Poll: Heath Ledger as The Joker

[APPCRASH]

Jack Nicholson > Heath Ledger. Heath didn't feel like the Joker to me. Not enough clowning around antics that you would assume from the joker just a bunch of "chaos" bull that got stale over time. Maybe they should have just gave him a new character so not to ruin the Joker idea.

Plus he talked weird.

 

[AdmiralWolverineLightningbolt]

Jack Nicholson > Heath Ledger. Heath didn't feel like the Joker to me. Not enough clowning around antics that you would assume from the joker just a bunch of "chaos" bull that got stale over time. Maybe they should have just gave him a new character so not to ruin the Joker idea.

Plus he talked weird.

the joker shouldnt be comical though, he should be creepy and disturbed which ledger portrayed perfectly
when he was originally introduced inn the comics, he was a mass murdering psychopath, but then they changed him in 60s so kids wouldnt get scared anyway

 

[sharks9]

never read the comics but I thought he was FANTASTIC as the joker. That Oscar was well-deserved

 

[The Black Adder]

Fuck them both! Cesar Romero all the way!

 

[Parallel Streaks]

Hard to say, I don't think he portrayed the comic book Joker well because the comic book joker was a total pussy, he never really hurt anyone. If he portrayed the comic book joker correctly, the film would have sucked more balls than Paris Hilton at spring break. So the fact that he didn't portray the comic book joker accurately is the reason he was awesome. It was the best movie of all time with the best acting of all time. Damn it I wish he was still alive.

The comic Joker beat Robin to death with a crow bar. Ledger Joker cut a guy. The comic Joker crippled Barbara Gordon, stripped her naked and tortured her, then showed picture of it to Commissioner Gordon while he was being electrocuted by violent dwarves, the Ledger Joker cut another guy.

The Comic Joker was a true bad-ass, the Ledger Joker less so, but awesome in a different way. But for people saying the ledger version was less wacky, the Ledger Joker dressed as a ginger nurse, with shaved legs and all. That's just a bit wacky.

They're two different Jokers, like the way the movie Batman and the comic Batman are different. Doesn't mean they're not both awesome. Except the Golden Age Joker. He was a total pussy.

 

[Parallel Streaks]

Jack Nicholson > Heath Ledger. Heath didn't feel like the Joker to me. Not enough clowning around antics that you would assume from the joker just a bunch of "chaos" bull that got stale over time. Maybe they should have just gave him a new character so not to ruin the Joker idea.

Plus he talked weird.

the joker shouldnt be comical though, he should be creepy and disturbed which ledger portrayed perfectly
when he was originally introduced inn the comics, he was a mass murdering psychopath, but then they changed him in 60s so kids wouldnt get scared anyway

Actually they changed it originally because they decided only one-off criminals should kill, because otherwise it'd make Batman look bad at catching murderers.

Nerd power!

 

[CptPanda29]

My god never in all my days have I seen an actor get blown so far out of proportion. BB and TDK had so much needless grit shoveled into them that it became a god damned joke. Tragic as his death was, Ledger's Joker did not feel right. He just felt like some asshole psycho that lucks through life because nobody feels like shooting him, instead of a truly sinister mastermind, thats so unpredictable the worlds greatest detective can't even guess what he's going to do next. When I was watching Nicholson talk to Vicky Vale in the art gallery I had no idea what he was going to do. When Ledger was talking to Rachel at the fundraiser I knew he was going to take her hostage in some form, until Batman shows up, making him threaten to trow her off the building. Sure Batman never kills, but sureley a room full of crimelords would A, have had a gun happy guard somewhere in the building, or B, would have just shot the guy who just emptied one of your vaults in the face before he could pencil your goon in the eye.
I'd like to see Nolan or whoever does the next one have any villain that can be made realistic, ruling out Killer Croc, Man-bat and others like them, be played any differently. I honestly think Nolan is too busy drowning himself in gravel to think about things like this. The only villain that could possibly work is Riddler, this would aslo have Batman finally use some detective work solving them.

 

[Vrex360]

Time to say what everyone else has already said. Heath Ledger was brilliant in this movie. I don't understand why there exist people who think he wasn't. Presumably because they hate things that are popular. But seriously Heath Ledger as the Joker was one of the best performances in 2008. Really well done.

 

[Parallel Streaks]

My god never in all my days have I seen an actor get blown so far out of proportion. BB and TDK had so much needless grit shoveled into them that it became a god damned joke. Tragic as his death was, Ledger's Joker did not feel right. He just felt like some asshole psycho that lucks through life because nobody feels like shooting him, instead of a truly sinister mastermind, thats so unpredictable the worlds greatest detective can't even guess what he's going to do next. When I was watching Nicholson talk to Vicky Vale in the art gallery I had no idea what he was going to do. When Ledger was talking to Rachel at the fundraiser I knew he was going to take her hostage in some form, until Batman shows up, making him threaten to trow her off the building. Sure Batman never kills, but sureley a room full of crimelords would A, have had a gun happy guard somewhere in the building, or B, would have just shot the guy who just emptied one of your vaults in the face before he could pencil your goon in the eye.
I'd like to see Nolan or whoever does the next one have any villain that can be made realistic, ruling out Killer Croc, Man-bat and others like them, be played any differently. I honestly think Nolan is too busy drowning himself in gravel to think about things like this. The only villain that could possibly work is Riddler, this would aslo have Batman finally use some detective work solving them.

