Who was the better Joker?

[willofbob]

Mark Hamill! How can anyone not be creeped out by that messed-up laughter? It's chilling. Ledger's Joker was good, very good, but he can't hold a candle to Hamill. Especially not now that he's DEAD! HEEEHEEHOOHOOHOOHOOHAA*cough*haha*cough*HAA!*hack!**hack!*
Nicholson, and I know I'm probably going to get flamed for this, just didn't appeal to me. The prosthetic smile just looked cheesy, we knew too much about him, and the only thing that really changed between Napier and Joker was the face. I just didn't think he was that good.

On the subject, there's a Youtuber called LordJazor who does the perfect Joker impression. He sounds just like Hamill, though the difference is apparent on occasion. Check him out!

 

[Nazulu]

I'm not a Batman fan so I couldn't care who matched the closest to the original Joker.

Heath Ledger's face is what comes to mind now when you mention the Joker, and that's because I found far more entertaining. The bastard literally scared me in the cinema he was so unpredictable, which doesn't happen often at all.

 

[Reaper195]

Nicholson's Joker worked with Burtons style. He was funny. Hamill's Joker...he was awesome. Very Batman. But I personally think Ledger's Joker was the best. Not because of all the hype, or Ledgers death...but because he was insane. Of all the actors playing crazy characters in movies, The Dark Knight's Joker was truly insane to the point in which I was worried about myself for loving him so much. I have never experienced a character who was just so...insane. There were no motivations behind anything he did, even when everything seemed so meticulously planned.

I love true crazy.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

I quite like Brent Spiner's Joker myself.

 

[VeryOddGamer]

Ledger's Joker was the best live-action one. Sure, he wasn't very funny or clown-like, but he was just so terrifyingly insane. But Mark Hamill is still better, because he gets the funny part done really well. So yeah, for me, it comes down to what I'm looking for in the Joker.
He's a Faux Affably Evil character, so Mark is the Faux Affably part and Ledger is the evil part.

 

[Mithcha]

Heath Ledger did a good job from an acting point of view, but to me he wasn't the joker. He was just a nutter in make up.

For me Jack Nicholson did the best once, but then I liked Batman a bit silly, somewhat camp and overall daft as all hell. Jack Nicholson was like that.

As good as Heath Ledger was, I do think he gets overly praised because he died soon after just like I think the film gets overly praised, it was ok but nowhere near as good as people say it is.

 

[Starik20X6]

Apples to oranges. They're such radically different versions of the same character it almost feels wrong to compare them. If you were to swap them over to each other's films, they'd feel so out of place. But they work in the films they appear in.

 

[Jarek Mace]

Every single one of Nolan's 'Batman' films felt more like "Nolan's dark gritty action hero series" and he just slapped on a Batman label to attract a larger audience. The Joker didn't feel like The Joker at all - I'm not saying Ledger is a bad actor, he was amazing, but the sort of personality they wrote in for The Joker in The Dark Knight felt like... well... this:

"I'm a murderous maniac with no clown elements to me at all, I just laugh now and then and put on some make up. But wait, I'm saying deep philosophical things! Maybe I'm not insane, maybe I'm just being completely honest! WOOAAAH! BE IMPRESSED AUDIENCE, THIS IS SO DEEP." He didn't feel like The Joker or anything like The Joker, just a maniac who took thought about human behaviour for a few minutes.

Ledger hits the exact right spot between killer and clown perfectly, and hell, Nicholson was pretty good in his own right too.

 

[Sexy Devil]

Ledger was a far better Joker than Nicholson IMO. As brilliant an actor as he is I just don't think he suited it all that well, but that's just me.

Overall though Hamill just blows them out of the water. He's so maniacal with it and he just fits it perfectly.

And DAT LAUGH. It's chilling.

Don't really like Hamill's performance in TAS, honestly. I mean it's good but it always seemed so downplayed so that it wouldn't be disturbing as shit to the kids. But I absolutely loved his performance in the Arkham games, he really didn't hold anything back with that.

Though my favourite is still Heath Ledger. I mean that's just one of the best performances I've ever seen, sucks that he died.

 

[Artemis923]

Mark Hamill.

Bag 'em and tag 'em, this thread's a wrap.

Heath was a great Joker, but his performance is hyped to the point where I don't want to acknowledge it. I'm sorry Heath is gone...but that doesn't mean any Joker besides him needs to be shat on.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I really liked Ledger, but I don't think the Joker was originally intended to be that way.

Still I really liked it, he brought out a fascinating portrayal of a psychopath.

 

[Depulcator]

mark hamill > Ledger> Jack

 

[The White Hunter]

Mark Hamill.
Yeah, I know he wasn't there, but I've only seen him and Ledger.

While Ledger is good and creepy, he really lacks in the funny department. That's big for me when I'm talking about the Joker. Hamill's Joker is scary as all fuck at times but has made me laugh out loud on many occasions.

I was about to say Mark Hamill by a looooooooooooooong way.

I personally prefer Nicholsons Joker to Ledger though, I'm not 100% sure why, he just seemed so much.. um... idk, he seemed to enjoy life more and seemed more real than ledgers joker, which i don't put down to ledgers performance more me having a lower limit for suspension of disbelief than others.

Also:

<youtube=h28ftIM929w>

 

[TheFederation]

i thought heath ledger was far more scary than jack, but jack was alot more 'jokey' in a way that the joker is

 

[anthony87]

What, no love for John DiMaggio's Joker?

 

[Something Amyss]

Would it be out of order to say that Heath Ledger's Joker is rated so highly due to the hype around his death soon after he finished filming for The Dark Knight, to the point that it may even be overrated? Not that I think it was; I think it was a great performance, but it wasn't groundbreaking like many claim.

I don't think him being alive would make that much difference. His death certanily added some impact to the role, but the actor himself was phenomenal at it.

Nicholson, on the other hand, played Niocholson in clown makeup. He was a terrible Joker who shouldn't even be in the same league. Mark Hamill, however, should be in the same league. If you want to compare Jokers, Hamill's work is far more on Ledger's level. And the thing is, Hamill's alive, so it's not just putting the dead above the living. Jack simply wasn't playing a part, and Ledger was. Victory: Ledger.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

What, no love for John DiMaggio's Joker?

You're in the wrong thread. This one is for explaining why Mark Hamill's Joker is better than Heath Ledger's. Over and over again, with occasional mentions of Jack Nicholson.

Call me a hipster but I do have a soft spot for underdogs, so...