someone that understands people really well. He's also got a childish glee to him. All combined he's probably the most unbalanced Joker in the DC Universe.





3) Jack Nicholson (Batman) -


In every movie he's in Jack dominates and chews the scenary with glee. He was a perfect casting for the Joker in the 80's. A former stoic and serious mob killer who is shown the funnier side of life. He's the worlds first functional homicidal artist, and he plays it to a T. From coldly killing Bob, to poisoning the city to draw Batman out. This Joker really had no end game. He didn't want to take over Gotham's underworld. He didn't care about money. Gotham was his canvas and he painted it with blood and a great Joker laugh. He's probably the closest thing to how a young CaptainCrunch portrayed the Joker in my mind.


4) Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) -
I'm still years later unsure if I actually liked this version of the Joker, or if I would even consider him to be the Joker. The bottom line is that this Joker was portrayed as someone with serious mental health issues that the world had cast aside and he had created his own reality. This is clearly the most disturbing Joker and his existance in society would be viewed as a grotesque caricature of pure madness. He stands for nothing but chaos. I would almost call this Joker a proto Joker, that creates the environment for the rise of the actual joker years later.





4) Cameron Monaghan (Gotham) -
I thought his portrayal of the Joker in three different stages was brilliant, especially considering that Gotham didn't have the rights to the Joker character so he was never called the Joker. He went from a very Jack Nicholson style of Joker that was just there to vent his insanity and cause absolute chaos. He also played a brilliant obsession with Bruce Wayne. But somewhere along the line the Joker character went through a complete evolution. He went from the chaos of Jerome Valeski to the calm engineer person of his twin brother Jeremiah who slowly went insane to the post chemical vat Joker. Cameron was brilliant throughout the series and chewed the scenery with glee. At the same time the whole plot line of Jerome was to expose that his twin brother was far more evil then he was in a twisted way. In a unique plot twist the Joker was born from the Joker.












5) Cesar Romaro - (Batman series)


Over the top and completely campy. But every Joker has borrowed from his portrayal of the Joker from look, to over the top campiness, to his laugh. He was the first Joker, that every portrayal added layers to.





6) Jared Leto (Suicide Squad, Justice League) -

Ok frankly I didn't like this Joker, he was a thug in makeup, and they tried way to hard to push that he was a dangerous Joker. There was no subtly to this Joker, He was more a mob boss, and murderer with no artform then anything else.



7) Barry Keoghan (The Batman) -
This is more a not complete then anything else. But there was something really intriguing about this Joker that makes you want to see more. He's not as maniacal as most jokers. And he comes across as a bit cold. He's clearly a manipulator and has a Hannibal Lector quality to him. I would think on the outside world. he would be like a pit snake, watching and waiting for an opportunity for maximum damage.