The Crimelords had to go through a metal detector and give over all of their guns. You think that the most powerful men in the Underworld of Gotham are going to enter a room where everyone has a gun? They wouldn't be Crimelords very long.

PLUS, the Joker's jacket contained grenades, which would be blown if his thumb was taken out of the special detonator ring, and it would in the case of his death. And the reason why he never got shot was because he PLANNED AHEAD. When he had that gun pointed at him in the opening scene, did you predict that a massive bus would reverse through the wall?

If you want idiolized far-fetched Batman movies go watch the Tim Burton ones, they were great and unrealistic, if you want gravel, go for Nolan, which are great and REALISTIC. And he does do detective work, what do you think the scene where he tested the different calibre bullets on the identical blocks of concerete was about? He was investigating what type of bullet was used. And yes, The Riddler would be awesome.

 

[Bucket0Bones]

Best Joker ever. He was really creepy and disturbing.

I'm glad Ledger won the Oscar and the Golden Globe, he deserved them. Its a shame he died.

It seems as though Ledger worked really hard to make the character be as good as it could possibly be and he succeeded.

The Dark Knight is probably the first film where i came out of the cinema and thought 'WOW,_________ was really good in that role'

 

[Aptspire]

Well? better than well!

 

[implodingMan]

I really liked the Joker in TDK, even if he looked rather different from what I was used to seeing in the comics.

Spoiler: I can't say that Heath Ledger really captured this particular look

I still liked it though. That is what was great about the movies, they were interpretations. Not every instance of a character has to be exactly the same. For example, my younger brother was a fan of that new Batman cartoon and I watched it a few times with him. In that version the joker was this weird monkey-man but I still accepted it because it was an interesting interpretation.

 

[Ewyx]

My first mistake was, that while waiting for TDK I was watching, Batman: The Animated Series, and I'm sorry, Mark Hamill's voice, on that Joker, was perfection. A lot of people think Ledger is awesome, but I actually find him horribly overrated.

I don't know, for me he just seemed like a run-of-the-mill psychopath. Nothing about him that would surprise me. He wasn't the arch villain I'd hope for. As someone already mentioned, Joker's beauty lied in the fact that he was always smiling and dancing, no matter what the situation was like, true insanity. Ledger's Joker was a psycho, but alas, did not achieve the level of insanity I'd like to see in him.

Either that, or I'm just a sucker for cartoons and BAS is one of the greatest.

 

[internutt]

Mark Hamil's Joker was and will always be the best Joker.

Heath's Joker was alright, he just wasn't the usual Joker.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Batman, Superman, and their related villains are basically modern day mythology, and as such, are bound to be interpreted and represented differently depending on who's telling the story. Just like Loki, Raven, or any number of Greek gods before him, Joker merely has some basic defining characteristics but gets plunked down when storytellers need a specific narrative device.

I thought the Joker in Dark Knight was awesome. Nicholson's Joker was too cartoony for me. I fail to see how the Joker in a nurse's outfit isn't both bananas and hilarious.

 

[megapenguinx]

Many people here will say that the Joker that Heath Ledger played was perfect, but I personally think no they didn't portray him well. He is supposed to be far more creepy in the fact that he's always cheery, smiling and laughing. But I guess something like that may well have been more difficult to do in this whole era of 'Grim and Gritty' than the Ledger version.

But in terms of an alternate version of The Joker, he was awesome. And yes, I do think it was Nolan's direction, coupled with his dedicated method acting skills.

Also, I personally have a fear that if they attempt to do with Harley Quinn, what they did with the Joker, that it would not work nowhere near as well as a jester Quinn. However he has essentially shot himself in the foot has he not? Because he cannot use a Jester/make-up styled Quinn, it has to be a realistic/Grim and Gritty one now.

I feel the same. Like he could have played any criminal really. He was an amazing villain, just he didn't have the essence of the Joker.

 

[MMMowman]

He took the character above and beyond in my opinion. I think I saw somewhere that he took two whole months to create the whole persona of the Joker.

 

[RagnorakTres]

I loved his interpretation. I'm really more of an manga fan than a superhero comic fan, but I've read enough of Batman and Spiderman to understand the villains' basic archetypes. I could predict wat the Joker was going to do, even in the comics, because he is/was a Psychopathic Chessmaster, albeit of a unique type: he relied on his knowledge of how people work to use them rather than force them to do what he wanted through blackmail or temptation. He was a master of the Xanatos Gambit, and he never had to deal with Xanatos Speed Chess, though that would have made a wonderful arc.