Eighty years after he debuted in Batman No. 1, the Joker remains one of the most iconic villains in popular culture. The Clown Prince of Crime has long tormented Batman and the people of Gotham City, seeing the morals and society the world is built on as nothing but a joke.
7. Jared Leto Jared Leto’s Joker was soured by his questionable character design, limited screen time, and somewhat cringey dialogue. His character can be somewhat forgiven due to studio interference in the production of Suicide Squad. Fortunately, Leto’s Joker displayed a drastic improvement in the “Knightmare” epilogue in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
His backstory may rub some audiences the wrong way, but this Joker has proven himself to be a master manipulator in the vein of Hannibal Lecter, as he manages to make the Riddler his ally and get under Batman’s skin. It’s unknown what Reeves has in store for audiences with this new Joker, but the villain has left people grinning and gawking in anticipation.
4. Jack Nicholson As one of the few Jokers to be given a first and last name, Jack Napier is a vile mobster responsible for the murders of Bruce Wayne’s parents in Tim Burton’s Batman. But in an ironic twist of fate, Napier becomes the Joker after he falls into a vat of chemicals during an encounter with Batman, the hero he inadvertently created, many years later.
The Joker is meant to reflect the absolute darkest of humanity, and Joaquin Phoenix’s iteration of the character embodies all the rage and sadness that many people secretly carry within themselves over how the world has failed them.